The Jinchuuriki Alliance || REWRITE ||

ROOKIE 9: BONDING

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Hope everyone's staying safe and healthy out there, no matter where in the world you are. 

Also on a completely unrelated side note: Isn't that picture cute? 😍

"You just had to drag us out here, huh," Sasuke grumbled as he and the rest of Team 7 waited for their respective ramen. Sakura and Naruko had both gone for the classic miso ramen, while the Uchiha had ordered, unsurprisingly, tomato ramen. But what the surprising thing about the order was that Ichiraku's even had tomato ramen on their menu. And Naruko had never tried it.

"Well where else did you want to go — the Akimichi BBQ?" Naruko shrugged. "It was the first place that came into mind. Besides, all the other teams are most likely going to be there and I figured you'd want to eat your lunch first before socializing."

Sasuke grunted and picked up his chopsticks, hungrily eyeing his order as it was placed down in front of him.

"Itadakimasu," Naruko smiled as she picked up her chopsticks as well, Sakura and Sasuke echoing her statement before all dug into their lunch. After the first mouthful, the Haruno and Uchiha dropped their chopsticks and simply stared at the steaming bowls in front of them.

Naruko stopped halfway through her lunch and tilted her head to look at them, a fountain of noodles still hanging from her mouth. "Why aren't you guys eating?"

The moment their heads turned to face her, Naruko nearly fell off her stool laughing. And that never happened unless she was wearing her "mask".

Sasuke and Sakura both had stars in their eyes, and Naruko thought she could even make out some drool.

"Thank you for enlightening us to this beautifully delicious ramen stand, Naruko-sama!" Sakura squealed, launching over to hug Naruko and nearly sending them toppling over had Sasuke not grabbed Sakura's shirt to prevent that.

Naruko giggled and gently patted Sakura's shoulder. "It's no problem, really. I'm glad you like it."

"Well someone's acting rather out-of-character," an amused voice said as three people entered the stand as well.

"I-Ino-chan," Sakura stuttered as she immediately pulled back, a blush rising to her cheeks due to the teasing comment the Yamanaka heiress had just uttered.

"Aw, come on Sakura-chan, you've got to admit you don't normally do that sort of thing," Ino grinned, reaching over to pinch her cheeks. "And I would know, since you're my sister."

Sakura smiled and turned back to her lunch. "Is your team here for lunch as well, Ino-chan?"

Ino nodded and moved along the line to sit next to Sasuke. "Yep. A kind of celebratory lunch. All the other teams are at Choji's BBQ, and it was so busy so we decided to go somewhere else. We saw you here and thought we'd join. I hope you don't mind the intrusion."

Naruko smiled from where she was talking to Shikamaru, who was seated beside her. "I'm glad you came," she called over to the other blonde, who grinned and waved back.

Choji, Ino and Shikamaru ordered pork, miso and shoyu ramen respectively. Naruko lifted an eyebrow at the Nara's order, but said nothing about it.

To Sasuke's chagrin and Team 10's amusement, Naruko kept dragging him into a conversation, regardless of whether he wanted to participate. And if he refused to say anything but "hn", then Naruko would proceed to answer for him in the most detailed way possible. So Sasuke learned that if he didn't want people to know his secrets, he had to participate in conversation.