Fake AN: I don't want to spoil anything, so the actual AN will be at the end of the chapter.
Omake 3 – An Identity Revealed!
Naruto was humming happily to himself; he had just completed another fruitful day of training with the Akimichi, and because the Clan Head Family had to go to some fancy meeting or other, he was left to take care of his own dinner.
Which meant; Ichiraku's!
Oh, it had been too long for the young blond since he had sampled the greatest gift the gods above had graciously seen fit to send down to their unworthy mortal world! And he wasn't talking about those small, bite-sized portions the Akimichi Matriarch forced him to eat either!
No sir, he was a young boy! He needed his delicious ramen to grow tall and strong, didn't he? About seven or eight bowls should do.
His face stretched into a wide grin, showing off too-large canines as the heavenly aroma of the best food in the world hit his nostrils. With a great swing of his arm, he flung away the flap that hang in front of the ramen-shop, his eyes closed in happiness as he announced his presence to the people inside (and everybody outside of the shop as well).
"Good evening, Old Man Teuchi! Ayame-neesan! The usual please! Let's start off with three bowls and see where the night takes us, shall we?"
Rumbling laughter met his ears, as he walked to his seat in front of the counter.
"Coming right up gaki! Though, for sake of the wellbeing of both myself and that of my shop, I have to ask; will there be any irate Akimichi mothers showing up on my doorstep, demanding my head for feeding you too much?"
Naruto waved away the old chef's concern away with an impatient hand, taking his seat and reaching for a nearby pair of chopsticks.
"Meh, Choji and his parents had to go out of town for tonight, so I can eat all I want, dattebayo!"
He looked up with the grin as he heard Teuchi laugh at that, before the chopsticks clattered out of his hand, his mouth falling open in shock.
"Old Man... WHERE'S YOUR ARM?!"
AN: So, as Salamander's impact on the story grew I realized that he needed to be fleshed out more: there needed to be more than just a mask to the ninja, there needed to be someone underneath it as well. I struggled for a long time with the identity of the ANBU Commander. I was at first heavily leaning towards the father of Konohamaru, who had been only "mostly dead" all along, but suddenly this idea burst into my head, and I just had to go with it. No worries, I'll flesh it out more in the next real chapter, as well as answering some questions about Danzo's actions and plans and plots. It's shaping up to be quite the filler chapter, but some heavy changes are coming, and I need everyone up to speed. Sorry if your chomping at the bit for more action (you know who you are :P)
Fun Fact: Kakuzu's techniques are named after the series Mobile Suit Gundam. For example, Earth Grudge Fear (jiongu) was named after the gundam MSN-02 Zeong. Aaaannndd I have just given myself another idea for a crossover. That's just great, me, nicely jobbed =.=