Day Off, the Ramen

The week had passed quickly, and Ryo had interacted more with Naruto, who occasionally visited him at his home since they lived one above the other, quite literally. The classes in the first week hadn't changed much in terms of content, as it was still the early days, and Iruka had focused on the basics of shuriken throwing and theoretical lessons for the future ninjas.

Arriving on Friday, Ryo was eager to be released from class early, knowing there would be no class on Saturday. He had a plan for the next day. "I have to go to the market to check the prices of items: Kunai, shurikens, tanto... I think that's the name of the short katana. And I also want to find out my primary element; I need to buy chakra paper. And most importantly, buy water balloons to secretly train the Rasengan."

With the objectives in mind, he was dismissed from class and headed home, around 7 p.m. Around this time, Ryo remembered something extremely important, a matter of life and death. If not resolved, he would truly suffer.

"Do I really have to do this?"

He pondered, looking at the ground, then grabbed a small bag, looking at its contents. Inside were various denominations of ryous and some notes—the currency of the Naruto world. He still had a total of 1000 ryous since he hadn't spent anything since then.

"I have to do this."

He then grabbed a handful of coins and some banknotes and walked up the stairs, reaching Naruto's door. He could already see Naruto through the window, with a bowl of ramen still closed on the table. Giving two knocks on his door, Ryo waited for Naruto to open it, which didn't take long. Naruto opened the door, surprised.

- Ryo? I didn't expect you here now. Were you going to eat something? What's up?-

Ryo gave a slight smile as he spoke.

-- I heard about a nice ramen restaurant around here. Can you show me where it is?--

Hearing this, Naruto smiled and replied enthusiastically, - Oh yeah, there's a great one nearby called Ichiraku Ramen!" But then his expression turned a bit downcast. "But it's kind of expensive. - Hearing this, Ryo remembered some scenes from the anime where Naruto always had trouble affording Ichiraku Ramen.

"I don't understand, the money we earn should be enough to eat there comfortably, right?" He pondered for a few more seconds and then reached a conclusion. "Naruto must be terrible at managing the money he earns." Sighing, he looked at Naruto and said something that lit up his eyes.

-- Show me where the restaurant is, Naruto. Let's go together, my treat. --

For some reason, Ryo felt a chill running down his spine as he uttered those words, as if something very, very bad was about to happen. Naruto didn't hesitate to respond and ran into his room to change, taking off the pajamas he was wearing. In a few minutes, they were walking the streets of Konoha.

Naruto walked with a brisk, energetic pace, chanting "Ichiraku ramen, Ichiraku ramen!" for a few more minutes until they finally arrived. Ryo looked at the place he had seen on a computer screen for years, feeling a tightness in his chest. He sighed happily.

- We're here! Hey, Old Man, two ramen, please! -

He said this as he sat down, and Teuchi, the owner, was about to respond when he saw Ryo sitting down next to Naruto. - Naruto? Sure, brought a friend this time? - Naruto promptly replied with a smile, scratching his nose. -Yeah, he's a classmate from the academy. I met him a few days ago, and he's cool! -

Ryo responded calmly, -- Hello, I'm Shimura Ryo. I heard the ramen here is really good! I'm looking forward to trying it. -- As he spoke, he glanced at one of the signs on the side, noting the price of the ramen Naruto had ordered two of.

"42 ryous per ramen? That's about 1,200 yen... Not too much, but not cheap either. But if it's good, I wouldn't mind coming here once or twice a week. 42 ryous are easy to pay... In this case, 84, since I'll pay for Naruto too."

It didn't take long for the ramen to be served. Ryo watched the entire process since they were right in front of the kitchen. Teuchi worked like a master, with precise and calm movements, and soon two bowls of ramen were in front of them.

As he looked to the side, Naruto was already digging into his ramen. Ryo picked up his chopsticks, took some noodles, and smelled the broth a delicate aroma of meat, vegetables, and spices. He then put the ramen in his mouth and started chewing, tapping the table with one hand and closing his eyes.

-- This is really good! --

"Ah, how great it is to have ended up in this world. I feel like everyone who likes Naruto in my old world would be insanely jealous of me."

Ryo took his time eating the ramen, savoring every moment of it. He felt an explosion of flavors with each bite, tasting the rich broth infused with meat.

Ryo savored every moment of eating the ramen, enjoying the explosion of flavors with each bite. As he drank the broth, he could taste the subtle flavor of the meat infused with the broth.

After a few minutes of blissful indulgence, Ryo finished eating, letting out a long sigh of satisfaction. However, he was taken aback when he glanced at Naruto and saw a towering stack of empty ramen bowls beside him. There were already seven empty bowls, and Naruto was patting his own belly with a satisfied look on his face.

-- Eh... Naruto?! What's this? -- Ryo exclaimed, slightly shocked.

- Ryo! I tried to get your attention, but you were so focused on the ramen that I had to order more too. Isn't it amazing, dattebayo? - Naruto replied enthusiastically.

Ryo's eyebrow twitched slightly as he mentally calculated the expense of paying for all those bowls. Eventually, he responded, -- Yes... It's incredibly delicious, indeed. Thanks for recommending this place, Naruto. I'll definitely come back.--

Naruto beamed with a smile. - Great! Call me next time too! -

Internally, Ryo trembled at the thought of having to spend more money. -- Of course, Naruto. We'll come back more often... over the years,-- he thought to himself, "But I need to try to not get bankrupting myself at age 6!"

With that, Ryo took out some coins and banknotes from his pocket and handed them to Teuchi, paying a whopping 336 ryous. After that, Naruto and Ryo parted ways for the night, each returning to their respective homes to sleep. Despite the pang of regret for the money spent, Ryo knew it was worth it for the simple pleasure of enjoying the ramen.

The next morning, Ryo woke up early as usual and went through his training routine from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., including chakra training. He could feel that his chakra reserves were almost twice as large as when he started training, which made him happy, although he couldn't measure precisely how significant the increase was.

"I'll talk to Iruka to teach me how to be a sensor, so I can sense ninja chakra, and there won't be anyone sneaking up on me. It's not my focus to be a sensor, but it would be good to know," he thought.

With that in mind, he left home to go to the market, asking around for directions. Upon arrival, he saw various small shops selling a bit of everything. Approaching a ninja supply store, he checked the prices of items: shurikens were around 150 ryous, kunai 405 ryous, and a small katana was over a hundred thousand ryous. Seeing this, Ryo swallowed nervously.

"I need some way to earn ryous before starting missions," he thought. Looking to the side, he saw chakra paper for fuinjutsu seals, each piece costing 350 ryous, and chakra ink for 300 ryous.

"I don't know how fuinjutsu works exactly, but it's a way. When they give access to the ninja academy's library, there should be something to learn the basics and make scrolls to sell, since the simplest scrolls already have a high value on the market, they are a good future investment." he reasoned.

After finishing his field research, he headed to the regular markets, buying some eggs, meat, and other food items to cook and not rely solely on ninja rations. By the end, it was almost noon, and Ryo had spent another 178 ryous on basic groceries for the coming week, And one more chakra paper, which would reveal his elemental affinity.

This was something Ryo had wanted to know for quite some time. He had no idea what his affinity might be, but he speculated that it could be fire, considering they were in the Land of Fire. However, he would find out for sure the next day during the morning training. Spending another 100 ryous on the paper, he was left with only 386 ryous.