Food Honor Naruto
Find The Vanishing Cuisine! Witness the Power of Food Honor!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toriko.
There is a legend, forgotten in the passages of time. It was said that deep in an ever expanding forest that is there and yet not there at the same time. It could only be found in the direction of a certain dish, of which the name and recipe was forgotten too, only made a certain chef that no longer exists. In this temple deep in the mysterious and dangerous forest that was once known as the Lost Woods, a scared art of combat and practice of etiquette that was said to bring out the true potential of ingredients and the people who eat them.
Right now that age of ingredients and wonders that can be found nearby has been over for quite the while. Now, only the age of Shinobi and Ninjutsu exists in this world. But that is all going to change and it will be done by a single boy; a boy who lived the harshness of empty hatred and lies all his life. His life seemed to be only in the direction of loneliness and hate but what he doesn't know was what still lies in this world and that his incredible luck will finally grant him something that will redefine what it means to enjoy life.
Right now, in a forest closed off by wired fences all with warning signs forbidding anyone from entering based on dangerous creatures and plant life, a boy who seemed to be down on his life had entered the forest anyways. He seemed to be thirteen but his height never agreed with that; other than the black shorts, the simple sandals and the headband on his forehead with the symbol of a leaf as well as Sun blond hair and ocean blue eyes, he wore a very hideous orange colored jumpsuit which screamed in bright neon colors 'Come and kill me!' That was terrible for a young man who wanted to become a Shinobi and yet that wasn't the problem for this ninja in training; despite the bright colors, he was able to enter into even the places with the tightest security or something that everyone sees every single day.
"It is just not fair!" He shouted not even caring who was listening, beast or plant. "Why is that Sasuke-Teme always gets the training while I always fend for myself? Kakashi-Teme always said we were a team and I thought we were." Now this boy had a sadder tone to his voice. "If that is what a team really is, then I should have been smarter and started to train on my own from the very start." He was Naruto Uzumaki, known as the 'Demon Brat' by the public and the 'Dobe' by his peers.
"Why? Why is that I have to live through this hell? He said that good things will come if I just endure but…" Naruto just stopped as it hurt all over again to even remember all those days of being glared at, being hunted, being molested by all those adults who had to suffer a lot of grief on the day he was born and they always blamed Naruto for it. The children were taught to lie that Naruto was not a human but a demon who only wants to be friend in order to kill them and as a result, Naruto was bullied by every single child his age or older. And yet while Naruto was walking in the forest, heavily reflecting, he didn't realize that something did hear him but not the most likely thing that will come to Naruto's mind.
When Naruto finally looked up, he saw something that he never saw in this forest before. It was a huge restaurant of a style that he had never seen before. But Naruto recognized that it was made mostly out of wood at supposedly an entrance with various other buildings in the opening once Naruto had noticed that the trees had begun to part. He then smelled food coming from the wooden building, verifying that both it was a restaurant and that Naruto was hungry since his stomach growled.
Naruto then decided to try it out even though he barely brought any money along. He didn't want to go back to the village to get more money since it will be disrespectful to whoever went all this trouble to place this restaurant in the middle of a forest like this. Naruto swallowed his lump in nervousness since he was always rejected by any other restaurant in the village he tried to eat at even when he had more than enough money; so he managed to settle himself and entered the building to see that it was like more ornate Japanese places compete with a place to leave your sandals in other to not trend dirt on the floors. There was something there too but to Naruto it was more like someone.
"Welcome. To the Disappearing Cuisine. We are pleased that you have arrived to our restaurant." Naruto saw a person bowing to him who wore full body clothing with an apron over a thick jack and pants although the former had a striped arm band on each forearm. There was a bandanna with a sign of a nugget that had a bar over it. Finally, it seemed that this person had a mask covering the face from the nose down; only the eyes and eyebrows were visible through all that thick clothing despite that it was one of the hottest times of the year.
"My name is Chiru and I am the head chef of this restaurant. It is a pleasure to meet you." Naruto then heard this person speak other more and thought it was the sound of a woman even through the mask like his teach wears. He then realized that he hadn't spoken a word back since Naruto wasn't used to this behavior towards him; they always see him and tell Naruto to scram and never return to the restaurant, every time.
"Thank you but I just came across this place and I was hungry. I don't have much money so can I please see the menu and the price for the food? I promise that I won't run you into debt." Naruto tried to speak the words he had hoped will allow him to stay; no one could see that because he didn't want any pity from anyone because there is barely anything that hurts more than empty or false pity. And yet he only heard a chuckle or more like a giggle that only a woman can make.
"That was so adorable, we never charge any customer of anything once they find themselves standing in this establishment. Right this way." Naruto couldn't believe that he went through all that for nothing; this 'Chiru' character was never going to reject him anyways which was still alien to Naruto.
Naruto was led deeper into the building until he remembered on how there were a pair of sandals that were there when he just entered the restaurant. That meant this place already had a customer before Naruto arrived and he saw that same one. It seemed to an old man with the weirdest hair style Naruto ever seen with clothes that didn't compliment him at all but he never let it to be heard outside his head for respectful reasons. And speaking of respectful, that was to be the opposite of what Naruto could say for his manners; eating loudly and without shame and once or twice, will rudely shout for more food even though he was still eating plenty on his table already.
Naruto didn't get the chance to ask about this place when he was led to a spare table where he awaited a meal prepared for him. After a short moment, Chiru returned but with another staff member that more short and stubby like a man who hadn't exercised in a while, letting all that fat to be shown. "Thanks for waiting and we will present the first serving of out ten star food."
Naruto was confused as to what 'ten star' meant until that second staff member settled a plate with a sake bottle along with some kind of stone. "Like Chiru said, we will start with the sake from a Kelp Stone." Apparently his name was Chirin and unlike Chiru, he was more rude and inconsiderate to the customers. Naruto was reluctant as he saw people getting drunk off of sake and looking for someone to beat to a pulp. "Well? Try it!" Naruto flinched at the tone of Chirin and ignored Chiru scolding the latter.
Naruto picked up the cup with the sake gently and drank it only to feel a little dizzy, like he was being levitated off the ground even though he could still feel the mat under his legs. Naruto thought that was the sign of good sake and was about to drink even more when he felt like someone was telling him to be more slow so Naruto did. Pretty soon, Naruto had finished the bottle of sake while trying to get the dizzy and light headed feeling out of his system; he didn't notice on how surprised or shocked Chiru and Chirin seemed to be for some reason.
Still they continued and presented a dish called 'Sunshine Cheese' that was supposed to be as hard as a rock unless eaten under direct sunlight so Naruto was able to get a good view of the forest as he ate the cheese which wasn't bad at all. Next was a fruit under the name of 'Million Tomato' even though Naruto always thought that tomatoes were more like vegetables because he always a tomatoes in a dish made of pure vegetables; anyways, Naruto was extra careful to even hold the fragile Million Tomato and peel it while listening to some voice telling him where to peel next so Naruto was able to enjoy the taste of the rich juice from within. Another dish was a bowl of 'Star Rice' that until you blink, it will all be ruined so Naruto made sure he didn't until every single rice grain was eaten.
Chiru and Chirin seemed to be not believing that despite how fragile the ingredients were, Naruto was able to eat them all; there must something else to this. Naruto clapped his hands and said "Gochisousama Deshita" (1) before falling his back with a pleased look on his face that he was able to enjoy such great food unlike back in Konoha were he could only eat ramen or what he could find in the trash cans.
"He…he ate them all…just like with our first customer." Chirin said in disbelief that was twice as much as Chiru was showing for both Naruto and the mysterious customer who had begun to speak once he was finished with the food too.
"…long, long ago…" He paused for a short while, "In the natural world…" This was getting everyone on edge, "There was once an age where these fragile and delicate ingredients were the only ones to exist I've heard…" Naruto listened as he slowly drew closer to listen better. "It was an age where unless one show true etiquette towards food, they will starve to death."
The man then turned into Naruto's direction like he knew that the blond boy had joined his table. "You are a very lucky boy there, you have already gained the respect of the food so you were able to feast upon it. I will ask for you to learn under me."
Before anyone else could reply, Chiru spoke up "That is amazing. Is he who you were waiting for Master Chin?" Naruto couldn't believe that this rude customer was some of great respect and status like the Hokage back in his village. This man named Chin then got up and nodded,
"Yes. I will teach him everything I know about Food Honor as the Master of the Shokurin Temple and one of the world's Gourmet National Treasures." Naruto couldn't understand what this names meant but he was still excited on what these people have in store for him.
XXXXX
A month had passed and so it was time for the Chunin Exam Finals,
Every person in Konoha, Shinobi or Noble or Civilian, had arrived there to see their ninjas show off their village's power when it came to training future Shinobi. There were also ten competitors from when the Preliminaries a month earlier had left off in order for them to train. There was only one problem, only seven of these had arrived with the others wondering why they were three short.
"Where is that baka and Sasuke-kun? That stupid idiot is going to ruin Sasuke-kun's chance of getting the Chunin status he rightfully deserves!" Sakura Haruno was the one girl Naruto fell for her beauty but she was more interested in the King of Emos that Naruto despises since he was a jerk to him like everyone else who lives in the village.
"Sheesh Forehead, I know that Naruto is a baka but he is your teammate and he did manage to make it to the finals unlike the two of us. At least show some faith." Sakura turned to someone she had in great disgust; a girl who protected her from bullies because of her hair color and her extra-large forehead: Ino Yamanaka. They were the best of friends until Sasuke was in their eyes and they became rivals for his affections which never worked but they were persistent and always gotten violent over who gets to kiss his feet first for less.
"If Sasuke-kun loses what he deserves for being late than it will be that baka's fault because Sasuke is prefect that he can never be late on purpose!" Sakura always blamed Naruto for anything that went wrong for either her or 'her time with Sasuke' that never happened but she refused to believe that Sasuke was not interested in her.
"You are forgetting who your teacher is; he never even bothered training you for real so you will finally become a Kunoichi. I had to learn that the hard way from you teammate and now I am training for real." Ino retorted after hearing how Kakashi Hatake was infamous for being late even to his own funeral.
Before Sakura could yell back, a Shinobi who had a leftover dango needle in his mouth arrived into the battlefield. "Welcome everyone. My name is Genma Shiranui and I will be proctoring the Finals in the place of Hayate due to classified reasons. Now if no one else is coming, we can begin but with Naruto Uzumaki being late…"
"Not. Late." The Shinobi was interrupted by a voice that cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. "You guys are just slow so I decided to take a little nap until you had to wake me up with your racket." Everyone turned to a figure in the shadows who yawned and emerged only to surprise everyone. It was the blond boy with whisker marks and blue eyes but was taller than what everyone barley remaindered with real Shinobi clothes and even a sword on his waist.
The women couldn't help but feel warm around the cheeks at the handsome hunk that appeared out of nowhere and for good reason because with the clothes covering his entire body, they could see that he had a clear and well-built figure in addition to his growth spurt. He then disappeared and reappeared on the battlefield looking a little impatient that the Finals hadn't started yet.
"Okay. If both Neji Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki are ready…" Genma started and they both confirmed it so the match was degreed to begin like so, "Hajime!" Neji was still angry at Naruto for showing him off a month ago so the Hyuga charged at the blond who never budged an inch until Neji's hand, with chakra channeled at the very fingertips, was millimeters from his chest; that was when Naruto leaned back passed human limits in order to dodge the sure kill attack.
And yet at the same time, Naruto preformed a handstand and kicked Neji when the boy was least expecting it and the Hyuga Shinobi was sent flying far right into a wall that surrounded the battlefield. "Hmph. Lucky shot but your luck is about to run out because fate had already chosen me as the winner of this match."
"Then why are following fate? Are you lonely in bed and want someone to knock you off at night?" Naruto taunted and got Neji to go steaming red. "Besides who degreed that your father was to be killed in place of your uncle? Degreed that Kumogakure wanted to kidnap your cousin and want your uncle's head for that 'treachery'? I guess that Fate for both teams huh?"
"Shut up and die for insulting my revenge!" Neji charged again but this time, Naruto just simply dodged and he done this for ever strike that Neji uses again and again in order to land a hit on the blond. Everyone was wondering why Naruto was not counter striking like at the first time until Neji got showed signs of exhaustion but still tried to attack Naruto who managed to land a mean hit on one of Neji's rids judging from the sick sound of bones cracking.
But then, Naruto sensed something and moved out just in time to see Neji create a dome of visible energy that threaten to repel Naruto from the reaching Neji but the blond just smirked, "congratulations Neji, now the Hyuga Clan all angry with you for copying one of their own techniques without permission. Now everyone can use it because you managed to figure it out." Naruto maintained his smirk after seeing the look of shock and disbelief on Neji's face, "Being Hinata-chan's friend always has its pricks, you should try it too." Neji was now furious that Naruto had managed to humiliate him in front of everyone in the village but he never tried to strike at Naruto when he said, "Now that your last resort is shown, I will do the same because you had the nerve to do this so early in the game Neji."
When Naruto finished those words, he sprang into action and the result? Everyone just stopped in their tracks after seeing something so impossible even by Shinobi standards. It was like a miracle or the work of the devil but no one was sure anymore but they trusted their eyes too much to think that they were lying.
There…
Right in front of Neji and every other pair of eyes…
Naruto was eating the air like it was fruit or a leave from a tree branch!
End of Chapter 1
*Hello everyone! Thanks for the great reviews, favs and follows this entire month! I was just sleeping at night, hoping to think of something for a latest chapter to say thank you in a better way when I felt a brain spark that caused this story to be born. I was actually hoping to have Naruto use Food Honor since Naruto x Toriko crossovers are still pretty few compared to the other crossovers I have seen liked Naruto x Bleach or Naruto x Fairy Tail.
Hope you like this story and I will try my best to keep making chapters since it is still pretty slow around here even after my latest college finals. Maybe that is because of Mother's day and my mom's birthday only a week after. I am taking a summer course in order to better use the summer besides playing video games all day; I am an adult so I need to better things to do.*
1. Means 'thank you for the great meal'. It is a proper phrase to use after one is finished eating.
