"F-fire?!!!"
That was the first thing Naruto and Sasuke thought, but at the same time, their minds filled with a barrage of bewildered question marks.
Why?
Nobody was home, so how had a fire started? Surely some guy who hated the Uchiha hadn't walked past the Uchiha Residence, taken a deep breath, and spat a Great Fireball at it?
It wasn't completely impossible, but... that would be way too ridiculous, wouldn't it?
Naruto and Sasuke hurried toward the Uchiha Residence. Only when they got closer did they realize the black smoke wasn't that thick. Rather than a fire, it looked more like... something had burned.
"Cough! Cough! Cough! I only looked away for a second! How did it burn? Is this the power of Premium Beef? Am I actually incapable of handling it?"
Chinatsu emerged from the thick smoke, waving a hand as she coughed and grumbled. In her other hand, she held an iron pan containing a restaurant-sized cut of steak, except... it looked a little black.
"Sasuke? Naruto?"
After inspecting the beef in her pan, Chinatsu immediately noticed Sasuke and Naruto in front of her. Her eyes darted back and forth between them twice before she gave another loud cough and put on a solemn expression.
"Cough! Cough! You two are just in time. Take a look at the local specialty I brought back from my business trip to the Land of Lightning! After my meticulous preparation, it became this masterpiece, which I call... Black Pepper Sirloin Steak!"
Chinatsu explained the steak in her iron pan with a perfectly straight face. Of course, even Naruto and Sasuke could tell she was desperately trying to justify it.
"Big sis... this is... black pepper steak?"
"That's right! Its full name is... Black Pepper Sirloin Steak!"
Chinatsu forced out her explanation without so much as blushing, while inwardly stamping her feet in mortification.
Sasuke and Naruto turned to exchange a look. After a round of internal struggle, both chose to hypnotize themselves.
Big sis was... the truth!
"Big sis, I'm hungry! I want to try it!"
"H-huh?"
Sasuke was the first to successfully hypnotize himself. He raised his hand and declared it loudly.
Instead, Chinatsu was the one caught off guard. She looked down at the "black pepper steak" in her iron pan and gulped.
This... thing should be edible, right?
Chinatsu had intended to let Sasuke try it, but just as she was about to say so, her conscience forcibly held the words back.
"Wait a second. I'll try it first."
With a solemn expression, Chinatsu carried the iron pan over to the dining table in the living room. She stared at the steak inside, then finally closed her eyes, picked up a fork, and took a bite.
Chew... chew... chew...
"Hmm? It tastes pretty good... urgh!"
Before Chinatsu could finish, her eyes suddenly rolled back. She lost consciousness on the spot and fell off her chair with a thud.
Naruto and Sasuke's eyes went wide with fright. They hurried over to Chinatsu, and when calling out to her failed, they worked together to drag her onto the couch. When they turned back toward the black pepper steak on the dining table, both their eyes filled with terror.
Black pepper steak... what a terrifying biological weapon!!!
Thanks to this "biological weapon," Chinatsu slept for twelve hours straight. It wasn't entirely the weapon's doing, though; she had also been somewhat overworked lately.
In her dream, Chinatsu felt as though she had arrived in a wondrous stretch of sea. Everything around her was unfamiliar, yet carried an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Perhaps because this was a dream, with no concept of time, everything felt hazy and fantastical to Chinatsu.
Then, amid the ocean stretching endlessly in every direction, she suddenly spotted a battered little wooden boat. A young woman lounged inside it in a reclining position, looking utterly carefree.
Driven by curiosity, Chinatsu narrowed her eyes toward the boat, hoping to get a clearer look. But when she finally did, her eyes widened in shock.
The young woman in that wooden boat looked... so much like her!
Their bearing was worlds apart, but judging by their faces alone, they were almost identical.
Three swords hung at the young woman's waist. Her clothing was practical and streamlined, and she exuded the air of someone accustomed to command.
Barely two or three seconds after Chinatsu began studying her, the distant young woman seemed to notice Chinatsu as well and turned to look at her. The moment their gazes met-
The dream ended.
"My head hurts... and my stomach doesn't feel too good either... what happened to me..." Chinatsu muttered, raising a hand to hold her head.
As she looked around, particularly when she spotted the "keep away" weapon on the dining table, Chinatsu understood everything.
"To think I'd poison myself unconscious with my own cooking. This has gone way beyond something you can just joke about calling Dark Cuisine."
Chinatsu laughed and poked fun at herself, but what concerned her more now wasn't the Dark Cuisine. It was the dream she'd just had.
Was that really just a dream?
It felt more like crossing dimensions.
Crossing dimensions just by having a dream? That was way too far-fetched.
Chinatsu smiled and shook her head, dismissing the possibility. She tidied up her clothes and hair a little, then prepared to head out.
What was she heading out for?
To report to Hiruzen Sarutobi on the findings of her investigation in Kumogakure, of course.
Chinatsu soon arrived at the Naruto's office. After her knock! Knock! Knock!, Hiruzen Sarutobi called, "Come in," and she opened the door and entered.
"Hmm? You? You're back already?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Chinatsu in surprise. He had hoped she would stay away as long as possible to avoid attracting Shimura Danzō's attention, but how long had it even been? A month?
"D-did you find anything?"
"Of course, Lord Hokage. Please take a look."
With a perfectly serious expression, Chinatsu took the little notebook she had filled with made-up-no, carefully recorded information out of a small pocket in her clothes and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Seeing Chinatsu's earnest expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi grew serious as well. But once he got a clear look at its contents, his aged face instantly fell.
This was...
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "You're... serious? You didn't hand me the wrong one?"
Chinatsu: "I'm serious. Completely serious."
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Hmm... you... never mind. Go home."
After a moment of silence and a few aborted attempts to speak, Hiruzen Sarutobi waved a feeble hand at Chinatsu.
He understood that the girl had played him.
Chinatsu didn't care about that. As long as she got away with it, that was enough. She politely took her leave of Hiruzen Sarutobi, then turned, opened the door, and left the Naruto's office.
But barely had she left the office when she ran straight into that dangerous old bastard again in the corridor of the Naruto Building.
Damn it, Shimura Danzō!!!
Before you continue