NARUTO: READY, SET, COOK!

A/N: My first fan fiction. BTW, my sis inspired and helped with this! Hm, some OOC-ness. Um, there is no real timeline for this. XP If you want one so badly then it will be before Sasuke-kun runs to Orochimaru-sama. Hm, but other than that…I think that's all. Maybe some hints of boy love/yaoi/ shonen ai, but in later chapters. It won't be big though. J OOPS! Also rated T for cursing/swearing. Just a tad bit…

Oh, and I hope you enjoy this!! Thanks, bye!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Hell's Kitchen at all, or else I could have whatever I want!! Including world domination!!!! XP

Chapter 1: The beginning of chaos

"Come on, Neji, come on!" the overly obnoxious blond yelled.

They had recently entered in a cooking competition, where all of the shinobi of Konoha were to prove their ninja skills while attacking other important issues such as cooking. After all, food is a necessity for any human being, much more for a ninja.

Unfortunately for some, they had to be in teams of two. Each shinobi got paired up at random, so it was a big surprise to find out that Neji of the prestigious Hyuuga clan got paired up with the Leaf's number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja… Naruto Uzumaki!

"Damn it! Naruto, what the hell are you doing? We were suppose to be meet over at my house two hours ago!!" Neji being the impatient teenager that he is, decided to go look for Naruto, his partner, to discuss their predicament. However, Naruto had decided to go and do what, everyone?

A) Pick a fight with Sasuke-kun

B) Flirt with Sakura-chan

C) Eat ramen

If you chose A or B, you are correct!!! Nah, he decided to eat ramen.

"Sorry, but I just wanted some ramen!! Can a guy get some without getting yelled at?" Naruto shouted in defense, making Neji's blood boil even more in rage. "You can have some damn ramen after we win this competition!! My name and reputation is at stake here!! And I will not let you tarnish it!" Neji shouted back with full volume.

Naruto knew that everyone wanted to win this competition, but honestly the poor guy had no clue what cooking was all about. Although he did know that all of Konoha was going to watch them perform at their best! 'Kind to think about it, how the heck did this all start anyway?' Naruto tried to remember, leaving a poor Hyuuga to consider death as another option instead of going on with this competition.

Flashback

"All of you have come here today to compete in the ultimate ninja battle of all time!" The Third Hokage began. "Each of you will be put to the test. And in the end we will all see which duo has the best skills to take on the toughest mission by far to have ever reached this village." All the elder shinobi kept their eyes on the Hokage, while the younger ones kept glancing at various areas around them. They had all been summoned to the training grounds urgently.

"As you can see, some of the shinobi from neighboring villages have come too. You will all compete against other teams made up of two ninjas, the remaining duo will win the mission and a marvelous prize that is worth more than the world itself!!" That of course got everyone's attention immediately.

Naruto could not believe his ears! What could the prize be? Maybe ramen for his entire life? Whatever it was, he was determined to get it, and show up Sasuke. Naruto knew that if he won, then Sasuke would look like a total loser in front of the whole village!! And perhaps he would win Sakura's heart in the process. Oh, yes the possibilities were endless!!

Others had something else in mind, though. Sakura kept on daydreaming about winning the contest with Sasuke by her side, so then Sasuke will have to admit that she was the one for him! Hinata had been only concerned about the mission that the Hokage had mentioned. She was afraid to win and then take on the mission. Kiba and Shino had only winning in mind. Neji was the same except for the gloating that he would do after winning. Tenten and Lee were just psyched up for the challenge. And as for Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru… Well, they just hoped to get away from Asuma for a while. He had been annoying them a bit too much. Temari and Kankuro were too busy with checking out the local cute guys or girls to really notice what was going on. And Gaara was staring at a young woman that caught his attention . Her long black hair, her beautiful hazel eyes, and her flawless body (A/N: not a pervert, you guys!!) had somehow caught his attention, but he remained stoic nevertheless.

As for Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Raido, Kotetsu, Izumo, Gai, Iruka, Anko, Ibiki, Hayate, Baki, and Ebisu well, they were pretty much more relaxed than the other shinobi since they knew they were the best of the best, and the Hokage would have to choose one of them for it.

After two hours of random rambling, the honorable Lord Hokage decided to announce the big competition. "Konohamaru, please bring the box with the slips of paper," he said to his adorable grandson, who obeyed for once without protest.

"Your goal for this competition is…" Everyone gawked at the old man with anticipation and eagerness.

"To cook the best dish in all the world!" Needless to say that everyone sweat dropped and fell anime style after those words. There were many outcries from all the shinobi (though Naruto was the loudest), but they were all silenced (yeah, shut up Naruto! LOL) by a rumbling noise from behind them.

Lady Tsunade and the pervy Jiraiya appeared from behind in an instant! "WTF?" was the collected question. However, the Hokage only grinned at them and continued with his speech. "Two of the legendary Sannin came to judge the competition alongside myself and the Kazekage. Now then, let's get you all paired up!"

And that was that. There were no heroic type missions involved, and they needed to be paired up to make it worse! Neji ended up with Naruto; Sasuke with Sakura; Lee and Shikamaru; Choji with Hinata; Kiba with Shino; Ino and Temari; Tenten and Kankuro; Kakashi with Iruka; Asuma and Baki; Kurenai with Raido; Genma with Hayate; Kotetsu and Ebisu; Izumo and Gai; and Anko with Ibiki. And who did Gaara get stuck with? Well, since there was no one else he could be with, he was free to choose a partner as long as his partner was a shinobi and of his same rank if possible.

End of flashback

"Hm, so that's how we got into this mess," Naruto whispered to himself, but since he has such a loud voice, Neji was able to hear him. "Dumb blond!" Neji hissed with leaking rage. At first it had seem that Naruto had not heard him, but then, "Blonds will dominate!" Neji gave him a look and then gave him the single finger wave. "HEY!" Naruto was angered now. Before they wasted anymore time, Neji decided to just end the fight and get back to what really mattered: Making the most perfect dish ever! "Naruto, we have a dish to create! It will be the most delectable dish ever made! And we will win! MWUHAHAHAHA!!!" And lightning accompanied with an sinister melody suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Naruto hid under the stool from Ichiraku until he felt safe.

Six hours later….

"So what dish should we make? We need something that shows how brilliant, beautiful, benevolent--" "Benevolent? Neji, is that suppose to mean nice, 'cause you're not nice!" Naruto retorted and stuck his tongue out in a childish way, but still making his point whatsoever.

"Shut up, Naruto! I am only nice to those who are my equals, and you're not! Now what dish?!" Neji pondered for a moment, but he could not come up with anything at all. Either it was too complicated or it was too lame to do. Naruto had just kept on staring at Neji's hair. He wondered when the Hyuuga was going to realize that he had cut his hair. 'Well, he is slow,' thought Naruto, which caused him to snicker quietly.

Neji refused to be dragged into another pointless fight, so he ignored Naruto's childish antics. "Neji, the guy's about to close Ichiraku, where are we going to go? And what the hell are we going to cook?" Neji snapped back to reality and noticed that Naruto was right. It was already late, and they hadn't come up with anything that day. 'According to the Hokage, we have one week to come up with a dish, then we have two days to get everything ready and present it to them all." Neji was deep in thought again, which caused Naruto's patience to run out completely. So, like any other Naruto in the world, he left the poor Hyuuga boy by himself, while he went to sleep.

Meanwhile

'Who was that girl?" Gaara, the insomniac, kept on wondering about the girl that he saw. He had spent the majority of the time gazing at her, and taking in all of the details that he noticed. She seemed so mysterious, but that was no match for Gaara! He had been the world's greatest detective a few years ago (A/N: he thought he was, but not really), so this would not be a challenge for him, right?

He had noticed that even though she appeared to be alone there, she was in the company of two older men. Both of which looked terrifyingly powerful, and weird in his opinion. Yes, this would indeed be a challenge to solve. However, Gaara failed to notice that this certain young woman had noticed him too. And of course, Gaara was conflicted with his decision in pursuing the mystery of the girl because of his nature. He was stoic, serious, scary, and smart…The Four S's!!

"Damn my mind! Who cares if I find her attractive? Besides, I am so tired of Kankuro thinking that I am gay," he mumbled. Gaara laid down in his bed and closed his eyes, even though he could not sleep.

Tomorrow would be another day, and Gaara of the sand had a plan up his sleeve. He would discover the identity of that girl with force (most likely, ne?) or without force (yeah, right). Yes, he would get that girl's heart one way or another. However, he still needed to come up with a back up plan, and another, and another in case the others failed. You can never have enough plans, according to that lazy genius that happened to defeat Temari.

"Damn it, Kankuro, stop breathing so loudly! I can hear you through the door!" Slowly, Kankuro retreated to his underground lair of weirdness, leaving Gaara to think about his plans for the young girl.

TBC….

A/N: Well, how was it? Should there be any point of going further? Remember, we still haven't gotten to the prize nor the mission!! Well, this only took an hour to write. I had to make sure that my computer was able to get it through its brain that these names were Japanese! Sigh. LOL, it was fun, and it will get better soon!

Please review….please, from the kindness of your heart? puppy pout No flames unless you've got a good reason!! Um, I will probably update in a week or less, depending on my mood.

BYE!