NARUTO SHINDEN - PARENT AND CHILD DAY

Chapter 3: Father and Daughter, dining table for one

***
«Bwahhahahahahahaha!» the hearty laughter of the sixteen head of the Akimichi —
Akimichi Chōji — resounded in the living room of the Akimichi family.
Lying down on the sofa before the television, he was devouring some potato chips greedily.
«Haha— Hiihihihaha…. ohff!»
He didn’t stop laughing, and the faces of the comic duo reflected on the television were
covered with the remains of the potato chips that were spitted out of his mouth. Maybe
because that was fun as well, «Ha—hahahehahaha!» Chōji kept laughing clapping his
stomach, in addition to that. His fat belly made a pleasant pat-pat noise, and his bottom made
a “Pfhh—!” as to accompany it.
«Oops. I clapped my stomach too hard…bwahahahaha!» Chōji burst out laughing, without
feeling sorry for that.
Without even noticing the disdainful eyes that were piercing him from behind.
«…disgusting.» his daughter Chōchō moaned with her eyes half closed. Maybe to transmit
also her resentment for being left standing since he had monopolised the sofa, her voice was
intentionally cold.
Next to her, also his wife Karui was looking down on Chōji with the same eyes.
«You, take that from the bookshelf. The illustrated encyclopaedia of the animals.» Karui told
Chōchō jerking her chin.
«What do you want to do with something like an illustrated encyclopaedia?»
«Knocking Papa’s head with all my strength.»
«Mama, I don’t want to hear your jokes, stop really.»
«If it’s so, I’ll just look inside. There may be pictured a way to tame a good-for-nothing
useless old man.»
«It’s not mentioned. Such a Papa is only here in our home.»
Behind Chōji, who was pleasantly shaking his belly, the two of them sighed together.
«For the time being… shall we move?»
«Yeah.»
Bags of potato chips were scattered all around Chōji. They were all consommé flavoured.
Looking annoyed, the two of them walked into the space that could as well be called the
‘den’ of the good-for-nothing useless old man.
Thereupon…
«…ah?» Karui, who had taken a roundabout path in front of the sofa, spat up a question mark
looking at a point of the floor. There, there was an empty pack that was different from the
ones of the potato chips.
«Wait a second, you. This pack, can it be…»
«Hahahaha…huh?»
Sensing that Karui’s voice had become heavier when she called out to him, Chōji stopped
laughing.
«As I thought…»
As if she had recognised the true identity of the empty pack, Karui gave him a sidelong glare.
«These are the sweet buns I bought for tomorrow’s breakfast! Why did you eat it before
that!?»
«E-eeh? No, because… I got tired of consommé flavour only, so I tried to interpose
something sweet among them…»
«Eat sugar then!» Karui shouted bitterly, and her gaze shifted to another thing.
«Besides… this as well! This milk! Why did you drink it directly without putting it in a cup!
Haven’t I told you to stop doing it!?»
«It’s okay, I drink it only at home at any rate.»
«That’s not the problem!»
Karui grabbed Chōji’s collar, and tried to lift him from the sofa… however, the difference of
three times her body weight couldn’t be overturned, and while moaning «Nnh—!» and
«Dammit!» Karui just changed the Chōji’s situation from lying to sitting, and she was out of
breath.
«E-enough…» Karui said while panting heavily with her hands on her knees.
«I’m tired of getting angry, also my arms are tired… I’m tired of various things…»
Chōchō, who was collecting the garbage on the floor while Karui was exerting her strength,
fanned her mother, who was dripping with sweat, with an empty pack of potato chips.
«Mama. It’s okay, you know.»
«O–u…»
Karuti waved her hand.
«For the time being… I’m going shopping. I have to buy breakfast for tomorrow… again…»
Karui went towards the entryway with a tottering way of walking, as if she was lacking
oxygen.
«Ah. Shopping?»
Chōji called her out gleefully from behind.
«In that case, can you take some consommé flavoured potato chips while you’re at it? There
are only lightly salty left.»
«…»
Pop… a vein appeared on the temple of Karui’s head, who had turned around looking over
her shoulder.
Karui turned around without a word, and walked taking loud, long steps — and opened the
door of the entryway so violently she almost broke it.
Then, with the same force, she closed it. The oscillations arrived until the living room, and
the rests of food that were clinging onto the television crumbled down in pieces.
«W-what was it…? Mama got angry all of a sudden…»
Chōji plugged his ears looking annoyed, but «…good-for-nothing useless old man.» Chōchō
muttered only, and he couldn’t hear it properly for some reason.
***
His wife Karui had run out of civility, and went out of the house.
He reflected on his own behaviour, and realised it — not. He was told by his daughter
Chōchō. “Papa, as things are now, it’s no good.”
Having said that, what should he do concretely? Chōji didn’t know. He bragged that he was
the best in Konoha who knew the art of cooking meat perfectly, but even now that he had
passed his thirties he still hadn’t mastered the art of reading between the lines of a woman’s
heart.
Because of that predicament, he couldn’t think of a way to regain his wife’s heart, no matter
how much he racked his head.
«For the time being, my tummy is empty for the excessive thinking, so let’s go buy potato
chips.»
He got carried away by a speech like that.
«Can’t you think for more than five minutes?»
Even though Chōchō gave him bitter words, she didn’t stop his purchasing and went out with
him instead, and he thought that she was really his daughter.
The day he succeeded his father as the head of the Akimichi. The anxiety he had always had
escaped from his lips. Would he really be able to get married, since he was so chubby…?
His anxiety had ended up being useless, and he was able to meet his wife by chance. Then,
they had also been blessed with a child.
He was aware that story was too good to be true. He wasn’t aware that he had turned into a
good-for-nothing useless old man though.
First of all, his daughter was cute. She was cute not only from a parent’s point of view. Since
she was born, every night near his pillow he wished “Make her look like Karui and not
me…”, but this had been the result. He had been teased by his wife while he was praying
“You look like an employee that watches attentively that the ham is smoked well.”, but that
hadn’t been a problem… no. It had been a problem. Because the wicked thought of a ham
had been added to his prayers, and the shape of his daughter’s body… wasn’t a ham, but she
ended up looking like him.
Even so, he shouldn’t complain because her face looked like her mother’s. Long slit eyes
with well-featured double-edged eyelids. Thick chubby lips. Really, he was glad that his
genes hadn’t influenced her from the neck above… looking at his daughter’s face, Chōji
earnestly thought so.
«…? What? You’re looking at other people’s faces intently. I don’t care if you fall over.»
Being told so by Chōchō, Chōji was taken aback. They were in the shopping district in the
evening. There were a lot of people, and he’d surely bump into someone if he kept spacing
out.
«Papa, you bumped into some people when you were spacing out. You knocked them all
down with your belly though.»
Rather, he did bump into someone.
«I-I’m sorry about that… I’ve been thinking a bit. How can I make peace with Mama?»
«Humph. Well, do you feel like you had some good idea?»
«No, at all.» he replied immediately, and Chōchō’s shoulders dropped.
She stared with a sidelong glance at Chōji, who was scratching his head in puzzlement.
«Just one thing had come to my mind at least. It’s simple but it’s good.»
«Huumm…for example?»
Chōji needed an answer quickly. Chōchō sighed.
«I’ve been thinking about it for a while… fooor exaaampleee… how about a present. Have
you ever given a ring, or an accessory as a present?»
«Yeah. In that case—»
Chōji pointed to his daughter’s ears.
«These earrings.»
With a jerk, the corners of Chōchō’s mouth had a cramp.
«Not things you gave to me… I’m talking about things you gave Mama…»
The earrings Chōchō was wearing on her ears were something he had received as a present
from his deceased teacher Asuma when he had been promoted to chūnin.
When their children became genin, they entrusted the earrings they were wearing to them,
until those children became chūnin… it was a tradition passed down on the Nara clan,
Yamanaka clan and Akimichi clan.
But then, he had given his earrings to Chōchō when she attended the Academy — before she
had been acknowledged as a genin. Since his daughter had mastered some secret ninjutsu of
the Akimichi family since that time, he guessed that it wasn’t a problem. It had been the same
also for the Nara family and the Yamanaka family.
Nonetheless, other things he had given as a present…
«Something like accessories… I’ve never given one to Mama.»
«Eeh?»
Raising a hysteric voice, Chōchō opened her mouth wide.
«No. No no. It’s not like that.» Chōji flapped his hands, searching for an excuse.
«Mama uses Lightning Release, right? In that case, if she wore some metallic things like that,
she might get a shock…»
«…you should have given her leather things…»
«…right.» Chōji acknowledged meekly his daughter’s objection.
Even if she didn’t fawn over him, Karui had been staying together with him — it’s not that he
bragged about it. However, he was just under the impression that it was natural, since they
would stay together even if he did nothing. Now he was paying the price of that misreading.
«Even so, the fact that Mama is with you, Papa… means that you’ve got some charm.»
Chōchō concluded with a smiling face, but she frowned immediately.
«…uwa, embarrassing… I feel like I’ve said a super embarrassing things now.»
Forget, forget — she covered her head with a hand, and stirred the air with the other hand.
Was what she said that much embarrassing? Chōji tilted his head.
Chōchō’s eyes peeked from the spaces between her fingers.
«…Papa. What do you think is your charm? Your strong point, or the things that seems to
attract Mama.»
«Charm… you say…»
Chōji looked up to the evening sky, searching inside his head. About himself. In that case, it
was hard to think, but—
«Kindness, I guess.»
The thing that had come out was an absurdly safe self-evaluation.
«Uwa, ordinary…»
Also Chōchō narrowed her eyes, shocked.
Then, her eyes opened suddenly.
She was staring behind Chōji — then, she made a complacent smile.
«…if you have some other charm, papa—»
Whoosh — Chōchō pointed at the direction of her gaze.
«It’s gluttony for sure.»
Also Chōji looked at the direction his daughter was pointing to. It was a round-the-clock
general store. The place they were aiming to buy potato chips. “Does she intend to say to buy
up and eat up all the goods of the store?” Chōji wondered, but he immediately discovered that
he was wrong. The thing his daughter was pointing to wasn’t the general store, but the poster
affixed near the entrance.
“Also this year the competition will take place! Come forth, Konoha’s gluttony pride!” was
written on it. It was the announcement of the annual eating contest. Dazzling red-hot
hamburgers, and ramen served with roasted pork fillet that filled up even the edge of the
porcelain bowl. Grilled meat that made the bubbles of its juices pop on the griddle, and sticky
red bean soup whose sweet taste his brain felt just by looking at it. The pictures of those
things had been inserted together.
«Ohyo…»
Chōji’s stomach made a “Grooowl”.
«You should participate, and show your gluttony, Papa. That way, also Mama will fall in
love.»
The solution of the problem she had arrived to was eating, as he thought. Like father, like
daughter.
«Besides… look.»
Chōchō’s finger shifted to below the poster. There was a note written down there, “※Since it
will be held on Father and Child Day, the participants will be restricted to parents with
children only.”
«Eh? If we tag together, you and I, Papa, we’ll surely win.»
Chōchō drew back her index finger, and stuck out her thumb instead.
«Y-yeah! That’s right!»
Also Chōji stuck out his thumb.
The two exchanged smiles facing each other, and they both made thumbs-up — while they
were at it, also the “Grooowl” sound of their stomachs matched.