As he spoke, Naruto placed the sliced steak, fish balls, and other ingredients onto the charcoal grill one by one.
For a time, he busied himself with great enthusiasm.
At this moment, Sasuke fidgeted and lowered his voice, asking, "Naruto, do you still have that secret seasoning from yesterday's grilled fish?"
Seeing this, Naruto smiled and said, "Of course, hurry up and get to work."
Immediately, Sasuke joined the grilling sequence as well.
Roast by the scorching charcoal fire, the steak, fish balls, and other ingredients gradually emitted an enticing aroma. Soon, the medium-rare steak was sprinkled with the secret seasoning mix by Naruto.
"I'm digging in."
"I'm digging in too."
The dipping sauce prepared by the All-You-Can-Eat Barbecue Restaurant was very monotonous, consisting only of some salt and flavorless soy sauce.
Naruto stealthily poured away the dipping sauce provided by the restaurant, replacing it with the Donggu First-Class Fresh and several other mixed seasonings he had prepared himself.
That flavor, with just one bite, made Sasuke's large eyes shine with flowing light, lingering on her mind and leaving an endless aftertaste.
In truth, ever since contacting Sasuke in this lifetime, aside from food, Naruto had rarely seen her smile.
This led Naruto to discover that, actually, the girl Sasuke looked quite pretty when she smiled.
About 20 minutes later.
The two of them walked out of the restaurant in great satisfaction.
Walking down the avenue, Naruto did not immediately lift his Transformation Technique.
Instead, he pulled Sasuke along at a leisurely pace toward the small grove beside the Ninja Academy.
Along the way, Naruto did not forget to bring up the system panel to check.
[Golden Shovel System Panel] Host: Naruto Uzumaki. Negative Points: 7,049 Shock Points: 10,930 Silver Taels: 3,110 Talent: Visual Insight LV1. Genin Taijutsu. Intermediate Throwing Techniques... [Lucky Money Search Function] System Inventory Slots...
Coming out this morning, Naruto had only 110 silver taels.
Who would have thought that just a tiny chess game routine would net him nearly four thousand silver taels from his classmates.
Naruto had finally experienced the thrill of getting something for nothing at this moment.
However, this bit of money was still far away from the 100,000 silver taels needed to purchase the system's 10%-off Domesticated Hashirama Cells.
Therefore, the cooking competition between Ichiraku and Hongle this afternoon was the hope in Naruto's eyes.
As long as this plan was executed perfectly, obtaining a steady stream of silver taels would just be a matter of time.
At that time, he could pour all his energy into earning shock points and negative points.
Just wait, before leaving Konoha, I must attain Kage Level strength.
Because the Ninja Academy let out very early in the afternoon, the lunch break was actually quite short.
The two of them merely sat on the swing in the small grove for a while before they saw students appearing one after another.
"Let's go too."
Seeing Naruto stand up, Sasuke had the exact same thought. With so many people watching, Sasuke also felt completely uncomfortable in her heart.
"Yeah."
The two of them walked together in company, quickly entering the school.
There were only two classes in the afternoon. Because Naruto was not sure whether the Nine-Tails would seduce his spirit over to brag tonight, he did not dare to let down his guard, briefing Sasuke before falling back asleep.
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, the after-school bell rang, and Naruto was shaken awake by someone.
To Naruto's unexpected surprise, the person waking him up this time was not another boy challenging his chess game, but Sasuke.
"Where are people? Why did everyone leave?"
Looking at the empty classroom, Naruto rubbed his eyes and asked.
"Hmph, the last period was Physical Education Class, and everyone went to the playground except you. When the after-school bell rang, they left directly." Sasuke seemed to find explanation tedious, her tone somewhat impatient.
"Oh, does that mean you came back specifically to wake me up?" The corners of Naruto's mouth hooked into a smile as he spoke.
"Hmph, I promised you, so of course I have to follow through."
"Refreshing, I just love how you keep your promises." Naruto tidied himself up simply and left his seat.
"Hurry up, today's plan is very important for us to grow stronger, don't be late."
Originally, Sasuke had been made a little warm in the face by Naruto's remark I just love how you keep your promises, and she had just wanted to retort when she heard the matter that concerned her the most.
"Yeah."
For the sake of growing stronger, Sasuke willingly agreed to act as Naruto's temporary girlfriend for three months, even unhesitatingly admitting obscurely in front of the entire class that she had an unspeakable relationship with Naruto.
All of this was for the sake of growing stronger, until she became strong enough to kill that woman with her own hands. For that, she was willing to pay any price.
Soon, Naruto brought Sasuke away from the Ninja Academy and headed straight for Ichiraku Ramen.
At this time, past three in the afternoon, the front doors of Ichiraku Ramen were still tightly shut, but looking at the chimney on the roof, smoke was puffing out from time to time. Naruto knew someone was making food inside Ichiraku Ramen.
Naruto led Sasuke quite easily to find the back door entrance of Ichiraku.
Just stepping inside, he saw Ayame mechanically dumping out failed experimental ramen with a tired expression, then mechanically washing bowls, as if the countless repetitions over a day and night had long since numbed him.
"Brother Ayame... why haven't you packed up the competition equipment yet?"
Naruto walked up close and asked in confusion.
Seeing that it was Naruto and Sasuke who had arrived, Ayame forced a miserable smile onto his face.
"Mother hasn't managed to figure out the formula to maintain the ramen's springiness for long... Sigh."
"Hehe... It's no big deal at all, where is Aunt Ichiraku?" Naruto waved his hand instead, indicating that he had a way.
"She's inside. After researching continuously for a day and night, Mother's body has already reached its limit."
Ayame put down the work in his hands, personally leading Naruto into the kitchen.
Stepping into Ichiraku Ramen just past the small door of the preparation room, Naruto caught sight of Aunt Ichiraku with eyes completely bloodshot at a single glance.
"Naruto..."
Aunt Ichiraku's voice was incomparably weary. Seeing Naruto arrive, the gloomy cloud on her face was slightly masked.
"Aunt Ichiraku, hasn't the new formula been researched out yet?" Naruto looked at the messy preparation room covering the floor and asked.
"Sigh... Day and night, how easy is it to want to research a new formula?" Aunt Ichiraku sighed.
Seeing this, Naruto helped Ichiraku take a seat to the side, while he himself said with a confident face, "As a loyal fan of ramen, last night while I was sleeping, I dreamed of a top-secret ramen recipe. Does Aunt want me to give it a try?"
Hearing this, Aunt Ichiraku, Ayame, and Sasuke all looked at Naruto in shock.
A dream?
Others might not know, but Sasuke knew that Naruto had slept for a whole day during daylight hours. Didn't this amount to saying it was a daydream?
Hearing this, Ichiraku smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Alright, you can give it a try. Do you want me to instruct you on ramen?"
"No need, Aunt. After all these years, just watching has taught me how to make ramen." Naruto immediately shook his head, then revealed the confidence of a long-term illness making one a doctor.
[Ding, received 200 points of negative emotion points and 200 shock points from Konoha villagers!]
Yes, Naruto's statement that he learned ramen without a teacher had obviously depressed and shocked the Ichiraku family and Sasuke.
Someone else's livelihood, and you learn it just by watching?
Arrogant or delusional?
"Uh, Naruto, give it a try. I'll instruct you from the side, you can ask me anything you don't understand at any time." Aunt Ichiraku ultimately indulged Naruto's unreasonable request.
"OK."
Obtaining operating permission, Naruto immediately put on an apron and moved a small stool to stand on top of to reach the cutting board.
Ichiraku had originally thought Naruto would directly use the dough he had already kneaded. Yet who could have expected this brat to actually have the intention of kneading dough himself?
"Naruto, do you know how to make ramen?" Aunt Ichiraku asked with slight confusion.
Naruto replied while busy, "I understand a little bit..."
Yet an expert makes a move and you know if they've got it; very soon, Naruto's dough-kneading techniques shocked Aunt Ichiraku and Ayame.
This could no longer be called amateur; it was simply too professional.
Ichiraku and Ayame stared in dumbfounded amazement at Naruto's series of operations.
Yet if this alone was enough to shock the two of them.
Then Naruto's subsequent operations directly caused the two Ichirakus to fall into silence while shaking all over from shock.
"Aunt Ichiraku, this is the recipe taught to me by the old immortal in my dream. Watch closely."
Naruto quickly pinched out table salt and placed it into the flour-and-water mixture, then cracked two eggs successively into the flour-and-water mixture. Right under everyone's watchful eyes, Naruto reached his hand into the canvas bag he brought himself, and a pinch of white powder appeared in everyone's view.
[Ding, received 100 shock points from Konoha villagers!]
The white powder was like lime powder, not only fine but even more fluffy.
"What is this, Naruto?"
Seeing Naruto adding the unfamiliar white powder to the dough, Ichiraku finally couldn't help asking.
"Hehe... Aunt Ichiraku, this is one of the core parts of the top-secret recipe. Just wait to eat the supreme delicacy of ramen in this world."
Before you continue