Chapter 62: Vigilance
"So he's really not a ninja… And yet whenever I face Ryū-san, I can't shake this feeling—a faint but unmistakable pressure, like standing before a powerful enemy. It's honestly hard to believe."
Hatake Kakashi's tone was perfectly level, as if he were making casual conversation.
But anyone could hear the intense wariness underneath.
Even though Guy had said Ryū was his neighbor—a trustworthy older-brother figure next door—Kakashi still couldn't let his guard down.
Because ever since he'd grown stronger, the number of people capable of making him feel this kind of pressure had steadily dwindled. And now, someone who claimed to be "not a ninja" was giving him the first real sense of oppression he'd felt since the last Great Ninja War.
How could he not be on guard? He wasn't Guy—the type whose nerves were made of rebar.
Ryū wasn't surprised by Kakashi's wariness in the slightest.
This was exactly the kind of professional reflex a proper ninja should have.
It was like when your friend introduces you to one of their "friends"—and something about the guy just feels off.
In that kind of situation, anyone would be wary.
Ryū took a sip of the clear, slightly sweet broth, let a harmless smile spread across his face, and turned to say: "Maybe you're just overthinking it, Kakashi-otouto?"
Kakashi's eyelid twitched. He had the overwhelming urge to retort.
But then he glanced at Ryū's height.
Then compared it to his own.
And since Ryū was Guy's neighbor and "big brother," and Guy was the same age as Kakashi, that meant Ryū was older. Calling him "otouto" was technically… not wrong? But it still felt like he'd been demoted an entire generation for no reason.
Swallowing all those tangled thoughts, Kakashi chose not to press further.
No matter how strange this guy was, he was still Guy's acquaintance.
Openly showing this level of suspicion right in front of Guy…
That was a bit inconsiderate of Guy's feelings, wasn't it?
Looks like his own mindset still needed some tempering.
With a quiet sigh, Kakashi redirected his attention to the bowl of ramen in front of him. He'd barely eaten a third of it, while Ryū over there had already polished off his twentieth bowl… The man was practically inhuman.
* * *
Ryū could more or less guess what was running through Kakashi's head.
But he didn't care what Kakashi thought.
Overthinking things wasn't as important as eating.
After spending 6,000 Points on Physical Enhancement earlier, Ryū felt like he was trending… how to put it? Increasingly in the direction of a competitive eater. Or rather, he'd already earned that title.
On top of that, the amount of energy a bowl of ramen could actually provide was negligible.
So even after downing that many bowls—
He didn't feel the slightest bit full.
As if everything was being digested the instant it hit his stomach.
Time ticked by. When Kakashi finished his second bowl, he couldn't help glancing Ryū's way—and the corner of his mouth immediately twitched.
Guy was definitely going to be paying through the nose today. Then again, Guy probably wasn't short on money, right?
He'd completed plenty of missions, after all. No way he was broke.
* * *
Guy hadn't noticed anything off about Kakashi and Ryū's earlier exchange.
He fished around in his wallet, then called out to the shop owner: "Teuchi-san! Check, please!"
Teuchi, who'd been busy for the better part of an hour, accepted the money with a smile and nodded. "Thank you for your patronage! Please come again."
Like Kakashi, Teuchi's gaze drifted to the space beside Ryū.
To the tower of empty bowls stacked impossibly high.
He couldn't help thinking: That appetite of his has gotten even bigger…
Teuchi was no stranger to Ryū, his peculiar regular.
Over this stretch of time in Konohagakure, whenever Ryū was too lazy to cook at home, he'd swing by Ichiraku Ramen to take care of it.
Familiarity breeds… well, familiarity.
So Ryū had become something of a fixture at the shop.
And with that absurd appetite of his—how could Teuchi possibly forget?
As the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi had seen his share of big eaters in Konohagakure. He'd even hosted a few eating contests. Those champions could put away a dozen bowls, even twenty-something.
But this Ryū-san was something else. A dozen or twenty bowls was just his warm-up.
Teuchi had no idea how one person could possess that kind of capacity.
Even many powerful ninja couldn't eat that much.
It was downright inhuman!
Watching the three of them leave side by side, Teuchi murmured to himself, "Young people these days are really something… That one with the mask—he's White Fang's kid, isn't he?"
* * *
On a street in Konohagakure, Ryū walked at the front.
Guy was next.
Kakashi brought up the rear.
Kakashi sidled up to Guy and whispered via the Voice Transmission Technique: "Hey, Guy! Don't you think… your neighbor is kind of strange? There's no way a normal person can eat that much."
"And he says he's not a ninja, but he gives me this really bizarre sense of pressure. Even against a jōnin, I'd rarely feel this kind of oppression. He's seriously strange."
Guy blinked in surprise and transmitted back: "Now that you mention it, Ryū-san does seem a little odd. But maybe he just had some kind of fortuitous encounter?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. Guy trusted this guy way too much!
Without leaving a trace, he palmed a kunai and transmitted to Guy: "Guy, don't try to stop me. I'm just going to test this Ryū-san. If there's nothing unusual, I'll pull back immediately."
Before Guy could even process those words—
Kakashi, kunai in hand, dissolved into an afterimage and surged toward Ryū's exposed back.
Guy only felt a violent gust of wind whip across his face.
By the time he snapped back to reality, Kakashi was already moving to test Ryū?
Guy's first instinct was to intervene. But then he remembered Kakashi's character, and he held himself back.
Kakashi had said he wouldn't go overboard—just a probe.
So he wouldn't actually hurt Ryū-san… right?
Kakashi was still trustworthy, after all.
* * *
Kakashi had no idea what was going through Guy's head. In this split-second, lightning-flash instant, he was now less than two meters from Ryū.
Looking at Ryū standing perfectly still, not reacting at all, a sliver of doubt crept in.
Was he really just an ordinary person?
There was no sign of any counteratta—
Wait!!
This is—
What?!
Kakashi's pupils contracted violently. He looked up in disbelief at the man in front of him—a man who stood a full head taller and then some.
He tried to pull the kunai back, only to discover with a jolt… it wouldn't budge!
"Your speed seems just a teensy bit slow, Kakashi-otouto."
Ryū held the razor-sharp kunai pinched between two fingers, wearing a smile of perfect "innocence"—looking for all the world like a certain Youkai Sage.
Kakashi: "…"
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