Naruto: Freeloading is Great! 2 [26]

The school, the students, Hoshino... in short, all the onlookers were terrified the two clans would actually start fighting.

Never mind whether there’d be casualties—if these two clans fought, Hoshino would absolutely suffer afterward.

But it wasn’t just the crowd who feared a fight breaking out. Even...

“C-come on, then! If you have the guts, just come! I’ll stare you unconscious with my spinning-bean Sharingan!”

“Y-you come here first! I dare you—dare you to make a move! Are you scared I’ll roll my Byakugan and make you piss your pants?”

Uchiha Fugaku and Hyūga Hiashi, the two leaders, nervously stuttered threats at each other.

If it weren’t for the clansmen on each side and the massive crowd of spectators, the two would’ve probably already started secretly backing down by now.

Unfortunately, neither could put aside the dignity of a clan head—especially in front of their arch-rivals.

Two men who absolutely refused to let their clans be branded as cowards cursed each other inwardly while desperately praying...

Third Hokage-sama, please hurry up and appear! x2

Both were waiting for a peacemaker to come give them an out.

Hinata, already worn down by the prolonged tension, was on the verge of collapse. With tear-filled eyes, she secretly tugged at Hoshino’s sleeve.

“It’s all your fault… Hurry, think—think of something to solve this...”

Solve my ass! If I had a way to fix this, would I still be standing here like a moron?!

Although Hinata was terrified of her secret getting exposed and tormented by the thought of being responsible for a bloody clash between clans, compared to Hoshino—who was under constant threat of death—it really wasn't that serious.

The person truly about to break down was actually Hoshino.

But at this point…

He had no choice but to give it a shot. Even if the odds of success were insanely low, and even if the consequences would be severe if it worked, it still beat being quietly executed by all three factions later.

Fine—fine...! Show some guts! Here I—I go!

Gathering his courage, Hoshino slowly raised his hand.

“I have something to say. Please listen carefully, everyone.”

Whoosh~!

The attention of everyone instantly locked onto Hoshino.

Out of all the squatting kids, only he and Hinata were standing, positioned prominently at the very front. Raising his hand made him instantly become the focus of the entire scene.

“Actually… Actually, the book Hinata’s holding—I forced it into her hands and deliberately shouted nonsense about the Hyūga clan conducting human experiments.”

“WHAAAAAAT!!??” xN

The instant those words left Hoshino’s mouth, shocked cries exploded from every direction.

Hiashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata—the ones who knew the truth—were stunned speechless by Hoshino’s shameless lies.

The onlookers were dumbfounded by why Hoshino had started this whole mess.

And as for the Uchiha... they were shocked someone actually dared volunteer to take the bullet aimed right at them.

“I... I did it purely for fun! At the time, I just wanted to embarrass Hinata a little—I never thought things would spiral out of control like this! I’m sorry! I’m truly, deeply sorry!”

Hoshino willingly placed the blame entirely on himself, creating the image of a reckless brat’s prank gone horribly wrong.

If Hinata hadn’t been such a background character, and if she hadn’t carefully hidden the H-book inside her textbooks during class, he wouldn't dare say this. Otherwise, his lie would’ve immediately been exposed by his classmates.

“You brat! Are you trying to cover up for the Hyūga clan’s human experiments? We refuse to accept it!”

Even though Fugaku desperately wanted to use this as his way out—blaming everything on childish antics—the other Uchiha weren't having it.

They'd finally found an opportunity to mess with the Hyūga clan. How could they give it up so easily? Thus, when a certain hot-headed Uchiha shouted his refusal, the rest instantly chimed in to back him up.

When Fugaku saw that stubborn clansman’s proud look of “Don’t worry, Clan Head—I won’t let it end so easily,” he nearly exploded in rage, wanting nothing more than to run over and stab him to death right then and there.

How dare you destroy the perfect out I was given and then give me a reassuring look?!

Having firmly decided to break this attention-seeking fool’s legs afterward, Fugaku reluctantly put on a stern face and continued playing along.

“Whether or not it’s really about human experiments, hand over the book for our inspection. That’ll clear everything up.”

He’d nearly given up hope, planning to stall along with Hiashi until the Third Hokage arrived. But suddenly, things turned around—the previously stubborn enemy had completely reversed course.

Hiashi gave Hoshino an appreciative glance, then turned his gaze toward Hinata.

“Hinata, since the book’s true owner has already come forward and admitted fault, we no longer need to take the blame for this reckless brat. Hand the book over to Fugaku.”

“…Father-sama, how… how can you be so shameless…”

“Shut your mouth, you stupid daughter! Now’s not the time for that. Go hand over the book that brat forced onto you to frame us!”

“But this book is clearly—”

“Hinata!!”

“Y-yes… I understand.”

Intimidated by Hiashi’s fierce rebuke, Hinata reluctantly handed the book to Fugaku under pressure from her father and her own reputation.

“Uncle Fugaku, here.”

“Hmph, let’s see what kind of dangerous book this actually is—pfft!”

Fugaku, who had only flipped open the first page, spat out a mouthful of blood.

So after all this commotion, it was just a damned copy of “Icha Icha Paradise”?!

Was Hiashi mentally challenged or something?! It wasn’t human experimentation data—so why the hell did you protect it so seriously?!

“As expected, that book really does contain information on [human experimentation]! The cruel content inside even made our clan head cough up blood! Brothers, prepare for battle!!”

“The Hyūga clan really did carry out [human experiments]! We must never forgive them!”

“Clan Head, just give the word! Even if we die, we cannot let these evil bastards who practice [human experimentation] continue living!”

The first to speak was again that idiotic troublemaker, and the other Uchiha clansmen eagerly echoed him, loudly chanting [human experiments!].

Though Fugaku had just been furious at the troublemaker, now he no longer cared. Since the silver-haired brat had voluntarily confessed the “truth,” Fugaku no longer had to stall alongside Hiashi waiting for the Third Hokage to mediate.

All he’d wanted today was to mess with Hiashi a little. He definitely had no intention of sparking some gangster-style clan war.

So, with great relief, Fugaku gave Hoshino an appreciative glance before handing the book over to Itachi.

“Pass this around and let everyone have a quick look. It's just an erotic novel. A complete misunderstanding. Once you've all seen it, we'll prepare to withdraw.”

At this moment, Hoshino—who had just received deeply meaningful glances from two clan heads in a row—felt that his life had finally reached its end…

It’s all over!

---

T/N: WHAT AMAN

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!