Chapter 17 - What! The Ramen Strikes Back!

Man, what an annoying hag, thought Naruto. He walked down the mountain path towards Ichiraku Ramen, thinking about how money he had left in his frog wallet. As he removed it from his pocket, a pink-haired ninja smacked into him.

"Outta the way Naru…Naruto?"

"Owwww…Sakura-chan, what was that for?"

"Sorry, Naruto…I have to deliver a message to Tsunade-sensei…I think we found something the Pervert Ninja left behind!"

"Ooo, great work, Sakura-chan!"

"Aren't you supposed to be combing the village too?"

Naruto grinned.

"You underestimate the power of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura shook her head and went on her way. Once she was out of sight, Naruto picked up his wallet from the dirt.

"Stupid Sakura-chan," he mumbled. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

5 clones of Naruto appeared in front of him.

"Alright, you heard the man," he told the clones. "Go look for the biggest closet pervert in Konoha!"

The clones all pointed to Naruto.

"Haha, very funny…Now get crackin' if you want ramen later!"

The clones shot off at once.

"And that's the end of that," Naruto sighed.

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5 minutes later, he sat down in his usual seat at the Ichiraku Ramen shop, greeted by a warm bowl of ramen.

"Itadakimasu!"

He began wolfing down the noodles at lightning speed.

"Glad to see you've been working hard, Naruto-kun."

Naruto choked on his noodles.

"W-what are you two doing here?"

Seated next to each other in the corner were Ino and Ten-ten. They both looked completely exasperated.

"Ten-ten and I have been searching for that pervert guy for hours. You don't even seem tired, baka!"

"Suuure…" Naruto winked. "How do I know you were looking for him? Look at you both. You two were probably…getting to know each other better, hehe…"

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Ten-ten asked.

"Oh…nothing," Naruto muttered, grinning. He went back to his ramen.

"If youlre saying we're lesbians," said Ino casually. "Then you'd be right, Naruto-kun."

Naruto spat out all the soup and noodles in his mouth.

"PFFFT…since when-"

Ten-ten giggled.

"Everyone makes such a big deal of it, huh, Ten-ten?"

Naruto tried to focus, though he quickly found eating wasn't an option.

"S-so you're…lesbians? Uhm…can you give me any…video or photographic evidence to prove this claim-"

Ino punched him in the face as Ten-ten pounded the table in laughter.

"BAKA! We're not lesbians, perverted Naruto!"

"Stupid Ino-pig…"

Naruto went back to his noodles dejectedly.

"So…what did you think of our naked photos, Naruto?"

Again, the noodles went flying out.

"PFFFT...stop that, Ino-pig! Can't you see I'm trying to eat, dammit!"

"Hmm, that means he's seen them, Ino-chan," Ten-ten whispered loudly.

At that moment, hordes of ninja blew past the shop towards the Academy.

"We got him!"

"We found the Pervert Ninja!"

Naruto choked again. Thankfully, there were no noodles this time.

"WHAT?"

Next Chapter: The Pervert Ninja Found! Naruto's Fury Boils Over!

Itadakimasu – An expression before eating, such as "bon appetit"