章 74: Chapter 074

However, she did not think Naruto was the kind of person to do that. Aside from the fact that there was no way he could know who she was, he seemed far too kind-hearted to use such an underhanded tactic.

"Sometimes you're too soft Haku…"

Like me,Haku thought as she remembered some words Zabuza had said whenever she refused to kill her opponents, something she still could not do to this day. It was the one area she felt she had failed her master. She had never been able to kill anyone; it did not matter if they were enemies or not. In battle she had always just knocked her opponents unconscious, that way they could complete the mission without needless death.

"You ok?" asked Naruto as he noticed the odd look on Haku's face. "Why aren't you eating? Is it bad?"

He hoped it wasn't bad, but maybe his clones cooking skills hadn't passed over to him. That would really suck. All that time they spent cooking and others still can't eat it.

"Huh?" asked Haku before she realized what Naruto had said. "Oh no!" she picked up her fork and began to grab a decent sized piece of food with it, "I was just thinking about something…"

Not wanting to be rude she took a bite, the food wasn't amazing or anything, but it was good. "It's good," She complimented, taking another bite of her food.

"You think so…?" Naruto asked as he rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish expression. "I only just started cooking a month ago, so I wasn't really sure how good I've gotten."

"Well you don't need to worry," Haku said with a smile. "It's definitely good, especially considering you've only started cooking for a month. A little more practice and if you didn't want to be a ninja, you could end up being a chef."

Naruto put a hand to his chin in mock thought, "Now there's a thought. Maybe I could work at Ichiraku's if I ever decide to retire after being Hokage."

"Ichiraku's?" asked Haku in curiosity, having never heard of such a place. "What's that?"

Naruto looked up and grinned, "Only the best place in the world! The very place that makes the ultimate food of the gods, and Kami's gift to man!"

Haku giggled a bit as she saw fire light up in Naruto's eyes as he spoke of a place that obviously sold his favorite food. "And what food do they make?" she asked.

"Ramen of course!" Naruto shouted as he held a fist up to his face. "There is nothing better than the noodle goodness that is ramen as it slides down your throat, or the broth that tastes of heaven while you drink it. Ramen is the gift that Kami has bestowed upon man, in order to grant us unworthy mortals a small taste of heaven before we die. Ramen is the food of the gods!"

Haku sweatdropped a bit at the boy's obvious obsession for the unhealthy noodles. "Eh, sushi's better," She said with a shrug.

"What!" Naruto shouted as he looked at her with a shocked look. "How could you possibly think that rotten fish could be better than a gift that Kami herself bestowed upon us?"

"Sushi is not rotten," Haku shot back with a glare. "And it's far better than those disgusting and unhealthy noodles you eat!" She gave Naruto a smirk, "It also doesn't make me short."

"Hey! I'm not short!" Naruto shouted. How dare she insult him for his height! Ever since he had entered the academy Naruto had been the shortest person in class, so one could imagine that he may be a little oversensitive about the subject.

"I've grown a whole two inches since I…" He paused for a moment before his cheeks burned, with embarrassment "since I started eating things other than ramen."

Haku giggled before it turned into a laugh. Naruto scowled a bit as Haku lay on her back and held her stomach, trying to regain her breath.

"It's not funny…" Naruto mumbled in embarrassment. So what if it makes me short, it's still the food of the gods, He said to himself, reaffirming his belief in ramen.

"I-I'm s-sorry," Haku apologized as she struggled to get herself under control. "But you have to admit, it was funny." She sat up and looked at Naruto with a smile.

Naruto tried to glare at her Uchiha-style, but ended up giving her a sheepish grin. "Yeah…hehe, I guess it was."

They continued eating for a while in silence. Normally Naruto would find any kind of silence uncomfortable, even with his recent changes in personality. Whether it was the sound of his clones shouting out jutsu, or his own sarcastic remarks while training, or Anko's sarcastic remarks while she was beating the crap out of him; Naruto always needed some kind of noise.

Yet the silence here was oddly comforting, as if he didn't need to have any noise around Haku in order to be comfortable. It was perplexing.

"So this Ichiraku you mentioned," Haku started, getting the blonde's attention. "Are the people there important to you?"

"Yep!" Naruto said with a grin, "In fact they were the first of three people to ever become precious to me." His grin faded into a small frown, "…I'm…not well-liked in my village." Haku's ears perked up when she heard that, as well as catching the hurt in his tone.

"For some reason…people hate me, and I never knew why." He decided to leave out the part about having a nine tailed rampaging fuzzy sealed inside of him; after all, it was supposed to be a secret. He shook his head and continued, "They were some of the first people to look at me like I wasn't some kind of monster. I remember they would often give me free meals when I didn't have enough money to buy food…"