29: Changes

“Morning classes are finished.” Iruka tucked his textbook under one arm. “Afternoon is taijutsu. Lunch first, then meet at the first practice field.”

The door hadn’t fully closed before the classroom erupted.

Bentos appeared from bags. Groups formed. Half the class was already heading for the hall.

“Come on, come on.” Kiba was on his feet, snapping his fingers at Shin and Shino. “Let’s go.”

Shin stood slowly. “Do we have to?”

“There’s a new grilled fish place.” Kiba’s hands moved, sketching out a queue of catastrophic length. “It’s good—actually good—and the line gets insane. We have to go now.”

“What about the bento?” Shin lifted the box from his desk. “Hana made this.”

Kiba’s expression darkened. He scratched the back of his head and made a sound of genuine suffering.

“I don’t care,” he announced, in the tone of someone who cared very much. “I’m going.”

“Go, then.” Shino’s voice was quiet but settled. “If Kiba wants it that badly, there’s no reason not to.”

He had his own reasons. His mother’s cooking had been fine lately—fine wasn’t the same as interesting.

Shin looked at the bento. Looked at both of them.

“Alright.”

Kiba’s face transformed.

“Then hurry—”

……

“Shin! Hey, Shin!”

They were almost at the door when Naruto’s voice caught them. They turned.

He was still at his desk, grinning, holding up a cup of instant ramen with both hands like a trophy.

“Are you guys going to eat? Take me with you!”

Shin looked at the ramen. Then at Naruto.

“I’ve told you before,” he said. “Don’t live on that stuff.”

“But ramen is good,” Naruto said, very seriously.

“We’re going to the new grilled fish place. Do you want to come?”

“If you’re coming, move it.” Kiba jabbed a finger at the hall. “I’m not waiting.”

“Yeah!” Naruto dropped the ramen cup and was halfway to the door before anyone else had moved.

---

The shop was everything Kiba had promised and worse.

The line started inside, spilled out the front door, bent at the corner to avoid blocking the street, and still stretched half a block. People of every kind packed it end to end—old men, children, couples, a cluster of lower-year Academy students Shin half-recognized, three jonin in green vests who’d apparently decided queuing was beneath them and were eating something else entirely while they waited.

“How long is this going to take?” Naruto stood on his toes trying to see the front.

“Business is incredible,” Shin said.

Kiba wasn’t listening. He was already at the back of the line.

“Get over here.”

The three of them exchanged a look and followed.

“Shin-senpai!”

Two girls near the middle of the queue were waving at him. Younger—a year below, maybe two. One of them was already red in the face.

“Would you like to—you can have our spot, if you—”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Shin smiled. “Stay where you are.”

Beside him, Kiba made a sound that wasn’t quite a word.

Naruto glanced at him. “That happens a lot, huh?”

……

A couple joined the line behind them a few minutes later.

She had long purple hair and moved like someone who’d spent years knowing exactly where her body was at all times. He was lean and dark-eyed with the kind of shadows under his eyes that went beyond one bad night’s sleep—and he was coughing, quietly and steadily, in a way that bothered no one around him except apparently himself.

“Anko recommended it,” she was saying, “so I don’t see what the problem is.”

“I don’t—koff—have a problem.”

“You said it was a long line.”

“It is a long—koff koff—line.”

She looked at him with the patient expression of someone who had long since decided to forgive this. Then her gaze shifted and found Shin watching.

“Oh.” Her smile adjusted—warmer, more direct. “Do you like this place too, little brother?”

Naruto spun around first, because Naruto always spun around first.

She looked at them—actually looked, the kind of look that was doing something behind the surface. Her eyes moved from Naruto to Shin and back. Whatever she’d noticed, she glanced sideways at the man beside her.

He gave a small nod.

She recognizes us. Shin filed it away without reacting. An active kunoichi, probably in a role with Academy record access. Not surprising. Just something to remember.

“Are you all together?” she asked.

“Yeah!” Naruto said immediately. “We’re all friends.”

“Is the fish really that good?” She tilted her head. “I keep hearing things.”

“It’s the best,” Naruto said, with tremendous confidence for someone who hadn’t eaten here before. “You definitely won’t regret it, big sis.”

……

The line moved in slow fits. The four of them talked intermittently, filling the wait without filling it up entirely.

Behind them, the couple spoke in low voices—low enough for privacy, not quite low enough given the crowd.

“…so he’s keeping us off the roster tonight—koff—” The man’s voice was careful. “It’s just how it is. We’re not his people.”

The author’s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“He put that boy in our squad.” Her voice had dropped further, but the street noise wasn’t working in their favor. “Sai. Whatever just happened to him—I think I can guess what kind of help he’s been given.”

“That’s just how—koff—he operates.” A pause. “You know this.”

“I know.”

Shin let the words settle into background noise. Whoever he was, it wasn’t his business.

……

An hour of shuffling forward, one incident involving Akamaru and someone’s dropped food, four conversations—and then, finally, the front.

“One signature fish!” Kiba had both hands on the counter. “The big one!”

The man behind the curtain had kind eyes and an apron dusted with char. He already had the tongs moving.

A few minutes later: a golden-brown fish on a long wooden skewer, oil glinting in the light.

“Come back soon,” the owner said.

“Thank you!” Kiba grabbed it with both hands and bit in immediately.

“Hot—HOT—”

He did not stop. He breathed steam and kept chewing, eyes watering.

Shin watched this. Then he laughed—quiet and actual, the kind that didn’t happen often—and Naruto turned to look at the sound of it.

“Nobody’s taking it from you,” Shin said.

Shino received his. Shin received his. Naruto’s was last.

“That’s the last one for today,” the owner said pleasantly, and reached for the SOLD OUT sign.

Naruto blinked. He turned around.

The line behind them was still long.

The purple-haired kunoichi’s expression had gone very still—the particular stillness of someone who had waited an hour for something and just watched it disappear.

“There’s nothing left?” She stared at the sign.

“Koff—we can come back, earlier next—koff—”

“Hmph.“

“Yugao—”

“Hmph.“

Shin watched Naruto.

Naruto was looking at his fish. Looking at her. Looking at his fish again.

Then he walked over.

“Hey, big sis.”

She looked down. He was holding the skewer out with both hands.

“Here. For you.”

“—What?”

“You should have it.” He smiled easily, like this was simple. “I’ve already eaten here a bunch. I just came along with a friend today.”

Shin: …

Kiba: …

Shino: …

She crouched slowly until she was level with him. Her hand came up and rested on his head.

“You’re very sweet,” she said. “But eat it yourself. You waited just as long as I did.”

Naruto shook his head. He took her hand and folded the skewer into it before she could object.

“Try it.”

The man beside her coughed and said, “Koff—Yugao, just accept it—koff.”

She shot him a look. Turned back to Naruto.

“Thank you,” she said. “What’s your name?”

“Naruto Uzumaki.” He puffed his chest out. “I’m going to be Hokage someday.”

She looked genuinely surprised for a moment. “Are you? Then you’d better work hard.”

“I will!” He was already nodding.

“I’m Yugao Uzuki.” She let her hand rest briefly on his hair again before standing. “And this—” a gesture beside her, “—is Hayate.”

Hayate raised a hand. Then coughed.