Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

Piece of the Puzzle

Chapter 6: Recipe for Love

Momo stood outside a hobby shop, where she had just purchased the items she needed for one of her gifts for Naruto. It was the same shop where she purchased her bonsai care supplies. With that taken care of, Momo moved on to the next part of her plan.

'It will take some time to complete this, so I'll have to go with my back-up plan. I'm sure he'll still like it, and I was going to learn how to do this eventually.'

Dropping off her supplies at home, she changed into her best formal wear, a light green kimono with a peach tree motive that her mother gave her for her birthday. Momo would have to look her best if she was going to pay a visit to the head of the Hyuuga clan.

If someone were to ask what Naruto loved the most, some would say the village he was born in, despite his past. Others would say his former team-mate Sakura, though that has changed from a romantic interest to that of a sibling bond. Where it stands now is unknown.

For those closest to him, they might joke that Naruto loves ramen more then anything else. That is why Momo wanted to meet Hyuuga Hinata, the best known ramen chef in the village to learn from her. With any luck, once Naruto tasted Momo's cooking, he would grow to love her as well.

Momo, despite her own love of tsukemen and it's similarities to ramen, did not know how to make it. Thus Momo had decided to seek out Hinata to learn how to do so.

Momo considered asking Ayame or Teuchi, but they would be busy running the restaurant, or enjoying retirement. Meeting them discreetly would also be a problem, well not so much in Teuchi's case. Also, they spent a lot of time cooking ramen, but not eating it. While they still enjoyed ramen, it was not as much as one would think.

Therefore Hinata had been the best person to seek out for help. Not only was she a great cook, but was also one the few people who had ever beaten Naruto in a ramen eating competition.

Hinata loved ramen almost as much as Naruto. If she were to make ramen for him, she would put all of that love into it, as well as the love she once, or may still have for him. That is why Momo wanted to learn how to make it, so she can show her love for Naruto as well.

Soon enough, Momo had gained entry to the Hyuuga estate. She had been let in discretely by a former classmate in the former branch house so she could meet Hinata without anyone finding out. Momo wanted to keep her reasons for being here a secret so as not to spoil her surprise for Naruto.

When she was finally able to meet with Hinata, Momo decided to tell her most of her reasons for wanting to see her. Hinata's skills with the byakugan would allow her to tell if Momo was lying, so Momo would have to be as truthful as she could.

The only thing she was careful not to reveal was her feelings for Naruto, as the age difference between the two might cause any adults who discovered them to interfere with her relationship with Naruto before it had a chance to begin.

Luckily for Momo, Hinata accepted her reason's for wanting to learn from her. Momo simply explained she wanted to learn how to cook ramen for Naruto as a thank you for the pair of tonfa, and for taking his own time to train her. Hinata suspected an ulterior motive for Momo's desire to please Naruto, but did not act on it.

It was a known fact to everyone that Hinata harboured a crush on Naruto for quite some time, even to Naruto himself. She had confessed to him shortly after Sasuke and Sakura became a couple.

Naruto however, did not return her feelings. He had hardly interacted with her, and considered Hinata to be just a friend. She was devastated, but the two of them eventually became closer friends, and it was Hinata's support that kept Naruto from losing himself in his pair over his own heartbreak.

So when Momo came to Hinata with her request, Hinata instantly knew the girl's true intentions. Having lost her chance at happiness with Naruto, and not wanting Momo to feel that pain, Hinata agreed to help Momo in whatever way she could.

Thus Hinata spent the remainder of the day teaching Momo how to cook ramen. It was not just any ramen she was teaching Momo to cook, but a recipe passed down from Uzumaki Kushina herself, Naruto's mother.

After Naruto and Hinata became better friends, he learned of her cooking skills and gave her copies of his mother's recipes, not needing them himself. There were quite a few recipes for ramen amongst them, as salt ramen was Kushina's favourite food.

Momo had not known of them, but was happy to have them. If it had been possible to ask Neji to comment on it, he might have claimed that Momo and Naruto were fated to be together, and Hinata having Kushina's recipes was a good sign.

Thanks to Momo's near-photographic memory and sharingan, learning the recipes had been easy. Momo did not have Hinata's years of experience though, so her ramen would not be perfect. Momo did not mind, as by the time she and Naruto became a real couple she would have enough practice.

By the time the sun was beginning to set, Momo had cooked a batch of ramen that had been called "acceptable" by Hinata. Considering her and Naruto's standards, that was significant for only a few hours of work. Hinata told Momo that Naruto should still like it, as she cooked it just for him and he would appreciate the sentiment.

Sealing the ramen away in a scroll to keep it piping hot for their lunch tomorrow, Momo returned home for dinner with her family. Sakura had, in what some would call a case of irony, cooked tsukemen for Momo as a special treat, who now had a greater appreciation for how Teuchi and Ayame must feel.

That night Momo crashed into bed. The supplies she had gathered for her other gift for Naruto were still in their bags. Normally it would only take her a few days to complete it, but with her training and the physical and mental exhaustion she was being put under, it might take several.

Momo decided that she would instead give that present to Naruto at the end of their training. That would give her plenty of time to work on it. Hopefully he would like it, and understand its meaning.

It was the next day, and it was clear that Naruto and Momo had fell into a routine. She would eat breakfast with her family and meet Naruto at the training grounds. Once again he had been held up by Kakashi, but he at least explained why this time.

"So it turns out that as soon as I woke up, Kakashi-sensei began preparing for me to take over for him. I already had the power and reputation for the job, so all I needed was the experience and training, in addition to learning of all the changes to the world during my coma." He explained to Momo.

She had simply asked Naruto what he did in his morning meetings. As the daughter of Kakashi's former students, she had met him before, as well as Tsunade through Sakura.

Momo was amazed by her family's connections, as most are not that close with their village's leaders. That was not what she was focused on right now though.

'My parents are former students of the two previous Hokage, but Naruto-sensei is the son of one, a distant relative of three more, was close to the other one, and will be Hokage himself someday. He's connected to every Hokage!'

Naruto continued in his explanation, while Momo watched him in awe.

"All I do every morning is help him with his paperwork. I use my shadow clones to sort through it all and delegate the unimportant items. Kakashi-sensei has been showing me how to do it all."

That was not all that Naruto learned.

"It's actually not as bad as everyone thinks it is. My guess is the other shadows just pretend they have a huge workload so everyone goes easy on them. If everyone knew about how little work they really have to do, they'd get swamped easily. So don't tell anyone else, okay? It'll be our little secret."

Momo smiled and nodded, very glad that Naruto chose to trust her with that secret.

'Does that mean when he becomes Hokage I can visit him anytime while he's working without worrying about getting in his way?'

Years later, if you were to ask Naruto why he told Momo that secret on that day, he still would not have an acceptable answer. The best they could come up with is that it slipped out.

Regardless, by the time he was Hokage, Momo visited him quite frequently, and never worried about interfering with his work. Of course, by then their relationship had changed dramatically.

"Okay!" Naruto suddenly shouted. "It's time to get to training. We'll start with stretches, a light workout, and then we'll have a spar to see how good you are with your tonfa. Now let's go!"

Momo and Naruto then began their morning exercises, and Momo was very excited to be getting a chance to try out her new toys in action.

The duo had just finished their drills, and after a quick drink was ready to begin a sparring session. Momo only had practice with the stances for her tonfa, and was eager to test them out. Naruto however, had a surprise for her.

"Since your opponents in the exam are all close to your age instead of being adults, I'm going to make it a little easier on you."

Momo was confused by that, and grew even more so as Naruto put his hands into the ram seal and called out a technique that had no use in battle, at least none Momo knew of.

"Transform!" Naruto yelled, causing a poof of smoke to appear around him, and to quickly disappear revealing his twelve year old self, complete with orange jumpsuit.

Naruto, now appearing the same age as Momo, albeit shorter, stood with his right hand scratching the back of his neck, eyes closed, and grinning like a fox. It was a sight that was all too familiar for anyone who knew him when he was younger. Momo however, only had one thought about it.

'Is that what Naruto-sensei looked like when he was my age? He's so…cute!'

It took all of her willpower not to glomp Naruto right then and there. Before now, as Naruto was an adult, she merely considered him very handsome but knew nothing could happen between them until she was older.

Now, since Naruto appeared to be the same age as her, there was nothing holding back her urges. Luckily, Naruto spoke up again and brought her attention back on to her training.

"I figured it would be better if you had someone your own age to fight against, but since we're keeping your training a secret, I'd have to become a kid myself. I spent yesterday adjusting to my shorter body, so we should be about even."

Momo found Naruto's explanation acceptable. Unlike what most civilians thought, the transformation technique really is a true shape shift and not an illusion. It creates a shell of chakra that surrounds the user and adjusts their form according to the user's intent.

Some who are skilled enough with it can even change their mass to some degree, and change into any form they desire. Those who do so are very rare, as not many would consider mastering an e-rank technique, and they almost always end up becoming infiltrators.

The reason it's not used in battle more is that it's very easy to break the chakra shell. Only masters of the technique like Naruto, whose affinity with the technique was unreal, could use it in combat. He was known for having shadow clones take the form of any weapon he desired.

Momo, while pondering Naruto's skill with transforming and what he could do with it, did not notice her ever increasing blush. Naruto did, and mistook it for something else.

"Hey Momo, are you alright?" He asked her. "Your face is really red. I think you might be sick."

Naruto walked up to Momo and took one of her hands in his own, holding her wrist to check her pulse and feel is she was getting hot. Naruto would have checked her forehead, but she was wearing her forehead protector over it.

That sent poor Momo over the edge.

'He's holding my hand! Squeee!'

Momo's thoughts brought her back from it.

'What the hell am I doing? The man I like, err, boy, umm, whatever, anyway, he's starts holding my hand and suddenly I'm almost squealing like some useless fangirl! I'm better then that!'

Momo suddenly jerked her hand away from Naruto. Pulling out her tonfa, she moved into a fighting stance.

"Okay, you said wanted a spar, so let's have one!" She said, challenging Naruto.

Her realization had kicked her shyness to the curb, and brought back the tough little girl she normally was. Momo would be taking things seriously from now on.

'It's time to show you what I'm really made of! I'm not a lovesick little girl, I'm Uchiha Momo, and you will be mine someday, believe it!'

They really were meant for each other.

Naruto, who, moments ago was worried for his student's health was glad to see her ready to go.

'I guess it was just the heat that made her red. She's ready to go now, so no point in keeping her waiting.'

"Alright, but I'm not holding back either! Shadow clone technique!"

Eight more copies of Naruto appeared in a poof of smoke. It appeared with Naruto's youthful appearance his old tactics came back too.

Momo quickly took note of each clone's location. She had her sharingan off, as she did not feel the need for it yet. The clones seemed to have formed a spiral pattern around her, with three lengths of three clones, and were running in a circular pattern while holding it.

'I get it. This way three stay close to me while the others act as support. I'll have to be careful as my back is always exposed. The real Naruto-sensei must be in the back of one of the columns.'

Momo decided to make the next move. Her illusions were out, as Naruto could just flare his chakra to disrupt them and the fire release: great fireball would take too much time to use. That only left her with taijutsu and her tonfa, which was what she needed to work on anyway.

Having analyzed the movements of the clones nearest to her, she made her move. Thrusting her left arm behind her, Momo struck a clone just as it passed by her with the end of her tonfa, dispelling it. That caused the other two closest to her to attack.

The next two clones charged forward, one engaging Momo in taijutsu and the other hurling kunai and shuriken. Momo was forced to split her attention onto defending against both of them. Luckily her tonfa helped dramatically. She was able to parry the attacks of the first clone while deflecting the attacks of the other.

Finally Momo was able to recognize an opening in the first clone's attacks. Capitalizing on it, she hit the clone hard, dispelling it, creating a cloud of smoke. Using it as a cover, she charged forward and knocked out the other clone, dispelling it as well.

Now only six clones remained. The next group moved forward, but Momo was ready for them. Even without her sharingan active, she knew Naruto's movements well enough now to counter his attacks with ease. So when three clones charged forward, she was ready.

Or Momo thought she was. As soon as one of the clones took a swing at her, she ducked and moved forward to strike it, only to pass through the clone as if it was not there.

Momo did not have much time to figure out what happened, as the outer ring of Narutos went on the offensive. One ran and made a sweeping leg attack, knocking Momo's feet and legs into the air. Another hit her in the back with its knee, launching her upward. Finally, while she was in midair, the last Naruto jumped up and delivered a kick to her stomach with a reverse heel drop, sending her crashing to the ground. Momo was left in rough shape, but otherwise unhurt.

'I feel like the wind was just knocked out of me. What happened?'

Naruto dispelled his remaining shadow clones and went to Momo's side, still in his younger looking form.

"Are you okay? I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" He asked her.

Momo, still clutching her stomach, slowly sat up to answer.

"I'll be fine, it was just my pride that was really hurt. What happened?"

Naruto just put his hand behind his neck again, and grinned a bit. Momo was finding it very cute, but had much better control over her emotions. That, and she had just been literally kicked around by him so she was more focused on her wounded pride.

"I used a variant of my Uzumaki Naruto combo on you. It's based off your dad's lion combo that he copied from Rock Lee."

Momo nodded at that answer. She knew of the move by reading about his match against Kiba in their first chunin exams. The exact details of the match had been lost somehow, so she learned an altered version of events.

"That I understand, but what was really embarrassing was falling for the basic clone technique." Momo said, her shame from doing so quite evident.

Naruto's eyes shot open in surprise, but quickly turned back to normal as he smiled at his student.

"So you figured it out, but how?" He asked her.

"Easy, the grass. It's pushed down where the shadow clones were running in circles but still undisturbed where the normal clones were running." Momo replied.

Indeed, the grass was flat in a circle around Momo, and at a distance from her. In between it was just fine.

"Yeah, I've caught quite a few people off guard that way. Mixing different types of clones together is fun. There are even some people out there who think I still don't know how to do the basic clone technique, and I'm not about to correct them." Naruto said with a grin, his young trickster side still alive inside of his more mature adult self.

Momo, not yet noticing Naruto just revealed another of his secrets to her, after taking several deep breaths, and several gulps of water, made it to her feet.

"Do you feel better now?" Naruto asked her.

"I'm okay. I just need to rest for a bit." Momo, who immediately fell back on her bottom, responded before resigning to lying on the grass.

"In that case, why don't we take a break for now, and get some lunch later. We can resume after that. I'll take it easier too." Naruto suggested.

He then lay down on the grass next to Momo, with his hands behind his head. Looking over at Momo, it appeared the girl had fallen asleep.

'She's kind of cute like that. I bet even Sasuke would agree. No wonder the guy is so much happier these days with a family like his.'

Naruto's mood grew somber then, as his thoughts turned sadder.

'Will I ever find anyone and have a family of my own? All the girls I knew are now women married with families of their own, and the single ones are all much younger then me. Mentally I'm only about twenty though, and physically as well. I wonder how I should deal with this.'

Naruto's train of thought was brought to a halt as Momo began to stir in her sleep. Before Naruto could move, the girl rolled over and into him, snuggling herself into him. Momo's head was just under his chin and her arms were wrapped around his chest.

Knowing he could not move now without waking Momo up, Naruto settled for wrapping his own arms around her, causing Momo to moan in contentment.

'You know, this is kind of nice.' Naruto thought regarding his present situation.

If only someone had a camera, or could draw a picture of the future couple, it really was a lovely sight.

Author's Notes: As of 16/03/12, the date the revision for this chapter was posted, I'm still waiting for someone to draw that last scene.

I didn't write out the scene with Momo and Hinata as I felt I'd rather focus on Naruto and Momo, and I wasn't sure how to do it. I do have an idea for a prequel about Momo's life, from her younger years to being an academy student and eventually a genin, with some added details about the events in her life after meeting Naruto not covered in this story. I might make that scene between her and Hinata then. If I do though, it won't be for quite some time.

Another point I realized while revising this chapter is that the month of training takes place in February and I completely forgot about Valentine's Day, which would have yielded some major development between Naruto and Momo. Instead of adding a scene including it to one of these older chapters, that event will be dealt with in a later chapter of the story that deals with their relationship taking a romantic turn, as opposed to a teacher/student bond.