Chapter 16: A Shocked Iruka and the Old Man Who Stole Naruto's Grilled Fish
"Boss, another bowl!"
At first, Naruto didn't show any reaction, but after finishing the first bowl, he asked for a second… then a third… then a fourth…
The small child kept going. After downing six full bowls of ramen, he still showed no signs of stopping. Both Iruka and Yamato (who was pretending to be an ordinary ninja) were completely dumbfounded.
Especially because Naruto's stomach didn't look much bigger. How was he even fitting all that food?
"Um… Naruto…"
Iruka's fingers were trembling. His wallet was in serious danger of being emptied.
Besides, eating this much couldn't be healthy for a child, right?
"What's wrong, Iruka-sensei?"
Naruto turned his head with an innocent face. Since Iruka had boldly said "eat as much as you want," he wasn't going to hold back.
He also wanted certain people to understand that he had been starved for over six years!
Although those people probably wouldn't care, his real target wasn't them — it was his parents, who had sacrificed themselves early for the village.
His mom and dad would eventually be brought back with Edo Tensei, or even fully revived.
If they still cared deeply about Konoha, that would be very inconvenient.
Everything he had suffered — except for the part where his soul was nearly devoured — the Nine-Tails already knew. Even if his parents didn't know now, they would have to learn the truth in the future.
Otherwise, if one day he decided to kill the old man (the Third Hokage), and his parents tried to stop him…
Such a terrible situation could never be allowed.
"N-nothing… Do you usually eat this much?"
Iruka was stared at by those big, clear eyes. He wanted to say he was out of money, but the words wouldn't come out.
Those innocent eyes made him feel like refusing would be the same as bullying the child.
"No, not at all. Normally I only eat one cup of instant noodles or a small carton of milk. That's all the food I have at home, and I don't have any money…"
Naruto pulled the newly arrived bowl of ramen closer and continued eating while casually mentioning his usual living conditions.
At the same time, he couldn't help but complain inwardly. His father had been the Hokage — the benefits and treatment shouldn't have been bad. Even if they ignored previous savings, the pension alone should have been a huge sum.
Unfortunately, once a person was gone, no one would speak up for their family.
Even that Jiraiya, whom the outsider considered extremely kind to him, had only sneaked back once to check that the Nine-Tails seal was intact before leaving again.
Naruto was almost seven years old now, yet he still looked smaller than most five-year-olds. If anyone truly cared even a little, they wouldn't have let things reach this point.
"So… you've been hungry this whole time?"
Iruka looked at Naruto in shock. Only now did he realize why Naruto was so much smaller and thinner than the other kids in class.
He had literally been starving.
"I tried catching fish by myself, but I could never catch any. Sometimes I got lucky and caught a few, but I wasn't good at grilling them. Once I finally caught quite a lot, but an old man snatched more than half of them away. After that, I never went back…"
Naruto finished the last drop of broth in the bowl before telling Iruka about his past.
When he mentioned the old man who stole his fish, even Yamato, sitting not far away, could hear the gritted-teeth resentment in his voice.
"Maybe… maybe the old man thought you were cute and was just teasing you…"
Iruka was one of the few people who knew exactly who that "old man" was. The Third Hokage had once mentioned the incident, saying how pitiful Naruto was, and how he had disguised himself as an ordinary old man to eat grilled fish with the boy…
But comparing what the Hokage had said with what Naruto was describing now… the feeling was completely different.
A kind grandfather who wanted to get close… versus an old bastard who stole food from a starving child.
A crack suddenly appeared in Iruka's impression of the Third Hokage.
Indeed, you really couldn't judge a person by appearances.
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