They walked through the sunny streets of Konoha. The noise of reconstruction was a constant sound of hammers and saws, a buzz of life trying to cover up recent memories.
Naruto walked with his hands behind his head, whistling a tune that was painfully out of tune. He seemed to have no worries in the world, as if they were just taking a walk on any given Tuesday.
Sakura walked beside him, completely rigid.
"Naruto."
"Hmm?"
"Could you stop whistling? Please."
"What? I'm practicing! It's a catchy tune!"
"That whistling is horrible," she whispered, her green eyes moving nervously from side to side. "You're drawing attention."
"I'm supposed to draw attention!" he whispered back, without stopping his whistling.
"Not that kind of attention! Stop it!"
"Relax, Sakura chan! Remember, we're 'normal'!" he said, stopping the whistle to emphasize the word. "Two normal genin taking a walk! Look, I'm walking normal!"
Naruto started walking, swinging his arms in an exaggerated way.
"That's not normal! That's... ridiculous! People are staring at us!"
"Of course they're staring! I'm the hero of Konoha! They should be looking!"
"Shut up! You're not a hero, you're an idiot! And I'm... with you!" Sakura shrank a little. "They're going to think..."
"That we're going to buy bread?" Naruto said, finally walking like a person. "Because we are going to buy bread! Bread mission! Easy! Why are you so tense?"
"I'm not tense."
"You're incredibly tense. What's wrong? Is it Root? Do you sense them?"
"No! It's not that," she muttered, looking at the ground. "It's... it's the bakery."
"What about it? Does your dad use bad flour?"
"No! It's just... it's my parents' bakery. And I'm... going with you."
Naruto stopped for a second. A slow grin spread across his face. "Oh. Ooooooh. I get it!"
"You don't get anything. Keep walking."
"Of course I do! It's the first time you're bringing a boy home! You think your parents are going to think I'm your...!"
Sakura covered his mouth with her hand, her face instantly turning red. "SHHHH! SHUT UP! YOU IDIOT! Don't yell that in the middle of the street!"
Naruto pulled her hand away. "I'm not! That's why it's funny! They have nothing to worry about!"
"That's not what...! You're impossible!" She sped up. "Just... focus. Mission. Danzo. Root. Bread. Nothing else."
"Got it! Root Bread Mission!"
"Just... Bread. Focus on the bread."
They arrived at a small, clean building on a side street. The wooden sign read "Haruno Bakery".
Sakura stopped at the door, swallowing. She looked mortified.
"Okay, Naruto, listen."
"Yeah?"
"My parents."
"What about them?"
"They're... a little..."
"A little what?"
"Enthusiastic."
Naruto smiled. "Enthusiastic? Great! I like enthusiastic people! Like Lee!"
"No," she said, grabbing his arm tightly. "I mean... a lot. They're loud. Much louder than you."
"Hey! I don't shout!" Naruto said, shouting.
"Yes, you do! Just... please. Try not to... compete with them. Don't humor them. Don't shout louder than them. Let me do the talking. And for the love of everything holy, don't mention anything about being an Advisor. Or the mission. Or Root. Got it?"
"So... what do I say?"
"You say 'hello' and 'I like bread'. Nothing else. Can you handle that?"
"Of course! Hello, I like bread! Piece of cake!"
"Don't make bread puns."
"Come on, that one was good."
"No." Sakura took a deep breath and opened the door.
A small bell over the door rang.
"KIZASHI! STOP EATING THE PROFITS AND WATCH THE SHOP! THAT BREAD WON'T SELL ITSELF! I CAN SMELL YOU FROM HERE!"
A woman's voice boomed from the back room, so loud it made the windows rattle.
Naruto blinked. "Wow. She really is loud."
I want to die, Sakura thought, closing her eyes. It's already started.
A woman with short, straw blonde hair and piercing green eyes came out of the back room. She had flour on her cheek and was wearing a white qipao that was also stained with dough. She saw Sakura. Her eyes went wide.
"SAKURA!"
The shout "SAKURA!" echoed through the shop.
"SWEETHEART! YOU'RE ALIVE!"
Before Sakura could say "hi", Mebuki Haruno crossed the ten feet between them and trapped her in a bear hug that lifted her daughter off the ground, squeezing the air out of her.
"Mom... air... can't... breathe!"
"MY BABY! YOU'RE HERE! Why didn't you call!? Why didn't you send a message!? A whole week without seeing you! After what happened with the invasion, I thought you'd been kidnapped by Sound ninja or worse!"
"Mom... the Sound lost...!"
"Or that you were dead in a ditch! Or that you'd run off with that melancholy Uchiha! Kizashi, I told you we should put up posters!"
"Mom, I'm fine! Put me down! I was... on a mission!"
"You're always on a mission!" Mebuki finally let her go, only to shake her by the shoulders. "Can't you take one day off to see your poor mother!? I'm getting old! I'm getting worry wrinkles!"
"You're thirty eight!"
"Thirty eight and a half! And..."
Mebuki stopped. She had just noticed Naruto, who was standing awkwardly by the door, unsure whether to wave, run, or hide behind the bun counter.
Mebuki's green eyes narrowed. "Oh."
The tone changed from motherly panic to police interrogation.
"Sakura. Sweetheart."
"Yes, Mom?"
"And you brought... friends."
Her gaze sharpened, scanning Naruto from top to bottom. "A boy."
"Mom..."
"A boy! Sakura, you finally brought a boy home who isn't that emo Uchiha you talk so much about!"
Sakura's face went from pink to cherry red. "MOM!!"
"It's a joke, honey! Mostly! I'm happy you have other friends! Although this one looks like he hasn't eaten in a week! What's wrong with you, kid? Are you sick?"
"No, ma'am! I'm great!" Naruto said.
"He's Naruto Uzumaki! He's my teammate! From the mission! And he's...!"
Sakura gritted her teeth, praying she wouldn't say it.
"And he's the Hokage's Secret Advisor!"
Naruto slapped his forehead. "Secret, Sakura chan! You just told me not to say anything," he whispered.
"Advisor?" Mebuki looked him up and down again. "This one? The one who painted the monuments?"
"The one and only!" Naruto said, smiling proudly.
"A teammate! Right!" Mebuki nudged Sakura. "Teammate, sure. And what kind of 'advice' does he give the Hokage, huh?"
"MOM! IT'S FOR REAL!"
"The cheese bread is ready, Mebuki! Stop scaring the...!"
A man with strange, pinkish gray hair, styled in a way that defied gravity, came out of the kitchen. He was drying his hands on an apron covered in... jam?
He saw Sakura and his face lit up. "Sakura! My little blossom!"
Then he saw Naruto. His smile got even bigger.
"Well, well! The famous Naruto Uzumaki! The artist of the Hokage Monument!"
Sakura groaned. "You too, Dad?"
"A pleasure to meet you, kid! Kizashi Haruno!" He shook Naruto's hand so hard it nearly made him wobble. "I must say, your work on the monument was inspired! That orange paint gave it a... vibrant touch!"
"Dad, don't encourage him!"
"A pleasure, sir!" Naruto said, bowing. "And thanks! I thought it needed more color! And everything here looks delicious!"
"Haha! This kid knows his stuff!" Kizashi said. "Are you hungry? I just pulled out the cinnamon rolls! Hot!"
Naruto's eyes lit up. "CINNAMON ROLLS?!"
"My specialty!"
"It's my favorite food! After ramen!"
"WHAT!? MEBUKI! DID YOU HEAR THAT! HE'S A BOY OF REFINED TASTES!" Kizashi threw an arm around Naruto's shoulders. "Come to the kitchen, son! You have to try one fresh from the oven!"
"Dad, we didn't come to...!"
"Nonsense! You're never too important for a good cinnamon roll!"
This is a nightmare, Sakura thought, following the pair. My worst nightmare. I want the earth to swallow me. Why didn't I ask Shino to come? At least he's quiet.
The kitchen was warm, loud, and covered in a fine layer of flour that looked like snow. Kizashi, without letting go of Naruto, grabbed a huge, sticky, steaming cinnamon roll directly from the tray and put it in his hand.
"Careful, it's hot!"
Naruto blew on it once and shoved the entire thing in his mouth.
There was a second of silence. Naruto's eyes nearly rolled back. He chewed three times and swallowed.
"I..." Naruto said, his voice trembling with emotion.
"Yes...?" Kizashi said, expectant.
"I've had Ichiraku ramen. I've had Grandma Tsunade's dango. But this...!" Naruto grabbed Kizashi by the shoulders. "THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER EATEN! SIR, YOU'RE A GENIUS! YOU'RE THE KAGE OF BAKERS!"
"HAHAHAHA!" Kizashi slapped Naruto on the back. "I LIKE YOU, KID! MEBUKI, BRING TEA! THIS KID KNOWS HOW TO APPRECIATE ART!"
"Teach me!" Naruto said, his voice full of unexpected reverence. "Please! I have to learn how to make this! It's... it's magic!"
"Naruto," Sakura said, her voice tense. "We didn't come for cooking lessons. We have a mission. Remember? Root?"
"The mission can wait!" Naruto said. "This is vital to the village's security! I need to know how to make this!"
"Nonsense!" Kizashi said, taking off his own apron (which read 'Knead for Speed') and tying it tightly around Naruto. "It's never too late to learn a trade! Especially one that tastes so good!"
"Dad, seriously, we have to...!"
"My grandfather always said a man who can't bake is only half a man!"
"Dad, that's not a real saying! You just made it up!"
"It is now!" Kizashi pointed to a huge bowl of dough waiting on the table. "The secret, kid, is in the dough! You can't just hit it! You have to knead it with passion!"
Naruto rolled up his sleeves. Flour flew everywhere. "Got it! Passion! Like a Rasengan!"
Okay, easy, Naruto thought. Knead? It's just hitting and turning. Like Tsunade's training! I have to put power into it! Passion!
Naruto put his hands together, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slammed his hands into the dough on the table. Instinctively, he used a tiny bit of the chakra he was learning to control to "give it more power", thinking it would make the dough better.
SPLAT!
The dough exploded outward with surprising force, splattering the ceiling, the walls, Mebuki's clean apron as she had just walked in, Kizashi's face, and, most importantly, coating Sakura, who was fifteen feet away, in a sticky layer of flour and water.
There was a moment of absolute silence. The only sound was the drip of dough falling from the ceiling.
Sakura slowly peeled a piece of raw, sticky dough off her forehead. Her pink hair was now a white, gummy mess.
"NARUTO!!" she yelled, her voice breaking the calm. "IT'S KNEADING, NOT DETONATING!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Naruto looked at his hands, also covered in dough. "Oops. Too much passion?"
Kizashi wiped the flour from his face. He looked at the destroyed kitchen. He looked at Sakura, who was covered in dough and furious. And then he burst into thunderous laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! YOU'VE GOT STRENGTH, KID! THAT'S FOR SURE! THE TOUCH OF AN EXPLOSIVE ARTIST!"
"KIZASHI! MY CLEAN KITCHEN!" Mebuki yelled.
"Don't worry, dear! It's worth it!" Kizashi clapped Naruto on the back, leaving a floury handprint. "You've got the spirit! But you need control! Look, like this!"
Sakura's father placed his floury hands over Naruto's, which were trembling with adrenaline.
"See, kid. It's not about the force of the hit. It's about consistency."
Kizashi grabbed a new piece of dough. "If you hit it, it gets tough. It fights back. You have to be firm, but gentle. The dough is alive, you have to listen to it."
"Listen to it?"
"Sure! Feel how it responds!" Kizashi guided Naruto's hands. "Push, fold, turn. Push, fold, turn. Feel how it changes. How it becomes smooth under your hands."
Naruto, for the first time that day, focused on the task.
Wow... it's... calm.
Kizashi smiled. "There you go! You're feeling it!"
Sakura chan's dad... he's great, Naruto thought. He's covered in flour and laughing. And Mebuki san, even though she's glaring at me because of the wall, keeps bringing me snacks, saying I'm too skinny.
Naruto felt a warmth in his chest that wasn't from the oven. It was something genuinely happy. A familiar warmth he'd never had.
"Firm... but gentle," Naruto said quietly, more to himself than to Kizashi. "Like... like chakra control."
Kizashi looked at him, surprised by the sudden maturity. "Exactly! See! You learn fast! You have a baker's hands! You just need to stop trying to kill it!"
Sakura watched from a corner, trying to clean the dough out of her hair with a towel. Mebuki was helping her, muttering about "idiots making messes" and "ninja who don't know how to do anything useful".
He's... he's really listening, Sakura thought, looking at Naruto. He's just... learning. Kneading bread. Since when is he so... calm?
She felt a strange feeling... it was... almost nice. Seeing him there, laughing with her father, covered in flour.
"Alright, alright! The kitchen is clean!"
Well, Mebuki had cleaned most of it while Kizashi and Naruto continued "training".
Mebuki sat Naruto down on the small sofa in the living room, which was right next to the shop. "Now, wait here, Naruto kun. Since you're Sakura's special teammate, you have to see something!"
Sakura, who was putting away the broom and dustpan, felt a shiver run down her spine. "Mom, NO!"
"No what, sweetheart?"
"Not... that! He has to get back to training! He's the Hokage's Secret Advisor! He's very busy!"
"Nonsense!" Mebuki said, ignoring her completely and returning with a thick, pink photo album covered in bunny stickers. "There's always time for family history! The Hokage can wait!"
She plopped the album open on Naruto's lap.
"Look! Here's Sakura on her first day at the academy!"
Naruto leaned in. The photo showed a tiny Sakura, with a giant pink bow and an incredibly serious look.
"HAHAHA! Sakura chan, you looked so grumpy! And that forehead! It's huge! You could land an airship on it!"
"MOM, PUT IT AWAY!! YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME!" Sakura yelled, trying to snatch the album.
"Oh, quiet, honey! It's adorable!" Mebuki said, pulling the album away from her daughter's hands. "And look at this one! When she lost her first tooth!"
Naruto turned the page. "No way!"
"Oh, yeah! She tried to use a makeshift healing jutsu she heard in one of Kizashi's stories! She wanted it to grow back! She cried for three hours when it didn't work!"
"Ohhhh!" Naruto said, wiping away a tear of laughter. "I'm going to need copies of this! For... official reports! The Hokage needs to know this!"
"MOM! I HATE YOU!"
"And this one! My favorite!" Mebuki said, turning the page enthusiastically. "When Ino told her that Sasuke kun liked girls with long hair! And Sakura tried to give herself extensions... with honey!"
"WITH HONEY!?" Naruto burst out laughing, slapping the sofa. "HAHAHA! That's... sticky! Amazing!"
"THAT'S IT!"
Sakura, mortified and completely red, marched toward the sofa.
"Naruto, we're leaving! The mission is over! Now!"
She grabbed Naruto by the arm and hauled him up, lifting him off the sofa.
"But wait!" Naruto yelled, trying to keep looking at the photos over his shoulder. "I didn't see the one with her first kunai! Mebuki san, make copies!"
"IF YOU MAKE COPIES, I'LL BURN THE BAKERY DOWN!" Sakura threatened.
"KIZASHI!" Mebuki yelled. "They're leaving! And the boy wants copies!"
"Don't leave without this!" Kizashi yelled from the kitchen. He ran out, wiping his hands on his apron and handing Naruto a huge, steaming paper bag.
"Cinnamon rolls for the road! Enough for you and the Hokage! And come back whenever you want, son!"
"Thanks, sir!" Naruto said, being dragged out the door. "I'll be back tomorrow for the icing lesson!"
"NO, YOU WON'T!" Sakura yelled, slamming the door.
They were back on the main street, walking toward the Hokage Tower. The sun was beginning to set, tinting the sky orange.
Sakura was still blushing, muttering to herself.
"I can't believe it. My own mother. I'm going to have to put a silencing seal on her. Or move. Yeah, move to Suna. Temari doesn't have embarrassing photo albums of me."
Naruto pulled a cinnamon roll from the bag and took a giant bite. "Mmmffff! That was great!"
"Swallow before you talk!"
Naruto swallowed. "I said, that was great! Your parents are awesome, Sakura chan! They're so... loud! And fun! And your mom pinched my cheek three times! And your dad called me 'son'!"
Sakura looked at him, her anger fading a bit. "Really? You don't think they're... too much?"
"Too much what? Too awesome?"
"Too... them. They're embarrassing. And loud. And my mom has no filter."
Naruto stopped eating. He stopped in the middle of the street. His tone turned serious, losing all its earlier energy.
"They're perfect."
Sakura stopped too. "What?"
"Your home. Your dad calls you 'blossom' and laughs at everything. And your mom... she hugs you so hard she almost breaks you."
"That's... embarrassing, Naruto."
"It's... everything," he said, looking at the roll in his hand. "They're loud. And they care. And they love you so much it overflows and splashes onto everyone nearby."
He looked at Sakura. "They're perfect, Sakura chan. You're lucky."
Sakura was quiet. She looked at him, understanding the weight of that simple sentence. He had never had that. Ever. Not a bear hug, not a silly nickname, not an embarrassing photo album. And she complained about it every day.
She smiled softly. "Yeah. I guess so."
They stood there for another second.
"Thanks for coming with me, Naruto."
"Anytime! As long as cinnamon rolls are involved!"
"Idiot." She punched him softly on the shoulder. "Come on, we have to report to Tsunade sama that there were no problems."
They started walking again.
"HEY!" he yelled, making several people turn. "I just had the best idea!"
Sakura blinked, caught off guard by the change. "Huh? What idea?"
"A race to the Tower!"
"What? Naruto, that's ten blocks away! I'm not...!"
"Last one there pays for ramen tomorrow! The giant bowl!"
"The giant one? That's not fair! You eat more!"
"TOO LATE! LET'S GO!"
Naruto grabbed her hand.
"Hey!"
And he pulled her, sprinting down the main street.
"No fair!" she yelled, laughing as she ran. "You got a head start! Cheater!"
"All's fair in love and ramen races!" he shouted back.
*****
The two Root agents in the alley watched the two genin disappear, running, yelling, and pushing past people; acting exactly like the idiotic teenagers they were supposed to be.
Fū lowered his apple. "They're moving."
"To where?" Torune said, stepping out of the shadows.
"Toward the Hokage Tower. They're... playing. Running like children."
"They are children," Torune said. "And they're careless. The target is secure. They have no escort."
Fū nodded. "Prepare the extraction team."
"Understood."
**
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