Chapter 8 Big Purchase
"This is definitely the most incredible thing I've ever done. It's so easy! Iruka-sensei always makes transformation jutsu sound so complicated."
"You learn differently than others, and so does Kushina - she's always arguing with her teacher."
Naruto snorted and kicked open the apartment door, freeing a hand to adjust the shopping bag on his arm.
He quickly signed a hand seal, undoing the transformation—he was only doing this for fun, that guy was a weirdo, no wonder he thought everyone was stupid—and piled his stuff on the kitchen counter with the rest of the stuff. There was so much stuff.
Thirteen bags in total - four of groceries, two of clothes, four of ninja supplies, and three of non-ninja supplies.
Naruto wasn't completely broke, but he was close.
This purchase made his wallet much thinner, which made him feel distressed.
He placed his ninja supplies and clothes on the bed and began sorting through the other bags, pulling out kitchen utensils he had never thought he would need - a knife block, a soup pot, a rice cooker, and a pair of chopsticks - and putting them aside to be collected later.
Next, he began to organize the groceries.
Kyuubi insisted that he buy a little bit of everything, and Naruto followed his advice since he didn't know what else he liked to eat besides ramen, curry rice, and dango.
The Kyuubi was particularly obsessed with meat, so Naruto bought many varieties: tuna, salmon, beef, chicken, and some pork belly.
He held a piece of tofu in his hand and looked at it over and over again.
"Should this be considered meat or vegetables?" he asked absentmindedly.
Kyuubi shrugged mentally.
"have no idea."
Naruto still put it with the other meats because he found that the tofu was refrigerated, so it should also be put in the refrigerator.
Then he sorted the fruits and vegetables, putting cucumbers, eggplants, white radishes together with apples, oranges, and dragon fruits.
He found a small bag of red, berry-like vegetables and began to play with them in his hands.
"These seem to be that bastard's favorite food."
"tomato?"
"Yes, I remember Sakura saying that."
"By 'asshole' you mean that arrogant Uchiha brat, right?"
"Yes."
"Sakura is the girl with pink hair?"
Naruto snickered.
"Yes, pink hair."
"You like her, kid? Stop pretending."
Naruto was silent for a moment, then continued filling the fridge.
He thought about pretending he had no idea what Kyuubi was talking about, but the fox always knew how to see through his lies, so he didn't bother wasting his energy.
"I like her," Naruto admitted, because he did like Sakura, especially when she wasn't acting like a nympho to Sasuke or dropping her perfect sweet ninja guise to yell at him for being an idiot.
It's a rare sight, but underneath her fluffy pink hair and glittering sequins lies a strong soul.
However, the urge to become more intimate than just friends was not as strong as he imagined.
Kyuubi raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"I like her," he repeated. "Just... not in the way I think I should? I don't know, that doesn't make sense, does it?"
"This makes more sense than you think. Don't pay attention to what other people think you should do. They don't know yourself as well as you do."
Naruto nodded and put the instant noodles and rice into his small pantry.
When he was done, he sniffed his arm carefully.
"I need to take a shower. I smell like stinky tofu."
******
By the time Naruto came out of the shower, it was almost eight o'clock and there was only an hour left until class.
He was wearing a new pair of black shorts and sitting on his bed, looking at the black long-sleeved top he had just bought from the ninja supply store on the corner.
"Is this standard ninja attire?"
"That's right."
"Are you sure you got the right size? It's too big for me."
"At the rate you're growing, kid? I'd be surprised if this suit lasts a year."
He put on a long-sleeved top and baggy black sweatpants.
The pants are a little long and the sleeves are a little baggy at the elbows, but other than that it fits well, just a little too big overall.
"You got a bandage, kid?"
"Yes." Naruto said, picking up a roll of black gauze bandage, "Where should I tie it?"
"Arms, wrists... anywhere there's extra fabric."
Naruto nodded and began to work on the areas that were too long, mainly above the knees and elbows, he also used bandages to tie up the sleeves and trouser legs that were too long.
"What's for breakfast?"
"I think we should start simple. How about rice pancakes?"
"Can you still taste it?"
"I can see through your eyes and smell through your nose, what makes you think I can't taste through your tongue?"
Naruto stretched his limbs and tested the flexibility of his new clothes. He found that they were very comfortable to wear.
He put the other two spare sets of clothes into his nearly empty closet, then shoved his hands into the pockets of his new clothes and wandered back to the kitchen.
He pulled a simple cookbook from his shopping bag and began to prepare the ingredients according to the instructions.
"Kushina always said that cooking is like a sealing technique."
"Sealing Technique?"
"Sealing techniques are the unique skills of the Whirlpool Country, and that's why they are so powerful. They use sealing techniques frequently, just like the ninjas here use clone techniques and substitution techniques."
"A sealing technique like the seal on the scroll and the detonating talisman?"
"A poor imitation, but the idea is similar. Sealing is difficult to master, but the people of the Whirlpool Kingdom have turned it into an art form, almost in their blood. They can use sealing to do anything, from transportation to combat, everything."
"Then how can cooking be the same as sealing techniques?"
” She said this is because both are made up of many parts that, when pressed, mixed or combined, create something greater than the sum of its parts.”
“This is pretty amazing and makes more sense than I thought, right?”
"It means that you learn in a way much like the people of Whirlpool Country."
******
With the help of A New Hope and the Nine-Tails, Naruto decided that maybe he wasn't such a complete idiot after all, and he managed to make a complete rice omelette with only two broken eggs and only setting off the fire alarm once.
Moreover, he found that he really liked eating rice pancakes.
"What's next?" he asked as he cleared the dishes. "Let's do some real training."
"Be patient, kid. First, I want to teach you about chakra. As a living being made up of chakra, your knowledge in this area is seriously lacking. But we can't teach you until after school. You should leave now, otherwise you will be late."
"Ah, bad!"
