"Well, the Shimura clan is always so mysterious—there really aren't many of you around." Mitarashi Anko chatted with Feng Bai while stuffing her mouth with dango.
Looking at this little girl—called Anko in her youth, "Sweet Potato" in the Boruto era—Feng Bai felt a pang of sympathy for her future.
Though he didn't remember many plot details clearly, her dramatic entrance during the Chūnin Exams was still vividly etched in his memory.
Especially that chainmail outfit and those... assets...
No, no, Feng Bai, you're being too degenerate. Right now, you should be thinking about how to survive in this dog-eat-dog world by stepping over Danzō's corpse, not obsessing over this or that pair of...
Banishing all wicked thoughts from his mind, Feng Bai focused on the dango the shop owner had just placed before him.
Ahem, proper dango.
Three different colored dumplings skewered on bamboo sticks, drizzled with the shop's signature golden glaze—this was Konoha's famous three-color dango.
"Go ahead, try it!" Anko squeezed in beside Feng Bai, nudging him with her elbow to urge him to eat.
"I think you're the one who wants to eat it." Seeing Anko practically drooling, Feng Bai rolled his eyes and handed her a skewer first.
"Hey, don't you know I'm already stuffed?" Anko wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, but her eyes sparkled as she accepted the dango, devouring it while patting Feng Bai's shoulder: "But you've got good instincts. From now on, I've got your back in this neighborhood."
She grabs it pretty fast for someone who's "stuffed."
Watching the dango vanish from his hand in an instant, Feng Bai mentally rolled his eyes before picking up a skewer for himself.
So sweet.
The glaze was sweet, the dango was sweet—two kinds of sweetness intertwining. No wonder this girl would become so chubby later on.
Not particularly fond of sweets, Feng Bai slowly chewed the soft, glutinous dango while glancing sideways at Anko.
"Hey, Anko! I'm the one treating Feng Bai!" Asuma noticed the situation and, seeing Anko with another skewer despite claiming to be full, immediately understood what had happened.
"Don't be so stingy, Asuma. You're the Third Hokage's own son—be generous like the Hokage!" Anko quickly swallowed the dango in her mouth, made a face at Asuma, and scampered back to sit beside Kurenai.
"There you go bringing up the old man again!" Asuma rubbed his forehead helplessly, then turned to Feng Bai, who was quietly eating his dango: "Need me to order you another skewer?"
Setting down his bamboo stick, Feng Bai shook his head: "No thanks, I'm not really into sweets."
Before he'd even finished speaking, the shop owner approached with a bowl of red bean soup: "Here's your fragrant, sweet red bean soup!"
Feng Bai: ...
Asuma: ...
Damn it, does this shop only sell sweet stuff?!
Feng Bai stared speechlessly at the red bean soup before him. In his previous life, he wouldn't even add sugar to soy milk—now he was doomed to fall victim to sweets.
After all, anyone who's watched Naruto knows that people who love sweets rarely meet good ends in this series.
"If you don't like sweet things, try the soy sauce flavor instead." Asuma offered helpfully.
"There's a soy sauce flavor?" Feng Bai was genuinely surprised—he had no idea dango came in soy sauce flavor.
"Uh, pretty much everyone in the village knows that?" Asuma scratched his head. Sure, the Shimura clan didn't socialize much with outsiders, but they couldn't be so isolated that they didn't even know about dango flavors, right?
Could it be that they're actually really poor?
Thinking of Danzō's year-round unchanging wardrobe, Asuma became more convinced of his theory.
Anko and Kurenai also began whispering to each other nearby.
Only Kakashi sat with his back to everyone, removing his mask to deal with his dango while the others engaged in various speculations.
...
Five days passed quietly.
After that chance encounter at the dango shop and several days of hanging out together, Feng Bai had officially integrated into their circle.
He also learned what a true culinary wasteland meant.
Over these five days, they either gathered for meals at the dango shop or at Ichiraku Ramen.
Back and forth, only these two options.
Barbecue? Sorry, insufficient budget.
Most of the time, it was the generous Asuma who footed the bill, with Kakashi occasionally paying. As for Feng Bai, he was purely freeloading.
Of course, Feng Bai had his reasons. Perhaps because it was his first time being a father, though Danzō talked about making more friends, he hadn't provided a single cent of allowance.
Feng Bai didn't dare ask for it either, afraid the old man might get annoyed and send him off to Orochimaru for experiments.
But if this continued, his reputation among his peers would end up like Ebisu's...
No way, absolutely not. This cannot happen.
Returning home to find Danzō seated at the dinner table as usual, Feng Bai decided to take the plunge and ask the old man for pocket money!
Looking at Danzō, who seemed to be in a good mood with a faint smile on his lips, Feng Bai narrowed his eyes, preparing to deliver the speech he'd rehearsed.
"Come sit down." Seeing his son just standing there without taking a seat, Danzō, who had been waiting for a while, couldn't help but speak up.
"Yes, Dad." Forget the rehearsed speech—listening to Dad is most important.
Feng Bai quickly sat down.
Hmm, good. I could smell it as soon as I walked in—the same familiar three dishes and one soup.
Looking at the unchanging menu from the past few days, Feng Bai seriously wondered if the cook only knew how to make these few dishes.
But considering these dishes were most likely prepared by Danzō himself, Feng Bai could only pretend to enjoy them, picking up food and putting it in his mouth.
Sitting across from him, Danzō watched Feng Bai eating heartily and nodded approvingly to himself.
Looks like my son really likes these dishes. I'll make them again tomorrow.
Though I'm getting a bit tired of these myself. I'll find an opportunity to go out for some late-night snacks to change things up.
After eating his fill, Danzō set down his chopsticks: "How have things been with that Asuma kid lately?"
"Pretty good—he's a very generous person." Feng Bai wiped his mouth with a napkin and answered without thinking.
"Generous?" Having thought of many possible descriptors but not this one, Danzō frowned slightly.
"Yeah, he pays the bill every time we go out." Feng Bai's eyes lit up as he spoke eagerly—this was the perfect opportunity to ask for pocket money! Thanks, old man, for giving me an opening.
"Hmph, just like his weak father—only knows how to win people over with such petty tricks." Danzō scoffed at Asuma's behavior.
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