"Here. My masterpiece!" Ino said as she put a plate of food on the table in front of Ren, who gave it a wary glance before looking back at the happy blonde girl.
"Is it even edible?" He cautiously asked, not liking the... consistency of the bioterrorism attempt she put in front of him.
"Don't be a baby. It's perfectly good food." Ino's smile fell as she discontentedly harrumphed. "Look." Rolling her eyes, she leaned forward and took Ren's spoon from the table, intent to prove her point to him. She put a spoonful from the dish into her mouth...
For a second, nothing happened as Ren gave her an expectant look.
And then Ino quickly darted toward the sink and started urgently spitting the contents of her mouth out while letting out a miserable whimper, wordlessly stating her opinion on her cooking skills.
'And she wanted me to eat it.' Ren inwardly snorted as he pushed the plate a bit away from him, trying hard not to laugh at the girl. He still couldn't keep his lips from stretching into an amused smirk.
"Bleh. That was horrible." Ino uttered as she came back to the table and sat down while wiping the side of her mouth with the back of her hand, her expression sour and still uncomfortably scrunched.
"Glad you can admit it." Ren snickered, only to have his shin kicked by her under the table. It also earned him an unhappy look from her, but it was worth it.
"Oh, shush." Ino huffed. "I get it. I am no Hinata. No need to rub it in." She sullenly said, and Ren's eyes softened.
"I appreciate the effort." He took her hand in his and started drawing soothing circles on it with his thumb, causing Ino to slightly blush as her lips widened into a shy smile, both enjoying the fluffy atmosphere between them for a moment.
But eventually, Ren's stomach grumbled, breaking the spell, and he just let out an awkward laugh. "Take-out?" He proposed with a raised eyebrow, and Ino giggled with a nod.
"Yeah. I am in the mood for some barbeque today."
Without further ado, Ren simply unsealed two portions of barbeque from Yakiniku Q restaurant, both dishes still steaming, fresh from the grill.
He loved being a seal master.
Every time he visited a restaurant, he asked for one additional portion and sealed it for later. By now, he had a very nice collection of dishes for rainy days. His improved storage seals meant that the food would stay fresh, too.
Eating rations on missions? Please. That was so last century.
Ino's expression lit up, and she happily grabbed one of the barbecue dishes and pulled it in front of herself. She gave Ren an impatient glance that made him chuckle as he clapped his hands together as he said, "Itadakimasu."
Ino mumbled the same thing alongside him before promptly digging in with the gusto of somebody who had her favorite dish served to her.
"I wonder how Hinata is doing." Ren idly said before taking his first bite.
He didn't get an immediate answer because Ino was a bit preoccupied by chewing, but she did quicken her pace when she heard his question.
A few seconds later, she was finally finished gulping down her food, and she petulantly stabbed her fork into another piece of meat. "The bitch? She is probably freezing in some forest, forced to eat flavourless food right now. Serves her right. To think she would get a C-rank mission before me."
"You are jealous." Ren mirthfully remarked and raised his right foot, perfectly blocking her follow-up kick to his shin before he delivered his own.
It evolved into a bit of scuffle between their legs under the table as they kicked at each other like children, both enjoying it immensely and openly laughing in joy at the end of it.
"Stupid Asuma. Stupid Shikamaru." Ino huffed and complained through her smile. "They are both so lazy. My team still needs to do five D-rank missions before we qualify for a C-rank one."
"What would they do without you there to kick their ass into the gear." Ren snorted and speared a piece of meat onto his fork before putting it in front of Ino's mouth.
"They would probably die somewhere in a ditch already." Ino smirked and gently grasped Ren's hand that held the fork before she coquettishly ate the meat with delight.
Ren rolled his eyes at her. Under normal circumstances, Asuma's teaching speed was fine. The man thought he had up to five years to get these kiddies to chunin level. And they were all clan kids who were very good, or at least above the curve for their age, in their clan techniques. That alone made them almost low-chunin-level ninjas by default. They just needed to learn the basics.
It was the definition of an easy job.
Asuma did not have the foreknowledge that shit is going to hit the fan within a few years at the latest, so he didn't hurry things up and didn't push his team's training. He was content letting kids be kids for a little while longer.
Only Ino was impatient and tried to hurry them up, even going so far as to bully Shikamaru and Choji into training more. Asuma most likely enjoyed that part, too.
Honestly, Ino was the Yamanaka on the Ino-Shika-Cho team. She was expected to be the loud drama queen there. Loud and pushy enough to prevent the lazy Nara from sleeping on the job, but smart enough to know when to back off and follow the plan made by the genius Nara. That's what Yamanakas usually did for their teams.
Ino might think she was special. But in Ren's opinion, she really did not differ that much from the norm. That wasn't actually bad. She was perfect as she was.
As for the Akimichi... they were simply the muscle of the team. Dumb. Big. Reliable. But with the hearts of gold.
"Hey, did you hear? Naruto apparently went on a C-rank mission, too." Ino offhandedly stated, pulling Ren out of his momentary reverie.
Blinking, his eyebrows raised in surprise, "Really?" He asked, inwardly wondering what kind of mission Naruto had gotten now since Ren dealt with Gato in the Land of the Waves months ago.
"Yeah. They went to the Land of Snow or whatever." Ino continued, "He is guarding some actress. It's supposed to be some comfy and chill job. What was her name again? Yu, Yuko... no. Yuki-" Her forehead creased as she tried to remember the name, but it came to Ren's mind instantly.
"Yukie Fujikaze?" He more stated than asked, because he recognized it. That was the woman from the first Naruto movie. The supposedly next Daimyo of the Land of Springs.
And that meant that Naruto's first mission was going to be really eventful.
Ren inwardly chuckled. The boy just couldn't catch a break, could he?
Not that Ren would be sending Team Seven a message or otherwise alerting them to the danger. They were pretty fine in the movie, where their counterparts were just some brats.
Naruto, Sasuke, heck, even Sakura were older and much stronger than their movie counterparts. Sasuke and Sakura have been trained under Gai for more than half a year now. Even if Sakura did not put that much effort into it, she still learned a fair bit.
And while Naruto did not know the Rasengan just yet, Ren made sure that Karin would kick his ass until he learned how to use his clones effectively, rather than just spam and send them at the enemy brawler style, wishing for the best.
Out of their team, only Kakashi was pretty much the same as his canon counterpart. The disappointing bastard.
But they should be just fine, and the ensuing struggle will give them some much-needed real-life experience.
"Yeah! That! Yukie Fujikaze. I hope we will also get to guard somebody important or famous on our first mission." Ino sighed, knowing it was very unlikely to happen.
"Don't worry. You will have your moment. If not during your first mission, then during the Chunin Exams." Ren tried to cheer her up. The Exams were getting closer and closer. They were almost around the corner. Just two more months.
Ren was arguably a bit nervous because he knew he would have to fight and kill Orochimaru and Kabuto during the last phase. And let's just say, his planning was still in the initial stages.
He was kinda drawing blanks whenever he thought about how he was going to stage that encounter. There were just so many variables to take into account.
"You are right. I even heard from my dad that Kumo and Kiri are in talks with the Hokage. They apparently intend to properly participate in the Exams and will be sending some serious contestants to Konoha." Ino happily said.
"Grhk!" And Ren choked on his food.
Surviving a brief coughing fit as a piece of meat went down the wrong pipe, Ren looked at Ino and asked in a strained tone.
"Kumo and Kiri? Are you sure?"
"Yeah?" Ino frowned and tilted her head. "Is that a problem?"
"... No." Ren let out a massive sigh. "Why would it be a problem? Right?" He sarcastically mumbled, inwardly cursing the freaking butterfly effect. "I am sure their intentions are totally pure."
God, this was going to be a total clusterfuck, wasn't it?