We leave for konoha, with my wallet at an all time low, but I know the girls will love the dresses, if Sakura and Kurenai's reactions are anything to go by.
At konoha, when we are handing over the mission scroll, we run into Team Kakashi. I greet them all. Naruto starts bragging about how they saved a town and defeated and captured two high level missing nin in wave country.
I invite them to dinner, saying " Let's all share our stories. Team Kurenai had it's first C rank mission, so did Team Kakashi". I even ask them to invite our other classmates if they see them, I'll do the same. We'll all catch up. As we leave the Hokage tower, I bring tenten aside , gifting her the clothes I brought from fire city capital.
Me and Tenten go to team Guy's training ground, where all of them were in between a push up compition. I ask Guy Sensie " Hey Guy Sensie, some of us with gennin teams were planning a reunion after we just cracked C rank mission, would you bring your team too."
Guy Sensie replies with his signature thumbs up, while still pushuping with one hand " Yosh, the youth fanning each other's will of fire, ofcourse, it's mandatory for team guy to attend" .
I say " I heard your team had done 3 C rank missions already. I saw that Team Kakashi's C Rank mission was upgraded to A Rank mission". Hearing this, Sasuke, who was unbothered by my presence suddenly seemed intrested.
Guy Sensie laughs " Ah, My Rival. He is one of the smartest out there there is, but keeps walking into more danger than he signs up for."
I greet Hinata as She is in the middle of her push up. She has been wearing black ninja suit i gave her ,that covers her from head to toe, for all her on duty hours. This is a way to try to cope with embarrassment that is Guy Sensie and Lee.
I pull out a packet and say " Hey Hinata, I got you a dress from the capital. I hope you wear it tonight. I know you've spent most of your time behind mask, theses last few months, I've been on the border too. Let's catch up tonight. " I don't disturbe her push ups, I just keep the package in front of her .
Tenten and I say" See you guys tonight" as we leave. I've already got Naruto on reminding INO-SHIKA-CHO, but I'll make sure anyway.
I go to the Yamanaka flower store to find some flowers to decorate the table tonight. I find Ino and say " Hey Ino, long time no see".
"Oh! Yami, i didn't see you. How have you been" says Ino. She's a good actor. I would have believed her of i didn't know she was a sensor.
" Been good, better now! . Specially now that I'm back in the village. Among friends. " I grin at her. " That reminds me, I came to invite you and team asuma to a dinner at my place tonight . Can you get the message to your team?"
"Dinner? What's the occasion?" She asks.
" Well, team 7 and team 8 just had their first C rank mission. I know you guys came back from yours just a week ago. We weren't here so we couldn't get together to celebrate it then. Let's celebrate it now, for all our teams completing our first C rank mission."
"Cool" she grins, " I'll get the lazy and big. I'll probably find sensei playing shogi with lazy too. " .
" You are brutal, anyway, I wanted to buy some flowers for decore Tonight, help me out" I say.
"Alright, let's find you some welcoming flowers. ". She helps me find a mix of flowers and arranged them beautifully for me a a dinner centerpiece. I then get some flowers as flavourful herbs for tonight's dinner.
After I pay the bill, i bring out a package and gift it to Ino. I say " So I was out shopping in the capital, though you'd like this one." I've got basically every girl i know a dress, if i didn't buy Ino a dress, she might think I hate her or something.
Next i go shop for some meat and veggies. I don't want to be pulling in from orphanage canteen to feed my guests.
I go to the orphanage and go to the terrace. I love it here. I have a cabin here, right next to the magpie nests. I set the flowers in the center table of my cabin.
I collect some unfertilized eggs from the the magpie roosts beside me and start preparing the kitchen. I cook my signature egg noodle, by churning Balmburn chakra in an egg, cooking it into a shape of noodles.
Next I prepare a vegetable broth. I just wash the veggies and put them in a big pot, still uncut, unpeeled. I put the pot in slow boil and use Balmburn level 3- raw marination to cool the vegetables while the water arround it is boiling. I do this to maximise nutrient extraction from vegetable. They say raw vegetables have more nutrients than cooked. Not when I'm the one cooking.
Later on, I seperate the broth from the vegetables. The Vegetables have less nutrient now, but it has a lot of taste from the spices from broth seeping in while I was expecting nutrients from them.
I use chakra shaping (lesser rasengan) to churn the vegetables into a gravy. I add curd and other spices to the gravy, turning it into a marination sauce. I put all my pork into the gravy and start slowly cooking it, using raw marritnation technique to let it absorb the flavor more thoroughly, while the gravy also takes in the flavor from the meat.
I seperate the cooked meat from the gravy. I will sear the meat as i serve it. For the gravy, i add a lot of raw spinach and cheese to it, mixing it together to turn it into a dipping sauce.
I cut some fruits make a dessert salad. It's been a long afternoon, but I like cooking, it centers me. It is also really good at getting on people's Good side, even better than music or dancing.
Soon Hinata arrives, wearing the dress i gifted her. We have a hugging reunion as I complement her look. She helps me set the table. She had taught her bird , 'amy', to sing, by singing near her. We set up amy to hum tune , as if she were playing a violin.
Hinata and I have a mini date with the violin and the decore. We even eat a bit of everything, in the name of taste testing.
Later on, people start arriving in groups.
the whole team INO-SHIKA-CHO came with kuranai and Sakura along with them. Next to arrive were Kiba and Akamaru.
Guy Sensie, Lee, Kakashi ,Tenten and Naruto all arrived together. I had put both Naruto and Tenten on duty to make sure everyone knows and to follow up when they are about to leave for the party.
We all greet each other and everyone appreciate my decore and complements the smell of the food. The girls are all wearing clothes that i bought from the capital, so they are all too happy to see me.
Soon we all get on the table and I start making a sample plate. Everyone makes their plate . The broth and egg noodle go together. The dip and the meat . There is even a salad.
We say " thanks for the meal " and start eating.
Everyone immediately starts complementing the taste.
Feels good.
I ask people to go around , explaining their first experience outside Konoha. Keeping classified as classified ofcourse.
I ask Sakura to Share the fruits of our first C rank mission. It's interesting to see your own story from someone else's view . From the way Sakura tells the story, she and kiba spent the time learning an important stealth jutsu, while I spent that time flirting with Piku.
"It's called networking. Or did you not hear her accomplishments or the fact that she now has freinds in high places. Beyond that, it's more like a friendly reunion. She was like a big sister to me and Naruto when we were young. " I retort.
Naruto exclaims " You ran into Piku and Maggie, that's awesome!. But you guys didn't even fight anything. Not even like a bandit or something. "
" Well, your mission clearly was Way more action packed , why don't you guys tell me about your mission " I ask.