Naruto's Sweet Surprise

It was a glorious sunny spring afternoon in the Hidden Leaf Village. The sun was shining brightly, and the birds were chirping as they flew above the ninja community.

Sakura Haruno was stirring cookie batter in a large silver bowl with a wooden spoon, as she was wearing an ivory apron over her casual attire. Her summoning slug Mini Katsuyu, who was the miniature version of Tsunade's slug Katsuyu, was watching her on the kitchen counter as it laid next to her.

"Even though I was trying to impress Sasuke when we were Squad Seven," she said to herself as she recalled her team's tree climbing exercise, "the only one I managed to impress was Naruto. But now that I've moved onto him instead of Sasuke, I have found a way to impress him greatly. I'm going to make Naruto delicious cookies for the first time."

The kind of cookie Sakura chose to make him was the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, which had been popular among many residents of the Hidden Leaf Village. Even though she had never made cookies before, Sakura wanted to try it out herself as she had seen her mother bake them for her and her father a few times before. Fortunately, she followed the recipe that was listed inside her mother's cookbook very closely, and she hoped that her first time will be a success.

At the moment, her parents were away on two simple missions and she was home alone. That didn't stop her from containing her excitement to see her teammate (and possible new lover) at her house on this wonderful day, though.


Naruto Uzumaki was whistling as he sauntered toward the front door of Sakura's place, with his little toad friend Gamakichi sitting on his left shoulder. He stopped at the front door and knocked on it eight times, as if he were making a small part of a song with it. A bouquet of fresh flowers was held in his right hand, and they consisted of white daisies, baby's breath, white daffodils, and pink roses. Gamakichi was holding a single pink rose in his mouth, as it was a gift from him to Mini Katsuyu.

Sakura was just placing the tray of cookies in the heated oven when she heard the knocks on her door.

"He's here!" she exclaimed joyously. She then knelt down to the slug and said to her: "Don't tell Naruto or anyone else about the cookies, okay? It'll spoil the surprise."

Mini Katsuyu nodded to her and response and answered her: "No worries. I promise I won't tell them."

With no time to waste, Sakura placed the tray inside the oven and shut it, and then she made her way to the front door and opened it. Mini Katsuyu slithered her way over to the front door and lit up when she saw Gamakichi.

"Naruto! You've made it just in time!" she chirped to him, coiling her arms around him.

"I sure did," the blond-haired Leaf ninja boasted with a cheerful grin on his face. He wrapped his arms around her in return, forming a romantic hug.

Gamakichi hopped close to Mini Katsuyu and offered a hug to her, but the slug kindly let him know that she didn't have hands. In response, the little toad shrugged his shoulders and hugged her anyway.

"Good to see ya, Mini Katsuyu!" he said to her.

"Well, it's good to see you too, Gamakichi," Mini Katsuyu replied to him. "I'm sure Sakura's surprise will be a wonderful one for Naruto. We can't wait to see what it is."

Naruto handed her the flower bouquet and said to her: "These are for you. I got them at the Yamanaka Flower Shop on my way over."

"Ohh, Naruto," Sakura rejoined happily, sniffing the sweet aromas coming from each flower. "They smell so lovely. I'll put them in a vase."

While Sakura took the flowers from Naruto and placed them in an empty glass vase that was near a tan armchair in the living room, Gamakichi placed the pink rose in front of Mini Katsuyu. The slug simply leaned down and sniffed at it, and simply said to him: "It's lovely. I'll give it to Lady Tsunade."

"Awww, yay!" Gamakichi cheered, raising his left webbed fist in the air. "Jiraiya told me to get it for her, so I wanted to give it to ya! Hope you like it!"

"I do," Mini Katsuyu replied, nodding to him. "You're a sweet frog."

Sakura filled the vase with water from a bathroom sink, and it was halfway full—good enough for her flowers to live longer. When she was done, she turned off the sink and placed the vase back on a small desk that was located next to the armchair.

"So, what's the surprise?" Naruto asked her.

"Ohh, it's something special I'm cooking up," Sakura answered him.

"Oooh! Awesome! Are you cooking ramen?" Naruto asked, his eyes sparkling like stars about his favorite food of all time.

Sakura sweetly replied to him with a smile of content on her face as she blinked her aqua green eyes four times: "Maaaaybe."

But back in the kitchen, charcoal-colored smoke was rising from the oven. Sakura had been so occupied by Naruto's arrival that she had completely forgotten about her cookies! Now she would face a recipe for disaster on their special day!

Naruto sniffed the smoky aroma with his nose, and he knew it right away that what Sakura was baking for him may be burning.

"Something's burning," he said to her. "It's coming from the kitchen."

"Burning…?" Sakura repeated. Her eyes widened in shock and she let out a strident alarmed shriek: "OHHH! MY COOKIES!"

With panicked cries, Sakura frantically rushed to the kitchen as smoke was rising from the doorway. Once she made it to the oven and opened it, she took out the tray and let out a horrified gasp. All of her cookies had been burnt from being in the oven too long!

She dropped the tray on the floor once she felt the burning sensation on her hands and the smoke alarm went off. The burnt cookies looked like lumps of coal, and they weren't very appealing to her nor edible to both her and Naruto. This was a disaster for the medical kunoichi!

The smoke headed its way out of the kitchen and into the living room, and then it was right above Naruto. He immediately knew that something was wrong, and he was determined to help Sakura.

I think there might be a fire, he thought to himself, and he quickly ran over toward a fire extinguisher that was hung up on the hallway wall. Naruto grabbed it and barged into the kitchen, swinging the door open with a strong force.

The cookies were still scorching hot as they were burning to a crisp like logs on a fireplace, though Sakura had just turned off the oven. Thankfully for him, though, there was no fire at all.

"Don't worry, Sakura!" he called out to her. "I got this!"

Naruto sprayed the tray and the oven with the extinguisher and white foam covered the scorched mess like snow to the ground. He had saved her kitchen from what it could have been a fire if Sakura didn't turn off the oven the moment she took out the scalded treats. The smoke alarm stopped blaring, and the chaos finally came to an end.


In the living room, Sakura was sobbing on a mauve-colored pillow as she was lying on a taupe-colored sofa. Her tears were moistening the cushion as they were flowing down her face like cascading waterfalls. She thought that her surprise for Naruto was in ruins thanks to her big mistake.

"Ohh, Sakura, don't cry. They were just cookies…," Naruto coaxed softly, feeling sympathetic for his teammate. "You can always make another fresh batch. Do you have another cookie mix you can use?"

"I don't have any more cookie mixes! I only bought one at the market today and I used it all!" Sakura wailed loudly, and she continued to cry.

Nearby them, Gamakichi was feeling sorry for Mini Katsuyu, who lowered her sadly in sympathy of her master. The blue and white slug was also down in the dumps due to the botched cookies Sakura had accidentally burned, and her first opportunity was a failed one.

Awww, no. Poor girl, the little toad thought of Sakura. I hope the kid can do something to save her date from going up in smoke, just like her cookies did.

"I wanted to make you cookies just like my mom used to make me and my dad, and now they're all burned because of me!" the pink-haired kunoichi bawled, burying her face into the pillow once again.

"You know, I learned from your mom that she used to burn them sometimes when she made cookies for you and your dad," Naruto replied to her with a small chuckle, but it only made Sakura cry even harder.

Gamakichi sighed and shook his head in response to Naruto's failed attempt to comfort Sakura, yet at the same time, he placed his webbed hand on Mini Katsuyu's back and slowly rubbed it in order to cheer her up a little bit.

Naruto slowly reached his right hand out toward her shoulder, but Sakura cried even harder, making him jump backward.

There's got to be some way to fix this…, he thought. Then, an idea popped up in his head and he snapped his fingers the moment he saw a bake shop nearby the Haruno household.

Naruto dashed out of the house with Gamakichi following right behind him and into the bake shop, as he let Mini Katsuyu know that they would be back in a moment.

The little slug nodded to them and turned to see Sakura still sobbing on the sofa.

"They'll be back, Sakura," she said to her. "Don't worry; Naruto's here to save the day."

Sakura didn't answer her, as she let out a sniffle and wiped her tears with tissues that were on a small silver table next to the couch. She then hid her face in the pillow and continued to cry some more.

Naruto…, she thought of him. I'm so sorry my cookies were a disaster. Now our date is ruined because of me, and it's all of my fault. I don't think I'll be able to impress you even more now that I've made such a terrible mistake…

Naruto and Gamakichi returned to the front door of Sakura's house about a minute or two later, and they made their way back inside.

"Surprise!" they both called out to Sakura and Mini Katsuyu.

Sakura stopped sobbing and looked up to see Naruto holding a large white box that had a pink ribbon tied onto it, while Gamakichi held a tiny white box with the same ribbon adorning it. Her face lit up with joy as she rose up from the couch and approached an oak table in the dining room nearby. Once Naruto and Gamakichi placed the boxes there, Sakura opened up both boxes and let out a surprised gasp.

There were a variety of the bakery's best cookies inside the large box, ranging from sugar cookies in the shapes of toads and slugs like Gamakichi and Mini Katsuyu to chocolate chip cookies. Double chocolate chip cookies, strawberry macarons with chocolate filling, and vanilla biscotti were also what Naruto got for Sakura.

More slug-shaped sugar cookies were inside the small box for Mini Katsuyu, who was slithering around it and Gamakichi with glee as she nuzzled his head. The toad smiled lovingly in response to the slug's physical affection.

"Ohh, Naruto!" she exclaimed, a big smile of delight forming on her face. "These look so delicious! Where did you get them?"

"There was a bakery across the street from your place, so Gamakichi and I went there and bought the best cookies they've got in the village!" Naruto explained to her, grinning happily. "The next time will be a great opportunity for you to make cookies like the ones at the bake shop. Believe it!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Sakura wondered aloud. "I would've went to the market and bought some more cookie mix, but it takes about five to ten minutes to get there and I didn't have any time because of the burnt cookie incident. I'll have to let my mother know when she and my father get home from their missions tonight."

Then again, she was grateful that Naruto found a quick solution, and he had fixed the problem fast. He had saved their cookie date thanks to his quick thinking and brave determination.

"And there's my favorite: the classic chocolate chip cookie! I'm giving one to you and I'm having the other one for me!" Naruto added, holding the one cookie in his right hand and handing the other cookie to Sakura.

"Ohh, Naruto! You're such a sweet young man!" Sakura said, hugging him and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

A light pink blush formed across Naruto's face and he formed a big happy smile as he let out loved chuckles. He and Sakura had the best surprise date of their lives, and .they would have a lot to tell to their mentors and their friends the next day!

The End


Did this story leave you with a sweet tooth? Let me know what you think!

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