Ayame did not, could not believe what she was tasting. Naruto on his first try had replicated one of her father's recipes almost one for one. She looked up at him from where she was seated in disbelief as she was not able to comprehend the skill it must have taken to make his favorite ramen from taste alone. "How did you?... There is no way you are this good."

"I told you Aya-nee, I have eaten here so many times and watched you two cook so often that I can probably cook anything on this menu." Naruto chuckled, taking the stool next to her with the stall now closed. It was just the two of them.

Looking at Naruto pensively she spun around to face him with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry Naruto. I really thought Dad was going to be here today, I didn't know he was going to be out of the village for a couple of weeks. He really missed you being around. He would have loved to see how much you have grown." The smile that crept on her face was almost sad, and Naruto noticed.

"Is everything ok?" Naruto asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She winced at that question not really wanting to answer it. Yesterday when Naruto came to eat here with the Hokage, sensei, and friends she realized something, Naruto had changed. He wasn't that loud and brash kid who loved to play pranks that she came to care about, she guessed that he had matured a lot leaving the village. That thought of how much the environment in Konoha had stunted his growth really irked her, with how much that could happen in two years and how much she could miss out on when he left she was feeling her chest tighten to an unbearable degree, and with only being here a day she found out from the little get together he and the Hokage had with other Nin that he was leaving again. Though she did not understand why, Naruto was needed because of some connection he had with the Suna's Kazekage. The thought of him leaving again, of him changing again in some distant land, and the thought of him confronting the people he had to leave the village and train just to be able to defend himself and the fact from how they were talking there was a good chance that some of the shinobi that would go might not come back filled her with dread. "I-I-It's nothing." She could not help but stutter which she was cursing herself for.

Naruto adjusted the firmness of his grip, adding his other hand. "It's not nothing, Aya-nee." He looked into her eyes. "What's up?"

She couldn't tell the boy about what she was feeling, mostly because she had not understood these feelings from the very beginning, not from the moment she had hugged him last night, and certainly not from the entire night after were he had helped her with all of the other Nin's orders or any other customer that didn't mind him being there. What could she say? Could she say that this mission was too dangerous if they were going after people that were hunting him down? She couldn't say anything, but it was eating at her so she said the first thought that came to mind. "Do you have to go?"

"What?"

Ayame had done it now, she looked at the confused Naruto. "This mission, do you have to go?" She doubled down, clutching at the apron she was wearing.

"Aya-nee..." He paused to think up a response. "I'm a shinobi of Konoha, even if I didn't have to I still need to go..." Naruto looked at the hurt written on Ayame's face as she stared at a hole in the ground. "Gaara... The Kazekage and his sister are close friends of mine and these people are really dangerous. I was a lot stronger than Gaara was and I had to go away and train. There were stronger shinobi... People like me and him who fought against these people and lost. So I need to be there." Naruto powered through.

What hope remained that she would be able to convince him after a few more back-and-forth responses died in her throat, but if he had to consider it even a little she pushed on. "What if you start a mission beforehand? What if I go and turn in a request for a bodyguard? What if I spend an entire month's salary on it? If there's anything that you want to stay then name it." She threw everything at the wall, trying for him to stay in the village for her own sake.

"..."

"You don't have to say anything, I get it. You can't." She got up from her stool to return to her place behind the counter. "Don't mind me, I guess that time that I got taken by that shinobi affected me more than I thought." As her sentence finished the air around them felt a lot heavier both in literal and figurative terms, her eyes widened looking at Naruto. She did not know what feeling chakra was like, but at the moment she got a small hint through the Kyuubi's, not that she could recognize it as such. Though the power that was leaking from Naruto was terrifying she found it to be comforting.

Naruto looked up at her with crimson eyes from his downed-turned head. "What? When? Are they still around?" he asked his voice in a low growl.

"No. No. No. You don't have to worry about that Naruto, he was just after Dad's recipes, that's all. He even treated me well. He is the reason why we have the diet ramen on our menu." Ayame grimaced when it seemed that her attempt to reassure him went array by the look of his nails turned claws digging into his palm.

'This happened recently, that means.' His thought process began. He thought that if this Nin was at all serious he would have killed her or even worse, and there was nothing that either Naruto could have done or even heard anything about considering the situation as it is. Sighing, he reached into his shirt grabbing the first Hokage's necklace that he had gotten from Tsunade taking it off, and a fist-sized scroll from the pouch strapped to his leg.

Ayame was surprised, she did not know what was happening, it did not help when Naruto leaned over the counter placing the accessory around her neck. The action caused her face to grow in temperature. It took everything she had not to react. "What is this, Naruto?" She questioned.

His face was still serious even after the influences of the Kyuubi's chakra were gone. "This is the first's necklace, he had given it to someone I cared for and they gave it to me. Now... " he spoke as she examined the crystal in awe. "And now I am lending it to you, it is my treasure and the only thing of that person that I have left."

"I can't take this." Ayame starts to take it off before Naruto places a hand over hers.

"Aya-nee it's alright, I will come for it later. But for now, this is a token of my promise to you." Naruto began.

"Promise? What promise?"

He place the scroll in her hand and moved closer. "From now on I will always protect you. Keep this scroll somewhere on you at all times. I have made it so that if you are in any danger and the scroll gets damaged and it is near the necklace I will come for you no matter what." He spoke in a serious tone. "So, please. Keep it safe until I come back for it."

Ayame could not come up with any words to say, so she put the scroll under her apron for now and hugged the necklace close to her chest and after a few moments looked at Naruto thanking him.