Mizuki stared down at the creature that was wearing his hitai-ate as they made their way to Ichiraku's. He'd made the bet for his hitai-ate and a trip to Ichiraku's with the kid because he'd been so certain that the demon whom he was starting to see apparently didn't remember being a demon, and actually thought it was a human child wouldn't be able to get the Mizu Bunshin down in under three hours. He'd had serious doubts that the creature would have been able to create a single Mizu Bunshin before the dawn deadline he had set and pass his test.

He'd come up with learning the Mizu Bunshin as the Make Up graduation exam on the fly, because he'd been forced to cancel what he'd originally been planning to do because he'd realized that it would lead to his death. Had he had the demon steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals in order to frame him, odds were he would not have lived to see the dawn, and his demise would be at the demon's hands. He could get away with making Naruto a Genin for passing his test, as the students who had failed the graduation exam had twenty-four hours in which to appeal the decision and prove themselves capable of passing. Almost every student who took this option failed again anyways. That had not been the case for the Demon who had apparently been playing at being Dead Last and Class Clown to get Iruka's attention for some strange reason.

He shouldn't have been too surprised that the child had passed this test now that he thought about it. The boy who had become the cold man he'd met on that escort mission would have undoubtedly passed the "Make Up Exam" that he'd come up with, considering the fact that he'd obviously survived the night and become a Ninja. Three fails, and you leave the Academy for good, and today, before he passed the Make Up Exam which he would be bound to honor since the child would go to Iruka and the Hokage if he didn't had been the Uzumaki's third failure.

The creature, who had been rather determined with his graduation and favorite food on the line, had gotten the Mizu Bunshin down to the point that he could create hundreds of the Water Clones in one go in under three hours, and he had been forced to pay his part of the wager, as he knew that the creature would throw an almighty stink that might result in him being seriously injured if he didn't.

Despite the fact that he hated ramen, he was being forced to go to Ichiraku's.

With his bandanna style hitai-ate covering the boy's bright blond hair to the point that only a couple of spikes stuck out of the bottom, the mini demon was nearly unrecognizable, especially after he'd removed his jacket which had gotten soaked during the lesson. Several people had done double-takes when they finally realized who was walking beside him wearing his hitai-ate, and grinning proudly.

Eventually, they reached Ichiraku's ramen stand. The one place that Iruka knew never to drag him to. The demon seated himself at the counter and promptly ordered a large miso ramen with pork. He ordered nothing. The creature noticed this, and looked at him in confusion.

"Why aren't you getting anything?" the creature asked.

"Because I can't stand ramen." he replied as nicely as he could considering the situation.

"How could you not like ramen?" the creature asked, looking genuinely shocked that someone didn't like ramen.

"There was an incident a while back, and even smelling it makes me sick now." he said, hoping that the demon wouldn't ask him to further elaborate and bring up memories best forgotten, but knowing that he'd have no such luck.

"Oh, kinda like how I am with Inarizushi and Kitsune Udon." the demon replied as he wolfed down his ramen, those sharp fang-like teeth showing every time he took a bite of his food. "That's all one of my caretakers fed me while I lived with her. I got sick, and the Old Man took me to live somewhere else. The people at the Orphanage the Old Man moved me into made me eat all sorts of yucky vegetables, and now I don't like vegetables either."

When the demon had finished his bowl of ramen, he waved away the second bowl that the stand proprietors who seemed to genuinely like the creature had already prepared for him. Apparently, the demon frequented their establishment a great deal outside the times Iruka bribed it with ramen in an attempt to get it to behave, and the stand owners knew the best way to keep the creature placated.

"I don't want Mizuki-sensei to get sick." the demon said as he looked at the bowl that he'd just declined sadly.

He jerked in his seat. The demon had actually shown concern for his wellbeing.

"Thank you Naruto-kun." he said as he paid for the single bowl of ramen he'd purchased, relieved that the child hadn't eaten through his wallet like he did to Iruka when the man brought the creature here.

He and the demon went their separate ways after that. When he got back to his apartment after he'd put the demon's name on the list of graduates, it was to find Tsubaki waiting on his doorstep with a meal that she had specially prepared for him. His girlfriend had a sweet smile on her face as she welcomed him home, and he let her inside. The woman who couldn't see him for what he was, had loved him since day one, and trusted him implicitly. In the beginning, he had loved that in her, at some point however, when he'd realized how weak he was and that power was worth more than friends, he saw that for the stupidity and weakness it was.

He may not have tricked the demon this evening and betrayed Konoha, but that had been more out of the fact that he wouldn't survive the night if he did so, than out of any love of his home and the woman who stood before him, holding a plate of food that would need to be reheated since it had long since gone cold.

Just how long had Tsubaki been out here waiting for him anyway?

&!&!&!&

At an apartment across town, a boy added one name to the rather short list of people that seemed to care for him, and whom he looked up to, as he got ready for bed.