After Tayuya led Naruto and his team outside to meet up with hers, the two groups then decided to head somewhere quiet to eat, away from everybody else. While it was a pain trying to drag some of the others to the appropriate spot, seeing as that Sasuke wanted to be alone more than anything else, they eventually succeeded in picking out an area to sit around. Finding a tree with a good clearing nearest the path running through the academy grounds, the two squads converged and, in a word, mingled.
Being the most social of them, Naruto had taken to speaking with Tayuya's teammates along with the Uchiha. There was apparently a great diversity of Genin in this generation, seeing as that his friend had been paired up with two very different looking people. One of them was a boy with short black hair that went over his left eye, wearing a white full body jumpsuit, with grey shin guards, blue sandals, white gloves, and a long blue scarf. The third member of the team was a girl with light blonde, slightly messy hair tied into a ponytail, was wearing swirl-tinted glasses, dark pants, and a light purple, oversized jumper.
They seemed nice enough, even the boy in the figure-hugging suit who was currently making tea for all of them… with a tea set he had 'conveniently' brought along with him, while his companion sat pleasantly beside him with a content smile on her face. Yeah, they looked like a couple of oddballs, but what sane village didn't have its fair share of characters? As long as Tayuya was happy with this team there was absolutely no reason Naruto couldn't be happy for her.
He liked meeting new faces anyway.
"So, how does it feel to finally be recognized as shinobi of the hidden leaf village?" Naruto asked, tilting his head at the pair, "Pretty hardcore, huh?"
The girl in glasses glanced at him with a start, having not expected to be asked a question so suddenly. "Oh? Umm… y-yeah. Pretty hardcore."
Naruto's grin widened, "It might take some getting used to, but I'm definitely looking forward to the missions." He scratched his head, "I wonder what kind of assignments our new sensei will have for us."
"Who knows?" the girl shrugged, "I tried asking my old teacher about it, but he said for me to wait until graduation. Ugh. It's got me so frustrated thinking about it."
"Perhaps… some tea will soothe the soul of the lovely young lady," the boy with dark hair brewing the refreshments said in a slow, calm voice as he passed a steaming cup to the girl in glasses. The blonde haired kunoichi looked up at him in surprise as the young man smiled fondly in her direction, "Food and drink made with love are always best served warm. Please…"
"Oh… th-thank you, Kaede-kun," the young girl exclaimed.
He then passed cups to the two boys, both Naruto and Sasuke looking down at his offering curiously, "I made enough for everyone here. Have as much as you like."
"Sweet. Thanks," Naruto laughed, taking the tea from Tayuya's teammate gleefully.
The Uchiha also took his with a pleasant nod, "Thank you." He caught a whiff of the tea's heavenly aroma, which nearly had his heart race at how delectable it appeared, "Hm… smells good."
Unable to wait and most eager to try the refreshments, Naruto, Sasuke and the glasses wearing kunoichi all took a sip at the exact same time…
…
…
And paled a split second later at what they felt roll onto their tongues. Recoiling in horror, both Naruto and Sasuke painfully swallowed whatever it was in their mouths whereas the kunoichi sitting beside them froze in shock. All three of them then held their tea cups and plates out at arm's length, looking at them with suspicion and disgust while the boy, now identified as Kaede, sat beside them and waited eagerly for their responses.
"Well? What do you think?" he asked cheerfully.
"W-What do we think… uhh…?" the girl murmured, a nervous smile tugging on her lips. "Well…"
"Uhh… how should we put this?" Sasuke also murmured, trying to ignore the bitter taste of what could only be described as fish oil on his tongue while trying to come up with the right words to gently tell the tea maker that…
"It sucks," Naruto said straight out without hesitation, not wanting to keep his fellow Genin waiting for a half-baked review from the other two. They might as well tell the poor guy the truth. The tea he put his heart into making for them was just plain awful. All three of them then saw Kaede flinch at the reply and glance back at them in surprise.
"Y-You…" the Genin stammered. "Don't… like the tea?"
When he got three lifeless stares in response, it pretty much gave him his answer.
In the blink of an eye, the boy was suddenly on his feet and, finding a tree standing several meters away from where the two groups were sitting, leant against it in a manner similar to the main protagonist of a romantic comedy after being dumped. The fact that violins could be heard all around and a proverbial raincloud appeared to hover over him only served to magnify his despair.
"I am a failure…" Kaede muttered.
Naruto and Sasuke sweat dropped at the sight of him before turning to look at the girl beside them, who was also staring quite oddly.
"Does he… get out much?" Naruto asked.
"I honestly don't know," the kunoichi sighed before smiling apprehensively towards the pair, "It's okay though. I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Are you sure about that?" Sasuke asked with concern, raising an eyebrow when he saw the storm cloud over the boy's head only worsen and start to hail.
"Absolutely," the still slightly shell-shocked kunoichi chirped, setting her tea down and pushing her glasses back up her nose. She smiled towards the teen in orange across from her and extended a hand out to him, "I'm Shiho by the way. I believe I already mentioned Kaede-kun."
"Naruto," the jinchuriki replied with a grin before nodding toward the Uchiha quietly eating beside him. "This guy's name is Sasuke. It's nice to meet you, Shiho-chan."
"It's nice to meet you too."
While Sasuke and the others communed on their end, with Kaede rejoining them soon after getting over his crippling brush with disappointment, Sakura, who had managed to pull Tayuya to the other side of the tree for a sit down, was in the midst of having a very interesting conversation of her own.
The pink haired girl continued looking between the red haired girl and Naruto as they ate silently for the first few minutes, paying little attention to the four-person conference and just focusing on her current problem…
Trying to figure out how Naruto knew this girl who seemed so incredibly attached to him.
"How long have you known Naruto for?" Sakura asked curiously with a raised eyebrow. "I've never seen you in the village before… and I don't think I ever saw him hanging out with anyone else besides himself." It was a basic question and one she could pull without much strain. Seeing as that she had always been parading around Sasuke, she never paid any mind to the biggest delinquent and slacker of the class, so she was kind of out of the loop.
The musician chuckled. "I've known shithead for quite some time now," Tayuya exclaimed, taking a big bite of her dango stick. "I'd say about… two years…"
"That's another thing; why are you calling him shithead if he's your friend?" Sakura asked with a strange look. "That seems like a very harsh nickname to give someone."
"I think it suits him. What? You got a problem with it?" Tayuya asked.
"N-No… not really," the pink haired girl said hastily, shaking her head. "It does sound a little odd though."
"So does Tayuya-chan," the musician shook her head. "I really didn't like how he called me that the first time we met since it sounded so weird, but it's kind of grown on me. I call him shithead for the exact same reason because he doesn't mind it… and because he's got a 'punch first' personality and doesn't think ahead that often. He really has a habit of jumping into things without considering his actions first."
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