Mokuren

Team Temari: Ramen Ichiraku

Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Five, Ramen Ichiraku

Three months now, they'd been together. Still, the boys had yet to work out change in chakra nature and now that the three always trained together, Mokuren couldn't help but feel that she wasn't getting any stronger. They had almost completed the required forty D-ranks - just eight more, if Mokuren had counted them correctly, and they would be allowed a C-rank.

"We've done a million D-ranks already, give us a C-rank!" Kentsu whined. Apparently, he hadn't been keeping good count, because he'd been trying to insist they had forty already for the last few weeks.

Tetsuko scowled at his teammate. "We haven't done nearly enough to qualify yet, and anyway you should speak-more-respectfully-he's-the-Kazekage!" He hissed out the last part through gritted teeth. He hadn't been counting either, Mokuren noted.

"But these missions are so boring! Why are they even called missions? Civilians could do this stuff easily! Heck, you could have Academy students work on it instead of us." He continued to grumble, but paled suddenly when the Kazekage looked directly at him. Temari nearly snickered - it hadn't been all that long ago that the boy's voice had grated her ears. Somehow, though, she'd adjusted.

"You would like a mission that holds more meaning?"

"W-well, yeah."

Temari's amusement faded and she frowned at her brother. Her team still needed a couple more weeks' worth of D-ranks - he wasn't going to go ahead and give them a C-rank mission, was he?

"It's still a D-rank, but perhaps you would like this better." The Kazekage said, moving stacks of paper around. When he finally lifted a page, Temari could see the Hokage's sloppily written signature across the bottom. It looked a great deal more like a letter than a mission request, but her boys could see the signature as well and they were too stunned to pay attention to anything else.

"A request from the Hokage?" Tetsuko sputtered.

"No way!" Kentsu shouted, looking positively ecstatic. "What's the mission?!"

"Helping to set up a branch of Ramen Ichiraku in Sunagakure." Temari replied, taking the letter her brother offered.

Mokuren raised her eyebrows skeptically. "The Hokage himself made a request for ninja to help set up a ramen stand?"

"Don't say it like that! Don't you know, the Hokage loves ramen!"

"Hey, hey! If he's requesting ninja than maybe it's his favorite restaurant!"

Mokuren watched disbelievingly as her teammates descended into giggling maniacs who seemed to think that they'd been given an insanely important mission that could damage the Suna-Konoha alliance if they screwed it up.

"The Hokage isn't going to start the Fifth Shinobi War over RAMEN." She finally snapped. Temari was snickering somewhere behind her, while Kankuro seemed to be choking. Even the Kazekage was smiling at the boys' insanity and Mokuren seemed to be the only one exasperated. Both boys pouted at her, though, and she felt a little guilty.

"Well, I mean, he obviously won't start a war but this is still really important!" Tetsuko insisted, still pouting.

"Yeah!" Kentsu backed him up.

"Are you his sidekick now?" Mokuren asked the salmon-haired boy irritably.

"Wha- no!" Kentsu yelled back, startled. "If anybody's a sidekick, it's him!"

"I'm not your sidekick!" Tetsuko wrinkled his nose at the very idea, and a fierce argument commenced.

An hour later found the three standing in front of an empty wooden building, one of the few standing in Suna. A brown-haired woman stood outside waiting for them.

"My name is Ayame. It's nice to meet you all." She introduced herself with a warm smile.

Mokuren smiled back. Temari had claimed she had something important she needed to work on and had left Mokuren in charge, so the brunette supposed that introducing the team was her job. "My name is Mokuren, and these two are Bishou," She gestured at Kentsu, "and Ringo." Mokuren then pointed at Tetsuko. "We're glad to meet you as well." She told Ayame, and frowned a moment later when she noticed that Kentsu was growling at her.

"They've got strange names, don't they?" Ayame giggled. "They're nice though, I suppose. So, if you're all ready to work..?"

"Of course, just tell us what to do!" Mokuren said brightly, and followed Ayame around the back of the building, leaving the annoyed boys behind.

"Why can't you call us by our real names?" Tetsuko demanded an hour later. He would have asked sooner, but Ayame had kept them busy moving boxes, unpacking supplies and now they were washing the pots, pans, and counters. Mokuren had spent much of that time chatting with Ayame while the two checked against a list to make sure nothing had been lost or forgotten during the trip.

"What do you mean?" Was Mokuren's innocent-sounding reply.

He scowled. "I know that you know my name isn't Ringo. Don't look so confused, I've told you a million times! MY. NAME. IS. TE-"

"Ringo-kun, a boy should never raise his voice when speaking to a lady!" Ayame admonished him, evidently having ignored his words completely to focus on the volume. Mokuren couldn't help smirking at the fuming boy.

It was late afternoon by the time everything had been unpacked and cleaned. There wasn't any actual food in there right then, but everything else was ready for opening day. "Thank you all so much for your help." Ayame told them, and looked about ready to say her goodbyes when Kentsu suddenly blurted out,

"Is Ichiraku really the Hokage's favorite restaurant?"

Ayame's face split into a huge grin and she nodded. "You're fans of Naruto-kun's?"

Tetsuko stared. Ayame had used such a familar honorific. And she'd called his hero by his first name. "How well do you know him?!"

"Well, Ichiraku has been his favorite restaurant ever since he was a little kid, and up until a few years ago the only people who worked there were my father and I. I'd say I know him pretty well." Ayame seemed to be enjoying the awestruck looks on Tetsuko and Kentsu's faces.

"Can you tell us something about him?" Mokuren asked hesitantly. She felt sort of stalkerish asking, but how many times in one's life did such an opportunity present itself?

Ayame indulged them, sitting them down and telling them stories from the Hokage's youth. She had so many things to tell them that the sky was definitely dark by the time Temari showed up to ask why they hadn't reported in yet. The most striking thing about the stories were that they contrasted with what Mokuren's father had told her about the great Uzumaki Naruto's battles and moving words of peace. In Ayame's stories, the Hokage had been an absolute brat, rude and brash and idiotic.

There were many times when Mokuren felt torn between covering her ears and yelling, "Blasphemy!" and leaning in closer to better hear the details. As Temari led them away, the boys were practically skipping. Mokuren fell back a little, unsure how she felt upon comparing Ayame's stories in more depth against her father's.

End Note: There's a line here I don't like, either, but I can't find a neutral statement.