One thing was on his mind: warm food. Susumu strolled through the streets of Konohagakure during the night time. The street lanterns were shining brightly, enlightening the entire block. It wasn’t that warm outside, so this time Susumu simply settled for a jacket, covering the star-shaped necklace he was wearing around his neck. His black hair swayed from side to side with every step that he took along with the clinging of metal, which was the chain beneath his clothing. While his stomach was growling, his eyes shifted from left to right in order to spot a stand that had food that could still his hunger. No dumplings anymore; he’d seen enough of that kind of food. He wanted something that he barely had the opportunity to taste. Almost drool coming out of the corner of his mouth, quickly wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket and putting his hand back into his pocket. “If I don’t find anything soon, I got a feeling I might pass out.” He said to himself, thinking that his vision is actually becoming hazy from the lack of energy, wanting food to solve that problem. In the distance, there was a side hanging on the side of the building; Ichiraku Ramen. He had never tried Ramen himself before, but at this point he’d really try anything to give himself a boost. Almost looking drunk, moving from left to right, he moved himself over to the entrance of the Ramen shop, first using his hand to move away the blinds in his way and took a peek to the inside of the shop with his blue eyes. Carefully scanning from one side to the other and finally taking a step inside.

“Welcome!” was heard from behind the counter. It was a rather old man, though with a smile on his face, as if he’s feeling as if he’s complete by working here. “Ah.. Yo.” Susumu spoke with very much lack of energy and almost falling down on the chair in front of the old man, leaning both of his elbows on the counter in front of him. Susumu’s eyes were almost completely closed, but open enough just to be able to look at the menu. Although he barely took a peek, he quickly put it down. “I have no idea what’s good here, just give me something of your best quality.” That’s how hungry he was. Normally he’d make do with everything that was put to him, but this time he required the best for himself. While he waited, he leaned his cheek on the palm of his opened hand and closed his eyes for just a few seconds. Inside here, it was at least a little warmer than outside, mainly because you’re not out in the open, catching all of the cold wind. Once a person inside this store even breathes normally through their nose, they could still smell the aroma of the food that’s brought on the customer’s plates here. He could tell that this wasn’t just something that the old man would randomly put together. He really knows what his customers want. Opening one of his eyes, there was just one customer here, but that one just took out his wallet in order to pay and walked right out the door. Apparently, it was a very quiet day, but then again there also was almost nowhere around on the street. He didn’t mind, it was time for some peace and quiet, instead of those busy streets where you have to push yourself through the crowd in order to make your way to your destination.

There were still things to do in Konoha for Susumu, but he just couldn’t get around to it. It’s been difficult for Susumu to find some conversation material with people in order to find something interesting about them. Still wanting to put together a ‘squad’, he just thought to himself it’d be better to let fate do its thing and let the people come to him instead of them searching people out. It’d make things for Susumu much easier. His mind wandered off for a moment, quickly pulling back together his thoughts. It shouldn’t be long before the Ramen is done, so in order to keep himself at least a little bit awake, he used his hand which rested his cheek in to slightly pinch his own cheek. That feeling shouldn’t keep the spirit in his body until the ramen gets to where he is. His stomach still growled as loudly as ever, letting out a light sigh. The old man in the back, who was busy preparing his ramen, laughed slightly. “Just a little longer, kid! Your ramen is almost as good as done.” Finally! That’s what Susumu thought to himself, trying to keep the drool within his mouth this time and not embarrassing himself.

Word count: 810

It had been a long, hard journey to get here, but at last Quo had found her way to Konohagakure. The legendary Village Hidden in the Leaves has proven to be surprisingly welcoming place. Sure, she was treated with a fair amount of suspicion, but they’d still let her in! The girl with the blank forehead protector had been expecting it to be a bit more difficult to gain entry; maybe she’d have to complete a mission or pay a toll or something, but no. After taking down her details she’d been allowed right on through. If nothing else, she ought to be safe from Boss Takata this far from his turf. Not that she was too worried about him, but it would have been a real nuisance to have that trouble following her around.

The girl was dead tired, but she had taken a quick walk around the main street of the village, and then she saw it – a ramen noodle house. That, would do very nicely indeed. She stumbled through the doors and, with a polite nod to the owner, was soon shuffling onto the stool next to Susumu. She doesn’t look like she’s in a much better way than the tired Uchiha, though she drums her fingers on the countertop until the owner comes over to address her.

“You want something to eat too, young lady?”

The girl jingled her coin-purse, checking how much she actually had, and then sighed. It was so embarrassing when she was down on her luck like this. In the past, these things had gone in cycles but, in the past, she hadn’t been trying to earn her living whilst being in the shadow of one of the Great Villages themselves. Who could say whether she’d be able to make it back? But she needed food now, and she wasn’t exactly in the right state to go hunting, was she?

“Yes, please. Some chicken noodles would be lovely.”

Two old, grubby coins were placed onto the counter to pay for the meal, and then she turned to look at the boy next to her – one of the only other people in the shop right now. It is easy to tell that he’s also pretty tired, though she couldn’t begin to guess why. The kid was almost half her age, but there was a certain look about him… she couldn’t shake it, the kid definitely reminded her of herself at his age… although when she was seven, she wasn’t anywhere near as muscular as he was – maybe the village here really was just that much better at churning out awe-inspiring ninja than she could have guessed.

Then again, he isn’t wearing a headband so is he an academy student? A traveller like her? Or … something else?

“Hey. You look even more tired than me.” She said, flashing a quick smile to the young man. “My name’s Hattori Quo. Pleased to meet you.”

Her tone is very carefully calculated; cheerful enough to make it clear she’s at ease, without being so informal as to be disrespectful. Soft enough that she isn’t shouting, but loud enough to be heard over the hubbub in the kitchen. She doesn’t offer her hand, just a slight inclination of the head. She’s trying hard; she doesn’t want to freak the kid out and get into trouble with the authorities right away, and she’s sure that as a newcomer to the village she’s being watched… but she’s curious. The kid looks interesting, and she doesn’t get to meet that many interesting people when they aren’t trying to kill her.

(Word Count: 600)

Being too caught up in focusing not to drool, he completely overlooked the girl’s presence, until the moment that she searched in her wallet for some coins in order to pay for her food. The sigh afterwards indicated that she didn’t have that much money to spend, but still ordered her food and placed two old looking coins in front of her. All of this was observed by him from just the corner of his eyes. For Susumu himself, the money wasn’t really the problem. After all, he had most of his father’s heritage, which is why he had no problem getting by at his age. From the looks of it, the headband she was wearing didn’t have a symbol on it, so therefore she wasn’t affiliated with any village. This peeked his interest. To be honest, he had grown tired of the people affiliated with Konohagakure and was searching for something way different than that. A girl like this with a background that Susumu couldn’t really guess from the top of his head was perfect for that. She could be anything and Susumu would be intrigued to find out. His eyes widened slightly when the girl suddenly turned and faced him directly. The girl definitely seemed older than him, though he couldn’t quite guess her age. Then again, he has always been bad at those kind of things. As he was already ‘scanning’ her from the corner of his eyes and she had probably noticed he was eying her as well, he decided to turn his face into her direction and engage in the conversation. The exhausted expression gave away that he was indeed tired as she pointed out, followed by a simple introduction in order to get better acquainted.

Before he could reply to her, the old man behind the counter called out for him and placed a Pork Ramen in front of him. The scent of it pretty much crawled inside of his nose and pulled him towards it. His stomach growled, but before starting devouring his well-earned meal, he turned to her once more and nodded slightly. “It’s been a while since I’ve eaten, just training isn’t helping you progress any faster.” He began, showing off a slight smile before starting his own introduction. “My name is Uchiha Susumu. Nice to meet you as well, Hattori Quo.” He sounded a little bit too formal for his age, but he found that he needed to be. If he wasn’t, he figured others would judge him as just another ‘happy kid’ that gets underestimated and not taken seriously. If there was something that irritated Susumu, it was definitely that. Being underestimated. She seemed very comfortable, as if she’d been to this village before. She didn’t seem like she was new around here, but it was too early to judge. There was only one way to find out more about her and that’s to ask her the questions directly. While picking up the bowl in front of him and the chopsticks that came with it, he faced his food but yet kept the conversation going the girl named Quo. “So, what brings you to this village, Quo?” He began, before taking a bite of the pork he picked up between the chopsticks. It only took a second before he swallowed it, almost whole. “Just sightseeing? That headband doesn’t show a symbol, after all.” Just like himself, it could be that this girl was just travelling around and minding their own business, trying to accomplish her own goals.

While patiently waiting for a reply, he kept chowing down on his food, almost not taking breaks in between, just holding the bowl to his face, chew, swallow and repeat. It was obvious to see that Susumu indeed hadn’t eaten in a while and his appetite was a result from the intense training he keeps pushing himself into day in, day out. In less than 5 minutes, the entire bowl had been emptied, placing the chopsticks sideways on top of the dish and placing it back in front of him. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as he leaned a bit backwards to let the food slide down his stomach smoothly. There was a lot of questions that Susumu had in his mind to ask, but he figured that he should just take the time for it, considering the night is still young and the girl probably had questions for Susumu, as well. The smile of satisfaction from the food was still across his mouth as his pure blue eyes gazed over into Quo’s direction once more, showing interest in her response.

Word count: 770

There's a faint smile on the girl's lips as she watches the kid's reaction to his meal. She can relate to that kind of hunger, though she couldn't know that the difference between them was that his hunger was self-inflicted, at least to some extent. She gives him a few moments to tuck into his food and get the worst of the edge off before she starts to answer his questions; both those he asks, and the ones that are implied.

"Sightseeing could be considered part of it, I suppose." She replies, "I've recently started exploring the Ninja World properly. Konohagakure is one of the more important places to see."

There's a faint shrug as she looks up at the ceiling, considering how best to continue to explain herself. "My forehead protector is blank because I'm ... freelance." She says, "I don't belong to any ninja village myself, but my family invented many of the ninja skills used today, and those are the skills I use to make my living. I'd like to get some more work whilst I'm here, but, who knows whether that will happen."

She seems to take a rather laid-back tone whilst explaining this, as though it weren't that big a deal despite the outlandish nature of the claim she just made. She's learned that not everyone knows - or believes - in the legacy of the Hattori family as she has had it explained to her, but she hardly cares about that. Whether the history was true or not, everything else she said absolutely was true; this is how she makes her living, and if her family weren't as grandly important as she had been led to believe, then it hardly matters, does it?

Her own food arrives, and she starts to eat the delicious meal she had ordered. Her own chopsticks work in a careful, methodical fashion to pick over the meal, and though she's hungry, she takes her time in consuming it - she doesn't want to rush through the meal and wish she had more of it later. She wants to take her time and savour every moment of it, and it really does taste very, very good.

"The Uchiha Clan..." She muses whilst chewing some chicken, her brow lightly furrowing, "Ah, that would explain why you look like you've been trained so well, I suppose. Do you live here?"

Again, the question is asked quite casually. She doesn't really remember an awful lot about the Uchiha, beyond the general legends she'd heard; extremely powerful and capable ninja, something about an eye that copied things? It was an impressive legacy to be sure, but she could hardly be expected to remember every impressive legacy she heard of in perfect detail. What is more interesting is the fact that the young man seemed both incredibly hungry - that whole meal disappearing before her eyes - and quite relaxed about his position here. Very interesting indeed, though she is now paying more attention to her meal than staring at the boy; that'd be a bit rude, after all.

(Word Count: 514)

Susumu figured that the girl was about the same as himself; A free spirit, which explained why her headband didn’t have a symbol on the plate. Though that was just a thought, which would probably get made clear to him soon. Susumu on the other hand didn’t have a headband at all, considering he didn’t think it was needed if you didn’t belong to a village. The old man behind the counter walked back to the front in order to clean up the ramen bowl in front of Susumu. His expression showed that he was rather impressed with Susumu emptying the bowl that empty. After the old man had let it sink in, he almost immediately asked the young Uchiha if he’d like a second bowl. Susumu nodded with a slight smile as an indication that he would indeed like a second bowl. His appetite is as big as ever. When the old man disappeared again into the back of the store, the girl responded. His vision fixated back on her as she spoke. Sightseeing is a good reason to travel the world. There are many things to see, to encounter and to experience. All in all, the world is an amazing creation. Her behavior showed that she couldn’t really find a way to explain her situation. “Freelance” was the word she came up with. That’s indeed another way to look at it. The aroma of the ramen filled the store again, Susumu sniffing his nose once again to make himself hyped up over the food. Although his stomach didn’t growl anymore, who’s he to turn down another bowl? In the meantime, Quo explained that she indeed didn’t belong to a village and works by herself to get through the day. Same goes for Susumu. Using the skills her family taught her, Susumu uses the skills his parents taught him. They seemed similar.

From her way of speaking, the girl seemed calm and collected. Susumu likes those kind of people. They don’t push his buttons, given his short fuse. Before his own food arrives, however, Quo’s food arrives first. Susumu decided to put their conversation apart for now and let her eat her Ramen in peace, because he would feel the same way. So he wouldn’t annoy her during her mealtime, he decided to avert his gaze from the girl for once and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling.  But it seems that she didn’t have the attention to wait until her Ramen was finished, after all. While still chowing down on some of the chicken, she commenced speaking. Susumu nodded once she mentioned the Uchiha Clan, followed by the question asking if he lived in the village. Well, this was originally the home for the clan, so it would be natural that they’d ask that, but it wasn’t the case at all. “Just like you, Quo, I’m not affiliated with any village.” He began. Since she began the conversation, he figured she wouldn’t mind making eye contact; since that’s the most logical thing to do when talking to a person. Before explaining more, his blue eyes met hers. “I was born in the wilderness, during the travels of both of my parents. Therefore, I’ve never had the luxury of living inside of a village, but rather have to fill my time with things that are out in the open world.” He paused for a moment, almost being certain what the next question would be, should he leave it at this. “Before you ask, my parents have passed away. I know you’d probably question yourself that since you’re seeing a kid like this all by himself.” He was indeed a little young to be roaming the world by himself, but it’s just how he’s always lived, just this time without his parents accompanying him. He has learned enough from them to know at least the basics on how to survive and just adapts himself to the situations as best as he can. “I want to ask you a rather random question, Quo. What do you think of the world?” It was indeed a rather strange question, because every individual has a unique answer to that question, but that’s just the thing what Susumu was interested in. As soon as that question was asked, the old man walked back to the place where Susumu was seated and placed the bowl in front of him, the chopsticks balancing on top. His blue eyes shifted to the one that brought his food, being pretty satisfied with the speed it took him to get it done. “Thanks, old man.” Picking up the chopsticks, he prepared to dig down once again.

Word count: 777