"You guys have fun, Ichiraku promised me all I could eat if I passed!" he says, disentangling from the hug and waving. He looks a bit sad, but not as depressed as he would've six years ago.

"Nope. You've had enough ramen for a whole lifetime, you're coming with us. Real food and puppies and music. It's gonna be great. We need to celebrate together."

"You're not stopping me from redeeming that, you know."

"I can try. But I'm pretty sure you're gonna come out the winner regardless."

"Well, if you want to try to do the impossible, I'm not going to stop you."

"I am the definition of impossible. Try me." She takes his hand and pulls him along.

Okay, so she totally screwed up here. Which was probably foreseeable. Giving him all those tips and training really counted for something. But she couldn't just leave Naruto all alone and without any support. He's her friend and she loves him.

He laughs, and lets her pull him.

"Hey, Naruto, bet I can eat more than you," Kiba says, ignoring his mom's groan.

"You're on!"

"Naruto, you have not witnessed the amount Kiba can put away. I'm pretty sure he's a black hole in human form."

"No clue what that is, but you haven't seen me going."

"It's like this huge hole in space that nothing can escape from. Not even light. We call him Black-Hole-Kiba. So you have a lot to live up to," she teases.

"Sure. Right. That's definitely true."

"Of course it's true. I am a paragon of truth and virtue."

Kiba starts choking on his laughter.

She bumps into him, trying to push him over with her shoulder.

"You're supposed to support my lies, big brother. Solidarity."

"I'm feeling more of a bro code with Naruto right now," he says, bumping back harder. Akamaru yips in agreement.

"Betrayal." She gasps and turns to their mom. "We gotta get a new Kiba now. The old one doesn't work good anymore."

"Sorry, pup, his warranty expired."

She sighs dramatically. "Suppose we're stuck with him then."

"Like a burr."

She laughs and bumps him again. "Who do you think you're gonna be teamed up with?" she asks them both.

"Dunno. I did well on tracking and like survival. A team around that'd be boring, though. Don't really have a dream team."

"You, me, and Sakura-chan!" Naruto chirps. "That'd be great!"

"I'd pretty sure Sakura would murder you, Naruto. Well, at least until you overpower her with your Everything. But even then..."