Chapter 39:
"Sasuke, you bought so much… can you actually cook any of this?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke walking ahead of him and asked with a slightly worried expression.
He had been dragged out of bed early in the morning by Sasuke. Sasuke was in charge of buying ingredients, while Naruto was in charge of carrying the bags.
Now he was lugging a huge pile of stuff back home, but there was so much that he felt quite helpless.
"The house is mine, so cooking is your job. If you can't learn how to do it…"
Sasuke suddenly stopped, turned around, and gave Naruto a fierce glare.
He was the one who had suggested buying raw ingredients to cook at home. Now that they had bought everything, Naruto was still asking questions…
Even though this was partly for the hidden watchers to see and hear, Sasuke was still extremely annoyed!
The looks the shop owners had given him earlier made him feel sick, but he couldn't explode. He could only endure it…
If Naruto couldn't cook these ingredients properly after they got back, Sasuke was definitely going to teach him a harsh lesson. This was most of their living expenses for the entire break!
"So scary…"
Naruto continued following Sasuke with a pitiful look. He had suddenly remembered something and, after searching his memories, actually found some information about cooking.
Although it was only a record from the devoured System, he didn't think it would be that difficult. He could already slowly tear apart and convert the Nine-Tails' chakra — cooking a meal shouldn't be a big deal…
"There are only these usable utensils left in the kitchen. You figure out dinner. I'm going to clean up the training ground. If it's not edible, I'll make sure you understand the price of wasting food this afternoon!"
After dumping Naruto alone in the kitchen, Sasuke snorted a couple of times and walked off.
Fortunately, most of the kitchen utensils were still there, and the appliances…
He could actually use them.
But the first time always required learning. Naruto spent half the morning and finally managed to steam a pot of rice — though he had added too much water.
At least it was edible.
As for the side dishes…
Naruto made a simple cold dish. After preparing it, it turned out extremely salty and spicy…
Yet even with such a meal, Sasuke ate while tears suddenly started rolling down his face.
"Sasuke, maybe you shouldn't eat the vegetables… just eat the rice…"
Naruto watched Sasuke cry and reached out with some hesitation, wanting to take the dish away.
He knew it tasted bad, but he could at least claim the overcooked rice was due to a lucky coincidence with the method. If the side dishes also turned out good…
The Hokage's side would definitely send people to investigate again.
Even with high talent, without anyone teaching him, he could only figure things out through trial and error.
"It tastes bad, but I'll still eat it. Next time you cook, remember this lesson!"
Sasuke pressed down on Naruto's hand, keeping the terrible-tasting dish in place, and ate half of everything together with him.
He would remember this taste well and turn all the bitterness he was eating now into motivation for training!
After eating their fill, Sasuke took Naruto to check the training ground. The dirty dishes left in the sink were, as expected, secretly inspected by the Anbu again.
They didn't know how the report went, but one of the Anbu tasted the leftover soup and made a twisted face, signaling the others to try it too — it was almost impossible to swallow.
'You're really ruthless… The amount of salt you put in this time is probably enough to last us a whole week…'
While taking a post-meal walk with Naruto, Sasuke started complaining in his mind about Naruto's black heart.
The rice and vegetables weren't great either, but the soup was many times worse.
'Can't be helped. If we live too comfortably, some people will feel uncomfortable. Let's do normal training for now. Tonight after we fall asleep, I'll go look for the hidden storage rooms in your clan grounds. Uncle Fugaku mentioned a few locations. I'll probably have to search them separately. With the tiny amount of power I can control right now, if I search everything at once, I'll probably end up back in the hospital again…'
Naruto showed zero embarrassment toward Sasuke's complaints. He had deliberately made the food taste terrible.
If the cooking turned out good, the kitchen utensils might suffer in a couple of days. These black-hearted people…
You could never underestimate their bottom line, because they probably didn't have one to begin with!
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