A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews. I love you people! Onward, ho!

Sakura poked her head into Naruto's cabinet, glancing around suspiciously inside it. Maybe the internet was in here. She frowned at its emptiness. Unless, the internet was invisible, she doubted she'd find it there. Naruto shook his head. "The internet isn't in there," he sang in a teasing tone. Sakura hopped up and whirled around, a determined look in her eyes.

"Well, I will find it before we're finished. You can't be that adept at hiding secret weapons. I mean, you're Naruto!"

"Hey!" Naruto insisted, "I'm adept in, like, everything. I'm, like, super-adept! And that's why one day I'll be Hokage!"

"And assign ramen-finding missions?" Sakura asked sarcastically.

"Exactly." As an afterthought, he added, "What's adept, anyway?" But Sakura was didn't answer, deep in thought about all the possible places Naruto could have placed the internet.

Naruto pulled out some pots and pans from a cabinet and put them on the stove. He stood back and glanced from the jars of syrup to the stove, uncertainly. "So, uh, how do you make syrup, Sakura?"

"What? How'd I know?" she asked, a bit appalled. Now Naruto looked a bit confused.

"What? Don't you cook? I just thought you'd know."

Sakura opened her mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. "No, I wouldn't." She huffed. She hung her head. "My mommy does all my cooking. There? Are you happy? I don't know how to cook!" she despaired.

Shocked, Naruto turned towards her. "What? I was just asking about the syrup; I don't know how to make it, either. I always buy it." He paused. "But I do know how to cook!" He couldn't resist.

Sakura couldn't hide her surprise. "You do?" She knew he knew how to make ramen, but who didn't? But, then, he had been alone in this place for quite some time, so she guessed she shouldn't be so shocked. Still, she was shocked. Naruto could cook? That just seemed so…unreal.

He nodded. "Yeah, well, I have been living here by myself for awhile," he said. "Someone has to cook." He turned towards her, grinning. "Of course, I mostly just eat ramen, but that isn't all. I am a growing boy, after all!" He grinned. "So, see, if we got married, you wouldn't even have to worry about cooking!"

"I'd prefer having to worry about cooking."

Naruto sighed. He would make Sakura see the light. He would make her! It was his current life goal and he wouldn't stop until it was accomplished, he thought, giggling quietly as he twisted open a jar of syrup and dumped it into a saucer on the stove. Sakura raised her eyebrows, uncertain.

"Uhm, Naruto," she began, wondering if she had sent his last bit of sanity sprawling away from him. "Are you okay…..?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed. "I'm just excited about making this syrup!" He grabbed some sugar. "I guess we'll just dump some of this in, and Tsunade-sama said to boil it or something," he shrugged. He grabbed cinnamon, too. He grabbed some other spices, and some butter and oil. "For good measure," he told Sakura. She looked doubtful as he dramatically poured, sprinkled, or dumped some of each into the saucer.

Sakura stared at the mess in the saucer as it started bubbling up, and started shooting in different directions. "Ah, Naruto! Turn down the fire some!" She cried out, ducking as it spewed in her direction. Naruto had jumped out of the way and watched, wide eyed as the syrup began to paint his walls. He really didn't like boiling stuff like this. Was sap even supposed to do this? He began regretting throwing all that random stuff in there. Grabbing a nearby lid on the counter, he held it up shield-style as he made his way towards the stove and simmered the fire.

Sighing, he wiped his brow. "That was crazy, huh, Sakura?" He waited for her to answer, but didn't get one. He turned around. "Sakura?"

Sakura had made it to the scary place known as "Under Naruto's Bed." Surely, the internet would be there. Where else could Naruto possibly hide something that sounded so weird? It probably had to be enormous. Like, three feet tall or something, she thought. How could Naruto keep something like that hidden? Especially with his loud mouth; how long could he keep quiet about it? She suppressed a sudden scream at someone's hand on her ankle.

"Sakura, the internet isn't under here," Naruto laughed, looking thoroughly amused. The fact that her antics were amusing him was something completely new to Sakura. She frowned as she crawled out from under the bed. "You know, I'm still willing to show it to you if you go on a ramen date with me!"

Sakura stared at him. "I'll eat ramen with you. Since we're already here and all," she tried.

"Oh, nuh-uh," Naruto shook his head and made gestures with his hands, signifying that he really did not like that idea. "It has to be a date."

There was a long, dramatic pause, and the two could hear the syrup pop and cackle in the Naruto's tiny kitchen. Sakura heaved a long, drawn-out sigh. "Fine," she gave in. "You leave me no choice. I'll go on your date with you." She looked at him, excitedly. "Now tell me about the internet!"

"No, no, we have to go on the ramen date first!" Naruto exclaimed, not willing to let himself be suckered into any schemes. "How about after we deliver the syrup to Hokage?" He jumped up, happily and sprinted back to the kitchen, anxious to finish.

"Sure, why not?" Sakura replied to empty air, pulling herself off the floor by his bed and rejoining him in the kitchen.

Tsunade rocked back and forth in her chair behind her overly large, elegant desk. She loved being the Hokage. It was the best job in the world; she couldn't believe she had struggled with this decision for so long. She must've been PMSing or something at the time. She sighed, wondering what was taking Kakashi so long with her pancakes and Naruto and Sakura so long with the syrup. It had been a little over an hour. She wanted to discover the perfect syrup for pancakes before the next day, so she could have it with her pancakes in the morning. She had already discovered the perfect pancake; Kakashi simply had to follow the instructions she had given him. Some nice, old ninja had given them to her years ago and she had always wanted to try it, but always forgot. Now, that she was Hokage, though….she giggled a bit, once again thinking about how much she enjoyed her job.

Kakashi stared at the directions Tsunade had given him. Clearly, he didn't not quite agree with all the things scrawled across the pages. "Directions for the Best Pancake Ever," he read the title, his tone expressing just how much he believed that. Sighing, he began cracking eggs and mixing things in a bowl, wondering if "a half cup of the most sugary beverage in the room" would really make this pancake taste "out-of-this-world" as Tsunade had wanted.

He finally finished beating it after "one hour and twenty one minutes" had passed. That was ridiculous, really. He was missing Ninja Idol for this! He thought bitterly, as he poured some of the batter into the saucepan.

Tsunade sighed, trying to stave off boredom. She wished those three would hurry. She would've gotten up to go check on them, but that would require her leaving her awesome Hokage desk and she just couldn't have that. After all, some other ninja might sneak in and try to sit in her Hokage chair and she just couldn't have that! She turned when a ninja came through the doors; or, more appropriately, rode through the doors.

"You!" Tsunade cried out, happily. "Go and see how Kakashi is doing, okay?"

"Why?" Kiba asked. "He's on a mission? What happened?"

"Yes, he's making me pancakes and it's taking him a long time."

"Are you serious?!" Kiba cried, looking somewhere between appalled and indignant. "That's not ninja stuff!"

"Yes, it is," Tsunade insisted. "Actually, it's more important than ninja stuff."

"What?!"

"Nothing's more important than pancakes! Although, French Toast is a close second," she insisted. Kiba stared at her strangely before she continued, "Kakashi's in the next building in my spacious kitchen. Go, check on him, and be quick. And get that gigantic thing out of here," she waved at Akamaru, who's tail kept swishing back and forth dangerously.

"He's not a thing and he's not gigantic!" Kiba cried out defensively, before taking off.

Tsunade called out after him, "Hurry back!"

As soon as Kiba left, Naruto and Sakura entered the building again and Tsunade looked thrilled to see them. "Finally!" she cried out, happily. "It took you two long enough."

"Yes, but," Naruto proudly held up a jar that used to be filled with sap; now, a syrupy looking liquid was in there, "we made you the best! I'm sure it was worth the wait!"

"I hope so," Tsunade nodded. "We just have to wait for Kakashi to get here with the pancakes."

"Aww, can't you just taste it and tell us?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade shook her head. "No, it has to be on a pancake." She paused. "Why? Do you have somewhere you have to be?"

Sakura said "no" and Naruto said "yes" at the same exact moment. Naruto went on, "We're going on a ramen date."

"We're going to eat ramen," Sakura said at the same time, hoping it sounded less date-like.

Tsunade cocked her brow. "Oh, really?" she seemed intrigued. "That should be interesting."

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto agreed, while Sakura tried her best not too look too depressed about it. She feared Ino might spot her and Naruto and with Naruto's loud mouth, Sakura couldn't use the excuse they were just teammates discussing Sasuke-finding strategies.

Kiba burst into the kitchen, and watched as Kakashi flipped a pancake. It looked really cool, watching it flip in the air. That is, until the batter of the uncooked half hit the ceiling; it hung there for two seconds, before landed on the floor. Akamaru ran over to it and began licking it. Kakashi looked horrified and quickly pulled it away from the huge dog. He slapped it back down onto the saucer as if nothing had happened.

"He can have some of those," Kakashi pointed at a nearby trashbag, with pancakes heaped into it. "Most of those split in two. This is the first one that hasn't, and the directions say it'll only taste great if it looks great."

"You're kidding." Kiba shook his head as he pointed Akamaru towards the discarded pancakes. "There you go, boy, eat up!" He hopped off the dog and wandered around the kitchen. "This place is huge."

"It is the Hokage's Kitchen," Kakashi pointed out, much less enthusiastic than Kiba.

"But still!"

"It seems less impressive after spending a couple hours in here and missing Ninja Idol because of it."

"…What?!"

Kakashi paused before his eye lit up with amusement. "Oh, that's right. You're one of those people."

"One of what people?"

"You know. Oh, wait, you don't. You're one of those people. You're one of the people that aren't in the know."

"In the know? What?"

Kakashi nodded. "Exactly." He flipped the pancake again, made a funny face, flipped it over and put it on a plate. "Well, this is the most round one, so, I have to bring this to the Hokage now."

"You're giving her that pancake?" Kakashi nodded. Kiba cringed. "Ew. Well, I'll go with you. That's why I'm here. To get you."

"Yes, I might get lost trying to find my way back to her office," Kakashi deadpanned.

"Hey, it was her idea, not mine."

Since the Hokage's Kitchen is, naturally, connected to the Hokage's Office, it didn't take them any more than a minute to arrive. Tsunade looked thrilled to see them. "Yes! Finally!" she looked as giddy as a schoolgirl.

Kakashi held out the plate for Naruto to pour the syrup over it, which he did. He soaked the pancake. Kakashi set it down in front of her, and Tsunade grabbed a fork, since she was a Hokage and could have those and didn't have to eat with chopsticks like everyone else in the village. She cut off her first piece, excitedly, popped it in her mouth and beginning chewing, a thoughtful expression on her face as she savored the taste. She had wanted to savor it. Instead, her face went from thoughtful to utterly disgusted. After swallowing, she flipped the pancake over.

"Kakashi, half of this pancake is completely black."

"Oops," Kakashi winked. "But it was the roundest!"

"It's horrible!" She cried out, shaking her head. "Not fit for consumption." Kiba almost told her Akamaru had seemed to like it, but at Kakashi's glare, decided not to. "You'll have to make it again."

Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto all looked horrified. "But the syrup?" Sakura asked, hopefully. "Was that okay?"

"No, utterly and completely disgusting." She sighed. "I'll let you go for now, though," she decided, looking at Naruto and Sakura. "Since I know you two have a date." Kakashi's head whipped over to them faster than a ninja with the ability to move at the speed of light!

"You two are dating?" He asked, before winking. "Have fun!"

"No, we're not dating!" Sakura cried.

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed at the same time.

"Whoa, go Naruto!" Kiba pumped his fist in the air and Naruto did so as well. Sakura glared at both of them.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade grinned. "You don't have anything to do, so I want you to keep working on that pancake recipe until you get it exactly right, okay?"

Kakashi's face fell, but he nodded.

"Dismissed!" Tsunade waved to Sakura, Naruto, and Kiba and they filed out. Kakashi left as well, head hanging as he headed back towards the Hokage's Kitchen. Tsunade leaned back in her chair, marveling again at the wonders of being Hokage.

Next time: Will Sakura and Naruto stare into each other's eyes lovingly on their ramen date? Will Ino find them? Will Sakura finally learn about the internet? Will Kakashi make the perfect pancake? Will Kiba figure out what is the know and who all is in it? Will Tsunade get her perfect pancake with the perfect syrup creating the perfect breakfast? Find all this out and more in chapter 3 of Pancakes, Dates, and More!