Secret No More

Chapter 8

    After convincing Boruto to stop by Sarada’s home on his way to his house, Sarada led Menma down the street in the direction of the Ramen Shop. Menma was excited, more than he thought he would be. He had had Ichiraku ramen before, of course, his mother was Naruto. It was kind of inevitable. So he had a vague idea of what he would get, but he had never seen the building itself before. He was curious.
    Along the way Sarada kept him engaged in conversation, asking him things like “what are your interests?” and “what’s your dream job? Mine to become Hokage.” He answered back with as much honesty as he could give her, telling her about her love for reading and drawing, as well as his love for gardening and training. And telling her that the only dream he had at the moment was becoming a Chunin and being allowed to go on missions like his parents. He even dared to ask why she wanted to be Hokage, blinking in surprise at her response.

    “I want to be Hokage because I prefer the life Lord seventh has, compared to the life my father has,” She explained, cupping her hands behind her back, “I love my father, I do. But the life he has as a shinobi doesn’t sit well with me. When I was younger he was always away on missions, sometimes for months at time. Not that that’s any different from now, but at least the Hokage is always here, able to see his family whenever he wishes. That's the life I want.”

    “You say that like your father doesn't care about you,” Menma murmured, confused, “that’s not true, is it?” He knows it's not. He just hoped she didn’t think that.

    “No of course not, I know full well that my father cares for me,” she defended, “he’s very supportive of my dream to become Hokage, he’s very protective of me and always makes an effort to spend time with me when he’s here.” Menma breathed a quiet sigh of relief, glad he wouldn’t have to tell Sasuke differently.

    “Well that’s good,” He smiled at her, “he sounds like a wonderful father.” She smiled back.

    “He is,” she paused in their walk and pointed at a building in front of them, “Here we are. They have the best ramen here! According to Lord Seventh it’s one of the best ramen shops in the entire world, although I personally think he exaggerates a bit.” 

    Menma scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile, “I don’t doubt that.” She giggled and walked inside. He followed her and the two of them sat down next to each other at the main counter, waiting for their turn to order as Ayame-san made her way to them.
    They decided to discuss their favorite foods while they waited. Sarada learned that while she didn’t really like them, Menma loved tomatoes. Almost as much as her father loved them. And Menma in turn learned that she loved foods that were based on black tea flavors.
    Finally Ayame made it to them.

    “Sarada,” the 36 year-old woman announced gleefully, “it’s wonderful to see you again! I assume you would like your usual, the Udon Or Soba?” Sarada nodded.

    “Yep! What do you want?” She turned to Menma.

    “Oh, where are my manners? I’m terribly sorry sweetie, “ Ayame apologized, “I’m Ayame, I run the Ramen shop. Are you a friend of Sarada’s?”

    “Uh, yes ma’am. I’m Menma,” He replied.

    “Lovely to meet you Menma,” she smiled, “what can I get you?” Oh. Menma hadn’t really thought about it, he’d been too busy getting to know Sarada. He thought for a moment. Naruto had brought him lots of different things from the shop before, if not all of the things they sell here, so honestly this shouldn’t be too hard to decide on. He knew what everything tasted like. 
    Finally he decided to go with what his mothers favorite ramen was. With tomatoes added on of course.

    “Uhm, Miso Chashu Pork Ramen, please. With tomatoes.” She nodded with a kind smile and told them it would only take a moment to prepare before heading back to the kitchen.
    And it really was only a moment, because almost as soon as she left she returned, this time carrying two bowls and two complementary chopsticks. Ayame handed the Soba to Sarada and the Ramen to Menma before distributing the chopsticks to them.

    “Enjoy,” she grinned, before walking away to take someone else's order.

    “Thank you for the food,” the two teens thanked, taking their chopsticks and digging in. They continued to speak as they ate, going over their favorite jutsus and books, discussing their idols and personal beliefs, even discussing in detail everything they knew about the history of their wonderful Village. To say the least, Menma had more fun in the short time he’d spent with Sarada, than in the many years he spent isolated in the clearing. It was refreshing to finally have someone his age to talk to. It was nice to finally have an actual friend.
    Soon enough they finished their food and paid, exiting the shop and walking back to the Academy to prepare for the second flood of classes they had. (Or, that was the plan until Menma saw a stand full of tomatoes and used the last of his money to buy a few. Sarada watched in disbelief as he bit into one like an apple.) But eventually they got there and made their way back to the classroom. 
    They sat back in their seats and waited for Iruka and the rest of the students to arrive. At some point Boruto joined them, taking over for Menma and keeping Sarada occupied as they bickered and picked on each other. Menma could only imagine how they managed to stay friends with how much they bickered.

    “Alright you two, knock it off.” Iruka appeared behind Boruto, causing the boy to jump six feet out of his skin with a yelp. 

    “Sensei-” 

    “Do you two do anything other than bicker? I swear I don’t think I’ve ever seen you interact with each other and not bicker.” Iruka crossed his arms with a playful look on his face. He was clearly teasing.

    “Course we do,” Boruto huffed.

    “Name one instance.” Neither child could. “I figured. Alright, I'll leave you be. Try not to bicker too much okay? Class will resume in a few minutes.”

    “Yes sir,” the two echoed. Iruka smiled, “Thank you. Oh and Menma,”

    Menma snapped to attention, having previously been tinkering at the humbled genins. “Yes?” 

    “I would make sure to hide those tomatoes when you get home. I don’t think your mother would take too well knowing you bought them without permission.”

    “Yes Sensei,” he smiled nervously, “please don’t tell Mum...” Iruka walked away with a chuckle. 

    Boruto turned to Menma with a strange look, “what does your mom have against tomatoes?”

    “Nothing,” Menma said, looking at the blonde, “I just have a tomato limit.”

“Why?” questioned Sarada.

“I ate a whole bunch of them whole when I was little and made myself sick,” Menma explained, somewhat sheepishly, “He said I wasn’t allowed to eat that many tomatoes at once anymore and I'm limited to two whole tomatoes per day. Which has already been reached today.”

“Huh,” Boruto raised his eyebrows. Sarada opened her mouth to say something when the bell rang, signaling the start of class. Students flooded into the classroom and took their seats, followed soon after with Iruka sensei going over the rest of the review. This time of Jutsus and fighting styles. 
Menma and Sarada paid much more attention to this particular part of the review.