"Thank you, Uncle Teuchi!"
Chōji felt that today must be his lucky day.
When he had eaten with Hikari before, he had never been able to eat his fill.
Today, for some reason, whether Kamizuki Hikari had water in his brain or wasn't acting normal, he was actually letting him eat freely.
For someone from the Akimichi clan who loves food, what could be happier than this?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Eating is the bottom line of the Akimichi clan.
Hinata ate her noodles slowly and gracefully, sneaking careful glances at Hikari. She felt that what she had eaten already was more than enough. If she continued, people would start thinking she was strange.
She still remembered when she was little—she had eaten just a bit more than usual, and the family maid made a big fuss, saying she would upset her stomach.
Ever since then, Hinata had always kept her appetite close to what others ate. If she was hungry, she just endured it.
"What are you looking at?"
Hikari glared at her in dissatisfaction. "If you eat less than Choji today, you don't have to bother going home!"
Choji, who was in the middle of slurping his noodles, suddenly froze.
He glanced at the soft, delicate-looking Hinata, then at the terrifying Hikari, and felt deeply wronged inside.
'If you don't want me to eat, just say it directly—why drag Hinata into this to pressure me?!'
Thinking this, he slowly finished the bowl, then set his chopsticks down.
"Hikari-senpai, I'm full!"
"Full? Do you take me for an idiot? Chōji, if you eat less than thirty bowls today, I'll hang you from a tree and let Ino and Shikamaru use you as a punching bag."
"N–No!"
Chōji felt so wronged he was about to cry.
He didn't have feelings for Hinata, but he didn't want to see her forced like this either.
He gave up eating his fill and endured hunger—how did he end up in this situation?
"Enough. Keep eating. As much as you want. When you ate with me before, you never got to eat properly. Today, eat freely. I'll pay for everything."
Chōji wanted to say it wasn't about the money, but under Hikari's threats, he could only give up the chance to play the hero.
*Slurp...*
The ramen was really delicious.
Teuchi rested for a moment, then headed back into the kitchen again.
The Akimichi didn't visit his small shop often, but they weren't strangers either.
Just one Akimichi could eat as much as ten normal people.
If three or four of them showed up at the same time, Teuchi would definitely be overwhelmed.
Compared to Chōji's rough slurping, Hinata's eating posture was elegant—she had all the grace of a proper noble lady.
Hikari finished two bowls, then simply sat and watched the performance of Chōji and Hinata.
Choji was one thing, but watching Hinata eat at her leisurely pace—yet somehow keeping up with Choji's speed—left him stunned.
By the time they reached over twenty bowls, even Choji was starting to struggle. He was maybe sixty percent full. As for Hinata... she remained an unfathomable mystery.
Hinata had now come to terms with it.
On one hand, Hikari told her to eat freely and didn't give her a chance to refuse.
On the other hand... she also wanted to finally eat until full.
As the ramen filled her stomach, Hinata faintly felt as though her strength had increased—just a tiny bit.
It might have been an illusion, but her body felt incredibly comfortable. Like drinking a glass of ice water during the hottest days of summer—refreshing and uplifting.
Chōji was completely stunned.
He was about seventy percent full now, but Hinata looked only halfway there at best.
He could keep eating, but doing so would ruin his afternoon training.
Being sixty or seventy percent full was the perfect state for training.
The high stack of bowls beside them made Ayame, who came carrying more ramen, stare at Hinata in shock.
If not for Hinata's distinctive Byakugan eyes, Ayame would have suspected she carried Akimichi blood.
She clearly remembered the Hyūga ability was Byakugan, not superhuman appetite.
How did this girl end up so unusual?
"Um, I..."
Hinata could feel Ayame's strange gaze, and she instinctively wanted to say she was full.
Even though she felt amazing right now, she was still just a girl in her early teens. And as the Hyūga clan's main family heiress, she cared about appearances.
"Finish these few bowls, then we'll head to the training ground." Hikari glanced in shock at Hinata's perfectly flat stomach, genuinely wondering if the girl had some kind of interdimensional stomach hidden inside her.
Hadn't anyone noticed Choji's belly had already rounded out?
"Hinata, you're amazing!"
Chōji felt that aside from admiring Shikamaru, he now had another person to admire.
Hinata—someone he'd never paid much attention to before—had officially entered his heart.
Of course, not romantically.
It was the Akimichi clan's pride being challenged.
Everyone knew the Akimichi were the greatest eaters in the shinobi world. And here he was, a pure-blooded Akimichi heir, being defeated in eating by Hinata... his reputation was ruined.
"Um... after these bowls, I'll stop!"
Hinata timidly pointed at the three bowls on the tray.
Right now she looked like a beautiful porcelain doll, making Ayame want to pinch her little cheeks.
But once she saw the Byakugan, she gave up that thought.
She wasn't some ignorant civilian girl. As the daughter of a shop owner who frequently dealt with shinobi, Ayame knew quite a bit about the clans of Konoha.
The Hyūga, the village's number one noble clan, had their heiress sitting right in front of her.
If she dared pinch Hinata's face, she might end up on the receiving end of a Byakugan strike.
For her own safety—and her family's—Ayame suppressed the urge.
"Alright. Finish these, then we're going to the training ground."
Hikari didn't stop her.
He believed that with Hinata showing some actual ability today and eating over thirty bowls of ramen, her body would definitely respond differently than usual.
If he could examine her condition carefully, that would be ideal.
But it was only a passing thought.
If he actually tried that, Tsunade would show up the next day.
Hinata might not be Hiashi's favorite daughter, but her identity still carried heavy weight.
The Hyūga main family heiress—her Byakugan and her bloodline were heavily guarded.
He didn't need to look hard—Hikari could already sense two people keeping watch over Hinata's safety from not too far away.
He just didn't know whether they were guarding against him, or against outside threats.
And he didn't intend to find out.
Three minutes later...
Chōji stared wide-eyed at the fully satisfied Hinata. He looked at her unchanged figure, then at his own round belly, and tears of envy rolled down his cheeks.
If possible, he also wanted to be a fit, handsome guy.
But the Akimichi body type... simply didn't allow it.
"Thank you for the meal. I'm full!"