"Jajaan~!" Naruto proclaimed, beaming at Sakura. "How d'ya like my new Jutsu, Sakura?"
Sakura stared at the Rasengan hovering gently above Naruto's palm. It was a little bit bigger than usual, that much was true, but…
"What am I supposed to be looking at?" asked Sakura in confusion. "That's the Rasengan, isn't it?"
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi were trudging along the earthen path leading back to the city centre from the Third Training Ground.
Having been bested three against one and relieved of the two bells hanging from his hip, Kakashi decided he'd had quite enough exercise for the day. It was time, he thought, to reward his hardworking pupils with a spot of free ramen— courtesy of Jiraiya, if they happened to cross paths with him before they reached Ichiraku Ramen. Otherwise, they couldn't blame him for being cheap and running off on them…
"Wha— no!" Naruto blurted out in dismay. He waved his free hand around the swirling ball of chakra in his other palm, as if to emphasise its size. "Don't you see the difference? This is the Big Ball Rasengan! It's totally different!"
That was weird.
Naruto could vividly remember Sakura telling him to learn a new Jutsu already, but she didn't seem particularly impressed by his Big Ball Rasengan, not by its sheer girth and its lovely curves, reminiscent of the very pair of orbs that had inspired him to create the Jutsu in the first place.
"Looks the same to me," said Sasuke coolly. "Did you learn nothing from Jiraiya these past two and a half years? You're an even bigger dunce than I thought. What a waste of Sannin's time."
It wasn't Naruto's fault he hadn't made much progress; Jiraiya had been forced to spend all that time merely getting him to the starting line. Naruto was a crafty little bloke with plenty of chakra, and his Taijutsu wasn't that bad, that much was true… but in every other ninja discipline, he wasn't anywhere near the standard expected of even an academy graduate.
That's not to say post-time-skip Naruto could suddenly perform elemental Ninjutsu or cast Genjutsu, but at least now his Taijutsu and chakra control were up to scratch, or at the very least on par with his weakest peers. He had finally caught up to them— which was rather impressive, considering he'd had to wrestle with the Nine-Tails for control every step of the way.
"Oh yeah?" snarled Naruto, rounding on Sasuke. "Then how about we test our new Jutsu up against each other, eh!? Your Chidori against my Big Ball Rasengan, ya know!"
Sasuke gulped.
He had made fun of Naruto's so-called new Jutsu for its lack of originality, but it was still filled with a rather frightening amount of chakra. There was no way he'd even try to take that head-on in a real fight, but Naruto had called him out, and his Uchiha pride was at stake… not to mention that Sakura was looking.
"You really thought that grotesque excuse for a Jutsu would impress Sakura?" said Sasuke dismissively, casually attempting to change the subject. "When's the last time you saw her use the Rasengan, compared to the Chidori?"
"You know, Sasuke's kind of right," said Sakura jokingly. "You know what they say, the fastest way to a girl's heart is through the Chidori."
A sort of strangled noise sounded from behind them. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke halted in their tracks and turned to look back at Kakashi, who had been trailing after them, nose buried in his book.
"Are you okay, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto in concern. "You look a bit pale, ya know."
"I'm fine," coughed Kakashi, whose face did look a bit clammy to Sakura. "Just got a bit of mask lint in my mouth. Spat it out already."
"It's definitely a lack of vitamin D," said Sakura, crossing her arms under her large bust and nodding to herself wisely. "He's always got that mask on, so he probably doesn't get enough sunlight to properly metabolise his calcium."
After walking for another few minutes, Team 7 finally reached Konoha's bustling city centre. Stimulated by the scent of delicious food wafting through the streets from the restaurants nearby, Naruto's stomach started growling.
"Oh man, I'm starving," said Naruto fretfully. "How about we head to Ichiraku's?"
"Or maybe we could to Granny Sanshō's?" suggested Sakura. "If you eat too much ramen, your blood pressure will increase."
As opposed to the healthy curry of life, which only annihilated your taste buds with capsaicin.
Sakura was so very glad that Granny Sanshō and her useless son Karashi had immigrated to the Hidden Leaf Village and started up a new curry shop. She then went on to argue with Naruto about where to eat for the rest of the journey, but in the end, they could only agree on one thing:
"Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura sultrily, "you'll be treating us, right?"
"Yeah, yeah!" said Naruto excitedly. "It's the senior's job to treat their juniors!"
They looked at Kakashi expectantly, who in turn looked around discreetly for Jiraiya, who unfortunately was nowhere to be seen. Well, if he couldn't shove the bill onto someone else, he was out of here…
"…sorry," said Kakashi unapologetically. "I just remembered I had to draw up and submit our new team's roster. See ya later, you three."
Poof!
Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.
"Show off," Sakura grunted. "It's just a regular Body Flicker, no need for special effects…"
"He actually blew us off!" said Naruto in dismay. "I can't believe it!"
"You'd better believe it," grunted Sasuke. "I lost count of the number of times he pulled that trick on me over the past two years."
Naruto whirled around and gaped at Sasuke.
"What are you still doing here?" he said in shock. "You always used to ditch us when we went for ramen after training. I thought for sure you'd be gone the moment training was over, y'know?"
A true ninja was someone who could read between the lines, and the writing was on the wall: I'm trying to set up a date with Sakura, here! With just the two of us! Just shove off already!!
"Can't train on an empty stomach," Sasuke replied, shrugging.
Naruto glared lightning bolts out of his eyes at Sasuke, and Sasuke replied in kind.
Sakura sighed— at this rate, Naruto and Sasuke would still end up fighting to the death at the end of the story and blow each other's arms off, but it would be in a fight over who would get to marry her!