It was a warm, peaceful day in the village of Konoha—especially quiet since Naruto was away. He had been sent on a B-rank mission with Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura. Tsunade savored the rare calm as she took a sip of her tea, but it didn't last long.
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway, rushing straight toward her office.
"Oh helloooo!! Good afternoon, Granny Tsunade!" Naruto burst through the door, startling her slightly.
Before Tsunade could react, a loud thwack followed as Sakura landed a heavy punch on Naruto's head from behind, sending him crashing to the floor.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SHOUTING FOR?!" she yelled, clearly irritated.
"O-Owww…" Naruto groaned, clutching his head.
Sakura let out an exasperated sigh, hands on her hips. "For once in your life, could you show Lady Tsunade some respect? Stop acting like a child, Naruto!
Sakura looked at him and thought "T..This idiot! You have no idea how ferocious Lady Tsunade can be..!"
Kakashi arrived just in time to witness the chaos. He grinned, scratching the back of his head—this was nothing new. Behind him, Sai walked in, as indifferent as ever.
With all of Team 7 now gathered, Sakura grabbed Naruto by the collar, put him in a headlock, and started poking his head repeatedly.
"Ow, ow, ow—stop! That hurts, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined.
"Sorry, Lady Tsunade, I'll speak to him later", said Sakura as she smiled while looking at her master and slightly bowed.
"That's fine… Thank you, Sakura," Tsunade replied.
She then turned her attention to the three of them and smiled. "So, another successful mission today?"
Naruto immediately gave a thumbs-up.
"YEAH! Successful as always, Granny! You can always count on me—hehe!" he said proudly as Kakashi placed their mission report on her desk.
Tsunade glanced at the report and nodded. "I see. Good job. You all can take the rest of the day off."
With a satisfied smile, she dismissed them.
After submitting their mission report, Team Kakashi left the Hokage's office and headed to Ichiraku Ramen. Sai had gone off somewhere, leaving just the three of them. Naruto and Sakura walked side by side, while Kakashi trailed behind, engrossed in his latest Icha Icha novel.
"Hey, Sakura, that mission was way too easy! I wonder when they'll finally give us something more challenging," Naruto complained, crossing his arms.
Sakura lightly poked his shoulder. "Can you knock it off? I'm already tired of your nonsense…"
Naruto ignored her, clenching his fist with determination. "Look, if we take on tougher missions, I'll be one step closer to becoming Hokage! Don't you think? We should start persuading Granny Tsunade from now on, Sakura!"
Sakura, already fed up, grabbed his ear and gave it a firm pinch.
"Ugh! Will you ever shut up for just one second?!" she snapped as they kept walking.
"Ow, ow, ow—Sakura-chan, that hurts!" Naruto whined.
Kakashi, who had been listening to their conversation from behind, finally spoke up. He walked up beside them and said, "You're still a genin, Naruto. Slow down and take it easy for once."
Naruto huffed as Kakashi gave him a knowing glance.
"Yeah! Maybe focus on becoming a chunin first, idiot!" Sakura added, finally releasing his ear.
"Hmph… fine!" Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms.
Sakura let out a tired sigh and stretched, interlocking her fingers and raising her arms high above her head. As she stretched, the hem of her top lifted slightly, revealing a hint of her bare stomach.
"Ugh… I just want to wash off all this sweat and grime and relax for the evening," she muttered.
As she moved, her slightly damp left armpit caught Naruto's attention. His eyes widened, mesmerized. Something strange began to stir inside him, a feeling he couldn't quite understand.
"Wow… Have Sakura's armpits always looked this nice? But man, they kinda stink… How is she not even embarrassed to raise her arms like that?" Naruto thought to himself, eyes still locked on her.
Without realizing it, he muttered under his breath, "Ugh… I wouldn't even care if they stink… I'd still lick them…"
Sakura blinked and turned to him. "Huh? What was that, Naruto?"
Naruto immediately snapped out of his daze, his face turning red. "H-Huh?! N-Nothing! I didn't say anything!" he stammered.
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Time passed by as Tsunade's set up in her chair and relaxing with a glass of sake after finishing her work early. She then stood up and stretched her arms, yawning as she placed her hands behind her head, exposing her armpits in her gray sleeveless shirt and bluish-gray pants.
She has been thinking about a lot of things, especially about the numerous mission failures that other teams from Konoha were having. With a worried expression, she thought, "This is really terrible. If this still continues, I will lose the village's trust and the economy will continue getting worse."
She put her head on the table and mumbled in an annoyed tone, "Ughh.. What a joke! Does the ninja academy really choose the right people..!? God... What should I do..?"
Tsunade was struggling to come up with a solution, but then her eyes accidently caught the mission report from Team Kakashi that was laying on her desk. She took it and opened it while taking deep breaths. Then, Tsunade was surprised to see that their report log didn't show any mission failures even for the past few months.
"Wo-Wow, they're really doing a great job!", Tsunade said impressed.
While flipping through the pages one by one, she thought and smiled, "Hmm.. I have never expected this.. So, there is hope after all! I wonder what strategy Kakashi uses that they could produce such good results like these.."
As if being relieved, she finally reached the last page of the report and saw a photo of Kakashi's squad that was attached and stared at it for a while. She pinched her eyes and looked at the members photo one by one.
Nothing were out of the ordinary, but as soon as her eyes fell on Sakura's photo, Tsunade noticed something and immediately opened her drawer to grab a bunch of reports from other teams who were also usually successful in their missions. She also began to analyze their photos one by one. One of them is Asuma's team which consists of Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino.
Later, Tsunade's weird idea which was every team that had a kunoichi who were wearing sleeveless tops; had a higher mission success rate was actually true. Tsunade smiled widely as if she had solved the puzzle and got the key.
"Ah, I see.. That's it..! Sleeveless tops..!", shouted Tsunade while pounding her desk which made her sake glass accidentally drop on the floor.
And then, she looked at Sakura's photo once again and came up with an idea to enforce a new rule. She decided to make the kunoichis of Konoha strictly wear sleeveless clothing during training and missions, even going as far as to make them wear it everytime even if they were off duty. Part of this decision was she noticed that Sakura Haruno, the kunoichi with the highest success rate, always wore sleeveless wherever and whenever.
Tsunade smirked as she thought, " I don't care what they think of my new rule. If it boosts my village's mission success rate, I would do anything!"
After a few minutes, she called Shizune into her office.
"Yes, What I can do for you Lady Tsunade? Ah I see, you dropped your sake again, wait a minute, I'll clean it up", said Shizune as she prepared to leave the room again to get the mop.
"No, wait Shizune, I want to tell you something about a new rule for our kunoichis.", said Tsunade
"A new rule? What kind of rule will you implement, Lady Tsunade? Is it something about dropping alcohol prices again?", laughed Shizune as she already knew what kind of rules Tsunade usually made.
"No, it's more important than that. Listen..., it's no surprise that the village's mission success is currently at a low rate. So I have decided.., that every kunoichi starts wearing sleeveless tops starting from today. And I won't tolerate anyone who disobeys this rule.. even you Shizune. Is that clear..?" said Tsunade sternly while pointing at Shizune.
"E-Ehh..? A-Are you currently drunk Lady Tsunade ? W-Well.. I mean.. I don't mind it personally since I already bought a sleeveless black kimono yesterday for summer, but uhmm.. how is wearing sleeveless tops going to help..? To be honest, I don't really see the purpose of it..", said Shizune looking at Tsunade confused.
"From the result of my personal analysis, sleeveless clothes will help kunoichis move freely and effectively since they can move better and faster without having much fabric hindering their movements. I noticed this since every sleeveless kunoichi have great amounts of success on their missions. Didn't you not notice it ? Here.. take a look at this..", said Tsunade as she showed her the reports.
Shizune was then surprised to see the high percentage of success results, especially Sakura's and Ino's. She was confused but was somehow amazed at her master's analytical skills.
"Oh my..! A-Alright then, my lady.. If you say so, I'll inform every kunoichi in the village about this new rule right away!", Shizune rushed and left the office to write the written order for the new sleeveless rule that will be effective and announced tomorrow.
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Meanwhile, Naruto and his team were currently eating Ichiraku Ramen as they were also celebrating their mission's success. When the food had arrived, Naruto chowed on his favorite miso ramen right away.
"Ahh… this is so good! I could eat this forever!" he said happily, slurping down the noodles.
Sakura smiled and turned to their teacher. "Thanks for the treat, Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi waved it off. "You're welcome. But remember, only one bowl for you two."
"Okay!" Naruto and Sakura responded in unison, giving a thumbs-up.
A little while later, Naruto had already finished his ramen and still felt unsatisfied. Raising his empty bowl high, he called out, "Uncle Teuchi, another bowl of miso, please!"
Teuchi chuckled. "Ahh, anything for my favorite customer!"
Kakashi, who was still eating, sighed. He knew where this was going. "If you're getting another bowl, you're paying for it yourself."
Naruto groaned. "Oh, come on, Kakashi-sensei! One bowl isn't enough! Right, Saku—waaah…!
He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening in surprise.
Sakura was leaning back in her chair, arms resting casually behind her head. Her smooth, slightly glistening underarms were fully exposed.
Naruto gulped. His gaze locked onto a small bead of sweat trailing down her arm, drawing his eyes even more to the sight of her bare, creamy armpits.
Naruto kept staring until Sakura finally opened her eyes and caught him. Their gazes locked—his wide-eyed, fixated on her armpits, while hers narrowed in confusion. Feeling uneasy, Sakura lowered her left arm and still keep her right arm up, frowned.
"Uh… is there something wrong, Naruto?" she asked, her tone suspicious.
Kakashi, who had been quietly eating, glanced over at Naruto as well.
Naruto's body stiffened. "Gaaah—! N-No, no! Nothing at all! Hehehe…" He waved his hands frantically, trying to act normal.
Sakura crossed her arms. "Then why were you staring at me like that?"
"I'm just… uhh…" Naruto's brain scrambled for an excuse. Then, in a dramatic tone, he clutched his stomach. "A stomachache! Yeah, a really bad stomachache! Ugh… it hurts so much…"
Right on cue, Uncle Teuchi appeared with another steaming bowl of ramen and placed it in front of Naruto. "Here you go, Naruto! Another bowl of your favorite!"
The second Naruto laid eyes on the food, his fake agony vanished. "Ah YES! Thank you, Uncle!" he cheered, completely forgetting his act.
Sakura, watching the whole thing unfold, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Really…? A stomachache, huh?"
With nervousness, Naruto slowly looked back at Sakura and said, "Ah..! Ye-Yes.. A stomach ache.."
"Hmm.. I see.. Give me the ramen then..!", said Sakura as she grabbed the bowl into her table.
"WHAAAAAA.. WHY..!?", Naruto shouted.
"Hey listen, You shouldn't eat ramen too much or the pain will get worse..! Here, I'll eat it for you.. Haha..", said Sakura with a huge grin and immediately started to eat the bowl of ramen.
Naruto sighed in disappointment and turned to his right, ready to complain to Kakashi—only to realize that their sensei had vanished, leaving just him and Sakura alone.
His shoulders slumped as he dropped his head onto the table, frowning. Occasionally, he stole glances at the bowl of ramen Sakura was eating, his stomach grumbling in protest.
But soon, his gaze drifted—lower, past her bowl, past her arms—until it landed on the barely visible creases of her underarm.
Even though her arms were down, the slight sheen of moisture caught his attention, sending an unexpected thrill through his body.
"U-Ughh…" Naruto grumbled, feeling that strange sensation creeping up on him again.
Panic shot through him. He quickly turned away, gripping his head as his mind spiraled in confusion.
W-What the hell…!? Seriously… What's wrong with me? Why do her armpits— Naruto swallowed hard —why do they turn me on so much…?