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"A Stranger in the Night."

Year 0—The Year of the Founding

Teuchi was wiping down the counter of his ramen stand late at night. It was cold and raining outside, so he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible and go home, where it was nice and warm and dry.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of movement, and looked up curiously to see a kid poke his head around the corner of the stand. Teuchi blinked at him in confusion. It was a small kid with a round face and spiky blonde hair, holding a small blue umbrella and wearing—was that pajamas?

The kid froze when he saw Teuchi looking at him, but he didn't move, just watched Teuchi calmly with his big blue eyes. The stand's owner thought for a moment before finally lifting a hand and waving.

The kid grinned and happily scampered inside, politely shaking off his umbrella and leaning it against the wall before scrambling up onto a stool at the bar.

"Well, who are you?" Teuchi asked, leaning on the counter.

The little blond kid smiled and bowed politely. "I'm Namikaze Minato, sir!"

"I'm Teuchi, Minato-chan. It's very nice to meet you," The teenager replied. "But isn't it a bit late to be out?"

Minato squirmed for a second. "Yeah… but today's my birthday! I turned five today!" He said excitedly. "And mom and dad gave me birthday money, and I was gonna use it to buy the nice ramen you sell, Teuchi-san. I've heard how good it is! But mom and dad left for a mission tonight and my babysitter says that ramen isn't good for you, so she won't take me here to eat it. So I snuck out after she went to sleep to go buy some!"

Teuchi blinked, then grinned. This here was a kid who shared the same passion for ramen that he did! "Well, then, what flavor do you want?"

"Ummm…" the kid looked at the menu seriously, before saying, "Miso, with naruto, please!"

"Do you have enough?" Teuchi asked. Minato dug into his pocket and put the coins on the counter, solemnly counting to make sure there were enough. After a moment Teuchi was treated to a repeat of his big grin. "Uh huh! Here you go, Teuchi-san!"

Teuchi grinned and said, "Then one miso with naruto bowl, coming right up, Minato-chan!"

The two of them talked as Teuchi (mostly about how crazy Minato's babysitter must be) as the ramen cooked. When it was all done and the ramen quickly consumed, Mintao grinned and bowed. "Thank you, Teuchi-san! That was the best ramen I've ever tasted!"

Teuchi bowed back, smiling. "I'm glad you think so! If you liked it that much, be sure to come again soon!"

Minato grinned. "You can bet on that, Teuchi-san!"

Author's Notes-

Hello everyone! This is a series of connected, chronological one-shots, all told from the point of view of the owner of Ichiraku ramen. It's largely inspired by the Shippuden ending Rainbow's Sky video. It's essentially a MinaKushi story, told from the point of view of an outsider.

I actually plan to write a real MinaKushi story someday soon, which will occur in the same universe as this story, except a lot longer, with more content, and from Minato and Kushina's viewpoints. This story only has the scenes that occur at Ichiraku. MinaKushi is my third favorite Naruto ship, only SLIGHTLY behind NaruHina and SasuSaku 3.

On a side note, there seems to be a controversy in the fandom as to whether it was Minato or Kushina who liked ramen. I decided, for the purpose of this and its future companion fic, that Minato would be the ramen lover. This is mainly because we see Minato's team eat at Ichiraku in the rainbow's sky video, and it makes sense to me that Minato took them there. Also, since Naruto has so much of Kushina in his personality, I like the idea of one of his most trademark quirks being from Minato. At least, that's my reasoning.

For those of you who have read my other story, "The Amazement of the Gods", I am currently working on chapter 3 (or 4?) right now. I'm sorry for the long delay... I have some health problems that raise their ugly heads every now and then and it knocked me on my back for the last month or so. However, I plan to have the chapter out in the next day or two! Believe it! ;)

Until next time! 3