I had half a mouthful of pork rib soup in my mouth and gulped it down, the heat making my throat tighten.
I tapped the tips of my chopsticks twice against the stone table and spat out a little bone fragment, which landed squarely on the back of Sasuke's outstretched hand.
The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched. A speck of grease dotted his hand, but he didn't so much as sway, his eyes locked on mine.
Naruto was gnawing on a rib beside us, dark yellow-brown sauce smeared around his mouth. "Sasuke, don't spray spit into the soup," he mumbled. "I'm not full yet."
"Eat, eat, eat! That's all you ever do! Disaster's at our doorstep, and you're still stuffing that bottomless pit!"
Sasuke whipped his head toward Naruto and growled, actually spraying spit this time. The ragged cloth over his chest shook with his anger.
"Isshiki's true body is hiding inside Jigen's shell. He can shrink himself smaller than a flea, even hide inside a spatial rift the size of a speck of dust."
"My Rinnegan has searched hundreds of alternate dimensions. Every time I catch a glimpse of him, he shrinks into the microscopic world and vanishes without a trace. The Shinobi World is huge! Where am I supposed to find a grain of sand that breathes?!"
I set down my big coarse porcelain bowl, wiped my greasy mouth with the back of my hand, then rubbed it twice against my baggy gray shorts.
"Young master, you usually seem pretty sharp. How'd you get so damn stubborn?"
I eyed him sideways and rubbed my sole against the muddy ground. Cool yellow mud squeezed out between my toes.
"Do you have to stare a flea down to find it? If a rat gets into your house, do you crawl