Chapter 34: The Gathering
She's so... radiant.
It feels like she's always standing in the sunlight.
Everyone loves her.
Even Naruto-kun...
The Byakugan-eyed girl watched the pink-haired girl walking in front of her — the one holding her hand — with quiet envy.
"Hinata?"
Sensing something off, Sakura turned to look at her.
"N-no, no, it's, it's nothing..."
The moment Sakura's eyes landed on her, Hinata's cheeks flushed instantly. She shook her head hurriedly.
"Hm~?"
Sakura leaned in close and stroked her chin, the corner of her mouth curling upward. Her green eyes glinted with faint mischief.
"I didn't even ask anything yet~~"
I'm parking Hinata next to Naruto the second we sit down. Liberate myself from this suffering immediately.
"S-Sakura... you're too close..."
The Hyūga girl shrank her neck down into her shoulders, her voice barely audible, face still flaming.
"Oh my~ So cute~~"
Sakura gave Hinata's burning cheeks a light pinch between thumb and forefinger, which very nearly pushed the poor girl into full thermonuclear meltdown.
"S-Sakura..."
"Haha. Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing you. Let's go eat."
Seeing that Hinata's face was now officially the color of a ripe apple, Sakura relented, tugged her hand, and led the whole gang toward the hot pot place.
Inside the restaurant, seeing how busy the main floor was, Sakura asked the owner for a private room.
Naruto had been planning to wedge himself in next to Sakura, but Ino bulldozed him out of the way and seized the seat first.
"What the — Ino always steals Sakura from me~~"
Naruto pouted up at her.
"Hah? Sakura was MINE first! Naruto, YOU'RE the one who keeps trying to steal Sakura from me!"
Ino planted her hands on her hips, defending her territorial claim with the ferocity of a small blonde emperor.
"Oooh, meat! MEAT!"
Chōji and Kiba stared at the slabs of pork sizzling on the grill with the bright, glazed-over eyes of true believers.
"Women are such a pain."
Shikamaru slouched in his seat, watching quiet Sakura and even quieter Hinata across from him, and let out a long-suffering sigh.
When I grow up, I am going to marry a nice quiet woman. Not too pretty, not too ugly. Doesn't make a fuss. Doesn't make drama. I'm going to live a peaceful, unbothered life.
Sakura and Hinata, sure, they were both the quiet type. But one was the most famous prodigy in the village and the Hokage's personal disciple. The other was the heir to the entire Hyūga clan.
The amount of trouble attached to either of those futures was staggering. Neither one made his shortlist.
Ideally? He'd marry some perfectly unremarkable woman, raise some kids, and cruise through life.
Shikamaru drifted off into his mental paradise — and when he came back to himself, he looked down and discovered an empty grill in front of him.
Where's my meat?
"Hehe, Shikamaru, if you weren't gonna eat it, I'll eat it for ya~~"
Chōji grinned at him through a mouthful of perfectly cooked pork.
"Arf!"
"Yep, Akamaru agrees."
Kiba scratched Akamaru behind the ears and tossed the pup another slice of meat from his bowl.
Yeah. If I'm stuck with these guys as my classmates, my quiet life is probably not happening.
Shikamaru sighed and started grilling more meat. This time he watched the pieces with the focused intensity of a hawk, determined not to lose them again.
"Naruto, come sit next to Hinata. You can grill her some meat while you're at it."
Sakura could see Ino and Naruto were still bickering at each other, so she cut in directly.
"...Okaaay."
Naruto, grumbling, got up and moved over next to Hinata.
"Hah, Ino's TOTAL VICTORY!"
Ino shot Naruto a cheeky peace sign, grinning at him in triumph.
"N-Naruto-kun..."
Hinata's index fingers pressed together nervously. She stole a tiny glance at the blonde boy beside her.
"Hinata, what do you wanna eat? I'll grill it for you!"
Naruto, completely ignoring Ino's victory pose, turned to Hinata with his full attention.
"I-I can... do it myself..."
Hinata could barely look directly into those bright blue eyes.
"Ugh, next room over sure is rowdy~~"
"And here I was finally back in the village hoping to actually unwind."
The scruffy-jawed man across the screen downed his cup of sake in one pull and sighed.
The two private rooms were separated only by a sliding paper screen — the kind that blocked exactly zero sound. Even a breeze in the next room could be heard perfectly clearly through it.
"You're seriously picking a fight with a bunch of kids?"
The kunoichi across from him rolled her eyes and continued calmly chewing her food.
"But, Asuma — what made you decide to come back out of the blue like this?"
Kakashi, white hair, mask, forehead protector pulled down over one eye, nudged at his own grilling meat and glanced at the man beside him.
Asuma Sarutobi. Son of the Third Hokage. He had spent the last several years stationed with the Fire Daimyō as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
"My five-year term with the Daimyō was up. If it hadn't been, who knows how long I'd have been stuck there."
Asuma poured himself another cup, his eyes drifting, almost without conscious intent, toward Kurenai Yūhi sitting across from him.
"That aside — sounds like the village has been extremely busy these last two years."
He glanced at Kakashi.
"The old man got a handle on it, or what?"
Nobody had to ask who "the old man" was.
"That's a long story."
Kakashi, as the part-time bodyguard for the very architect of those busy two years, was uniquely well-informed on the subject.
"Oh?"
Asuma looked intrigued.
"Tell me about—"
The biggest visible change across the Land of Fire in the last two years had been in the lives of the common folk. The rise in grain prices had, counterintuitively, made the average farmer's life significantly better than before—
"WAH! Naruto, don't steal my meat!"
Before Asuma could finish his sentence, an outraged shriek came bursting through the paper wall next door, cutting him off mid-word.
"..."
Asuma's face went completely flat.
He slid the paper screen open with a sharp little shove, a touch of irritation in his voice.
"Hey kids. Can you keep it down while people are trying to eat?"
And then he froze.
A blond kid was holding a plate of grilled meat high above his head. A round-faced chubby kid was on his tiptoes trying to snatch it off him.
A pineapple-haired boy was listlessly grilling his own pork with the air of a man contemplating early retirement. A kid with red markings on his face was feeding a small puppy from his bowl.
A pink-haired girl was quietly chewing her food, while the cream-blonde girl next to her was grinning and trying to coax her to eat more.
A Byakugan-eyed girl was staring up at the blond boy in mild panic.
All of this had been happening organically until the moment Asuma slid open the screen. Now every one of them was staring at him.
"Ah..."
"I meant — if you could perhaps keep it down a little..."
"Disturbing other diners is, you know, not particularly polite..."
Asuma watched a bead of sweat run down his temple and trailed off awkwardly.
What exactly am I looking at?
The entire next generation of Konoha. In one room. Having hot pot together.