Early the next morning, Natsuki looked at the pile of scrolls in his hands and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Tenten had nearly packed the entire ninja tool shop into those scrolls. It was like a mom stuffing her son's backpack to the brim before a trip.
Even when Tenten had become a full-fledged ninja, she hadn't brought this much stuff.
And today was just for team assignments. They weren't even leaving the village for at least a month—there was absolutely no need to bring this much gear.
"Tenten, this is…"
"Alright, alright, I know it's a bit much."
Tenten looked a bit embarrassed. She'd gotten a little too excited yesterday.
She picked out a portion of the scrolls and set them aside. "These are already sorted. You can take them when you need them, no need to go searching again. Actually, you don't have to bring anything today—just wait until you start training or leave the village."
Natsuki finally let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I got it."
Tenten gave her boyfriend a once-over, admiring how cool he looked with his new forehead protector. Then, on her tiptoes, she planted a kiss on his lips, tasting faintly of meat buns.
It had become such a habit over the years that even the neighbors had gotten used to it. Nothing to be shy about.
Though when she felt the little rascal trying to get handsy, she shot him a glare—but didn't stop him either.
"I'm off to do my mission now," Tenten said as she turned and left.
Natsuki glanced over the pile of scrolls again, picked out one containing some special shuriken, and handed the rest over to his soon-to-be father-in-law for safekeeping.
He still didn't know who his team leader would be. There might be some kind of test. Bringing along a special shuriken as a first-meeting gift shouldn't be too much, right?
When Natsuki arrived in the classroom, he saw Naruto proudly showing off his forehead protector. He remembered hearing some ruckus last night—looks like something really had gone down.
Still, he asked, "Naruto, how'd you get your forehead protector?"
Naruto chuckled smugly, "Of course, Iruka-sensei gave it to me. Last night was wild! Turns out Mizuki-sensei betrayed Konoha and tried to trick me into… uh, doing bad stuff. But luckily Iruka-sensei showed up! I even showed him a little of my strength, and he acknowledged me! Then he gave me this."
Just like in the original storyline.
Was it fate? Or part of Hiruzen's plan?
Didn't matter. Natsuki only cared about his own team and teacher. As for the protagonist's drama—he was just here to enjoy the show.
Just then, Sasuke walked into the room with his hands in his pockets, instantly drawing screams from the girls.
Even though Sasuke had lost to Natsuki before graduation, he was still handsome and cool—and to girls, that's all that really mattered.
Sasuke had barely sat down before his No.1 fangirl, Sakura, rushed to his side. Other girls quickly gathered around him, all hoping to be on the same team as him.
Sasuke kept his usual cold expression, ignoring everyone. To the guys, though, this just looked like he was playing hard to get.
Naruto couldn't stand seeing Sasuke so popular and immediately jumped onto the desk, locking eyes with him.
Their faces got closer and closer.
Natsuki froze, then quickly summoned a polaroid camera from a scroll and started focusing it. Just as he got the shot lined up, someone bumped Naruto's butt, and…
The iconic "Naruto and Sasuke first kiss" scene played out.
Click! Click! Snap!
That was Natsuki's rapid-fire camera going off.
Crack! Crack!
That was the sound of girls' hearts breaking.
Crunch crunch!
That was Choji munching on chips, sounding especially loud in the now silent classroom.
"Waaaah!!! That's disgusting!!" Naruto clutched his throat, gagging.
"You idiot, Naruto! What the hell was that?!" Sasuke also retched.
Then the girls, led by Sakura, started to gang up on Naruto. After all, their dream guy just had his first kiss stolen—who could bear that?!
Ino, sitting with Shikamaru and Choji, was thoroughly enjoying the show.
After realizing she was just face-blind and not truly obsessed with Sasuke, she'd patched things up with Sakura long ago. Now, seeing all these girls fawning over Sasuke reminded her of her own past, and she couldn't help but laugh at herself.
But when she saw Sasuke's first kiss stolen by Naruto, she nearly died from laughter.
Shikamaru glanced at Natsuki with a deadpan face. "You're a demon… and seriously, you even had a camera ready?"
Natsuki casually pulled out the photos and fanned them in the air. The first kiss of Naruto and Sasuke—fresh prints, and not just one. There was still film left too.
These were going to be treasured memories of Team 7. Nothing would be better for teasing Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura in the future.
"Hey, Natsuki, give me one," Shino suddenly said.
Ino shot her hand up, "Me too! I want one for the memories!"
Even Choji reached out, and though Shikamaru sighed at the trouble, he also held out his hand. Naruto was their best buddy—saving blackmail for future laughs was a must.
Naruto, still being chased by furious girls, suddenly noticed the shady photo exchange going on and screamed, "WAAAH! Natsuki, what are you guys doing?! Why are there pictures?! Destroy them!! Burn them now!!"
Sasuke's face darkened too, wishing he could tear those guys to pieces.
His first kiss… stolen by a guy… and now photographed… and in their hands...
No… his Mangekyō Sharingan was about to awaken from trauma!
Natsuki smiled as he glanced at the photos. "Don't be so dramatic, Naruto. This is your and Sasuke's first kiss—it's a precious memory. Someday when you're married and have kids, we can show them these and tell them the story of your deep friendship. Isn't that romantic?"
The others burst into laughter.
Romantic?
More like cultural trauma!
Naruto was about to explode. "Natsuki, how could you?! Don't you know how important a first kiss is?! This isn't something to joke about!"
Natsuki looked completely serious. "Of course I know. I remember mine very clearly—it tasted like grilled meat. This morning's kiss? Meat buns."
Whoa whoa whoa! Killing us single folks here!
Everyone else was still single, yet he and Tenten had been dating for years. Why the heck was he rubbing it in?!
Luckily, Iruka-sensei arrived just in time to stop the chaos. He seemed to have a few injuries, but nothing serious. And as the one in charge of announcing the team assignments, there was no way he'd miss it.
"You're all graduates now. You're officially ninja. I'm proud of each of you. Now listen up for your team assignments."
"Team 1…"
"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Sasuke. Jonin leader: Hatake Kakashi."
"Team 8: Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba. Jonin leader: Yūhi Kurenai."
"Team 9: Yamashiro Rone, Kato Megumi, Natsuki. Jonin leader: Yamashiro Aoba."
"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji. Jonin leader: Sarutobi Asuma."
(End of Chapter)
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