Chapter 58 Delicious Curry

After the mission, even though it wasn't the weekend yet, they decided to get together for curry.

"We are a real team now!" Sakura said as she put some steaks into the pot. "We passed Kakashi-sensei's assessment!"

"Of course." Sasuke said, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise. Obviously, he was also happy about this.

"Did you see Kakashi-sensei's expression? It was hilarious!" Naruto said as he sprinkled some spices into the pot. "Especially when Sakura broke that tree, his jaw almost dropped to the ground!"

Sasuke hummed in agreement. Sakura blushed, but she couldn't hide her joy.

Suddenly, the window was pushed open by someone, and he fell into the room face down with an excited smile on his face and drooling.

"What delicious food are you guys cooking here? I can smell it from four blocks away!"

Shikamaru climbed in through the window, looked at Kiba, shook his head helplessly, and said:

"Can you please pay attention to your image?"

"Don't laugh at me, I'm starving!"

"I see you are in good spirits."

"Stop messing around and come in, we have prepared three pots of curry!" Naruto smiled and pulled up his teeth.

"Where's Mr. Kai?"

"He had a stomachache yesterday and is resting at home now."

"Pitiful……"

"We're back!" Naruto shouted towards the kitchen.

"Great! Go and call Ya over to try my cooking!" Sakura's voice came from the kitchen.

Before Naruto could say anything, Kiba ran into the kitchen. Sasuke shouted helplessly:

"Be careful, don't drool into the pot!"

Shikamaru walked over to Naruto, yawned, and said:

"Being a ninja is such a troublesome profession. I'm already regretting it... By the way, do you have coffee here?"

"There's only the super bitter coffee that Sakura bought from the River Kingdom. Do you want to try it?"

"Okay."

Just like that, the five boys squeezed into Naruto's small kitchen, eating curry and chatting, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Kiba first praised the curry made by Sakura, then praised the curry made by Naruto, and finally, he even mixed the three flavors of curry together, saying that he wanted to try a new taste, but it turned out to be unexpectedly delicious.

Seeing this, Sakura immediately took out Naruto's largest pot, poured all three types of curry into it, and reheated them.

Soon, the room was filled with the aroma of curry. Everyone couldn't help but salivate. Even Shikamaru, who was not very interested in food, couldn't help but eat two bowls.

Sakura even packed a large portion for Shikamaru so that he could take it home and enjoy it slowly.

After eating and drinking, everyone sat on the ground, and Sakura and Shikamaru each held a cup of coffee and tasted it leisurely. Sakura added a lot of milk and sugar to the coffee, while Shikamaru liked to drink pure coffee.

"Are you really used to drinking this kind of stuff?" Kiba asked curiously, looking at the cup of black coffee in Shikamaru's hand.

"You'll get used to it." Shikamaru said calmly.

"By the way, Kiba, I heard that you were assigned to a group with the eldest lady of the Hyuga family. How is it?" Sakura asked with a smile.

Ya's face immediately turned red, and he stammered:

"That...that's not true! Don't listen to their nonsense!"

"Don't be shy, we all know you like her!"

"No!"

"How about Shino? How does it feel to be in a team with Bug Man?" Naruto asked.

"Don't mention it. That guy just corrects my grammar all day long. It's so annoying!"

"Shino is quite nice."

"That's because you haven't gotten along with him! Mr. Hong is so kind that she saved me from him!"

"Our team's instructor is Asuma, how disappointing," Shikamaru sighed.

"Yeah, we already knew who we were going to be in a group with, there was no surprise at all."

"Speaking of this, Sasuke, how did you manage to be assigned to the same group with us?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Hmph." Sasuke didn't answer, but just smiled smugly.

"It looks like you've lost another admirer." Shikamaru looked at Sasuke and said meaningfully.

"Finally free." Sasuke said with relief.

"Really?" Sakura looked at Sasuke with a sly look in her eyes. "Why do I feel like you seem to enjoy this feeling?"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and said:

"Don't pretend. Ino dragged me out of bed again yesterday morning, saying she wanted to train. I saw that she clearly wanted to find out about you."

Sakura stuck out her tongue, smiled mischievously, and said:

"Who made you so handsome that you could charm thousands of girls?"

******

Sasuke didn't notice Naruto's abnormality at first, until Shikamaru finished the last sip of coffee, then he asked:

"What's wrong with you, Naruto? You seem to be worried?"

Only then did Sasuke notice that Naruto had been keeping his head down, brows furrowed, and looked like he was worried about something.

"What's wrong, idiot?" Sasuke asked, his tone much softer than usual.

Naruto raised his head, glanced at Sasuke, then quickly lowered his head and said:

"I……"

"There are no outsiders here, just say whatever you want to say." Shikamaru assured, his tone was unusually gentle, but his eyes were unusually sharp. Sasuke realized that something must have happened, and it was something serious.

The room suddenly became quiet, and Kiba noticed that the atmosphere was not right. He came close to Naruto and said with a smile:

"Yeah, Naruto, no matter what happens, we will help you."

Although Kiba didn't know what was going on, he still chose to stand on Naruto's side unconditionally, which made Sasuke feel a little relieved.

Sasuke admired this about Kiba, even though he never said it.

Sakura looked at this, then looked at that, completely confused. She looked to Sasuke for help, hoping he could give her some clues, but Sasuke's eyes never left Naruto.

Naruto sighed, finally raised his head, looked at Sasuke, then looked at the others, and asked:

"Do you remember last year's mid-term holiday?"

"Are you talking about the storm?" Sakura thought for a moment and said, "The storm lasted for several days and the main roads were flooded."

"Yeah, that time," Naruto said, "I was gone for a week."

"What are you talking about? We all thought you died in a ditch!" Ya said with lingering fear.

"I'm sorry for making you worry." Naruto said apologetically.

"Where have you been?" Sasuke asked.

"The Kingdom of Whirlpool."

Sasuke noticed that Shikamaru was visibly stunned when he heard the place name.

"What is the Land of Whirlpools?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"You don't even know the Whirlpool Country?" Ya looked at her in surprise, "It's that ancient sealing village, the Whirlpool Country!"

"Yes, it's right there." Naruto nodded and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand.