After Kakashi left, the training ground fell quiet for a while.
Naruto, tied to the wooden post, spoke first.
"Hey... you guys, hurry up and eat! I'm not hungry at all!"
His stomach betrayed him with a growl.
Naruto flushed red and shouted stubbornly, "I said I'm not hungry! I used to skip lunch all the time at the Ninja Academy! If you go hungry because of me and have no energy this afternoon, I'll, I'll feel bad!"
Sakura stood there holding her lunch box, picking at the lid over and over.
Sasuke stood on the other side, his gaze flicking between Naruto and the lunch boxes.
Watching the two of them dither, Hayashi sighed.
"Listen, we're a team, aren't we?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly across the training ground.
"What kind of team doesn't let its teammates eat?"
Naruto froze for a moment, then couldn't help correcting him even while tied to the post. "A four-person team..."
"Right, right, a four-person team." Hayashi waved a hand. "So get on with it."
Sasuke moved.
He carried his lunch box over, crouched down, and held it out in front of Naruto.
"Eat."
Naruto's eyes widened. "Sasuke, you-"
"You'll only hold us back on an empty stomach." Sasuke turned his face away, his tone stiff. "Even if we're going back to school, we should eat our fill first."
Sakura made up her mind too. She came over with her lunch box and said softly, "Y-you can have mine too."
Naruto looked from one to the other. His throat worked, but no words came out.
He lowered his head and took a huge mouthful of rice from the box in Sasuke's hand. Still chewing, he accepted the chopsticks Sakura offered and dug in.
As he ate, the hand holding