Chapter 48:
"Sasuke, I caught two rabbits today. I've already stewed them — one spicy, one braised…"
Naruto came out of the kitchen and saw Sasuke exhausted from training. He stepped forward to support him.
Because the shadow clone Sasuke in the soul space had been constantly practicing all kinds of ninjutsu, the real Sasuke was desperately pushing his physical conditioning in the outside world.
If his body and chakra didn't match, when the shadow clone returned in the future, it would cause him huge problems.
"You didn't train again… Ever since you made friends, your studies have fallen behind and you're not serious about training either. All you do every day is go out and play. You…"
Sasuke clenched his fist. He raised it toward Naruto's face, but suddenly stopped.
He was really going to be driven crazy by this guy!
Although he knew the reason, Naruto followed those future clan heirs around every day, and the result was that his exam scores kept getting worse.
Except for physical conditioning — which Sasuke forced him to do at home every day — everything else was close to zero points…
Sasuke was truly angry about this result, but lately whenever he tried to talk seriously with Naruto, the guy would just smile and brush it off.
"Food at home isn't enough anymore. I was thinking that since everyone is skipping class anyway, I might as well catch some extra food to bring back. If I skipped class by myself, Iruka-sensei would definitely scold me…"
Naruto lowered his head with a pitiful look. Even he felt a little embarrassed saying it.
But with their current situation, the living expenses were only enough to buy rice…
The vegetables were the easy-to-grow varieties they had planted in a few empty courtyards of the Uchiha house. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have those.
"One year ago Iruka-sensei already reported it. We'll ask again in a few days. If it still doesn't work, we'll have to go find the person in charge ourselves…"
Sasuke's anger vanished in an instant. He weakly leaned on Naruto's shoulder, his resentment toward Konoha's higher-ups growing even stronger.
At least before, they had been allowed to eat their fill. Ever since Naruto "finally" started making food that tasted decent, their food budget had been secretly reduced…
He didn't know how much grudge the person in charge held against them, but they seemed determined to make sure the two of them couldn't eat comfortably.
"No one will care. If someone actually cared, things wouldn't have turned out like this starting a year ago. I even suspect that if they knew I could catch rabbits, next time they might deduct everything…
Actually, it doesn't matter. Even if they really stop giving us money, I can still catch rabbits, fish, or go into the mountains to gather wild vegetables. I'll make sure you eat your fill, Sasuke!"
Naruto suddenly raised a big, bright smile and patted Sasuke on the shoulder. However, the ocean-blue eyes looking up at the sky had already begun to fill with tears.
He actually knew exactly who was behind it. This wasn't the Third Hokage's doing — it was a member of Danzo's Root.
Because Danzo had said they couldn't let the Nine-Tails jinchuriki live too comfortably, or it would be unfair to the ninjas who had died back then, that person had secretly deducted a large portion of their living expenses.
But Naruto also had his own little plan. In order to make his father and mother completely give up on Konoha in the future, he was happy to use this opportunity to perform.
Following his sunny and brilliant father's way of doing things, Minato would probably try to comfort him and at most quietly endure it…
But that was not the result he wanted. What he wanted was opposition — to stand completely against Konoha!
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