Witty Naruto Life

Chapter 114: 'Peaceful' Daily Life with Sakura

Bai Yi was a little at a loss.

Years of high-intensity work have made him accustomed to reporting progress to his boss who is as busy as he is at any time. Even if he is as busy as a spinning top, he has no complaints.

Seeing no movement behind him, Naruto walked back and turned to look at Bai Yi: "Is it difficult to handle it alone?"

“Ah… not really…”

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, thinking that this competent subordinate was a little too nervous, so he said: "If it's not urgent, you can stay here and rest for a night."

"Eh?"

The pair of eyes behind the white mask slowly widened, his expression a little dazed, as if he had heard it wrong.

"People should know how to balance work and rest," Naruto frowned at Bai Yi's reaction. He felt that the person in front of him was not a subordinate, but a veteran 996, no, 007 victim.

It is because there are people like this who are willing to work overtime in the world that the world is so cruel... How does that saying go?

When one person works hard, what improves is the score; when a group of people work hard, what improves is the passing score.

Naruto looked at him seriously and said, "Leave all the work tonight to your subordinates and relax for the night."

What I am going to say next is not a suggestion, but an order.

Bai Yi did not dare to disobey and immediately lowered his head and said, "Yes." Then, his body changed into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared in front of Naruto.

"It seems that the humanization of the ninja world has a long way to go..." Naruto smacked his lips and returned to the room.

After a while, it was dinner time.

In order to reward the three young heroes, Jiraiya offered to treat them and asked the boss to serve all the specialty dishes of the restaurant and to book a large private room for them.

The wooden door opened softly, and a faint white mist floated above the ten stacked tatami mats.

Ceramic dishes are clustered together in a staggered pattern, with thin slices of sea bream sashimi showing pearly patterns in the icy mist; tempura batter is fried into a fine golden net, shrimp bodies are curled into crescent shapes, and oil stars sizzle on the crispy shells; the woody aroma of matsutake rice wafts from the gurgling sound of the earthen pot.

When the lacquer box is opened, the sweetness of the sea urchin comes out, complementing the tamagoyaki, oysters, and karaage chicken, making your mouth water.

Naruto swallowed his saliva, marveling at the delicious food. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Is this still the somewhat lascivious sage I remember... Well, Jiraiya should actually be quite rich, after all, he has royalties and commissions..."

Jiraiya gestured for everyone to sit down, looking generous and magnanimous: "Thank you for your hard work today, everyone, feel free to eat, you're welcome."

After they sat down, they quickly focused their attention on the food, picked up their chopsticks, and put their hands together:
"I'm gonna start now!"

Naruto and Sasuke ate the fastest. They were at the age of growing taller, and their mouths never stopped moving.

Jiraiya looked at them, shook his head with a wry smile, and called the waiter: "Another serving of Sukiyaki, please."

"Naruto, don't you eat fish?"

Sakura ate her meal in small bites, but noticed that Naruto never reached for the sea bream sashimi with his chopsticks.

"Do women have the habit of paying attention to what dishes the people next to them pick up when they eat..." Naruto muttered in his heart, but said calmly on the surface: "I don't like fish."

"Really?" Sakura lowered her voice and asked curiously, "Your hometown is close to the sea, so you should eat seafood often, right?"

Naruto swallowed a piece of fried shrimp and said vaguely, "That's true, but if you live by the sea for a while, you'll often smell the fishy smell when you walk on the street. That's how I gradually stopped liking fish."

"Is this true? Is there any explanation here?"

"Nothing strange," Naruto drank another big sip of flavor soup, moistened his throat and said, "There are many fishermen on the coast. They put the fish they catch on the shore to dry. After a long time, the streets are full of the smell of fish."

"But the seafood there is really good. You can try the earthworm jelly, oyster omelet, vegetable cake, five-spice roll, and four-fruit soup."

"I see, I got it." Sakura, who lived in the basin before traveling through time, expressed that it was very new.

"You've never been out of the province?"

"I've been abroad before, and a few years ago, airfare to neighboring countries was cheaper than to other provinces..."

"Damn! Speaking of this, I have something to say. When I went to college, I moved from the coast to the inland, and I accidentally found a direct flight to Europe. Wow, it was even cheaper than flying from Fujian to Sichuan..."

"Hey, what are you two whispering about?"

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted. Jiraiya, who was picking up food at the side, looked at them with interest with an expression as if he was eating melon.

Sasuke didn't stop his movements. He had noticed Naruto and Sakura's movements a long time ago, but how to put it...

It's numb, I'm used to it.

What's the point of eavesdropping on two people's affair? Instead of wasting your time on internal energy, you might as well have a good meal.

Anyway, these two stingy guys would never share secrets with him.

Naruto turned his head suddenly: "Ah... We were discussing whether Master would invite us to go shopping together. Well, this town seems to be holding a summer festival recently." He gave Sakura a look.

"Yes, we haven't prepared any yukata yet. I wonder if Master Jiraiya would be so kind as to buy us one."

"But then again..." Jiraiya picked up some food by himself and signaled the waiter to take away the remaining plates on the table and put the Sukiyaki in the middle.

"Excuse me, bring a few more raw eggs." He shouted to the waiter, ignoring what Naruto and Sakura had just said very smoothly.

Why are you so proficient in your perfunctory gestures... Naruto shrugged and whispered to Sakura beside him, "Let's go watch the summer festival later."

"what?"

"Relax, relax! We finally solved Sasuke's problem. We can't be so tense anymore, right?" "Well... okay, do you want to wear a yukata?"

Yukata version of Haruno Sakura, right?

"Oh ↑oh↓, yes, indeed, we have to respect tradition." Naruto nodded repeatedly, indicating that traditional customs are really important and everyone should respect traditional culture.

“…Oh, I don’t want to wear it anymore.”

"Hey, hey, hey, what the hell?" Naruto was immediately annoyed. Why are young people nowadays so young? Don't they know what it means to inherit excellent traditional culture?!

"You want me to respect yukata culture, right?" Sakura's eyes suddenly became sharp: "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking!"

"Unbalanced? It's okay, I can wear a yukata too."

"Climb, climb, crawl."

“…It’s boring.”

Although they kept bickering, Sakura's mood was obviously much better than before, and her tone was much lighter.

After dinner, the two found an excuse to leave alone and strolled along the street.

The vermilion torii gate was shaken by the crowd, and the strings of paper lanterns made a tinkling sound.

Various sounds intertwined, the sizzling sound of takoyaki on the iron plate, the splashing sound of water in the wooden basin for scooping goldfish, and the long-drawn-out sound of "Taiyaki-ah" drowned out by the various wooden clogs stepping on the street.

"I've discovered a very serious problem." As the two walked, Naruto made a troubled expression.

"how?"

"Not enough money."

Naruto raised the shriveled frog wallet in his hand. He had purchased a large batch of ninja tools some time ago, and his living expenses this month began to become tight again.

Sakura winked, indicating that they could use hers first.

"No, no, no, look at this. If I can get the money in ten minutes, you will show me your yukata."

"I don't believe it." Sakura raised an eyebrow and added, "I wouldn't let you wear it even if I got it."

"boring."

Naruto ran to a lottery shop and asked the owner with a smile on his face to pick a few tickets for him at random.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, let me do it...Okay, this is the number." Naruto chose while letting the warmth of his palm guide him in choosing the number.

"If I remember correctly, I have very good fortune. If nothing unexpected happens, I can make a fortune."

Sakura behind him also came over and looked at him with a strange expression.

"You want to make money from this?"

"No, to be more precise, I rely on Uzumaki Naruto to make money."

"Metaphysics is useless." Sakura shook her head.

"Don't tell me you've never bought a lottery ticket." Naruto raised his eyebrows. When he first started working, he would go to the lottery shop every week to buy a lottery ticket worth ten or twenty dollars - a special activity for young people.

“…It’s because I bought it that I realized it’s useless!”

"That was you. Now the one warming up my hands is Uzumaki Naruto himself. Do you understand the value of a hot-blooded manga hero?... Got it! Got it, got it, got it! Hahahaha!"

Five minutes later, Naruto hugged the swollen frog pouch and gave it a kiss.

"Okay, treat me to takoyaki." Sakura pointed to the stall next to her as a matter of course, indicating that she would definitely treat Naruto to a meal tonight.

"Well... let's wait a moment." Naruto pulled Sakura towards another store.

In the shop, under the golden and clear light.

"Try this." Naruto chose an exquisitely crafted goldfish hairpin, nodded with satisfaction, and handed it to Sakura.

The latter was stunned for a moment, her beautiful eyes widened: "Why, are you dressing me up?"

"No, I just thought that all the girls around here have one, so I might as well arrange one for you."

The fact is, when Naruto was shopping just now, he noticed that Sakura looked at the hairpin of the girl on the street several times, but he kept silent and seemed to have no interest in it.

After saying that, Naruto asked Sakura to let her hair down again while he went to ask the clerk about the price of the hairpin.

Sakura looked at Naruto's back, a slight smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and then she let her pink hair loose.

Pull your hair back and secure it into a low bun with a rubber band. Then, take a small section of hair from the bun and wrap it around the rubber band, securing it with a bobby pin.

Coincidentally, Naruto and the young store clerk came back together. Sakura saw her and handed the hairpin to him: "Help me style it."

"Ah, there's this step..." Naruto didn't understand the steps, so he took the hairpin and carefully passed it up along the outline of Sakura's bun, through her hair, and then out from the other side.

He didn't notice that while he was concentrating on the operation, he was getting closer to the girl.

A closer look revealed that her delicate face had turned a bit red, and sharing the same air with Naruto at such close range caused her body temperature to rise slightly.

(End of this chapter)