Restaurant Rumble

Ise had rendezvous with Toran at his place after all of their missions had been complete, but as they were relaxing, another missive had come in the mail, for both him as well as Toran about a restaurant rumble happening, and how they were assigned to participate. Ise was excited, due to the fact that the food was free, as well as liking the food in general. Toran’s father had been the first to introduce himself. He was also about to mention how he looked exactly like his late father, Jushiro but stopped mid-sentence. Ise had simply smiled, telling him that it was alright. Isemori knew that he meant no harm in what he was going to tell him … however, a piece of him wished that his father was still around.

Then shortly after, Toran’s mother had begun to speak. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Isemori! I hope Toran has been doing well on his missions lately, he doesn’t seem to really talk about them much so I was wondering if you could tell?” She said, also asking Isemori about how Toran was doing as far as his missions go. “It’s a pleasure as well to meet you too, ma’am! Toran’s been doing well with the missions that we’ve been doing together in my-” Ise was about to finish until Toran broke out in protest, finally paying attention to his ‘little brother’s' embarrassment, which made Ise silently chuckle. Then, before he knew it, Isemori and Toran were out the door, and on their way to the restaurant. As Toran had walked beside him, Isemori saw that his face was beat-red like a tomato, Isemori had said, “Are you alright!? Your face looks like a tomato,” The slightly older Uchiha asked, poking Toran’s cheeks gently, despite already knowing what Toran would probably say.

“Anyways, we’re here!” Ise had said happily, with a hint of eagerness. After being instantly spotted by a waiter due to their shinobi headbands, they had been directed towards a private table exclusively for the occasion. “I can’t wait to dig into some tasty food! What about you!?” Ise had asked his little brother, grinning practically from ear to ear.

WC: 367

“So what if my face looks like a Tomato Ise!?” He said with a small whine at what his older brother had done to embarrass him along with his own mother. He only could give a small pout at the situation that had just unfolded before his very eyes. Isemori had poked his bright red cheeks like they were something to be gazed upon with reverence. At least that’s how Toran saw it anyways while walking with his older brother towards the mission location. Toran walked with a slight pep in this step to get things done for the mission entirely. As he wanted to complete it as fast as possible. However what he found instead was going to be a nightmare to judge with Isemori around.

It was a massive crowd of people that had gathered there in order to see the fantastic cook off that was about to be presented to them. IN which Toran motioned for Isemori towards the two signs that established the restaurants. One of them being that very same restaurant that had been stained with Graffiti from that one little kid that they had caught a few days prior. Toran could only hope that they didn’t insight any sort of violence towards them for whatever kind of judgment that they’d give towards the food itself.

“Isemori, we’re supposed to meet the two sides at the back of this massive thing, better to just sneak in right?” He said before taking a small huff and simply dashing ahead of his own Cousin. Dashing around to behind where the two restaurant owners were in the back along with a few other judges there. Toran had been spotted by a few of them. Immediately going to shake the boy's hand as apparently they had heard about Toran’s father of being a respectful and insightful man. So at least he had that going for him for this whole situation.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you young Uchiha, tell us who is the other who is also going to help judge the food?”

WC:344
TWC:757

Ise blinked at Toran's reaction, not really sure why he acted the way he was. "Was he embarrassed or something?" Ise had thought, asking himself as they had gone inside. Just as Ise was getting way ahead of himself, Toran, who still was in his little ‘mood’ had told the older Uchiha that they had needed to meet the judges who were sitting in the very back. “Ahh, so that’s where we need to go,” Ise had said, eyeing the judges just before his younger cousin had stormed off ahead. “Hey, wait for me!” Ise had called out to Toran, who probably either was ignoring him or was just simply too far ahead of him to even hear him. It was also packed with a bunch of people too, which made catching up to Toran a bit difficult as he had to politely pass through a hoard of people.

Just as Isemori was passing through the last bit of people he heard someone - possibly one of the judges, who was more than likely talking to his younger brother. “That would be me! Yes, hello! My name’s Isemori Uchiha! Pleased to meet ya!” Ise had said, coming from behind Toran, smiling at the man, holding out a hand for a handshake, greeting the gentleman.

WC: 213
TWC: 580

The owner of the restaurant would continue to shake Toran’s hand for a slightly awkward amount of time before Isemori arrived. The other owner of the challenge moved past the bald man to also shake Isemori’s hand with elated delight at seeing the other Uchiha from around the area. As the two chefs were seemingly trying to gain the other Uchiha’s trust or potentially see which one would be on their side first and foremost. Toran could only give a small little chuckle as the two owners began their greetings towards the two boys with pleasant smiles plastered on their faces.

One of them was a slightly older woman with smooth skin and purple hair. Her bust seemingly being very much constrained by her own outfit. While the man was a rather rotund individual with a massive black beard and red beads dangling around his neck. The two of them gave each other a death glare or two before suddenly an announcer began to speak to the crowd. Telling them that the owners were ready to have the two judges step up on stage in order to determine which restaurant had the stronger foods and tastes. As such Toran felt this sinking feeling deep in the pit of his own stomach while standing next to Isemori. Something in his gut telling him that whichever side they chose this was not going to end well for either of them.

“God why couldn’t they have chosen two actual chefs for this! It’s like that one guy who travels near Konoha and takes people to his kitchen torture chamber!” He said with fear emanating from his voice as he didn’t want to potentially ruin one business over the other. Toran thought that C-Ranks were supposed to be easy. As such he was quickly proven wrong that day as both Isemori and Toran would most likely make their way through the curtains to show themselves towards the crowd. The massive amount of lights and people only made Toran gulp as he took a shaky seat next to Isemori. Hopeful that this wouldn’t take long, “So what’s the plan if we both like all of their dishes?”

Toran tried to speak in a whisper, as he didn’t want to end up making the crowd believe they were going to throw the competition entirely.

WC:388
TWC:1,145

It was apparent that Isemori, unlike Toran, was more eager to be here, despite the owners not paying attention to it, which was probably a good thing in Ise’s opinion. What’s more was that Toran at least had the decency to keep that from them at the very least, which was respectful in its own way. It was also apparent to the silver-haired Uchiha that the two owners before them had seemed to gain the two Uchiha’s trust, which Toran had more than likely caught on to that as well. However, Ise being who he was, showed no interest in favoring one judge over the other. In fact, all he wanted was to dig into some really tasty-looking food, although he kept that to himself as well.

Then before they knew it, the owners were more than ready to begin, prompting Ise and Toran both to make their way to the center of the stage. As they both stood next to one another, Toran had said loud enough for only Ise to hear, which made him answer back to his little brother. “Well, there’s actually a good reason as to why we shinobi do this, believe it or not. It’s simply to gain the civilian's trust towards us, albeit be small compared to other missions,” Ise had whispered back to Toran while in a matter-of-fact tone, pausing before he continued, knowing that Toran would probably want him to elaborate. “The owners seem nice enough, however, they still gain a profit from it - especially when it comes to these sorts of things. Not only that, but the owners know full well that most, if not possibly all of their customers aren’t necessarily fond of us shinobi. The people around here are very religious people, and due to the nature of shinobi and what they do, most of the community is against shinobi rule. That’s why we offer our services to these sorts of events as missions. It’s so that way we can build a trust between shinobi and Hoshigakure’s villagers who have more than likely been here before shinobi rule here was established.”

Just as Ise had finished his thorough explanation as to why something small like this was considered to be very important, Toran had then asked him yet another important question. Ise paused, thinking quickly before they brought their food to taste test and said optimistically, “Then, we just simply tell them that and go on from there,” Isemori had said slightly shrugging. More than likely, Ise’s answer to his younger brother’s question wasn’t probably the answer he had wanted to hear, however, it was an answer nonetheless.

WC: 439
TWC: 1,019

Toran also noticed that Isemori seemed almost excited to be here. Just from the body language alone Toran could guess that his older brother wanted to eat and judge about this whole competition. Toran simply couldn't understand why exactly Isemori would like this so much. Was it the food that was so enticing, the free advertising? Or was it just the fact that it was simply a mission that was rather easy to accomplish. Whatever it was Toran could only hope good could come out of it. The competition was something that had made Toran curious, scared, annoyed and now just confused as to why people would be this way towards their own citizens. Sure they were religious but so was practically everyone. Toran didn't understand why everyone was so religious in the first place. There didn't seem to be some great being that he knew of, so why did everyone believe there was?

However the main event of them trying out the food was about to begin. Isemori giving Toran some much needed advice on what to do in the competition. Especially with how the two chefs seemed to be giving each other death glares throughout the whole entire time. Toran didn't even know them that well, but he could tell they were some pretty serious people when you got to know them. So as the entrees finally came underway, Toran could only hope that Isemori would also enjoy the dishes at least, as he dug in to try them one by one.

WC:254
TWC:1399

Ise’s emerald green eyes practically glinted with eagerness as the first entree had been served to them, The first entree was from the male owner - a gigantic sirloin steak served with potatoes. It wasn’t an entree that had a lot of flair to it, however, it smelled absolutely great, in Isemori’s own opinion. Ise took his knife and fork, quickly cutting into the steak, noticing that it was nice and tender, which was a good sign that the steak itself had been properly cooked. Ise slipped the cut piece from his fork into his mouth, finally getting a taste of the meat, tasting a few seasonings that blended very well with the steak. “This tastes amazing! Did you use garlic?” Isemori had asked the man, noticing the familiar taste as well as smell that came from it. It was pungent, yet good if that made sense. “Why, yes I did actually! This steak is actually one of my restaurant’s best-served entrees. It has actually become popular for my customers to have,” The robust man had said, laughing heartily, while the female owner sitting next to the man had huffed slightly, looking away with a dissatisfied look on her face. It was clear that the man was trying to ruffle the female’s feathers just a bit by bragging about his dish, which had seemed to have worked. However, what the man had failed to realize was that the woman’s dish had yet to be served to Isemori as well as Toran, and since this was a competition, for all everyone knew, her dish could possibly end up being the winner.

Next, came the woman’s entree - soup that smelled really good. It looked different though compared to any soup that Ise had tried before. The broth was white, and rather than how broth for soup normally looked, it was thicker than normal. However, despite the actual look of the soup in the bowl itself, It smelled just as good as the steak. Ise had taken a spoon full of the soup, blowing on it a bit before placing it in his mouth. There were potatoes as well as some kind of meat that Ise had never tried before. Despite that though, he actually enjoyed the taste as well as the flavor. “Is the meat in the soup some kind of seafood ma’am?” Ise had asked politely, obviously showing that this was his first time ever having any kind of seafood before. Isemori had wondered if this had been imported from another village, possibly from the land of Waves? “Yes! It is actually clam! Most people think that is your typical kind of meat, such as Chicken, however, rather than settle on your typical kinds of meat, I have been able to legally acquire meats not found in the Country of Haven - primarily Seafood.” The woman stated, smiling vibrantly while taking her fan and wafting it elegantly in front of her face, hiding her smirk from the male owner, who had done the same as she did when he went on about his dish.

After both Ise and Toran got to taste the second entree, they were given the time to privately discuss which one should be deemed ‘the best.’ “I don’t know about you, but for me, I would say it's a tie. What do you think?” Ise had asked his little brother, asking him what he thought about both of the dishes.

WC: 571
TWC: 1,590