Fence Off a Plot to Raise Pigs, Slaughter Them Anytime

The bleating abruptly stopped.

Naruto let out a breath, took out a mirror, and examined his current appearance. His face was bruised and swollen, with hoofprints clearly visible.

Spicy Lamb Trotter sounded good. He would have Kurama make some later.

Kurama quickly finished cooking. Hands on his hips, he stood at the doorway and loudly called Naruto to eat. Looking at the Whole Lamb Feast dishes, each one having gone from crude to refined, Naruto could not help but smile with satisfaction.

"Where are the Spicy Lamb Trotters? Give them to me! I want Spicy Lamb Trotters..." Naruto shouted.

"Here..." Kurama brought over a basin of Spicy Lamb Trotters. Four lamb hooves lay quietly on the platter, giving off an enticing aroma, no longer carrying the former majesty of having boldly kicked Naruto in the face.

After eating the Spicy Lamb Trotters, Naruto felt as though the injuries on his face did not hurt quite as much.

After lunch, Naruto naturally had to go to school. After all, he had promised Iruka-sensei that he would attend class from now on and stop skipping school.

Naruto did not want to become a fatso, so he did not dare go back on his word and get fat.

When he arrived at school, no one seemed surprised by his current appearance. The children studying here seemed more restrained and reserved than children outside. They had never directly shown Naruto any malice.

The only thing was their indifference—their refusal to acknowledge him.

After taking his seat, Naruto glanced at the row in front of him. A black-haired boy sat there, flanked by two girls. One was the broad-foreheaded Sakura Haruno, and the other was Ino Yamanaka. The two girls kept chattering away, but the black-haired boy between them remained unmoved, as if none of it had anything to do with him.

Naruto could tell that both girls liked the boy named Sasuke.

And not just them. Given Sasuke's popularity in the class, there might even be others secretly crushing on him.

But Naruto did not care much about that. He only wanted to be friends with Sasuke, and—

He would make friends with every classmate, one by one.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

The class bell rang, and the faintly noisy classroom fell quiet. Everyone sat properly and waited for the teacher to arrive.

Before long, Iruka pushed open the door and entered the classroom. He first greeted the students with something along the lines of "Good afternoon," then scanned the class to see whether anyone was absent.

The moment he saw Naruto's face, he was startled.

Had he gotten into a fight?

That was the first thought that jumped into Iruka's mind. He knew Naruto's situation. After all, countless people hurled cruel words at Naruto whenever he went outside, so it was possible that Naruto had fought back out of indignation.

Sigh, I'll talk to Naruto after class.

During the lesson, Naruto stared at the blackboard the entire time. Seeing how attentively Naruto seemed to be listening, Iruka felt quite gratified.

But he did not know that Naruto's eyes had no focus at all. His thoughts had long since wandered far away.

After school, Naruto was about to head back to Back Mountain when Iruka-sensei stopped him.

"Iruka-sensei, are you treating me to ramen?" Naruto asked with a brilliant smile.

"Uh..." Iruka froze at the question and suddenly regretted coming to find Naruto. He could only chuckle and change the subject. "Naruto, what happened to your face?"

"Oh, this?" Naruto clasped his hands behind his head. "I fell down. You know, one of those very special falls on flat ground. Have you ever seen one, Iruka-sensei?"

"No..." Iruka was speechless.

"If you don't believe me, Iruka-sensei, I can demonstrate it for you..."

With that, Naruto tipped forward. Iruka reacted quickly and caught Naruto in his arms. Naruto was held by Iruka, and the two looked into each other's eyes.

Iruka blushed slightly, released Naruto, and said, "Naruto, I believe you. You don't need to demonstrate it on the spot."

"Mm, thank you, Iruka-sensei." Naruto laughed.

After a pause, Iruka took a jar of Ointment from his pocket and said, "This Ointment reduces swelling. Take it and use it."

"Mm-hm." Naruto happily accepted it, then said, "Iruka-sensei, treat me to ramen next time. Looking like this, I can't let Uncle Ichiraku make fun of me."

With that, Naruto waved goodbye to Iruka.

Iruka stood where he was and watched Naruto's departing back. The corner of his mouth twitched as he thought, I don't think I was planning to treat you to ramen in the first place.

As Naruto passed through the market, he saw the uncle at the pork stall. The man was bare-chested, holding a palm-leaf fan and looking rather bored. Half a pig still lay on the chopping block, and there were few customers.

But the price had gone up again.

Naruto did not understand. Why was the pork seller still raising prices? He clearly earned more when prices were stable.

It really made no sense.

Still, since pork was so expensive, maybe he could raise some pigs too.

After returning to Back Mountain, Naruto excitedly found Kurama and said, "Kurama, let's fence off a plot of land and raise pigs. Once they're fattened up, we can slaughter them anytime."

Kurama was puzzled. "Why raise pigs? Is it because pork is expensive?"

"Mm."

Naruto nodded and continued, "Expensive pork is one reason. The other is that pigs are easy to raise. They never think. Their daily routine is simple: eat, sleep, sleep, eat. So they put on fat quickly. When you go to slaughter them, they won't resist either. They'll think, I've already eaten enough. If you want to slaughter me, then slaughter me."

"That makes sense."

Kurama took out the cookbook and flipped to the pork section. He quickly found a flaw in Naruto's reasoning. "But what you said applies to grown pigs. Once grown pigs are full, naturally they won't resist or make noise. But what about roast suckling pig?"

"Suckling pigs are too small. They haven't eaten their fill. That wouldn't be fair to them."

"Don't worry. Suckling pigs are too small, so it doesn't matter if they make a fuss. No matter how much they squeal, they'll still end up as a dish on the table for us to enjoy." Naruto giggled.

Kurama's eyes lit up. He clearly approved of the explanation. "Fine, then. This old man will fence off a plot first and raise pigs to make a killing. Once pork prices stabilize, we'll stop raising them."

"Then get started. I'm going to train."

Kurama acted quickly and soon fenced off a plot of land a kilometer across. This was what he had in mind: once the first batch of pigs arrived, he would feed and care for them well, letting them quickly grow fat.

By the time that batch had grown up and was ready for market, pork prices would also begin to fall.

At that point, the second batch of pigs would have their feed cut back. They would not sell for as much money, so naturally they could not enjoy better food.

After that, prices would stabilize. Once everyone was buying pork at that price, they could simply tear down all the pig pens and stop raising pigs.

Thinking of this, Kurama could not help feeling pleased with himself. It seemed that he was not only a culinary genius, but also a business genius.

Naturally, Naruto had no idea that Kurama had so many thoughts. Right now, he was focused solely on training and increasing his strength as quickly as possible.

Then he could go make friends.

Everyone had to make an effort for themselves.

That was what the system said, and Naruto believed it without question.