Naruto's Best Friend

The Cat's Laughter

When they were done, they headed downstairs and into the Hokage's office, not bothering to knock.

Naruto sat down on the chair and waited patiently in his seat. The large saber cat sat next to Naruto, licking the makeup off easily.

"H-Hey! That tickles, Ryo! Ha ha ha" Naruto yelled, surprised as giggles erupted from his throat, turning into fits of laughter.

Ryoko backed her face away from Naruto and faced towards the Hokage.

"I spent three hours on that, you know. I had to get it just right. I wasn't sure what look I was going for at first, but it turned into some cool abstract art on my face." Naruto ranted a little as the Hokage looked at the picture and looked back up at Naruto.

"Retake the picture." The old man grumbled, smoking his pipe.

The large cat tuned out the two's small argument as she stared out the window, finding the clouds much more interesting. She began wondering what they tasted like, licking her lips unconsciously.

Just then, a small little boy ran through the room, yelling at the Hokage.

"Old man, I challenge you!" Naruto gasped a little in shock at the outburst. "I'm going to defeat you and become the fifth Hokage- Ah!" Konohamaru suddenly tripped, cutting himself off as he fell face first in the ground.

The loud thud echoed a little in the room, causing Naruto to sweatdrop while Ryoko snorted, licking her giant paw clean.

The small child curled up on the ground, holding his face, as he whimpered and quietly sobbed.

Ryoko's ear twitched at the sound, immediately taking action. She walked over to Konohamaru and pressed her nose into his cheek, nuzzling him in hopes of providing comfort.

The boy's cries quieted as he felt Ryoko's soft and fluffy tails wrap around him. He looked up at the cat and stared wide-eyed at the creature.

'S-So big! And its fangs look sharp! Am I gonna die?!' Konohamaru thought, internally panicking.

"No. You're not gonna die." The large saber cat spoke, licking the boy's bruised face before trotting back over to Naruto's side.

Konohamaru got up when he heard his sensei stand in the doorway.

"Something tripped me!" He yelled at his teacher, Ebisu.

"Are you okay, honorable grandson? And by the way, there's nothing for you to trip on, it's pretty flat." Ebisu mentioned that last sentence quieter than the first.

'Who is this shrimp?' Naruto thought in his head, immediately hearing a snort of amusement from Ryoko.

'It's that kid! Humph, the nine-tailed fox. Of course, he's the worst kind of troublemaker.' Ebisu sneered while staring at Naruto, who was oblivious to the man's comment.

However, Ryoko was not oblivious and knew exactly what he said.

With the saber's amazing speed, she flashed in front of the man and used her tails to bring Ebisu's feet forward, causing him to lose balance and fall backward.

Ryoko was pissed and stalked closer to the man dressed in all black, putting her giant paw on his chest, holding him down.

She got close to his face as she growled at the man, baring her teeth angrily.

"Ryoko, down. He doesn't mean any harm." The Hokage spoke gruffly but realized he was ignored by the saber cat.

"I have a box of dango for you if you get off him." Ryoko was off him at the speed of light, appearing quickly in front of the Hokage.

She sat down on the floor, a loud thud resounding through the room along with a jingle of a bell. The Hokage pulled out a box of dango and put it on the floor in front of Ryoko, whose eyes never left the box. Once he set it down, he went back to his original position with his elbows on the desk and fingers intertwined while the sabercat munched on the dango.

"Alright, it was you who tripped me, wasn't it?!" Konohamaru yelled, pointing a finger at Naruto. The blonde grabbed a fist full of the boy's scarf and yelled in his face.

"You tripped over your own feet, dork!" Ebisu recovered from his shock and stood up, glaring at Naruto.

"Hey, you! Take your hands off of him, right now. He's the honorable grand-" Ryoko tuned him out as she kept snacking on her dangos.

She kept ignoring all the yelling until Naruto shouted something.

"I DON'T CARE IF HE'S YOUR GRANDMOTHER, SO BELIEVE IT!" Ryoko started choking from laughing too hard, rolling around on the ground.