Chapter 4: The Job

Daisuke sat on the park bench, contemplating on what he should do. He stood up, and started toward the village. It was still noon, and a lot had happened already since his arrival. One great example: the whack job that had been chasing him all around the village. Quite frankly, he still didn't know where he was. The grass was nice and dry, so it was easy to walk now. "So, Daisuke, where do we go now," asked Dark. "We don't even where to start looking for Krad. All we know is that he's somewhere in this universe; it might take months to find him, even years!" Dark was not happy. He only got that way when the situation was hopeless.

"Then we'll just have to look for signs of him," stated Daisuke.

"Well, until then, where will we sleep?" said Dark. "I mean, God knows were going to be here for a while, and I am not sleeping in the park."

"Well then, we are going to have to find a job."

"Oh yeah, and just where do you think you will find work?" asked Dark, annoyed at the thought of staying in the village for a while. "I mean, it's not like they are going to have a job opening anywhere!"

*****

"I hate being wrong," Dark said as Daisuke put on an apron. "You're working at a ramen shop. How degrading is that!?! What's next, are you going to work at a beauty parlor? You won't do that. Right? Your enough of a girly man already!"

"Shut up, Dark," said Daisuke as he blocked Dark out. The owner of Tangaku-Raman walked up to Daisuke.

"Ok," started the owner, " All you have to do is serve the food to the customers. Can you do that?"

"Yes, sir" said Daisuke.

Meanwhile, Naruto was walking down the street with Sasuke and Sakura.

"I'm sorry, ok," pleaded Naruto. "It's just I felt like he insulted me."

"I don't know," said Sakura, "You looked like you really wanted to kill him. And besides, I'm still mad at you from this morning."

"I said I was sorry, Sakura," Naruto pleaded again. "What do I have to do to make it up to you, buy you two lunch?!" Sasuke and Sakura stared at each other for a minute and nodded their heads. But before Naruto could say anything else, a man ran right up to them.

"Hey," said the man, "you guys should get over to Tangaku-Raman! This waiter is doing some awesome stuff over there. He waits you quickly and perfectly, but he also does tricks while he's cleaning up." Then the man ran off. Lunch and a show, now that was a calling card for Naruto, and everyone could guess where he wanted to go.

"We're going to Tangaku-Raman," yelled Naruto. His mouth was watering, thinking about all that delicious Raman. It was like he had forgotten all about buying Sasuke and Sakura lunch. He started to run to the Raman shop.

"Naruto!!!" Sakura yelled after him. She sighed. "We'd better catch him before he forgets about buying us lunch."

Sasuke agreed and they went to catch up to Naruto. When they got there, it was packed. It was about thirty minutes before they got a seat at the counter. They sat down on a comfy bar stool.

Naruto heard a voice say, "May I take your order?"

"I will have a large Raman," replied Sasuke.

"I will have a low-fat Raman," Sakura said Naruto looked up at their waiter.

"Hey, you're that kid I was chasing before!" yelled Naruto, already bursting for a fight.

"Sorry about that," said Daisuke.

"Hey, kid," said Sasuke directing it at Daisuke. "What is your name?" Daisuke stopped.

"That's right," he said, "We were never introduced. My name is Daisuke Niwa. Very nice to meet you." As he was passing out drinks, he said, "I am sorry, what was that you wanted again, sir?" He had directed the question at Naruto.

Naruto hesitated to say, "A large Raman please."

Daisuke yelled back to the chef and said " Two large Raman's and one Low-Fat Raman." Daisuke grabbed three plates from the back and threw them up to each place matt. Then he grabbed three water glasses. He slipped with the water glasses in hand but managed to put them at each place before he fell. He got back up and grabbed the Raman dishes. He threw them to each place and then said "Enjoy." Sasuke and Sakura dug in, but Naruto hesitated. He looked around for any poisons, thinking that Daisuke might try to poison him for what he did before. After the food checked out, he dug in.

"Like I said, I'm real sorry about before…"

Naruto finally said, "Whatever."

"So, Daisuke, where do you come from?" asked Sakura.

"I'm from Japan"

"Oooookkkkkk" said Naruto. Then Naruto asked this question, "Why did you fall on me this morning?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said Daisuke rubbing his head.

"Try us," said Sasuke. So Daisuke told them the whole story of Dark the Phantom Thief and about the Tempest Amulet. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had their mouths wide open.

"I told you wouldn't believe me," said Daisuke.

"Well, we should have believed you when you said 'You wouldn't believe me'" said Sakura.

"Now, I have a question for you," said Daisuke. "What town is this?"

"You are in the Hidden Leaf Village!" said Sakura. They explained to him that this village produces the ninja for the land of Fire. They also explained that with a certain amount of money, you could hire Ninja to help you with a task.

"So, I can hire ninja here to help me with a job," said Daisuke, "Interesting"

He thought to himself "Maybe if I hire ninja, they could help me catch Krad and get the other half of the amulet."

"Thanks for the info. What the heck, a second round of Raman for all of you, on the house!" Naruto was very happy.

"Alright!!! That's what I'm talking about!!!" yelled Naruto.

"Now, all I have to do is watch for signs of Krad and I can mobilize this plan!" said Daisuke to Dark.

"But we still don't know where will live until he does" said Dark. "Apparently this is a ninja world. We don't know if they even have civilized society, let alone a hotel."

Daisuke then asked Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, "Are there any hotels in this area."

"Yes", said Sakura, "but it's shut down do to infestation. Are you asking because you don't have a place to live? Naruto lives by himself, maybe he will let you stay with him." Just then, Naruto spit out his food and turned red.

"What!" yelled Naruto. "You want me to house a guy after he fell on top of me!"

"Naruto, you do owe him after you overreacted and tried to kill him!" yelled Sakura, getting angry as well. And then Daisuke imagined them fighting in a boxing match with Sakura throwing the knockout punch. Finally, after all the argument, Naruto caved.

"Fine, I'll do it," said Naruto with a sigh.

"I wouldn't want to intrude," said Daisuke

"You'll do it," said Sakura, starting to get angry.

"All right," said Daisuke waving his hands around back and forth. Then he whispered to Naruto "Gee, she has anger issues."

"Yeah, I know."

"What did you say," yelled Sakura.

"We should run now, right?" Daisuke asked Naruto

"Yeah, we should," said Naruto, aware of Sakura's true power.

*******

"We lost her," said Naruto, relieved that he had escaped Sakura's fists. "Come on, I promised Sakura I would house you for now." They walked down the street and past the alley. The kicked the small pebbles past the houses. Just then, Naruto felt some wind come up from behind. Naruto was lifted up into the air with force and hit the ground face first.

"That will teach him," said Sakura, who lifted her hand and blew on it. She looked at the off guard Daisuke, who was still disturbed. "Now for you!" She threw a punch in which Daisuke dodged by jumping high into the air. Sakura threw more punches and Daisuke kept dodging. She finally gave up and said, "You're good." She walked away.

"How did you do that," asked Naruto, looking at him shocked.

"I have a mother that keeps me on my toes."

"I never knew my parents at all."

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah well, don't worry about it." They walked up to Naruto's apartment. He opened the door. Daisuke saw instant ramen everywhere. "Sorry about the mess, I haven't cleaned up lately.

"That's all right."

"It's a mess, there's no way I'm sleeping here," said Dark.

"Well you don't have to be so rude. Wait a sec, your mouth wasn't moving. Ahhhh! Your story was true!"

"Naruto, I'd like you to meet the 'other me', Dark!"

(A/N): I will explain in the next chapter. Please Review. I would like your criticism.