Who's got a new laptop? ME! Sorry, sorry… I'm just so happy! (Cue sniffling and happy tears!)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. BTW, if you want one pairing over another, etc., you've got to let me know!

Thinking

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Emphasis

"Choji-kun!" Naruto yelled out excitedly from behind Kakashi's well-placed genjutsu.

Kakashi didn't really see the Akimichi heir as a possible and thus despicable love interest for his sensei's daughter, but Naruto and the boy had repeatedly eaten the Senju compound out of most of its reserves in their eating competitions. Not to mention how the kids always puke their guts out afterward. Kakashi didn't understand their friendship at all, otherwise. Naruto always seemed put out when around any children aside from Hashi-kun. Thankfully, Naru had declared that Hashi-kun was her little brother - despite the fact that Hashi was older than her - and had also remarked that Hashi-kun was a weirdo with scary eyes. Kakashi felt safe allowing the two of them to play together at the compound by themselves, at least for now.

"How's it going, Kakashi-kun?" Chouza asked kindly. "Are you headed to Ichiraku's?"

Kakashi nearly face-faulted in disappointment. Actually, he was bringing Naruto out to get some ice cream as a reward for not cursing for nearly a week, but now he had a four-year-old on his back that was wiggling around in anticipation so much that she was hard to keep hold of. "Two bowls, Naruto: that's the max today. You really shouldn't be having any," he whispered to the girl that was quickly shuffling down his legs.

"Whaa! You're so mean, Tou-nii. And I'm hungry!"

"Dad? Can we go to Ichirakus, too?" Choji asked between chips, looking up at his father with a big pout.

Chouza grimaced. What was I thinking, mentioning the ramen place? It was hard to resist his only child's whims, and he should have known that like any healthy young Akimichi, the boy would want to eat whatever was presented to him. He'd only been trying to needle the Hatake brat a bit, and now his wallet was going to take a hit. Maybe he'd talk to Teuchi-san about selling his clan the ramen stand. Yeah, like that's going to work! The ramen stand was successful ever since they opened, and Chouza could easily imagine it becoming far more than a stand, in near the future. And Teuchi has a daughter he's building his business for. He was doing the same for Chouji: he understood Teuchi's feelings well.

He needed to keep an eye on Ichirakus, though. The Akimichi clan had finally opened another barbecue restaurant outside the Land of Fire, and he could picture the ramen place one day competing and doing the same. Teuchi was shrewd with the books and really knew where to get his ingredients. It was almost like the man had been studying his clan for years. As long as he sticks to just ramen it'll be fine… Most of his family's restaurants offered ramen, but he'd admit it openly: Ichirakus' was better.

"I challenge you to a contest, Choji-kun!" Naruto yelled happily. "First to finish two bowls wins!"

"A CHALLENGE?!"

Kakashi would have just repeatedly sunshinned the hell out of there, but Naru was already off his back and bouncing on her toes excitedly. Or at least she was until big blue eyes drank in the Green Beast of Konoha.

"So much green!"

"RIVAL! It has been far too long!" It had! Gai assumed that Kakashi had been on a long-term ANBU mission, but seeing him here in the street in normal Jonin attire was great! Underneath it all, his eternal rival had a kind soul. He couldn't exactly say his silver-haired friend was youthful, but that's what he was for: to share the Power of Youth to the world! "What a youthful happenstance! Now, what is this challenge I heard mentioned?" He looked down in surprise at seeing Kakashi holding the shoulder of a very small girl, pulling her to him defensively. Seeing the girl's face, he realized that his rival had finally found the elusive princess. He was looking down into what looked so much like the more feminine but doll-like face of their beloved Yondaime. Gai burst into manly tears.

"Scary!" Naruto whispered shakily as she quickly climbed Kakashi like a monkey, her face finally appearing behind and against his neck and shoulder.

"Maa, it's okay, chibi," sort of. Kakashi reached behind him to pat the girl's blonde head. He threw another genjutsu over the girl, nervous that some of the surrounding crowd had already seen her. He glared at Gai. "Come on," he headed into Ichirakus.

Easily noting his best friend's tension, Gai dried his eyes and followed the group in happily. A youthful misdirection was in order. "Now what's this I hear about a CHALLENGE?!" The group looked at him blankly - well, Chouza chose to ignore him as he ordered for himself, his son, and Minato's little girl.

Nii-san gave Naruto an idea: a great one. She didn't know why he was snickering again when it made so much sense! "I challenged Choji-kun to an eating contest - to see who's fastest!" Just like nii-san had advised, she looked up at Tou-nii while sticking out her bottom lip and making her eyes tear up. "Tou-nii's lonely! You should challenge him to an eat-off, too!"

"What? I'm not lonely: there are too many people around us as it is! And we just ate, you little brat," Kakashi mumbled the last three words, but really meant it right now. "Ahh, gomennasai, Akimichi-sama, Choji-kun. I was uhhh, speaking more about that…" He looked around before whispering so that only Chouza could hear, "those Senju women!" Chouza laughed heartily, understanding that more than the teenager knew. He'd run into Tsunade-hime and her apprentice at the hospital with his old genin teammates recently, and Inoichi had been literally thrown down a long hallway when he tried to refuse his physical by the Senju princess. Her little apprentice had immediately pounced on the Yamanaka, anesthetizing his blonde teammate's limbs so that he couldn't get away. It wasn't worth mentioning that they all had rather painful physicals that day. I didn't think my balls would ever be the same...

Even as Chouza was reliving the stress of that day, Gai was already crying loudly about Kakashi's lack of youth. "I concur! Let us commence in this Youthful Stand of Plenty! I challenge you, Rival, to an Eating Contest of Youth!" Naruto and Choji clapped beside them, ignoring Kakashi's scowl.

"No. I refuse."

"Whaa... Tou-nii! Are ya scared?" Big, sad blue eyes looked up into Kakashi's face. Naruto's lip was really trembling this time.

Kakashi slumped on his stool and gave the giddy Teuchi a look that promised pain - not that the man seemed to mind at all. He was already heading to the back of his kitchen, no doubt to bring more ingredients out so that he could keep up the demand as these competitions heated up. Naruto, Chouza, and Choji already had a large bowl of ramen in front of them each, and the kiddies looked like they were just dying to dig in. As soon as the second bowls were put on the bar, the kids began chowing and gulping ramen like little animals. More ramen was placed in front of him and Gai - Kakashi was positive it didn't have any eggplant in it, damn it - and then they were off, too.

By the time the competition had finished, Kakashi's wallet was empty, he had vomited twice, Naruto had sneakily eaten five bowls rather than just two, and worst of all, Gai was the victor. Kakashi was still a couple of wins up on the man, but he had to watch out. Just like his father had warned him all those years ago, Maito Gai was a fearsome rival. Not that he'd ever admit it, of course. Just as he wiped off his face and quickly changed masks - all under a genjutsu - Tsume Inuzuka and her little boy ran in.

"I knew it! I KNEW you bastards were keeping something from me!" She also knew what her nose had told her as she was walking with her pup to pick up Hana from the Academy! She'd smelled what almost smelled like Kushina-chan: ramen, ocean, and a little bit of fox, without so much of the ocean. She knew who it had to be immediately, particularly with the addition of a fall wind scent that was so prominent, and had gone charging toward the source of the smell, dragging Kiba along the way. Sure enough, there she was: looking so much like her mother, but her mom's pretty looks were overtaken by Minato-kun's girly features. "Naruto-hime, you're back."

"Huh?"

"Whoa, Mom! She's pretty," Kiba gasped, up front with his thoughts as always.

The Hatake brat began growling - actually growling at her son - and Tsume would've laughed at the teenager's uncharacteristic display, (it was so much like members of her own clan,) had she not been so pissed off that this obviously meant that the boy had been taking care of little Naruto for awhile. Ignoring that Kiba was miserably failing at growling back at the Hatake, she poked her index finger into the kid's Jounin vest. "I don't give a FUCK about how all this went down, but you two will be at my place for dinner tomorrow night at 1800! If you're late, I'll neuter you!" She turned sharply away, before biting her bottom lip and looking at the surprised face of her best friend's daughter. She slowly brought out her hand to let the girl sniff it for a moment - which she DID, she was thrilled to see - before scratching her little blonde head.

"You smell like doggies!"

"You'd better believe I do, kid. Will you do me a favor, Naru-hime? I'll let ya play with the doggies if ya do!" Seeing Naruto nod excitedly, she pointed to the Hatake brat whom she just now noted looked like he was going to literally be sick. "Make sure he's at my place before 1800 tomorrow with ya, kay? If ya do that for me, you'll have LOTS of doggies to play with! There's even a new batch of puppies that are just at the right age to play with you and my son Kiba here," she pointed back to the starstruck-looking boy behind her. "I promise you'll have lots of fun!" Thinking of what motivated Kushina, she continued. "I'll cook a boatload of food, too! I'm a great cook, Naruto! Whaddya say?"

"We'll be there, too," Chouza nearly belched before anyone else could reply.

"Who said I wanted you and your lot there, Big Bones?"

"Since when did I care what you say, Tsume? You're cookin' and I'm comin'! Better cook for an army!"

"Yeah, yeah," she agreed, giving up for now on a more intimate get-together with her goddaughter. Well, there was a fight for godmother status that was never resolved, but Tsume was positive that she was in the lead for that role when Kushi - when Kushi died. Ignoring her son's fast-paced questions about all sorts of things, including why she looked like she was going to cry, she picked Kiba up and threw him on her back.

Kakashi ran to the restroom and hoped that at this point it was just dry heaving. He never heard the conversation that followed in his absence. The worst thing of all?
"Hey Gai-san, your clothes are pretty cool! Does your outfit come in orange?" More manly tears sprayed all over the bar.