Little Rich Kid Kakashi Wasn't Afraid

Orochimaru sighed helplessly. He knew that if he didn't get rid of Miya today, he wouldn't be able to focus on his experiments.

"The snake I gave you last time only took shape after I caught it in Ryūchi Cave and spent two days cultivating it."

Having finally learned where the snake from last time had come from, Miya nodded vigorously.

"In a few days, I'll go with you to Ryūchi Cave. Then you'll see what the situation is."

Orochimaru waved a test tube in front of Miya, his snakelike eyes narrowing slightly:

"This is your blood. The life force in it is very active!"

Orochimaru, who hadn't found anything else in Miya's blood, remained convinced that Miya's body concealed a power no one knew about; he simply hadn't discovered it yet.

Paying no attention to Orochimaru's determined expression, Miya said excitedly:

"All right, then I'll wait for you to take me to Earth Dragon Cave. When we get there, I'm definitely catching a few big snakes to stew."

Miya was in a fine mood as he left Orochimaru's house. He would soon have a steady source of meat snakes, and the thought alone excited him.

As he walked along Konoha's streets, Miya wondered whether he should plant Susu over the next few days and "cultivate" their relationship.

She was his summoned beast, after all. He had to make sure she obeyed his every word.

Right!

He walked on and on.

As Miya passed a grilled fish restaurant, he ran into Kakashi, who was coming from the opposite direction.

Miya's eyes lit up at once.

Come to think of it, Kakashi still owed him three meals. What a coincidence.

"What a coincidence, Kakashi!"

In a flash, Miya was standing in front of Kakashi.

"A coincidence?"

Kakashi's tone was cool and indifferent. He strongly suspected that Miya had done this on purpose and that their meeting wasn't a coincidence.

"Have you eaten? If you haven't, treat me to a meal!"

Miya didn't look the least bit embarrassed. Kakashi rolled his eyes, even more suspicious that Miya had been lying in wait for him.

"I haven't. Today counts as one meal."

"No problem! After this one, you'll still owe me two."

When Miya heard that Kakashi was treating him, his eyes shone even brighter.

"So what are we eating today?"

"Grilled fish."

With that, Kakashi turned and walked into the grilled fish restaurant beside him.

"Grilled fish? That's not bad either!"

To tell the truth, Miya didn't particularly like grilled meat. It was just more nutritious.

Miya slung an arm around Kakashi's shoulders and dragged him into the grilled fish restaurant.

"Let go."

Unable to break free, Kakashi spoke in a low, cold voice.

"Don't mind me. The grilled fish is what matters!"

Miya smiled as he spoke, showing no intention of letting Kakashi go.

In fact, he was afraid Kakashi would run away.

Seeing Miya and Kakashi enter the restaurant arm in arm, anyone who didn't know better might have thought they were close friends!

After sitting down at a table, Miya asked Kakashi in a low voice before the server came over:

"Kakashi, how much money did you bring with you today?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and replied:

"Definitely enough to feed you."

At this point, Kakashi had no idea how serious the situation was.

"Let's get this straight first. If you can't afford the bill, don't ask me to pay. I didn't bring any money."

With his hand over the more than one hundred thousand ryō in his wallet, Miya lied through his teeth.

"Just eat!"

Little rich kid Kakashi Hatake wasn't afraid.

An hour later.

Kakashi stared dumbfounded at Miya as he wolfed down his food. He finally understood what Miya had meant when he asked how much money Kakashi had brought.

Kakashi seriously wondered whether Miya was the reincarnation of a starving ghost.

After Miya swallowed the last fish on the plate, Kakashi asked, a little, a little worried:

"M-Miya, are you full?"

If Miya kept eating, the bill for this meal would be heading toward 150,000 ryō.

"Full? I'm nowhere near!"

"Server, another ten servings—no, two servings."

Miya casually set the plates from the table on the half-person-high stack beside him and called out to the server.

I faint-

It wasn't just Kakashi. The other customers and the server were also stunned by how much Miya could eat.

"Miya, c-can you finish it all?"

Kakashi crawled out from under the table, his voice trembling as he asked.

He hadn't brought enough money!

Kakashi already regretted treating Miya to this meal.

And there were still two more!!!

"Of course I can finish it! Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"I'm only thirty percent full."

Kakashi's eyes bulged at once.

"Th-th-thirty percent full..."

I faint again-

He was scared. Kakashi was truly scared this time.

Miya's appetite was terrifying.

Climbing back up again, Kakashi stared at Miya's face, puzzled.

How has Miya survived this long with an appetite that terrifying?

A little while later, Kakashi watched with a pained expression as the server brought ten servings of grilled fish to the table.

"Sir, I'm very sorry, but these are the last ingredients we have."

The moment the server finished speaking, Kakashi's eyes lit up, and he let out a huge sigh of relief.

They're out of ingredients. Miya can't keep eating now, can he?

Miya looked up at the server and said, somewhat displeased:

"You're out of ingredients? Your restaurant is terrible!"

The server gave a wry smile. Their ingredients were all fresh, live fish, and Miya had eaten a whole day's supply in this one meal, leaving them unable to open that evening.

"We're terribly sorry, but our manager said..."

"To apologize, we'll give you twenty percent off this meal."

The server bowed slightly, her face full of apology.

"Fine, fine!"

Miya waved a hand, signaling for the server to leave.

Ten minutes later.

Miya sat at the table picking his teeth, while Kakashi looked at his wallet with a pained expression. Just now, he'd spent 115,000 ryō, and that was after the twenty percent discount.

Holding the remaining 5,000 ryō, Kakashi felt like crying but had no tears. The money he'd planned to spend on ninja tools was gone!

Miya had eaten it all!

"Kakashi, don't look so glum! It's only 115,000 ryō. When the old Third pays for me, it's over a million ryō every time."

Kakashi was already heartbroken over the money, and when he heard that, his eyes bulged in shock and his legs went weak.

"O-o-over a million ryō!"

Kakashi fell to the floor for the third time-

The two got up and headed out of the restaurant, one behind the other. Preoccupied with what to do about the two meals he still owed Miya, Kakashi failed to notice a figure half again as tall as him appearing in front of him.

Bang.

Kakashi collided squarely with the person.

"Hm?"

Kakashi stepped back three paces and looked up.

"A Sand Ninja."

The ninja Forehead Protector worn by the person Kakashi had collided with revealed his identity at once.

"Hey, brat!"

"Don't you Konoha Ninja apologize when you bump into someone?"