The three arrived at a new town, and Naruto looked around at the scenery he had never seen before.
"This is great! It's my first time in a place like this."
"Tsunade won't be that easy to find, so we can't waste this time. We'll gather intel while training you."
"I know about gathering intel; Kano-chan is the best at that!"
"It's not good to rely on me too much."
"Leave the intel gathering to me. You and Kano just hang out and rest well before training. There's a festival going on, so we'll stay in this town for a while. Training will also be held here."
"Awesome! Kano-chan, let's go play!"
Naruto pulled out his frog wallet, ready to start spending.
"Oh, you're quite loaded, kid. A real big spender."
"I have quite a bit of money. I saved it up bit by bit from missions, plus that 'zang-something' money Kano-chan shared with me."
"That was also mission compensation."
Kano reminded him; she was a good person, so how could she use a word like 'ill-gotten gains'?
"Kano-chan, let's go!"
"Wait! Naruto, give me your wallet for safekeeping!"
"Hey! What are you doing?"
Jiraiya snatched Naruto's wallet. Naruto refused to give in and tried to grab it back, but unfortunately, given Jiraiya's height, Naruto couldn't reach it.
The Pervy Sage pulled six banknotes from Naruto's wallet and handed them to him.
"You can only use these."
"Eh! Only 600 ryo?"
"Don't complain! You know the Three Prohibitions for Ninjas, don't you?"
"Three Prohibitions for Ninjas?"
Kano couldn't watch any longer—a grown man stealing a child's money. She reached out and snatched Naruto's wallet back.
"What Three Prohibitions? You're the last person who should talk! Even if Naruto's money is given to someone for safekeeping, it should be me. It's not your place."
After counting the money inside, Kano handed it back to Naruto. She wasn't the kind of off-putting woman who would demand her husband hand over his paycheck; Naruto's money should be kept by Naruto himself.
"Thank you, Kano-chan. You're still the best to me."
"Hmph, just keep spoiling him. You'll be the one in danger in the end."
Jiraiya was stifled by the sour stench of love between the two and grumbled under his breath with a pout.
"That's none of your business. Go find your intel."
"Then help me carry my bag. If you need me, Naruto can summon a toad to track my scent and find me."
Jiraiya tossed the bag over, but Kano caught it and threw it right back.
"Carry it yourself. I have my own ways of finding you."
With that, a Shadow Deer jumped out from Kano's shadow and leaped into Jiraiya's shadow.
"Oh! Your Ninjutsu can even be used like that? That's incredible."
Ignoring Jiraiya, Kano took Naruto's hand and squeezed into the bustling crowd with him.
Since neither of them had eaten yet, there were stalls everywhere selling delicious food.
"I'm hungry. Let's buy something to eat first."
"Yeah, Kano-chan, what do you want? The Takoyaki over there looks good. Let's try some."
"Sure."
Holding hands to avoid getting lost, they walked up to the Takoyaki stall.
"Mister, we'd like one order of Takoyaki."
"Coming up."
Kano held up one finger while Naruto pulled out his wallet.
"Mister, I also want a—"
Before he could finish, Kano interrupted him.
"One order is enough."
"But one won't be enough to eat."
"All the money I brought was used to compensate the landlady at the inn, so now I have to rely on Naruto."
"That's no problem! I have plenty of money. I'll pay for everything on our date."
"Thank you, Naruto, but I still want to help you save a bit. Besides, if we only buy one, we can share it. And we can save room to try other delicious things."
Naruto didn't hear the latter part at all; he only remembered that they could share one order.
"One! Boss, we only want one!"
Seeing Naruto's eager behavior, Kano couldn't help but laugh. A moment later, Naruto was holding a cardboard box with six Takoyaki inside.
There were two bamboo skewers inside, one for each of them.
Naruto, whose stomach was already growling, couldn't wait and used a skewer to pop one into his mouth.
"Sss~ Hot, hot, hot!"
"Slow down. I'm not going to steal it; we'll each have half. I'm starting too."
Seeing Kano's amusement, Naruto smiled sheepishly. Kano blew on hers before eating it; the taste was excellent.
Naruto followed her lead, skewering one and blowing on it to cool it down. But before he could eat it, someone passing by bumped into him, nearly making him fall.
Kano was quick and steadied the box of Takoyaki in Naruto's hand. However, the one in Naruto's other hand wasn't so lucky; it fell to the ground along with the skewer and was stepped on by passersby.
It was completely ruined.
"Ah, my Takoyaki!"
Seeing Naruto's dejected face, Kano comforted him.
"Only one fell. There are still more here."
"But my skewer fell too."
"I still have mine. *Blow, blow.* Here, open wide, I'll feed you."
Facing Kano's personal feeding, Naruto's heart pounded. Was this happiness?
"Is it good?"
"It's delicious!"
Naruto felt this one was many times tastier than the last!
Kano didn't hold back either; she skewered another one, blew on it, and ate it. It really was good.
Now there was only one left in the box.
"Only one left. You paid for it, so you should have it."
Kano handed the skewer to Naruto, but he pushed it back.
"You eat it. I dropped the other one, so this one should have been yours anyway."
"It wasn't on purpose. You eat it."
"No, no, no. Kano-chan, you eat it."
"Then let's be fair. How about half each?"
"Ah? That works. Should we cut it?"
"No need for that."
She skewered the last Takoyaki, blew on it, and when it was cool enough, Kano bit off half and held it out to Naruto.
"Like this. Open wide~"
The half-eaten Takoyaki somehow looked even more tempting than a whole one; even the cross-section of the octopus leg looked so white, smooth, and delicious.
His racing heart urged Naruto to bite into the remaining half and savor it.
But he couldn't taste the Takoyaki at all; only a sweet sensation lingered in his mouth, making him reluctant to swallow.
"Don't just stand there, let's go. On to the next stall; I'm not full yet."
The dazed Naruto was led away by Kano's hand again as they searched for the next food stall.
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