Naruto woke with a smile. Yesterday, he made his first friend, he didn't care that his friend wasn't the same age as him. He didn't care that the man was older than him. Naruto knew he was different and knew his friends were going to be different.

After deciding that it was time to get up, he rolled out of his bed and headed to the Kitchen. He wasn't that hungry so he grabbed a couple of snacks from the fridge and headed out the front door. He was still full from yesterday's feast, never in his life had he ever eaten that much or anything that good. No food could compare to the food he ate last night.

The problem that faced Naruto today was what he was going to do. He had to wait until eight before he could visit Asahi again. In the meantime, he had to find something to do to pass the time. The woods were out of the question. It would be his sixth day in a row going up into the woods; the woods were starting to get boring for him. He wanted to do something different.

Naruto ended up walking around lost in thought, scraping his head for ideas. His feet ended up taking him out of the market he lived in and onto the street where he saw the cool sword and other shinobi materials. Coming up with an idea, he snapped out of his thoughts and decided he wanted to do what Asahi did. He wanted to make food taste good. Again Naruto was lost in thought as he brainstormed on how to get better at cooking.

Naruto remembered back to the days in the Orphanage where the caretakers taught some of the kids. He remembered when the caretakers would teach the kids, but he couldn't remember what they would say. It lay out of reach, leaving him frustrated.

It wasn't until he bumped into a man causing him to look up at a building that he finally remembered. As he looked up into the building now in front of him, he saw books of all kinds inside. It was books! He remembered the caretaker saying if you ever want to learn something new books will always help you. Looking inside the building through the window he looked at the various covers trying to find the one he was looking for. Finally, he spotted the books that had the food covers that he wanted; he rushed inside and collected all of them. After he collected the books his arms were overflowing and had trouble balancing them as he walked over to the shopkeeper. He dumped them onto the cashier's table and gave the man a bright smile.

Not bothering to look down on the books the man simply said, "That will be one-thousand ryo."

Naruto's smile transformed into disbelief before he settled into outrage. "What do you mean one-thousand Ryo? You haven't even looked down on the books! " He flailed his hands around, earning a glance down from the man. Naruto looked around, people were starting to watch them after he finished.

"I don't need to look down to calculate the price of the books. You are not welcome in this shop. If you do not have the money then leave." It was curt, it was hurtful. The man finished with a sneer.

"This- this is crazy!" Naruto stopped to look up at the man, upon seeing the sneer he flinched. He tried to diffuse the situation. "How about one book? How much for one book." He grabbed a random book from the pile and tried to hand it to the man. The shopkeeper did not take it.

"The same price. Pay up or leave."

Hearing those final words, Naruto gave up and stormed out of the store. On his way, he passed a group of people listening to the conversation. They all moved out of the way when he cut through the group. He ended up back on the street, walking back to his apartment. He lazily kicked at a rock on the street, alternating each kick as soon as he caught up with it. "Stupid people." He muttered face downtrodden, he didn't know what he was going to do anymore. His plan for the day was ruined.

The rock ended up hitting a man walking toward Naruto. When the rock hit, the man didn't even look up from his book. His face was buried in the book, with only silver hair springing out. The silver hair didn't catch Naruto's attention, but it was the bright orange book. The book, the man had a book. He must know where to find other books. Something about this man put Naruto at ease like he knew him but he didn't.

Gathering his courage he went up and asked the man. "Hey, excuse me do you know where I can find any books?"

The man peeked out above his book his lone eye focused on Naruto. His other eye was hidden behind a mask. For a couple of seconds, the man looked at Naruto before burying his head back into the book. " Have you tried a bookstore, there is one right behind you."

"I tried that one, but the man gave me a crazy price. I even only offered to buy one book and it was still the same price." Naruto rambled his hand flying all around him letting out the built-up frustration.

"And how much was the price."

"One thousand Ryo."

After hearing that the man closed his book and focused his sole attention on Naruto. "Hmmm, that does seem a little outrageous. Well, there is the library. They give out free books"

The last part captured Naruto's attention. "Free books. I don't have to buy them?"

"Nope, you borrow it and return it when you're done."

"Awesome, where is the library?" The man briefly explained the lefts and the rights Naruto had to take and got a vague idea of the location. Some of the man's instructions flew in one ear and out the other but he got a general idea. He just wanted to go find some books. After the man was done, Naruto ushered a quick thank you and took off down the street. He only glanced back when the street ended and saw the man walk into the bookstore. Weird, he didn't even finish the book he was reading. Naruto didn't dwell and started to follow the man's directions to find the library.

The Library he found was next to the Hokage's building and was dull in comparison. It was a boring brown color, while the Hokage building was a vibrant red. The red stuck out from all the boring buildings that surrounded it. Naruto could spot people entering and leaving all the buildings in that area. Some people he could spot walking out, while others he could spot jumping onto the buildings. It looked to be one of the busiest areas in the village.

He walked through the crowds, avoiding people as he passed. Open, reaching the doors which he found open, he entered. The first thing Naruto noticed when he walked in was the desk with the lettering of fire engraved in it. And the man working it. Behind him Naruto could see hundreds of books, it had way more books than that old shop he visited earlier. It looked perfect.

The man looked up at the sound of footsteps and stared at Naruto. Both stared at other awkwardly. One stared bored while the other stared nervously.

"Can I help you?" The man drawled out breaking the silence.

"Do you know where the books for cooking are?" Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head uncomfortable with the man's staring.

The man sized him up looking from head to toe before responding, "You'll want the civilian cooking. You'll find that in the row that has the big number four on it, the books will be located towards the back."

"Ok, thanks." Naruto hurried away excited to finally get some books about cooking. Looking for the letter four Naruto made his way through the library. It was so quiet in the library, he never experienced this level of quietness in a public place before. The only sound was a door opening to go downstairs that opened every once in a while to let Shinobi out. Some looked young and others looked old. Naruto liked this place, it was quiet, and no one cared that he was there. Even the man earlier didn't seem to care about him.

Finally reaching the bookshelf with the big letter four, he followed the man's instructions and headed toward the back. The books he found in the back were nothing like the books in the shop. They were old and musty. He found one book with a picture of food on the front, but the others around it didn't have any pictures. He wanted books with pictures, so he grabbed it and started to walk toward the exit.

Before he reached the exit the man working at the desk stopped him. "You have to check that book out before you go."

Naruto stopped and turned around, "Well how do I check it out?"

The man pinched his nose and let out a sigh, leaving Naruto blushing with embarrassment. "You give it to me and I check it out for you."

Naruto walked over and gave the book to the man. The man held out his other hand, expecting another thing.

"You can put your other hand away. I only have one book."

The man pinched his nose even harder and sighed. " I know you only have one book. I need your card."

Feeling around in his pockets and feeling nothing Naruto responded, "What card."

"It's a library card. To leave the library with a book you have to get a library card."

"Ohhhh, how do I get one?"

To Naruto, it seemed like the man was being held back by a string not to lose his composure. The string was losing the battle leaving Naruto embarrassed.

"You have to apply for one."

"Can I just read it here with no library card?"

"Yes." The man handed back the books to Naurto practically shooing him away. Naurot took the book and quickly found an open table. Once he found an open table, he sat down and opened the book. He was devastated by what he found inside. There was a picture on the right and words on the left. The picture did nothing to help him learn to cook, and he couldn't read. He could read very little, only what he picked up at the orphanage. When the caretakers helped the other kids with words. He grabbed his head in despair.

In defeat, he slammed the book shut and put his head down. His day was ruined how was he going to pass the time, learn how to cook, and impress Asahi with his newfound cooking ability? Dejectedly he got up from his seat and walked out of the library, the man at the desk not bothering to look up from whatever he was working on. He walked home, head hung and feet dragging through the dirt.

The day dragged on, every time Naruto checked the clock it was no closer to eight than before. Hours did not pass as he wished, only minutes passed. The minutes that did pass were minimal, and it left Naruto laying on his bed staring up at the ceiling.

To pass the time Naruto tried to will himself to sleep. It did not work and now to pass the time he simply stared up at the ceiling. He tried counting the specs on the ceiling but had to always stop at ten and restart. He didn't know what came after ten, after restarting so many times he became bored and gave up. So he rotted away on his bed, waiting until the time to leave.

The time eventually came, and Naruto hopped out of bed and ran out the door. The hours he experienced felt like years, never in his life had time passed that slowly and boringly.

By now the sun was starting to set and people were packing up the shops. Everyone was retiring for the day, but for Naruto, the true day was just beginning to start. Naruto entered a light jog not wanting to waste any more time and finally meet Asahi.

He came up to the bar and he entered. Unlike the last time he entered the cleaning was already done. The chairs were on top of the tables and the floor looked spotless. Looking around and not finding Asahi, Naruto made his way over to the kitchen.

Upon hearing footsteps Asahi looked up and gave Naruto a grin, "Just on time." Naruto returned the grin and walked over to Asahi sitting down in the open seat next to him. Asahi closed the book and focused his attention on Naruto. The food displayed in the book caught Naruto's attention, he didn't recognize the food but it looked good.

The book cut the string holding back Naruto's main question he wanted to save later. "Can you teach me to read?"

Asahi laughed at the question, "You came to a bar to learn how to read. Don't they teach you that at school?"

Naruto gave the man a confused look, "School? What is that."

Asahi stopped laughing after Naruto spoke gaining a more serious look. His attention was solely on Naruto, seemingly picking him apart. "You don't go to school?"

"No, I don't know what school is."

"School is where you learn. You sit with other kids your age and an adult teaches you. You've never been to one of those." The man gained a serious face, seemingly lost in thought.

"Nope," Naruto replied popping the p. "So, will you teach me how to read."

"I'll try, I haven't taught a kid reading before. You want me to teach you anything else?"

"Yeah, I also want you to teach me how to cook."

Asahi started to laugh again, leaving Naruto blushing and scratching the back of his head. "You came to ask a barkeeper to teach you to cook when bars are known for their cheap and bad food.

Naruto's face turned even more red than before. "Well, I didn't bars were known for their bad food. And you're the only person I know, my only friend."

Asahi stopped laughing and gave Naruto a saddened look. "Look kid, I'll try my best but I'm no expert in either category. But I'll give you my best if you give me your best."

Naruto gave Asahi a bright smile and stood up from his seat. "Alright old man, where do we start." Naruto rubbed his hands together looking around the room. Naruto received a slap on the back of the head and whirled on the man. "Hey, what was that for old man."

"If I'm going to teach you. None of that old man stuff. I'm not old. Im just aging."

"That's only what old people say."

"I'm not old."

"Yes, you are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"I'm not arguing with you anymore Brat, I'm not that old. I'm as healthy as an ox."

"I won." Naruto pumped his fist in the air celebrating the tiny victory. He earned a glare from the old man. "So what are we starting with first? The food or the books."

The old man grumbled about brats before he answered, "I'll teach you to cook first then for an hour we'll sit down and I'll teach you to read."

Naruto responded by smiling up at Asahi, while the old man ruffled his hair. Naruto slapped the hand away and Asahi simply responded by ruffling it again. The cycle repeated before Naruto relented letting the man ruffle his hair without receiving punishment.

Asahi then began to teach Naruto the basics of cooking. The different rules in the kitchen, going over the different equipment. Different foods, foods that you had to store in the refrigerator, or foods that didn't need to go into the refrigerator. Naruto paid rapt attention hanging onto every word Asahi said. The boy's attentiveness surprised Asahi, he didn't think the brat would pay attention to the rules at all. Then Asahi started to explain the meats.

"Wait you have to cook the meats," Naruto questioned breaking the lecture.

"Yes, you have to cook the meats. If you don't then whoever consumes the uncooked meat will get sick."

"Oh"

"Have you been eating meat that hasn't been cooked?"

"Maybe."

"Naruto."

"Yes, yes. I didn't know that you had to cook the meat. I just thought the red meat and the brown meat were different kinds of meat.

Asahi gave Naruto an exaggerated look. Naruto simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well, I guess you didn't know between right and wrong." Asahi moved on and started to explain the other various etiquettes in the kitchen.

Time seemed to fly by as the lecturing went on and only slowed when Asahi wanted Naruto to cook something. Naruto was unsure he never cooked something before. He had a stove at his house but he never used it before because he didn't know what it was. Now Asahi wanted him to cook something.

Seeing his nervousness Asahi tried to calm Naruto down, "Look, you'll never get good at something until you practice it. Just like reading if you don't practice it, then you'll never be good. Now let's start with something simple like cooking an egg." Asahi finished and went to go grab an egg from the fridge. He gave it to Naruto who only look backed up confused.

"What's an egg?"

Asahi failed to mention the eggs when he explained to Naruto the different foods. He forgot how ignorant Naruto could be. "An egg comes from a chicken and is usually served at breakfast. It is easy to cook and can be cooked easily. That's why you're cooking it for your first time."

"Hmmm, ok." Naruto held the egg up to his face inspecting it. He never saw something like this before, he didn't know how people ate this. It was hard on the outside and it felt like nothing was on the inside.

Asahi started to explain the various steps to Naruto, who copied the steps as he spoke them. "So first go grab a skillet from the wall. Put Olive Oil on it and turn the flame on. Now when you crack the egg you want to do it gently but not too gently that it won't crack."

Naruto followed Asahi's directions gently taping the egg on the counter. He taped it too gently because it didn't crack. The next time he put more force and caused cracks to appear on the egg.

"Okay, good. Now put your thumbs in the crack and open the egg."

Naruto continued to follow the directions and eventually cooked an egg. It wasn't the prettiest, Asahi said this kind was the sunnyside up. The Yok was cracked but Naruto didn't care. He cooked something for the first time. Asahi said it was good for the first time. He beamed when Asahi said it was good.

At first, Naruto only wanted to learn how to cook to make good food. When he got praised for cooking that egg he fell in love with that feeling. He wanted to become the best cook he could and wanted to impress everybody with the food he made. A month ago being a shinobi was something he might have considered, but now the thought was all but forgotten. He didn't want to be miserable serving as a shinobi when he could be happy cooking food. A dream began to form and grow, a dream to own his own restaurant one day and get praised for his food. Hope formed in Naruto's chest.

"Hellooo, you in there?" Asahi asked waving his hand in front of Naruto's face. Once he saw Naruto register what he said and look up at him, he continued. "Now that we are done with the cooking. It's time to teach you how to read."

Reading turned out to be Naruto's nightmare. He couldn't sit still and constantly lost focus when Asahi helped him. He knew very minimal and had a hard time. Asahi lost his patience multiple times with Naruto but they worked through it. By the end of the hour, Naruto had a throbbing headache, and Asahi looked about ready to throttle Naruto.

Asahi got up from his chair and ruffled Naruto's hair. "You did good brat. If you would stop being less annoying. I might even start to like you."

Naruto slapped Asahi's hand away. "I'm only annoying because you're jealous of me."

Asahi scoffed, "Jealous? No, it's because you wouldn't stop squirming and asking random questions. Half the time you didn't even read."

"It's not my fault that reading is sooo boring. I don't know how anyone can sit and read."

"You'll learn to like it when you're older."

"No, I won't."

"Fine, let's make a bet then."

"Deal."

"You haven't even heard of the deal yet."

"Don't need to. I will never be caught reading with a book."

"The bet is if I catch you over the age of sixteen reading a book for pleasure, then you owe me one thousand Ryo."

"Old man, you just lost one-thousand Ryo."

Both of them shook on it. Both of them were confident that they would win the one-thousand Ryo. Naruto let out a yawn, which was soon followed by a yawn from Asahi. Signaling that it was time for Naruto to go back home. Asahi walked Naruto to the exit and opened the door for Naruto to step through.

Before Naruto exited, Asahi spoke up, "Come down tomorrow morning around seven, before the bar opens. I'll teach you how to cook more."

Naruto perked up, "Why so early? Aren't bars supposed to open later?" Naruto complained releasing how early he was going to have to wake up.

"Shinobi bar. Some people like to drink all day or drink after coming back from a mission."

"Hmmm, alright I'll come down tomorrow," Naruto said as he exited the bar. He walked a couple of meters before he turned around. "How will you teach me to cook, when you're serving at the bar."

Asahi grinned and gave him a wink, "Trade secret. You'll see tomorrow."

Naruto gave a wave before he started to walk home. He was curious how would Asahi be able to teach him. The man couldn't be in two places at once? The thought kept him up most of the night. He didn't sleep much anymore only a couple hours at a time, now with the thought sleep came even harder for him. His clock was set for six, and eventually, Naruto drifted off into a light slumber.

Naruto was quite wrong when he said Asahi could not be in two places at once. The next day when Naruto walked into the bar, there were two Asahi's working in the Kitchen. Both of them were working on prepping the food. The sight left Naruto standing with his mouth open when he opened the back door to the kitchen. It got even worse, when another Asahi walked into the kitchen, leaving Naruto even more confused.

"H-h-how are there multiple copies of you."

All three Asahis looked over at the voice and started to laugh. They all gave Naruto a grin and a wink before all of them spoke, "It's a trade secret Naruto." Then they all went back to work like nothing happened. Then another Asahi walked into the kitchen, walked over to Naruto, and dragged him over to the small table where he ate all that food.

"How- How'd you do that." Naruto was stunned. His brain could not comprehend that their were multiple Asahi's.

"It's a technique. You'll learn it if you become a shinobi. Your instructor will teach it to you."

"Can you teach it to me?"

"Nope."

"Whyyy."

"Because you said you're not going to be a shinobi."

A bell rang causing Asahi to look up toward the bar. "My clone will explain the rest." He formed a cross with his hands and smoke poofed next to him. When the smoke cleared a perfect replica of Asahi stood, and again it left Naruto gobsmacked. Asahi left after that heading back to the bar and the clone stood there with a smirk looking down at Naruto.

"Follow me you're gonna with the clones to help prepare the food. I'll talk you through it." Asahi turned and started to walk to where the other clones were. Leaving Naruto to scramble behind him to catch up.

"Wait, so I'm going to be working here," Naruto asked when he caught up to Asahi turning his head to look at him.

"Yes."

"So, I'm going to be your first employee." Naruto smiled up to Asahi, he finally caught Asahi in a trap.

Asahi only smirked, "No, think of it more like an apprenticeship."

Naruto answered with a glare, "What's the difference? I'm working for you."

"I'm not paying you. Employees get paid. Apprentices don't. You should be grateful brat that I'm teaching with my infinite wisdom."

Naruto huffed and rules his eyes at the man's answer. They arrived to where the other clones were working and Naruto joined them in prepping the food. The Asahi he was walking with started to explain the intricacies of the day. In the morning it would not be busy, so it was a slower pace. They spent usually the morning prepping the food because it was a slow pace. Then around mid-day and night was when it would get busy. Asahi explained to Naruto that for the first few days, he would watch at night because it was too much for him right now. But during Lunch, he would work. Every Saturday and Sunday they would close early, Naruto didn't know why. When he asked Asahi didn't answer and then explained the rest of the rules.

Naruto found it fun prepping all the food, you could do anything you wanted with the food. The possibilities of the different food were endless and he had a lot more fun prepping the food than cooking the egg. The time seemed to fly when he was working in the kitchen, it never flew by this fast in his life. He handled all different kinds of food some green, some red, and some even made his eyes burn would he could cut into it. With the help of Asahi guiding him, he made it to lunch in the blink of an eye.

Everything hit the deck when lunch rolled around. Now, inside the Kitchen, there were four Asahi's. Three were all cooking and the other was still preparing the ingredients for the three cooks. When the cooks finished they would hand the plates to Naruto and Asahi, where he would show Naruto how to form the finished product. When they finished they would ring a bell, and a disguised Asahi would come to take the plates. Asahi explained it was another shinobi technique. They fell into a rhythm and they handled the chaotic Lunch rush, Naruto loved that it was chaotic.

After the rush was over, Naruto wiped the sweat from his brows and sat down in the chair. He never did something that taxing before. This whole day passed by in a blur, he could hardly believe it. He felt a rush of some kind during Lunch, his blood was pumping and he loved that feeling. The dreams of being a shinobi disappeared totally, there was no doubt left he wanted to cook in a kitchen.

The rest of the afternoon mirrored the morning where it was slow and was spent prepping the for the night. Naruto loved doing this too, it was a different love than the rush. It was peaceful and all four of them joked around in the Kitchen. It was nice.

Then the night rush hit and Naruto had to exit the kitchen and watch. While he was upset at first having to leave, he later was glad he did. The night rush was way more chaotic and now there were five Asahi's all doing different jobs. Yelling and communicating as they worked their way through the Kitchen. The door never stopped swinging as Asahi entered and left with different foods. He wasn't ready for this action, but it did look fun.

The hours passed and the kitchen began to quiet down, now there were only three Asahi's left. The other disappeared in a poof of smoke, and Naruto began to work in the kitchen again. This time it was to help with cleaning up the Kitchen. Beginning to put away the pans, wash the dishes, and clean the tables.

After a while, the real Asahi walked in after closing the bar and began to help with the cleaning. The remaining clones began to disappear the closer they got to finishing up and locking up the bar. Naruto didn't know what time it was, but he only know at this time he was already back at home. Naruto let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes, the day finally catching up to him.

Hearing this Asahi turned around and addressed him. "You can go home, kid. I'll do the rest."

"No, no I'll stay and help."

"Brat, go home it's late." With that, Asahi started to push Naruto toward the exit. Once pushed outside he ruffled Naruto's hair and sent him off. "You did well today, Brat. I'll see you again tomorrow.

Naruto gave him a smile and made his way home. It was really late out, the only times he was ever out this late was when he would explore the village. Even though he was tired, he felt triumph. Today was the best day of his life. Never before had a day gone by that fast, it was like he blinked and the day was over. He eventually reached his apartment and began to climb the stairs. He arrived at his door, opened it and not bothering to take his shoes or clothes off jumped on his bed. Warmth spread all across his body, ever since he met Asahi his life changed. He wasn't bored anymore, he wasn't lonely, and for the first time, he felt genuine happiness. He knew this happiness wasn't fleeting like the other times he felt happy. He felt that this was going to stick as long as he stuck around with Asahi. For the first time in a while, Naruto feel into a deep sleep with a big grin plastered on his face.