As Tenten pushed open the door to the private room, all the classmates next door turned to see Shion and the bewildered Shinji.
Well, at least this accomplishes my goal.
Shinji put his hand to his forehead.
Just then, someone from the opposite room said, "Shinji-kun, you're here too!"
Shinji looked over and saw that Haku was also in the opposite room, though he had changed out of the outfit he wore for sneaking around earlier.
Then, Shinji scanned the room carefully.
He noticed that Karin, who he had hurriedly run into in the alley earlier, had also changed her clothes and was now squeezed into the crowd on the opposite side, avoiding his gaze.
Seriously...
Shinji was speechless.
It was obvious.
Both Haku and Karin had the same idea as he did.
They intended to use this class gathering as a way to create an alibi, ensuring that their classmates could vouch for their whereabouts tonight, covering up whatever they had done earlier.
Tenten noticed Shinji and cheerfully invited him: "Shinji-kun, come join us over here. I'm treating tonight!"
Shion wasn't pleased: "Hey, I said I'm treating everyone!"
Tenten huffed: "Sorry, but I've already paid for this place!"
In the midst of the bickering, Shinji and Shion joined their classmates in the private room.
After sitting down, Shinji observed the scene.
Usually, the aloof Hyūga Neji was there, diligently picking up pieces of grilled meat with his chopsticks, eating... well, seriously!
Equally serious was Lee, whose mouth was shining with grease.
These two guys...
Shinji couldn't help but notice that these two were here just for the free food.
Lee, noticing Shinji watching him, quickly said, "Shinji-kun, the BBQ here is really good! You should try some!"
Neji only glanced at Shinji briefly before continuing to focus intently on the grilled meat before him.
Hey, where's your noble family's dignity!
Shinji grumbled inwardly.
At this moment, Haku leaned over and quietly said to Shinji: "If I had known you were planning to come out, I would have invited you when I left."
"It's fine."
Shinji shook his head.
He knew that Haku was from Hidden Mist, so if Haku wasn't working for a powerful figure within the village, then he was most likely a spy for Hidden Mist.
Considering the fact that Hidden Mist shinobi had arrived in the village and that Haku had been meeting with someone secretively tonight, Shinji became even more convinced that Haku had some connection to Hidden Mist.
If Shinji remembered correctly, Hidden Mist should still be under the covert control of Obito.
Therefore, he couldn't figure out why Hidden Mist would place Haku in Hidden Leaf, nor could he understand how they had managed it.
But he had a faint feeling.
Haku's target was likely him.
More precisely, because he was an Uchiha!
He then glanced at Karin, who was sitting in the corner, not saying much.
He recalled that Karin and her mother had ended up in the Hidden Grass Village.
So her sneaky behavior tonight was likely related to the Hidden Grass Village.
However, Shinji couldn't figure out why the Hidden Grass would send Karin to the Hidden Leaf.
Even though Karin possessed a special healing ability, which made her more effective than an average medical shinobi, Shinji couldn't see the reasoning behind it.
Everyone's a double agent, huh!
Shinji sighed inwardly.
Although he was aware that both Haku and Karin were hiding something, he had no intention of exposing them.
As a remnant of the Uchiha clan, he didn't have any special feelings for the Hidden Leaf, so he wasn't inclined to either deliberately sabotage or defend anything.
Both Haku and Karin had helped him.
From that perspective, he had no standing to go against them.
Moreover, Haku and Karin might represent the interests of Hidden Mist and Hidden Grass respectively, so maintaining the status quo gave Shinji more options.
Refocusing his thoughts, Shinji began to reconsider the earlier incident at the ANBU headquarters.
It was obvious that the ANBU member with the dog-face mask had noticed something wrong due to his responses, which led to the sudden attack.
The Sharingan has already been taken by Danzo-sama...
He carefully considered the half-finished sentence from the dog-masked ANBU.
The reason he got caught was likely due to his incorrect response. Combining that with the unfinished sentence, he started to piece things together: Could it be that the Sharingan has already been taken by Danzo and is no longer in the ANBU headquarters?
Upon reaching this conclusion, Shinji frowned deeply.
If he remembered correctly, after the Uchiha massacre, the Third Hokage had disbanded Danzo's Root organization, so he hadn't expected that even under these circumstances, Danzo would still have the power to take all the Sharingan from the ANBU.
The Third Hokage was far too lenient with Danzo!
Having figured this out, Shinji suddenly felt that tonight's risky operation wasn't entirely fruitless—at least he knew where the Sharingan was now.
As Shinji was deep in thought, Shion and Tenten began to argue again.
Shion, standing like a little adult, said, "I should pay the bill. This isn't a small amount of money. Why are you even arguing about it?"
Tenten, pouting, replied: "I already said I'd treat, so I have to keep my word! Even though my family's business is small, I can still afford to pay for dinner!"
The classmates around them couldn't help but roll their eyes at Tenten's claim that her family's business was small.
Shinji wanted to intervene: "You two..."
But Haku quickly pulled Shinji back: "Don't bother with them. Let's just focus on the food!"
Shinji glanced around and realized that none of the other classmates were trying to stop the argument; they were all too focused on devouring the grilled meat in front of them.
Even Neji was no exception.
Actually, Neji was more focused than anyone else.
Training in Taijutsu sure takes a lot of energy!
Shinji thought and realized Haku had a point.
Shion was the Miko of the Land of Demons, holding a status equivalent to that of a Daimyo, a ruler of a nation. To her, money was a meaningless concept.
Tenten's family controlled nearly a third of the ninja tool business in the Land of Fire, and she grew up playing with ninja tools as toys!
Let the two little rich girls argue about who's paying.
So Shinji joined the eating competition.
To be honest, after all the chaos tonight, he was really hungry. Although he had already eaten quite a bit earlier, nothing tasted as good as competing for food with others.
As he devoured the grilled meat, he didn't forget to glance at Haku and Karin.
He had a feeling that during the time when the Chunin Exams were being held in the village, the forces behind Haku and Karin would definitely try something.
If he played his cards right, maybe he could use the chaos to his advantage and retrieve Fugaku's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, which Danzo had taken!
In the end, the battle of the rich girls concluded with Shion's crushing defeat.
Because Shion wasn't in the habit of carrying money—her guards usually handled payments—she was completely stumped when it was time to pay.
As they left the barbecue restaurant, Tenten cheerfully said to Shion: "This place is great, right? Next time, I'll treat you again!"
Before Shion could respond...
Lee, still burping from all the food, eagerly asked: "When will that be?"
The other classmates perked up their ears in anticipation.
Even Shinji suddenly realized how nice it was to have a rich girl classmate.