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Sasuke threw himself at the dining table and devoured everything.
After finishing the meal, he stood up, staggering, with his stomach bulging.
Ikeno pulled out a small bottle from his pocket, which he had also retrieved from his spatial storage. The bottle contained dozens of pills.
He poured out two and handed them to Sasuke.
"Take these digestive pills; they'll help with the bloating."
"Oh."
Sasuke took them and slumped back onto the couch.
The two sat in silence for a moment, and the atmosphere became a bit awkward.
"How about I sing a song for you?" Ikeno suggested.
Sasuke nodded.
Ikeno started singing, "After three rounds of drinks, you sat in the corner, stubbornly singing..."
Sasuke turned to look at him, his eyes filled with surprise.
It sounded good...
But why did it feel so sad?
"One cup for freedom, one cup for death..."
The moment those words left his mouth, Ikeno realized that the mood was off.
Yikes!
He was singing about death on Sasuke's birthday!
Quickly recovering, he switched to another song, "Thank you to every one of my teammates, for standing by me through it all. Fighting fate every night... Big brother, don't kill me, I'll give you all the guns..."
When he finished, Sasuke was sitting in stunned silence, looking as if he'd been struck.
"Big brother, don't kill me..." Sasuke repeated, finally cracking a smile.
Seeing him smile at last, Ikeno felt relieved.
But still, the system reward hadn't appeared.
Alright!
Time to bring out the final surprise.
"Let's go to the terrace; there's something special for you!"
Sasuke followed him upstairs to the terrace, still a bit confused.
On the ground was a beautiful birthday cake with candles flickering on top. Scribbled on the cake was: "Happy Birthday to the Second Pillar."
Sasuke froze.
"Who's the 'Second Pillar'?"
Ikeno chuckled, "Doesn't it sound cool?"
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, it does..."
But then, he seemed to be struck by something, standing there motionless as if thunderstruck.
After staring at the cake for a moment, he turned to Ikeno.
"My birthday?"
Ikeno flashed a bright smile. "Happy birthday, Sasuke!"
"How did you know my birthday..." Sasuke's voice trembled slightly.
"I asked Grandpa Hokage," Ikeno answered casually. "Now come on, blow out the candles and make a wish!"
Afterward, they lay side by side on the terrace, gazing up at the stars.
Since living alone, Sasuke had forgotten what birthdays felt like, and no one had ever celebrated his.
In that moment, his heart was overwhelmed with gratitude and emotion.
Ikeno then got up to light the fireworks he had prepared.
The night sky exploded in a brilliant array of colors.
Sasuke looked over at Ikeno. "Toshi, thank you."
And right at that moment...
The system's sound finally rang!
Ikeno sighed with relief.
He had finally established a friendship with Sasuke!
[Ding! Congratulations, Host has established a friendship with Sasuke. Special reward: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique]
Though it wasn't the coveted Sharingan, Ikeno was still overjoyed.
Haha!
The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
This was an A-rank ninjutsu listed under the Forbidden Techniques, allowing the user to create numerous physical clones that could move and fight independently.
With his boundless chakra, Ikeno imagined creating hundreds of clones at once, each launching a Great Fireball technique simultaneously.
What an epic scene that would be!
As he reveled in his excitement, Sasuke interrupted his thoughts.
"The moon is beautiful," Sasuke said, gazing at the sky.
Ikeno snapped back to reality, following Sasuke's gaze to the moon. He mused silently, "Who would've thought this moon is actually a container created by the Sage of Six Paths to seal the Ten Tails using Planetary Devastation..."
Ikeno wanted to try out his new Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, but he couldn't just chase Sasuke away, so he smiled and suggested, "It's late. How about staying over at my place tonight? I only have one bed, but we can squeeze in together."
Sasuke shot up, alarmed, and bolted out of Ikeno's house as if fleeing for his life.
Once Sasuke left, Ikeno locked the door and created multiple Shadow Clone bunny girls…[(T＿T) Have fun Lil bro]
More than ten happy days passed like this.
With more than two months left until the main plot would begin, Ikeno spent his time training and building relationships.
One day, Ikeno and Naruto went to the ramen shop for their usual after-school ramen.
After eating, the two left the shop, arm in arm.
As they walked, they bumped into Sasuke.
Sasuke had noticed recently that Ikeno and Naruto had been hanging out a lot, eating ramen together every day after school.
He couldn't quite explain the feeling, but it was... sour.
"Disgusting idiot!" A cold voice came from behind them.
Naruto, who had been in high spirits just moments ago, turned around to find Sasuke staring at them, and immediately bristled with anger.
"Who are you calling an idiot?!"
Sasuke's expression was one of complete indifference. "Who do you think?"
Naruto's temper flared.
"Jerk!"
"Crane tail!"
"Apologize! Or Ikeno and I will beat you up!"
Sasuke gave Ikeno a cold look. "Who are you going to help?"
Naruto grinned. "Obviously, he'll help me, right, Ikeno?"
Ikeno was dumbfounded.
These two, the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, were arguing like children...
As he watched them bicker, Ikeno simply laughed and walked away. "You guys settle it yourselves. Have fun!"
Just as he walked away, a lazy voice called out.
"They're at it again, huh?"
"Should we stop them?"
"Nah, too much of a hassle."
"Yeah, let's just go grab some dango."
Chōji and Shikamaru passed by, completely uninterested in breaking up the argument.
The next day, Ikeno went to school with his bag slung over his shoulder.
In math class, the teacher was explaining something on the board:
"A shuriken is 15 cm long, with the blade 9 cm long. It consists of two square pyramids with a shared base. The widest part of the arrowhead is 4.5 cm, and the thickest part is 1 cm. What is the volume of the arrowhead…"
Hearing this, Ikeno and Naruto both felt drowsy.
Suddenly, the system chimed in:
[Ding! Performance art sign-in task issued: Host must collaborate with Naruto to beautify the Hokage Rock. Task duration: Two days]
Haha!
Ikeno was thrilled at the thought of Naruto messing up the Hokage Rock with his "art."
"What are you smiling about?" Naruto asked curiously.
Ikeno whispered the plan to him.
Naruto's eyes lit up. The two of them immediately agreed to start the mission!
…
"Naruto Uzumaki! Stop! And that new guy with him!"
Shouts of anger echoed from below the Hokage Rock.
Right now, a few ninjas were chasing two teens—each carrying paint buckets.
One was Naruto.
The other was Toshi Ikeno.
Naruto had, once again, "beautified" the statues of the four past Hokage, displaying his unique "artistic" talents.
Even though Ikeno found this whole act a bit childish, a system task was a system task...
Besides, he was merely assisting, handing Naruto the brushes and paint, and letting him take the lead.
This time, Naruto even added the English words he had just learned from Ikeno...
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