The only sound in the small ramen stand was the thunderous, almost comical slurp with which Naruto devoured his second bowl of noodles. It was a noise that filled the silence, but it didn't make it any less awkward. Beside him, a blonde woman watched him with a bottle of sake in her hand, her expression a strange mix of analysis and the curiosity of someone watching a particularly noisy animal at a zoo.
Tsunade took a sip from her bottle, the familiar warmth of the alcohol spreading through her.
"Are you sure you haven't been starving for a week?" she asked, her voice a lazy drawl.
Naruto paused with the chopsticks halfway to his already full mouth. He chewed loudly, swallowed with a visible effort, and looked at her.
"This is how you're supposed to eat ramen!" he retorted, as if it were the most obvious truth in the universe. "You have to eat it fast, while the broth is hot! It's a sign of respect to the chef!"
He nodded his head toward the old man behind the counter, who acknowledged him with a toothless grin.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "A sign of respect, huh? Looks to me like you're about to inhale the bowl too."
"'Cause it's delicious, believe it! The best I've had outside of Ichiraku!" Naruto leaned toward the bowl and resumed his sonic assault.
Unbelievable, she thought. A groan of pure happiness escaped Naruto's lips as he fished out a piece of pork that had eluded him. He eats just like Kushina. That chaotic energy and that hair… it's unmistakable. But he has Minato's eyes. And his stubbornness. What the hell is the Fourth Hokage's son doing in a town like this? Getting into bar fights over a woman he just met? None of this makes any sense.
Her gaze sharpened, the fog of boredom and alcohol beginning to clear.
Well, Tsunade. You've been wishing for something interesting to happen for months. Let's see what this brat is made of.
She set the bottle down on the wooden counter with a soft but definitive thud. The sound cut through Naruto's next slurp.
"So… orange kid," she began, her tone a lazy purr with a sharp edge that didn't go unnoticed. "What's a Konoha shinobi doing so far from home? Did you get lost chasing a butterfly?"
"Of course not!" Naruto blurted out, feeling a little offended. "I'm on a super important mission!"
"A mission? With you?" Tsunade looked him up and down deliberately. "I don't know, you don't seem like the type of ninja they'd assign 'super important' missions to. You seem more like the type who has to clean the dog kennels."
"Hey! I'm an elite ninja!" he protested, puffing out his chest.
"From what you told me, you're an elite ninja who almost started a fistfight in a dive bar less than an hour ago."
Naruto blushed violently. "That was Kiba's fault! He doesn't know how to be subtle!"
Tsunade couldn't help it. A small chuckle, a hoarse and genuine sound she hadn't used in a long time, escaped her. "Well, then, what's this oh so important mission, elite ninja? Making sure all the city's ramen reserves are up to standard?"
"My mission is a secret!" he declared with an air of importance that was almost adorable. "An S-rank secret!"
"Ah, an S-rank secret," she repeated, her tone dripping with sarcasm so thick you could cut it with a kunai. "Right. And I'm the Daimyō of the Land of Fire. Come on, kid, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone."
"A shinobi never reveals mission details to a civilian!" Naruto said, reciting the rule as if reading it from a textbook. He then completely ruined the effect by leaning toward her, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that could probably still be heard across the street. "But I'll tell you it's the most important mission in Konoha's history! And when I complete it, everyone will have to recognize my greatness!"
He finished his second bowl with a final, loud slurp, setting it down on the counter with a thud of pure satisfaction. He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head and grinning with a confidence that left no room for doubt.
"You wouldn't be laughing if you knew you were talking to the future Hokage. When I get back from this mission, everyone's going to have to recognize me, believe it! I'll be a hero!"
The word hung in the air. Hokage.
The amusement in Tsunade's eyes evaporated like water in the desert. The mocking smirk vanished from her lips. The atmosphere around her seemed to drop several degrees. She set the sake bottle down on the counter, and the sound seemed unnaturally loud.
"Hokage," she said, and the word sounded like an insult, like something filthy. "That's ridiculous. It's a job for fools."
Naruto blinked, the smile fading from his face. "What?"
"I said it's ridiculous," she repeated, and her voice was no longer lazy or playful. "Only a complete and utter idiot would want that hat."
For the first time since they met, Naruto's offense was real and deep. His relaxed posture tensed. It wasn't an insult to him, not really. It was a direct attack on his dream. An insult to the old man Hokage. To everything he aspired to be.
"Ridiculous?" he retorted, his voice losing its usual childish tone and gaining an edge of its own. "It's the greatest dream there is! The Hokage is the title given to the strongest and most respected ninja in the village! The one who protects everyone!"
Tsunade let out a laugh. It was an ugly, bitter sound, containing not a shred of humor.
"The Hokage isn't the one who protects. They're the one who sends people to die," she replied, taking Naruto by surprise. "They're the one who sits in a comfortable chair in a safe office while children and adults bleed and die for them on the battlefield. It's a pointless sacrifice for a meaningless title. A dream that will only bring you pain and take away everyone you care about, one by one."
"That's not true!" Naruto shouted, slamming his fist on the counter, making the chopsticks and bowls jump. "The old man Hokage…! The Fourth Hokage…! They protected the village with their lives! They gave everything they had for us!"
"And what good did it do!" she snapped, turning completely on her stool to face him. Her brown eyes burned with a fury so intense it made him recoil instinctively. "The Fourth Hokage is dead and the people who loved him were left alone! Having that dream is like putting a target on your back and asking the world to take away everything you love! So save the idealistic speech, brat! You know nothing about what it means to be Hokage. You know absolutely nothing about pain."
Naruto stared at her, his own anger warring with a growing confusion. He didn't understand where so much hatred was coming from. This woman wasn't just arguing with him. She was… broken. There was an open wound in her, and he, without knowing it, had just stuck his finger right in it.
He took a deep breath, once, twice, trying to calm the storm raging in his chest.
"You don't get it!" he said, his voice was still loud, but it was no longer a cry of rage, it was a desperate plea to be understood. "It's not about the power! Or the hat! It's not even about being the strongest!"
He leaned over the counter, his blue eyes locked on hers, searching, begging her to see what he saw.
"It's so no one else has to be alone! Don't you see? When you're Hokage, the whole village is your family! Every person on those streets, from the baker to the guy who runs a ramen stand! And a Hokage never, ever turns his back on his family! He protects them all, not because it's his job or his duty, but because he loves them! That's what it means to be Hokage!"
The line hit Tsunade with a force she hadn't expected from this brat.
It wasn't Nawaki's voice, full of childish dreams. It wasn't Dan's, with its quiet idealism. It was this kid's voice, this complete and utter stranger's. A philosophy so simple, so naive, and yet, he was saying it with a conviction so pure and so unshakable it was almost terrifying.
Damn brat…, she thought, her mind reeling, trying to process it. He really… he really believes it. With every fiber of his being. There's not a hint of doubt in him. After everything I've seen, all the lies, the betrayals, the wars… how can anyone still be so… stupidly pure? It's ridiculous.
For the first time in many, many years, someone had completely surprised her. She no longer saw Nawaki's ghost or Dan's shadow in his face. She saw Naruto. A bright, loud, and annoying anomaly in her gray and monotonous present.
She leaned back in her seat, her body suddenly heavy. She picked up her sake bottle and took a long swig, the liquid burning her throat. The tension had left her, leaving her strangely light. For the first time in a long time, she felt… a good mood.
"Okay, okay," Tsunade said, setting the bottle down with a sigh. Her tone was light again, almost playful, as if the emotional storm from a few seconds ago had never happened. "Future Hokage. Got it. You've convinced me. You're a fool with a very big dream."
Naruto, feeling he had won a battle he didn't fully understand, grinned from ear to ear. "The greatest!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say," she continued, leaning in a little, a mischievous and genuine smile forming on her lips. "But you still haven't told me… what is this 'super important S-rank mission' that brought you here. It must be something really big if a ninja of your caliber, the future Hokage, is personally involved."
Naruto froze, the ramen he was about to lift to his mouth suspended in midair.
Whoa! I almost let it slip! I almost blurted it all out! he scolded himself. Calm down, Naruto! Focus. Ninja rule number one: never, ever reveal mission details to a civilian. Even if she's a super strong and nice old lady who buys you ramen! Rules are rules! I have to be cool. Mysterious. Like Kakashi-sensei.
He cleared his throat, adopting what he believed to be a serious and enigmatic expression, which in reality made him look like he had a stomachache.
"If you tell me, I'll buy you another round of ramen tomorrow."
Naruto's eyes lit up. He leaned over the counter, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Okay, listen," he stage whispered. "But don't tell anyone, okay? It's an S-rank secret. Super, super secret!"
Tsunade leaned in too, playing along, amusement shining brightly in her eyes. "My lips are sealed. I swear on this bottle of sake."
"My team and I…" Naruto began, his eyes darting back and forth like a third rate spy in a bad play. "We're here looking for someone! A super important and legendary person!"
"Oh, really? And who could be that important?" she asked, her voice tinged with feigned curiosity.
"Yeah! One of the Sannin! One of the three legendary ninja of Konoha! Her name is Tsunade! Do you know her?"
He paused dramatically, his face inches from hers.
"They say she's an amazing medical-nin, the best in the world! But don't tell anyone I told you, because if my sensei finds out I've been talking, he'll kill me!"
Tsunade's smile froze on her face.
Her eyes went wide.
Total disbelief gave way to a slow, dawning comprehension.
He… just… told me, was the first coherent thought that managed to form in her paralyzed brain. He just told me, Tsunade, that he's looking for me.
A second thought quickly followed the first.
This kid… the Fourth Hokage's son… is, without a doubt, the worst, most indiscreet, and most inept shinobi I have ever met in my entire life.
There was a pause in her thoughts. A slow smile, a real one, genuine and full of malice, spread across her lips.
And… I think I'm starting to like him.
She picked up her sake bottle and took another long swig, her eyes fixed on the "future Hokage," who had already returned to his ramen bowl, completely oblivious to the bomb he had just dropped.
"Tsunade, you say?" she repeated, her voice now smooth as silk. "I've heard of her. They say she's an incredible gambler and that she's extremely attractive."
"That's right!" Naruto said between slurps. "Now you know how important the mission is! So I'm gonna find her, believe it!"
"Well, orange kid," Tsunade said, setting down the bottle. She stood up and stretched her back. "Maybe I can help you."
Naruto looked at her, his blue eyes widening in surprise. "Really?"
"Sure. I know this city like the back of my hand. I know where people with good luck like to gamble." She winked at him. "But my help comes at a price."
"A price? I can pay! I don't have much money, but…!"
"I don't want your money, brat," she interrupted, a smile curving her lips. "I'll settle for another bowl of ramen."
Naruto beamed, a smile so bright it could have lit up the alley. "Deal! Hey, old man! Another bowl for the lady and me!"
Tsunade sat back down, a genuine laugh bubbling up from her chest as Naruto began to enthusiastically recount his future presidential plans, completely unaware that the legendary Sannin was sitting right next to him.
*****
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