As Ryu and others were eating, a blond kid was watching them. His eyes were wide, fixed on the ramen bowls as if hypnotised. A small puddle of drool was collecting on the wooden floor below the edge of the stall.
Ryu's internal chakra radar immediately detected multiple distinct chakra signatures in the area, indicating covert surveillance.
- Three Chakra Signatures Detected in Perimeter
- Two [Moderate] at 11 O'Clock, 30 meters
- One [Moderate-Low] at 7 O'Clock, 80 meters
"Two ANBU details and one Root." He identified the patterns: one must be his own protection detail, another the blond kid's mandatory shadow, and the farthest one belonged to Root—likely keeping distance after sensing the two official ANBU teams.
"Perfect." Ryu thought, "They're all far away. They won't listen to us."
Ryu looked at the boy and called out, "Hey, kid... stop drooling and come eat with us."
"Why would he invite Him?" Fumi Suzuki thought and then murmured to Takeshi, her voice thick with contempt, loud enough that Naruto could easily hear it. "Doesn't he know who he is? It's the kid my family told me to stay away from."
Takeshi shot a wary glance at Naruto. "You think he's dangerous? He doesn't seem so."
Naruto's heart sank as he overheard the comments, his initial excitement giving way to a deep sense of sadness.
Ryu flared his chakra, but his friends felt the shift in the air. Ryu's eyes narrowed into a fierce, silent glare aimed straight at Fumi and Takeshi. The message was simple and absolute: keep your mouth shut.
Fumi and Takeshi have not seen Ryu like this before, and the tension in the air was obvious. Fumi and Takeshi exchanged nervous glances.
Genuine anger surged within Ryu. "Some things are better left unsaid in front of hungry kids," he thought. If they want to spout propaganda, they can do it where this kid can't hear it. The lack of empathy and compassion here is astonishing."
Ryu immediately turned back to the boy, his voice kind and steady. "Hey… Don't listen to dumbasses. They don't know anything about you. Come on, take a seat and eat. The treat is on me."
The boy's face instantly lit up. The earlier remark was forgotten; the dejected look vanished completely.
"Give him the king-size bowl, Teuchi-san. He looks like he hasn't eaten anything in a while," Ryu ordered.
The kid appeared nervous and said, "But a king-size bowl is very expensive."
Ayame, the ramen girl, chuckled and gently slid the enormous bowl in front of him. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun. He said it's his treat. Don't worry about the bill; he is the richest kid in the entire village, maybe the whole country," Ayame teased with a mischievous grin.
"Really!" Naruto exclaimed, surprised by the news.
Ryu said, "So your name is Naruto."
Naruto nodded.
Ryu replied, "What a stupid name."
Naruto slammed his hands on the counter. "Hey! Don't make fun of my name! I will be Hokage someday... believe it!"
Naruto chugged the hot ramen down his throat, then yelped. "Ouch...Hot, hot, hot! I burnt my tongue!"
Ryu chuckled and said, "Hey, take it easy… The ramen's not going anywhere."
Naruto was blowing air to cool his tongue.
Ryu said, "So you want to be Hokage, huh?"
Naruto, now beaming, replied, "Yes! Being Hokage is cool. I'm going to be Hokage one day, believe it!" The sincerity of his small dream hung in the air.
Naruto looked at Ryu. "Big brother, do you also want to become Hokage?"
Ryu smirked, his voice pitching low, and replied, "Me... no. I don't want to. I can if I try, but I don't want to. Only stupid people become Hokage."
In the Hokage office, the Third Hokage lost his balance and fell from his chair.
Naruto frowned when insulted on behalf of his hero, the Hokage. "Hey, don't insult the Hokage!"
Ryu shrugged. "Hey, kid, don't take it personally. Everyone has an opinion; mine is just different. I think the entire village is stupid."
Naruto remembered the way the villagers looked at him—with fear and disdain. Quietly, he nodded.
"You understand me, don't you?" Ryu said. "The only stupid people are those who judge others without knowing anything about them."
Ryu leaned back, tapping a rhythm on the table. "Don't worry, kid. I believe you. You're right at the top of the idiot spectrum, kid—I think you will definitely become Hokage someday."
"Thank you, Big Brother..." Naruto blinked twice, realising the insult veiled within the compliment directed at him. Then shouted, "Hey…"
Hahaha, Ryu laughed.
Naruto replied, "Thanks for the compliment, funny hair!"
Ryu blinked, momentarily dumbfounded. Fumi, Takeshi, Ayame, and even Teuchi burst out laughing.
Naruto, emboldened, pointed at Ryu's spiky red and white hair. "On the way here, I saw a chicken with a similar style—red and white!"
The laughter intensified, rocking the entire stall.
"Was this brat this great at delivering insults in the original story?" Ryu thought, genuinely surprised.
Ryu laughed, shaking his head. "You are an idiot… but a funny one!"
Naruto bristled again. "Hey…"
"And stubborn too." Ryu's expression softened slightly. "That might turn out to be your greatest strength."
Ayame gently interjected to ease the tension. "Ryu-kun, let's not tease him too much."
"I am just messing with him. Sister Ayame, can you do me a favour?" Ryu asked.
"What?"
"Can you open an ongoing tab in my name for this idiot?" Ryu asked.
Ayame smiled at Ryu's genuine generosity. "Of course... Do you hear that, Naruto? You are welcome to come here at any time and eat whatever you choose. You can eat as much as your stomach can take. Just say 'Ryu', and we'll take care of you."
Naruto's jaw barely stayed attached at the news. "No way!"
She leaned in and whispered teasingly to Ryu, "Careful, Ryu-kun. Spoil him any more and he'll start following you like a puppy and eat away all your savings..."
Ryu laughed and said, "Hahahaha. Let him try. No matter how big an eater he is, he cannot bankrupt me."
Ayame giggled.
Ryu staged a fake whisper. "That just means even Ayame-san sees you as a certified bottomless pit, a ramen devourer extraordinaire who can gobble up endless bowls without a hint of fullness."
Naruto protested, cheeks puffed.
Ryu looked at Naruto and said, "If you want to become Hokage, then start eating healthy too. Sister Ayame, add more vegetables to his ramen, please. He can't live on this stuff alone."
Naruto scrunched his nose. "Yuck... I hate veggies."
Ryu grinned. "If you want to eat something even tastier than this ramen, come to the Hamura district in the East. I'll cook you something."
The mention of something tastier than ramen completely overtook Naruto. "Really?"
Teuchi, the ramen guy, interjected, "He is not joking, Naruto. His grandfather once said Ryu-kun is a great cook. The Hamura family is very generous, and like you, Naruto, Ryu was an orphan before being adopted into the family."
This news surprised everyone, except Saya and Toshiro.
"Hey, you didn't tell me that you can cook!" Saya grumbled.
Ryu shrugged. "You never asked. I don't have time to cook. I've mostly been busy with training and company business."
Naruto's eyes had gone wide at the mention of training. "Big brother, are you a ninja?"
Ryu answered, "I'm still in the academy, but you're reaching the age to join. You should start training with the basics."
"But I don't know how to train," Naruto frowned.
"Don't worry, kid. Come to Hamura Mansion when you have time. My grandpa will teach you. He's an awesome ninja, trained by the Second Hokage himself."
"Cool!" Naruto said with sparkling eyes again. Then he jumped off his stool and said, "Oh crap, it's time for day sleep. The caretaker will give me a mouthful if I'm late again."
"Thanks for the ramen, Big Brother!"
Ryu waved dismissively. "Don't mention it. See you again, brat."
"Hey, don't call me a brat!" Naruto yelled from a distance as he ran toward his home.
As Naruto disappeared from view, Ryu chuckled to himself. "That kid's got potential," he mused, before turning back to his half-eaten bowl of ramen. He couldn't wait to see how much Naruto would grow under his grandpa's guidance at Hamura Mansion.
After Naruto left, Ryu stared hard at Fumi again. "Don't give me that same nonsense the stupid villagers spout. I know you are better than spreading rumours like that."
Fumi stammered. "So you know about that kid…"
Ryu met his gaze. "I know many things. Things one must never know. And I know that you know nothing. So keep an open mind."
Saya, breaking the tense silence, asked, "I didn't know you had a soft spot for kids."
Ryu replied, "I was an orphan once, yes. But the main reason is… he is a distant relative."
The rest of the table fell into complete silence, processing Ryu's revelation that Naruto is his distant relative.
"Really?"
Ryu confirmed it with a serious nod. "His name is Naruto Uzumaki. And my father—whoever he was—was an Uzumaki."
Saya, the Uchiha scholar, looked stunned. "So you're also from the Uzumaki Clan? I've never heard of them. I thought you were Hamura."
Ryu answered, "My maternal grandmother was from the Hamura clan, my maternal grandfather was Senju, and my father was Uzumaki. It's a complicated family tree."
Noboru Nara said, "So you and Toshiro are also related."
Kaito said, "I always thought you were from a civilian background."
Ryu ignored Kaito and imparted a history lesson. He said, "The Uzumaki clan was a great power of the past. They were distant relatives to the Senju Clan and absolutely dominant in the time of the First and Second Hokage, possessing incredible longevity and mastery over Fūinjutsu. The Uzumaki clan's average natural lifespan was around 150 years. The Uzumaki clan were formidable warriors on the battlefield and had their own ninja village in the past. They were devastated in the war, but their legacy lives on."
Ryu picked up the famous fishcake with a spiral on it and showed it to the group. "You know the spiral symbol on the back of Leaf's military uniform? That's the crest of the Uzumaki clan. It's there as respect from the founders of Leaf Village to the Uzumaki Clan. When you become a ninja, you'll wear it, too. Remember what it stands for."
"Whoa… You know so much," Noburu Nara whispered, impressed.
Ryu smiled. "As I said, I know stuff… more than I should."
He looked at his friends and said, "Naruto Uzumaki and I are connected by our shared Uzumaki heritage."
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