Team 7 had a day off.
Which meant one thing:
Naruto's idea of fun.
"Let's race up the Hokage Monument, do ninja obstacle courses, then eat 30 bowls of ramen and prank Konohamaru's gang!"
"…That's four things," I muttered.
Sasuke gave his signature scowl. "I'm not wasting a day on nonsense."
Naruto grinned. "Scared you'll lose to me in a race?"
"Ha."
"I accept this challenge," I said, stretching.
They both stared at me.
"Why?" Sasuke asked.
"Because if I don't burn 500 calories in the next hour, the system will dock my protein intake."
"…You really are weird," Naruto said.
---
RACE RESULTS:
1st Place: Michio (Used Shock Step once, then pretended to be winded for social cohesion.)
2nd Place: Sasuke (Didn't cheat. Still mad.)
3rd Place: Naruto (Tripped over his own headband. Twice.)
---
We ended up at Ichiraku Ramen anyway.
"Three bowls of miso, Teuchi-san!" Naruto said, slapping coins on the counter.
"You again, huh?" Teuchi grinned. "And who's your quiet friend?"
Sasuke nodded silently. Teuchi wisely took that as a hello.
"And the new guy?" he asked, turning to me.
"Michio Kuni," I said. "Loyal customer, occasional time traveler."
He laughed. Naruto didn't. Sasuke stared. Oops.
"...Kidding. Mostly."
---
As we ate, the conversation turned oddly… normal.
Naruto talked about pranking the Hokage's tower. Sasuke mentioned seeing Itachi—a flicker of emotion there—and then quickly clammed up. I let it pass.
Then Naruto looked at me.
"You've never said where you're from."
"Really?" I deflected. "I talk so much I figured I said it like, twelve times."
"Nope," Naruto said. "You're all workout talk and weird jokes. Where's your home?"
I looked down.
"My old home's… gone."
Truth. Technically.
"Oh," he said quietly.
Teuchi placed another bowl in front of us, like an emotional support noodle.
We ate in silence for a while.
---
That evening, I trained alone.
Or thought I did—until I heard grunting behind me.
Naruto was doing push-ups. Sasuke was doing handstand walks. Both had followed me.
"Couldn't let you out-train us," Naruto said.
I smirked.
"Alright then. Let's suffer together."
---
We pushed past exhaustion.
Burpees. Pull-ups. Tree climbing. Water walking (we mostly just got wet). I even taught them how to make resistance bands out of old shinobi tape.
By the end, we were barely standing.
And somehow… closer.
Team 7 wasn't just forming.
It was solidifying.
Which was good.
Because this peace?
It wouldn't last.