Hiruzen Sarutobi grew suspicious of Kazama.

As a salted-fish Jonin who had been slacking off in Konoha for years, leading three newly graduated rookie Genin, how could he complete a mission unscathed under the interception of an S-Rank Rogue Ninja?

Kazama picked his ear and casually spouted nonsense: "Oh, you mean that guy with bandages wrapped around his face and a giant blade on his shoulder?"

"That lousy report paper was too small so it didn't fit. That guy went to the bridge to pick a fight the morning before yesterday, and I kicked him to death with a single kick."

Hiruzen Sarutobi widened his eyes: "You… what did you say?"

"I said I kicked him to death with a single kick. What? Is that guy worth a lot? If I'd known earlier, I would have carried his head back for the bounty."

"Kazama."

Hiruzen Sarutobi put down his pipe, his voice sinking.

"To be able to kick Zabuza Momochi to death with a single kick, your proficiency in Taijutsu is probably not below Might Guy's, right?"

"For so many years, you've kept this strength hidden away. What on earth is your purpose?"

Hearing this, the smile on Kazama's face gradually faded.

"Third Hokage, your words are too disheartening."

"What do you mean by hiding one's clumsiness? This is called late blooming, a sudden flash of enlightenment!"

"Think about it carefully, if I had the ability to kick an Elite Jōnin to death with a single kick back then, on the night of the Nine-Tails Incident twelve years ago, would I have just watched helplessly as Minato's stomach was pierced by the Nine-Tails' claw?"

At the mere mention of Minato, Hiruzen Sarutobi froze in his chair.

Kazama didn't give him any chance to breathe at all, speaking at a flying speed: "And that business with the Uchiha a few years ago, if I had this capability early on, I should have rushed straight into the Naka River back then and twisted off the head of that old bastard stirring up trouble behind the scenes!"

"It would have also saved me from watching Big Brother Fugaku's family die unclearly, along with the entire Uchiha clan being slaughtered completely!"

"Don't you agree with this logic, Lord Third Hokage?"

There was a deathly silence inside the office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gripped the armrest, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

After a long while, he slumped back against the chair, weakly waving his hand: "Alright… The mission in the Land of Waves ends here. I'll accept the report, and the mission reward is right here."

A stack of 50,000-ryō bank notes was pushed to the edge of the table.

Seeing the instantly deflated Third Hokage, Kazama picked up the bank notes and put his smile back on: "Got it! Then you take your time getting busy, Third Hokage, and I'll take those three brats out for barbecue."

Pumping the bank notes into his pocket, Kazama hummed a little tune as he pushed open his courtyard gate.

Three starving brats were sitting on the stone steps in the courtyard.

Kazama waved his hand: "Let's go! Teacher keeps his word, today I'm taking you to Yakiniku Q, eat as much as your bellies desire!"

"Yay! Long live Teacher Kazama!"

…

The group headed straight for Yakiniku Q.

As soon as they sat down in the window booth, Kazama ordered a round of all the signature meats in the shop one by one.

The charcoal brazier was brought to the table, and the copper iron mesh quickly became scorching hot.

The waiter served several large plates of top-grade short ribs with beautiful marbling. As soon as the meat was spread on the iron mesh, the fat sizzled, and the rich aroma of meat drilled straight into their noses along with the heat.

Naruto's eyes went straight, picking up his chopsticks to clip it onto the iron mesh.

Another pair of chopsticks killed halfway out, blocking Naruto's chopsticks.

Sasuke sneered coldly: "dead last, I've got my eye on this piece, go eat something else."

"Bullshit! I clearly had my eye on this piece first!"

Naruto wouldn't let go; the desire to win from jumping around with rocks tied to him during the day had now completely transferred to the grill.

Two pairs of chopsticks clashed wildly above the iron mesh, clinking loudly.

Seeing that there were only the last three pieces of top-grade beef left in the plate, the two's movements became faster and faster.

"Bastard Sasuke! You've already eaten six pieces, this piece belongs to me!"

"Snatch it with your own ability, who can you blame for being slow-handed?"

At this moment, another pair of chopsticks reached out and clipped away all the last three pieces of beef.

Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads at the same time.

They saw Sakura with a tight face stuffing the three pieces of meat into her mouth, chewing with great relish.

Swallowing the meat, Sakura casually dumped the entire newly served plate of pork neck meat onto the iron mesh.

"Muscle fibers produce micro-tears after strenuous exercise and require a large amount of amino acids for repair. You two keep arguing, I'll take care of the rest of the meat."

"Sakura, you guy!"

"You're taking all of it? Speak with strength!"

…

Watching the The Three Little Ones eating and bickering, Kazama gave a wry smile and glanced toward the corner of the table.

In less than twenty minutes, the empty plates were already stacked high.

Judging by the posture of these three brats, this meal had just begun!

Kazama touchingly felt the inner pocket of his chest, which contained the large bank notes intercepted from Gato's treasury on a whim.

Fortunately, he had the foresight not to count on the 50,000-ryō mission reward given by the Third and that meager Jonin subsidy.

Otherwise, with the way these three big eaters ate, he would definitely have ended up washing dishes in the shop today to pay for it.

A moment later, Asuma Sarutobi led Team 10, who had just finished the D-rank weeding mission, into the yakiniku restaurant.

As soon as Choji entered, he sniffed hard: "Wow! Such a fragrant barbecue smell! Asuma-sensei, today I'm going to eat thirty plates of fatty beef!"

Nara Shikamaru with hands in his pockets, drooping his eyelids, followed behind.

Ino Yamanaka had originally been listless, but as soon as she saw Sasuke in the window booth, her eyes instantly lit up.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Ino cheered and ran over, familiarly hooking her arm around Sasuke's.

Sasuke frowned, where did this stinky woman come from, actually affecting him from competing for meat with Naruto and Sakura!

Ino proudly raised her chin, raising her eyebrows in provocation toward Sakura opposite.

According to past conventions, Billboard Brow would definitely jump up and curse angrily upon seeing her so intimate with Sasuke-kun.

However, Sakura opposite just raised her eyelids and glanced casually at Ino.

Following closely, Sakura clipped a freshly grilled beef tongue, dipped it fully in sauce, and sent it into her mouth.

The smug expression on Ino's face froze.

"Hey! Billboard Brow! How come you don't have the slightest reaction when you see me holding Sasuke-kun? Did going to the Land of Waves scare you stupid by the enemy?"

Sakura adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Ino, from a physiological perspective, your current behavior of obsessing over handsome guys is just your brain secreting excessive dopamine under the control of the hypothalamus."

"The excitement brought by this hormone is very brief. Not only will it reduce judgment, but it will also waste a lot of physical energy and time."

"Huh?"

Ino looked at Sakura in disbelief.

Wondering whether she should find a shrine maiden tomorrow to check on Sakura to see if she ran into something.

Just as Ino's brain was dazed, Choji next to him had already set his sights on the sizzling top-grade fatty beef on Team 7's grill.

"This piece of fatty beef is grilled just right, if we don't clip it, it'll get tough!"

Choji swallowed his saliva, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and dashed toward the largest piece of meat in the center of the grill.

"Don't even think about This Great One's meat!"

Naruto was fiercely protective of his food, blocking Choji's offensive with a snap of his chopsticks.

Choji was stunned for a moment, then added strength to his hands cheerfully.

Back in the Ninja Academy, purely in terms of wrist strength, there were very few among peers who could beat their Akimichi Clan.

But the next second, the smile on Choji's face disappeared, transferring to Naruto's face.

The two chopsticks in Naruto's hands didn't move a fraction!

Immediately following, Naruto lifted his wrist, directly deflecting Choji's hand away.

Naruto took the opportunity to stuff that piece of top-grade fatty beef into his mouth, shouting triumphantly at Choji: "Want to snatch meat from This Great One's mouth? Practice for another ten years!"

Shikamaru, watching the fun from the side, narrowed his eyes.

This guy Naruto, when did his hand strength become so overbearing?

Everyone skipped classes together at the Ninja Academy, how come you're so outstanding?

Even Asuma, standing behind, took two extra looks at Naruto, muttering to himself in his heart, and then plopped down right beside Kazama.

"Not bad, Kazama, you really hide your depth."

Asuma pulled out a cigarette and lit it: "Just now outside the Hokage Building, an acquaintance in the Anbu was still muttering that an S-Rank Rogue Ninja of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi, was active in the Land of Waves."

"Not only did your Team 7 return safe and sound, but the foundation of these brats has clearly become a lot more solid. Spill the details, how on earth did you settle that Demon?"

Asuma's few words were obviously coming to probe the bottom line on behalf of the Old man.

Kazama was crystal clear in his heart, outwardly letting out a long sigh, and raised his hand to wrap it around Asuma's shoulder.

"Asuma, who are we to each other? If it were anyone else, I wouldn't reveal half a word."

"That battle in the Land of Waves almost cost me my old life!"

"At that time, Zabuza swung that Executioner's Blade and lunged over, cold sweat pouring down my back in a flash. But when I turned my head and saw these three tender sprouts of Konoha behind me, my mind suddenly recalled the teachings of Lord Third Hokage!"

"Wherever the leaves dance, the fire burns on!"

"It was this Will of Fire that directly ignited my small cosmos in the desperate situation, making me burst out with ultimate strength!"

Asuma listened with the corners of his mouth twitching continuously: "No, you…"

Kazama didn't give him any chance to finish his sentence at all.

"Look at them, in order to inherit Lord Third Hokage's Will of Fire, my three disciples pushed themselves until their entire bodies were exhausted, their foundations are heavily depleted, and they're right in the middle of growing up!"

"As the biological son of Lord Third Hokage and the future pillar of the village, looking at these younger generations working so hard, don't your heart ache? Shouldn't you show some gesture?"

Asuma's mind went blank: "Wait, how did I…"

"Waiter! Over here!" Kazama raised his hand and called the waiter over.

"Bring the top-grade marbled beef from your shop, for our two tables, bring ten plates straight away for each table! Right, twenty plates! Put it on Jonin Asuma's tab, he's treating today."

"Ah? Why is he treating? Of course it's to promote the Will of Fire!"

"Got it, sir! Twenty plates of top-grade marbled beef will be sliced right away, please sit tight!"

"Long live Asuma-sensei!" Choji and Naruto cheered simultaneously.

Looking at the cheering appearance of the brats at the two tables, Asuma forcibly swallowed the words of refusal that were right on the tip of his tongue back into his stomach.

Before long, twenty plates of thick-cut marbled beef were served to the table, and the two groups of brats continued to battle on.

Kazama drank the last mouthful of barley tea at the bottom of the cup, glanced out of the corner of his eye at the plates on the table hitting the bottom, and then stood up while clutching his stomach.

"Ouch… The wind blew just now, my stomach hurts a bit, I'm going to the outhouse."

While speaking, Kazama gave a covert retreat signal to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.

"Teacher wait for me, I'm also stuffed, I'm going out to get some breeze!"

"I'm going to wash my hands." Sakura stood up following along.

Sasuke silently wiped his mouth.

The bunch from Team 7 had full tacit understanding, taking advantage of Asuma lowering his head to smoke, they all slipped into the back hall of the corridor.

Outside the window at the end of the corridor was the outer alley.

After Kazama flipped out the window and landed, he turned around one hand each, catching the brats climbing through the window down.

"Teacher Kazama, our bellies are all rounded from eating, wouldn't it be good to swagger out the front door? Why are we climbing windows like thieves?" Naruto rubbed his bulging lower abdomen with a head full of question marks.

Kazama kept a straight face and knocked him on the head: "What do you know, this is called a stealth retreat temporary drill! A true Ninja, even when full and well-fed, cannot lose the instinct to conceal their whereabouts!"

Sasuke sneered from the side: "To put it bluntly, you just want to skip out on the bill. Asuma having known you is truly his bad luck."

Kazama gave a dry cough and raised his hand to flick Sasuke on the forehead: "Kid, do you understand not spelling out what's seen through? That's called fostering colleague relations!"

Inside the main hall of the yakiniku restaurant.

The waiter, holding a long string of bills in hand, walked up to Asuma.

"Lord Asuma, this is a total of sixty-eight thousand ryō for our two tables. Would you like to pay in cash or put it on a tab?"

"How… how much? Sixty-eight thousand ryō?!"

Asuma was completely in disarray: "That bastard Kazama… put the whole bill on my head?!"