Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Edit: Turns out Naruto calling Sasuke 'teme' is just something fanfic writers use despite it having no meaning in those context. As such, I have removed the word from my writing cause it's ignorant.

Hope you enjoy!


The silence on the academy rooftop was broken by Naruto.

"Well, the three of us are now a team. Let's get some ramen to celebrate!"

"Like we're going to go eat with a dead last like you!" Sakura retorted and Sasuke grunted in agreement. "Besides, ramen is unhealthy for you."

Not hearing their excuses, Naruto tried to drag his unwilling teammates down the streets to Ichiraku's. The two accepted their fate and followed Naruto.

As they approached the ramen stand, Naruto's eyes widened with excitement at the sight of his favorite food. He eagerly rushed ahead, pulling open the curtain and seating himself at the counter. Sakura followed closely behind and sat beside Naruto. She motioned to Sasuke to sit beside her, but he went and sat in the corner next to Naruto and calmly observed the menu. Sakura looked sadly at the Uchiha before turning to look at the menu as well.

Teuchi greeted the trio warmly and took their orders. Naruto ordered his usual miso ramen with extra pork, while Sakura opted for Udon noodles with a light vegetable broth to try to keep her meal as healthy as possible. She was surprised when Sasuke requested for the spicy miso ramen, and the masterful chef began preparing their meals.

Naruto noticed Sakura looking gloomily at Sasuke, and decided to jumpstart the conversation,

"What's up with you, Sakura?"

Sakura broke out of her trance to look at Naruto, "Huh? Oh, it's nothing."

"You shouldn't worry, Sakura-chan. I don't see what's so special about duck butt here."

Sasuke glowered at his nickname as Sakura roared at Naruto, "Of course you don't know how amazing Sasuke-kun is because you're such a loser!"

Naruto retorted, "Oh yeah, well if you know some much about duck butt here, why don't you tell me about him, apart from the fact that he's a broody emo avenger with a duck butt who thinks he's so cool?"

Sakura was temporarily at a loss for words until she whispered, "I heard he likes thin girls with long hair…"

Naruto and Sasuke both blinked at Sakura and the latter inquired, "And who told you that?"

Sakura began to stutter and Naruto commented, "Whoever told you that knows nothing about Sasuke. He's obviously into men, and we have to respect that about him instead of coming up with rumors like that."

Sasuke almost choked on his water as he glared daggers at the blonde. Sakura looked slightly aghast and Naruto could swear he saw a drop of blood trickle down the pinkette's nose and he quickly said with a grin,

"I'm joking, I'm joking, ok… But I do know that duck butt here likes his tomatoes, seeing how he has them everyday with lunch, and that he probably sprained his ankle or something a few days ago cause he has a bit of a limp. I'm sorry man, but trying to be cool while suppressing that limp only makes it more ridiculous in my opinion."

Sasuke ignored the comment on his coolness and both him and Sakura were surprised as they didn't expect Naruto to be so observant.

Naruto continued, "I also do know that he hates fangirls, so you're really moving in the opposite direction with this approach…" Naruto's tone became deadly serious, "And if you became a ninja just to get with your precious 'Sasuke~kun', then you will die as soon as you get out the gates."

This spooked Sakura, and finally their ramen was ready. Naruto savored the flavor of the heavenly food before changing the topic,"So what's our plan for tomorrow's test?"

The other two looked at the Uzumaki before Sakura asked, "How are we supposed to plan for a test we know nothing about?"

Naruto answered, "Well, seeing how it's our first test as a team, It's probably going to be about our teamwork and working as a team. We can expect to fight Kakashi sensei, though he'll definitely be going easy on us, since there's no way 3 fresh genin can beat an experienced jounin like him at full strength. So, to work as a team better, I suggest we let each other know what we're capable of, our strengths and weaknesses."

Sasuke and Sakura were amazed at Naruto's intuition at figuring out the objective of the test so easily. Naruto has a smug look but on the inside was a bit embarrassed as in reality, he would never have figured it out without his previous experience of the test.

"I guess I'll start. I've got massive chakra reserves and because of it I can use shadow clone jutsu without much effort. I'm also good at getting people's attention, so maybe I can act as a distraction. I'm also fairly good with taijutsu."

Sakura commented, "Is that why you keep losing in bouts at the academy?" and Naruto replied,

"During bouts, the teachers always pair the students who are closest in skill, so as someone who was always paired with the rookie of the year, what does that make me? Not to mention that a clan technique like the Uchiha's interceptor style is miles ahead of the academy style taijutsu, let alone the flawed version Mizuki sensei taught me."

Sakura became curious, "What do you mean flawed style?"

"Mizuki sensei's been trying to sabotage me for my entire time at the academy." On seeing Sakura's puzzled face, he took a shuriken out of his holster and handed it to Sakura, who was surprised that it was horribly balanced.

"I got these defective shurikens from Mizuki sensei when we first started shurikenjutsu practice since none of the weapon shops in the village let me buy from them. I didn't realize they were defective until Iruka sensei showed me his shuriken after the exam yesterday." He put the shuriken back in the holster. "At least now Mizuki sensei is behind bars."

After this conversation, Sasuke stated his capabilities "I can use katon: great fireball jutsu and I'm skilled in shurikenjutsu."

While Sakura had never heard of Naruto's clone jutsu, she was in awe of how Sasuke could use a c-rank elemental jutsu like that. "I've got good chakra control and I can do a few genjutsu. I'm also good at setting traps, but I'm not sure if any jounin would fall for them."

With this, the three of them began planning for the next day's test.


A/N: As I will not be at home on Wednesday, the next chapter will be released the day before, on Tuesday. After that, I'll go back to my Sunday/Wednesday upload schedule.

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