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Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Reality Viewing: Naruto the Charming Assassin Charmer

-Chapter 12-

"…And that's pretty much what's being going on." Nana said with a tired sigh as she finished recapping the last two days to Mea.

"Oh my, it seems like I missed out on quite a bit, didn't I?" The redhead said with a giggle as she settled into her seat next to the petite princess. "I have admit that if what you say is true, then I am not so upset with that Necromancer fellow anymore since I'd definitely don't want to miss any more of this."

"I'm kinda glad he brought you here as well," Nana said, giggling as well before adopting a thoughtful expression. "Speaking of, what do think he meant when he said he'd be coming back for Rito's luck?"

At this, everyone else gained similar looks as they mulled over the question.

"Well," Mikan started after several moments of silent pondering, "Maybe he was talking about Nii-san's ability to seemingly always end up in the most embarrassing situations imaginable whenever he trips, falls, or sometimes just walks by a girl?"

…

"That is plausible." Yami stated after thinking it over.

"And if it's true then good riddance I say." Nana said with a huff while wrapping her arms across her chest. "It would certainly be nice not being groped or undressed all the time."

"Agreed." "Totally." Yami and Mikan said simultaneously as the covered themselves up as well before all three sent said boy dirty looks, prompting to hold his hands up in surrender.

"Hey! It's not my fau-"

"NOOOOOO!" Momo and Mea suddenly exclaimed, cutting Rito off as they latched onto him with sad faces.

"He can't take that! Anything but that!" The busty pinkette cried out as she smooshed the orange-haired boy's head into her bosom, comical tears flowing down her face. "That's one of Rito's most useful, amazing, and unique aspects!"

"She's right, it's the key to his success! That's the whole reason we're all even here right now!" Mea added while clinging to Rito's back, overdramatic tears pouring from her eyes.

'…As much as I hate to admit it, they aren't exactly wrong.' Nana, Mikan, and Yami unknowingly thought at the same time since it was in no small part due to Rito's naturally clumsy nature and unnatural ability to always land in the most compromising and misunderstood situations that led to where they were now.

Meanwhile, as all this went down, Lala and Sephie watched on from the side, the former with her head tilted cutely in confusion while the latter was giggling into the back of her hand.

"What are they talking about?" Lala asked her mother, who patted the younger pinkette's head with a shake of her head.

"Don't worry about it sweetie, they're just being silly," She said once she got her laughter under control before clearing her throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "If you all are down playing around, I do believe the television has finished buffering."

At this everyone's attention snapped back towards View-View-Future-Kun which was indeed starting back up.

Ramen.

It figured that Naruto would date a girl out on a date to a ramen place, then again, it was Ichiraku's Ramen, so Sakura wasn't that surprised. It was the only ramen place that was, while a little more expensive than average, talor made for shinobi. It was actually made for the active lifestyle of the ninja, while also offering the key nutrients needed for a healthy body in each bowl. While it did still had its unhealthy quirks about it, like being higher carbs and calories than it should be, it wasn't as bad as many people believed it to be.

"Makes sense, being a ninja probably requires a well-balanced diet in order to keep in shape and such." Nana said with a nod.

Sakura and Tenten, with Ino now with them, were all transformed using the Transformation Technique to look like random people they saw on their way as they tracked Naruto.

"Wow, that is impressive," Mea said as the trio of girls appeared on screen, a brief afterimage of their real appearances overlapping their disguised forms to show that it was really them. "That would certainly make finding a target tricky if they could do that."

"Oh you have no idea," Momo said with a giggle, glancing at Yami with a smug smile. "Isn't that right Yami-chan?"

Not answering verbally, the transforming blonde simply stared at the busty twin with an unnervingly blank expression for several moments before slowly turning back to the screen.

"... This serving size is..."

"That's a Lala-sized serving if I ever saw one." Mikan said as the scene shifted to Yami and Naruto, both with rather large bowls of ramen sitting in front of them.

"Eat it all Yami-chan, because if you don't, I swear I will eat it for you." Naruto threatened her with chopsticks pointed at her face. He wouldn't allow her to waste ramen by throwing it out, so if she didn't finish her ramen, he would finish it. He didn't even like vegetables, and he would eat them if they were ramen.

"…Damn, he really does not kid around when it comes to ramen." Momo said with a shiver as a small tingle of fear and excitement ran down her spine at the completely serious look on Naruto's face.

'Reminds me of the time Yami punched a guy out of her favorite Taiyaki stand when he threw away some after only taking a single bite.' Mikan thought with a quite giggle as that memory flashed in her head.

Yami raised an eyebrow.

That was the weirdest way to threaten somebody, to finish their ramen if they didn't finish it themselves. Then again, while he sounded threatening, she would just guess he didn't want to waste food.

"You like ramen." Yami noted as she tried it out, the real stuff this time and not the instant ramen she had earlier.

"Okay, no offense Yami, but I'm pretty sure that one deserves a 'No shit Sherlock'." Mikan said while giving Yami a dull look, to which the transforming blonde waved her off with a shrug.

Yami knew she had a habit of stating the obvious, which was mostly due to not really hanging around people for prolonged periods of time thus leading her to think aloud without realizing.

"I love ramen, but I really love Ichiraku ramen more than anything. This place was where I had my first bowl of ramen." Naruto smiled at the memory of his first ramen bowl. Naruto nodded towards the Teuchi, the owner, who smiled and nodded his head at the memory as well. Naruto chuckled to himself, before he looked into the broth and saw a little bit of his reflection.

He saw a younger, child version of himself, sad and alone.

'Oh boy… I smell a sad backstory about to be unveiled, better get ready,' Mikan said as she got up from her seat and went into the closet. A few moments of loud rifling sounds and for some reason an indignant cat wail later, the brunette reemerged with her arms loaded up with various boxes of tissues that she was quick to spread out amongst the group before retaking her seat. 'That should do it… for now.'

When he saw that image, he used a spoon and dipped it into the broth, breaking the image, before he tried the new broth.

Yami looked at his expression changing.

"... It's good." Yami noted.

"It's better than that. Every bowl is packed full, and flavored with the old man's love for ramen. You can taste the thought and care he puts into each bowl, crafted for each and every customer that comes into here." Naruto corrected her with enthusiasm. Teuchi blushed and rubbed the back of his head, nodding said head.

Naruto noticed that?

"Aw man, now I really want to try some of this ramen stuff now." Lala whined with a pout even as she idly chewed on a strip of licorice.

"Oh you."

'Naruto really loves ramen, more than I thought.' Tenten noticed as she sat down at a table with her own ramen bowl, listening in on Naruto's talk.

Sakura nodded her head slightly, already knowing that Naruto loved ramen because he didn't always have to pay for it. It was a cheap food, and for an orphan like Naruto, that made it the best food.

"Too true, too true." Sephie mumbled with a sigh, remembering the many different homeless children she'd seen on various planets she'd been to as both the queen of the Devilukean Empire and as a diplomat.

Ino yawned.

She wanted the romance gossip, not ramen talk.

"I remember when you first came here, you were only a little boy... about 3 years old. You wouldn't believe it, but I knew this man since he was a child." Teuchi spoke to Yami. Naruto laughed and nodded in agreement, remembering the times he sat in this very restaurant fondly.

At that moment, the screen seemed to split in half vertically, with one half staying with Yami and Naruto while the other half changed to a grainy old-style video which showed a three-year-old Naruto who was rubbing his eye with a sleepy expression.

"D'awww~, little Naruto is sooooo cute!" Lala squealed, her eyes sparkling as she reached towards the screen. "I just wanna hug him and snuggle with him and pinch those adorable little cheeks!"

Yami glanced at Naruto, curious about his past.

"Teuchi is perhaps the only reason I grew up happy. I was about 3 when I first came here, but before that I ran out of money a lot. Whenever that happened, I went into the forest and picked mushrooms, or went fishing. Ramen is..." Naruto smiled as he looked back into the bowl. He remembered his first ramen bowl, and he remembered the days when he was a child, who would often go hungry, or be forced to go into the dangerous wild and find his own food.

Going into the wild, gathering mushrooms, and learning what was safe to eat was actually how he learned to love gardening.

"Oh that poor child," Sephie muttered as the scene changed to show little Naruto wandering around the woods with a depressed look, scrounging around for anything edible while having to avoid different types of predators and occasionally stopping to hold his growling stomach. 'To hear about it is one thing, but to actually see what he had to go through… it's just heartbreaking.'

"…Little Naruto…" Lala murmured, her eyes starting to water slightly while she watched young Naruto struggling to get by.

One of his favorite hobbies was actually watering and take care of plants.

'Huh, that's nice to know.' Momo thought with a small smile, glad to know the blonde had a similar hobby to hers.

"That's right..." Sakura whispered in a voice that was not her own.

Yes, she remembered Naruto being the one who judged when the fish was cooked when they took the Chunin exams. It had been Naruto who jumped into the water, and threw the fish into the air. Naruto had the survival skills that she, and even Sasuke, couldn't compare to.

She never asked him where he learned that, did she?

"Well to be fair, they are ninja, so it isn't impossible that most would assume he just took a few survival training lessons or something." Mikan said in support, despite knowing Sakura couldn't hear here.

"Ramen is?" Yami continued the question.

"... Don't make fun of me for this, okay?" Naruto requested of her with a blush, not entirely willing to give up this super personal information.

Yami stared at him with a raised eyebrow, because she wasn't the type of person to mock a person for anything.

"If anything she prefers blunt soul crushing honesty." Momo stated with a soft giggle.

'Interesting, but not romance.' Ino gave another yawn, a little bored with what they were doing. Even Tenten wasn't paying that much attention, though she was still listening in.

"Oh sure, the guy is pouring his heart out and that's not good enough for them," Nana said with a huff. "Now I see why most guys don't like talking about their feelings."

"Right, not in your nature. Ramen is the first home cooked meal anyone has ever cooked for me. I didn't have a Ma or Pa... I only ever cooked for myself. All my life... there was never even a speck of love in my food. Teuchi's ramen was the first time I ever learned what it was like for somebody to cook for me, and offer me a warm smile." Naruto gained a solemn smile as he looked up at Teuchi, and Teuchi put his face into his hand, not showing Naruto the tears that he was concealing.

Once again the scene changed, this time showing three-year-old Naruto sitting in the same stool as his older counterpart while a slightly younger looking Tuechi set a bowl of ramen in front of the nervous child.

Watching as the little whiskered blonde stared at the bowl suspiciously for several moments before cautiously trying a bite of the noodle dish, tears started to flow from Lala eyes as the boy's expression almost immediately turned to one of absolute joy and happiness.

"That's… it's just so…I can't…" Lala tried to say something, anything, about what she was seeing only for her voice to continually fail on her. Eventually she gave up and instead opted to wrench Rito from Momo and Mea's grasp, pulling the boy in a hug while snuggling up against her mother for comfort.

Said queen wasn't doing much better though, as the eldest pinkette kept sniffling heavily while her eyes were watering heavily with tears just begging to be shed. Before long, Momo, Nana, and Mikan joined in, with the former two latching onto either side of Sephie and the latter squeezing herself into Lala's hug so she was snuggled up to her brother.

This left Yami and Mea as the odd ones out, the duo seemingly unaffected by the highly emotional scene that was playing out. However, in one looked very, very, VEEEEEEERY, closely, you could see the tiniest amount of water building up in the former's sympathetic gaze while the latter just watched on with a curious gaze.

Naruto was his favorite customer, because nobody truly appreciated his cooking like Naruto did. Naruto was the only customer he would ever give free food to, because only Naruto had the true appreciation for the meal. Even food lovers like a certain clan of chubbies, didn't love ramen like Naruto did.

"Love..." Yami whispered as she looked at the ramen.

Did that really make a difference in taste?

"Yes." Everyone aside from Yami and Mea said at the same time, each of them remembering past moments of family meals and such.

"... You can't taste love with your tongue. You taste it right here, with your heart." Naruto smiled as he placed both his hands on his heart. He nodded his head with eyes closed, unaware that he was making Teuchi cry.

'He's not the only one Naruto's making cry.' Momo thought while glancing down at her mother and older sister, who were going through tissues like crazy from blowing their noses and wiping away the tears streaming down their cheeks, the queen having lost her fight to not cry a few moments ago.

Sakura looked down in shame.

'How much about you do I not even know? All I ever knew was that you were alone as a kid, and burdened by hate... No... I've never asked you about yourself. All I've ever done is be mean to you, talk about my problems, and remind you of Sasuke.' Sakura thought to herself, snapping the chopsticks in her hand in self-frustration. No wonder there was so much about Naruto that she didn't know.

She never made the effort to actually get to know Naruto, other than the stuff that concerned her, and it took her spying on Naruto during his date to learn this about herself.

Changing again, this time the screen showed as a thirteen-year-old Sakura talked to Sasuke about how Naruto was a lost cause since wasn't raised right, making most of the occupants glower at both versions of the pinkette. This only increased as the clip then proceeded to show the numerous times she'd hit and insulted Naruto for doing something stupid (though they did admit he was asking for it in more then a few occasions) or asking her out, before changing to show her literally begging him to bring Sasuke back.

However, before their anger could boil over, the clips changed to more recent moments that showed Sakura and Naruto hanging out, getting along a lot better then when they were younger and even acting somewhat similarly to how siblings would.

Tenten rubbed her arm uncomfortably.

She felt a little bad about listening to this conversation, with Naruto revealing something so personal about himself. It was one thing to listen in on lovers on a date, when one of those people was a friend, but this was so... private that she might as well be watching him have sex.

"Understatement there, I'm pretty sure that at this point watching them do it would be much less intrusive then what we're doing right now." Momo said honestly while most of the room, Nana included for once, nodded in agreement the busty twin's statement.

Ino looked towards the back of Naruto's head with hurt eyes.

"With... my heart..." Yami repeated his words, applying them to herself.

"Of course, you won't taste it if your heart is closed off. When I was a kid, I only knew what it was like to be hated and ignored. I was open to even the smallest amount of kindness... the first time I tasted this ramen, was when I learned what love was. Ever since, I've enjoyed coming here." Naruto told her as he finished off his ramen, having been eating while talking with her. Yami hadn't eaten anything since she started to listen to him, which caused Naruto to grin.

Teuchi was wiping his eyes, trying to stop the flow of his tears from the beautiful speech he had heard.

'I should have grabbed more tissues.' Mikan thought as she used one to wipe away the few tears that fell down her cheeks.

Naruto grabbed Yami's bowl from her, and moved it in front of him.

"I was about to eat-" Yami stopped when Naruto took his own chopsticks, and held out a group of noodles towards her.

He gave her that warm smile.

"Go ahead, give it a real taste this time. Open wide Yami-chan." Naruto told her, willing to feed it to her (as a way to tease her), slowly bringing the ramen closer to her face.

"Dawwwwwww~." Most of the girls cooed at the sweet scene while Yami blushed lightly in embarrassment.

Yami looked around, only seeing three older people sitting behind them. She glanced at Naruto with pink cheeks, clearly embarrassed at what she was having to do. She was about to refuse Naruto, but her stomach growled in protest.

Opening her heart... how did she do that?

"That's one of life's biggest mysteries for most people." Sephie mumbled, hiccupping slightly as she slowly regained her composure…

'Now THIS is the juicy stuff!' Ino screamed inside her head, looking at the romantic play out in front of her very eyes.

Sakura was too busy looking down at her shaking hands to notice what was going on, her shame was earlier still getting to her. Even Tenten wasn't paying so much attention to what was going on anymore.

"How?"

"Just close your eyes, and trust me." Naruto told her, knowing what she meant. She wasn't asking him how to eat, she was asking him how to open her heart. He knew what she was getting at, because he had been the same way. While he had been starved for love, and was willing to open his heart to it... he hated the villagers and everyone in the world before he learned about love.

…And just like that it was gone again.

Yami nodded, and she followed his instructions, closing her eyes and opening her mouth. When she felt the noodle touch her tongue, and closed her eyes and sucked it up.

The taste... was the exact same, but she was more embarrassed than before.

Frowning as a familiar clicking sound reached her ears, Yami turned her head to the side and glared at Momo as she not-so-discretely took several pictures of her other being fed by Naruto with her cellphone. Not liking this one bit, the transforming blonde commanded her hair to break the device… only to blink in confusion when nothing happened.

Her gaze snapping downwards, Yami was shocked to find her hair all wrapped up in Mea's ponytail, stopping it from moving at all, while said redhead gave her an innocent smile. "Is something wrong Yami?"

…Of course the fact she was blatantly sending a thumbs-up towards Momo completely killed whatever façade she was trying to put up.

Staring at the girl dully for several moments, Yami's eyebrow twitched in clear annoyance before pulling her hair free and turning back to the screen. "Ecchi-bakas."

The taste was the same, and she was embarrassed, but there was more. She felt warm in her chest, and her heart was beating painfully hard. She felt the beating in her ears, with it blocking out all other sounds. All she could hear was her own heartbeat, and she could feel the warmth spread in her chest. No longer was her chest hurting, but she felt a smooth warmth.

She trusted Naruto, she had fought by his side, and learned his habits... and the feeling in her chest was the same feeling she got from him when he smiled warmly.

"Dawwww~." Yami palmed her face with a deep blush as everybody except herself and Mea gushed, though when she sent a sidelong glance at the redhead could see the wide grin on her lips.

"... It tastes the same... but I feel...warmer." Yami opened her eyes, and she turned her head away from Naruto with red cheeks. The pounding in her ears was calming down enough so that she could hear things again, but the pounding in her chest didn't stop.

This warmth... was what love tasted like?

"Oh that's it, get over here you two!" Lala exclaimed as she suddenly grabbed Yami and Mea, and dragging the duo into the large group hug before they could react.

"What are you doing?" Mea asked while trying unsuccessfully to squirm out of the pinkette's grasp while Yami just silently accepted her fate.

"Showing you guys some love! FEEL THE LOVE!" Lala exclaimed while hugging the two girls tightly, unintentionally mushing their, Mikan, and Rito's faces into her breasts in the process.

"Oh, their feeling something alright." Momo couldn't help but say while giggling at the comical scene.

Naruto looked at her blushing face and blinked in surprise, before his own cheeks became a little pink. Yami's embarrassed face, with her red cheeks, and reluctance to look at him, sparked a little embarrassment from him as well.

"Here, it's yours... unless you're done, because I'll-"

"It's mine." Yami moved her hand towards the bowl, and moved it back towards her.

"Heh, possessive much, aren't we?" Momo asked rhetorically, before pouting since Yami was too busy trying to survive Lala's death hug of love to react.

She didn't want to give him her ramen. She didn't want to part with the warm feeling in her chest just yet.

Naruto grinned.

'... Has Naruto always been this...' Ino trailed off. Sure, Naruto always talked about hearts and loneliness to people, and the desire for love, but this was her first time hearing him speak with such gentleness.

Sakura smiled, even while depressed.

That was part of the Naruto she knew, always making others feel better, and share his own massive heart with them.

Tenten saw Naruto in a new light.

"Everybody has different sides to them, even if they themselves don't know that they do." Sephie stated wisely while sending a knowing look at each of her daughters. In the meantime, Lala finally loosened her grip enough for Yami and Mea to slip free.

"I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes." Mea gasped out as she tried to regain her breath.

"Indeed." Yami mumbled with a nod.

"Oh come on you two, it wasn't that bad." Mikan said from her spot still in Lala's arms, rolling her eyes at the duo's slightly overdramatic reactions.

Rito on the other hand said nothing, more focused on trying to get his heartrate under control after being squished between several beautiful girls.

"All that said, I don't just love it for the love. I really do love ramen because of how it actually tastes too. I love everything about ramen." Naruto spoke with a wave of his hand, leaning up against the counter. "So how much do I owe for this meal?" Naruto asked Teuchi, who took his face out of his hands.

His answer was simple.

"Nothing... today, it's on the house. You've reminded me of the reason why I started this, besides money... I want to share my love of cooking with everyone. Thank you Naruto, for reminding me of that." Teuchi made their meal free, because it was the only thing he could think to do as thanks.

"Awwww, he's such a nice guy." Lala said with a smile as she rested her chin on Rito's head, having finally calmed down mostly from her earlier emotional breakdown.

With Ayame going out to get more ingredients, there was nobody to stop him from giving his favorite customer a free meal.

Yami glanced at Naruto, and she smiled softly when she saw that grin appear on his face once more.

It was filled with warmth.

"I can think of something else warm he can-" *Pomf* Momo started to say, only for Nana to cut her off with a pillow to the face.

"... Can we eat here again... tomorrow?" Yami whispered, wanted to come back. The food was good and cheap... and she wanted to feel this again. She didn't look at Naruto directly, mostly because her face was still reddish, but she knew what his reaction would be.

Naruto nodded.

"Whenever you want."

Nothing beat sharing a bowl of ramen with a friend.

"Man, that was intense." Mikan said as the screen went back to buffering mode.

"I know right," Momo said with a nod. "I mean who knew that a chat about ramen of all things could turn so emotional? I was about ready to bawl my eyes out a few times."

"Uh, speaking of which," Nana started before pointing to the huge pile of used tissues that had been formed in from of the bed. "Who's gonna clean that up?"

…

…

"""Not it!"""

-End Chapter