Lunchtime at the Ninja Academy

As Madara spoke in his measured voice, time flowed past like water, never pausing for a moment.

In the quiet classroom, the students' thoughts were drawn back to the tumultuous era of the village's founding-the bloody conflict between the Senju and Uchiha clans, how Madara and Hashirama had met and come to understand each other, their friendship and falling-out beside the Naka River, the endless wars and deaths of loved ones, the longing for peace and weariness of war, and how this little village called Konoha, which held everyone's hopes, had been founded and built.

No one understood that era better than Madara Uchiha, who had lived through it himself.

By now, no one was complaining that history was dull or boring. Under Madara's narration, that weighty history became remarkably engaging.

The children's breathing rose and fell with Madara's account and the history he described. They eagerly imagined how the shinobi of that era had struggled to survive and searched for hope while barely scraping by.

This was no longer merely the story of Hashirama and Madara, or the family history of the Senju and Uchiha. This was the history of the Warring States that their own parents and grandparents had lived through, dragging countless shinobi clans and ordinary people into its depths.

Ring-

Even when the bell rang right on time, the children remained immersed in those years of history, still hungry for more. They gazed hopefully at Madara Uchiha on the podium, longing shining in their clear, innocent eyes, wishing only that he would tell them a little more.

"Class dismissed."

But Madara Uchiha acted as though he had not noticed their longing at all. Without even glancing at the children, he picked up his things and turned to leave, showing them only his cold, effortlessly dashing back as he strode away with Hashirama, who had been waiting at the door.

Once both teachers had left, the students exchanged looks, communicating with their eyes. Suddenly left without a teacher, they had no idea what to do.

For a moment, meaningful glances flew all over the classroom, everyone conveying their feelings through their eyes. The sight was positively nauseating.

Shingetsu silently raised a hand and firmly covered her eyes to block all the coy looks being sent her way. She was utterly speechless. For some reason, everyone seemed eager to exchange glances with her, and she had distinctly seen someone secretly blow her a kiss.

Ugh! Did these little brats in the shinobi world really have to mature so early?

Suddenly, a sound as deep as thunder and as booming as a drum reverberated through the classroom. Everyone jumped, nearly mistaking it for a thunderclap in broad daylight.

Another rumble soon followed. This time, the students were ready, and every gaze instantly converged on its source. The little chubby boy, Torifu Akimichi, was miserably clutching his noisily growling stomach. When he noticed everyone looking at him, his face turned as red as a monkey's backside. He lowered his head and murmured bashfully:

"Can we... eat lunch now?"

Shingetsu turned to look at the sky outside, noting how early it still was, then glanced at the little chubby boy's relentlessly growling stomach. Finally, she resigned herself to taking the lunchbox Hōkaku had prepared for her out of her desk.

Fine. If he was that hungry, they might as well eat.

In impoverished Konoha, the academy naturally did not provide lunch. Everyone ate the boxed lunches they brought themselves.

Gathering with her Uchiha friends, Shingetsu opened her lunchbox. Inside were two rice balls made from white rice, stuffed with plums and wrapped in seaweed. The side dishes were grilled salmon, thick slices of pickled radish, and a small pile of natto tucked into one corner.

The instant she saw the natto, Shingetsu's expression twisted. Her pretty little face scrunched up, and most of her newly awakened appetite vanished.

She really didn't get it. Why hadn't Hōkaku given up on making her eat natto yet?

"Ugh, natto!"

"Ugh, fish again!"

Uchiha Inari also let out a disgusted complaint when she opened her lunchbox, her face twisting at the sight of the grilled fish inside.

The little schemer merely narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment before picking up the grilled fish with her chopsticks and depositing it in her older sister Miki's lunchbox. Then, without a shred of hesitation, she took every piece of tamagoyaki from Miki's lunch.

"Dearest sister, you can have the fish. In exchange, I'll take the tamagoyaki."

"Miki, you can have my natto. Give me your radish."

Inspired by what she had just witnessed, Shingetsu hurriedly transferred all her natto into Miki's lunchbox, swiping every piece of radish from it along the way.

"Hey! Am I your garbage bin?"

Miki immediately flew into a rage and held her lunchbox high, preventing the two picky little jerks from trading any more food with her.

"That's enough, you two!"

Shingetsu and Inari clicked their tongues quietly but obediently settled down. They both knew perfectly well that if they angered Miki again, she might get so furious that she flipped the table and made sure none of them got to eat.

When Uchiha Miki lost her temper, she was capable of anything.

With no more natto to spoil her appetite, Shingetsu picked up a rice ball and took a bite. She slowly chewed the cold rice, finding it rather tasteless.

Hōkaku's cooking was just barely edible. All she could say was that it would not kill anyone. Considering that this man, who had never set foot in a kitchen, had only fumbled his way into learning to cook after gaining his precious daughter, she really should not ask any more of him.

Bite by bite, Shingetsu did manage to find a little flavor in it. The rice paired with the tart plum juice and crisp seaweed tasted reasonably good. Still, she preferred hot food and could not quite get used to cold boxed lunches.

After finishing an entire rice ball, Shingetsu looked around, curious about what everyone else was eating.

Perhaps it was because they all came from shinobi clans, or perhaps supplies in Konoha really were scarce, but everyone's food was much the same: the usual trio of rice, grilled fish, and pickled radish.

Two people in the group stood out. The little chubby boy, Torifu Akimichi, had a lunchbox with a full three tiers and ate far more than everyone else, while the boy from the Nara Clan actually had venison!

Wow, venison! She wanted some so badly!

Shingetsu's eyes immediately lit up. Watching the fatty venison, grilled to a crisp, she secretly swallowed.

In this damned place called Konoha, practically no one raised livestock aside from the Nara Clan, who kept deer, and the Aburame Clan, who bred insects.

Anyone who wanted meat had to hunt in the forest or buy it from outside merchants. It had been fine at first, but after a few years, the ravenous shinobi had eaten the wild animals around Konoha clean out. The meat brought by outside merchants was neither fresh nor cheap, making it a terrible deal.

As a result, fresh fish caught from the nearby Naka River had become the preferred source of meat for almost every major shinobi clan.

These days, fish appeared on practically every dinner table in Konoha, not because people liked eating it, but because it was all they could eat!

Shingetsu was not the only one. Several envious gazes fell upon the Nara boy's lunchbox. Torifu Akimichi, sitting beside him, was especially obvious: his round eyes were wide open, he was practically drooling, and he looked ready to bury his head in the lunchbox and devour the meat.

The languid boy had been eating at a leisurely pace, but being stared at by so many people suddenly made him uncomfortable all over. He hurriedly stuffed every piece of venison in his lunchbox into his mouth and swallowed it all in one gulp.

Withdrawing her gaze, which had grown almost jealous with envy, Shingetsu picked up a piece of grilled salmon and angrily bit into it. As she struggled to chew the awful fish Hōkaku had overcooked, she suddenly noticed that Yakushi Chinatsu had been slumped over her desk the whole time and had never taken out her lunchbox.

"Chinatsu, aren't you eating lunch?"

Taking her lunchbox, Shingetsu quietly sat down beside Chinatsu. Seeing her lying there with her head buried in her arms, she poked her shoulder with a finger, a little worried.

"...Oh, Shingetsu."

Yakushi Chinatsu raised her head from her arms, her brown eyes shining gently behind her glasses.

"Don't worry. I brought lunch."

With that, she took a small wooden lunchbox from her patchwork bag, but made no move to open it.

That successfully stirred Shingetsu's curiosity. She peered at the mysterious little box from every angle, like an intensely curious little black kitten forever wanting to sneak out a paw when its owner was not looking and uncover the secrets inside.

Still, Shingetsu did not rashly open the box. She merely kept sneaking eager glances at it, imagining she had hidden her interest perfectly. Seeing her excessive curiosity, Chinatsu let out a long sigh and opened the little box with a frown.

"...What is that?!"

When the lunchbox opened, Shingetsu's curious expression froze completely-the lunch inside Chinatsu's box was a yellow-green mixture that looked just like vomit.

Looking at the overcooked, paste-like substance in the box, in which she could barely distinguish swollen grains of some plant but could no longer recognize their original shape, Shingetsu felt nausea rise in her chest and recoiled in horror.

How could that possibly be food fit for people?!

"It's mixed-grain rice."

Yakushi Chinatsu unconsciously tightened her clasped hands. She wrung them so tightly that even her finger bones began to ache, yet her expression remained gentle and composed. Faced with Shingetsu's question, she fell silent for a moment, but ultimately answered.

"Mixed grains?"

"Millet and barnyard millet."

"Barnyard millet? Isn't that inedible?!"

However little common sense Shingetsu had, she knew that barnyard millet was a weed that grew in rice paddies. It was either pulled out and thrown away or fed to livestock. How could people eat something like that?

What Shingetsu did not realize was that not only Chinatsu, who came from the Orphanage, but also Kazuko, whom she knew, and the ordinary people living in Konoha ate millet rice mixed with large quantities of barnyard millet for both of their daily meals.

Lacking common knowledge, she could not imagine that, for the vast majority of ordinary people in the Land of Fire, white rice was an outright luxury-a delicacy enjoyed only by nobles, wealthy merchants, and shinobi from major clans like herself.

"This... this..."

Was this what the children at the Orphanage ate? What about Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju? Weren't they going to do anything about it?

Looking at the contents of the lunchbox, which she did not even consider food, Shingetsu's expression darkened terribly.

At the thought of Chinatsu eating this disgusting stuff all the time, Shingetsu hurriedly took the untouched rice ball from her own lunchbox and placed it in Chinatsu's hand.

"Chinatsu, I'm already full. Eat this for me, or it'll go to waste."

"Shingetsu, thank you, but I can't accept your kindness."

At the sight of the rice ball in Shingetsu's hand, a gleam of longing briefly appeared in Chinatsu's eyes, and she instinctively wanted to reach for it. But she quickly shook her head firmly, declining Shingetsu's kindness.

"Everyone at the Orphanage eats the same food. The director, the matrons, the children-we all survive on meals like this."

Chinatsu lifted her lunchbox, took out her chopsticks, and began swallowing the lump of food, which was more porridge than rice, a little at a time.

"If I ate your rice ball now, I'd be happy while I was eating it, but afterward, I'm sure I'd keep feeling guilty and regretful. My family still hasn't had the chance to eat rice like this. How could I leave them behind and enjoy it all by myself?"

Seeing Shingetsu still trying to drop the rice ball into her lunchbox, Chinatsu smiled gently but firmly refused her offering. She thought for a moment, then leaned close to Shingetsu. With their heads together, the two girls lowered their voices to a secret whisper:

"I'll tell you a secret. Being able to eat white rice is actually my dream! Once I become a shinobi and earn lots and lots of money, I'll definitely eat it together with everyone."

"When that day comes, Shingetsu, will you join us too?"