Naruto: Freeloading is Great! 2 [38]

“Ohoho, so this is where my darling lives now.”

Hidden at the corner of a residential building, Sakura-bro laughed triumphantly.

Sasuke and Naruto wanted to stop Hoshino from degenerating, but of course, he was the first to disagree.

If it weren’t for the fact he couldn’t defeat Walking Wallet, he would have already snatched that withdrawal form and handed it over to Iruka.

But it was fine. As long as he joined forces with Hoshino, everything would go smoothly.

He would stall Sasuke, while Hoshino would quickly beat Naruto into submission and then come to help him.

That way, no matter how strong Sasuke was, she couldn’t possibly fight off four hands alone, and would inevitably be defeated.

“I’ll not only achieve my goal, but also discover Hoshino’s address as a bonus. Perfect.”

“Yes, I must quickly jot down Hoshino’s new address with a pen.”

Sakura-bro praised his genius idea, nodding with satisfaction.

Suddenly, another voice appeared right next to him, scribbling something rapidly in a notebook.

“…Huh!? W-why are you—”

“Good morning, Sakura-san.”

Hinata calmly greeted Sakura-bro, who stared blankly at her in shock.

“Why are you here?!”

“What a strange question. Why shouldn’t I be here? After hearing Hoshino-kun wanted to withdraw from school, of course I’d follow along. My presence might be weak, but please remember, I’m your rival too.”

Hinata’s reply deeply dissatisfied Sakura-bro. He knew Hinata was just like Sasuke, harboring strange intentions toward Hoshino, so her involvement wasn’t surprising at all. But what he really wanted to know was—

“How did you know about Hoshino withdrawing from school?”

“I overheard Naruto-kun talking to Sasuke-san about it. Is something wrong?”

“Overheard? When exactly did you—”

Sakura-bro wanted to ask Hinata how she could have overheard their conversation when she clearly hadn’t been there at all. But as he carefully recalled the scene, he suddenly fell silent.

This damned Hyūga heiress—her presence is still as weak as ever when she’s quiet!

Sakura-bro quickly understood that it wasn’t that Hinata hadn’t been there—it was simply that nobody had noticed her at all.

“How much longer are you two planning to chat here? Sasuke and Naruto already went inside. If we don’t hurry, we’ll lose track of which apartment they entered.”

“Waaahh—!” ×2

“What’s with your ghost-seeing faces? That’s quite rude, you know.”

Seeing the startled Sakura-bro and Hinata, Ino crossed her arms, glaring unhappily at them.

“Dammit, why is there another one here now? You spineless woman, Ino, why do you have to get involved too?”

“That’s right, this has nothing to do with you, Ino-san. You and Hoshino-kun have no special relationship at all.”

“Why does following someone make me spineless? You gorilla, you’re not qualified to judge me! Aren’t you also stalking Sasuke? And please don’t misunderstand—I have zero interest in Hoshino. I’m only here to clarify the weird relationship between you five, and while I’m at it, drag Sasuke off this twisted homosexual path back to normalcy.”

Although their motivations differed, the three now shared a common goal—getting into Hoshino’s apartment.

After a quick exchange, they knew they had to move immediately or risk losing track of their targets. So, they hurriedly ran up the stairs to search for Sasuke and Naruto.

Meanwhile, in the classroom at school—

...

“Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Shiratori Hoshino, Uzumaki Naruto… Two top students, two mediocre average students, and two hopeless slackers.”

After reciting these names one by one, Iruka slammed the roll book onto the floor with a bang.

“What a distinctive group we have skipping class today, huh!? Since you all say they ran out of the classroom, does anyone here know where they went!?? …Useless—utterly useless! Is shaking your heads all you people can do? Becoming your homeroom teacher is truly the most miserable luck I’ve had in eight lifetimes—!!”

...

Click, clack… Thunk—

The door to the new apartment unlocked and swung open.

“Ohhh… Skipping class and lounging at home, drinking juice and eating potato chips. Quite the leisurely, comfortable life you’re living… Isn’t that right, Shiratori Hoshino—!”

Hoshino saw the one person he absolutely did not want to see.

He’d expected Sasuke to rush here after hearing the news, but he hadn’t thought she’d be this fast.

Clang—!

Sasuke’s kunai and Hoshino’s kunai clashed violently, sparks flying.

The moment Sasuke saw Hoshino’s degenerate state, she’d furiously drawn her kunai, attacking him as she spoke.

“W-Walking Wallet… Iruka-sensei has surely approved my withdrawal request by now. What’s done is done, so stop causing trouble. Hurry up and go back to class obediently—Hiyaah!”

“Ugh… Too bad for you—your withdrawal form was stopped by me. Naruto never handed it to the teacher, so give up already! Haaah—!”

Sasuke barely withstood Hoshino’s sudden burst of strength. Finishing her words, she also yelled and began pushing back with full force.

They grappled, testing each other’s strength while arguing, their kunai continuously grinding and emitting piercing metallic screeches.

“Oho—! I-is that so… You really got me good there. Naruto, didn’t I tell you not to tell anyone until after you’d handed that form to Iruka? You little—Ghh… Y-your strength isn’t bad at all, Wallet-kun…”

“…Thanks for the compliment, heh—! Despite your usual laziness, your strength is pretty impressive too. Stop taking your anger out on Naruto. Even if your withdrawal had succeeded, I’d have pressured the school into re-enrolling you anyway.”

Both continued straining, groaning and shouting as they wrestled for dominance.

Although Sasuke had the advantage of a girl’s early growth spurt, standing taller than Hoshino right now and theoretically having an easy win, Hoshino had been giving Naruto extensive "massages" every day—strengthening his wrists, arms, and fingers considerably.

After all, this was a massage technique invented by that physical-fitness-madman Might Guy. How could anything created by him lack unnecessary movements or methods that served as exercise?

It was exactly due to this that after each massage session, Hoshino’s hands and arms always felt extremely sore and numb.

Gradually falling into a disadvantage, Sasuke decided not to continue this strength contest—throwing weapons was her true specialty anyway.

However, just as she prepared to disengage, a powerful fist came flying swiftly toward her.

She barely blocked it with her arm, rolled twice to absorb the momentum, then shook out her slightly aching arm, shouting angrily at the attacker.

“Why is it you again, you damned gorilla!”

Sakura-bro completely ignored Sasuke, calmly walking over and standing next to Hoshino.

“Darling, as your lover, I'll support you wholeheartedly. Come, let us two men fight bravely side-by-side. I’ll handle Sasuke—you quickly go beat up that traitor Naruto. Together, we’ll fight valiantly to ensure your bright future as a useless degenerate!”

Sakura-bro ended his speech by striking a bodybuilding pose, flexing his muscles ostentatiously.

Perhaps, in his own mind, he thought he looked heroic and handsome at that moment.

Forget Sasuke—even Hoshino suddenly felt a strong urge to punch him.

---

T/N: LET MY MAN BE A FREELOADERRRRR

This is a fan translation of 火影之软饭真好吃 by 肾亏能力者 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!