Barbecue Q Feast: Eating Three Team Leaders into Poverty

Barbecue Q, the largest barbecue restaurant in Konoha Village.

At that moment, the enormous private room on the second floor, large enough to hold dozens of people, was already buzzing with noise.

The excitement of graduating, the reluctance of an impending parting, and the joy of not having to pay out of pocket had completely unleashed this group of ten-year-old brats.

Iruka and two team leaders from other classes sat off to the side with cheerful smiles, watching the energetic students with gratified expressions.

"Boss! Bring another ten plates of premium pork belly!"

Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, clutching a sizzling, grease-dripping slab of grilled meat in one hand.

"Eat less, dead last. Don't stuff yourself to death," Sasuke said from beside him, leisurely picking up a piece of lean meat with an expression of utter disdain.

"Mind your own business! Iruka-sensei is treating us—I'm going to eat my money's worth!"

Sen did not join in their bickering.

When he walked in carrying that flashy recliner and sun umbrella, he certainly drew plenty of attention.

But he did not care in the slightest. He found a well-ventilated corner by the window and sat down.

He tossed his gear aside, picked up his tongs, and began eating with downright insane abandon.

Plate after plate.

Well-done, half-cooked, even meat that was still seeping blood.

Sen accepted it all, shoveling it into his mouth like a ravenous whirlwind.

He ate so quickly that he resembled a merciless grinder with an accelerator attached.

"Hey, hey, Sen, slow down. No one's going to steal your food."

Shikamaru, seated across from him, watched Sen's black-hole-like stomach and broke out in a cold sweat.

"What a pain. That way of eating is even more outrageous than Choji's."

The moment he heard his name mentioned.

Choji Akimichi, who was wolfing down food at the next table, abruptly lifted his head.

He looked at his own "record"—five or six empty plates stacked in front of him.

Then he turned to look at the dozen or so empty plates before Sen, already piled into a precarious little mountain.

Choji's perpetually narrowed eyes flew wide open, and an unyielding blaze ignited in their depths!

For the Akimichi Clan, they could lose in strength or lose in ninjutsu.

But!

When it came to eating, they could never lose to anyone!

This was a battle of dignity, with the honor of the clan at stake!

"Sen Senju!"

Choji slammed his hands onto the table with a bang, still clutching two pairs of grilling tongs.

He drew in a deep breath and let out a roar that drowned out every other sound in the room.

"I challenge you!"

The entire room fell silent in an instant, and everyone's eyes turned toward the two of them.

"A challenge?" Sen swallowed a piece of meat and looked up blankly. "Challenge what? Who can sleep longer?"

"Eating meat!"

The fat all over Choji's body trembled as he pointed at the plates in front of Sen.

"Let's see who eats the most today! The loser has to loudly admit that the other is Konoha's true King of Big Eaters!"

Sen paused, then burst out laughing.

This little fatty was actually pretty interesting.

He set down his chopsticks and pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth.

"You want to compete with me in eating? Are you sure?"

Sen's tone was calm, but an extremely strange curve formed at the corner of his lips.

When it came to eating, he had never feared anyone.

Other people put food into their stomachs, and once they were full, they had to stop.

But he was different.

"Since you've challenged me so sincerely, I'll graciously accept."

Sen picked up his chopsticks again, his gaze sharpening.

"Boss!"

He snapped his fingers, his voice ringing clear.

"Bring me everything on this menu from beginning to end—three more times!"

The entire room erupted.

Three times?!

How much meat would that be?! They could eat an entire cow!

Iruka's previously smiling face suddenly stiffened, and his right eyelid began twitching uncontrollably.

He instinctively touched his flat wallet as an extremely ominous feeling rose in his heart.

"Good! Now that's spirit!"

Unwilling to be outdone, Choji roared as well. "Boss! Give me three rounds too!"

A battle of big eaters for the sake of honor had officially begun!

The barbecue restaurant's servers carried plates back and forth between the private room and kitchen like workers on an assembly line.

The sizzle of grilling meat, mixed with the two boys' frantic chewing, became the only melody in the room.

Choji's method of eating was a classic Akimichi Style.

He swallowed huge mouthfuls, relying on his clan's secret techniques and his massive body to forcibly compress the food into his stomach.

At first, he could still keep up with Sen's pace.

But as time passed and the stacks of plates grew taller.

Beads of sweat the size of beans began rolling down Choji's forehead, and his breathing grew heavy.

He felt as though his stomach was about to reach its limit. Every mouthful of meat he swallowed felt like he was gulping down knives.

As for Sen.

He still wore that unhurried, lazy expression.

Piece after piece of grilled meat went into his mouth. He barely chewed before swallowing them whole.

Most bizarrely, his flat stomach showed no sign of swelling at all!

It was like a bottomless pit that could never be filled.

"H-how is this possible?!"

Choji stared fixedly at Sen's stomach, feeling his worldview crumble under the shock.

Where had all that meat gone?!

Of course, Sen was not going to tell him.

The moment he swallowed his first bite of meat, he had secretly activated the Divine Tree Origin's [Life Drain].

But this time, it was not used to drain people—it was applied in reverse!

The instant the grilled meat entered his body.

It was broken down, digested, and converted into the purest energy by the raging Divine Tree chakra.

Not even a trace of residue remained.

With this method of eating, let alone three rounds of the menu.

Even if they grilled every cow in Konoha Village and served them to him, Sen could swallow it all without changing expression!

And he could even replenish some Origin experience in the process. It was killing two birds with one stone.

"Burp..."

Half an hour later.

Choji finally could not hold on any longer.

His eyes rolled back as he collapsed into his chair like a lump of mud, with half a piece of meat still caught between his teeth.

"I... I admit defeat..."

He uttered those words in despair and gave up struggling completely.

The entire room exploded with thunderous cheers and gasps of amazement.

"That was incredible! Sen actually ate more than Choji!"

"That appetite is even more terrifying than the Wood Clone he made today!"

Sen put down his chopsticks and let out a satisfied burp.

He felt the warm current of energy circulating through his body, and the Divine Tree Origin's progress bar quietly moved forward another small notch.

"You let me win."

Sen smiled at Choji, then turned toward the three team leaders in the corner, who had already turned to stone.

By then.

Two mountains of empty plates taller than a person had been piled up on the table between Sen and Choji!

"Um... Senseis."

Sen gave them an exceptionally "kind" reminder.

"Shouldn't it be time to pay the bill?"

Iruka and the other two teachers stiffly turned their heads to look at the long receipt the server had handed over.

When they saw the astronomical figure printed on it.

"Ah—!"

A truly miserable wail rang through the entire second floor of Barbecue Q.

Iruka's legs went weak, and he slid straight off his chair beneath the table.

He clutched his flat wallet tightly as tears streamed down his face like beads from a broken string.

"My half-year's salary... it's all gone..."

The other two teachers were no better off, clinging to each other as they wept bitterly.

Sen looked at the tragic scene and shrugged without the slightest guilt.

"You can't blame me. You were the ones who insisted on treating us."

He hoisted up his recliner and sun umbrella, then waved contentedly.

"Classmates, teachers, I'm full. I'm going home to sleep now."

"Have a pleasant evening, everyone."

With that, he left behind a room full of classmates stunned by his appetite and three teachers crying together, then sauntered out of the barbecue restaurant.

Night fell, and stars filled the sky.

Sen returned to the orphanage and took a comfortable bath.

Lying on his old but familiar little bed, he soon drifted off to sleep.

He slept exceptionally soundly that night.

However.

Inside the Hokage Building at the center of Konoha Village.

A fierce argument concerning his future fate was continuing through the night.

Inside the Hokage's office.

Smoke filled the room, and the atmosphere was stiflingly tense.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat at the head of the table, his expression dark as water.

Across from him, the two high-ranking advisors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, were pointing at the latest intelligence report on the desk and arguing heatedly.

"Hiruzen! What exactly are you thinking?!"

Koharu Utatane slapped the table and demanded sharply.

"Can you really say that the strength Sen Senju displayed in the examination hall today belongs to an ordinary genin?"

"A solid Wood Clone! Rapid consecutive hand seals! And that unfathomable amount of chakra!"

"How can such a dangerous monster be casually shoved into an ordinary genin team?!"

"I suggest that he be immediately assigned to the ANBU. Homura and I will personally select the most loyal subordinates to monitor and train him twenty-four hours a day!"

Homura Mitokado echoed her words.

"That's right, Hiruzen. His Wood Release is far too uncontrollable. If he is allowed to wander around the village, he will cause a major disaster sooner or later."

"He must be kept firmly under the control of the village leadership. We absolutely cannot let Danzo get to him first!"

Faced with pressure from his two old friends.

The Third Hokage slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, impatience flickering in his eyes.

"Monitor him? Control him?"

The Third Hokage sneered.

"You think a few ANBU can keep that little monster in check?"

"Today, he can produce a solid Wood Clone. Tomorrow, he could create an entire forest for you!"

The Third Hokage stood, bracing both hands against the desk as he fixed the two advisors with a piercing gaze.

"Push him too hard, and it will only backfire."

"Sen is an orphan of the Senju Clan, not some ferocious beast we raised in a cage."

"My decision is final. He will graduate normally as a genin."

"As for his team leader..."

The Third Hokage pulled a file from a drawer and slammed it heavily onto the desk.

"I have already chosen someone."

The two advisors lowered their heads to look. Upon seeing the name on the file, they both sucked in a sharp breath.

"Hiruzen, have you gone mad?"

Koharu Utatane looked utterly incredulous.

"You're actually going to hand him... over to that man?!"