The Protective Mechanism Triggered by Bullying

For the next period, Miki Yūya completely unlocked his exclusive daily routine.

His daily schedule was simple and boring, but the returns were extremely high.

He spent the days wandering all over the village collecting protection fees, picking any small shop or villager that looked easy to handle to demand a few coins to make ends meet, and spending most of the rest of the time hunting for Konohamaru all over the village.

Chasing the Third Hokage's grandson through the streets, catching him and giving him a beating had already become Miki Yūya's daily check-in task.

Relying on day-after-day physical suppression and trash-talking confrontations, his Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki, and Observation Haki skyrocketed all the way.

Why did Observation Haki increase as well? Because Miki Yūya was an orphan, and he was usually bullied too; to put it bluntly, an orphan like him would be cursed as bad luck if he stayed a little too long in front of someone else's shop.

Only in front of the shops belonging to certain shinobi clans did no one dare to curse him-after all, shinobi and unruly commoners were different.

And his physical fitness rose synchronously with his Armament Haki.

Following right along with that was a terrifying surge in his appetite.

The stronger his physical body, the more ferocious the energy consumption, and his appetite became like a bottomless pit, impossible to fill no matter how much he ate.

At noon on this day.

On the Konoha commercial street, the Akimichi Clan's signature barbecue restaurant billowed with thick smoke and soaring aromas.

Miki Yūya had just finished devouring a full table of barbecue, a thick stack of empty plates piled on the table, and though his stomach was slightly bulging, he was still only half full.

Yet he reached out to pat his pocket, and it was empty, unable to squeeze out even a single coin.

He was out of money.

No matter how much more he wanted to eat, he could only stop right there.

Miki Yūya walked out of the barbecue restaurant with a frustrated expression, still angrily muttering complaints in his heart; no one ever said that opening a cheat to get stronger would still leave you hungry, which was truly absurd.

He never expected that an expert like him would actually have a time when he had no money to eat.

Just as he stepped out of the shop door, he ran right into the Ino-Shika-Cho trio strolling together.

Choji walked right in the middle, his head fat and ears big, his face round, tightly clutching a skewer of three-color dango in his hand, chomping as he walked, stuffing sweets into his mouth without a single moment of rest.

Miki Yūya, who was already not full and full of a belly's worth of fire, instantly caught fire on the spot.

He stared at Choji's bloated body, opened his mouth and launched into an unsparing torrent of abuse.

"Eat, eat, eat! You only know how to eat!"

"You dead fatty, you've fattened into a ball, your eyes are almost squeezed shut by fat, and you're still stuffing your face?"

"Can you dead fatty have a little self-awareness?"

"Konoha's streets are narrow to begin with, and this fat of yours takes up half the road, blocking the way and being an eyesore!"

"Get out of the way, don't block my path!"

[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +3]

The sudden, angry scolding left Choji completely dumbfounded.

He had been obediently eating his dango, not provoking anyone or making trouble, yet suffered a vicious, unprovoked taunt.

Choji had a soft disposition; feeling wronged, his eye rims turned slightly red, and clutching his dango without daring to move, he silently shifted to the side, obediently clearing the path for Miki Yūya.

Yet Ino Yamanaka beside him could not bear it.

Her brows furrowed fiercely, and stepping forward, she blocked right in front of Choji, speaking with a face full of defiance:

"What kind of madness are you-?!

"Choji is eating his own food. Did he eat your family's rice or spend your family's money?"

"He can eat as much as he likes, what business is it of yours? What right do you have to go around scolding people!"

What the hell? Why do I scold people casually? I'm an ill-mannered, unruly commoner-you're asking me why I scold people casually? Because I have no manners.

If I had manners, would I go around scolding people casually?

As soon as Ino's voice fell, Miki Yūya directly turned his gaze to lock onto her.

"None of my business?"

"You pampered young masters and misses born into shinobi clans and free from worries about food and clothing will never understand the hardships of ordinary people at the bottom!"

"Do you know how many commoners in the Shinobi World still can't get a meal, can't eat their fill?"

"Countless people in the Shinobi World can't even get a single mouthful of hot food, yet you hold high positions, live in luxury, and waste food without a shred of guilt?"

"With so many people starving, do you high-and-mighty shinobi clan descendants really not have a single bit of fault?!"

A burst of righteous and awe-inspiring output filled with twisted logic directly stunned Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji on the spot.

The three looked at each other in dismay, their brains buzzing.

They had lived like this since they were little-eating their fill, dressing warmly, eating and drinking normally-who would have ever thought this was actually wrong?!

Yet Miki Yūya spoke with such righteous confidence, could they really be wrong?

Yet they had no idea at all where they were supposedly wrong.

Watching the three of them with blank, helpless expressions, Miki Yūya felt even more disgusted and continued his cold ridicule:

"You can't even figure out where you're wrong, and you're stupid enough to still dare to stand up and argue reasoning with me?"

"You truly live up to being the 'pig' of Ino-Shika-Cho, your brain is as foolish as a pig's."

"If all else fails, you can ask Choji for a fattening recipe and eat yourself fat too, so at least your body shape can barely match your intelligence!"

[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +4]

[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +5]

Ino was so angry her face turned crimson, furious and speechless, yet she was blocked by Miki Yūya's twisted logic to the point where she could not refute a single sentence.

Shikamaru Nara's gaze at the side had already turned cold.

Everyone in the village knew Miki Yūya was overbearing, but they never expected this guy to be so unreasonable and humiliate people at will.

Too lazy to talk nonsense, a faint light flashed in Shikamaru's eyes, and his hands moved quietly to form hand seals-

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

A pitch-black shadow spread rapidly along the ground, silently tangling toward Miki Yūya's ankles, intending to trip the man directly and properly teach this foul-mouthed, unruly commoner a lesson.

Yet just at the moment the shadow was about to touch his trouser hem!

Hum-!

A mental pressure that was near-material and terrifying to the extreme burst forth with a roar!

Miki Yūya merely swept a cold, indifferent glance!

The ultimate Conqueror's Haki erupted instantly.

An invisible mental shock enveloped the three of them with a roar.

Shikamaru's whole body stiffened violently, his mind suddenly going completely blank, the hand seals on his hands stuttered instantly, and the shadow jutsu extending outward shattered and dissipated right on the spot!

An extreme terror surged straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

At this moment, the Miki Yūya in his eyes was not some ordinary villager at all.

That overlooking glance was like an unrivaled male lion lurking in the mountain forest, coldly staring at the provocation of ants.

A bone-chilling cold swept through his entire body, all his hairs stood on end, his limbs trembled uncontrollably, and even breathing became difficult.

Choji and Ino, who had been affected by the Conqueror's Haki nearby, likewise shook their bodies, involuntarily looking toward Miki Yūya with eyes full of shock.

The pressure of a single gaze alone directly crushed the Ino-Shika-Cho trio!

Miki Yūya gave a cold, faint snort and spoke with disdain:

"Ino-Shika-Cho?"

"You're just three pigs."

"One fat pig, one stupid pig, one lazy pig."

"Three fools gathered in a nest, how shameful, how laughable."

After saying this, he couldn't be bothered to waste any more time with the three children and strode away.

No matter how strong his Haki was or how hard his physical body was, being hungry was truly being hungry.

The most important matter right now-getting money!

Firewood, rice, oil, salt, eating meat, and having full meals were the hard truths.

Before long, Miki Yūya, familiar with the route, turned into the narrow alleys of Konoha's back streets.

This place was remote and sparsely populated, his exclusive territory for collecting protection fees year-round.

Deep in the alley, Kawada, Sato, and Yamamoto-three idle villagers-were cornered here by Miki Yūya, their complexions instantly sinking.

It was this bully again!

"Miki Yūya? What are you here for again!"

"We already paid our protection fee for this month! Don't push your luck!"

"Don't think you're amazing just because you're an orphan. Let me tell you, my parents will die sooner or later too, you won't be arrogant for long."

The three of them opened their mouths to hurl angry curses on the spot, their tones arrogant and completely unresigned.

Miki Yūya couldn't be bothered to talk nonsense; when lacking money, reasoning was the most useless thing.

He stepped forward directly, quick and fierce!

Bang, bang, slap, thump-a few muffled sounds!

Without even a chance to resist, the three of them were beaten black and blue, collapsing to the ground to wail and beg for mercy.

"Stop hitting us, stop hitting us! We'll give you money! We'll give you money!"

Thoroughly beaten into submission, the three obediently dug out all the loose change on their bodies and handed it over.

After collecting the money, Miki Yūya even gained a tiny bit more Armament Haki, and afterwards casually patted the three men's pockets, fishing out three brand-new movie tickets.

Printed on the face of the tickets was--"Princess Gale's Great Adventure".

Instantly, he wore a look of utter disgust again, opening his mouth to continue his taunts:

"Just you three illiterate trash, not knowing a single big character, and you can understand movies?"

As he spoke, he casually pulled out one of the movie tickets and tucked it into his own pocket.

The remaining two tickets were casually tossed back into the three men's arms.

The three of them were on the verge of tears.

Three fine movie tickets, and one was forcefully plucked away, leaving the three of them with only two, making it completely impossible to watch together.

The three looked at each other in dismay, their faces filled with grievances, yet they didn't dare to resist in the least.

After Miki Yūya left, the three of them rubbed the bruises on their bodies and walked dejectedly toward the cinema holding the two movie tickets.

Just as they reached the entrance of the cinema, sweeping their gaze across, they happened to run into Konohamaru, who was alone and holding a movie ticket, preparing to enter.

Konohamaru hadn't been going to the Hokage Building to make a fuss with Tsunade lately because every time he went, Tsunade would call Miki Yūya over, and then Konohamaru would get beaten up, after which Tsunade would heal Konohamaru right back up.

As a result, he went again the next day, and got beaten again.

After going back and forth several times, Konohamaru stopped going; that old woman never used her own hands, always having Miki Yūya do the striking.

Now that Konohamaru had finally settled down in peace, wanting to watch a movie to relax,

it landed in the eyes of the three villagers, Kawada, who had just taken their frustrations out elsewhere, like the absolute perfect outlet.

The three men's eyes lit up instantly, and they immediately swarmed forward with malicious expressions.

"Oh? Isn't this the sinner's grandson?"

"You're even worthy of coming to watch a movie?"

"The Third committed a bunch of faults, and your Sarutobi Clan still hasn't paid back the debt you owe the village!"

"The descendants of sinners should honestly tuck their tails between their legs and live, and you're worthy of leisure and entertainment?"

"Get lost right now! This isn't a place someone like you can come!"

As their words fell, the three directly used their hands, pushing, shoving, and beating the weak Konohamaru.

Konohamaru didn't have much strength to begin with, and after a moment was knocked flat to the ground, the movie ticket in his hand snatched away directly.

Having snatched the ticket, Kawada and the other two instantly balanced their hearts.

Being bullied by Miki Yūya was out of the question, but bullying Konohamaru? Wasn't that a piece of cake?

Holding the snatched tickets, the three of them laughed happily and walked into the cinema with their chests puffed out.

Leaving only Konohamaru alone, collapsed at the entrance of the cinema, staring blankly at the Snow Princess on the movie poster.

If he could also become a hero like the Snow Princess, then he would surely win everyone's recognition, instead of ending up like this... treated by everyone as a sinner's grandson...