Ryu and Chi sat down on chairs at the food stand and the owner came to get their orders. He was smiling, but his eyes looked sad.

     "What do you need?" the man asked.

     "Um, how much is the regular ramen?" Chi asked.

     "Oh, don't worry about it," the man said. "It's free. So regular ramen for the both of you?"

     Ryu and Chi both nodded and man left to make their ordered. He came a few minutes later with two bowls of ramen and placed them in front of them.

     Ryu turned red and resumed eating his ramen. When they were done, Ryu and Chi stood up and bowed. 

     "Thanks for the ramen," Chi said.

     "It was nothing," the man said. "I see that you two are Ninja. Consider this my thanks for your help in protecting our village."

     Ryu turned around and began walking away. Chi quickly said, "See you around," and chased after Ryu. She linked her arm with his  and asked, "Where to? Should we finish our match."

     "I think that'll have to wait," Ryu said, pointing at a man with his free arm.

     The man was the same one from the hospital. He looked at Ryu and Chi as they stopped in front of him.

     "What's with the linked arms?" the man asked.

     Both Ryu and Chi blushed and pulled their arms away from each other. The man chuckled at their reaction.

     "Just teasing," he said.

    Ryu didn't exactly find it funny, however.

     "Joking aside, we have a serious problem." the man said. "We need both of you guys to make your decision about joining the ANBU right here, right now."

     "I thought the Hokage gave us a day to decide," Ryu said.

     "But that's been changed," the man said. "Some of our members were ambushed while on an intel gathering mission. They were all killed, except for one, who returned to tell us what had happened. We need Ninja like you two to help us on these kinds of things."

     "Don't you have other men you can send?" Ryu said.

    "We do, but they're all on other missions. Think of your Sensei."

     Ryu and Chi's eyes widened at the mention of their badly injured Sensei.

     "If you don't help us, more men like him will be hurt, or worse, killed. We need you guys to help us prevent this and save the village. Please."

     Ryu and Chi went silent for five minutes, and at the same time responded, "Fine."

     "Then let's hurry back to the Hokage," the man said, heading off.

     Ryu and Chi ran after him all the back to the Hokage mansion. They walked back to the Hokage's office, where they found Mitsuo waiting for them.

     "Since you seem to have willingly came here, I'm guessing I know you answer?" Mitsuo said.

     "We'll join the ANBU," Ryu and Chi said.

     Suddenly, several ANBU members appeared out of nowhere wearing party hats and blowing party blowers.

     "Welcome to the ANBU Black Ops!"