The Eating Contest Champion

Chiba stared at the notice in front of him, a little bewildered.

The eating contest was already here?

But delight soon followed.

When he had to stretch every ryo into two, this contest was impossible to resist!

"Naruto, Sasuke, let's sign up!"

Chiba's eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Yeah!"

Naruto Uzumaki was the first to back him up.

Sasuke Uchiha was not keen on participating.

But Chiba simply hooked an arm around his neck and headed toward Ichiraku Ramen.

"This sort of thing is only fun if we all join in!"

"Besides, eating is a form of training too."

Chiba tried to get away with twisting the logic.

But Sasuke Uchiha, stubbornly unwilling to admit how he felt, only protested out loud.

Chiba did not feel much resistance from him.

"Teuchi, sign the three of us up!"

Naruto Uzumaki was always enthusiastic about eating ramen.

Looking at the three regulars before him, Teuchi signed them up without hesitation.

"Give it your best this time, Naruto."

Teuchi smiled and said,

"I've got high hopes for you."

His words gave Naruto Uzumaki a tremendous boost.

"And the prize this time is a lifetime discount voucher for Ichiraku Ramen."

"Fifty percent off!"

At those words, Naruto Uzumaki's eyes lit up.

"The eating contest championship is mine!"

Just then, a voice came from behind them.

"Not necessarily, Naruto."

Someone approached wearing a green knitted jacket over a white short-sleeved shirt embroidered with a huge character meaning "food."

It was Choji Akimichi, heir to the Akimichi Clan.

He would become one of the Konoha 12, and his strength was fairly respectable.

As the butterfly of the three Ino-Shika-Cho families, his Butterfly Mode was quite powerful too.

But the most important thing here was eating.

When it came to that, the Akimichi Clan was famous throughout Konoha!

Chiba's expression grew a little grave.

To be honest, even he did not know how much he could eat now.

But with the Akimichi Clan here, would the true big eater show up too?

"Hey, Naruto!"

Another voice rang out, this one slightly flippant.

Kiba Inuzuka had Akamaru perched on his head and the Inuzuka Clan's distinctive inverted triangular markings on his cheeks.

With a personality very similar to Naruto's, he was also one of Naruto's few friends.

His teammates, Shino Aburame and Hinata, stood beside him.

Team 8 had arrived!

"I can't underestimate them!"

Chiba rubbed his brow, his expression turning serious.

His most threatening opponents had all appeared.

Teuchi had chosen an open space behind Ichiraku Ramen as the contest venue.

It was quite spacious, with a few ingredients stacked there.

It looked as though Ichiraku Ramen was in the middle of expanding.

Several rows of tables had been set up in the open space.

With three people to a table, it did not feel too crowded.

There were civilians taking part as well as ninja.

In Konoha, there was not much distinction between ninja and civilians.

Teuchi stood before everyone and announced,

"The theme of this eating contest is Tonkotsu Ramen!"

"I've spent a long time preparing for this contest."

"The champion's prize is a lifetime fifty-percent-off voucher!"

"Give it your best, everyone!"

At his signal, several people dressed as servers brought ramen to each contestant.

Clearly, he had hired them temporarily as well.

"You have half an hour. Let the contest begin!"

At the command, Naruto, sitting beside Chiba, pounced like a ravenous wolf.

He began slurping and gulping down his food.

Secretly competing with him, Sasuke Uchiha naturally refused to fall behind.

Sandwiched between them, Chiba could feel their frenzy.

"Tsk, tsk."

"Looks like someone's being underestimated!"

He felt a little helpless.

The contestant with real potential is sitting right beside you.

Soon, Chiba joined the ranks of those eating.

Compared with the other two wolfing down their food, however, he looked much more refined.

Had Teuchi not been paying attention, this refined young fellow really would have fooled him.

Even gobbling furiously, the others needed a minute to finish a serving of ramen.

Chiba, meanwhile, finished one every thirty seconds, and he was still speeding up.

Teuchi wiped the sweat beading on his forehead, a bad feeling rising within him.

Looks like this promotional event is going to cost me money.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Before long, the eating contest reached its time limit.

Naruto Uzumaki had wanted to check how Sasuke Uchiha had done.

But the towering stack of bowls before him blocked his view.

"Wait, I don't remember eating this much?"

He scratched his head, a little confused.

"The contest is over!"

Teuchi announced.

Perhaps eating too much had made him imagine things.

But Naruto Uzumaki felt that Teuchi seemed strangely pained.

"Third place, Choji Akimichi, with twenty-three servings!"

Clearly, Choji Akimichi could not yet eat as much as he would in the future. He was still rather young, after all.

"Second place, Hinata Hyuga, with thirty-one servings!"

Naruto Uzumaki was stunned.

"Wait, even thirty-one servings of ramen wasn't enough to win?!"

Teuchi continued announcing the results, his voice already trembling a little.

"The champion this time is Chiba!"

"Sixty-eight servings!"