Naruto: Freeloading is Great! 2 [12]

When a protagonist who transmigrated into another world gets disdained by a bunch of small-fry, what's the best solution?

Simple—show off the power or talent you've kept hidden for years, and use that attitude of, "Ahh, I really didn't want to do this, it's the circumstances forcing me," then ruthlessly slap those small-fry’s faces.

Right now, we've got someone who's being looked down on, and as for the perfect timing and location…

“For the fourth period, we'll be testing your fundamentals. Everyone, follow me to the training grounds.”

Holding a clipboard and pen, Iruka-sensei tossed out these words and led the students out to the training grounds.

The forced timing and perfect stage for showing off—both ready and waiting.

Tremble, mortals! Bow down before the great transmigrator from Earth!

At least, that was what Hoshino had originally thought…

“Uchiha Sasuke, all bullseyes—full marks.”

“Haruno Sakura, comprehensive score: sixty. Barely passed.”

“Uzumaki Naruto, congratulations, you managed to luckily hit the outermost ring once. One point.”

“Nara Shikamaru… Don’t throw your shuriken straight onto the ground just because you think it's too troublesome! Zero points!”

“Hakuya Hoshino… I thought no one could be worse than Naruto, and then Shikamaru appeared. Just when I thought no one could surpass Shikamaru, you showed up. Exactly how many more surprises do you guys want to give me? How can you cut your own fingers just throwing shuriken…?! Negative ten points!!”

...

“Uchiha Sasuke, three hand-seals per second—perfect.”

“Yamanaka Ino, two seals per second—excellent.”

“Uzumaki Naruto, one seal per second—average.”

“Nara Shikamaru… Are you an old man!? Ten whole seconds to form one seal—useless trash!”

“Hakuya Hoshino… You again!? How come it’s always you, are you deliberately making my life hard? What kind of six-year-old doesn't even know how to form hand-seals? There are only twelve hand positions in total, is it really that hard to memorize!? Get lost!”

...

After testing ten different categories, everyone’s rankings were now crystal clear:

First place: Genius, Sasuke.

Third from last: Salted fish, Naruto.

Second to last: Dead fish, Shikamaru.

Absolute last place: Dead salted fish, Hoshino.

Facing these rankings and titles, Hoshino expressed that he absolutely could not accept them.

“This isn't the first place I wanted! What the hell is this!? I’m a transmigrator, goddammit!”

Initially, everyone had suspected that Hoshino was deliberately acting bad just to annoy Iruka-sensei. But after witnessing his anguished cries, their suspicions evaporated.

…He’s genuinely trash!

Although the brats stopped openly despising him, the occasional glances filled with pity…

Stop, stop it! Don’t look at me with those eyes! It’s even more hurtful this way!

He hadn't wanted it to turn out like this either. Who knew these basic things were common knowledge!? He’d only practiced some taijutsu moves with Naruto and Sasuke!

Is it my fault? Is this really my fault?!

I never even learned these things before! Why has everyone else already studied at home!? What the hell is wrong with you people!?

And why the hell aren’t we being tested in actual combat? I might suck at other things, but beating down idiots like Naruto is something I could do with my eyes closed!

Fortunately, Hoshino, who felt targeted by the school, hadn’t been abandoned by everyone yet.

For example, Sasuke—clever as always—immediately stepped forward:

“Hoshino, don't let this performance bother you too much. Even if you've become absolute garbage, I would never look down on you. After all, raising you is pretty much no different from raising a freeloading dog. With my family’s wealth, raising even a hundred of you would still be easy. So please, don’t feel any psychological burden whatsoever.”

“You’re the fucking dog! Are you trying to start a real-life street fight!?”

Provoked beyond endurance, Hoshino instinctively yelled back at Sasuke.

This brat totally came just to kick me when I’m down!

Ignoring Sasuke, who somehow still had the nerve to look wronged after kicking him while he was down, Hoshino decided that since the morning classes were over, he'd go directly off-campus in search of food.

“Hey, dead salted fish, where do you think you're going? Did I say class was over?”

“Old Ka, knock it off, I’m starving~”

“Who’s joking with you, last place?! And who the hell is ‘Old Ka’? You have to call me sensei!”

“…Please don’t insult the title of sensei.”

“Calling me sensei insults the title of sensei!? What kind of image do I have in your eyes!?”

“A garbage chūnin who got his job through nepotism.”

Iruka-sensei’s face turned green with anger. Honestly, if there weren’t something important to announce right now, he'd definitely hang Hoshino—the worst student and troublemaker—from the nearest tree.

After forcibly calming himself, Iruka-sensei clapped his hands, gathered everyone around, and announced:

“Actually, today's morning classes aren't finished yet. The moment the bell rang for the end of fourth period, your fifth-period class had already started.”

Iruka’s words instantly set off the kids. After quietly murmuring to each other, all their gazes turned collectively toward Hoshino.

What the hell!? Why are you all looking at me? If you wanna protest, go ahead yourselves! Don’t make it look like it’s only natural for the "bad student" to step forward and start trouble!

But still…

“What's the idea with cancelling lunch break? I’m exhausted both physically and mentally—and starving on top of it. If you don’t give me a reasonable explanation, I’ll file a complaint!”

Hoshino truly intended to protest.

“Complaint? Who can you complain to? This was decided by the principal—even complaining to the Hokage won't help!”

“Who said anything about complaining to the Hokage? I’m gonna complain directly to the Uchiha and Hyūga clans! How dare you guys abuse their precious young master and young lady—prepare for your deaths!”

“…You're such a noisy dead salted fish!”

Finally, after Iruka’s explanation, the brats understood—the test wasn't over yet.

It was a comprehensive test, allowing team-ups of no more than three.

The rules were simple: "survive" the climb to the peak of the mountain behind the school.

They had plenty of time—the test lasted until school ended in the afternoon.

During this period, Iruka would wait on the summit in advance. Students who completed the test could go home directly without attending afternoon classes, and he'd add huge bonus points based on their arrival order.

After Iruka explained the rules…

“Naruto, come on, let's grab bread from the school store, eat, then sleep until the test ends.”

“Yeah, hehe, I knew my cotton blanket would finally come in handy.”

“Ah… so troublesome. I'll just sleep in the classroom too. And hey, silver-haired guy who used my connections to cut in line at the New Year shrine festival, grab two breads for me too. Eating is troublesome, but not eating is even more troublesome.”

“You three stop right there!”

Iruka angrily called out to the bottom three salted fish. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined anyone would directly choose to give up.

Fine, giving up is one thing—but now they'd influenced the entire class… Oh, except for Gorilla Sakura. They’d influenced everyone except Gorilla Sakura to quit, those damned brats!

“Old Ka, what now?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention, students who fail this test will lose all afternoon free practice time for the next…two months. It'll be replaced with remedial lessons.”

“Hey, you just made up that punishment, didn’t you!? You even thought one month wasn't harsh enough, so you changed it to two months on the spot…! Can you really call yourself a teacher?!”

“I'm your homeroom teacher. Whatever I say goes! Now get moving, all of you!”

---

T/N: hehe hes absolutely garbage

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!