Naruto: Jinchuriki of the Six Paths by X009

Chapter 4

As the moon shined down on the village and most of the civilians had gone to sleep, Naruto, Ayame and Haku stayed within the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, planning to start attempting to improve the blonds' habits. Upon hearing the about their intentions from his daughter, Teuchi had left her and the ice user to it.

Ayame stood behind the counter, her hands on her hips as she looked down at the boy who was almost like a little brother to her, who was seated on an extra stool that had been placed against a wall. "Alright, Naruto, let's get started. Lesson 1-" She said, holding up one finger. "Table manners."

Naruto groaned, propping both his arms up on the table and letting his head fall into his hands. "Do I really have to? I was getting along just fine before." He said, already having second thoughts as Ayame walked into the kitchen.

Haku shook his head at the blond. It was a very good thing his master wasn't the one trying to teach him, otherwise the Rinnegan bearer might find out why the sword wielding jonin's blade is called the Kubikiribocho (Decapitating Carving Knife). Not that Zabuza would try to teach someone manners. "Haven't we already discussed this? You said you would be willing to give it a try."

"Yeah, but I don't see how eating fits in to that. I can see that pissing off a village leader could cause trouble, but this isn't going to help."

Haku sighed. "While that's true, this won't really help you as a leader, it would still be beneficial to learn this. As Ayame said, no woman likes a slob. If you did manage to convince Sakura to go on a date with you, your eating habits could drive her away."

Naruto lifted his head out of his hands and turned his head to look at the ice user. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with the way I eat."

"I beg to differ." Haku replied with an expression of distaste. "It's a little disturbing for some to see you shovel down bowls of ramen in seconds and move to the next without skipping a beat and you have a tendency to talk with your mouth full when someone says or does anything that surprises you, which no one wants to see. That alone is proof enough. At least you somehow manage not to get the broth over your mouth, which is a little impressive with how quickly you suck up the noodles."

"He's right, you know," Ayame said as she walked back towards the pair holding a bowl of steaming ramen in her hands. The whiskered blonds' eyes tracked the bowl as it was set in front of him like a predator tracks its prey. One sniff and Naruto recognized it as Miso Ramen, one of his favorites next to Chicken, Beef, Shrimp, Tonkotsu, Pork...

... Ok, so maybe Naruto didn't actually HAVE a favorite when it came to the noodle dish. They were all his favorites, and that was just fine with him.

With the bowl now in front of him, steam wafting up and filling the air with its heady scent, Naruto's mouth began to water. Sitting next to him, Haku simply quirked a brow at the elated yet longing look that covered the Rinnegan bearer's features as he stared into the bowl. Disgust crossed the androgynous teen's features as a line of drool ran out of the blonds' mouth.

Unable to resist the scent currently driving him crazy any longer, Naruto's hands reached out to scoot the bowl closer to him so he could feast upon the divine bowl of food. Truly only the gods themselves could have possibly come up with a dish as incredible as ramen. Closer and closer his hands inched, his fingers twitching in anticipation as he made to grab the bowl -

"Ouch!"

- Only to get his hand smacked with a ladle the moment he reached the bowl by Ayame.

"Not so fast," she told him, holding her ladle like it was some kind of weapon and shaking it back and forth threateningly. Naruto sniffled a bit as he rubbed his now soar knuckles, small tears coming out of his eyes as he looked at his older sister figure. "Don't give me that look," Ayame said in response to his puppy dog eyes. "It's not going to work on me, you should just be grateful that we've decided you learning how to use proper table manners was a good enough cause to let you use ramen to practice with."