- Eat. Eat up, Naruto! A strong guy like you needs a lot of food to be strong!- said Homura while trying really hard to convince Naruto to eat more food.

Though the latter did not seem to be against it, but was truly surprised by his friend's sudden burst of seeming generosity, in fact, he was rather creeped out by it, however, the food still tasted good enough for him to be influenced by his greed for more ramen.

- Thanks, but are you sure? (Naruto)

Naruto looked at the 7 piled-up bowls of ramen noodles on his left side of the counter. They had been eating inside the restaurant for almost 5 hours, he felt full several times and had the chance to regain his appetite do to how long they had stayed.

He never thought of splurging this much on ramen, rather he was getting scared at how much he was being allowed to eat.

- Yeah, keep on chugging more. Today is a special day after all. I came across a lot of money, I just thought that I should share some of the wealth, with a true champion like yourself.

- R-really?- asked Naruto who was truly surprised by Homura's words, he was far from believing Homura at face value, but if he really had become rich then there was no need to deny his kindness. At least, that's what Naruto would have done as well so he thought that Homura being this nice to him was justifiable.

- Of course!- said Homura flashing a smile at Naruto.

It is scary how well he can fake his emotions, but has trouble expressing his actual emotions. If anyone paid close attention to his almost shut eyes while he was smiling at Naruto, they would immediately realize that they weren't conveying any sort of happiness but pure/undiluted malevolence. It was practically oozing out, due to how much Homura wanted to take Naruto down a peg.

Too bad Naruto was too enamored with the food in front of him that he barely paid any real attention to Homura's subtle change of expression each time he tried to convey a fake mood.

Though it would have mattered little in the long run, Naruto wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

He was a good kid but lacked the almost prophetic insight and motor skills that his deceased father possessed.

So unless people were being obvious about their intentions towards him, he was likely to ignore it due to how easily he tends to become one-tracked-minded.

- Good, don't worry about ordering some more!

- Thanks! Yeah, today is a great day! Oji-san, the special, and after that 3 number 2 sets! (Naruto)

Ultimately greed had won.

The metaphorical devil on Naruto's shoulder and Homura's sweet words had managed to tempt him, to indulge further in his desires.

Naruto's better judgment was being drowned under a sea of ramen soup.

- Coming right up.- said Teuchi while turning his head and beaming Naruto a smile while he was still making another bowl of ramen for another customer who wanted to pick up his order in person.

However, another person also smiled at hearing Naruto's statement.

That person was obviously Homura, who was quite happy that his plan was working.

Homura looked at the entire exchange proceeding in front of him with his fake, happy, and jovial-looking face, but the thoughts running throughout his mind were quite vile...for an imbecile with nothing better to do.

- (Good. Order more. The more order you, the more you will suffer! It is the Sith way... Hahahahaha!...W-wait a second...he ordered just one more bowl and side dishes, that means...he's about to hit his quota for the day... no matter. He already ordered some of the most expensive items on the menu, what a shameless bast*rd. He pretends to be on the edge but still orders stuff on the expensive side... so... he has always been a little asshole! Still, that's enough for him to suffer for at least a while... may need to get a move on.)

Homura realized that if he spent more time with Naruto sitting at the counter it would be harder for him to escape since people, mostly shinobi, would be off work or returning from work soon enough.

Thus catching him could be a piece of cake, if anyone decided to play the hero.

Homura then looked at the 2 bowls of ramen that he had finished to his right...

- (I really should be ordering one more to do more damage to his wallet, but at this rate, if I eat any more I will be the one doing the damage to myself... I can't keep eating any longer, any more than that and my ass is going to explode with a severe case of diarrhea...or worse Teuchi may catch up to me easily when I decide to make my move...it's now or never!)

- I am stuffed!

- Eh? Already!? I am gonna go for 1 more *slurp*- tried to say Naruto before he cut himself off due to trying to swallow a batch of noodles.

- yeah, you do you (now!)

Homura threw his wallet full of nothing but pebbles outside the shop with extreme finesse!

It was to pretend it was an accident but, he was far too naive and did not realize that Teuchi's left eye seemed to shine for a second.

Indicating that he saw everything that had transpired.

As the owner of a small shop, he was quite avid and on the lookout for potential dine and dash schemes, that customers would try to play on him.

By Homura saying he was stuffed, he became immediately a target and most of Teuchi's attention was now on him.

Though Homura could not see any of the signs and continued focusing on the matter at hand.

- My wallet!- said Homura in a worried tone but not anywhere high enough to actually garner the attention of anyone around.

He soon got up and went running after the wallet that he had himself thrown away a few moments prior and left the shop in a hurry.

Though when he thought to be far away enough he could not help himself, and turned around a little and started gloating,

- haha! This is payback Naruto! Enjoy having an empty wallet!- yelled Homura.

He then soon resumed running away and started laughing his ass off out loud, earning weird stares from the people on the streets.

Inside the shop though, Naruto would soon start to panic after realizing Homura had left.

- hmm?... Did I just hear someone call my name? !? W-where is Homura?!- said a worried-sounding Naruto, who just realized that the person he was depending on to pay for his meal was gone.

Naruto was so preoccupied with finishing the food in front of him that he did not even realize what had happened.

- He just said he had to go. (Teuchi)

- Eh!? B-But he said that he was paying today! (Naruto)

- Don't worry, Naruto. I talked to him prior to your meeting and opened a tab for him. So you can enjoy it to your heart's content. One more? (Teuchi)

- Really?! Thanks, old man! I didn't know he was going to be this nice to me. I guess I should thank him for the next time I see him. That Homura might really be a good guy, I wonder why he left in a such hurry? (Was it poop?) (Naruto)

Chapter end

*Edit later. tomorrow 2 chapters for bonus bye.*