Sealing Salientia - Chapter 5: Food - Author: PenSmoke

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.

Previously on Sealing Salientia:
Kyuubi continued stretching his chakra into the streams above to continue improving his ability to perceive the world, as well as snaking what he could down the corridors and tunnels that connected to his chambers, now that the cage around him did not provide a complete barrier. He hoped to find some other means of exit from this place, as it would mean the difference between life and death.

Konoha
Night, October 11th, Year 65

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a patient man. He had lived for nearly six decades by this time and led the village through multiple conflicts that spanned the continent, known as the Shinobi Wars. In fact, he had been the Hokage ever since the middle of the very first war, when his sensei, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, had died at the hands of the Kinkaku unit from Kumo. He knew how to lead, when to act cautiously and when to act rashly and most importantly, he knew when to let others do their work and wait.

However, he had had quite the horrible past two days and his mental faculties were not operating at optimum efficiency. Even legends grow weary and tired, especially when dealing with so much. His wife was missing and presumed dead, the village was in splinters with hundreds of Konoha shinobi dead or missing, the news of Konoha's weakness after the attack was already spreading, an Uchiha being pushed into the Hokage position for the first time ever and the internal strife with Minato's legacy and wishes. These were just the latest events piled on top of the previous issues. News of rising international tensions shortly after the end of the third war, led by the newly installed Fourth Raikage of Kumo, A. Orochimaru's dissatisfaction at not being promoted to Hokage, leading him down a path of darkness, which would only be amplified by the most recent example. Danzo attempting to build his secret military ANBU-like force in the darkness. Dealing with the backlash of letting kids participate in wars at such a young age. And so many more things added to the pile had made it unbearable.

So, the very tense and frustrated kage-level shinobi decided to take out his seething resentment of all that had happened in a way that many ninjas did. Demolishing a training ground. Since he was still technically the acting Hokage until the ceremony to install Fugaku tomorrow morning, this late-night training would serve two purposes. First, he could beat up trees and dirt until he couldn't move, and second, he could leave an absolute mess for his successors' successor to clean up. A very minor and petty revenge, but one that would be enough for him. For now, anyway. He already had plans for what having a Sarutobi back on the Ninja Council could mean.

He spent multiple hours that night blasting off dozens of A and S rank jutsu, expending almost everything he had. While the Hokage's private training grounds were technically off-limits to any others, he could sense several people coming close enough to see what was going on. Several of his ANBU circled around, probably checking to make sure everything was okay, as the normally docile man wasn't well-known for tossing out so much in one evening. Many others were chunin or jonin who had sensed the large amounts of chakra being formed and released and were curious. He grinned while forming another skill with chakra, almost nobody outside of a few others in his own age range and his students had ever really seen him battle at his peak. He would give them one last show as to remind them of the power that he still had hidden under all the wrinkles. There was a reason he had managed to live to a ripe old age of 57, which was practically unheard of for active shinobi and it wasn't because he was weak. Jumping through the night air, he felt his previously old and tired limbs rejuvenated with energy as he let loose with a bevy of fireballs below, immediately setting a portion of the forest contained within on fire. Landing next to it, he quickly followed up with a wind technique that fed the flames with needed oxygen, swelling their size until the heat was enough to singe his hair from a distance.

Jumping back again, he almost laughed at how exhilarating it was to feel this alive. His bones that had creaked from sitting behind a desk for years still hurt, but he felt that pain as a welcome refresher to his brain about how he could be living. After all, the old shinobi saying was that you don't stop training because you grew old, you grew old because you stopped training. Using battle-honed instincts to calculate how fast he would need to jump to bounce off a falling tree trunk, he performed the maneuver as planned, all while turning the area underneath him into a muddy river with a combination earth and water release. On his descent arc, he stopped the flow of energy just in time to have a solid landing, to which he immediately turned and launched another volley of jutsu onto the progressively wrecked grounds.

An hour passed and he was still enjoying the feeling of bouncing around like a ninja again. Two hours passed and he felt his age starting to catch up to him. He had enjoyed the constant rush of adrenaline for the mock battle but knew that stopping now would likely be the best course of action. He was definitely going to feel this tomorrow. And probably for several days after, but it had felt so good to get it out of his system. Years of pent-up rage of political wheelings and dealings, frustration from sending comrades on suicide missions that he could do nothing to prevent their deaths, anger at people trying to subvert the 'Will of Fire' into something horrible and dark, anger at those trying to pervert the reputation of his village into something callous and cruel.

Finally relenting his assault on the inanimate training grounds, he caught his breath, straightened up his spine, attempted to smooth out his robes that were now dirty and disheveled from tossing around elemental techniques. Completing the tasks, he walked away from the grounds. The darkened skies above and the lack of foot traffic declared that it was late into the evening. He left behind him a mound of mud that was dozens of feet tall and a hundred feet around, a devastated forest filled with uprooted and splintered trees, some of which were still on fire and a hundred foot wide crater of cracked, dried dirt that still had smoke coming out from the center where he had incinerated everything with the largest fireball he knew how to throw.

Realizing that he was famished, he decided to get something to eat. Going home right now would bring too many painful memories of Biwako cooking late-night meals for him after he returned in the evening from too much paperwork. That direction also happened to hold the most of his somewhat unwanted spectators and he was sure that they were going to inundate him with questions. Not particularly feeling like dealing with either thing, instead of turning towards the clan compound, he navigated his way to the market district, which was still open, though beginning to close for the night.

Stopping at the first thing that smelled good, he brushed aside one of the five paneled sheets that marked the entrance into the stand. The scent of noodles and broth filled his nostrils and he discovered that he felt famished. It was to be expected after such a long expenditure of energy. The curtains floating to a rest behind him, he noted the owner of the stand. It was a man approximately in his early thirties with thinning brown hair covered by a chef's cap that had the name of the shop on it, a blue apron with kanji representative of his own name over white pants. He was currently placing a bowl of what appeared to be steaming hot ramen in front of a young boy, perhaps eleven years old.

Wondering what such a young boy was doing out so late, as it was nearing midnight, he eased onto the stool next to the young lad. The boy didn't acknowledge his presence, so much as even glance up at him. He seemed to be completely lost and just stared off into the back of the shop as the steam from the hot meal in front of him steamed up his face. The child had shoulder-length brown hair, pulled back into a bushy ponytail behind his head, brown eyes that currently had a singular tear building in each, dressed in a white shirt with a mesh undershirt and tan pants with ninja sandals. Most noticeable, however, was the large and still-healing gash that lanced across the bridge of his nose. Going from cheek to cheek, with stitches still in place, it looked as if it would likely leave a permanent scar as he grew up. The flesh was red and raw at the wound site, but not as raw as the emotions worn on the child's face. It was obvious that the boy had dealt with something traumatic and the older man's heart went out to him. So many in the village were dealing with loss right now and not everybody had someone to turn to.

Hiruzen signaled to the chef with a clearing of his throat. The chef turned around, already starting the spiel, "I'm sorry sir, but I just served the last of our stock and we are closing soon," but stopped the moment that he locked eyes with the elder Sarutobi. Giving a deep bow, he switched tones immediately to a more reverent voice than the slightly disgruntled shopkeeper that he had sounded before. "Third Hokage! What brings you here so late this evening?"

Hiruzen waved the man off, "No need for such tones, Ichiraku-san," he said, assuming the man's name from the shop title and the writing on his clothing. "I'm merely a paying customer right now. I'll take whatever you have left."

The shop keep whirled around, immediately starting up a new batch. He pulled out a storage scroll and released some ingredients that he kept within. Judging from the appearance, they were higher-quality ingredients than he normally used. At the display, Sarutobi quirked an eyebrow at him for a moment. A second later, as a wave of recognition washed over him.

Hiruzen started, "I know you, don't I? Weren't you one of Jiraiya's students?" As the chef nodded, the pair immediately launched into a small dialogue concerning the toad sage and his quirks while the chef continued to prepare a meal. The bowl filled with hot broth and noodles was set in front of him, the aroma seeming heavenly. He cast another look at the boy to his side, who still had yet to move since his own bowl had been placed in front of him, now probably cool. Raising an eyebrow at Teuchi, the cook responded with a shrug, evidently the man didn't know what was going on either.

"You know, ramen is best enjoyed hot and fresh." Hiruzen said while grabbing the bowl in front of the child and pushing his own freshly delivered noodly goodness in place of the just removed meal. At being addressed and seeing the movement, the boy raised a tear-streaked, but currently dry, face up at the older man. Clearly recognizing him, the child must have been either the offspring of ninja, or in the Ninja Academy where his likeness was all over, or potentially both. The tears began rolling down his cheeks again as an obvious torrent of emotion poured forth from the boy, no longer able to be contained. Faced with a crying child for the second time in a few hours, he felt more confident that he could help this one better than he was able to help the last one. Proffering his arm up to the boy, he felt the tug of young arms clinging to him as if he was the only thing left in the world. Muffled words came through his garments as the boy tried to speak, but between the tears and the cloth, the older man was unable to understand what was being said. The individual words were unimportant though, as the former Hokage had seen this behavior many, many times. Far too many times for his liking but it had been a part of his position, dealing with grieving family members. This boy had obviously lost one, if not both, of his parents during the Kyuubi attack. He suspected the latter, as the child was obviously wandering late at night.

After a minute or so, the tears ran dry again and the boy pulled back from the embrace that he had initiated, whispering "Sorry, Hokage-sama." Instinctively knowing that the boy didn't actually want to be left alone, Hiruzen shifted his stool closer to the boy so that an arm could remain draped around his shoulders in a comforting gesture. "I've heard the eating some good food helps in times like these." The Hokage emphasized his point by breaking apart his chopsticks and taking a heaping bite of the medley of flavors from the now air temperature bowl in front of him. Surprisingly, even though it should have been practically cold, it was still piping hot as if it had just been served. Best of all, it still tasted delicious. Expecting to have to force an over-exaggerated 'Mmmm' of enjoyment, he was pleasantly surprised when it happened naturally. In fact, it was almost too good to be true. He made a quick mental note to check out that this Ichiraku's ninja career when he could, it felt like he must have used something on the bowls to keep it hot, which was a brilliant idea.

Seeing the boy tentatively take a bite of the brew in front of him, the former Hokage saw the child's eyes light up with the taste. They were both in agreement, the chef's ramen was delicious. With a shared glance, they both dug in. The older man hungry from his display of power a short while ago, the younger starved from dealing with emotional trauma like which he had never faced.

Teuchi was watching his customers with a kind gaze, recognizing their enjoyment of the broth and noodles. He relaxed against his cooking equipment, some more broth ready for a second serving if they so desired. He had originally planned on closing up on time tonight, but with such a prestigious guest, he wanted to make the best impression possible. He was well aware of who the person sitting in his stall was. He already had mounted pictures of him up on the wall, as well as the Fourth Hokage and Jiraiya, who had both been regulars to his shop. With good reason, considering Minato had been his genin teammate, with Jiraiya as his sensei, before Teuchi decided to abandon the active ninja life to serve his true passion, feeding the hungry with his skills as a chef. He was just a baby when he had first met Jiraiya, who was not even ten years old way back then. Thinking of memories for a second, he got nostalgic, and wished that his sensei was here right now. The loss of a close friend was always tough, and while Minato had been busy with everything in his life, they had always caught up when the former village leader had stopped by for a bowl. Teuchi's wife, who was home with his daughter, would be mad at him for staying open late, but she would forgive him when he explained.

Ever since he had been a child, he knew that he was going to make food for people. He had joined the Ninja Academy, because it was a great honor to serve as a ninja for his village and his family had felt obligated to give back to the home that had allowed them to found the family business. While he had some talent for the ninja life, as he had managed to graduate from the academy, he was merely adequate. He had been placed on a genin team in the normal format, with a sensei and two teammates. His original team didn't last long, him being the only one after a couple short years that wanted to continue being a ninja. His original sensei got sent to another team after his own dissolved. Teuchi was soon placed on another team that was short a member. He had always been a little smaller for his age growing up, so he was placed on a genin team with two people far his junior. His new female teammate was 5 years younger than him and the blonde boy that had ascended to be Hokage was six years younger than him. At first, he had felt superior, being an experienced genin for multiple years before they even reached the rank. He soon felt massively overshadowed by the two obvious prodigious teammates, as they surpassed his abilities in mere weeks. As he started to lag behind, the superiority quickly evaporated, turning into resentment. This created even further issues with the budding team dynamic. His sensei was flamboyant and talented, his teammates were brilliant and skilled and he was merely capable. Jiraiya had finally set him straight after his anger at falling behind had blown up into a full-on brawl, in which he got humiliated. Taking the white-haired man's words to heart, he finally started to find his strengths and figure out ways to support the team, rather than competing against them. Soon, the team camaraderie had built up to be what Konoha always tried to exemplify.

As the team progressed, he was always stuck with the feeling that he held his two comrades back. Then the Third Shinobi War started, he knew that with Jiraiya being who he was and the other two prodigy students, he would be shipped off to a warzone to fight. Not being ready for frontline combat in a warzone, he reluctantly left the ninja life to go back to his lifelong passion of taking over the family restaurant. He used his skills occasionally, trying never to let them rust too much.

Besides, it was handy to be at least genin in skill in a town full of ninja. It allowed him to not let arrogant and cocky ninja fool him or let them unknowingly use their skills on him. Additionally, he had a seal master as a sensei and a long-time customer, which had allowed him to acquire some enhancements to his small shack. A couple of basic seals were placed on the outside so that the structure was a lot more sturdy than it should have been for its' construction. There were also complementary seals on the underside of his counter and the bottom of the bowls that kept the contents of the bowls warm so long as the bowls stayed on the counter, recharged by his own chakra each morning. He also had storage scrolls filled with ingredients, so that he never had to worry about running out come a rush. He also had other basic security seals in place to deter intruders or unwanted guests if he wasn't there, or even to guide unruly customers outside. But, easily the most important skill he had learned in being a ninja was to be able to create and use whatever seasonings he needed. A few handseals and a chunk of chakra later and he could summon a pinch of any herb or spice that he was familiar with. It was his only original jutsu, that he based on his sensei's summoning technique, except instead of the animals which needed a contract, he just grabbed plant life from the summoning domain. It didn't require nearly the chakra expenditure of even the smallest animal summons and he had access to herbs and spices that simply weren't even available to other chefs. He had incorporated the herbs into his family's recipe and now had expanded into creating wild new and unusual kinds of food that nobody else had ever made before.

He had felt bad for the child that meandered into his booth so late at night, quite obviously wandering and trying to find any place to stay for a while. He had tried making small talk to the unresponsive boy, but had failed. Settling for at least feeding the young man, he was glad when the Hokage had seemed to be able to breach the barrier around the traumatized child. Seeing that his best purpose right then was to facilitate having a place for them to have some privacy, he walked out from behind the counter and activated two of the security seals that his old sensei had installed for him. The first was a minor illusion that made anyone outside believe that all lights were off behind the curtain barrier and also would mask minor sounds as well from exiting, though it would not affect anyone once inside. The second was his anti-intruder seal which gave any person who attempted to enter the shop by touching the curtains from the outside the auditory illusion that a siren had started blaring at them. The seals were within the curtains themselves, hidden under the kanji that represented the shop name emblazoned on red in each panel.

Turning around, he saw the scarred child that he had learned was named Iruka, open up his mouth and outright laugh at the elderly man, who had made a face using the components of the soup and the chopsticks. Smiling gently at the scene before him, he let the two stay as long as they wanted, serving up several more helpings to the customers who were obviously starved for both food and attention, joining in the now animated duo with stories and tales from happier times.

Even though he used the best ingredients that he currently had available, when they both finally thanked him for the meal, he replied with a gracious "It's on the house," knowing that money was nothing compared to what had occurred between the three of them that late night.

Jiraiya was cursing his luck. The child that he had just woken up apparently was far hungrier than he had thought possible and had already devoured what Jiraiya felt like a weeks' worth of formula. Staring at the child that had just polished off an eighth bottle and was greedily asking for more. After bottle three, he had tried to calm the child, as he knew that it would end up problematic if he kept eating. The sage had never had kids of his own, but had experiences with them through various interactions. He knew that newborns typically drank in small feedings throughout the day, so he supposed that he was making up for some lost time while young Naruto had been asleep. But there was no such thing as a calm Naruto when it had become apparent that the child wasn't getting another bottle. He launched into the standard baby progression. Fussing, then crying, then screaming. After a few moments of the screaming, the toad sage had had an unhappy matron of the house pounce on him like a snake on a rabbit. During that visit he caved and gave Naruto whatever it was that was needed to keep him quiet, which was just more and more food.

Thankfully, his prior relationship with the mother of the establishment along with his reputation had saved his skin. He was paying for it though, far more than he normally would, as he was being charged for two adults. Being a parent was already taxing on his energy, sanity and finances. If only he had the ability to use his jutsu, he could have quickly used a sound barrier, which would have prevented the whole thing. But that required handseals, which meant it was a no go for the moment. He would have to work on that problem, but later. Right now, he was tired and just trying to make sure Naruto was happy, not screaming his head off.

A light knock on the door, followed by a female voice calling "Jiraiya-sama, your wine is ready." stirred him from his parental duties to Naruto. Speaking loudly enough to be heard through the door, but no so loud as to disturb the still feeding babe in his arms, he responded with, "Come on in, it's open!" It had been locked until the matron had burst it open during her entrance and he hadn't bothered to get back up and close it again, letting the natural gravity swing it mostly shut.

A young lady, fair skin, gorgeous azure eyes with long platinum blonde hair strode in on long tanned legs. Dressed in a somewhat modest outfit, it was quickly obvious that she was here as a worker of both services that the business offered. She set the tray of wine down, poured a serving into one of two ceramic cups available and looked up demurely.

Jiraiya had been expecting as much as that so far, it was one of the reasons that he loved to frequent such places. What he wasn't expecting was the ear-piercing squeal that resulted in her spying the bundle in his arms, which was subsequently followed by her scrambling over to him and fawning over the child with little remarks of how adorable and cute he was.

The toad sage immediately recanted his earlier thoughts about how unlucky he had been. In fact, he started calling himself an idiot. Why hadn't he thought of this before? Of course most of the ladies would love a little bundle of joy around here and there. The ladies of the night rarely had kids of their own while serving in the industry, as it was not conducive to ply their trade during pregnancy and became more difficult to do so after childbirth. Many of them would be of the appropriate age to have, as he called it, 'baby fever'. And what better way to disarm an angry woman after an awkward entrance or question than with a cute baby?

Jiraiya was blessing his luck.

AN: Wow, that scene with Hiruzen and Iruka just flew off the fingertips. Felt as natural of a scene as I've ever written, I could just picture it happening in my mind and playing out as I wrote it.

You have learned one of Minato's teammates. Any guesses as to the other? I'm basing it off of the picture in canon of the team, where the boy looks like Teuchi, even if the ages are a bit off. We don't exactly see their full bodies, so he could just have been slouching, further away from the camera, or just short and pudgy from too much ramen stunting his growth. The girl, you should be able to tell from the various clues. Stick around for a couple chapters from now to find out. I imagine that the fallout will start to affect her in a chapter or two.

Teuchi Ichiraku

Name meaning: 'Making noodles by hand'

Age: 31 (current)

Rank: Genin (retired)

Stats:

Ninjutsu: 2

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 2.5

Strength: 2

Speed: 2

Stamina: 1.5

Hand seals: 2.5

Total: 15.5

Known as the owner of Ichiraku ramen, rather than for any ninja skills, he does have some limited ability in the ninja world. Has created one original technique, the Spice Picker.

Spice Picker Jutsu

Classification: Ninjutsu (Summoning)

Rank: C

A technique invented by the ramen master Teuchi to reach into the summoning world in various points and pluck a seed or leaf or piece of root from various plants. Unable to grab more than what a single hand can hold, it is not useful for combat situations. Teuchi has managed to find use for it outside of the shinobi world, creating and inventing new flavor combos to make his ramen the best in the world.