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"I guess," was all the kid said as he continued to walk down the street.

"What do you want? I know a good ramen shop," Noboru said, having trouble getting the kid any amount interested. "You can pick where we go," he added, maybe for awhile he would just have to go with the flow and with what the kid wanted. Though, it seemed that he didn't really want anything according to how he was acting so far. He rubbed his brow some and then looked at the kid.

"Okay," he stated planly and then turned a corner. Noboru followed after him. They walked for a bit till they came to a shop that had seating inside. Where as the ones Noboru frequented had sort of outside seating. Well, there was a bar where you could basically watch the chef cook and stuff. And there was a small roof over top. They walked inside, it was empty. The kid sat down at a table and Nobu seated himself opposite. A waitress came over a few minutes later and asked what they wanted. The kid ordered rice, vegetables and some fish. Nobu found himself ordering a bowl of ramen with rice balls on the side.

"How come you don't play anymore?" Noboru asked after a few moments of silence. He was just curious and was triyng to figure out some way to break the ice.

The kid shrugged, "It got boring.." though to Noboru that didn't seem like the entire truth. The kid hadn't looked at him when answered and seemed to stall a little. It seemed he was hiding something. But, he would let the kid tell him in time or something. Nobu didn't know what else to say and it was silent until their food came. The kid hadn't smiled at all since they had met. He was wondering why he seemed..so down.

It didn't take them long to finish eating. The kid ate with manners. It seemed that he was brought up pretty well. But, it seemed there was something missing in his life or something. Something that made him seem so down. Nobu rubbed his forehead and then placed his chopsticks on the table and looked at the kid. "Okay! I know you mightn't like me or something, even though we've never met before or anything.. but you gotta cut me some slack. I just took this babysitting gig to get credits, cause according to those up top its a mission. But you're not making this easy. You got any problem with me or something? Cause I've never seen a kid so not interested in normal kid things," he was being straight forward cause he was expecting some energetic, hyper kid.

Noboru set off towards the house where he was to pick up some kid from to babysit. The mission compound where he had accepted the mission from gave him a name and address. Koji Takagawa. He didn't live far from where Nobu himself lived, he had seen a few kids but didn't really know them by name. He found the place and then knocked on the door. A woman supposedly the kid's mother answered the door. "Hi, my names Noboru.. I came here to take yo kid off your hands for the day." he said. The woman nodded, though according to Noboru's standards she seemed a bit young. "Kenji's my younger brother, my parents already left and I'm leaving on a mission soon." she said to him. He laughed to himself, in his head. To think that he thought she was the kid's mother. She called backwards for her younger brother and moments later he came to the door. He was a kid around the age of five, roughly. These days all the kids seemed to look the same age. "Thank you for taking the time to babysit my younger brother, hate having him alone home.." She said to him. Noboru smiled and couldn't help but grin a little. Here he was standing in front of a beautiful young lady and he couldn't ask her out.

"Anytime.." he said to her, it was the best thing he could think of to say. He didn't really like babysitting, but with a young lady involved? He would just have to persevere. "When do you think you or your parents will be home?" he asked. She told him around eight o'clock and gave him some money to feed her younger brother. Nobu said it wasn't a problem and that he could pay for the kid. They said goodbye and walked in different directions, the kid slowly followed behind Nobu.

"I saw you lookin' at my sister.." the kid said to Nobu and Noboru found himself dumbfounded.

Noboru began to pick up trash he saw along the street as he walked to his mother's place which was near where he had started. So, he would basically be making a sweep of the length of the village. He stabbed the pieces of trash with his kodachi and then placed it into the bag he had brought along. However, he remembered the pile of garbage he had passed by on the way. He recalled where it was and then soon found the place he had seen it.

He looked at the trash and gritted his teeth. What a buncha pigs.. he thought to himself. He would just have to get his hands dirty. He would have to pick up the trash with his hands. He began to collect the trash and then place it in the bag. To do the whole pile took about five to ten minutes. He brushed off his hands and then picked up the bag.

He continued down the street, carrying the bag of trash. He picked up pieces of trash as he continued to walk towards his mother's place. As he saw another piece of trash he was about to go and pick it up when the dog walked over and picked it up with his mouth. "Now boy..its not good hygene to pick up random trash like that, but thank you." he said to the dog and patted him on the head. He was beginning to wonder why the dog had been left on the street. He was such a good dog when given the right treatment and care. He began to feel even more guilty that he couldn't take him in himself.

Noboru jogged through the street with the dog he had rescued at his heels. He was almost to his destination, though not at all tired. He was pretty fit, considering that he was normally lazy. But, he was a ninja after all and jogging across town was nothing compared to using techniques and going on real missions. Stopping, he looked at the address on the label on the package. He looked around located where he had to go. It wasn't much further now.

He turned left and spotted his destination. He told the dog to stay and then walked up to the door and knocked. He waited a moment and someone came to the door. "Hello, May I help you?" the man who answered the door asked.

"Hey, I'm here to deliver a package from the Raikage," he said then presented the package to the man.

"Ah yes, thank you for delivering it." the man said and took the package from Nobu. "Here's some pardon for your time," the man added and handed him two piece of ryo.

Nobu smiled and bowed his head. "No problem, sir," he said and took the ryo. The man nodded and then closed the door. Nobu turned around and found the dog in the same place he had left him. He grinned and walked over to him, patted him on the head and then started to walk away. The dog remained where he was. Nobu looked back and smiled, "You coming or not?" he asked, motioning his hand some. The dog jumped forward and followed after him.

The older boy who had addressed the three boys let out a sigh and then said, "Haven't your parents taught you respect?" he asked them. "No matter what, no one. No thing should be treated the way you just treated this dog. Even though he shouldn't have stolen, its not right to throw things at him. Ya hear me you punks?" he added, giving them a wicked grin like he was about to punish them.

However, he didn't have to for that was enough to scare them and they ran past him. He laughed a bit synically to keep them from coming back. Hopefully they learned a lesson, though it took repetition to stop children from doing things.. so they would probably still bully others.

Crouching to the ground, to present himself as not harmful Noboru extended his hand some towards the dog who continued to cower in the corner. "It's okay little fella.." he said. The dog remained in the corner. He would need some more coercion. Noboru was a quick thinker and remembered he had brought a nutrition bar with him. He pulled it from his pouch at his side and broke off a piece. He extended his hand out again and the dog took some interest in it. He placed it some inches in front of himself and broke off another piece and waited. The dog whined, then looked up at Nobu then back at the food. The dog lowered himself to the ground and then crawled over towards Nobu. However, just enough to get the food.

Nobu extended the other piece out towards the dog and waited. A few moments later the dog crawled towards him and quickly took the food from his fingers and then took a few steps back. Nobu extended his hand again, foodless. The dog sniffed at his hand then licked it. Noboru smiled and let the dog take more interest in him. Moments later with his other hand he petted the dog on the head. "There's a good boy," he said in a whisper.

The dog seemed a little friendly, so he gave him some more food and made sure that he wasn't hurt. The dog let him touch him, though that was due to the coercion with food. The dog seemed pretty much alright, a big of skinny from lack of nutrition and a bit mangy from being on the streets. "Wanna come with me?" he asked the dog. The dog's tail began to wag some and he took that as a yes. Though, as much as he hated taking it to the shelter he didn't have any room for it at home..

The young genin walked down the street, that was actually filled with about an average crowd. They went about their business and so did Noboru. He still had the package with him, fastened underneath his arm as he walked down the street, not in the least bit in a hurry. Though, he quickened his pace to just get this over with. He slid past other villagers, squeezing his way past a few people and then returned to his normal posture.

That was when he heard children yelling, calling names. So, Noboru wasn't one for bullying, though he occasionally did it himself. Though, he didn't truly mean what he said. He saw three young boys, no older than eight or nine run into an alleyway. They seemed to be chasing after something. Perhaps another child their age that they were picking on. He looked to the ground and sighed. Shaking his head, he got it in his head to teach these punks some manners. He followed the three boys into the alleyway.

The three boys threw stones at something in the corner and one of them yelled, "You mutt!" as he threw the stone at what ever was in the corner. Noboru was thinking it was another boy as he had speculated earlier, but it seemed he was wrong as he heard a small wine. A lopsided frown formed on his face as he placed a hand on his hip.

"You know, its not nice picking on something smaller and defenseless." he said, hoping to catch the boys off guard.

Noboru noticed another presence, perhaps the one he had sensed earlier but had paid no mind to. However, much of his attention had been grabbed by the female Jounin in front of them who had a sort of test for them. He looked towards what he would probably soon call his team mates. The other boy wished them good luck. Hah, he didn't need good luck, but he would accept it anyways because sometimes he did need the encouragement or motivation to do so.

Sneering Noboru looked down at the girl he had tried to help earlier, she seemed just as energetic as he was, even more so. He smiled as she gave a fist pump with him and then proceeded to give a sort of count down. Nobu couldn't deny the fact that she was cute. She seemed younger than him, though that didn't mean she didn't have the talent. However, our teacher soon put the young genin down a bit in her eager efforts telling them that she hadn't given the go to start yet. Nobu put his hand on his hip as he looked over at the female Jounin as she began to sing. He also seemed not at all impressed...

Grinning he almost sprang into action as the female gave them the go. However, he recalled her words before she had began to sing. To work as a team..as well as demonstrate their capabilities.. He had yet to know anything about any of his team mates so how was he to go about working with them? He could be an ass and just try and grab his, or perhaps grab them all at once. Or they could work together to try and grab all three.. He raised his hands behind his head and looked at their Jounin teacher as he felt a bit of wind blow past him.

Scratching his head he tried to figure out how to go about this. He looked from team member to team member, although his eyes were the only thing that moved as he stood there. The pip-squeak seemed to step back, almost as if waiting for him or the other guy to move first. Noboru began to wonder what his first move would be.