Chapter 398 : Building a Bond

"Gale jutsu."

Naruto thrust his palm forward but nothing happened as usual. He was about to do it again when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Naruto turned around to see Fujin standing there.

Fujin said, "You look tired. That's enough training for now."

Naruto immediately replied, "I can still keep training!"

Fujin replied, "I am sure you can. But rest is equally important. While you rest, think about what you practice and analyze how you can improve."

Fujin's words confused Naruto. He wondered, 'Analyze? What should I analyze?'

However, he still nodded his head. Fujin said, "For now, go and eat something. Do you want to train in the afternoon as well? Or will you be playing with your friends?"

On hearing the question, Naruto immediately became depressed. Though he would occasionally hang out with the boys in his classroom, it would generally happen when the academy was on. During vacations, meeting up with them would be very rare.

Naruto nervously asked, "Can I train with you?"

Fujin had expected such a response, which is why he had asked it in the first place. He answered, "Sure. You can go to eat and return in an hour."

Naruto excitedly said, "Yahoo! I'll be back in no time, believe it!"

He was about to run away when Fujin said, "Wait. What are you planning to eat?"

Naruto turned around and replied proudly, "Obviously instant ramen!"

Fujin put up a curious expression and asked, "Do you eat anything else?"

Naruto showed confusion on his face as he asked, "Why would I eat anything else?"

Fujin sighed and said, "You are coming with me."

Fujin began walking. Naruto quickly followed him and asked, "Where are we going?"

Fujin replied, "To eat."

Naruto became excited and asked, "Are we going to Ichiraku?"

Fujin chuckled and answered, "Nope. No Ramen for you today."

Naruto stopped moving. A look of horror appeared on his face. He shrieked, "You can't do that to me!"

Fujin smirked and said, "Sure I can."

He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the wind began flowing around Naruto. Naruto tried moving, but it was very difficult. Fujin grinned evilly and said, "If I want to, you won't even be able to eat."

Naruto was dumbstruck. The wind around him was so dense that he couldn't move his arms and legs. In addition, he felt the wind revolving around him at a very high speed. He looked at Fujin fearfully. He hadn't expected Fujin to do something like that. He understood that Fujin's threat was true.

Suddenly, the pressure around him disappeared and Fujin began laughing loudly. He said, "Hahaha! You should have seen your face! Hahaha."

Naruto immediately understood that he was pranked. His face immediately became red in embarrassment. He was the one who always pranked others and not the other way around.

He cursed, "You jerk!" and ran towards Fujin and punched towards him. Fujin easily blocked all his punches and kicks with just one arm without moving and slightly pushed him back, making him lose his balance and fall on his buttocks.

Fujin chuckled and asked, "After doing so many pranks, you never expected that someone would prank you as well?"

Naruto snorted childishly and turned his head away and said, "I just didn't see it coming. Besides, that was so uncool!"

Fujin said, "Alright, don't keep moping and follow me. Though what I did was a prank, you aren't eating Ramen today."

Naruto tried arguing, "But…"

However, Fujin cut him off and said, "Don't worry, there are a lot of delicious foods in Konoha. I'll take you there. If you don't eat any noodles today, I'll teach you some techniques to help you learn Gale jutsu faster."

Naruto asked, "Really? But…"

Naruto was in two minds. He didn't want to give up on Ramen but Fujin's offer was very tempting as well. Fujin sighed and said, "I'll treat you to Ichiraku tomorrow. So just follow me."

Naruto's eyes immediately sparkled. He jumped and said, "You are the best, Fujin!"

Fujin began walking towards one of the Sushi restaurants in Konoha. On the street, several odd looks fell on Fujin and Naruto. Naruto became a bit nervous, but since Fujin didn't react, he didn't say anything and tried to ignore them.

Fujin couldn't help but wonder, 'Facing such looks every time he steps out on the street. How bad would that be?'

He thought for a bit and concluded, 'It won't affect me at all. Why would I care about what random people think? However, this is because I am far more mature mentally. Had this happened when I was under 12 in my previous life, then I would have been affected a lot too.'

Unfortunately, there wasn't much Fujin could do in regards to those stares. The damage was long done. Hiruzen and others in charge had messed up long back. It was already too late for anyone to do anything about it. As unfair as it was, the change could only happen slowly as Naruto gained more respect due to his actions.

Fujin shook those thoughts from his mind and entered the restaurant with Naruto following him. Once again, they received very unfriendly looks. Fujin ignored them and sat on a table. He looked at Naruto and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Naruto ignored the looks and began going through the menu. Since he hadn't ever been to that restaurant, he was confused. So Fujin asked him about his preferences and gave him some suggestions.

While the two of them were busy deciding, the rest of the restaurant wasn't very peaceful. A few customers saw Naruto, got up and left. As for others, they became much silent. The owner had a frown on his face as he saw that he was losing customers.

He looked at Fujin and thought, 'That boy comes here frequently and orders a lot. But why did he suddenly bring that demon here?'

He walked towards Fujin and Naruto with an unfriendly look on his face. He stood next to their table and asked angrily, "What are you doing in my restaurant?"

Naruto immediately had a grim expression. He had already experienced that several times and knew what was about to happen. While he had gotten used to it by now, he was afraid that it would force Fujin to go away from him.

However, to his surprise, Fujin didn't react much and just stared into the owner's eyes. He replied with a hint of amusement, "To eat, of course. Why else would someone come to your restaurant?"

Naruto had expected the owner to blow up, but to his surprise, nothing like that took place. Fujin smiled kindly and said, "I hope you give us your best hospitality. Naruto, make your order."

The restaurant owner was shaking in his boots. Though Naruto felt that Fujin's smile was kind, the restaurant owner was terrified due to the killing intent he felt when their eyes met. Fujin hadn't unleashed his killing intent entirely like he did with Root Ninja, but what little he used was enough to terrify a civilian.

He immediately nodded and said enthusiastically, "Of course. Everyone who comes to my restaurant is my valued guest. What do you like to eat? It will be on the house."

Fujin pointed towards Naruto and said, "Ask him. As for the money, don't worry, I have plenty."

The owner looked at Naruto and tried smiling as well as he could in that circumstance and asked, "What would you like to eat, young man?"

Naruto was surprised by the sudden change in the owner. He placed a rather large order for himself. Fujin ordered some Sushi as well. The owner wrote down their order and immediately left.

As soon as he exited from the dining room, his legs finally gave up. He dropped to the floor and sat down. His entire back was wet due to fear. He thought, 'Why didn't he ever say that he was a ninja? I wouldn't have dared to do something so stupid.'

Though the crimes committed by ninjas on civilians were close to nil due to the strict laws of Konoha, they still happened at times. Even if they didn't, a civilian would naturally be afraid of a ninja due to the large difference in their strength. So, the owner didn't dare to offend Fujin after realizing the threat. Even if he got justice, he didn't want to pay for it with his life.

He quickly went to the kitchen and overlooked the process of cooking to ensure that nothing went wrong with the order.

Naruto was still confused. He asked, "How did he go from angry and grumpy to kind and gentle so quickly?"

Fujin shrugged and said, "Who knows? Maybe he had a bad day or a bad customer earlier. Or perhaps he didn't get a proper sleep. Hard to say. I guess my smile reminded him to act kindly. What do you think?"

Naruto tried thinking but he couldn't find anything wrong with Fujin's words. After all, Fujin had smiled and the man suddenly started acting nice. He just nodded absentmindedly and muttered, "I guess smiling is good to calm others down."

[A/N : Bonus chapter on next Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones. Bonus chapter on next week's Saturday if the fic gets 2000 Power Stones.]

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