Itsuki was alone in his restaurant after the previous customer left not before promising to come back and also recommend him to his friends and clan members.
Itsuki was really thankful to the man, not only for increasing his business but also for his status.
[ Cooking: 1.5 Teuchi ]
Itsuki received some insights into cooking, he felt his skills improving, and he felt that he could make dishes better than the ones he cooked before.
The familiar jingle of the store roused Itsuki out of his thoughts and he looked towards the entrance only to be in a daze.
In front of him was a visitor he didn't expect to see at his store.
Itsuki could not help but fall into a daze, her Yukata with cherry blossom print along with her beautiful red hair caused Itsuki to be stunned.
*Cough*
A cough broke him out of his reverie and he was met with the indifferent stare of Kushina and a teasing smile from Mikoto.
But if he looked closer he would have noticed a faint blush colouring Kushina's cheeks.
Itsuki could only scratch the back of his head in embarrassment but he quickly calmed and went towards them.
" Kushina-san, Mikoto-nee thanks for coming to my restaurant" Itsuki thanked them sincerely, he never expected Kushina to visit him and he was very happy with this development.
"Hmph" Kushina just gave an arrogant snort while Mikoto just giggled at her antics
" Itsuki-kun, I was really surprised when I heard about you opening a restaurant, So why didn't you inform us or give us an invite? Is it because you don't consider us close? " Mikoto questioned Itsuki with an elder sister-like tone.
After Mikoto asked this question she looked toward Itsuki waiting for his answer. While Kushina on the other hand was acting like she wasn't interested, Mikoto would have believed her if her ears weren't twitching in anticipation, Mikoto just snickered inwardly,
'So cute~'
While Itsuki was sweating under Mikoto's gaze who had a smile on her face, he felt like he had to give a satisfactory answer.
"Mikoto-nee don't joke, I just didn't think it was important enough of an event to disturb you both about it " Itsuki said with a wry smile, inwardly feeling that he dodged a bullet. He couldn't tell them that he was too preoccupied to inform them.
"Hmm... I'll let you off this time, by the way, Itsuki-kun, me and Kushina over here are famished. So why don't you suggest something from your menu" Mikoto said while hugging Kushina who had an embarrassed expression on her face.
"Why don't you take a seat while I make you something " Itsuki said with a smile finding the interaction amusing.
He was very grateful to Mikoto because she helped a lot in making his relationship with Kushina better this past month.
He could see that she genuinely cared about Kushina and Kushina too viewed her as an older sister but was too Tsun Tsun to acknowledge it. He got along with Mikoto very well and this past month he couldn't help but view this gentle woman as an older sister-like figure.
He won't let the future come to fruition and Danzo better prepare his wrinkly ass for a beat down, Itsuki is willing to train his ass off for this.
Why worry about becoming strong when you have a system that rewards you for your hard work and a friend who specifically focuses on Taijutsu and works his ass off in the name of 'Youth'.
For Itsuki talent no longer matters, as long as he perseveres he can achieve results.
As long as he improves his spiritual energy and physical energy his chakra pool will increase, or he can train until he exhausts his chakra, and maybe it will increase his chakra.
Anyways the specifics need to be researched and he could clear his doubts about the matter with the system.
...
Itsuki was currently thinking of what dish to cook for Mikoto and Kushina, after a few seconds of contemplation he decided to cook a very popular dish in India if not in the whole world.
'Butter Chicken'
Itsuki thought about all the ingredients he would need from his memory and started prepping them.
Good thing he already has marinated chicken in the fridge. Yes, a fridge does exist in the Shinobi world, the technology here is pretty screwed and weird.
{I know some of you mf's will be after my ass, MC already pre-prepped his ingredients. So....Gotcha bitch. }
....
Mikoto almost couldn't maintain her lady-like image after getting a whiff of the aroma of the food in front of her, then what about Kushina .... she was already drooling.
Mikoto couldn't help but mentally facepalm after seeing this, but it's a good thing Kushina looks cute.
Mikoto put her attention back on the dish, honestly, it looked delicious, the golden chicken pieces in the creamy curry sauce and the aroma of the Fenugreek leaves sprinkled on top of the curry were just perfect.
The bowl of rice also looked delicious, from what Itsuki told her she hadn't heard of the dish before.
'Butter Chicken and Garlic Butter Rice'
[ Image ]
Mikoto couldn't help but scoop up a spoon of rice along with gravy and put it into her mouth. It took all of Mikoto's willpower not to let out a comfortable moan but it seemed Kushina didn't have her willpower, at least when it came to food.
Kushina was currently devouring the food scooping up the food and eating in big mouthfuls, Mikoto could understand because this food was that good.
While Kushina was devouring food in a way where she was swallowing the food very fast, due to this way of eating accidents shall happen, and as expected Kushina choked on her food causing her to cough rapidly.
"Geez, Kushina-san please don't be reckless, I have a lot of food here. Here drink a glass of water " Itsuki said in a concerned tone while patting her back, he wanted to laugh because it seemed very cute to him, but he didn't want her ire so he just resorted to caring about her.
"Um" Kushina gave a small hum, she was too embarrassed to say anything and she felt a little embarrassed when Itsuki patted her back, so Kushina opted to focus on her food.
Kushina could feel an intense stare boring down on her but she paid it no heed as she didn't wish to entertain the owner of the gaze.
Mikoto gazed at Kushina with a teasing glare while inside her head a mini Mikoto was doing a victory dance.
"Ufufufu~" Mikoto just giggled mischievously causing Kushina's ears to turn red.
Mikoto gazed at the embarrassed Kushina and Itsuki who was gazing at her with a gentle smile.
If it had been a month ago Kushina would have put Itsuki in a hospital for remotely coming near her, but now she could see that Kushina had considerably warmed up to him, and maybe Kushina herself hadn't realized it yet but Mikoto could see that Kushina held a certain level of fondness for Itsuki.
Mikoto felt there was nothing wrong with it as Itasuki was a very charming man and he was also a very kind individual. Also, Kushina was a very big foodie, and because Itsuki was a very good chef it was only natural for her favourable impression of this man to increase.
Itsuki always treated her kindly not minding her cold attitude and even with Kushina's personality she would be embarrassed a little. Itsuki had a sunny aura around him which made one want to get closer to him.
After a whole month of knowing him, Mikoto genuinely came to see this young man as a younger brother-like figure and wished for him to get together with Kushina, both for her friend's and his sake.
.....
Two people each with their own thoughts ate their meals in this peaceful atmosphere while one just watched over them with a gentle smile.
********
Another chapter as an apology for being late.
....
I just wanted to talk a little.
Sarutobi Hiruzen is a very weird old man, and...I don't like him.
The character design by Kishimoto for him is a kind grandfather-like figure, but is he?
A lot of questionable stuff happened during his reign so either he is an incompetent old man or an evil old man. Pick your poison.
So let's talk about his shitty deeds one by one and if there are any Hiruzen fanboys or anyone who feels obliged to defend their kind grandfather feel free to leave a comment, I would love it if anyone can extinguish my hatred for the old man as it would help me in writing a fic without bias.
I'm not all-knowing, some of you may have more information than me, so feel free to share but before posting anything get your facts right k.
Let's talk about Old Man Hiruzen and his failures one by one.
1. His biggest failure up to date is the cancer known as Danzo, he ignorantly claims Danzo is the darkness of Konoha and is necessary. But more than 90%of the shit in Naruto has Danzo's involvement.
Uchiha massacre
Senju decline maybe (this is a conspiracy theory)
Uzumaki destruction( suspected involvement)
Akatsuki's death of Yahiko.
Kabuto
Orochimaru
His shitty R.O.O.T
Not helping Minato during the Kyubi rampage
Not helping Konoha during Konoha crush plan
Not helping Konoha during pain attack
Now tell me why is this shit stain still alive, I'll tell you.
Either Hiruzen needs someone to do his dirty work and take the blame or Hiruzen is too incompetent to remove Danzo.
2. After winning against Iwa Hiruzen didn't claim compensation from Iwa in the name of peace. Iwa started this war and we're the aggressors and still, this shit happened. The old man was too soft.
3. Hyuga incident, what the fuck was this. My brain melted trying to understand this incident. You would rather kill your own than fight the enemy after they themselves provoked you.
4. White Fang incident, this also a very shitty incident.
5. He didn't take care of Naruto and let the rumours spread. Naruto's identity as a Jinchuriki is far more dangerous than Minato's son so the excuse of protecting him by hiding his identity was just shitty.
6. Orochimaru, his prized student
7. The Senju clan seemingly vanishing, most of them may have integrated into the people but what about the main clan members?
8. Uchiha massacre, him claiming he didn't know about it, is just top-tier bullshit. Anbu was monitoring the Uchiha compound the day before the massacre so what about that?
9. Ninetails incident, the support was a little too lacklustre
10. Letting his friends be the elders
11. Having a waste of a son ( I don't like Asuma)
12. Stealing Naruto's Inheritance. Are you telling me that the son of the fourth Hokage and the Uzumaki princess has to live on my drinking expired milk and cup noodles, hell nah.
13. Fooling Uzumaki Kushina by staging an incident where Minato gets to play, the hero who saves the beauty. Are you telling me a Jinchuriki is so unprotected that a random cloud shinobi who is just a mob killed by child Minato can kidnap their strategic weapon, what's the Konoha barrier there for? Where are the ANBU guarding her? Why did only Minato come?
14. Calling himself the strongest Hokage, I admit Hiruzen is strong, he was scummy, incompetent and a coward but he wasn't weak. But still, he aint anything compared to the beast known as Hashirama Fucking Senju. So another lie to elevate his prestige.
The old man is either evil or truly incompetent.
...
The system isn't that important as it is only there to increase MC strength.
The system works in a way in which it increases proficiency, as long as Itsuki perseveres he will improve.
For example, not everyone can learn the FTG technique, but as long as he works his ass off he can gain proficiency.
Do you get it? exhaust your chakra till exhaustion and your chakra pool will increase, no need to increase it in the traditional way.
To increase chakra you need to increase physical energy and spiritual energy Mc doesn't need to go through that hassle.
But he will increase Spiritual energy and physical energy because of practicing Taijutsu and I guess Genjustsu needs spiritual energy.
What I wanted to say was the system isn't important just take it as a way your poor author wanting to increase his MC's strength easily.
....
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