Scamming Living Expenses

Ding, ding, ding—

As the dismissal bell rang, they had also been standing outside the classroom all morning. When the noon break arrived, everyone took out their lunchboxes.

Lin Chuan returned to his seat and took out his lunchbox. His cheap parents had prepared lunch for him: several rice balls, two fried eggs, a grilled sausage, and some ketchup. He sat on his desk and opened the lunchbox. Seeing Naruto and the others gather around, he showed them his lunch.

"Chuan, you have grilled sausage. I'll trade you meatballs for it," Choji said, sniffing the air as he leaned over Lin Chuan's desk, drooling at the sausage in his lunchbox.

"Sure. I want two meatballs." Lin Chuan smiled and picked up the sausage with his chopsticks, waiting for Choji's meatballs. Noticing Naruto's low spirits, he guessed Naruto had forgotten to bring instant noodles again.

"Naruto, I have another lunchbox. This one's for you..."

Besides fighting, sharing a meal was another way to build a friendship with Naruto. How could he possibly miss a chance to raise his favorability? He had to seize it tightly so he could fleece him properly later.

For that reason, he had even asked his mother to prepare an extra lunchbox. If Naruto did not get anything to eat, Lin Chuan could eat it himself if he got hungry during training later.

"Really?" Naruto covered his growling stomach. Looking at the fragrant lunchboxes in front of everyone else, he could not help swallowing.

"Here." Lin Chuan directly tossed the lunchbox to Naruto, or Naruto's drool would have dripped onto the desk. Both lunchboxes had the same meal, each with a grilled sausage inside.

"So good!" It was Naruto's first time eating such a delicious lunchbox meal and ketchup. Usually, he either ate instant noodles or went fishing in the wild, picking mushrooms he could not tell were poisonous before throwing them all into a stew. To Naruto, this lunch truly was a rare delicacy...

"Chuan, thanks for lunch. I'll bring money for it tomorrow." Naruto set down the lunchbox and contentedly wiped the corner of his mouth. He checked his pants pockets and realized he had not brought any money today.

"Sure." Lin Chuan thought about it. He remembered that a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost sixty ryo. The exchange rate between ryo and yen in the world of Naruto was ten to one, so a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen was six hundred yen, or about thirty yuan.

Since his family was making lunch anyway, he could earn a little extra money and keep his mother's efforts from going to waste. So he suggested, "Naruto, how about my family handles all your lunches from now on? We'll make the same portions as today. Eighty ryo per meal, thirty meals a month—that's two thousand four hundred ryo..."

"Two thousand four hundred ryo? The living expenses that old man gives me aren't that much," Naruto said, troubled by the number. Every time old Sarutobi came by, he gave Naruto very little living money. Otherwise, Naruto would not have gone fishing by the river and gathering wild mushrooms for soup.

"Can't you just ask that old man for more money? Tell him you're growing and need to eat more," Lin Chuan said helplessly, curling his lip. Old Sarutobi only dared to take advantage of Naruto because Naruto could not count. Lin Chuan knew exactly how much inheritance the Fourth Hokage had left behind.

After starting school, he had only just met Naruto and had not dared to approach him. But he knew who the old man Naruto talked about was. Now that they had the relationship of classmates, he could openly get close to Naruto.

He would have Naruto ask old Sarutobi for his inheritance, while he tricked Naruto out of his living expenses and fleeced him hard!

Training costs were high, and he could not skimp on food alone. As a student with no income, he could only openly earn some extra cash.

"Alright, it's settled," Naruto agreed after thinking it over. At worst, he would squeeze more living expenses out of the old man next time. After all, only Lin Chuan was willing to bring him lunch.

After lunch came the afternoon physical education class, where the children exercised, got acquainted with kunai, and practiced things like kunai throwing.

"Students, today's PE class will involve running three laps around the field and practicing kunai throwing. There'll be a kunai throwing test next week," Iruka said at the front, completely unaware that several little brats had already quietly slipped away.

Lin Chuan was still not interested in PE. He had long since practiced kunai throwing, and even his running training intensity was beyond what these children could compare to.

He climbed over the school wall and headed to an empty training ground outside. Only the spacious outdoor area was convenient for training with kunai.

He had just talked Naruto into paying for lunch. At eighty ryo per meal, he could pocket forty ryo. It did not cost much to cook at home anyway.

That would bring in twelve hundred ryo a month. With two semesters totaling eight months a year, that came to nine thousand six hundred ryo. Over six years, it would be nearly sixty thousand ryo.

With sixty thousand ryo in spending money, he could buy equipment needed for training, along with medicine for training injuries and other supplies. He could also go all out, grinding techniques and physical training to prepare for the plans ahead.

He just did not know that several little tails were following him...

"Lin Chuan? Why does he always skip class?" Naruto and the other two had long noticed Lin Chuan skipping class. Today, they finally trailed after him and watched him arrive at a training ground, set down his backpack, take out a kunai, and throw it at a moving target hanging from a tree trunk.

Shikamaru and Choji were also surprised that Lin Chuan skipped class. They had not been very familiar before, but because of the fight that morning, the four of them had stood outside the classroom talking for a long time. After getting to know one another all morning, they had even shared Choji's snacks and learned a bit about each other.

Now, seeing Lin Chuan skip class again, they were all curious about him. After following him here, they discovered that Lin Chuan seemed to be a training fanatic.

Thud, thud, thud, thud—

The three watched as every kunai in Lin Chuan's hand struck the moving target. Choji and Naruto nearly cried out in surprise, but Shikamaru quickly covered their mouths.

A foodie and an orphan might not understand the significance of hitting a moving target with every kunai, but Shikamaru had been smart since childhood. On top of that, his father was the Hokage's adviser, so he knew many things.

He knew very well how much effort and time someone their age had to put in to hit the bullseye with every kunai.

Because he was one of them. If his father had not forced him to practice shuriken throwing, his kunai throwing would not have been so accurate either.

As for Lin Chuan, either he also had a strict father, or he understood the importance of hard work.

Lin Chuan was still grinding away at kunai throwing. Watching the proficiency on his grinding panel rise continuously, he suffered and rejoiced at the same time...

[Throwing]

[Kunai Fixed-Target Throwing (Limit Break: 23210/100000)]

[Kunai Moving-Target Throwing (Chunin: 13110/20000)]

Seeing that the moving target progress had increased by more than a thousand recently, he ended his kunai throwing practice. He needed to rest for half an hour and drink some water. Once throwing proficiency reached this point, all that remained was steady, painstaking practice.

He was no longer as crazed as when he had first farmed proficiency. He had gradually calmed down. Calling his previous state one of forgetting food and sleep would not have been an exaggeration. Skipping class just to grind training—there really was no one else like him.

He did not know that clever Shikamaru had already guessed most of it, only missing the fact that Lin Chuan had a grinding panel. Lin Chuan had planned three hundred moving-target kunai throws every day as one of his daily training tasks.

He had other training as well. Next came a five-kilometer slow jog around the training ground while carrying weights. His daily requirement was ten kilometers: five here, then another five on the way home.

He still did not know that the three little brats who had slipped out with him had quietly returned to school, where Iruka was taking attendance...