Eat Yourself to Death, This Meal Is on the Boss

Naruto obtained the seasonings he wanted.

Without hesitation, he took out a kunai to scrape the scales off the fish one by one, then sliced open their bellies and removed the internal organs.

In no time at all, the three fat carp were cleaned.

Just as Naruto stood up, he saw Sasuke gathering a small pile of firewood together and then forming hand seals.

"Fire Release; Great Fireball Technique!"

Since this was for starting a fire rather than combat, the fireball this time was only the size of a fist.

Small as the fireball was, it still packed plenty of power, and the pile of dry branches was ignited immediately.

Hm, she's quite nimble. I've just finished handling things on my end, too.

Receiving Naruto's praise, Sasuke kept a straight face on the outside while feeling a tiny surge of pride on the inside.

"Are you hungry?"

Naruto walked over to the campfire and sat down, selecting three sharp branches to skewer the carp through.

"Hmph, not hungry..."

Unwilling to appear weak in front of Naruto, Sasuke fought off the protests of her empty stomach and forced out a dishonest reply.

Yet the moment those words left her mouth, Naruto clearly heard a "grumble" sound coming from somewhere's stomach.

"Shall we... wait another hour for the grilled fish?"

With a sunny smile, Naruto looked at Sasuke, whose face had turned dark.

"Hmph... The firewood is only this much. Once it burns down later, I am not going to gather any more, and when this campfire goes out, you can figure out how to start a fire yourself."

Watching Sasuke put on a stubborn, proud front, Naruto only found it amusing.

This really suited Sasuke's character profile.

"Alright, since you disagree, let's start right now."

Saying that, Naruto pulled out his kunai once more and sliced a series of gashes across the backs of the three fish, the deep kind that reached the bones.

This maneuver was something Sasuke was seeing for the very first time, and she watched with curiosity.

"Why are you cutting them?"

"Oh, it helps the flavors soak in better. Yesterday I hadn't prepared the secret seasoning mix, so I skipped this step."

Hearing about a secret seasoning mix, Sasuke found it novel. After all, it was her first time hearing such a term, and she couldn't help a trace of curiosity welling up inside her.

Watched by Sasuke, Naruto had to put on an act. Every time he pulled his hand out of the canvas bag, he would bring out a seasoning that Sasuke had never seen before.

Entranced by what she saw, Sasuke unconsciously pointed at the crystallized fine particles on the ground and asked, "Naruto, what is this?"

"Hehe, that's right. This is my exclusive delicious recipe."

With a confident expression, Naruto pointed with his finger and introduced them one by one: "This is salt, MSG, chicken bouillon, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, and seasoned soy sauce for steamed fish."

Listening to Naruto's introduction, Sasuke was thrown into a daze. Of the seasonings here, she only knew salt and the black pepper; the rest... it wasn't that she hadn't seen them, but that she had never even heard of them.

Naruto couldn't be bothered to keep explaining. In short, he had to find someone in the ninja world to try these newly acquired seasonings and see if they suited their tastes.

He first carefully and evenly applied the seasoned soy sauce for steamed fish over the three carp, and then pinched up fine white salt, MSG, chicken bouillon, and black pepper, sprinkling them both inside and out.

Since Sasuke used to have parents, she had naturally watched Mikoto cook many times, and of course she had seen fish prepared.

Yet this kind of technique and method was something she had never heard of or seen before-it was far too intriguing.

"Why did you stop? Isn't there still one kind of seasoning left unadded?" Sasuke looked at the chili powder and asked.

"No, this can't be added now. We have to wait for the best timing."

"Then why aren't you starting the grilling yet..." Sasuke glared at Naruto and pouting slightly. Having gone all day without food, it was already evening, and she was long past starving.

"Uh... This is a necessary step called marinating." Naruto explained, "If we start grilling right now, by the time the fish is done, the flavor will only stay on the outer layer while the inside remains bland. Deliciousness takes time to brew, so don't rush."

Seeing Sasuke pout slightly again, Naruto chuckled, "Three minutes will do."

"Oh." Hearing three minutes, Sasuke reluctantly agreed.

The reason Naruto explained the steps of grilling fish and certain common sense to Sasuke wasn't to pad word count, but because he had his own plans.

Since Sasuke was a genius, with such a detailed explanation, she would learn most of it on the first try.

Once the stall opened and started selling grilled fish, couldn't these troublesome marinating processes be smoothly handed over to Sasuke to handle?

As a talented young lady of the Uchiha Clan, she couldn't possibly claim she hadn't learned it, right?

Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

No longer keeping Sasuke in suspense, Naruto directly stuck the three grilled fish into the ground by the campfire so they would receive even heat. During this process, in order to cultivate Sasuke's fish-grilling technique, he also carefully detailed various taboos like heat control.

Sasuke listened with rapt attention, desperate to know what kind of taste a grilled fish made with such complex techniques actually had.

After all, she was truly hungry now; she was practically starving to tears.

If she hadn't seen with her own eyes that the fish meat was still raw, she would have asked Naruto if she could eat it right now.

In less than three minutes.

The area became filled with the rich aroma of fish oil. Because this batch of grilled fish concerned whether he could quickly earn 1 million silver taels, Naruto still tried his best to avoid the charred blackness of yesterday.

Eating it yourself and selling it as a commodity were two different things.

Controlling all three grilled fish at once, Naruto focused his mental energy and concentrated his gaze.

This scene actually left Sasuke secretly startled. In her memory, Naruto either slept in class or was on his way to making trouble while sleeping-who would have thought he could have such a focused side?

And... viewed closely, Naruto when focused looked rather... rather handsome.

The moment this thought sprouted in her heart, Sasuke's cheeks flushed red, and she hurriedly suppressed it, thankful that Naruto hadn't seen.

As the grilled fish exuded an increasingly rich fragrance, Sasuke couldn't help swallowing her saliva. She swore she had never smelled anything this aromatic in all her life.

"Na-Naruto... is it ready?"

Before her voice faded, Naruto's body gave a slight jolt and he shouted low, "Right now."

Swish.

His right hand quickly pinched up the yellowish-red cumin and chili powder. Then, holding his arm in a V-shape and lightly twisting his fingers, he sent a natural mist like frost descending evenly onto the three grilled fish.

The cumin and chili powder came into contact with the scorching grilled fish, immediately volatilizing their unique flavor under the roasting flames.

Instantly, this space was permeated everywhere with the flavor of grilled fish.

"Mission accomplished!"

Timing, heat, and the moment to sprinkle the cumin powder-Naruto had judged them with absolute precision.

As the three grilled fish, their surfaces glowing orange-red with oil, were removed from the range of the campfire, Sasuke's large eyes lit up.

"Here, try how it tastes. Be careful, it's hot."

Naruto handed the largest one directly to Sasuke.

Back then, given Sasuke's proud and aloof personality, she would have most likely acted coy.

But at this moment it was different. Forget about being hungry enough to faint; for the sake of this unprecedented, exquisite grilled fish, she had to temporarily set aside her pride.

As the saying goes, food is the fuel, people are the steel.

Try going three meals without eating and see what happens?

"Mm."

Sasuke cautiously took the golden grilled fish, her large eyes watery-Naruto couldn't tell if it was from being moved or from hunger.

Anyway, this was the most crucial step of his moneymaking venture. If Sasuke thought it tasted good or bad, he could make adjustments in advance.

After all, between the dimensions of two worlds, what if the people of this world weren't used to this taste?

What if every customer who ate it after the opening called it terrible, ruining his reputation so no one would ever eat here again? How would he achieve his grand ambitions and absolute freedom then?

"I'm digging in."

Sasuke's large eyes sparkled. After blowing a few breaths onto the tenderest ridge of the fish, she bit off a small piece.

Sure enough, even after blowing on it, the freshly made grilled fish was still very hot, and Sasuke hurried to puff out air.

After doing this three times in a row, she finally chewed slowly.

Naruto nervously stared at Sasuke's micro-expressions, dreading most of all that she would let out an "uck" and spit it out.

However, the event Naruto worried about most did not happen, but the scene that followed left him dumbfounded.

This proud and aloof little miss actually shed tears.

"Ah... is it so bad she couldn't spit it out in time, and so she cried?"

"It's over, I failed."

Naruto was just about to raise his hand and toss the other two grilled fish away.

Yet the next second, Sasuke choked out, "What are you doing? If you aren't going to eat it, give it to me... wuwu."

Hearing this, Naruto turned his head mechanically, widened his eyes to stare at the teary-eyed Sasuke, and thought, She didn't cry because it tasted bad, but... because it tasted too good?

"Ahem... Sasuke, is this grilled fish really that bad... If it's too awful, I'll go catch more fish and readjust the recipe?"

"Mm-hm... what do you mean it's bad?" Sasuke choked back tears while taking massive bites of the grilled fish, stammering between mouthfuls, "If anyone in class dares say it's bad, I'll beat them up. I've never eaten anything this delicious in all my life."

Hearing this, Naruto couldn't help a pleasant surprise and asked in return, "If it's delicious, why are you crying?"

Anyway, all her ugly sides had already been seen by Naruto these past couple of days, so Sasuke simply blurted out, "I'm crying because why did you only grill three? This is nowhere near enough to eat, alright?"

"Really... it's good?" Naruto confirmed once more.

"I'd be a puppy if I lied!" Conquered by the delicious food, Sasuke nodded like a little chick pecking at rice toward Naruto.

"Great... That's wonderful."

Overflowing with joy, Naruto handed his other grilled fish to Sasuke as well.

"Eat up. Eat yourself to death-this meal is on the boss!"