"How were the D-rank missions so far?" Hiruzen asked the two ninjas standing in his office ready to report in front of him.
Sakura shrugged, "Nothing unusual. Naruto is a clueless idiot. He has good stamina, but knows nothing beyond the basic academy jutsus."
"Yes. It's actually surprising that Mizuki's fake assassination attempt and telling him about the nine tails was not long ago. He recovered quickly." Sasuke commented, almost sounding a little disappointed that Naruto wasn't more broken up about it.
The Hokage sighed, "Yes. I'm glad I changed my mind on involving the Forbidden Scroll. The result was exactly what we needed without exposing him to any jutsu. Iruka told him something sappy and Naruto didn't question anything. His emotional state and willingness to just believe what we say is exactly what we want for easy manipulation. Keep it that way. You know your mission."
"Keep him under," Sakura stated.
"And keep him in our reach," Sasuke answered obediently.
"Good. Danzo will provide backup. If you need assistance, use his channels." Hiruzen said and smiled when the two ninjas in front of him nodded. "Go to your first mission outside of the village as team 7."
"Yes, hokage-sama." The ninjas said before they both vanished.
Minutes later Sasuke and Sakura walked towards the west gate. They waited for a little bit but frowned. It seems someone was late.
Sakura scowled, "This is normal for Kakashi, but not for Naruto."
"One of us should go get Naruto and since I'm supposed to be his rival I can't go get him. That'd be odd. I recommend checking the ramen shop first." Sasuke suggested as he casually lay on the ground.
"Yeah … Dammit," Sakura grumbled before walking back into the village.
With her legs moving her at a brisk pace she walked through the streets. In no time at all she found the ramen stand she was looking for. As expected, the orange ninja she was meant to watch was right there. However, Naruto was not inside binging on ramen. Instead, he was impatiently waiting outside.
The blonde's blue eyes immediately spotted the pinkette and he paled, "I'm sorry, Sakura! Ayame and Teuchi want me to take some meals on the mission, but they're taking a while." Naruto said sheepishly. "Come on, you guys! I have to go!"
"Almost done!" The ramen chefs yelled out from the back of the stand.
Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Don't you have enough supplies? We're only going to be gone for a week."
Naruto nervously peeked into the ramen stand as if to make sure the chefs weren't listening before turning back to Sakura, "Teuchi is experimenting with some new recipes and I'm the taste tester."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Sakura asked, wondering why the blonde didn't seem more excited about being the first to taste something new from his favorite ramen chef.
"Here it is!" Ayame yelled and came out of the stand carrying a red pouch. "Dad went a little nuts with the fryer and I'm not sure if this meat is completely cooked with these techniques. This is the first time we've tried this so if anything is off use the mission as a chance to dump anything you don't like. We can nicely suggest changes when you get home." She whispered with a wink as she gave the 12-year-old genin the pouch.
Naruto grinned gratefully, "Thanks, Ayame!" He whispered before looking back at the ramen stand where Teuchi was coming out. "I'll test everything! Bye, you guys!" He exclaimed and waved goodbye as he followed after Sakura, who started walking down the road ahead.
"Finally, brat," Sakura muttered under her breath.
"What'd you say, Sakura?" Naruto asked with a smile as he walked alongside her.
"I said we're late," Sakura said sharply, making Naruto flinch.
Naruto hung his head sadly, "I know. I'm sorry I promised I'd give an honest opinion and I should've met up with them much sooner. How long did I keep you and Sasuke waiting?"
Sakura sighed, "About 20 minutes."
"Sorry." Naruto squeaked, still feeling like the 12-year-old pinkette was still pissed at him. "At least, you got 20 minutes alone with Sasuke." He exclaimed, trying to cheer his teammates up.
A smile came to Sakura's lips, "True! That was nice!" She said happily, but the second Naruto perked up she made herself look sad. "Well, it was until he got annoyed and told me to find you before we got in trouble. I'm sure sensei is already there by now." She said sadly and smirked slightly when Naruto hung his head and looked very depressed.
Naruto's mood only improved when they finally reached the spot where Sasuke was waiting, "Good. Kakashi-sensei is just as late as he is with the D-rank missions." The very relieved blonde said, but he just chuckled sheepishly and sat down when his annoyed teammates shot him a look. "Right … I still should've been on time. Sorry."
"And what was so important?" Sasuke asked and rolled his eyes as the pinkette plopped down next to him to snuggle.
Sakura scoffed, "He was getting food for a taste test." She said, but she also seemed to be tapping her fingertips in a precise and very subtle series of patterns on his arm.
Sasuke scowled, "Seriously? You were late for a new ramen flavor?" He said as he tried to push her hands off him. However, he very subtly tapped a series of taps back before seemingly giving up on trying to get her away.
"Huh? No, of course not!" Naruto exclaimed, getting a little annoyed by the judgemental look Sasuke gave him. The guy really thought he was an idiot who would be late for just ramen. He really didn't mean to be late and Sakura wasn't helping to clear up the misunderstanding. Before he could get even more annoyed he blinked in bewilderment. "… I don't actually know what I got."
Sasuke snorted, "Idiot."
"Shut up. I was asked to taste test them, but Ayame didn't get a chance to tell me." Naruto grumbled as he opened the red pouch to investigate. He found three individual box lunches wrapped up in different cloths and each one had a label saying what was inside. "Let's see … A BLT, air-fried puffs, and spicy muscles."
Sakura leaned her head on Sasuke and raised an eyebrow, "Ok … They don't sound so bad. Greasy, but not horrible. Wonder what she was so concerned about."
"I'll find out soon I guess," Naruto said as he tucked the boxes away so they'd be safe.
Over the next few minutes, the three young ninjas waited in silence. At least, Naruto was quiet, but every time he shifted his teammates had to say something. They accused him of being unable to sit still and it was getting annoying. Thankfully, Kakashi finally appeared and they left on their mission.
"Now we only have to drop off our package so no funny business," Kakashi said while subtly glancing at Naruto. "Our destination is just beyond Wave, which is three days away so it'll be three and a half days or so to get where we want to go. Just before it gets dark we'll set up camp for the night."
Sasuke scoffed, "You mean Naruto will. His first three meals are all planned so it's only fair that he sets everything else up."
"Oh?" Kakashi muttered curiously and looked at his blonde student.
"Huh?" Naruto gaped and shook his head. "I wasn't planning on eating everything right away-"
"Why not?" Sakura asked curiously. "Fried things don't last well and you may want to figure it out sooner so you can dump the extra weight, right?"
The blonde in the orange jumpsuit chuckled sheepishly, "That … Is a good point. Ok. Then I'll set up the campsite." He said as they raced through the treetops.
"And get some fish," Sasuke added, making Naruto annoyed, but the blonde didn't argue about the extra chore.
By the time the youngest members of team 7 started showing signs of being tired, two of which were faking, they saw the skies darken. Kakashi decided it was time to stop for the night. As agreed, Naruto got to work as everyone rested on the ground near the fire he quickly started.
"Don't put my tent on an anthill," Sakura called out as she ate the cooked fish Naruto quickly caught.
"Right!" Naruto said tiredly as he carried the tents over to a small clearing and started setting them up.
Sasuke scoffed, "Don't put my tent near yours."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "Fine!" He snapped and took down the tent he just put up to move it elsewhere.
Just as the three finished eating, Naruto finished setting everything up. Finally, he had the chance to sit down and eat one of his own meals. However, he hesitated when picking which meal he wanted to start with. Eventually, he picked the air-fried puffs.
Sasuke watched as Naruto nervously pulled out a crispy nugget, "Just eat it." He ordered and watched as the blonde ate the crispy thing with his eyes closed. "Didn't seem that bad." He said with a smug smirk. There was something about the odd look on Naruto's face, even with the eyes shut, that he found very amusing.
Sakura hummed when Naruto swallowed and finally opened his eyes, "Eat it all. It's not good to waste food." She said as she watched the almost guarded look on Naruto's face. Clearly, he was nervous so perhaps something was off with the fried treat, but she wanted to see him suffer a little more.
Kakashi nodded while reading his book, "It's best not to leave behind any trail so don't drop crumbs that you'll forget to hide." He said indifferently despite never looking up from the book to see what was going on.
Naruto blinked and slowly looked down at the food, "Ummm … Ok." He murmured before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes again.
As if to end the meal as fast as possible Naruto ate the puffs as fast as he could. After that, almost everyone went to bed.
Sakura was the last person outside. Once Kakashi's tent door closed she looked around to make sure that everything was clear. Once she was satisfied she made a few hand signs.
A little flame of chakra appeared on her fingertip. Without making a sound she tapped the zipper of Naruto's tent. The flame coated the metal zipper and turned it into a small black seal. Soon both the fire and the seal faded away, but the pinkette seemed pleased. She shot Sasuke a thumbs up before going to bed in her own tent. When they woke up in the morning Naruto was clearly still nervous about the next experimental meal.
"Hurry up, Naruto. We have to get going." Kakashi commented as his three students sat down to quickly eat a quick breakfast before continuing on their journey.
Sakura internally smirked as she saw the really thick-cut bacon in the BLT, "That's right. Hurry up." She said getting the feeling that the bacon might be slightly raw.
Once again Naruto quickly ate with his eyes shut and they dismantled the campsite right after. Before long they were off again to complete another day of the trip. Soon another full day of travel went by and Naruto was setting up the campsite again.
Sasuke finished eating just in time to see Naruto pull out the last meal, "That looks like a muscle, but that's not a normal red color." He said, noticing that Naruto stiffened in fear.
The pinkette leaned over to look at the shells that had red slimy pieces floating in them, "It does smell spicy. Better eat fast." She said as she saw the blonde lift up the shell halves to his lips.
Naruto sighed and slurped up each slimy, fleshy blob, "Yes … Very spicy." He gasped as he grabbed his canteen and drank several gulps of water.
"At least, you got some professionally cooked meals on your first mission outside the village!" Kakashi exclaimed cheerfully but still hasn't stopped reading.
Sasuke smirked, "Sensei is right. Cheer up." He said as he and Sakura watched the blonde suffer from the spicy torture in amusement.
The entertainment ended far too soon and everyone turned in for the second night of their trip. Morning brought everyone meals from their regular supplies, which was the extra fish Naruto caught the night before. That seemed to be a relief for Naruto and the journey continued.