With their bellies rounded and stuffed from the ramen, Yuka and Naruto successfully hopped down from their chairs with Momoko's help.
Holding her distended stomach, Yuka sighed, "So good, so full."
Mimicking her exact pose, Naruto sighed as well, "So good! So full!"
It was rare for him to eat until he was this full. It was a special occasion today, and he cherished it so much that he had even licked the bowl clean of every last drop of broth, leaving nothing behind.
Yuka let out a little burp and suggested, "Let's go walk off the food. A book I read before said that if you take a walk after a meal, you'll live to be ninety-nine."
"Eh! Really?!" Naruto widened his eyes in astonishment. "Walking after a meal can make you live to ninety-nine?! Then I'm going to walk a lot—I want to live to be over a hundred!"
"Then I'm going to live to be over two hundred!" Refusing to be outdone, Yuka shook her small fist, then turned to Naruto and asked, "But why do you want to live to be over a hundred, Naruto?"
"Then I'll live to be over three hundred!!" Naruto first responded to Yuka's previous remark before answering her question, "Because I want to be Hokage. I noticed the Hokage grandpa is really old, huh? Maybe he had to live for a really long time to become Hokage."
"Then I'll live to be over four hundred!!!" Yuka's competitive spirit flared up, determined to outdo Naruto. "Eh? So you can become Hokage just by living a long time?"
"Then I'll... I'll live to be over five hundred!!!!" For some reason, Naruto was fiercely stubborn about becoming Hokage and started competing with Yuka. "I'm going to be a Hokage who's over five hundred years old!!!!"
"Then I'll be six hundred! That way I can become Hokage too!!!" After shouting, Yuka tugged on Momoko's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Momoko, what is a Hokage?"
Momoko said, "…Little Miss, it's the head of Konohagakure, the leader, the village chief? Anyway, it's the strongest person around."
Yuka was dissatisfied with this answer. "Isn't the strongest person in Konohagakure my father? Is there someone even stronger than my father?"
She didn't care—the people in her family were the strongest! Her father, her mother, and her brothers were the absolute strongest! Although she always liked to say the Uchiha clan's crest looked like a hand fan, and that the Uchiha clan's Sharingan looked like pinkeye, she had to admit that the Sharingan was indeed powerful; she had read about it in books.
Although Yuka didn't know how to use those techniques, the books recorded what kind of effects could be produced by using them.
That was the ability to stand against a thousand or even ten thousand enemies—how could that not be the strongest?
"Little Miss, you mustn't say things like that." Momoko hurriedly half-covered Yuka's mouth. Fortunately, this Ichiraku Ramen stand was tucked away at the end of an alley with hardly anyone around, so the two children's noisy bickering hadn't been overheard by anyone else.
Yuka didn't understand. "Why can't I say it?"
Momoko didn't know how to explain it to Yuka. She was only under orders to come out and accompany the Little Miss while she played; as for the Little Miss's education, that was always something for Madam and Young Master Itachi to worry about.
"Little Miss, you can hold onto that question and ask Madam or Young Master Itachi when we get home. They will tell you.""Okay." Fortunately, Yuka was not someone who would dwell on a single issue for long. Hearing Momoko say this, she temporarily dropped the question of whether the Hokage was more powerful or her own father was, and instead went back to arguing with Naruto about who would live longer.
Shouting back and forth at the top of their lungs, the two of them made their way out onto the street.
Getting carried away with his shouting, Naruto planted his hands on his hips right in the middle of the road, pointed a finger up at the sky, and roared at the top of his lungs: "I'm going to live to be a thousand years old! I'm going to be a thousand-year-old Hokage! I'm going to surpass Grandpa Hokage and become the Millennial Hokage!"
With a voice and an air like that, he certainly had plenty of energy after a full meal!
Feeling the gazes of passersby looking at them as if they were idiots, Momoko silently covered her face with her hand and pulled the two children over to the side of the road.
Good grief...
A Hokage over a thousand years old, with the codename Millennial Hokage.
There really was just too much absurdity to even know where to begin.
Konohagakure had a river running entirely through the village, and the embankments built along both sides featured a lush stretch of grass. With its bright sunshine, beautiful scenery, and fresh air, plenty of children of the right age came here to play every day.
Momoko held Yuka's hand, and Yuka in turn held Naruto's hand, the three of them walking side by side toward the riverbank.
Catching sight from afar of a group of children squatting on the embankment and weaving grass crowns, Yuka grew immensely curious. Standing on tiptoe to peer for a long time, she tilted her head up and said to Momoko, "Momoko, sit here for a bit. Naruto and I are going to go play—I want to go see what they're doing."
"All right." Momoko let go of her hand and stroked her head. "Be careful, Young Miss. I'll be right over here, so just call out if you need anything.""Okay~" Yuka grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him forward. Chatting away with Momoko, she completely failed to notice the look Naruto wore as he hesitated to speak, thus ignoring his subtle reluctance.
The two of them arrived one after the other near a group of children. A large crowd of kids was clustered there, squatting in a circle on the ground. Among them were both boys and girls; the boys were clutching small stones and drawing circles on the ground, while the girls held slender blades of grass, weaving them into grass circlets.
Yuka was short. She stood on the outside looking in for a long time without figuring out what was going on.
Finally, she spoke up, asking, "What are you guys doing? Are you weaving grass circlets? Can you let us join in and play?"
"!" The children hadn't realized anyone was walking up behind them. Hearing the voice, they abruptly raised their heads to look, only to see a prettily dressed little girl smiling warmly down at them.
People are visual creatures by nature. Yuka was cute, her little dress was lovely, and with her fair, tender complexion, she was a delight to look at.
Naturally, those children welcomed her joining. They hurriedly stood up and chimed in all at once, "Sure, sure, we welcome you—"
Before the words of welcome were even finished, the children turned their heads and caught sight of Naruto standing behind Yuka.
Naruto's head was lowered slightly. He hadn't raised his eyes to look ahead once while Yuka was speaking; he wanted to keep as low a profile as possible and make others ignore his existence, but clearly... his plan had failed.
"No way! We don't welcome a monster!"