Teuchi was only just opening up and warming up the stoves and grills while a clearly energetic Naruto was already bursting through the door with a smile, "Hey there old man, how 'bout a couple bowls of miso before I join my team for training?"
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Teuchi motioned around the early morning emptiness of the shop.
"We've only barely opened Naruto, so no ramen yet, but I think I can put together some onigiri instead.
How about it?" Seeing the dejected look the boy put on, he eventually smiled and nodded anyway, "Good, give me just a minute."
Next to him, Ayame smiled at the younger blonde and leaned on the bar, "Hey there Naruto.
Liking the new look, trying something new?" While he still had his usual orange pants, the black shirt and jacket combo seemed to even it out a tad.
It was kinda cool she thought.
"Ah, yeah that's it. Trying a different look." He wasn't going to admit to burning his spare jacket, "Any good news or rumors to share?"
Shaking her head as her dad came back with a plate of three carefully made rice balls, Ayame sighed, "Not really anything interesting.
Though check with me later, you know I usually have something after lunch time."
Nodding and stuffing one ball in his mouth while leaving his pay and a tip on the counter, Naruto waved to them as he was already out of the door with the other two in his hands.
Already at a light jog, he took a little more time to finish the last two rice creations while appreciating the sleepy morning atmosphere of the village.
While the sun was low and not many people were out, it was easy to forget that people weren't that happy to have him here in the village, and some were more than happy to see him dead.
Gripping his shirt over where the seal for the kyuubi was, Naruto directed some anger at the beast. If it hadn't attacked when it did, maybe his life would have been more normal. Maybe he would have had parents.
Shaking himself out of that thought, as that only lead to sadness and pain, Naruto instead resolved to make sure today was a great day.
Of course, as he made it to the training ground, sun now slightly higher in the sky, the look Sakura was giving him had him feeling like his day was already doomed.
"Where have you been!?" How could she be so loud first thing in the morning?
"Uh, Kakashi sensei isn't here yet, so technically not late.
" As a forever prankster and skirter of the rules, Naruto lived in the technicalities of life.
"Well whatever, just don't slow us down, Sasuke-kun can't watch out for you too." While she assumed Sasuke would protect her if anything happened, both boys knew that wasn't going to happen, for one reason or another.
"Hai hai, Sasuke good, Naruto bad, I got it Sakura." For some reason not feeling up to appeasing the loud Haruno so early this morning, Naruto started his normal routine and created a horde of clones, maybe they could start on water walking today?
Slightly put off by the change in the boy's attitude but not enough to actually say anything, Sakura sat back under a tree and went back to reading.
While the boys had taken to training while waiting for their sensei, she was content to read a book in her spare time.
Sasuke hadn't even batted an eye as Naruto showed up, nor flinched as the horde of clones got to work with equal parts tree climbing and working on exploding tags. Though one thing was different this morning. Naruto himself had unrolled a truly long blank scroll, and had himself plus a dozen others all covering every inch of it in seals.
Shaking his head as the dobe was going to blow himself up one day, he returned to his own training on increasing the heat of his signature jutsu.
And this was what their sensei walked in on. Sakura reading and not paying attention to the world around her.
Sasuke exhausting himself practicing his family's main technique and Naruto finishing on something in a scroll and now working it into some type of bracelet.
Clapping his hand, all eyes were suddenly on him, "No mission today, so we'll do some team drills for a few hours and call it a day."
Clones dispersing and almost fully energized, Naruto was ready and able, "Alright, we're gonna get you today sensei!" They would not, however, get even close to Kakashi. But tomorrow would be a new day, and who knew, miracles happened sometimes.