One day later, in a wilderness forest somewhere in the Land of Fire.
An iron pot bubbled and simmered, releasing plumes of steam. A rich, fresh aroma drifted with the evening breeze, making one's mouth water.
"Mm—this is so delicious, Shinichi!" Shizune held her bowl with both hands, her eyes narrowing into happy crescents. She blew on the soup and took small sips, her cheeks tinged with a flush of satisfaction. "I never thought an ordinary picnic could be made this tasty! As expected of the champion of the National Gourmet Competition!"
Kurenai said nothing, but the chopsticks in her hand were clearly moving faster than usual. Her manners remained elegant, yet the speed betrayed the calm appearance she maintained.
Under the glow of the campfire, those beautiful red eyes shone brightly. From time to time, they flicked toward Shinichi, who was adding the final touch of seasoning herbs into the soup.
Tsunade took a large sip from her bowl, feeling the warmth settle comfortably in her stomach and the layered flavors spread across her palate. She snorted through her nose and cast Shinichi a sideways glance.
"Brat, you really kept this hidden well. With skills like this, you never once thought of showing some filial respect to your sensei when we were back in the village."
Shinichi smiled faintly and closed the lid of the small seasoning jar in his hand.
"If Tsunade-sensei likes it, then next time there's an opportunity, it would only be proper."
Tsunade snorted again and took a few more bites. Before long, she sensed a subtle change within her body. Her brows lifted, and she could not help asking, "What exactly did you put into this dish, brat?"
"That shouldn't be possible." Before Shinichi could answer, she muttered to herself, "They were clearly all ordinary ingredients. Why does it feel like I'm eating some kind of highly nourishing medicinal cuisine?"
She had watched Shinichi cook the entire time and confirmed that he had added no special materials. With her top-tier medical expertise, she could also determine that the dish had indeed been made entirely from ordinary ingredients.
Yet strangely, after eating it, not only did her blood and energy circulate more smoothly, even her mental fatigue eased considerably. In medical terms, this dish simultaneously nourished both bodily energy and spiritual energy.
Shinichi only smiled and did not answer the question. Instead, he took out a roll of tied manuscript paper and handed it over.
"Tsunade-sensei, please take a look at this."
"Hm?"
Tsunade took it. Her gaze fell on the pages. They were filled with carefully drawn panels of sequential illustrations, even colored with care.
A comic?
Tsunade raised a brow, a trace of surprise appearing on her face before turning into her usual look of disdain.
"Brat, since when did you start messing around with drawing comics? Don't end up like that idiot Jiraiya, who does nothing all day except write those messy novels and ignore his proper work."
"I'm telling you, people who get into the arts—especially writing novels—have the least promising future."
Shinichi merely smiled.
"Tsunade-sensei, just keep reading."
[Number One Chef]?
Tsunade glanced at the title on the first page, curled her lips slightly, but still continued reading.
The story was set in the ninja world. The protagonist was named Shinichi, the heir to a place called the Supreme Cuisine House, located in the southwestern region of the Land of Fire.
He had a cheerful personality—upright, kind, sincere toward others—and possessed an innate passion for cooking along with astonishing culinary talent.
At the beginning of the story was the ultimate culinary showdown between him and another of his mother's disciples, Shōan, over the inheritance of the Supreme Cuisine House.
In the panels, in order to seize the Supreme Cuisine House, which represented honor and legacy, Shōan did not hesitate to use underhanded methods. He revered absolute power and overwhelming control over taste, and his cooking style was sharp, domineering, and filled with a ruthless ferocity that would stop at nothing.
Shinichi, on the other hand, was completely different. He held fast to his mother's original belief that cooking is a way of serving people, meant to convey happiness and warmth, and firmly believed that truly supreme flavor could awaken the best parts of the human heart.
The theme of the showdown was a tofu dish.
After exhausting all his effort, Shōan presented a dish called Kirin Crystal Tofu—its preparation refined to the utmost extreme, its ingredients incomparably luxurious, and its flavor intensely aggressive and impactful—intending to conquer everything through absolute force and technique.
Shinichi, however, chose instead to return to the very origin of cooking, creating a dish that appeared plain and unadorned, yet in truth contained the deepest craftsmanship and feeling: Spicy Tofu.
Through highly expressive panel composition, the comic depicted the scenes when the two dishes were presented: Shōan's dish shone dazzlingly and pressed forward with overwhelming momentum, like an illusory feast of sight and taste.
Shinichi's Spicy Tofu, by contrast, glowed with a rich red sheen, and its fragrance seemed almost able to pass through the page itself. The essence of numbing, spicy, fresh, fragrant, hot, tender, crisp, and lively leapt vividly from the paper through the judges' extremely exaggerated yet highly infectious reactions as they tasted it, conveying a warm power of returning to simplicity and striking directly at the soul.
In the end, with this Spicy Tofu—a dish that carried the original heart of cooking and could turn the most ordinary ingredients into a miracle of emotion—Shinichi completely defeated Shōan, who had lost himself on the misguided path of power. He won the inheritance rights to the Supreme Cuisine House and also defended the culinary way his mother had upheld.
"The story is decent enough, and the drawing is passable too." Tsunade rolled up the manuscript pages. "The art style feels pretty fresh, and the plot does make people want to keep reading. If you really took it in for serialization, it might even have the potential to sell well."
Then her tone shifted, and she narrowed her eyes slightly.
"But why did you make the comic's protagonist share your own name?"
In a calm voice, Shinichi explained, "Tsunade-sensei, becoming a great chef was never an empty dream to me. But the reality is that I chose the path of a ninja, and I will keep walking it with determination. Giving the comic's protagonist the name Shinichi, in a certain sense, is my way of entrusting one of my lingering wishes to him. It is like, through him, watching another self move forward with single-minded focus in the world of cooking, and there achieve the dream that I myself never got to pursue in person."
"And if the comic truly gets serialized, I plan that as the protagonist grows on his journey, I will continuously introduce some new dishes that I have created or improved within the story. For example, the Spicy Tofu drawn this time is one of them. This will not only make the comic's content feel more real and more appealing to cooking enthusiasts, but it can also serve as another way for me to share my understanding of and passion for cooking."
Shinichi's thoughts, naturally, were not so simple.
The deeper calculation lay in this: in the story of the comic, the protagonist Shinichi was designed to possess extraordinary knife skills (swordsmanship) and a talent for skillfully using flames to control ingredients with precision (Fire Release).
At the same time, since the background of the story was set in the ninja world, it naturally included many powerful enemies and battles that stirred the blood. Within these, the protagonist "Shinichi" would display his outstanding blade techniques and Fire Release to defeat various opponents.
When people immersed themselves in the story of that passionate genius boy—constantly challenging the pinnacle of cooking, defeating one powerful enemy after another, and bearing the same name, "Shinichi"—it would be difficult not to project that admiration and association onto the author of the comic: the young genius ninja of Konoha who shared the same name in reality and who was likewise famous for his swordsmanship and Fire Release.
Moreover, Shinichi planned that during the comic's serialization, as the plot advanced, he would continually "upload" new dishes personally developed or improved by him, along with the ideas behind their creation and their flavor characteristics. This would directly link the fictional story with real-world creativity.
As readers marveled at the culinary talent of "Shinichi" in the comic, they would simultaneously receive a message: those astonishing and mouthwatering dishes truly existed, and all of them came from the hands of Higashino Shinichi in reality.
This ongoing and concrete interweaving of fiction and reality greatly strengthened the association and distinctiveness within people's perception.
The effect carefully created through this interplay between fiction and reality went far beyond merely increasing fame; it would subtly accomplish two things.
First, expansion of image and deepening of perception: it would broaden the public's understanding of "Higashino Shinichi" from the relatively single label of "genius ninja"—a title that might even create a sense of distance—into a richer dimension filled with greater warmth, approachability, and human character.
Such a multidimensional image of genius was far more likely to gain widespread goodwill and recognition, and its legendary aura would become even more vivid and complete.
Second, positive feedback and cognitive reinforcement: the qualities displayed by the comic's protagonist "Shinichi"—focus, passion, integrity, perseverance, and the spirit of constantly surpassing himself—would, through the emotional power of the story, gradually attach themselves to the author, Higashino Shinichi.
Readers' fondness for and admiration of the fictional character would partially transform into positive imagination and recognition of the real person's character. Invisibly, this would shape an extremely favorable public image for him.
And all of this—the public's attention, multidimensional understanding, and emotional identification—would eventually converge into a precious source of cognition to nourish his Entry System, especially for the newly obtained blue Entry [Gourmet].
When it came to obtaining cognition, Shinichi's vision had never been limited to ninja.
Ninja were indeed the mainstream of this world, but Shinichi understood clearly that what truly supported the foundation of this world were the countless ordinary people.
They might not understand how difficult an A-rank ninjutsu was, nor what it meant to win the championship of the Chūnin Exams. People cannot imagine things they have never seen—yet they could still judge whether a dish tasted good or not.
And that was enough.
When those perceptions spread—from one person's tongue to another person's ears, from one household to an entire street, from a city to the whole Land of Fire, and from the Land of Fire to the wider world—
Even cuisine itself was only the first attempt. The next step would be medicine.
Not high-end medical ninjutsu, but bringing medical techniques downward—into the fields, into the lives of ordinary people.
So that the children of ordinary families would no longer die from a simple cold or fever.
So that women giving birth would no longer gamble with their lives.
So that elderly people who had labored their entire lives would not simply wait for death once they fell ill.
What truly moved people had never been bizarre spectacles meant to grab attention, nor gods standing high above.
It was those who made people's lives better.
When people discovered that they could eat better, afford treatment, and live better and longer lives, they would sincerely thank the one who had created all of this. And those thanks, regardless of country, race, or ethnicity, would flow like rivers—seeping out from the doors of countless households—until they gathered into the deepest and broadest power.
That was the kind of thing that could never be erased.
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