A careful paw was busy sizing up a fish laid on a small chopping board. A sharp eye searched through a selection of knives in a bamboo drawer before finding a long skinning knife. With uncanny precision, the figure stuck the knife into the gills, slowly but carefully peeling the skin. One lapse in concentration could turn out badly for the figure handling the knife, even as he guided it along the fish's slippery surface. But a loud voice broke his concentration when it called out, "Rioichi! Where is that boy?" The bamboo door behind the figure opened, letting inside an elder Cooper to see the figure proper-a sawshark in a kimono. He banged his stick on the rice pot before calling out again, "Rioichi! Come, boy! Your father requests your presence." The sawshark held up his fins, the skinning knife laying beside the fish as he faced the elderly head of the Clan. "Kenichi-sama, you must not surprise me like that, especially when handling such a delicate task." The elder shook his head, casually waving the issue aside with one paw. "Duly noted, Nobutaki. Have you seen that troublesome scamp anywehere lately?" As Nobutaki replied, "Ie, Kenichi-sama" a small paw searched around for the knife before sneakily snatching it from the chopping board. "I have not seen the young master anywhere in the house. Perhaps you could check the boy's room? It tends to be where a lot of children hide from their parents."
Underneath the kitchen, a small brown raccoon was busily trying to replicate the Chef's recipe with a much smaller fish. He couldn't help but lick his lips, even as he tried holding the fish with one paw while he sliced the skin clean with the knife. Once the skin was removed, the young raccoon sliced into the fish's flesh before taking a sample and tasting it. The fish, strangely enough, tasted like bland pudding. Maybe if he tried something else, he thought to himself as he rummaged through his kimono for something, eventually finding a strip of seaweed and a vial of white creamed rice he stole earlier from the kitchen. First, he tasted the seaweed, but it felt sour to his young taste. He tasted the creamed rice, but it felt too mushy. But when he tried the fish again, something happened. Fish, seaweed and cream all seemingly blended together to make something that tasted…good! Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he tried wrapping the seaweed around the fish, applying the creamed rice like a mother would apply hand lotion. Then, he put the odd combination into his mouth, sampling it…only for his eyes to widen in surprise. By accident, the young one had created something that combined three different, unsatisfactory ingredients into a tasty whole.
Not surprisingly, Kenichi spotted a distinctive brown tail hidden underneath the kitchen table. He tapped the table with his stick as he called out, "Rioichi! Come out of Nobutaki's kitchen at once!" Now in trouble, Rioichi slipped out from the table, hiding something in his kimono. "Rioichi! By the sun goddess herself, you are starting to give your old grandfather a headache. Now explain yourself, or I shall have to discipline you sharply until you blub the truth." As his grandfather busily started telling him off, Rioichi faked looking innocent, giving his grandfather puppy eyes just to get out of trouble before quivering his lip. "Oji-san, I am sowwy fow intewuptin' Nobutaki-san, please forgive me." He bowed before Kenichi shook his head. "Very well, Rioichi. But do not let me catch you…eh?" Suddenly, Rioichi's creation slipped out from his kimono before spilling on the floor. Desperately, Rioichi tried catching the ingredients before they spilled all over the floor…only to accidentally plant his face in a puddle of creamed rice. Understandably embarrassed, noting his grandfather's black stripes quickly turning red with rage, Rioichi tried bowing again, despite having creamed rice spilled all over his nose and his clothes. "Sorry, grandfather. Shall I clean up Nobutaki-san's floor at once?" Kenichi almost snapped his stick in his anger, before he notices a small roll on the ground next to his toddler grandson. Inquisitively, Kenichi picked it up from the floor before sniffing it. He turned to Nobutaki before asking him, "Did you make this?" Only for Nobutaki to shake his head, answering, "Ie, Oji-domo. But I do recognize the ingredients." Rioichi tried to get up and flee the scene, before Kenichi took the strange roll from Nobutaki's fin, calling out, "Rioichi! Where do you think you are leaving?" Rioichi turned around before blushing, rubbing his little footpaws together as he watched his grandfather nibble at the tiny roll with baited breath. But the following words he didn't find himself prepared for. "Grandson, this concoction of stolen ingredients….is strangely delicious." Rioichi tilted his head, resting on his tail as he scratched his head. "Nani?" Kenichi smiled, finishing off the tiny roll before petting his grandson's ears. "I believe an apprenticeship is in order. Rioichi, starting on your fifth summer, you shall work as an apprentice under Nobutaki-san." Rioichi giggled, wagging his tail happily before nuzzling his grandfather. "Arigato, oji-san." Kenichi picked up his grandson before leaving the kitchen, giving him a bamboo twig to play with as he left Nobutaki alone.
"And that, Bentley-san, is the story of how I, Rioichi Cooper, invented the culinary art of sushi." Bentley sat at the Hideout chair, tapping on his chin with a pen as he answered, facing the sagely ninja master, "Hmm...most interesting, Rioichi-san." But Murray was busy with his own appreciation-by eating a tub of the stuff while Sly just rolled his eyes and groaned. Rioichi, in the meantime, just watched, smiling at his young descendant's comedic disapproval of his friend's eating habits.