Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Naruto woke up to the dull thud of kunai hitting trees, the same sound that woke him every morning since he was taken from Konoha. Sighing, he got out of the sleeping bag, knowing the trouble he would be in if Itachi caught him awake and not getting ready for the day. Naruto did not really mind the fact that he always woke up early due to the sounds of training, in fact he viewed it as training for the time when he took watches at night, as was the cost of traveling with a missing nin.

"Happy birthday Naruto."

'Oh yah, today's my birthday,' Naruto thought before asking, "Are we going to go to a town and get ramen?"

"Yes."

Struggling to keep the excitement from showing on his face, Naruto started packing up the campsite, knowing they would not stay here another night. Itachi laughed on the inside at the site of the small boy trying to roll up both sleeping bags at the same time so that they might get to the ramen quicker.

"I'll do this one," Naruto looked at Itachi with a look of surprise. "What? I can't help pack camp?"

Itachi understood why Naruto was surprised, ever since they left Konoha, Naruto's job was to pack the campsite in the morning unless they were attacked by hunter nin. With Itachi's help they were finished twice as fast.

"Come on Itachi!" Naruto laughed, not being able to hold back his feelings any longer.

Itachi followed the blond grumbling in his head that the blond always got too excited at the prospect of ramen.

Time skip

'How can that little boy eat all that ramen?' was the thought that everyone who saw the amount of food Naruto was eating crossed their mind. Fifteen bowls were piled up beside him, much to the annoyance of his dark haired companion.

"I thought we agreed to keep the number of bowls down to ten."

"Sorry," was the reply in between bites. "You know I can't help but eat this much."

Both Naruto and Itachi were under a henge to prevent any attacks from those who might be after them. Naruto appeared to have long, shaggy, brown hair and was an inch shorter than his normal height while Itachi had hair that was a shade lighter than naruto's, blue eyes, and was a half inch taller than normal. Though they looked different, Itachi's guard was still up.

"I'm done," Naruto said out loud, causeing a chorus of laughters from the small that gathered to watch the amazing feat of a seven year old eating more than anyone else.

Itachi ignored everyone as he payed for the expensive meal.

"Why don't you talk more?" Naruto asked, careful not to say Itachi's name as someone could recognize the missing nin.

"I don't want to."

Naruto pouted, keeping silent for the rest of the trip out of town.

Time skip

Naruto was struggling with the new jutsu that Itachi was trying to teach him.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, smearing blood on a small tattoo on his arm.

Instead of the small poof of smoke that usually accompanied the apearence of a summon.

"Too much chakra, Naruto."

Trying again, Naruto finally managed to get the correct amount of chakra for the personal summon correct. A large panther was sitting in front of him.

"About time you summoned me," the big cat said sarcastically.

The blond pouted, "It's your fault for having such a low amount of chakra needed to summon you."

"How is it my fault?"

"I don't know."

Itachi sighed, he should have known it was a bad idea to have Naruto's personal summon have the same attitude. Both were stubborn and liked to argue when it was not necessary to be serious. The two started to bicker, filling the quiet forest, alerting any shinobi of their position.

"Stop it you two, we don't want any unnecessary attention," Itachi announced, stopping the argument from getting any louder. "Naruto, since it's your birthday, we will stop training early."

"Fine, I'll go, but before I do, I should tell you my name," the panther sighed, slightly annoyed at getting sent away just after he had been summoned. "My name is Hoshi Hitori."

"Hai."

Hitori disappeared, leaving the two humans to return to their camp.

A little ways away

A dark figure watched the two walk back.

"Who knew the famous missing nin, Itachi was in the company of the nine tails," the figure chuckled.