Jiraiya's Twins

Chapter 3

One year later
Twins: Age 5

Tadashi walked around the leaf village holding his sister's hand. Katsumi was a bit nervous, she didn't have her staff and they were walking alone. Their father told them to wait for him at the nearby inn but Tadashi's curiosity about the village got the best of him. If anything happened Tadashi would protect his sister. Katsumi smelled something that she simply couldn't ignore. "Hey Dashi? Do you smell that?" His stomach growled as a response.

"Yea, I sure do," he said looking around trying to find the source of the amazing aroma. Katsumi pointed to her left. "It's coming from over there," she said. Even though she cannot see, her senses are way better than Tadashi's. As they walked Tadashi and Katsumi could hear the whispers of the village people.

"Why does she look like that?"

"That boy looks simply barbaric"

Katsumi looked down and closed her eyes. She felt bad that she was causing some form of commotion because of her eyes, or maybe it was her hair. Tadashi sucked his teeth. Can't they tell that they are the children of the legendary Toad sage? Why are they being so rude?

Finally, they stopped at the location where the scent was coming from. The two walked in and the aroma grew stronger.

"Oh hello, what can I get you?" Said the male shopkeeper.

Katsumi reached forward and felt the seat in front of her. She let go of her brother's hand and climbed up. Tadashi sat next to her and looked at the menu taking a mental note of how much money they had, it looks like they have enough for one bowl.

"Can we get one bowl of.."

There was suddenly a loud bang right next to Katsumi, causing her to jump a bit. Tadashi looked to the other side of his sister to see a yellow-haired kid way too excited for some food.

"One bowl of Misu pork ramen please!" The new kid said.

Katsumi smiled and clapped her hands. "We'll get the same thing please." She said happily.

"Coming right up" said a woman whom Katsumi had not heard before.

"Oi! Don't just order like that. I wasn't ready" Tadashi said, a bit flustered.

Katsumi heard movement from the other side of the table.

"You like Miso pork ramen too? That's great! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. What's yours?"

Normally Katsumi would do her standard introduction but she didn't have her staff and she was still nervous about disobeying her father.

"My name is Katsumi. It's nice to meet you. This is my brother Tadashi." she opened her eyes and faced Naruto with a smile.

"Quiet Katsu, what if he rats us out or something?" Tadashi looked around frantically.

"What's up with your eyes?" Naruto said leaning so close to Katsumi that his face was at her shoulders.

Tadashi leaned forward, holding onto the counter to leverage, and shoved Naruto's face away from his sister.

"Don't you have any manners?" Tadashi said a bit peeved.

"I couldn't get a good look from here!" Naruto shot back.

Katsumi giggled. "I'm blind." She waved her hands in front of her face. "I can't see a thing." She then turned towards her brother and slapped him lightly on the thigh. "Be nice. I'm trying to make a friend," she said, puffing her cheeks. Tadashi sucked his teeth and relaxed back into his seat.

Naruto was about to say something when two bowls were placed in front of the children.

Katsumi felt the steam from the bowl warm her face, she put her hands around it but winced and quickly retreated her hand.

"Ow ow. It's hot." some of the broth spilled onto her shirt. she began blowing on her hands trying to cool off the burning sensation

Tadashi frantically searched for a napkin, dabbing at the hot liquid that clung to his sister. "Why would you put your hands around a bowl of hot soup Katsu?"

"I'm sorry Tadashi. I just wanted to feel what it was like." Katsumi sniffed.

"You're supposed to eat it like this." Naruto broke up the chopsticks and gave thanks. Then he began slurping away.

Tadashi picked up two pairs of chopsticks, handing one off to his sister. He then guided her hands into the praying motion before giving thanks himself. At the same time, the twins broke apart their chopsticks.

"Umm... how do you hold these?" Usually, she uses a spoon to eat, this was the first time she'd tried using chopsticks.

"You hold it like this" Naruto puts his hand close to her seemingly forgetting that she cannot see. Katsumi put the chopsticks down and put her two hands on his. She was feeling his hand which caused Naruto to blush a bit at the unexpected touching.

Tadashi grumbled and took her hands away from Naruto. Katsumi blinked a couple of times registering what had just happened.

"Ok I understand now" she picks up the chopsticks. She did a pop sound then began to slurp on the noodles as well.

"You're right Naruto. This IS really good." she kept making pop sounds before she ate the noodles. Tadashi sighed as he watched his sister eat, he never really understood why she made those sounds but at this point, they'd been together too long for it to be annoying anymore. Naruto didn't understand why she did that but it was entertaining.

Before Katsumi went in for another bite, Tadashi slid the bowl in front of him. Katsumi heard the movement and looked to her brother with a pout.

"Don't look at me like that, I want to try it too." He said.

Katsumi then heard something being placed in front of her. She felt the steam hit her face and looked up to where she thought the man on the other side of the table was.

"Uh sir, we can't afford two bowls," Tadashi said to the old man.

The man smiled "Don't worry, it's on me today."

"Alright!" Naruto yelled.

Katsumi smiled. "Thank you so much, mister."

Tadashi began whistling loudly and quickly switched his bowl for the newer one his sister got. She started eating the first bowl anyway so he should have the newer one. He hummed triumphantly to his success.

The three finished their food at the same time. Before they could continue their conversion Tadashi saw a bright red toad hopping towards them. The two got up from their seat and quickly left the establishment.

"Hey, where are you going?" Naruto said as he saw the two scramble to leave.

"Our dad is looking for us-"

-We'll see you later Naruto~ "

Tadashi took his sister's hand and began running back towards the inn where they were supposed to be waiting for their father.

Naruto watched them run off and smiled. "See you later!" He yelled.