Naruto: Akira’s Story

Shikaku had barely finished introducing us when my waiter found me and brought over my order.

I'd barely taken a few sips of that amber liquid when Choza started the conversation.

"Akira-san, I didn't expect to see you in my restaurant. I hope you enjoy the food - tonight, it's all on me." Choza, Choji's father, flashed a wide grin.

"Thank you, Choza-san," I replied with a smile. "You've got a great interior here. This grill table - was it custom made?" I ran my hand over the solid tabletop.

"Haha, that's right. I knew you'd appreciate it. Master Keishi - my supplier - charges a lot, but as you can see, the craftsmanship is top notch."

"Yeah, I bet for the price of one of these tables, I could refurnish my whole McDonald's." I noticed nobody seemed surprised - they must have already known I owned that restaurant. Not surprising, since I'd bought the land from the Yamanaka clan.

"No need to worry, Akira-san. Your place has its own strengths - your sauces, for example, or that mojito. I tried it…"

"Oh, Choza, please, don't start talking about food or we'll be here till morning. I have to get up early, you know," Inoichi said, massaging his temples.

"Oh, come on." Choza waved him off. "But we'll definitely get back to that topic." He grinned at me.

"Inoichi-san, your clan specializes in mental techniques, right? Can you satisfy my curiosity a bit?" I asked the blond.

"Go ahead." He downed his beer in one go and started working on his second.

"Do your techniques work the same on everyone? Is there a difference between using them on a teenager and a sixty-year-old?" He thought for a few seconds, then answered honestly.

"It depends on the technique. If you're talking about mind transfer for body control, the difficulty goes up with the amount of yin chakra in the target's body. If you mean reading memories… that's a mix of factors, like yin chakra and how many memories the person has."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting such a detailed answer." Clan secrets and all that.

"That's not even detailed - it's all common knowledge among the clans." He grabbed some meat off the grill and popped it in his mouth.

"Akira-san, you haven't been in the village long, but you've already opened a restaurant and contributed to Konoha's development. That's impressive - you must be a very active person." Shikaku finally joined the conversation.

"Me? No way! If you ask me, I'd rather just stay in bed all day if I could." Shikaku gave me a knowing smile, and the other two chuckled. "But you've got to make a living somehow, and I'm not a fan of physical labor."

"What about your ideas? Did you just decide to submit them to the administration on a whim?" he continued.

"You might not believe it, but yeah. Whenever I'm out for a walk or just keeping busy, I'm always thinking through all the information I have and trying to analyze it logically. Take the ninja academy, for example."

All three adults leaned in a little closer to the table.

"Kids spend four years learning how to kill, and by thirteen, most of them have already taken a life. I'm not trying to criticize our village's teaching methods, but I think every team should have a psychologist assigned to them, someone who could have short talks after every mission, starting from the time they begin C-rank missions. The mind is fragile - even adults can break after something goes wrong on a mission." Inoichi nodded with a sad expression.

"Or take shinobi survival - how many academy graduates know basic first aid?" I asked.

"I'd say one or two per graduating class," Shikaku replied.

"Exactly. But everyone should know it. It takes too much time and effort to train good shinobi - it'd be a shame to lose even one just because a teammate couldn't help. And jutsu? Four years, and they only learn three techniques? Couldn't they at least teach every student one offensive and one defensive jutsu before graduation?"

"Well, after graduation, that's usually the team sensei's job," Choza chimed in.

"Sure, but it'd be better if every student had those two techniques down to muscle memory before they even graduate. I doubt the team spends a whole year just training."

"Shikaku, are you sure he's not from your clan?" Choza laughed.

"Choza, you give the Nara clan's looks too much credit." Inoichi burst out laughing at his own joke.

If there'd been any awkwardness at the start, it was gone now. With every new topic, the conversation flowed easier and easier. And once everyone started slurring their words, we dropped the honorifics altogether.

"Shikaku! Nooo! Don't leave us!" Inoichi wailed at his friend, who was now sprawled out on the table with a blissful look on his face.

"That's it, now Yoshino's going to kill us," Choza said, glancing at me with a wide grin. "Oh, I just remembered I have some very important business to take care of. Inoichi, don't leave our friend in trouble. Don't worry about the bill - it's all on me. I'm out of here."

I watched in amazement as that mountain of a man left the restaurant at Guy's speed.

"CHOZA!" Inoichi yelled, slamming his fist on the table.

"Is he going to be all right?" I asked, nodding at the sleeping Shikaku.

"Ahh," he waved it off. "Whenever he overdoes it with the booze, he just passes out. You won't wake him till morning. Damn, we can't just leave him here - Yoshino will hunt us down."

Yoshino, as far as I could tell, was Shikaku's wife. Henpecked is the word for him, but I guess with his laid-back nature, it's easier to keep his wife happy than to argue.

"Akira… do me a favor and help me get Shikaku home. You're a new face, so maybe Yoshino won't be as fierce."

I didn't mind, so I slung Shikaku's arm over my shoulders and together we carried him outside. Luckily, it wasn't far - just a seven-minute walk. At the clan gates, nobody even asked us anything, just let us through. I guess Shikaku's clanmates are used to this sight.

Shikaku's house was solid, all in the Japanese style, even with a little garden. We hadn't even reached the porch when the door flew open, revealing an angry woman.

Judging by the deep breath she took, we were about to get yelled at. But as soon as her eyes landed on our faces, the frown on her forehead softened a bit.

"Good evening, Yoshino-chan, we just had a little get-together…" Inoichi started with a crooked smile, but stopped when she glared even harder.

"Hello, Yoshino-san, my name's Akira. I ran into your husband today and we ended up talking over dinner. Honestly, I had no idea Shikaku-san gets drunk so quickly. I hope you won't hold it against me." I gave her my best clone-practiced smile.

"Ahem, it's not your fault, Akira-san." But judging by the look she shot at Inoichi, I was still partly to blame.

"Man, Shikaku never mentioned what a beautiful wife he has. Lucky guy," I said "quietly" to Inoichi. [ image ]



"Ahem, Inoichi, help him get to bed. I'm not about to drag his heavy body myself." The blond nodded and, with Shikaku's arm over his shoulder, went inside.

As for me, a stranger, she clearly wasn't about to let me in.

"You have a lovely home, Yoshino-san. Is it hard to take care of?" I don't know why, but I've always found it easy to talk to housewives - probably from my own reclusive lifestyle. In the two minutes while Inoichi was gone, we managed to discuss which cleaning products work best, prices and shortages of certain groceries, and just as we were debating what's best to add to soup, Inoichi came back out.

"Oh, you're done? Great, thanks, Inoichi, and thank you too, Akira-san." She said goodbye and went back inside.

"She… thanked us?" Inoichi looked at me like I was some kind of wizard.

I patted him on the shoulder, said goodbye, and headed home, where I fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, I was happy to note that I didn't wake up with garbage breath. After a quick breakfast, I went for a run. Guy had advised me to run without weights for now, forty minutes a day, but to keep my pace above average. Most of my time went to the exercises - as much as I wanted to get them over with, I needed a little recovery between sets.

The training ground where Guy had tested me was perfect - hardly anyone around. Actually, I hadn't seen a soul there in days.

I stopped in front of a makiwara buried in the ground and slowly walked up to it.

"Ha!" I slapped the wooden post with an open palm. The log went flying several meters… or at least, that's how I imagined it. In reality, it didn't even budge.

All right, I've learned to hold a leaf on my forehead for a bit, so I can at least control my chakra a little. Can I use it to boost my punch?

Closing my eyes, I focused on the warmth in my gut. Tensing up, I increased the chakra flow through my system, then opened my eyes and punched the makiwara.

*Thud*

Whoa, what a sound. I think the log even shook a little. Imagine what my punch would be like if I pushed my chakra to the max.

"Son of a bitch! Damn!" I pulled my hand back and started massaging my knuckles, trying to ignore the pain.

The log didn't crack, but my knuckles just might have. What a ripoff. I thought chakra was supposed to reinforce your body! Or is my chakra control just that bad? Damn, I should've used an open palm. That's it, enough experiments for today.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I decided to head straight to the hospital and get my hand checked out. The local clinic - the only one in town - was right in the center, close to the Hokage's building. Smart move building it there. If something happens, everyone's about the same distance away, though I get the feeling the clans have their own medics. Otherwise, I'd seriously question the intelligence of the local leaders.

Of course, just as I was leaving, I ran into Ayumi, who came to tell me that someone had smashed the restaurant's window last night. Luckily, that was all. Whether it was on purpose or an accident, I couldn't say.

The girls had already cleaned up all the glass, and Ayumi had ordered a new window from a merchant in Suna, so I didn't have to worry much.

Still, I had to stop by the restaurant to make sure everything was okay. Seeing that the morning customers didn't care about a little draft, I relaxed. No one had touched the safe, the equipment and furniture were fine, and while the window would cost some money, the restaurant made more than enough in a day to cover it.

I hope it was a one-time thing. I really don't want to have to hire a night watchman. Who even hires a night watchman for a restaurant?

(P.S. - lol, I just checked, turns out those jobs actually exist.)

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Thank you so much for the power stones! I really appreciate the support!