Ryoko walked with light steps back to the old small house that belonged to him.
Pushing open the slightly worn wooden door, a familiar sight greeted his eyes.
The house was empty, with very little furniture. A thin layer of dust covered every object, exuding the coldness of a place that had been uninhabited for a long time.
Such vacant houses were not uncommon in the current Konoha Village.
The brutal Second Great Ninja War had taken too many lives, leaving many families completely wiped out and their homes with no one to inherit them.
Standing at the doorway and looking at the dust-filled room, Ryoko took a deep breath, his round belly swelling slightly as a result.
Immediately after, he suddenly opened his mouth and exhaled.
"Whoosh—!"
A powerful air current, like a small tornado, erupted from his mouth, whistling as it swept through the entire room.
The violent wind precisely picked up all the dust on the floor and furniture, carrying it along and blowing it all out through the open window with a 'hula' sound, leaving not a single trace behind.
In just a moment, although the house was still simple, it looked much neater.
Ryoko clapped his hands and nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, it's much cleaner now."
Living alone, he didn't have high requirements for his living environment; as long as it was presentable and had no obvious dirt, it was fine.
After finishing this simple 'cleaning' task, he yawned and flopped heavily onto the tatami, stretching his limbs relaxedly.
The house was quiet, with no one to disturb him, and no need to complete those boring or dangerous training sessions from Root.
Aside from the faint hunger pangs from his stomach—which he had habitually ignored—everything seemed so peaceful.
Gazing at the familiar yet strange ceiling, Ryoko rubbed his head comfortably and muttered to himself.
"It's still more comfortable staying at my own home. Leaving Root doesn't seem like a bad thing after all."
Lying on the familiar tatami, Ryoko's thoughts couldn't help but drift back to his days in Root.
To be honest, he really couldn't bring himself to like those so-called training and learning sessions.
Although being able to encounter miraculous Ninjutsu and the Chakra system indeed made him, a transmigrator, feel incredibly novel.
But Root's way of nurturing was too cruel and cold-blooded. The endless killing and confrontation, even requiring one to take the lives of companions—this atmosphere made him feel repulsed from the bottom of his heart.
Because of this, he had slacked off quite a bit during training and intentionally hidden his true learning progress.
As a transmigrator who knew the plot of the original work, he knew all too well what kind of person Danzo Shimura was.
If he exposed all his talent and potential too early, what awaited him would definitely not be prioritized cultivation, but the fate of being completely controlled and squeezed dry until death.
Thus, every day in Root, he was cautious and acted like an ordinary child with mediocre aptitude.
Of course, except for the matter of 'eating,' where he was truly powerless and had no need to pretend.
The secret techniques of the Akimichi Clan were inherently closely related to 'eating.' The core lay in converting ingested food into stored fat and efficiently converting it into Chakra when needed.
And Ryoko's special constitution pushed this characteristic to a certain extreme.
Most of the massive amount of food he swallowed was converted and compressed for storage in his abdomen, forming a special 'Energy Stomach Bag.'
This was like a camel's hump, capable of continuously providing energy and Chakra to his body after he stopped eating, maintaining his staggering physical consumption and growth needs.
He didn't even have an exact number for how much he had actually eaten.
But based on the experience of eating to his heart's content in Root this past month, and a rough private calculation, he estimated that the amount of Chakra convertible from the fat accumulated in his body was probably already no less than that of an ordinary elite Jonin.
After all, even the Clan Head, Akimichi Torifu, was completely no match for him in terms of appetite.
Of course, in terms of the efficiency of converting food into combat energy, the experienced Clan Head was perhaps still quite a bit stronger than him.
After lying leisurely at home for less than two days, Ryoko became a bit restless and started wandering around the clan compound.
After all, in this world, there really weren't many entertainment activities.
Although he strictly followed his promise and no longer went to clansmen's homes to'scrounge for food,' his mere appearance still caused a minor commotion wherever he went.
The clansmen were like startled birds, either quickly closing their doors or hurriedly protecting the food on hand; the scene was once very awkward.
Thus, Akimichi Torifu had no choice but to bite the bullet and visit him again.
"Ryoko," he tried to make his tone sound full of care, "look at you, so young and full of energy. Staying in the clan all the time isn't right. When I was your age, I was already gaining experience on the battlefield. Why don't I send you to the Ninja Academy to study? That place is more suitable for a child like you."
"Ninja Academy?" Ryoko scratched his head, a bit surprised by the Clan Head's idea.
He hadn't expected that after being reborn, he would still have to go to school; he was a hundred percent reluctant in his heart.
But on second thought, he really was like a plague god in the clan, with everyone avoiding him, and being idle all day was indeed boring.
Going to school, maybe he really could meet a few friends who weren't afraid of him and could play together.
He nodded: "Alright, Clan Head, then I'll have to trouble you to arrange it for me. Maybe I can even make a few friends at school."
Seeing Ryoko agree quite readily, Akimichi Torifu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as if the heavy stone pressing on his heart had been moved slightly.
This was also a move of desperation for him.
Ryoko, this big eater, had too strong a deterrent force in the clan. Although he no longer openly snatched food, as long as he wandered within the compound, clansmen would constantly come to complain and report to him, giving him a massive headache.
By sending Ryoko to school, he would at least spend most of his time at the Village school, far away from the clan compound—out of sight, out of mind.
Of course, deep down, Clan Head Torifu still harbored a hidden worry.
He really didn't dare to fully believe a five-year-old child's promise about 'restraining his diet.'
After all, if this guy really ate to his heart's content just once, he could probably clear out several months' worth of the Akimichi Clan's accumulated stock overnight.
He was absolutely certain of this.
Because he had already quietly sent people to the outskirts of Root to gather information, and the results shocked him beyond measure.
That Root organization, established by Danzo with Hiruzen Sarutobi as its backer, was said to have incurred massive expenses because of feeding Ryoko, forcing various operational funds to be drastically cut.
What gave him an even bigger headache was that when he accidentally ran into Danzo Shimura a few days ago, the other man's gaze was as cold as if looking at an enemy, leaving him with grievances he couldn't voice.
He now completely understood that when Ryoko was in the clan before, he had probably truly'shown mercy with his mouth.'
Thinking of this, Akimichi Torifu even felt a trace of lingering fear regarding his initial bit of 'relief aid,' and at the same time, he couldn't help but thank Ryoko for his 'mercy of not eating' the clan back then.
Ãdvåñçé çhàptêr àvàilàble óñ pàtreøn (Gk31)