Despite everyone's efforts, they still hadn't made any progress.
There was no helping it. Naruto's approach relied too much on timing, Sasuke's tactics relied too much on modeling, and Shikamaru still had room to improve in this area.
Yakiniku Q.
"You can't rush this sort of thing."
Naruto patted Kiba on the shoulder to comfort him.
There was no helping it. Girls were just too hard to understand.
Looking at Naruto, who was comforting him with such sincerity, Kiba suddenly asked a question in a low voice.
"Naruto, if... I mean, if Ino or Hinata put celery in a meal she made for you, would you eat it?"
At the word "celery," Naruto's brow instinctively furrowed.
Naruto disliked celery and bitter melon. Everyone in their old group of five at school knew that.
After all, Naruto had made their lunches, and sometimes they paid him, while other times they simply supplied ingredients.
Only later had they learned that Naruto usually sneaked in at night, took only the vegetables with price tags, and left the money behind.
Naruto glanced at Ino, who was eating with Sakura, Kohan, and Hana Inuzuka at the next table, then answered quietly.
"I'd have to eat some, at least. You can't leave it completely untouched after someone worked so hard to make it, right? Of course, I don't know about Ino, but I don't think Hinata would cook celery."
"Why?"
"Hanabi doesn't like celery either. Hinata dotes on her so much that she definitely wouldn't buy any. Bitter melon, though, is another story."
"Tch."
Shikamaru, who had barely joined the conversation so far, made a disapproving noise as he lounged against the back of his chair.
"Don't you think... you're spoiling that kid a little too much?"
He thought of his own mother's methods.
"I remember