The warm glow of the Yakiniku Q grills filled the room, smoke curling lazily toward the ceiling as meat sizzled and popped over open flames. The chatter of diners blended with laughter, clinking plates, and the rhythmic sssshhh of fat hitting hot metal.
Naruto found himself seated right in the middle—Sakura to his left, Ino to his right.
' This is awkward , he thought dryly.
He held his chopsticks carefully, turning a slice of marinated beef just as it reached the perfect sear. The smell was incredible—rich, smoky, mouth-watering—but his mind drifted as it always did.
' I'm supposed to be training this arc,' he thought, eyes unfocused for a moment. ' Learning the Rasenshuriken, but I already did that.'
The Rasenshuriken was no longer a mystery to him. Shadow clone training? Old news. Chakra shaping? Muscle memory.
What he lacked wasn't power. It was direction.
' I've basically mastered most of what this world can throw at me,' he admitted internally. ' Ninjutsu is my weak point, sure—but…'
He glanced at his reflection in the metal grill.
' Jiraiya says I should focus on my own path instead of just stacking jutsu like Pokémon.'
Naruto frowned slightly.
'Still don't fully agree with that.'
Power was power. Jutsu won battles. But… there was truth in it too.
' Maybe Sage Arts, 'he thought, eyes narrowing just a little. ' That's a real upgrade. Would make me Hella OP, which I'll need to the upcoming arcs.'
Then he immediately snorted internally.
' Yeah, good luck with that. Impossible without guidance.'
Mount Myōboku. Toads. Pervy Sage. That's what he needed if he planned on learning the technique.
' …I could ask him.'
The idea settled into his mind, heavy but promising.
"Hey, Naruto."
Chōji's voice snapped him back to reality. The Akimichi heir was already on his third plate, cheeks puffed slightly as he chewed.
"Why'd you change your clothes?" Chōji asked, genuinely curious.
Naruto glanced down at himself—darker colors, cleaner fit, no loud orange assaulting the eyes.
"Huh?" he said. "Just felt like it, I guess. Changed on the way back. Nothing deep."
Shikamaru lazily leaned back, eyes half-lidded as always. "Funny," he muttered. "I thought orange was your signature look. You've been wearing it since elementary school."
Naruto smiled faintly, flipping his meat with practiced ease. "Yeah… it was. But times change."
Sakura glanced at him briefly, noticing the calm confidence in his posture—the way he moved without fidgeting, without overdoing it.
Then Naruto felt it. A stare. Not hostile. Not subtle either. He turned his head slightly. Ino was looking at him. Not just glancing—studying.
Her chopsticks had paused midair, eyes tracing his jawline, his shoulders, the way the firelight flickered across his face. When Naruto met her gaze, she blinked once, then didn't look away.
Inside, Naruto sighed.
' She always liked attractive guys,' he thought. ' Guess I qualify for that now.'
Ino finally smirked faintly, as if daring him to say something, before casually returning to her food—though her ears were still red.
Naruto turned back to the grill, the sizzle grounding him as he flipped another strip of meat. The firelight reflected in his eyes, steady and thoughtful.
Breaking the comfortable noise of cooking, Sakura leaned in slightly closer to him, her shoulder brushing his arm.
"Hey," she said casually—almost too casually. "I'm planning on training tomorrow. Wanna join me?"
Naruto glanced at her.
"I'm willing to teach you a better way of chakra control," she continued, lips curving into a confident smile, "and maybe even some basic healing."
He raised an eyebrow, then grinned. "Count me in. I've been looking for a training partner anyway."
Sakura's expression brightened just a bit at that.
Then—
"Can I join?"
Ino's voice cut in smoothly.
The table went quiet for half a second.
Shikamaru's chopsticks froze midair. Chōji slowly stopped chewing.
They both turned to Ino as if she'd just announced she was becoming a monk.
Shikamaru reached up and placed the back of his hand against her forehead. "You feeling okay?"
Chōji leaned in from the other side. "You didn't hit your head, did you?"
Ino swatted both of them away, cheeks flushing with irritation. "What is wrong with you two?"
Shikamaru and Chōji looked at each other, deadpan.
"We must be dreaming," they said in unison.
Ino scoffed. "No. I'm just… interested in training for once, okay?" She glanced briefly at Naruto before adding, "So? Can I come?"
Sakura immediately turned toward her, green eyes sharp.
Ino met her stare without flinching.
The air between them felt suddenly charged—less chakra, more rivalry.
Both of them slowly turned toward Naruto.
Decision time.
Naruto pretended to consider it for a moment, then smiled lightly. "I'll train with you guys separately."
Inside, he was thoroughly amused. Problem solved. Sakura blinked, then relaxed. Ino tilted her head, thinking it over.
Neither found an issue with it.
"Fine," Sakura said, returning to her food.
"Works for me," Ino replied, grabbing another piece of meat.
The tension dissolved as quickly as it had appeared.
Soon the table was filled again with chatter and laughter, plates being passed around as the steady ssszzhh of meat sizzling over open flame continued. Chōji happily debated cuts of beef, Shikamaru half-listened while staring into space, and Sakura and Ino talked over each other just loud enough to be competitive.
Amid it all—
Sai sat quietly.
Perfect posture. Calm expression. Chopsticks moving with mechanical precision.
His eyes shifted subtly from person to person, absorbing every gesture, every laugh, every awkward pause. He watched Sakura lean closer to Naruto when she spoke.
Noted how Ino's gaze lingered just a little longer than necessary. Observed how Naruto responded effortlessly, without tension or embarrassment.
'So this is… normal interaction between close friends' Sai thought.
There was no mission objective. No manipulation. Just people.
' I have much to learn,' he admitted silently, carefully engraving the moment into memory.
Eventually, the day wound down. Plates were emptied, the grill cooled, and one by one they dispersed—each heading their own way through Konoha's softly lit streets.
Naruto stretched as he walked home, hands behind his head.
Back in his apartment, the familiar quiet wrapped around him. He kicked his shoes off, dropped onto his bed, and stared at the ceiling as it creaked faintly above him.
Nothing to do. He was bored.
"…Man," he muttered to himself.
' I can't believe I'm gonna say this,' he thought, ' but I wouldn't mind chasing cats right now.'
The thought barely finished forming when something else surfaced in his mind. A memory. Naruto's eyes slowly shifted to the side, a grin creeping onto his face.
' Wait… I haven't really checked out the forbidden jutsu section yet.'
The grin widened, sitting up.
In moments, Naruto was back on his feet, shoes in hand. He slipped them on, opened his window, and vanished into the night in a blur of motion.
Tile after tile passed beneath his feet as he leaped across rooftops, cloak fluttering behind him.
The Hokage's Tower loomed ahead.
TO BE CONTINUED