As Hinata ran off back to her house, Sakura touched Naruto on the cheek and said, "That's enough training for today Naruto."

Naruto grinned and said, "That means it's ramen time right?"

Sakura laughed and said, "Of course!"

Naruto set Sakura down on the ground and quickly shrank back to his normal size. The pair talked about various things as they made their way to Sakura's house. They talked about the other members of their team, the state of the village, the fact that Orochimaru was finally gone, what the other giants were doing with their time, and what kind of ramen they wanted to make. Finally, they reached Sakura's house. Her parents were both out leaving the house to themselves. Sakura pulled out a pot, a ladle, and the ingredients for ramen, namely noodles, seasonings, and pieces of meat. She turned to Naruto and said, "You just sit tight and relax Naruto. I'm going to make you all the ramen you can eat."

"Alright! You rock Sakura!" Naruto cheered, hands in the air.

Sakura giggled and started filling the pot with water. As she started making ramen, Shikamaru was meeting with the other members of the team, ready to head out and spy on the Akatsuki against his will. They all walked to the gates and Kakashi turned to face them.

"Alright, before we go I want to be clear on a few things. We all know the nature of the mission correct?"

"We're just trying to find out what the Akatsuki are doing so close to the village." Shikamaru said, rubbing the back of his head.

"That's right." Kakashi said, nodding in Shikamaru's direction. "That means no fighting unless absolutely necessary. If we do find ourselves in a fight we shouldn't use our giant powers at all. If we're backed into a corner and have no choice, we shouldn't grow bigger than ten feet since that's Asuma's max size. It'll give the illusion that we can only grow to ten feet."

"Right." Everyone said, nodding.

Kakashi nodded again and said, "Alright. Let's go!"

Each ninja took off in a different direction, radios on standby to report any sighting of the Akatsuki to the other members of the team. In less dangerous areas of the village, Sakura was finishing making the first batch of ramen for Naruto. She poured the steaming pot of noodles and broth into a bowl and set the bowl down in front of Naruto.

"Here you go! Pork and beef for the first bowl." Sakura said, handing Naruto a pair of chopsticks.

"Thanks Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, eagerly digging in.

Sakura watched Naruto gobble up the noodles with insane speed, heading back to the stove to make more. By the time Naruto was done with the first bowl of noodles, Sakura was ready dumping a new batch of noodles into the still hot broth with some shrimp and soy sauce. This went on for three more bowls, Naruto famished after training so hard. Finally, he was done and Sakura was able to eat a bowl herself. When they were both done eating, Sakura started cleaning up.

"Here, let me help Sakura." Naruto said, moving next to her at the sink and drying dishes as she washed them.

"Thanks Naruto." Sakura said gratefully.

"Hey, no problem!" Naruto said.

Sakura sighed happily and glanced over at Naruto. Not only was he being protective, but he was actually helping her do chores! This was something she could get used to.

As the two genin cleaned up after themselves, Team Kakashi continued to scour the areas outside the village, hoping to catch even a glimpse of the Akatsuki. So far they were operating under the assumption that the Akatsuki didn't know they were being tailed. But what if they did know? That would make it even harder to find the already elusive missing ninja. They would eventually reveal themselves if they planned to attack, but by then it would be too late. Surely someone would get hurt. With these thoughts in mind, Team Kakashi worked even harder in their search for the Akatsuki.