The Three Little Ones

Tsunade carried a schoolbag, with a pale-faced boy and a scruffy little brat trailing alongside her.

"Tsunade, have you been secretly training this whole time?!" the messy-haired little brat blurted out. "I heard your grandfather is the First. Is he really that strong?"

The pale-faced boy beside them looked calmly at his two companions. "Let's split up here. I'm going home."

"Huh? Orochimaru, you're going home already? But your parents aren't home, are they?" the scruffy little brat called to the pale-faced boy.

"I can get home by myself." Orochimaru—ah, he should be Little Orochimaru now—Little Orochimaru said coolly, then turned to leave...

Then, with a "smack," he crashed straight into someone.

"Ugh... that hurt. Well, okay, not that much..." Yuya rubbed his head and hurriedly reached out to the child he'd knocked to the ground. "Sorry, are you all right, kid?"

Little Orochimaru was about to take Yuya's hand, but when he heard Yuya's words, he pulled his hand back and got to his feet by himself. "You don't look much older than me. You can't call me that."

Yuya blinked, looking at the boy in front of him, then at the little girl beside him. A grin spread across his face. "Hey, Tsunade."

Little Tsunade's face darkened when she saw Yuya. She turned away and snorted.

The white-haired brat beside her looked mischievous. He pointed at Yuya and shouted, "Hey! What did you do to Tsunade?! Do you know she's the First's granddaughter? She's Konoha's princess!"

Yuya's welcoming smile vanished.

Tsunade planted her foot right on the white-haired brat's. "Jiraiya! How many times have I told you? Don't call me that!"

Jiraiya immediately started howling.

Yuya raised his eyebrows and looked at the three little ones.

Well, the three little ones—gambling, women, and booze—had all ended up together.

Wow, had they really reached the age to start school already?

For some reason, time seemed to have flown by. In his memory, just a few days ago, this little brat Tsunade had been learning how to gamble from Senju Hashirama...

Yuya sighed, his smile fading as he chided Tsunade. "Tsunade, you shouldn't be so rough with your classmates."

Tsunade glared at Yuya, puffed out her cheeks, and snapped, "None of your business!" Then she tried to run off.

Yuya caught her with one hand.

"What a disobedient child."

Yuya sighed, then turned to Little Jiraiya and Little Orochimaru. "You two, it seems my Tsunade has caused you some trouble. Sorry about that. How about I treat you to a big meal to make up for it?"

Little Jiraiya asked, "A big meal? What kind of big meal?"

Little Orochimaru said, "No, thanks. I'm going home."

Yuya chuckled and lowered his voice. "That barbecue restaurant that just opened in Konoha gets a premium snow-mountain wagyu every day. It's imported from the Land of Frost."

Little Jiraiya froze in astonishment.

Little Orochimaru stopped in his tracks, too.

Besides shaping public opinion and giving Konoha's villagers something to read in their spare time, Yuya's Ninja News had another important function: advertising.

At least, that newly opened barbecue restaurant had already benefited from its first wave of ads.

"B-big brother, do you really have enough money? I heard that place is super expensive!" Little Jiraiya's attitude changed in an instant.

As the saying goes, one could be rude at first and obsequious later. It was enough to make anyone laugh.

Tsunade, with Yuya's hand still resting on her head, grumbled, "Of course he has money. He's loaded."

She stared at Yuya with dead-fish eyes. "He just never gives me any."

Yuya grinned and ruffled Tsunade's hair. "You little brat! You think I don't know what you'd do with the money?!"

Tsunade was furious. "You're only six years older than me! What gives you the right to call me a little brat?"

Yuya ignored her outrage, kept ruffling her head, and turned to Little Orochimaru. "What about you, kid? Are you coming? It's on me."

Little Orochimaru hesitated. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. "No, I should go home fir—"

But before he could finish, Little Jiraiya clapped a hand over his mouth and shouted, "Come on, let's go eat barbecue together!"

Half an hour later, at a barbecue restaurant with a fully wooden interior, unlike the traditional concrete decor, Yuya and the three little ones had ordered a huge platter of sliced beef.

The three little ones ate with gusto, but Yuya didn't touch his chopsticks. Instead, he was writing one name after another in his pocket notebook.

"Big bro! Aren't you eating?" When it came to getting friendly fast, Little Jiraiya was the best.

He knew that if he got this big brother to accept him, he'd have no shortage of barbecue from then on.

So he immediately surrendered.

Yuya chuckled and shook his head. "You're calling me big bro because you want me to treat you to barbecue every day from now on?"

Little Jiraiya laughed sheepishly. "Oh, once a day would be such a waste. Once a week is fine! Hahaha!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes, too fed up to bother with this idiot. She just hurried to put more meat on the grill and into her mouth.

She didn't care about Yuya's wallet at all. The more she could drain it, the better.

Little Orochimaru ate the most politely, slowly and methodically. If Yuya hadn't ordered plenty, Jiraiya and Tsunade would've eaten his portion long ago.

Yuya smiled and slipped the notebook into his pocket. "Even once a week might be difficult. I'll be busy for a while."

Tsunade suddenly gave Yuya a cold laugh. "Busy with what? Asking us to donate money and supplies again, while the people in those big houses in the village donate nothing?"

Only then did Yuya understand why the little girl was unhappy with him.

Yuya smiled at Tsunade. "Why would you think that? Why should the people living in those big houses donate?"

Tsunade slapped the table angrily. "Shouldn't they?! Why should it be only us who have to donate? My mother gave away all her savings, bedding, and new clothes! The lady next door donated! The man across the street donated! But the people living in those big houses didn't!"

Yuya raised his eyebrows. Luckily, Tsunade was still a little girl. Otherwise, she would've smashed the table to pieces.

Well, she'd probably grow up and become more mature.

Little Jiraiya had been about to grab some meat, but Tsunade's outburst startled him so much that he froze.

Yuya wasn't angry. Instead, he apologized to the customers at the other tables. "Sorry, my little sister got carried away and startled you."

Yuya wasn't very old himself, and he'd apologized right away, so no one kept paying attention to them.

Yuya looked at Tsunade with approval. "I'm glad you've noticed that.

"But there are some things...

"Tsunade, you shouldn't get involved in them.

"With the time you have...

"Just eat some more meat. It's almost burnt."

As he spoke, Yuya picked up a piece of meat and put it on Little Tsunade's plate.

Little Tsunade puffed out her cheeks, but in the end, all she could do was sit down angrily and stuff herself with meat.

Yuya saw that Tsunade and Jiraiya had nearly finished eating and smiled. "You're about done, right?"

Little Tsunade snorted. "What, you're not planning to pay?"

Yuya grinned wickedly. "It's not that. But now that you've finished eating, it's my turn."

With that, Yuya got up, went to the counter, and grabbed a dipping bowl. He added chili, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and other seasonings, then returned to his seat.

He picked up a slice of grilled meat, dipped it in the sauce, and popped it into his mouth. Mmm...

Absolutely delicious.

Beside him, Little Jiraiya and Little Tsunade rubbed their round bellies as they watched Yuya eat with sauce glistening around his mouth. The fragrant dipping sauce only made a wave of resentment well up inside them...

That was just too cruel...