Just Add Another Barbecue Meal

"What? Taki Chiba defeated Kakashi?" Inside the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage listened to Hokoma's report, unable to hide his astonishment in either his expression or voice.

"Yes!" Hokoma reported. In truth, he had yet to fully recover from the shock himself. His mind was still filled with that battle. If it had been a fight to the death, every move would have been perilous. Even though it had only been sparring, it was impossible to tell that two children had been fighting.

"Mm..." The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe and said, "I truly didn't expect this. Taki Chiba actually defeated Kakashi. That child is growing far too quickly."

"Third Lord, are we really going to replace the Chunin Exams qualification?" Hokoma paused before asking.

"Mm..." The Third Hokage pondered for a moment before saying, "Since Taki Chiba can defeat Kakashi, then at least in terms of combat ability, he already possesses the strength of a Chunin. However, he has no mission experience whatsoever. Hirohiko and Yukina have no mission experience either. Letting them take the Chunin Exams so rashly... If they fail, that is one thing. But if they pass, then as Chunin, they will have to take part in missions, and the frequency of those missions will only increase. I'm afraid that would not be a good thing for them. This Kushina is far too willful..."

Clearly, the Third Hokage had a headache as well, but what troubled him was not the degree of confusion caused by replacing the qualification, but the future development of Chiba and the other two.

"Since the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha has yet to recover its strength and urgently needs fresh blood. That is why we are holding the Chunin Exams early... But they have no mission experience at all, and their teacher is Kushina..." The Third Hokage frowned in distress, exhaling clouds of smoke.

"Go see where Minato is and have him come here." After thinking for a while, the Third Hokage spoke.

"Yes." Hokoma nodded. It was his first time seeing the Third Hokage look so troubled, and he was slightly stunned.

After answering, he quickly left the Hokage's Office.

After Hokoma left, the Third Hokage let out a long sigh.

I should ask Minato about the specifics and hear his opinion as well. Come to think of it, Jiraiya and the others should be back soon too.

Meanwhile, at Konoha Hospital.

Chiba narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Hirohiko. The latter still wore his poker face and sat upright beside Chiba, as though he had not noticed Chiba's gaze at all.

"I mean... I only sprained my ankle... Did we really need to come straight to the hospital?" Chiba twitched the corner of his mouth.

His foot was now wrapped in white bandages. A Medical Ninja had examined it earlier; it was only a sprain, and no bones had been injured, so it did not even need treatment. In the Naruto World, which possessed the miraculous power of chakra, an injury like this would be completely healed by tomorrow.

"It would be bad if you had injured a bone." Hirohiko told Chiba with a poker face.

Yukina, standing nearby, also said, "It's better to have it checked. The Chunin Exams are about to begin, after all. It would be bad if you had hurt a bone."

Why was even Yukina making such a fuss...

Chiba smiled bitterly to himself.

"Oh, right! Remember this: since Hirohiko won a round too, we get two barbecue meals, understand? Hirohiko, you have to make a wronged expression if Teacher Kushina refuses tonight!"

Yukina nodded, frowning slightly. "Is that really okay? Teacher Kushina will be troubled too. She said she does not even have enough allowance."

"When adults say that, they're usually just humoring children. If Teacher Kushina were really out of money, then when we pestered her for barbecue for a whole week, she wouldn't have merely flicked our foreheads. She would have punched us outright!" Chiba casually made up some crooked logic.

No matter what, for barbecue, so what if I become a demon who tricks children? It's barbecue!

Chiba easily wiped away the guilt of deceiving Hirohiko and Yukina. In the face of barbecue, that little bit of guilt was nothing at all.

"Really?" Yukina blinked, her brows faintly furrowed as if she were thinking. "So that was originally something adults said to humor children?"

Clearly, Yukina completely believed what Chiba had said.

"Chiba." At that moment, Hirohiko called out.

"Hmm?" Chiba turned around in response.

"Look, is this expression wronged enough?" Hirohiko asked.

Chiba's brow twitched, and the corner of his mouth nearly pulled into an angry smile.

How was that wronged?! Your expression did not change at all! It didn't change at all! Chiba screamed inwardly. Hirohiko still had that poker face; there was not the slightest hint of grievance on it! And his eyes clearly said, "I'm lying, I'm lying, my grievance is fake!"

"Um..." Chiba forced out a smile. "It's still just a tiny bit short. Just a tiny bit..."

As he spoke, Chiba made a tiny-gap gesture with his thumb and index finger.

"What about this?" Hirohiko turned his head slightly, then turned back...

There was absolutely no change, okay? It was still a poker face! Chiba felt like crying but had no tears. He gently patted Hirohiko's shoulder and said, "Very good... But maybe... a wronged expression just doesn't suit you..."

Upon hearing Chiba's words, Hirohiko visibly trembled. Then he quietly turned away, a row of dark lines seeming to drop from the back of his head as his whole body turned a little pale.

Uh... I put that pretty tactfully! Why was he still so devastated?!

"That old Third Hokage, I'm going to pluck out every last one of his whiskers!" Just as Chiba was about to step forward and comfort Hirohiko, he heard Kushina Uzumaki's furious voice. Then the door to the infirmary was violently flung open, slamming into the wall with a bang. It drew the attention of nurses and several patients in the hospital corridor.

She had finally gotten some time alone with Minato, and at this moment, that old Third Hokage called Minato away to discuss something! "Huh? Hirohiko, what's wrong with you?" Thinking this, Kushina Uzumaki stormed into the infirmary, only to see her student Hirohiko looking utterly devastated.

"Just now, Chiba..." Yukina instinctively wanted to tell the truth.

"I won the match, so I get one barbecue meal. He won too, but he doesn't, so he's really upset!" Chiba hurriedly cut Yukina off, secretly signaling to her with his hand.

Yukina was slightly stunned by Chiba cutting her off, but when she saw his gesture, she immediately understood. "That's right."

"It's only one barbecue meal. Do you need to be this upset? I'll add another one for you in a few days." Kushina Uzumaki said in realization. "But you'll have to wait until Teacher gets paid."

Konoha gave all Chunin and above a fixed salary, separate from mission rewards, of course. Genin also had salaries, though theirs were much smaller. Chiba did not know that.

Great! Chiba quietly clenched his fist. He had successfully tricked her into another barbecue meal. But before he could be happy for more than a few seconds, he glimpsed Hirohiko still looking pale with dark lines hanging over him. Clearly, he was so devastated that he could no longer hear anything around him.

No! I need to snap Hirohiko out of it. Otherwise, won't it look like he wasn't upset over barbecue at all?

Thinking this, Chiba reacted quickly. He patted Hirohiko's shoulder and frantically gave him a thumbs-up from Kushina's blind spot while saying, "Great, Hirohiko! Teacher agreed to add another barbecue meal. It's all thanks to you—we get to eat barbecue one more time!"

With that pat, those words, and that praise, Hirohiko indeed reacted a little. When he saw Chiba's gesture again, he immediately recovered. Still wearing a poker face, he turned around and looked at Chiba.

Chiba nodded with an expression that said, Well done.

Hirohiko nodded with his poker face as well, then said to Kushina Uzumaki, "Thank you, Teacher Kushina."

Kushina Uzumaki looked at the two of them.

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like the two were plotting something...

At that, Kushina Uzumaki could only shake her head helplessly.

To her, what mattered most was that Chiba and the other two grew up well, gained the ability to protect themselves, and perhaps even became three ninjas capable of standing on their own. As for one barbecue meal, she had not given it a second thought.

"Meet at the usual time and place tonight. Also, tomorrow's meeting time has changed—we'll gather at seven. Make sure you go to bed early." Kushina Uzumaki said.

The three of them exchanged glances, then nodded. "Got it."

Looks like tomorrow will be another grueling day!

Seeing Kushina Uzumaki's stern, serious expression, Chiba thought this to himself.

"Oh... Chiba, is your foot okay?" Kushina Uzumaki seemed to recall something and asked Chiba.

"It's fine. It won't affect tomorrow's training."

"Mm! That's good."

Kushina Uzumaki revealed a faint smile.