This took a while, I know….Sorry about that. But I hope it's good!

Warnings: Language

Disclaimer: Maybe if I challenged Masashi to a ramen contest, I could win someone…Even Kiba would be nice!

Naruto inhaled deeply as he pushed open the door to the ramen restaurant, a bell tinkling over his head.

"This place smells amazing!" he exclaimed, stopping in the doorway and making Shikamaru, Ino, and Kiba crowd up behind him. Naruto scanned the small seating area, looking for Choji. "What the fuck is he doing here, too? Is he following me everywhere?" Everyone in the place looked up at his outburst, but Naruto didn't care. He had caught sight of Sasuke sitting at a table with Kakashi, Itachi, and Iruka. "And how does he know all this teachers?" Naruto added. Kakashi and Iruka actually appeared to be having a completely separate conversation than the two brothers, but Naruto didn't care, about that, either.

Iruka looked up at the bell, focusing on the teens that were standing in the doorway. He said something to Kakashi, who turned to look at them himself, then hurried over.

"Professor? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, because Shikamaru sure wasn't going to, and he didn't know if the other had Iruka as a teacher.

"If you going to be coming here, just call me Iruka," Iruka said, grabbing several menus out of a holder on the wall. "You're in…my first period class, right? Naruto Uzumaki? And you," he added, looking at Shikamaru sharply, "are Shikamaru Nara. I was warned by your high school math teacher about your laziness, although I understand you're quite talented."

Shikamaru merely grunted with his back to the restaurant so he could watch the clouds through the windows.

Iruka just sighed and shook his head. "I knew you'd be a tough nut to crack. Anyway, as to what I'm doing here, this is my place. I own it," he said, attempting to herd them towards a table in the far corner. As far away from Sasuke as possible, incidentally.

"Actually, we're here with our friends over there," Ino said, pointing along the windowed wall to a table where Choji, Sakura, and Hinata were sitting with two others, a blonde girl and a brown haired boy.

"Damn it, so that's where they got to," Iruka growled under his breath, leading them over to the other group.

"Who?" Ino asked as Kiba pushed past her, running over to Hinata.

"My waitress and busboy. They're almost as lazy as you apparently are, Shikamaru. The girl is Temari and the boy, Kankuro, is her brother. And they're both siblings of Gaara over there," Iruka explained, pointing out the red head. Gaara was sitting in the corner and appeared to just be watching people while listening to music with a scowl on his face. "Temari, Kankuro, aren't ou supposed to be doing something right now?" Iruka asked when they reached the table, a sharp edge to his voice.

"Well, yes," Temari conceded, continuing, "but they're going to have a ramen eating competition, so we figured had better, uh, officiate, you know?"

"Wait, a ramen eating contest? Who's going to be in this?" Iruka asked, looking at the large group. Naruto and Choji raised their hands. "Ok, boys, you're in luck: I have actually devised a set of rules for a ramen contest."

Kiba coughed slightly, everyone else grinning. Iruka blushed slightly.

"You have time to come up with rules for a ramen eating contest? Obviously I'm not keeping you busy enough." Kakashi had appeared at Iruka's side. Iruka's blush, which had receded slightly, returned. "Of course, your mind plummets straight to the gutter…but that's probably because of my corruption. I know you raid my bookshelf," Kakashi continued, smirking slightly at Iruka, whose blush deepened. Kakashi turned to the puzzled group of students, who had been watching him talk to Iruka. "In case you hadn't figured it out, Iruka and I are—"

"Ok, that's enough!" Iruka said loudly, stealing everyone's attention from Kakashi before he could finish. "Let's get back to this, before we run out of time and have to get back to class. My rules are thus: First there are three bowls of ramen each, and a different kind in each. You must first taste the ramen and write down what your guess is for what flavor it is. Then you must eat it as fast as you can. You get one point for correct ID and one point for eating it the fastest. Second, no help. From anyone, for anything. Plus, you have to use chopsticks. And you'd be surprised how many people come in here to have ramen eating contests," he added, glaring at Kakashi. "Temari, could you go get the ramen? There's a list of the ones I use for contests in the kitchen. Just pick three and get two bowls of each."

Temari nodded, turning to go to the kitchen. Iruka took everyone else's orders, then gave the slip to Kankuro to take back to the kitchen, as well as the menus. Naruto and Choji were staring at each other, trying to be intimidating while talking trash jokingly.

"You may be able to eat, Chips, but can you tell your food apart?" Naruto asked, smirking.

Shikamaru, who was leaning back in his chair with eyes closed, snorted, showing interest for the first time. "Really? 'Chips'? He'll show you, Naruto," he said.

"What? Every time I see him he's eating a different bag of chips! Even now he's eating them, just before an eating contest!" Naruto replied, slightly defensive.

Choji merely shrugged, eating yet another handful of chips. "Watch," he said, stealing a noodle out of Shikamaru's bowl, which Temari had just put down. He examined it closely, then caught a drop of broth with his tongue. Thinking for a moment, he slurped the noodle up. "Tell the cook he makes an excellent miso, Temari." Everyone had watched him with fascination and a bit of incredulity mixed in.

Temari huffed, annoyed at being told what to do and having to go back to the kitchen. "Next time, tell him yourself," she snapped, turning on her heel.

Kiba, who was sitting next to Hinata, snickered, then winced with a little yelp (he sounded exactly like his dogs to Naruto). His hands went to his nose.

"Is your nose feeling any better, Kiba?" Naruto asked, unable to keep from grinning at his friend. Kiba glared at him over his hands.

Hinata pulled Kiba's hands away from nose so she could take a closer look. "It's just swollen. The fracture seems to be healing well," she said quietly.

"You two had better eat your ramen before it gets cold," Sakura said around a mouthful of her own ramen.

Kiba and Hinata turned back to their bowls just as Temari and Kankuro appeared with Naruto and Choji's ramen. Iruka, who had been talking with Kakashi by the window, turned and saw them.

"Okay, let's get this started," he said as Temari set down the last bowl in front of Choji. Pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket, Iruka ripped it in half and put one in front of each boy. "You will each taste the same kind together, then write down what you think it is. Once both of you have written down your guesses, I will count down from three. When I reach one, you will race to see who can eat it fastest," Iruka explained, now giving a pencil to each of the boys.

Naruto and Choji scooted closer to the table. Everyone leaned in, and Itachi and Gaara walked over, sensing the anticipation. Sasuke stayed at his table on the other side of the room, watching out of the corner of his eye.

"First, this one," Kankuro said, pushing a bowl in front of each boy. They picked up their spoons and tasted the ramen. Naruto swished it around in his mouth trying to determine what it was. Choji was already writing his guess down. Naruto settled on a choice and scribbled it on the paper, swallowing the spoonful in his mouth.

"Ok, three, two, one!" Iruka said.

Naruto and Choji grabbed their chopsticks and began shoveling noodles into their mouths. Even Shikamaru made the effort to watch. Hinata, Ino, and Sakura all looked faintly nauseated at the speed with which the food was disappearing. Kiba and Kankuro were cheering the two on, while Temari was shooting flirty looks across the table at Itachi, who was thoroughly ignoring her.

"Mmph!" Naruto said through a mouthful of hot broth. He quickly swallowed and yelled, "Done!"

Choji swallowed the last bit of his ramen, scowling slightly

"Kankuro, put down one point for Naruto," Iruka said, moving over to the table so he could read what the two boys had written as their guesses. "And a point to each for correct identification," he added, pushing a second bowl in front of them.

Seeing that Choji wasn't going to wait and had already tasted his second bowl of ramen, Naruto tasted his own. He almost pumped his fist in the air. It was miso, his favorite. He knew he would get a point for ID, and he had already beaten Choji once at eating. Naruto wrote down his guess. Naruto wrote 'miso' on the paper and picked up his chopsticks.

"Three, two, one…go!"

Naruto began eating as fast he could again, long noodles trailing from his mouth to the bowl. Before he could even swallow twice, however, Choji laid down his own chopsticks and calmly said, "Done." Naruto choked over the ramen he had just put in his mouth.

"Holy shit!" Kiba exclaimed, staring at Choji while Naruto finished the rest of his miso. "How did you do that?"

Everyone was staring at Choji, astonished. Except for Shikamaru, who had gone to sleep, and Shino, whose sunglasses prevented anyone from seeing his eyes.

"That must have been, like, ten seconds!" Kankuro yelled, too loudly, making everyone wince. "Is that a record, Iruka?"

"Yes, I'd say it was," Iruka replied, leaning over the table so he could read each boy's piece of paper. "They each get a point for ID again, Kankuro."

Wait, aren't they tied now?" Ino asked, doing some mental math. "They both ID'd the first one right, and Naruto ate that fastest, so was two to one. For the second bowl, Choji at it first but the bow knew what it was. That makes the score three to three. It'd own to this one, then."

"What are you trying to do, psych me out?" Naruto asked, smiling at her.

"Aw, you can do it, Naruto," Kiba said. Hinata nodded her head emphatically next to him, agreeing. Then she blushed and hid her face behind her hands.

"I think Choji'll win," Shikamaru said, startling everyone. "Plus, no one's supporting him, so I thought I'd be fair."

"Just hurry up and eat the soup, we only have fifteen minutes until class," Sakura said, tapping her watch.

Naruto dipped his spoon into the last bowl, which was completely unfamiliar to him. Looking over at Choji, who was tasting his own with a slightly puzzled look on his face, Naruto slipped the spoonful into his mouth. His first reaction was to grimace, because it had cooled to lukewarm, but then the flavors reached his tongue. He swallowed immediately, which didn't help.

"Shit, what is this?" he burst out his mouth and throat feeling like they were on fire. The anticipatory tension among the group broke, and they all started laughing.

"You should see your face, Naruto!" Temari said, hiccupping slightly. "It's almost as red as Gaara's hair!" Gaara just scowled at her.

"Just write down a guess so we can end this," Choji said, tapping his pencil on the table. Naruto just put a scribble on his paper, because he had no idea what the ramen was, then picked up his chopsticks for the last time. Inhaling as deeply as he had when he walked into the restaurant earlier, Naruto waited for Iruka to say go. Everyone else leaned in even farther, allowing Naruto to see past the circle. Sasuke was standing just outside the group, unnoticed by anyone, watching the competition. Their eyes met and they just stared at each other for several seconds. Then Sasuke looked at Naruto's bowl pointedly, then back at him, a small smirk on his face. Naruto glanced down and saw that Choji was eating already. He looked back up to glare at Sasuke quickly, but Sasuke turned on his heel, walking out of the building.

Scowling, Naruto focused back on his spicy ramen, readied himself, and pounced on it.

This is kinda evil, I know, but I need some more time to figure out who'll win XD Anyway, we all love cliffhangers, don't we?

You'll figure out who won next chapter, during the rest of their classes.

I suppose it'll be about a week between updates, I guess.