Naruto slurped his noodles and gave out a happy burp. Kakashi watched him down bowl after bowl with happiness and felt himself feel happy at the energy suddenly radiating out of Naruto once again. The depressed Naruto had affected him somehow making him feel depressed too. But now, seeing him bubbling with delight just because of ramen, Kakashi himself felt joy that he forgot about his own bowl.
"Sensei? How come you did not eat yours yet? I already ate six bowls." Naruto asked, peering at Kakashi's bowl.
"Oh!" Kakashi pointed at the opposite wall. "What the hell is that?"
"What?" Naruto turned to face the direction Kakashi had pointed to and found nothing out of ordinary. It was just a normal wooden fence with a cat on top. He figured Kakashi was asking about the cat. "It's just a cat, Kakashi-sensei – WOH!" He gaped seeing Kakashi's bowl empty while Kakashi burped lightly. "How did you do that? Teach me! Teach me!"
"Ah, that is something you will learn through practice. Just try not to choke." He said, placed a wad of paper bills on the counter for the ramen stall owners.
"Hmm!" Naruto pouted and then hopped off his stool and left the stall, Kakashi following him.
"Well, best get you home. Don't forget our meeting at nine in the morning!"
Naruto pouted up at him. "That's not fair sensei!" He said, and crossed his arms. "I always show up early and wait for you. Of course, Sasuke and Sakura as well. But I always have to wait three hours for you to show up. That's really not fair!"
Kakashi gave him a hearty laugh. "Ah, a ninja must learn patience."
"I think a whole year being with you is more than enough lessons in patience." Naruto grumbled.
"Don't worry about it. You just hope that I do not get lost in the road of life tomorrow."
"Fine, fine." Naruto nodded and then waved at his teacher. "Good night sensei! See you tomorrow." Kakashi waved back they both went to their respective homes.
*
The next morning, Naruto was the first to arrive on the bridge. Few minutes later Sakura appeared then followed by Sasuke. Naruto greeted them in his usual vibrant and loud way.
"Shut up, dobe! Don't be so noisy in the morning!"
"At least I can talk not like you who seems to be capable of acting like a rock all the time!" Naruto retaliated.
"Hn! Who would like having a noisy prick around anyway?" Sasuke retorted.
"At least my saliva doesn't rot in my mouth!" Naruto fired back.
The bickering continued and Sakura could only sigh. It was hopeless to stop the two from fighting since normally it was the presence of their instructor that stopped them. It was one of those normal bantering that occurred between the raven-haired boy and blonde boy. They went on and on and on and Sakura knew that her warnings for Naruto to stop were ignored so she shut her mouth on the whole.
"Yeah well even if I become Hokage, I'll never learn how to accept you as anything, Sasuke-idiot! I'll never love you!" Naruto fired back.
"Heh! So what? At least the whole village doesn't hate me! I won't be surprised if no one ever love you till the day you die!"
Sakura waited for Naruto come back but none came. She looked at Naruto who had a troubled expression on his face. He caught her gaze and then it was replaced by a fake mock-angry expression. "Hmm! So what? I'll become Hokage and then everyone will acknowledge me!"
"But they won't love you." Sasuke added. "Probably even Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto gritted his teeth and fell silent staring at the ground. "Whatever." He said and crossed his arms across his chest and stared at the wooden floors of the bridge.
Sakura flicked a glance at Sasuke who merely leaned against the railing and titled his head up to the sky. Maybe Sasuke went a bit too far. A few minutes later, Kakashi finally appeared. Sakura pointed at him and yelled. "You're late!" Naruto however did not say anything, but merely stood from his sitting position and regarded his teacher with a bored expression.
Kakashi greeted them. "Good morning!"
Naruto raised both eyebrows. "You're only half an hour late, sensei."
Kakashi merely laughed. The other two members nodded and looked at their teacher suspiciously. "Ah well! A baby fox last night reminded me to show up early for my team today!"
"No kittens? Or puppies? Or little drowned sea-turtles?" Sakura named all the animals that Kakashi used in his excuses. The silliest among all of them, of course, was the sea turtles – since they can't drown in the first place.
"Nope." Kakashi said, shaking his head and his eye curving to happy crescent. "Just a baby fox." They all sighed and waited for their instructions. "Our first mission is to weed Takamura's garden!"
The three young ones followed Kakashi to the Takamura residence, the sun beating on their backs and birds chirping their little morning songs.
TBC
HE! HE!