The joys of barbecue

"Hey, Sasuke, that's your big brother's meat!"

"Shut up! Being my big brother doesn't mean you get to steal my meat!"

"Then let's see who's faster!"

"You're on! Who's scared of you?"

The three had actually ordered quite a lot of barbecue, but there was only one plate of premium beef that Auntie Akimichi had given them for free.

With Sasuke's tacit approval, Naruto put half of it onto Hinata's plate.

Hashirama and Kurama gave Naruto a thumbs-up inside the Sealing Space.

Then the battle over the remaining premium beef began.

With a swish, Naruto snatched up a fork and stabbed at the enticingly glistening piece of meat with speed, precision, and force.

"Don't even think about it!"

Sasuke wasn't slow to react either. Holding a chopstick in each hand, he blocked Naruto's fork outright.

"Damn it! Then how about this?"

Without Sasuke noticing, Naruto picked up another fork with his other hand. While Sasuke had both hands occupied holding his chopsticks against Naruto's fork in a deadlock, Naruto launched a surprise attack on the barbecue.

Oh, crap!

In an instant, countless images flashed through Sasuke's mind: his brother hugging him when he was born, his brother hugging him when he was one, his brother hugging him when he was two...

No!

It's not time to give up yet!

Even with both hands out of commission, I still have my mouth.

He leaned forward and shot his head out like a turtle, his face contorted as he opened his enormous maw!

Excellent! The meat is mine!

Juices burst and danced in his mouth. He closed his eyes, quietly savoring the taste of success.

But a tug traveled through the meat to his teeth.

He opened his eyes and saw Naruto's fork pulling at the other end of the meat.

Fool!

How could a mere fork compare to my teeth?

Sasuke devoured the meat little by little, while Naruto couldn't get his mouth on it.

To think he had abandoned his humanity for barbecue, truly awakening the hunting instincts etched into his genes.

How utterly helpless was that?

Watching the meat he had dreamed of being devoured by his own little brother right before his eyes, watching its juices flow into someone else's mouth-wasn't this a kind of NTR too?

There's only one way left.

Sasuke! I'm abandoning my humanity too!

Sasuke felt the pulling force suddenly vanish, only to be replaced by brute strength like that of a wild beast.

Taking a closer look, he saw that Naruto had also let go of his fork and gone straight in with his mouth.

At this point, the chopsticks and forks in the two boys' hands had all become meaningless.

Now, all that mattered was biting with all their might, biting, bit...

Hinata had been eating quietly beside them and had already finished more than half her barbecue, but the sight of the two boys now stunned her.

The two boys' mouths were about to touch. This was the very last bit of meat.

Naruto raised his eyebrows, his meaning obvious: You let go first.

Not to be outdone, Sasuke shot the challenge right back.

Then...

"That's so gross."

Sasuke released his teeth and pulled back, hurriedly wiping his lips with a tissue.

"Waaah, my first kiss!"

Naruto hadn't expected Sasuke to actually dare to hold on either, and so he suffered the loss of his first kiss.

Hinata covered her mouth, utterly stunned by what she had just witnessed.

A trace of disbelief still lingered in her eyes as she murmured, "Naruto... first kiss... Sasuke..."

Inside the Sealing Space, Hashirama and Kurama looked at each other, unsure what to say.

The look Kurama gave Hashirama clearly held a hint of accusation.

After a moment of silence, Kurama slowly spoke. "You damn... Hashirama, were you the one who led Naruto astray?"

Clearly, the sight had reminded him of the days when Hashirama and Madara had freely worked up a sweat together.

Although nothing physical had happened, Kurama was certain that Hashirama's feelings for Madara were definitely more than simple friendship.

"Hey, hey, hey! I'm not gay!"

Hashirama protested.

"I'll have you know, I have a wife and kids!"

"Madara is my dearest friend!"

Already harboring a tiny bit of a guilty conscience, Hashirama gave himself away outright.

"I didn't ask about that evil Uchiha either."

Kurama's level voice reached Hashirama's ears.

"Oh, I see. Ahahaha, so that's it. I was overthinking things. Oh, look at this barbecue. How delicious it is."

Hashirama rubbed his head and clumsily changed the subject.

Still, they were children, after all. Before long, the two boys were fighting over food again.

Why were they still fighting, when the premium beef was already gone?

Because one little Hinata had quietly eaten a great deal of the barbecue, leaving them with a little less than enough.

In the end, they only ate their fill after Auntie Akimichi brought over another plate of barbecue for free.

As they left, the other diners stared in shock at Hinata, whose belly showed no obvious change even after she had eaten so much barbecue.

Sasuke and Naruto were shocked too. They hadn't expected Hinata to be able to eat so much.

"It's fine. We have money, Hinata. Eat as much as you like."

That was how Naruto reassured Hinata when her face began steaming. Sasuke nodded beside him as well, indicating his agreement.

In truth, Hinata was only about sixty percent full.

Finally, all three children packed up some of the remaining barbecue and carried it in their arms as they headed toward Naruto's home.

Sasuke: Big brother went to so much trouble bringing me to play with Naruto. I have to take him some barbecue!

Hinata: Father has been handling affairs at home lately, and Neji hasn't seemed quite himself recently either. I'll bring some barbecue back for them.

Naruto: Oh! Teacher hasn't eaten anything in months, and now he wants some barbecue. As his student, how could I not bring him some?

Before long, the three children returned to the apartment building where Naruto lived. A familiar figure was already waiting downstairs.

He rolled his eyes at the three children.

Who was he?

That's right! It was our very own Uncle Hyuga Tōru!

"Young lady, you're finally back~"

Hyuga Tōru sounded a little helpless. It was already two or three in the afternoon.

Naruto and the others had decided to go for barbecue on the spur of the moment. On top of that, they had ordered and eaten a lot, so it had taken quite some time.

When he arrived here, the three children were still on their way back.

Then a purple-haired ANBU member had come out and told him that his young lady had gone out for barbecue, asking him to wait.

Honestly, as a Special Jōnin of the illustrious Hyuga Clan, could I just do what she said?

Of course he could. After all, she belonged to the ANBU directly under the Hokage, and was even one of those specifically assigned to watch over the Jinchūriki.

The conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the Hokage's faction had only just eased a little. He certainly didn't want to do anything else that would undermine unity.

"Ah, Uncle Tōru, sorry for the wait."

Hinata spotted her Uncle Tōru and walked over with her box of packed barbecue.

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, see you next time."

Hinata held the box with one hand and waved goodbye to Naruto and Sasuke with the other.

"Yeah, come play again next time."

Naruto waved happily, while Sasuke also waved a few times in farewell.

"See you next time."

All right, that was very Uchiha.