The Regal Maze

Regal Mammoth, the stomach...

GT Robo aside...

'OK, trees inside a stomach?!' Naruko sweatdropped as they saw trees rooted on the stomach lining.

'Well, the Regal Mammoth's body makes it possible to have its own ecosystem...in a flora way of speaking.' said Coco. 'Beasts won't survive but plants pulled along can survive here. And since we can see as clear as day, the Jewel Meat is lighting this place up too.'

'...can't believe I'm back here again, I'm lost...' the operator complained, scratching its head. 'When did I return to the starting point again?'

'Leave him to me.' said Sani. 'Innards like a maze...we'll have to rely on Toriko's nose. 'You guys go!'

'Got it...let's go!' Toriko yelled as they ran ahead.

'Uhm, is this OK?' Komatsu asked him.

'Its OK. Sani intends to go all out and considering his abilities, we'll be in the way.' said Coco. 'He'll hold back for our sakes. And its a GT Robo...we'll seriously need to go all out.'

'Yes but Naruko-san is amazing, taking out a giant in one shot...' said Komatsu, amazed.

'Be amazed if I can take that thing out without being out of gas and a pathetic sweaty mess afterward.' said Naruko with a sigh. 'I need more training. If I fought that thing alone and surrounded by creatures afterward, I'm done for. Using that technique drained me dry!'

Truthfully she has a second energy reserve but she wasn't sure how chakra will work against things created in this world...sure she can use chakra to Hunt, but she's never done a Chakra VS Shokuyoki before.

Matter of fact is that she's drained dry of her Shokuyoki.

It showed how serious the opponent a giant GT Robo is.

Naruko is stronger than them and she had trouble.

Toriko and Coco, as well as Sani knew they have to up their game.

xxx

Regal Mammoth.

A gigantic, majestic mastodon and one of the largest living creatures in the Human World alongside the Magma Tortoise. It is a beast that has existed since the stone age and is regarded as a gourmet treasure by man.

While its meat is plenty delicious, most of the flavor in its body has been taken by a single piece of vestigial meat within known as the Jewel Meat that combines the taste of all the different parts of the beast. The Jewel Meat illuminates an incandescent lamp-like radiance that dulls jewels and lights up a night sky. It is considered to be a food treasure; can fetch a retail price of 5,000,000 yen for 100 grams. Though, the location of said Jewel Meat differs from one mammoth to another, making it very hard to find.

This luxury food has been highly valued throughout human history. In ancient times, it was the centerpiece of grand feasts, and they say that because of its jewel-like glitter, it could double as a wedding ring. In order to win over a woman, a man would present Jewel Meat to her to prove his strength. Even now, it is a jewel that only the bravest and strongest can procure.

'Hmm, eating it while walking is also a good idea.' Naruko mused while taking a nice slab of meat with Komatsu. Its OK to eat raw as she's not having the gag reflex that usually happens when one eats meat that cannot be eaten raw. 'Where are we now?' she asked as they're all eating. Again.

'Ooh, this is my first time eating Regal Mammoth too I can't wait for the Jewel Meat...' Rin swooned in delight.

'Humm...there's so many stomachs here we're now at the 2nd stomach since we went straight ahead another throat.' said Coco, using his senses to determine their location. 'And there's 12 stomachs in here...'

'12?!' Komatsu gasped out.

'Yeah, I guess you need to eat that much to produce the savoriness level of the Jewel Meat spanning decades.' said Toriko. 'The IGO's harvesting Jewel Meat every forty-fifty years. There can be a longer wait but sadly, humans don't live that long...'

Suddenly, Toriko smelled something that alarmed him.

'This putrid smell...' he mused as the smell of stomach acid hit his nose. 'The Mammoth's undergoing stress.'

'Probably from both my poison and the fighting behind us.' said Coco. 'This is bad, we should hurry.' they ran for it. 'Its trying to puke!'

'SERIOUSLY?!'

They had to avoid being retched out.

Barely did.

Then they met a GT Robo that got Toriko and Coco's hackles rising.

Naruko thought that they nearly looked like animals doing it.

Ninjas do NOT display show of wariness on their bodies, that was Jiraiya's teaching. Its a tell-tale sign that you're weaker than your enemy and showing weakness is a no-no as ninjas are skilled at Psychological Attacks, proven by Neji on poor Hinata back when he was an ass.

Maybe this is an ingrained trait from training?

But still, she can't tell if this guy is strong or not so she decided go all out but Komatsu is a priority so she was in front of him and let the boys do the work with Rin's smoke backing them up but Naruko has her Revitalizing Knife out.

She's no Medic who studied a shitload of books and medical tricks or memorized a 1000 page book of medicines, poisons and illnesses, but thankfully, Revitalizing Knives are so simple to use. Combine it with her Sage Chakra to heal and as people are ALSO ingredients...she can heal them through that kind of point of view by seeing patients as ingredients and then follow 'that voice' she hears whenever she goes Sage in order to heal.

Whoever this GT Robo dude is, he clearly knew how to fight.

And his precise hits, knowing where to hit fatally...

This man reminds her of Kabuto somehow...in how he fights.

But the speed was that of Gai's.

However, before Toriko hit him, he scratched his head as if debating whether to fight or not, but his reaction is frighteningly quick.

This quickness is Uchiha-levels.

They are not ready for this opponent yet.

After dealing fatal blows on Toriko, Coco and Rin that put Komatsu in hysterics, the GT Robo appeared before them and looked intently.

'...wrong weapon to use, don't you think?' he asked, noting her knife.

'I'm fully-aware what's it for.' said Naruko coolly. 'I'm just glad its not a fatal hit. Otherwise...I'll obliterate you like I did that giant pink toy of yours outside.'

'Hooo?'

Pause...

He clearly tested her by hitting her and their fists met...

Cue high-speed blows...with the GT Robo torn to shreds.

'Hmph. Fight me personally. You won't last against me in such a cheap tin can.' Naruko told him as she crushed the head with a stomp of her foot.

Komatsu, and the weakened Toriko, Coco and Rin stared in disbelief. An enemy so strong and yet she...

'I-incredible...just where did you come from? You're so strong.' Komatsu squeaked out as Naruko proceeded to take out her scroll and unsealed the remaining food.

'Feed Toriko and Coco to keep them alive, I need to see to Rin.' Naruko instructed Komatsu who quickly obeyed. 'Where I came from, fighting is basically for sale.' she told them. 'Countries hire us, ninja to do dirty work. And then wars happen for the pettiest of reasons that made my teacher who's also my godfather sad. Where I came from, life is so cheap and easily disposable.' those words pissed off Toriko, especially how sad she looked as she said it while treating Rin with her Dark Techniques. 'You're expected to die on a job any time if you're old enough to be sent to dangerous missions. Who cares if you die, someone better will just replace you and continue and succeed in the job you stopped on if you get killed.' said Naruko softly. 'My last enemy...marooned me here, far away from home with an uncertain future...lucky me I ended up in an easy-to-understand world.' Naruko smiled ruefully.

'Where I come from, kids like me back then are so naive, innocent...' Naruko wore a rather wistful, sad look. '...dreaming to become someone great as a ninja, signing up for the military at age 7, graduate at 12 and then put us in teams of three with a Commanding Instructor or Jounin.' they were horrified to learn she was a child soldier. For Toriko, Coco and Rin, they spent their entire childhood and teens training to prepare for their careers while still having a fun enjoyable life and this one on the other hand...they can already imagine her life and they didn't like it.

'The jobs are easy at first, because its to teach responsibility and independence such as civilians hiring us on chores they're too lazy to do or too sick to do. Those were D-Ranks. After being proven responsible enough, along with combat training, infiltration and espionage training we'll be given a C-Rank job. Escorting and boy, those missions tend to go south...due to unexpected factors, especially if your client lied or omitted crucial details out just to be able to pay for a C-Rank job if they can't afford to pay for a B or A...or worse, S. Imagine poor under-15 kids unknowingly doing S-Rank work they'll never come home from just because your client is a lying cheapskate or too poor to afford the proper rank.'

Boy they know S-Rank difficulty...her listeners were pale-faced, horrified.

'You then realize too late that you're naive. You're so stupid. Stupid to believe life is so easy, when in reality your life doesn't belong to you. It belongs to your country's leader who can use your life as he wants. Showing weakness is forbidden because it takes just one person to bring down everyone else's reputation. Can you imagine a world like that? Your world is much kinder and its easy to be happy here.'

'You make it sound like you're from another planet.' Coco chuckled.

'Sounds about right.' cue three incredulous stares. 'I can never go back ever again because our enemy could shift dimensions and marooned me in what she hopes to be a random miserable world. I'm not even sure we won that war...I'm not even sure my friends and comrades are saved...I'm tormented every day which is why I live alone since the nightmares suck...Toriko would hear me screaming so I don't stick around since his house is near mine.' Rin's wounds are finally closed and she's well again.

'My strength and skill didn't come cheaply. I don't want to die so I trained hard in a world like mine, where life is disposable and your leader has the sucky job of choosing who to dispose for a job. No wonder Tsunade-baachan didn't want the job but its her or this shitty old man Danzo who thinks we're nothing but tools and weapons when Hiruzen-jiji died. Bastard is high in politics and influential. She bitterly became our leader knowing what would happen if she turned it down and tried her best to make life easy somehow while trying to curb the death toll and ran a morally-higher and better ship.'

Its how she saw the world while keeping up her loud cheerful dobe act.

Observing the world and wary as Konoha was her enemy while she was a Jinchuuriki back then, only earning respect when she defeated Nagato.

'Oh...then...are you happy here?' Komatsu asked her numbly.

'Yeah...I just wish my friends are here too so my nightmares would stop.' Naruko chuckled. 'They'd love this world.' she created a number of clones, and showed them what they looked like but all in war attire of the Allied Shinobi Forces. The common theme were the plated symbols they wear, uniforms, and toeless shoes. And they're all teenagers. And did that fat guy have a plated panty on his head? 'I mean it when I don't exist here because I'm not even born here. I told you that, Komatsu.'

'...'

Awkward, solemn silence.

The things they just discovered about her, were frighteningly disturbing.

'Well, whose hole am I gonna fix next before we look for the Jewel Meat?'

xxx

They found it in a nearby hallway from where they were. Its huge, as expected of a Parent Mammoth, its size is enough to stuff seven curled-up Torikos in in comfort as Naruko theorized as he was the biggest of the three men with them. Rin went red in dreamland imagining such a scenario.

'I wouldn't mind sleeping in here for the rest of my liiiife...' Toriko moaned happily, drooling.

'Oi oi, we're eating it, not sleeping in it.' Coco sweatdropped.

They had to find a way out...where Sani had the trouble of catching them. He was apparently, puked back out when the Mammoth began retching and he had been in a foul mood until he saw the Jewel Meat that made his mood go bubble-pop.

And so at the IGO Research Facility...while Komatsu roped Naruko into the kitchens to prepare their prize...

The Kings told Mansam what happened.

'...so that's what happened huh? She's strong enough for the guy you two are wary of and she's a child soldier from who-knows-where and got marooned in our world...the mystery just thickens.' said Mansam, drinking whiskey. 'But her abilities explain why, in a short time after obtaining Gourmet Cells, she's able to catch over level 70 creatures. She has abilities that are not born from her inborn awakened powers from her Gourmet Cells.' he said. 'In a year after obtaining the tastes known to Gourmet Wholesale as its stated in her Gourmet ID that she ate what the land has to offer, she took to diving underwater and brought back new tastes from the deep in such a scale not even our technology can manage at the time. She was 20 then.' he said seriously.

'And after eating such high-level creatures, her Gourmet Cells have evolved, making her strong enough to beat that operator, even calling him cheap...and obliterated a giant GT Robo by herself.' he said grimly. 'It really is a relief she didn't meet the Bishokukai...the one she met, was Komatsu.'

'Yeah...it shows since he was always her priority.' said Toriko. 'She was always right beside him like a bodyguard. Since Komatsu was the first person she met and kind to her, she owes him and repays him big. Komatsu would tell me she gives him things for free behind his manager's back aside from selling stuff to him first before unloading her game in the wholesale.'

'Yeah, back when it was three of us she sensed the death left behind by Bishokukai before taking out binoculars.' Sani commented. 'And she can walk on walls, too.'

'And that kinjutsu that can destroy a being utterly down to the cells with immense electromagnetic waves that nearly blinded me like a flash bang before my eyes.' Coco added. 'Words don't do justice what I saw. Not a scrap remains of the top half of that giant robot.'

'We need to up our game.' said Toriko. 'We've seen what the Bishokukai can do...and Naruko implied he's stronger in person.' he swore. 'We're too weak.' the guys looked depressed about it too.

'Well, training and eating more is the only thing we can turn to.' said Coco. 'And ask her where we went wrong. She was watching us while on guard to protect Komatsu-kun.'

xxx

'Seriously, I can't believe I'd have to use sunglasses in cooking!' Naruko snickered as they cooked the meat while she could use the immense light of the Jewel Meat to conceal her going into Sage in order to help with the preparation.

'No kidding, if we didn't have shades I'd have thought we'd go blind.' said Komatsu weakly while they pushed a two-tier cart of a small pile of Jewel Meat Steaks, and below the first tier was several sauce pitchers to the awaiting diners.

'Well, let's enjoy it plain and with sauce!'

'Yeah!'

And upon arrival to the dining room...

'Sorry to keep you waiting so long!' Komatsu called out.

'The Jewel Meat served plain or with sauces of your choice, take your pick!' Naruko chimed as they put the platter on the center, and placed the sauce pitchers around.

'Oooh! It's here it's here!' Toriko cried in delight.

'This is lovely!' Rin swooned in delight. 'The moon can't compare to this!'

'We get to eat it...' Komatsu choked, teary-eyed.

'It's so radiant...' Coco marveled in awe. 'Its like its daytime here in our private space.'

'Its beautiful...' Sani sniffled as if he watched a heart-touching drama.

'I wanna eat now...' Naruko whimpered, gulping down the drool in her mouth.

'I GIVE THANKS TO ALL INGREDIENTS IN THIS WORLD!' everyone prayed. 'LET'S EAT!'

The Jewel Meat.

A several-decades of wait just to taste one that they were glad they were born WHEN its ripe. The size they found was a result of a forty-year-long wait.

For Naruko, she was that damn lucky. "Unbelievable...this is the best meat I ever tasted in my life!" She swore this on all meats she ate. "The flavor of the Mammoth I ate before tasting this pales in comparison! Each time I chew, the juices come out that I really don't care what part I ended up getting!' she ended up with the texture and flavor of the Brisket. "Not to mention...I'm glowing like a firefly!" she choked as she saw herself glowing.

A little TOO brightly...

She had her first bite plain, and she toyed with her sauces.

'Oh, we almost forgot the sauces!' Coco gasped out, just remembering they have sauces by seeing her pour some on her meat.

'Its a carnival of meaty flavors and textures, now we can even choose sauces we want!' Toriko drooled. 'What a wonderful carnival! I wonder what tastes this will make!'

'The sauce is beautiful too!' Sani cried as the sauce was glossy, rich and thick from the pitcher he chose. 'I can almost taste it by smell alone...'

'Let's take turns!' Komatsu chimed as they took turns with the sauces while helplessly swooning on various combinations they tried out.

But upon consumption...its clear who its compatible with.

It was Sani, despite having a rock-paper-scissors game since Toriko also wanted it in his Full Course but Sani won.

But after the meal...

'Hey Naruko...' Toriko asked her. 'You watched our fight earlier right?'

'Yup. You guys suck.' cue gloom and doom auras of the boys. 'Your strength is nothing if you don't use it well. Not to mention you guys think too much instead of going for the fastest and efficient way to attack. Then there's your over-reliance on your techniques. Movement so slow that when Toriko tried to punch him, why the frikkin' delay of two seconds with quite the opening by your posture you're lucky he didn't gun for your head and your heart!' she scolded as she created two clones, copying what Toriko did.

'Had the enemy been anyone I know, you're deader than dead by now...I'm giving you guys homework.' said Naruko seriously.

'Homework?' Sani blinked.

'Master your bodies into being able to react in 1/4 of a second. Punching, kicking, footwork, dodging...be that fast and that's me going easy on you.' she said as they were all appalled as 1/4 of a second speed, agility and quick-reaction training was 'easy mode' for her. 'Not only that, in combat, react to the threat by instinct. Its up to you how you interpret that. And you guys rely too much on technique that your natural fighting ability is so neglected its not even funny. You're like Kekkei Genkai clans back home, over-relying on it that all else is left behind.' she shook her head. 'Your body's fighting development, stamina and endurance...sadly neglected. A neglected body reflects through your special techniques and your performance alone.'

'This time,' Naruko looked at them seriously. 'Hone your bodies. Because if we run out of energy, our fists are the only things we have left. In the end in battle, its our TRUE best friend. Our fists, elbows, knees and feet, our true weapons. Then there's your techniques...you know your glaring weaknesses in it, kindly rectify that. The saying Sky's the Limit holds true. And eat a lot to evolve to be able to further your training. Be strong enough to be able to kill up to Level 70 beasts and after that, train again to be able to kill a 100-level beast and be faster than moving at 1/10 of a second. There are worser monsters out there, tasty monsters or tasty flora guarded by nasties.' she said. 'I heard Gourmet World is full of such things so I'm always hard at work, you guys should too.'

'Er, what level can you take on, Naruko-san?' Komatsu asked her.

'Well, the adults of the deep sea though I can't sadly bring them home. And the IGO hasn't classified their level yet and I'm not that good in mathematics involving computing for CLVLs.' Naruko sighed. 'The most I can do is bring back shells and fangs from the adults to pay the Melks to make me a great knife set out of their teeth and shells...and Melk-san told me that I gave him a hard challenge and asked me for more teeth of the beasties. We'll ask the management if they succeed in bringing home an adult. Not to mention I'm training to withstand the immense pressure of the Abyssal Zone of the ocean to prepare for Gourmet World and I'm just currently 1/4 into the Bathypelagic.'

"The Bathypelagic Zone..."

In their studies, 700 feet under the sea alone has pressure 26 times greater than on the surface, enough to crush human lungs! And she's gone waaay deeper than that and she's still alive?! Most of her quarry are in the Mesopelagic Zone! And she can withstand diving up to 825 feet where the water is also inhumanly cold? Then again, she hunts in Ice Hell too...

How evolved ARE her cells?!

Her lungpower and stamina must be into ridiculous levels.

"When will that be?" Rin wondered. They already had trouble preparing and cooking Naruko's catches due to their size, what more if they bring an adult the size of an island home?!

'Do your homework guys, I will test you in a year so work hard and eat well. said Naruko. 'No telling when you guys meet that operator again. For now, you guys spar so I can see your mistakes.'