The putrid stench was the first thing to assault Naruto's nose when he entered the building. He recognized that smell from the alley, it was revolting. This was not the only smell there was in the building. The other smells made his stomach rumble and gurgle. Looking around Naruto noted how the bar looked. The wooden walls had dark blue paint over them, with some paint scarping off showing the wood underneath. Situated on the walls were various decorations. Pictures of shinobi, and trinkets lie where the pictures did not cover, various headbands hung on the wall with different engravings on them, and finally a sword with different engravings on it. It had lollipops on it, just like the sword from that night.
Glancing over his shoulder Asahi beckoned Naruto forward, " Come on, back here is where the Kitchen is. There should be some food left over for you."
Not bothering with a response, Naruto picked up his pace to follow Asahi. He passed by wooden tables, some were spotless while others had crumbs and sauce on them. Some chairs were pushed in, while some were not. It was quite messy in here.
Asahi passed by the bar and entered the kitchen. Naruto only caught a glimpse of what was inside when Asahi opened the door. From what he saw it looked nice. Way nicer than what he had back at home. Pots and Pans hung vertically on the wall; the cabinets were sparkling silver. Naruto had never seen something that color or that reflective inside a building. It was just like looking at the water.
When Naruto arrived at the door that was swishing back and forth, he pushed it and entered the kitchen. Once in Naruto spotted Asahi gathering various food left around the counters and placing them on a little table near the back. With only two chairs sticking it out on both ends.
The man looked up after he placed the last plate of food and smiled at Naruto. "Well don't just stand there come over and eat."
Naruto didn't know what to say he never thought the man was going to give him that much food he only assumed it was going to be at most a plate with barely anything on it. He didn't expect five plates filled with all kinds of food some he recognized and others he didn't. He never ate that much in the Orphanage. He didn't know what to do, no one has ever shown this much kindness to him. He started to tear up as he walked towards the food. He rubbed his eyes trying to not let the tears form and show. " Are you sure you want to give me all this?"
The man's smile slipped and his gaze softened, " Don't cry kid, this is all leftovers. This doesn't hurt me one bit. I'd rather help out a kid than throw all this food away into the trash." He finished with a small smile slipping back on and gestured toward the food.
Naruto made his way over to the unoccupied side, pulled out the chair, and sat down. He rubbed his eyes one last time and gave one final sniffle before setting his eyes on the food. Up close the food looked amazing and smelled even better, he never saw food that looked this well. Rubbing the back of his head he sheepishly asked, " Hey, uh what's all this food." He recognized some to be meats, but none of them had that red color. They all had the same color as the meat from the orphanage. There were even some plates where the meat was hiding in a bun.
Pointing to the different plates he explained. "Well, all the plates have a meat, carb, and a veggie. The three to your left are steaks with a side of potatoes and asparagus. The two on your right are cheeseburgers, french fries, and a pickle. If you consider a pickle, a vegetable.
Naruto never heard of such names before. He only ate what was served at the Orphanage and didn't ask what it was. Now he could finally put a name to some of the food they served at the orphanage. He recognized the steak and the potato. The other foods on the plates he didn't recognize but the cheeseburger and french fries looked very good. His stomach let out an agreement in the form of a gurgle causing both men to chuckle.
"Well dig in before the food gets even colder." Asahi gestured down to the food.
Naruto didn't wait any longer and started to dig into the food. He started from the right with the cheeseburgers. He wanted to eat something new, not the steak that he had before. He didn't like the steak it was always rubbery and took forever to chew. Taking a bite out of the cheeseburger he let out a little whimper. Not loud enough to be heard, but just loud enough for Naruto to hear. He never tasted anything this good before, his mouth tingled with the flavors exploding in his mouth. Convulsions ran across his body and tingles appeared all across his body. Before he knew it the burger was gone and he moved on to the fries. The same reaction happened as he ate the fries, he never tasted anything like this before. He didn't know that food could be this good.
After finishing Naruto got up from his seat and walked over to Asahi with the plates. He never ate so much food before and never had food that tasted that good. His stomach let out a gurgle in protest at being so full.
"Here are the plates," Naruto said placing the plates on the table in front of the man. "What do you want me to do with these?"
Glancing down at the empty plates Asahi chuckled before pointing towards the sink. "Just put the plates over at the empty sink and I'll clean them later. "
Naruto subconsciously rubbed the back of his head and blushed when the man turned his attention back onto him. He was embarrassed by how much he ate and he didn't want to be a burden to the man. He picked up the plates and walked over to the sink.
"When you're done with the plates, come out and meet me at the bar. I want to talk to you Naruto." He said as he walked out the door, with it swishing behind him.
After he dumped the plates, Naruto followed the man into the bar. He saw him sitting in one of the bar chairs. Waiting for him. Once Asahi heard the door swing back and forth he focused his attention on Naruto. Naruto became uncomfortable under the anyalizing gaze and stared down at his feet as he walked over to the seat next to Asahi.
As Naruto sat down the man asked, " Why are you so nervous, Naruto?"
Staring behind the man and not making eye contact Naruto answered, "It's just that no one has ever done something like this to me before. I don't want to upset you with something I might say and you start to treat me like the other villagers." Finally gazing into the man's eyes, a blush was beginning to form.
" Look at me Naruto. If you be yourself, I'm not going to treat you any differently. " As they looked each other in the eyes, Naruto could note concern in the eyes. His heart started to beat faster and tears again threatened to form. He never felt this type of emotion before, no one ever gave him this much attention or concern. Naruto didn't know what to do "To me you're just a street brat that ran into me." Well, that ruined the moment.
"Hey, don't call me a brat old man." Naruto pointed his finger at the man as he stood up. Naruto didn't feel nervous anymore and wasn't worried anymore about upsetting the man. "Plus this brat could kick your butt." Pointing back at himself.
The man raised an amused eyebrow at the newly invigorated blonde. "What makes you think that I couldn't beat your butt?"
"Because you're an old man." Sticking out his tongue at the old man.
For a response, the man disappeared in a plume of smoke. The smoke cleared and it left Naruto stunned. How did he do that? Where did he go? Questions filled Naruto's mind as he swept his eyes around the room.
Without warning two hands picked Naruto by the armpits, flipped him upside down, and dropped him on his head. A thud, a groan, and snickers of laughter were the only sounds in the bar. Naruto had his face planted down into the ground and his butt stuck up into the air. Naruto scrambled out of the compromising position and onto his feet. The hands grabbed from above, so Naruto looked above him. The old man was holding back his laughter while filing his fingernails. He wasn't doing a good job because Naruto could see him smirking and little trembles ran through his body. Wait how's he doing that? How did he disappear and appear on the ceiling?
Thrusting a finger towards the man, "You-You damn bastard. How'd you do that and why'd you do that."
"A test of character and please no swearing. The sign says no swearing and if you swear one more time. I will have to throw you out." The man still filled away at his fingernails as he started to walk to the kitchen.
Naruto followed the man trying to jump and hit him. "That." One punch. Miss. "Didn't." Second punch. Miss. "Answer" Before he could finish the old man grabbed his arm, flipped him around, and let go. Naruto lost his balance and face-planted into the ground again.
"Still think you can beat me brat."
"No," Naruto grumbled getting up and looking back at Asahi. He put the file away and was giving Naruto a cocky smile.
"Hmmm, what did you say I couldn't hear you." The old man flipped his ears towards Naruto, causing further frustration to bubble.
"I said, no." He glared at the man and the man let an earthy chuckle. He dropped to the ground flipping himself to land on his feet and walked back into the kitchen. Naruto followed, his frustration forgotten and replaced by curiosity. He wanted to know how the man did it. He ran to catch up to the man and entered the kitchen. He was washing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher when Naruto ran in.
"How'd you did you do all of that." Naruto located himself right next to the sink and directly above the dishwasher. The man could not ignore his questions now.
The man had a smirk on his face as he cleaned the plates and loaded them. He knew exactly what Naruto was talking about. "What did I do exactly."
Naruto groaned, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. The walking on the ceiling. The disappearing in a plume of smoke." Naruto arm's flailed around trying to demonstrate what he was saying.
A look of realization came upon the man's face. "Ohhhh that. You should have said that from the beginning."
Naruto waited for the old man to continue but he didn't. He just kept on cleaning and loading the plates. The smirk continued to grow bigger and bigger, the longer the silence went on. Naruto couldn't stand the silence and broke. "Well… Are you going to answer the question?"
"Hmmmm, trade secret. Only employees can know that secret. The old man was now furiously scrubbing at a plate, seemingly trying not to break character.
"So, let me work I will become your first employee." Naruto smiled satisfied that he caught the man in a trap. How could he say no to his first employee?
Asahi's smirk grew even bigger upon hearing the statement, " You're too young to work here kid. There is an age limit to work here."
"What's the age limit? I see kids my age all the time working in the market." A look of sadness appeared on the man's face before a thoughtful face quickly replaced it.
"Hmmmm about fifty years old." He turned his attention back to Naruto giving him a smile.
"Huhhh, fifty. You're lying. If it was fifty no one in the village would be working." The man finished cleaning the plates, and moved over to start cleaning the countertops.
Asahi chuckled drying his hands off on a towel. "The Hokage ordered this specific grand establishment to only hire above the age of fifty." Gesturing around the kitchen with hands to try to pick the grandness of the place. It didn't work.
"You're lying. You're pulling this out of your butt." Naruto proclaimed getting up from his spot and moving over to the man. He thrusted his finger towards the man. "You're lying! Now how did you do all those cool things?"
Asahi didn't look up from cleaning the tables he was spraying something on it and wiping it with a towel. "Guess kid. Use that brain of yours. Who in the village can do feats like that."
Backing away from the man Naruto thought. He's a shinobi. He has to be, it's similar to what the shinobi do at night. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Having found out the answer he responded, "You're a shinobi."
"I was a shinobi." The man turned somber and seemed to busy himself more with the cleaning.
Naruto pressed on, not releasing the sudden change in the man. "Why are you, not a shinobi anymore."
The man let out a gruff laugh, " I'm too old to be a shinobi, and being a shinobi sucks." The old man seemed to focus even more on cleaning after saying the last part.
"So… It's not like the stories."
"It's nothing like the stories."
The two settled into silence afterward, with Asahi spraying all the tops and Naruto rubbing them down. Two people told him that being a shinobi sucks. One directly and one indirectly. The doubt of being a shinobi increased tenfold.
Looking up from cleaning the tables and to Asahi who was directly on the opposite side of the table now. Naruto asked, "Do you think I will have to be a shinobi when I get older." Upon hearing that Asahi looked up at stared at Naruto. Naruto couldn't quite place the look that the old man was giving him, but he didn't like it. It was a mask of emotionless, it looked nothing like the joking Asahi earlier.
"I think you will be able to do whatever you want to do. Asahi looked down and began cleaning again, not looking back at Naruto. Naruto didn't see this because he was too caught up in his own thoughts.
"Two people have told me now that being a shinobi sucks. I don't think I want to be a shinobi anymore." It was supposed to be said in thought, but he accidentally said them out loud causing the man to look up at him again. It was the same look the man gave him earlier before he stopped and started cleaning again. The two worked silently through the night cleaning up the bar as Asahi told when he asked what this place was.
After putting the last chair onto the table, Asahi walked Naruto out of the bar and out the front. Naruto didn't know where this relationship with Asahi was going to lead but he liked where it was starting. He didn't know what this warm tingly sensation was going on inside him, but he liked it. He wanted it to stay.
Finally, outside the bar, Naruto asked, " Hey, old man can I come back tomorrow." Nervously glancing up at the man.
Ruffling his hair he responded, "Yes, you can brat. You can even come earlier. Come around eight, we close early tomorrow again."
With that Naruto walked home with a slight spring in his step and a big dopey grin on his face.