Naruto: Choosing from Birth

"Is that really Cheng-nii? How is his Transformation Technique so good? It's completely identical."

"This is infuriating. Does this mean we chopped trees for nothing all that time?"

Just then, the real Ishibashi-sensei rushed over from the reservoir.

"Uchiha Cheng!!!"

"You dare come back!"

"Cheng-nii is here! Everyone, get him! Beat him up!"

Shuriken Throwing Technique!

Logging Axe Throwing Technique!

Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Palm!

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

Mind Body Switch Technique!

Human Boulder...

"Wait, ask first before doing anything." Shikaku Nara's warning was drowned out by the furious roars of the trainees...*

Shin River Reservoir, located along the middle reaches of the Shin River.

At that moment, Minato Namikaze also arrived at Shin River Reservoir.

Uchiha Cheng used the Lightning Release: Chidori he had just obtained!

In the shallow waters downstream, he electrocuted Big Silver Fish, Mackerel Pike, and other delicious, tender fish until they floated to the surface.

Then he had Minato use Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

Blowing all the fish onto the shore.

All the grills were lit, each one piled with grilled fish, and the aroma of meat filled the air.

When "Ishibashi" arrived with the girls.

They all cried out in amazement.

Then eagerly joined the grilling crew.

"Cheng-nii, so you ran ahead to prepare the ingredients."

"Can we use these grills? Thank you, Cheng-nii."

"You can. Split the other nine grills among yourselves. That should be enough. Mikoto, Kushina, come over here."

"Thank you, Cheng-nii!"

"Cheng-nii is the best!"

Uchiha Cheng handed the two grilled fish, already brushed with seasoning, to Mikoto and Kushina.

"Hmph, you think one grilled fish is enough to make me forgive you?"

Kushina wrinkled her cute little nose.

One side of the fish was coated in golden honey, while the other was covered in red chili sauce. Wave after wave of fragrance drifted into her nose.

I... I really want to eat it!

"Fine, don't eat it then. I can't say much else, but my grilled fish is definitely the best."

"Come on, little sister, don't be angry. You must be hungry. No matter what, Cheng-nii definitely didn't do it on purpose." Mikoto Uchiha took Kushina forward and accepted the grilled fish.

"You're just too gentle, Sister. You'll definitely suffer for it someday."

"Hiss... It's so good."

The refreshing sweetness of honey mixed with the fragrant heat of the special chili sauce. The rich, plump fish meat, coupled with hunger after all that exhaustion.

Hiss, it was truly the ultimate sensation of ice and fire.

In an instant, Mikoto and Kushina became like two kittens, narrowing their eyes as they lowered their heads and savored the fish.

They appeared to be chewing slowly, taking tiny bites bit by bit, but in truth they were pecking at it as rapidly as chicks. In less than two minutes, they had finished it.

With cheeks puffed out like hamsters, both girls widened their eyes and stared at the enormous twenty-pound Big Silver Fish on the grill.

"What are you looking at? That one's mine! At most, I'll give you some after I've eaten half of it!"

"Hmph! Stingy!!!"

Kushina wrinkled her little nose again. For the sake of her stomach, she took the initiative to help grill the fish.

"My fish is done. Want to try some?"

Minato Namikaze, standing beside the grill, hurriedly offered her a skewer of grilled fish.

Kushina looked at the fish, which had only been seasoned with a little salt. Its aroma was clearly far inferior to Cheng-nii's, and she turned her head away. "No. Yours doesn't taste good!"

"I-Is that so?"

Minato scratched his head and began eating it himself. No, it's pretty good...

Then he glanced at the grilled fish on Uchiha Cheng's grill, golden on one side and brilliantly red on the other.

"Wow, Cheng-nii, what kind of special seasoning is that? Your grilled fish is so good."

"Me too, me too! Do you need anyone to help? I can lend a hand."

When Shikaku Nara arrived carrying Nakai Ishibashi, who had been beaten unconscious by the crowd, his face bruised and swollen, with the equally bedraggled boys following behind him.

What they saw was a group of girls gathered around Uchiha Cheng, while the ten grills beside them were blazing away.

Everyone was wolfing down food, with sweat and grease flying everywhere.

Are you people eating fish? Sure, Big Silver Fish didn't have tiny bones, but wasn't this a little too exaggerated?

You're girls, for crying out loud. Watch your image.

Then they looked at their own sorry state. Their stamina, Chakra, and spirits were completely exhausted.

The boys wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Uchiha Cheng, you tricked us into going to the Lumberyard while you came here to feast! Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"Get away from my grill!"

"Sensei, I want to grill fish too."

The boys quickly crowded forward.

"Get lost! Cheng-nii kindly prepared delicious food for everyone. What are you trying to do?"

"Please, if you want to steal it, at least come up with a better excuse."

"Want to steal it? Have you asked us?"

The girls bravely stepped forward of their own accord, blocking Uchiha Cheng and creating a standoff.

At this moment, the well-fed girls were far more imposing than the boys opposite them, who were exhausted in both body and mind.

"Enough, stop arguing. These ten grills were rewards from the teacher for the first ten trainees to arrive. If you don't believe me, ask the teacher. As for why you got here so late, go move some stones and build yourselves a simple grill."

Uchiha Cheng stepped forward and stopped the tense crowd.

"Damn it, if you hadn't tricked us, how could we have arrived so late?"

"Don't make excuses for your failure. I left such an obvious flaw for you to spot, and you still fell for it. Who can you blame? When you become ninja and face real enemies, what will you do then?"

"Th-This..."

The boys felt as though a ball of cotton had clogged their chests. It felt awful. They couldn't win in a fight, couldn't win in an argument, and it seemed like they were the ones in the wrong?

"Alright, considering everyone has had a tiring journey, I've already prepared fish for you. If you don't want it, go catch your own." Uchiha Cheng waved a hand.

"Grrrrumble..."

Choza Akimichi's stomach let out a mountain-shaking growl.

"I don't care anymore. I'm grilling fish!"

Shikaku Nara led the boys who had just arrived and quickly built simple grills.

After wolfing down two fish and easing their hunger.

The boys still felt something was off.

"Why does the grilled fish over there smell so much better?"

"Maybe it's just because there are more of them? Idiot! Aren't they all the same fish?"

"No, there are so many girls over there. Girls are better at cooking."