-Kurama-
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"You could save a lot more money if you stopped eating out so often! That's expensive enough as it is, but those idiot shopkeepers keep overcharging you! Really, if you would just learn to cook you could survive off of more than just cup ramen and overpriced restaurant food. What happened to all those foraging and hunting skills I taught you?! Raw meat tastes far better than that barbecue stuff. It's more nutritious, too. It's not like you'll get food poisoning; I've made you immune to poison!"
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-Naruto-
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Naruto gets it, but also raw meat tastes yucky. And Naruto enjoys hunting, but he doesn't want to spend all his time finding food. Sure, it's good stealth training, but he can sneak around animals already. Naruto would rather just eat his cup ramen.
But if he needs more nutritious food to grow up into a really strong ninja, Naruto should try some variety. He asked Old Man Teuchi if he should just try eating a bunch of different kinds of ramen, but the old man just laughed.
"I wish it worked that way. You're already my best customer, I'd be thrilled if you could survive on ramen alone! But you should try some other foods so you can grow up big and strong. Live a good, long, healthy life so you can have more time to enjoy ramen!"
Well, Naruto can't beat that logic. So he decided to learn how to cook.
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-Sasuke-
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Sasuke was visiting Naruto. He was interested in all of Naruto's poisonous plants; it'd probably be a good idea to build immunity. But Naruto vetoed that immediately. The plants were hidden in Naruto's room by the time Sasuke got there and the leaves were very thoroughly cleaned up. Sasuke's parents taught him not to invade his host's room without permission, so he was out of luck. His luck wasn't entirely gone though, because Naruto gladly agreed to let Sasuke look at his fuuinjutsu books. Although, fuuinjutsu wasn't very interesting to Sasuke. It was a powerful tool, but Sasuke found that he just didn't have the passion or talent for it.
Still, he figured it'd be good to know the basics, so he studied Naruto's first beginner scroll diligently until Naruto dumped a plate in front of him.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto and quirked his eyebrow.
"What's that?"
"Veggie stir fry!" Naruto chirped.
"Since when do you make veggie stir fry?"
"Since I decided to learn to cook!"
Fair enough. Sasuke tried a bite.
It wasn't horrible, per se, but it wasn't really very good. Not much flavor, and a little burned.
"Itachi's better."
Naruto pouted.
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-Naruto-
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Naruto was a little annoyed that his first cooking attempt didn't go very well. Of course, he didn't expect it to be perfect, but it was still frustrating.
So Naruto was doing what Naruto does best: misplaced aggression and terrorizing his ANBU guards.
So he was in the process of slingshotting paintballs filled with glitter at them, when he noticed a particular black ponytail in the mix. So Itachi was one of his guards this week? No wonder Sasuke was so excited this morning, Itachi would be able to be home during his off shifts!
A thought occurred to Naruto. Hey, if Itachi's so good at cooking, why not get him to teach Naruto? It's not like Jiji can get mad; Itachi could totally still guard Naruto while teaching him to cook. The ANBU can never hide from him anyway, so what's the point of trying to stay hidden? None!
Decision made, Naruto starts chasing Itachi (who is very hard to catch. Seriously, this guy is way better than Naruto's other ANBU guards.). The only reason Naruto can even keep track of him is his cool emotion sensing power! But eventually Itachi just stops running and politely asks Naruto why he's chasing him. Naruto is eager to answer.
"I want you to teach me to cook!"
Itachi blinked.
"Why?"
"It's cheaper than eating out all the time, and more nutritious than cup ramen, and less time than foraging, and tastes way better than raw meat. And Sasuke says you're a good cook."
Itachi considered this. He wasn't really supposed to interact with Naruto while he's in his ANBU uniform, but Lord Third would certainly appreciate it if Itachi could find out more about Naruto's communications with the Kyuubi. This would be a good way to try to build a bond with Naruto; he seems to be very willing to share his "dreams" with Sasuke, so befriending him could be a good strategy. And this was a good chance to build a friendship naturally.
Decision made, Itachi agreed.
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-Itachi-
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For a six-year-old, Naruto isn't terrible at cooking.
He's certainly not very skilled, but he learns fast. Itachi is having an easy time teaching him. He'd even say that he tentatively likes Naruto. He seems to be a good friend for Itachi's little brother. Itachi is sure that with a few more lessons and some basic cookbooks, Naruto can cook simple meals for himself with relative ease. Although, he's not sure why Naruto's looking at him with such a concerning expression on his face...
"Hey, Itachi-san, do you want to help me with something?"
And so, Itachi somehow found himself tagging along with Naruto to put way too much salt in the Inuzuka dogs' food. It was actually rather enlightening.
Sasuke was scandalized.
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A/N - I'm still figuring out how I'm gonna deal with the Uchiha Massacre. Avoiding it realistically will take a lot of planning, avoiding it by some sort of crack scenario feels cheap, and actually going through with it will totally change the tone of the story unless I skip at least a year or two. I am working on an idea though. I'm trying to start laying the groundwork. Even better, I think I can incorporate some of the awesome ideas I've seen in your reviews to help!
Also, jh831 asked in a review why Naruto would go to Hinata instead of Ino for flowers. The short answer is a combination of coincidence and that Naruto is actually friends with Hinata. Sure, he sees Ino at school, but he spends most of his time in school sleeping or making chaos. And I don't see Ino bothering to approach Naruto. Although if it was unclear, they went to a shop to get Fuzzy Jr. and Naruto got his poisonous plants from a shop on his own.