"You know about the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, right?"
"How could I not know? Didn't he attack us last time? Hokage-sama almost... Could it be that Takumi-sama captured Orochimaru?"
"Not exactly, but Takumi-sama successfully stopped Orochimaru's schemes and prevented a huge crisis."
"That is truly worth celebrating."
"I heard Takumi-sama is treating people at XX Yakiniku Restaurant. I envy those young kids, being able to eat with Takumi-sama."
"If only we could eat with Takumi-sama too..."
Hearing the conversation of the two Shinobi passing by the shop, Deidara's eyes immediately lit up.
"Takumi-senpai is back?"
First, he felt surprise and joy, but soon he felt a bit resentful.
Takumi was back, yet he hadn't come to see him!
And here he was, patiently waiting for him to come.
"No! I can't take it anymore! I want to go see Takumi-senpai!"
The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt.
Clearly, he was first, yet Takumi hadn't come to see him, and instead went to eat yakiniku with others.
So, he decisively rushed out, even though he had no idea which yakiniku restaurant Takumi was at.
"Idiot."
Sasori shook his head helplessly and continued with his current main business.
Soon, all three customers had received hairstyles very suited to them.
At this moment, Takumi was sandwiched between Sakura and Ino. He didn't even need to move his hands; countless perfectly grilled pieces of meat were automatically sent to his mouth.
He was happy to enjoy it.
He had to admit, girls these days developed really fast.
The two little girls, who before graduation were as flat as a washboard, could now feel they were beginning to take shape.
Of course, this enjoyment was secret.
On the surface, he still had to look troubled, competing with them for chopsticks.
At the very least, he couldn't expose his true nature as an old pervert in front of these kids.
Naruto was bickering with Kiba, listening to Kiba talk about the danger of this mission, his eyes full of envy.
After all, they hadn't been on many missions recently, just some trivial ones.
Naruto, who was born liking big scenes, naturally wanted to experience such a big scene too.
Unfortunately, he missed out this time.
Shikamaru just listened with a faint smile.
Although there were many things he disliked, as long as he didn't have to do it himself, he didn't mind listening to his companions' mission experiences.
Just treat it like listening to a story.
Choji, on the other hand, was burying his head and eating.
At first, it was because yakiniku was his favorite food.
But by the end, he suddenly noticed that the pile of plates in one place was even higher than his.
Looking up, he saw that the plates were right in front of Naruto and Hinata.
He subconsciously ignored the slightly blushing Hinata and fixed his gaze on Naruto.
Choji silently regarded Naruto as his rival and started eating frantically.
Naruto, however, was bragging with Kiba and didn't notice Choji's stare.
But no matter how hard Choji tried to eat, the gap between him and the other side didn't narrow at all; instead, it began to widen.
Until he was too full to eat anymore, he looked despairingly at the pile of plates, a full three times higher than his own, and felt utterly depressed.
He had finally eaten his fill of yakiniku, only to find he had lost in the eating department.
It should have been a happy day, but his mood just wouldn't lift.
Bang!
"Takumi-senpai!"
The door was suddenly pushed open, and a loud shout echoed through the entire hall.
Everyone stopped talking and looked toward the entrance.
For a moment, the bustling yakiniku restaurant fell silent.
Takumi also looked up from his cozy spot with the girls, looking at the nondescript middle-aged man at the door.
He immediately felt a strange sensation.
From the address and the voice, he immediately recognized who it was.
But this ordinary-looking man didn't match the face in his memory at all.
"Oh!"
Takumi slapped his forehead.
He just remembered.
"It's you. Come over and have something to eat."
Takumi didn't say Deidara's name directly.
After all, there were many people and prying eyes here; you could never be sure if there were spies from other villages.
Deidara's identity couldn't be exposed yet.
"Really?"
Deidara's eyes immediately burst with light, and he quickly ran to Takumi's side, plopping down and nudging Sakura away, sitting in her original spot.
"Hey, you!"
Sakura couldn't stand for that. She raised her fist, wanting to send this ungrateful stranger flying.
"Sakura, I'm sorry, he's my friend."
Takumi looked at Sakura with an apologetic smile. Sakura immediately felt her strength drain away, blushing and lowering her head.
"It's, it's okay."
She said softly.
Because of Deidara's uninvited arrival, the gathering ended there.
But they didn't disband.
Takumi took them to the training ground.
On the way to the training ground, Shikamaru and the others watched the strange guy surrounding Takumi, constantly asking questions, and frowned slightly.
"Who is this guy? He seems to know Takumi very well."
Kiba frowned deeply. "Is he some relative of his?"
"Who knows, but I remember Takumi is an orphan, right? Does he have relatives?"
Ino guessed, her finger pressed against her lower lip.
"Whoever he is, he's definitely not from the village."
Shikamaru said with certainty.
"Huh? Shikamaru, do you know everyone in the village?"
Choji looked at Shikamaru in surprise, his eyes even widening a bit.
"Look at the reactions of those people along the way. They look at that guy the same way we do, with complete unfamiliarity."
Shikamaru jerked his chin towards the side. "What's certain is that no one knows him."
"I see. As expected of Shikamaru, an accurate deduction."
Shino nodded. "But since he's someone Takumi knows, there probably shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise, he couldn't have walked with us this whole way without anything happening."
"Yeah, but he's still suspicious."
Shikamaru frowned deeply. "He must have disguised himself. It's hard to say what the purpose of someone like that is."
With suspicion and speculation, the group soon arrived at the training ground.
And there they saw Sasuke training alone.
"..."
Sasuke was leaning on his knees, panting heavily.
He glanced around, saw the group arriving, and couldn't help but curl his lip in slight disdain.
For him, who had mastered Susano'o, even Naruto, who had once been his equal, was now far behind.
The only one who could be his rival was Takumi alone.
So, his gaze quickly fixed on Takumi at the front.
Then, Sasuke saw a very unfamiliar guy.
"Huh? Who's that guy?"
Sasuke straightened his back. He didn't want to appear disheveled in front of who he thought was his rival.
In fact, Takumi had already seen him in far more disheveled states countless times.