A Rare Barbecue Outing

But... would it really cause the so-called butterfly effect?

Josuke didn't know. His appearance had obviously already caused deviations in the original plot. After all, if he hadn't appeared, Sakura and Ino, those two fake best friends—

Would definitely have fallen out over that fluttering Sasuke. But that hadn't happened. Instead, one liked Sasuke, while the other liked... Ahem, ahem. Obviously, I'm overthinking it again.

Still, Josuke cherished his time in the Hidden Leaf Village. In truth, he didn't know where his future lay either.

"Josuke..."

Ino's voice pulled Josuke out of his wild thoughts.

Only then did he look at Ino. It seemed they hadn't seen each other for over a month, between the Land of Waves mission and all those genin tasks involving catching cats and dogs.

"What is it?"

Josuke asked softly.

Ino smiled, then grabbed Josuke's arm again and stuffed it into her embrace.

"Want to go eat barbecue?"

Without giving Josuke a chance to explain, Ino dragged him toward the barbecue restaurant. Josuke couldn't stop her even if he wanted to, though he wouldn't have stopped her anyway. After all, who would refuse to eat with a cute girl?

Speaking of Hidden Leaf barbecue, Choji was always the regular.

As a member of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Ino naturally brought Josuke to the most famous barbecue restaurant in the Hidden Leaf Village. The moment they entered, they saw two old acquaintances.

Shikamaru and Choji.

Ino looked quite surprised to see Shikamaru and Choji there.

At that moment, Josuke, never one to turn down a good show, said,

"Hey, you two are here too?"

Shikamaru and Choji politely returned Josuke's greeting. With an IQ of 250, Shikamaru instantly understood something and looked at Ino.

He saw Ino's face, red from embarrassment.

Ino glared fiercely at Shikamaru, as if saying, "What are you looking at? Want me to beat you up?"

Then she immediately found a place where the two of them couldn't see them and sat down with Josuke.

Watching the two walk away, Shikamaru asked Choji, "Why do you think those two came together?"

How could this little cutie Choji—not as an insult, young Choji really was adorable—know so much? Normally, he was just one of the snack-eating crowd following behind Shikamaru and Naruto.

After thinking with his own brain for a while, he said, "Maybe the owner gave them vouchers?"

Shikamaru: ...As expected of Choji.

Fine, he shouldn't overthink it either.

Not far away, Ino and Josuke felt a little embarrassed because of Shikamaru and Choji, and neither of them could quite relax.

In the end, Ino spoke first.

"Um... was the mission tiring?"

Ino asked with concern.

Now that Ino had spoken, Josuke no longer felt awkward.

So he told her everything they had encountered during their trip to the Land of Waves.

Starting from accepting the B-rank mission, then being attacked by ninja assassins on the road, then what happened after arriving in the Land of Waves, followed by learning of the conspiracy and fighting Zabuza and Haku.

He told her almost everything, all the way up to the deaths of the two of them.

Ino became an attentive listener, quietly listening to Josuke's voice. Whenever he reached a tense part, her heart tightened as well.

By the end, Ino let out a long breath.

"Good thing none of you were hurt."

Josuke nodded.

Then he asked,

"What about you, Ino?"

Ino thought for a moment.

"As for me~"

Then Ino listed off nearly all of her missions, most of them small jobs like catching chickens and ducks, or rescuing cats and dogs.

The only one that could be called difficult was a C-rank mission escorting supplies. They ran into bandits on the road, but luckily Teacher Asuma had been there. Otherwise, the three of them wouldn't have even been enough to fill the enemy's teeth.

Josuke listened very attentively.

Just then, the barbecue they had ordered arrived. Ino eagerly transformed into a little chef, taking charge of grilling for Josuke while Josuke only had to eat.

That was pretty great for Josuke. And so, he happily ate the barbecue Ino grilled for him. The food underwent the Maillard reaction on the iron grill, filling the air with fragrance.

With Ino's cooking added to the mix, the delicious grilled meat was freshly ready. Josuke took just one bite, and the flavor spread through his mouth. It was incredibly delicious.

It had to be said that Ino was already starting to show the makings of a little homemaker.

"How is it? Is it good?"

Ino brushed the loose strands of hair by her ear and asked nervously.

Josuke raised a thumbs-up at her.

"It's really delicious. First, this restaurant's ingredients are very fresh, and the marinade is good too. On top of that, Ino, you're really good at grilling meat. By the way, did you learn to cook from your parents?"

Josuke asked curiously.

That made Ino a little embarrassed.

"Yes. My dad and mom taught me how to cook when I was very little. If there's a chance, how about you come visit my house, Josuke? You can try my cooking."

After saying that, Ino looked a little bashful.

Josuke chuckled and teased her.

"Then any man who marries you would be happy to death. He'd come home every day to delicious food waiting for him."

Ino blushed a little and could only rub her hands together, too shy to know what to do.

They finished the barbecue quickly, and before long, both of them were full. Seeing that it was getting late, Josuke had no choice but to say goodbye to Ino and return home alone. The day passed just like that.

It could be said that this was the happiest day Josuke had experienced in all these years.

There were no schemes and intrigues, no survival of the strong over the weak. There was only Ino and himself.

That night, Josuke looked up at the night sky. There were many stars above, most of whose names he couldn't identify. The only ones he could probably recognize were the North Star and the Big Dipper.

Thinking about what was to come, the tense and exciting Chunin Exams would begin before long, so he needed to make plans as soon as possible. As for Jiraiya, he shouldn't count on him.

Orochimaru would definitely try to recruit him when the time came, while he still had no ideas regarding Tsunade. However, Josuke was considering whether he should use a scheme.

When it came to summoning techniques and sage techniques, the first place Josuke ruled out was Dragon Cave. After all, no one would want to turn into a snake while using sage techniques. That would be ugly as hell.

The other two sage lands were different. They had looks and strength, so he still needed to think carefully about learning sage techniques.

But whether he could ultimately achieve anything would depend on his own fate.

Not thinking about it anymore, Josuke made his decision. He climbed into bed, pulled up his blanket, and quietly drifted into dreamland...