"Here you go, Haruto. A super deluxe miso ramen special just for our hero." The normally hyperactive blond genin only gave a weak grunt to indicate acceptance of his meal. Teuchi frowned. Something was definitely off about his number one customer.
"What's with the long face? I would think that you'd be happier than that? Rumor has it that you single handedly saved a genin team from being killed by some assassins the other day."
Haruto spluttered in surprise, his chopsticks slipping from his fingers.
"And just who did you hear that from?"
"Us." Haruto turned to face two-thirds of Team 8's genin. Kiba quickly sat down in the empty seat next to him, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. "Well, more like just me talking since Shino over there prefers to imitate a statue."
"Hello, Haruto. I trust that you are well." The bug user ignored his teammate's light ribbing in favor of greeting the blond genin, causing the dog boy to shake his head in exasperation.
"Hey, Shino, Kiba, what's up guys? They let you out of the hospital already?"
"Yeah, we didn't even need to stay overnight, but they kept Hinata for an operation." The mood turned somber at the mention of their wounded comrade.
"Nevertheless, the results were not worse, thanks to your efforts," Shino noted.
"That's right. You definitely kicked ass, Haruto. Never thought you had it in you." The two genin of Team 8 thanked Ayame as she set down two large bowls of steaming noodles. Neither Kiba nor Shino were big ramen fans, but after being introduced to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, courtesy of Haruto, they have developed a liking for Teuchi's products.
"Say, you should visit Hinata sometime. I think she'd like it." Kiba saw the grim expression on the blond's face. "What is it?"
"I tried to earlier today. The hospital staff turned me away, saying something about only allowing family and team members to visit an injured shinobi." Kiba gave him a perplexed look.
"That's strange. When we were there, no one checked to see if we were her teammates or not."
"Yeah, weird isn't it?" Haruto tried to chuckle in a light manner, but failed miserably. He had a good idea why the registration desk cooked up the poor excuse to deny him visitation access and it did not sit well by him. Lately, he had been spending so much time masquerading as his alias that he had forgotten the ubiquitous and pervasive stigma associated with his person. The cool reception he received at the hospital served as a most unpleasant reminder.
"Just tell Hinata that I hope she gets better soon. And give these to her for me, will you?" Haruto pushed a bouquet of roses and a card into Shino's hands. "What? I heard girls like that sort of things."
"Are they gerbera daisies?" For whatever reason, Shino was looking very intently at the flowers.
"Hehe, so you know about them, Shino." Haruto was impressed that the other genin recognized not only the breed, but also genus of the flowers. On the other hand, Shino probably learned quite a bit of botany as part of his bug training.
"I'm not aware that florists sell these types of flowers." The blond genin's smile widened.
"They don't. I grew them myself." While Shino looked impressed, Haruto's response drew a snort from his teammate.
"Wait? You grow flowers?" Kiba choked back a laugh, finding the idea of Haruto tending a flower garden to be absolutely hilarious. The gardener in question leveled an icy glare back at the canine ninja.
"Hey, keep that up, dog breath, and I won't give you any for your sister!" At Kiba's dumbfounded look, Haruto passed over a second bouquet of multicolored daisies. "Your sister lost one of her dogs in the fight, right?"
"Ah, yeah. She was pretty down about it." Kiba looked at the flowers in his hand and then at Haruto. A smile slowly worked its way up his face. "Hmm, this'd definitely help cheer her up, but you better not be planning something. She's my sister!"
"Pretty cute sister, too," Haruto grinned cheekily. The annoyed dog ninja threatened to sic his canine partner on him, but the blond genin casually brushed aside the threat, declaring confidently that Akamaru was his friend and would not attack him. The pup eagerly barked in agreement as Haruto tossed him a treat.
"Traitor." If the condemnation from his human partner had any effect, it certainly did not show as the small dog munched happily while nuzzling his food provider's hand.
"Better watch out, Shino, or else you'll lose your bugs as well," Kiba warned good-naturedly. Both he and Haruto got a good chuckle out of the idea of robbing an Aburame of his bugs. As if that was even possible.
"I do not believe that would be a problem, but perhaps I should be more careful. I have come to realize Haruto is a most unpredictable ninja." Haruto blinked in surprise.
Was Shino just being witty? A mere hint of a smirk peeked from the edge of the bug user's mouth cover. Yes, he was. The normally cheerful ninja grinned broadly.
"That's right. I have a reputation to live up to? Oi, old man, can I get another bowl of pork ramen?" With lively atmosphere and a constant stream of hot noodles, Haruto enjoyed the rest of his afternoon in pleasant company with his friends. It was not until the early evening rush that more important affairs caught him off guard.
"So that was what I saw."
"Did you? Really?"
"Yep, saw Kakashi's team come through the main gates myself. Boy, were they a sorry bunch. They looked so gloomy that I figured they had failed their first mission outside the village. I'm sure you already heard about what happened to two other rookie genin teams recently." As hushed whispered words wafted over, Haruto perked his ears in interest. The two speakers had their backs turned, but were talking loud enough for him to overhear.
"Something about running into a couple of elite assassins, who had butchered some VIPs or something?"
The first speaker paused briefly to sink his teeth into a mouthful of noodles before answering, "Yeah, that Kurenai would've lost her entire team if Asuma's brats hadn't arrived in time. Rumor has it that the Kyuubi brat was involved somehow."
Haruto winced, ducking his head to minimize the chance of being discovered. After his less than pleasant experience at the hospital earlier, Haruto was fully expecting a litany of curses and vile vitriol to be muttered against his name. Surprisingly, that did not happen. There was some excited, rapid talk, but little in the way of anger or malice even as the speaker uttered the term "Kyuubi brat." In fact, they sounded more intrigued than anything else.
"So what about Team 7? Don't tell me something similar happened to them! I mean wasn't Kakashi supposed to be the jounin sensei or did he get replaced by a doppelganger?"
"I was just getting to that! And no, that wasn't how it was, not exactly at least. This is completely unofficial, but rumor has it that Kakashi's team ran across some nasty Kiri ninja gunning for their client, including an A-rank missing nin. Based on the giant sword the group was lugging around, it must have one of the Seven Swordsmen."
Haruto kicked himself mentally. He must have been on a really unlucky streak if every single initiative he supported ended up being compromised in some manner. First, there was the mission to Rain, then the mission to meet the Lightning ambassador, and finally even Team 7's mission, which he implicitly gave the stamp to. At least they had Kakashi in the last instance. Still, a Kiri swordsman was way over a rookie genin team's head. From what Haruto knew, they were a vicious bunch and single-handedly took down almost half of Kirigakure's elite ninja force.
"Are you serious? A Kiri swordsman? I'm going to assume that the kids were ruffled a bit before Kakashi took care of the problem." Apparently, the other speaker was thinking the same thing.
"You could do that and you'd be wrong. Kakashi didn't make the kill, his Uchiha student did." The ambient noise level dropped at least ten decibels as a result of that revelation. The speakers, however, did not even notice, so engrossed were they in their own conversation.
"You're pulling my leg, now. There's no way that a green, fresh out of the academy genin could have taken down an A-rank missing nin. I don't care if he's an Uchiha genius or the reincarnation of the Yondaime, himself, there's just no way—" More rapid whispers were exchanged.
"Unbelievable! The Uchiha clan's going to be absolutely unbearable for the next six months. You just know they're going to be lording their new prodigy over everyone else now. I swear I'm going to laugh if this kid ends up finishing what Itachi started."
The speaker's friend chuckled. Clearly, not everyone found the Uchiha clan to be a shining example of ninja virtue.
"Now, now, that's hardly necessary. But, I really do feel sorry for his teammates, though. Compared to the Uchiha, they definitely looked completely out of their league." The first speaker shook his head sadly at the thought.
"Isn't Yamanaka Inoichi's girl on that team?"
"That's the sad part. She's nothing like her old man for sure. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm not sure."
"No kidding. You think that rumor about how 'Inoichi makes Ibiki look like a nanny who happens to work part time as the Chief ANBU Interrogator' might be true?"
"Definitely, if he did even half of the things people claim he did during the war. Of course, we'll ever know for certain. His war records are sealed by a Level 9 security access restriction." The first speaker downed his bottle of sake with relish before continuing the conversation. Haruto turned away to face his fellow rookie genin. Shino, as usual, maintained a mask of perfect composure, but it was clear as day that Kiba was far from pleased and for good reasons too. This latest achievement was sure to make the Uchiha genius all but insufferable. The two genin of Team 8 quickly made their exit after dropping some change and bidding their friend goodbye.
"Another bowl, Haruto?" The blond looked at the half dozen empty bowls before him and shook his head.
"Nah, suddenly I feel rather full."
"Already? I never thought I'd see the day when Haruto Uzumaki would say 'no' to ramen. What a sad day it is." Teuchi's lame joke evoked a small chuckle, but the restaurateur didn't pressure his favorite customer further. He could plainly see that the young man was troubled.
For his part, the newly promoted jounin could not say he was pleased with the news he overheard. For one, it did not appear as if the two kunoichi of Team 7 were coming into their own. In fact, it sounded as if they were quickly falling wayward without much assistance from their instructor. While Haruto was willing to defer to Kakashi's prestige and greater experience, he suspected that the man might not be up to the task of aiding the stragglers under his command. The former ANBU captain, like his own captain, struck him as more of a "sink or swim" type of teacher.
Then, there was the Uchiha's unexpected accomplishment. Haruto certainly was not as shallow and prone to jealousy as the young Inuzuka. At least, he would like to think he was not. He would, of course, need to verify these secondary accounts by reviewing the mission logs later, which should not be hard given his jounin access. But by all accounts, it would appear that the young blond's prior assessment of the Uchiha prodigy was a smidge unfair. The rookie genin had certainly proved his competence even if he was still a stick in the mud. Downing an A-rank criminal ninja was no small feat for a ninja of any rank, much less a mere genin. At the same time, Haruto could not help but feel that this incident was a double-edged sword and that it would come to bite Sasuke in the rear sometime down the road. Human beings learned far better from their failures than from their successes. As far as he could tell, the young Uchiha scion had yet to suffer such setbacks.
Even so, the secret jounin was not about to begrudge his so-called rival the right to shine in the spotlight even more brightly than usual. That was until he caught note of something on the tail end of an exchange between the two gossipers.
"So, you think we'll see the Uchiha genius at the Chuunin Exam this year? I know he's only a rookie, but not many genin of any age can claim to have done what he did."
"I'm willing to bet my kunai on it. You know how much influence that clan has over the village's administrative affairs, even after the massacre. Plus, a lot of the higher ups will be expecting him to be there. Once Kakashi enters his team, we'll probably see a bunch of the other rookie teams and second year teams entering as well. It should be an interesting exam."
Haruto Uzumaki, secret jounin, special advisor to the Hokage and the ninja charged with the defense of Konoha in the upcoming conflict, left his mouth hanging wide open as a single thought coursed through his mind.
Shit!
Teuchi only raised an eyebrow when he watched Haruto's seat empty itself of its charge in the blink of an eye. The old restaurant owner shook his head as he collected the money the genin left behind.
Young people these days, always in a hurry. At least my Ayame isn't like that.