The Ramen-Loving Crow

Late at night.

Kitahara once again witnessed Uchiha Itachi's thoughtfulness... He had actually gotten up in the middle of the night to tuck a little blanket over a crow. After startling Kitahara with his movements, he even whispered, "Sorry. Are you thirsty?"

"...Caw..."

Kitahara turned to look at the puzzled little boy. It had been thinking about many things: the source of the Chakra and ninjutsu within its body, how they were activated, the future crises and developments of the shinobi world... and... Uchiha Itachi...

Itachi of the Sharingan was still a kind, airheaded child!

Kitahara gradually grew accustomed to living with Uchiha Itachi. Every morning, they would head to the woods to train with shuriken and basic taijutsu. In the afternoons, they wandered around the village, occasionally visiting the bustling district for afternoon tea and listening to the stories of shinobi.

Several of the techniques within its body had been activated... Based on its guess, someone did indeed need to mention a technique in front of it. The problem was that the activated ninjutsu seemed a little off...

Well, things like the Clone Technique and the Substitution Technique... So could it only activate common techniques?

Come to think of it, the Summoning Technique also seemed to be... a technique every shinobi could master.

Kitahara was depressed for several days, only feeling a little better after activating the Shadow Clone Technique. That proved it might be able to activate a forbidden technique: the Multi Shadow Clone Technique.

A small training ground in the woods.

Kitahara stood on a tree stump, fiercely battling a wild fruit it had pecked full of holes... A sudden gust swept through the forest, sending dust and leaves flying. The fruit flesh was stained with dust...

"Caw!"

The crow's cry was filled with dissatisfaction.

A figure forcefully kicked off the ground and leaped into the air. Four shuriken flew out midair, striking wooden targets in four different directions one after another. After Uchiha Itachi landed and saw that his shuriken had hit their marks, he turned his head and said, "Sorry. I'll treat you to cake later..."

"...Caw... caw?"

Kitahara was still somewhat unwilling. The little boy clearly wanted to reward himself!

Through their Chakra connection, Itachi could understand Kitahara's meaning. He helplessly scratched his cheek. "But if we go eat Ichiraku Ramen, it'll feel kind of strange..."

After all, whenever they went to Ichiraku Ramen, this crow behaved very rudely! It either stared at the owner or at some shinobi customer without stopping. Itachi had advised it many times, yet Kitahara showed no sign of changing its ways...

Besides, if he ate out, his mother would ask whether he wanted to change the menu... whether he disliked her cooking... Since she was going to the hospital this morning, they could go once...

"Caw!"

Kitahara flapped its wings and knocked the fruit to the ground... The first time it went to Ichiraku Ramen, it would be hard not to be drawn to Teuchi, right? Besides, it was one of the places shinobi gathered. Most of Konoha's shinobi had been to Ichiraku Ramen, making it a suitable place to activate the ninjutsu inside its body.

Perhaps a shinobi training ground would be more suitable, but at Uchiha Itachi's age, it was impossible for him to be with other shinobi... Wait!

Kitahara realized it seemed to have fallen into a mistaken line of thinking. It could go to a shinobi training ground by itself instead of quietly waiting for the little boy to grow up... Perhaps Itachi had taken such good care of it that its days had become too comfortable...

Shadow Clone Technique!

This was the technique it had newly activated yesterday, and it happened to be useful now.

"Hm?"

Itachi looked at Kitahara in surprise as it formed a Shadow Clone, instinctively following its hand seal sequence and attempting the technique... A B-rank ninjutsu was clearly difficult. Itachi could not possibly learn it from a simple set of hand seals, not to mention that after training, his Chakra had long been exhausted.

"It's not an ordinary Clone Technique. It's a new technique." Itachi memorized the sequence of hand seals formed by the crow's wings, then patted his shoulder. "Come on, let's go eat Ichiraku Ramen."

"..."

Honestly, I was already... still very interested in Ichiraku Ramen!

Kitahara flapped its wings and landed on the little boy's shoulder. Its Shadow Clone had only just flown near a training ground when a shuriken pierced straight through it!

How could a shinobi training ground be approached so casually... The targets used for shinobi training came in all shapes and sizes. A crow suddenly approaching them looked exactly like a live target...

"We need to pick Mom up this afternoon, so we can't stay too long." Uchiha Itachi held Kitahara and placed it on the long counter inside the ramen shop before climbing onto a chair himself.

Kitahara obediently nodded, tapping the menu with its beak. "Caw!"

"Mr. Teuchi, one bowl of chashu ramen and one bowl of sauce soup ramen, please."

"Got it! You brought your crow to visit the shop again, little Itachi." Teuchi looked up at the unusual pair at the counter, took out a small dish of soybeans from below, and placed it before Kitahara. "Looks like it really likes ramen!"

"...Yes, thank you very much." The little boy lowered his head.

Teuchi helplessly shook his head. "You don't have to be so polite all the time, little guy!"

A large portion of Ichiraku Ramen's customers were shinobi, and most of them were rather straightforward. Uchiha Itachi did not possess the arrogance of the other Uchiha clan members. Though he did not visit often, his politeness and his unusual pairing with the crow had left a deep impression on Teuchi.

There were fewer and fewer customers at Ichiraku Ramen. The war against Iwagakure had just ended, and victory in the Third Shinobi World War was essentially assured. Konoha had accumulated a great number of commissions, along with postwar missions and outpost reconstruction, all of which required shinobi to leave the village.

Naturally, there was one person in Konoha Village who could not possibly leave the village to carry out missions... Konoha's ultimate weapon—the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina.

"Itachi? Why are you here?"

"Aunt Kushina?" Uchiha Itachi was surprised and wanted to jump down to greet her, but Kushina pressed him down by the shoulder. "Kid, you don't need to be so stiff around me! You still haven't answered me, though. Where's Mikoto?"

"Mom said this morning that she was going to the hospital for a checkup..."

"Huh? Is Mikoto sick?"

"Dad and Mom said..." Itachi shook his head, recalling his parents' reddened faces that morning. "It's just a routine checkup. Where is Lord Namikaze Minato?"

"I heard those bastards from Kirigakure want to start another war, so Minato went on a mission..." Kushina helplessly held her forehead, radiating an intense low-pressure aura. "Cooking and all that is such a hassle! I finally get the chance to..."

"Your ramen is ready!"

Teuchi brought out two bowls of ramen, placing one before Itachi and the other before Kitahara. Only then did he look at the new customer. "What would Kushina like today?"

"Tonkotsu ramen is fine..." Her gaze was drawn to Kitahara, which was carving away at a soybean. She pointed at the ramen before it in surprise. "This crow likes ramen?"

It was her first time seeing a ninja beast like this!

Even though she had the Nine-Tails sealed within her and had seen all kinds of ninja beasts, such as talking ninja dogs... a bird that liked ramen like an ordinary person was a little too...

Even Itachi could not understand it, but... he could always find the right excuse at the right time. "Maybe it's because Mr. Teuchi's ramen smells delicious..."

Kitahara snapped out of its bean-pecking game. It seemed an incredible... person had arrived!

Its crimson eyes abruptly turned toward Kushina. Through every barrier, it saw a ferocious creature—the being with the most Chakra in the shinobi world, the Nine-Tails.

Compared to the other Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails had it somewhat rough. Konoha Village was not particularly interested in using its power, merely because its notorious reputation was obvious to all... Though that was open to debate.

After all, the last time the Nine-Tails displayed its great might should have been... when it was controlled by Uchiha Madara. That did not sound very glorious... Of course, its so-called fearsome might afterward was even less glorious... Well, it had been pinned to the ground and brutally beaten by Senju Hashirama.

Compared with what was to come, that was even less worth mentioning... The God of Shinobi, who had beaten the Nine-Tails, claimed that it was too great a threat and had his wife, Uzumaki Mito, seal the Nine-Tails away.

Was that something a human would say? Was that something a human would do?

After that, the Nine-Tails had no choice but to begin its life as a tenant. It now lived inside the belly of its second landlord, where the conditions were poor and the landlord collected rent from time to time...