The five of them split up the work for the entire morning, and aside from the fish, they had finished all the preparations.
Naruto patted Shikamaru on the shoulder from behind. Shikamaru turned back and looked at him in confusion.
"Let me take over."
At that, Shikamaru pulled a long face and stood up reluctantly.
"So fishing was this hard. No wonder I hardly ever saw my dad go fishing."
"It really is pretty hard."
Naruto agreed, then caught five fish within five minutes, leaving Shikamaru staring wide-eyed.
"No way, right? I saw you cast once without even putting on any bait!"
"I'm friends with that fish."
"You're making that up! How could something like that happen?!" Shikamaru clutched his head in despair.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, so there's no point." Naruto kept fishing and only stopped after catching seven or eight fish in total.
Naruto was reeling in his fishing rod, getting ready to head back, when Shikamaru happened to come over to help. Naruto simply handed him the rod and let him deal with it himself. Shikamaru did not refuse. One of them stood by the river reeling in the line, while the other stood there watching.
A cool mountain breeze swept past them, and they immediately felt refreshed from head to toe.
Listening to Sakura and Ino laughing in the distance, Naruto suddenly bumped Shikamaru with his shoulder, his face full of sentiment.
"What is it?"
"Don't you think this is what summer is supposed to feel like?" Naruto said.
"What summer is supposed to feel like?"
Shikamaru followed Naruto's gaze. Sakura and Ino were chatting and laughing as they grilled fish, while Choji sat nearby eating chips. Behind them lay the eye-catching mountain woods, with the cool breeze weaving through them.