"Yeah, and standing on a nearby rooftop shouting at the top of my lungs 'I did it' immediately after the punch line says ninja right there."
"Hey. Somebody's gotta take the blame," Naruto shrugged. "Besides, I live for the fallout, Tayuya-chan. I bask in the glorious admiration of my fans and accept their praises with open arms. It's what makes me more hardcore than anyone else in this place and I'm damn proud of it."
Tayuya rolled her eyes and shook her head in amusement. "I'm really looking forward to the day you become the most wanted man in the world. You'll be laughing and dancing down streets everywhere you go."
"Oh yeah? And where will you be?"
"Behind you, taking photographs while watching you make an ass of yourself," the girl laughed, also earning one from her friend when they finally arrived at the square where Ichiraku's Ramen stood proudly in sight. The pair felt their stomachs growl in anticipation of a good meal. "Man, it's been a while."
"First round's on me," Naruto stated, thumbing his chest. "We're officially Genin now. Time to celebrate." It was a proposal that neither one of them could refuse.
However, just as they were about to wander over to the bar for a good spot of lunch, a disturbance in the air stopped Naruto in his tracks and his feet sifted uneasily when he extended his senses outwards. Tayuya looked back in surprise when she saw her roommate pause, but was quick to determine what was troubling him from his eyes glancing over his shoulder.
"A tail?" Tayuya asked seriously.
"Yeah. We've had one for a while now," Naruto replied before smiling across at the redhead. "Want to see what's up?"
"Sure. Sounds like fun," the musician grinned.
Slapping his hands together, a huge cloud of white smoke suddenly exploded around the pair and, thanks to Naruto's habit of going a bit overboard, filled up the entire street. Villagers hacked when the enormous wall of fumes hit them and covered the whole area, preventing anyone from moving or doing anything until the plume lifted, leaving behind an utterly bewildered crowd.
In the midst of the chaos, both Naruto and Tayuya had vanished from sight, leaving the person who had been following them utterly baffled.
"W-Where… did they go?" Konohamaru asked from safe inside his impenetrable, protective fortress, or in layman's terms, the cardboard box painted to match the color of a rock he was using as a disguise. After managing to hack away the white smoke that had seeped in through the holes, he tried to fix his metaphorical crosshairs back onto his targets, only to find them gone. This had him sweating bullets and looking around wearily, wondering where the heck they could have gotten too.
It wasn't that big of a mystery. With only two eyeholes poked into the side of the box, this left plenty of blind spots to be exploited. It was an opportunity Naruto and Tayuya capitalized on. Using the massive smoke screen as cover, the pair had simply strolled around and stopped on either side of the suspicious looking box sitting just outside of the alleyway. They then stood with their hands on their hips glaring down at the item and tapping their feet impatiently.
"What the heck is this?" Naruto asked, mostly to himself.
"I believe this is what they call a 'disguise', shithead," Tayuya said, kicking the side of the box a couple of times, which scuttled away a bit and ended up walking into the jinchuriki's leg.
"If it's a disguise then it's a pretty shitty one," the blonde said straight out with a tick in his expression. "Hey! Dumbass wearing the box! Rocks aren't square!"
Hearing the voice, the 'rock' abruptly turned to face him. Realizing it had been found out the box was eventually thrown off to reveal the kid that he and Tayuya had bumped into at the Hokage tower. The flustered youngster glared angrily up at the jinchuriki as he smirked at the now identified tagalong.
"Why were you following us?" Naruto asked, folding his arms.
"A-ha!" the boy suddenly shouted again, startling the two teens. "I was right all along! You two are secret agents of the Hokage. Being able to see through my disguise so easily is proof of that?"
"You're wearing a cardboard box, painted to look like a rock, sitting on the side of the road, with two eyeholes poked into the front," Tayuya read in a robotic voice before scowling at the brat when he turned to face her. "In what universe is that an effective disguise and second of all, why in the world did you think it would work?"
"Simple! It blends into the environment!" the boy declared.
The post-graduate Genin deadpanned. "No it doesn't," Naruto and Tayuya said at the same time.
"Well… it could use with some adjustments," the boy mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and kicking at the ground in a dejected manner. After a few seconds of silence passed, he eventually kicked up his resolve again and pointed accusingly up at the blonde standing in front of him. "Anyway, I'm not here to play games! I'm here for you!"
"Me?" What on earth could this bratty kid want with him? "Why?"
"Simple! You caught me trying to sneak up to my grandfather's office and stopped me from completing a very important mission! You disarmed me with no effort whatsoever and looked down at me like I was nothing." Normally this would have sparked outrage, but contrary to theory, a smirk came upon the young boy mouthing off at the jinchuriki. "That means you're strong."
Naruto blinked. "Umm… okay. Sure. I'm strong." He shrugged. "But what does that have to do with you following us?"
The kid grinned. "I've decided that I want you to train me, boss!"
A momentary silence drifted over the area, but when it eventually passed and the two Genin were able to fully process his response, Tayuya snorted back laughter and Naruto nearly face-faulted. "What? Who decided this? Why the heck would I want to train you? And what's with the 'boss' thing? Why'd you call me that?"
"I called you boss because you're going to be training me, and I've decided on you because you look strong," the boy stated with a grin. "You're the first person who didn't refer to me as 'Honorable Grandson,' and what's more, you didn't apologize to me back there when you knocked me over. That puts you up a notch in my book."
Tayuya giggled hysterically, holding her sides as she looked down at the kid smiling up at Naruto as if he were his idol. "Oh, this is gold."
Blushing at his friend laughing her ass off at his expense, Naruto glared down at the kid to see him still gazing up at him hopefully. "That's real nice and all, kid, but first of all, I don't even know your name. It'll be kind of hard training you if I don't know what to call you."
"My name is Konohamaru Sarutobi," the boy identified, but then looked down at his feet with a solemn gaze. "Well… I'm supposed to be called Konohamaru, but everyone just calls me 'Honorable Grandson.' My name is easy enough to remember, but people only see me as the grandson of the Third Hokage. Nobody ever calls me by my name or looks at me for being me… only for what my grandfather is."
Naruto frowned a little and glanced across at Tayuya, whom he had the exact same expression of seriousness on her face as the two of them thought about what the kid said to them.
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