time to hoof it! (i.o., nk)

Kotonaru was fascinated by Zebra’s exercises, never having learned the earth element. When it looked like Zebra was looking for water, Kotonaru poured out a water bottle he had brought along. To be frank, Kotonaru was a little hungry too, but he did not want to be gone for long.

“Say, I’m getting hungry too but how about getting takeout? Then we can eat while training without getting in anyone’s way. Or making their floors dirty for that matter. What do you think, Zebra?”
Kotonaru attempted to run lightning chakra on and around the surface of the branch he was holding. Holding it in both hands, he swung it at a nearby rock. The rock got a dent In it but unfortunately, Kotonaru’s chopping tool was smashed to smithereens. Upon impact splinters flew everywhere, the blasted end of the branch remained in Kotonaru’s hand, about an extra foot of length left beyond his hand hold. Everything else beyond that was now all over the training grounds. Exploded of course, in varying amounts and shapes of soot, plastered to everything.

“Oops, looks like I did not reinforce the branch enough, huh? Sorry about that Zebra.”
Kotonar turned to see what Zebra Toriko might be up to. This was of course assuming that Zebra was still there.

“Tell you what. I’m famished, and I need to practice some finesse with my chakra control myself. Let’s go get us some grub and maybe I can try training without destroying anything…. Oh, I know! If we go get ramen, I can try running lightning chakra through my chopsticks to cut the meat and noodles! I just have to be careful NOT to cut a hole in the bowl or plate, like that guy Mr. Indelible, the dad guy who was cutting steak for his kid in the movie “The Indelibles. Yah, that was kind of funny to be honest. Pure strength, resulting in him accidentally sawing through his plate and into the table below.”

Kotonaru allowed himself a small smile before continuing. “So what do you think? Ramen, maybe barbeque? I just need something to try to cut using lightning chakra.”

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(ttl wc: 4619+357=4976)

Kotonaru walked with Zebra to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. He was a little surprised to see them serving a humungous steak to this guy but figured that this fellow by the name of Zebra would be able to consume it all, after all the ramen bowls he ate last time they had met consumed far more volume. Kotonaru was surpsied more though that Zebra was nice enough to order for Kotonaru as well. He wondered whether Zebra Toriko would be able to get anything out of this impromptu training session.

“Umm, thanks.” Kotonaru felt a little awkward. “How long do you think that steak will take you? 5 minutes is my guess. Wait, that steak is for me? What are you going to eat?”

Kotonaru sat down next to Zebra at the bar, and waited for Zebra to order before doing anything else. His food was likely to come first so he would wait until Zebra had his food too before starting. It was basic manners his parents had taught him long ago in a different village….

In the meantime Kotonaru pulled open a pair of chopsticks. He asked for an extra pair of chopstics from the shop staff. The staff gave out the disposable kind, not bothering to keep track of numbers due to the volume of orders that came in daily. Besides Kotonaru had helped out before there when an accident or two had happened so he was pretty sure the staff would not mind if he used an extra pair of chopsticks for a purpose besides eating. They barely cost anything, a good senju clan member could easily make thousands of chopsticks in an hour, which could be easily wrapped in a similar time by a paper clan user. Ninjutsu was so helpful, huh?

Kotonaru refocused on his jutsu training. He was trying to learn the Chidori Katana jutsu, which was really just an extension of the Chidori, that rather made sense. He was pretty sure Sasuke had used his chidori and lightning cutter variants on things other than his own melee weapons, such as his susano’o. In contrast, attempting to extend the Chidori to instead cover a chopstick or a tree branch should be nothing, right?

Kotonaru pursed his lips in thought as he analyzed the steps he needed to take. He needed to concentrate his lightning chakra, sending it into the chopstick instead of his hand. He held one of the chopsticks in one hand. Concentrating, he attempted to send lightning chakra all around and then through the chopsticks, Perhaps if he was able to control the lightning chakra in a stable fashion, he would be able to use the chopstick like a cutting tool.

If the food arrived unhindered then Kotonaru would wait until it had all arrived before digging in.

(ttl wc: 4976+467=5443)

Zebra found it funny that Kotonaru did not know that this massive steak was his. Zebra gave Kotonaru the steak. He told Kotonaru: This steak is for you. I am eating the all you can eat ramen. I love this food. You can eat this steak. It will probably be ok if you do not finish it. Pass the food to me then. I am eating the infinite ramen. I love this dish as the money is good value.
Zebra would dig into his food like an excavator. He would eat so fast that ramen bowls would disappear in 15 seconds per bowl. Zebra would eat so fast that the ramen bowls would be eaten so fast that groups of about 10 or so people would have finished their bowls in about the time that Zebra would eat about 15 bowls. Zebra loved to eat all this ramen since it meant that Zebra would have lots of energy. This meant that he would have a lot of strength. He liked it so much that people could not tear him away. The food was so good that people would come from other villages to try the food. This was apparently a world renowned restaurant.

Kotonaru breathed a sigh of relief when Zebra took the ramen, he had been a little worried that he was supposed to eat it himself. He was about to start his steak but was amazed at the speed that Zebra was downing the bowls of ramen. Man, that guy was literally a bottomless pit it seemed. Kotonaru wondered where it all went, as the other guy was not at all “fat” unlike the overly sensitive members of certain clans.

Kotonaru got his steak and almost stabbed through the plate with his enhanced chopstick.Fortunately he remembered that he was lightning chakra through his chopstick. He wanted to eat meat though, he was getting hungry as the air above the newly cooked steak shimmered in the heat. He nodded his thanks to the chef, and held his chopsticks under the bar where he could see them. Even if it would probably be ok with other people, or they just would not care, he would feel self conscious if he knew everyone besides some dojutsu users (in particular the yakugan users) could see what he was up to. Hopefully he would not cause any major damage, that would not be very nice at all.

Kotonaru risked a brief glance around him to see if anyone was obviously watching him. No point in fretting about Byakugan users who could see what he was doing from 100 yards away. He fell silent, calmly moving his chakra into one of the spare chopsticks he had snapped off of each other before sitting down. The chopstick began to glow a faint blue. Encouraged, Kotonaru pushed it against the second spare chopstick that he held in his other hand, making sure that if the first chopstick that was reinforced with charkra cut through, it would only go into open air and not cut anything or anyone. He took a breath and exhaled slowly. The chakra it seemed was not quite enough. The chopstick refused to budge without potentially snapping. He stopped pushing and relaxed. Starting with the chopsticks about an inch apart, he tried again. He ran more chakra through the chopstick, flaring the lightning element into existence. The result cleanly and silently cut through the second chopstick, the one that was not reinforced. Kotonaru breathed a sigh of relief that nothing exploded.

He turned to face Zebra and asked “So, I’m just curious, how often do you eat here? Do you have any real sources of protein? Since if you eat ramen all day….”

If the other ninja spoke Kotonaru would listen politely while attempting to eat.

Regardless of whether the other man spoke, Kotonaru would eat, keeping his ears perked up for any sounds the other guy might make. After all, with a large gash like that in one cheek Zebra might try to talk and Kotonaru might not notice…. He concentrated on his food. He realized there was a knife that was provided by the restaurant but he wanted to see whether he could pull off that extension of chidori again. Holding the chopstick he had just cut the second one with, he attempted to flood it with lightning chakra again. A small blue glow emanated from the chopsticks. He took his chopstick, covered in lightning element chakra, and trailed the tip about one millimeter deep, starting at one edge of the steak. Using the chopstick he cur a jigsaw pattern into the upper surface using the chopsticks.

Kotonaru leaned closer towards the plate, to make sure he did not cut it. He did the pattern again, tracing the patterns he had first cut with the chopstick, running chakra through the chopstick again. He did it much more slowly this time, afterwards he noticed other people were watching him, some curiously and some suspiciously, either suspicious of him, or looking suspicious themselves. He sighed, in contentment. He seemed to have a good grasp of the Chidori Katana jutsu though he still needed to work on the power. Perhaps if the chefs had any large carving knives he could borrow….
Kotonaru realized he still had not eaten yet unlike Zebra who was likely on his second bowl already. Kotonaru had not looked but judging from the speed at which he had seen the other ninja eat before, Zebra was AT LEAST on his second bowl, likely his third bowl. He was curious but first he needed to examine his handiwork. He put down the chopstick he had been running lightning chakra through, even though the heat had probably helped sterilize it. He grasped the eating chopsticks, and used them to put one piece of steak into his mouth. Chewing contemplatively, he began shifting all the other pieces, but he found no signs of nicks or marks on the plate that would have resulted from his jutsu practice. None of them were ones he did not recognize from previous incidents, they did not match the pattern he had cut.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and stuff a second piece of meat into his mouth. Curious to see what Zebra had been up to he looked towards the other ninja.

*****************************************
(ttl wc: 5443+853=6296)

Kotonaru was turning towards his new friend and his jaw nearly spilled his own bowl when it dropped. Zevra was already on his fifth bowl! Already! Man, that guy ate like, well, that was not eating like a horse. That was eating like several horses combined, and Kotonaru said as much, his eyes bugging out at the ungodly sight. Kotonaru then asked if Zebra ever got fat, or had dietary issues.

He would slowly resume eating, noticing that the staff seemed very deferential to Zebra Toriko. It seemed this man really must have been going there for so long if they treated him like a close friend. It seemed this part of his story checked up. Kotonaru resumed his meal.

He found that one of the pieces of steak was a little large so he tried activating his chidori through his chopsticks and carved it into smaller pieces, again, like he had a little earlier. This was becoming easier, though it still took some time and effort for the blue glow to appear, that signified a completed chidori katana. He should ideally be able to do it almost instantly. It would be some time before he reached that point unfortunately.

Kotonaru would listen carefully to everything Zebra said as he chomped down on his steak. He liked the slightly salty taste of the meat. It was not often he ate this much, but he seriously wondered where Zebra got the money to pay for all the food that he ate. He looked to be making good progress as the jutsu training he had been doing earlier had sucked out a lot of his energy and frankly, he was starving. He began to eagerly wolf down the food only half listening to anything Zebra might say to him. If he finished the food uninterrupted he would ask Zebra how much food it took for him to be full.

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(ttl wc: 6296+317=6613)

Zebra thought that this food was so good that he could not stop eating. He would proceed to finish his seventh bowl with no sign of stopping any time soon. Zebra was eating so fast that one could eat about one bowl in the time the Zebra would have at least 5. Zebra would order a 72 ounce steak which would come very quickly, he would be eating this now and it would only last 10 minutes. He was eating so much. Eventually after about 15 bowls of ramen and the steak, he would stop eating. He would wipe himself off and then would sit down next to Kotonaru and ask him what he would want to do next: What would you like to do next? I often like reading to let my stomach digest itself. I often read books of fiction often murder mysteries and stuff like that. I would sometimes read a book on how to do some jutsu because they would be able to help me learn a new one. I think I would try to learn Earth element. That should help a lot actually. Do you know any good fire jutsu that I could easily learn?

Kotonaru polished up his food. That had been surprisingly quick, he must have been hungrier than he thought for that giant steak to disappear so quickly. Licking his chops, he heard Zebra start to speak. Listening intently, he heard Zebra Toriko start to talk again. “What do I do after a meal…?”

Kotonaru thought this over for a while.

“Well, I normally go for a short walk, or do some other light exercise to help me burn off those calories. You like reading fiction? Murder mysteries huh? Never pegged you for that type to be honest, but for each his own. Say, have you heard of the series Sure-lock Homes? It’s a series which stars, believe it or not, a house! Yup, you heard me, a house, which goes around solving mysteries. It’s one of those ones that has to get carted around on a giant motorized wagon trailer thingy, it’s a little difficult though for it to investigate the happenings inside the other, non sentient houses, so he sends this doctor, Dr. Watts-up I think, into those houses to find information for him. Yeah, you should try it, it is quite entertaining even if the premise seems a little silly.”

Kotonaru stretched, reviewing the steps needed to perform the Chidori Katana jutsu. He got off of his stool and then realized something seemed weird…. “Wait a minute, I thought you were trying to learn the earth element already? Fire element? Nope, though frankly I would be happy to learn it as well, I could probably give you ideas for fire jutsu but I am not sure how original you can be, launching flaming spitballs. I might have the fire element myself but it appears my chakra is not strong enough to sustain another element at the moment.”

Kotonaru walked outside. He stuck his head back inside the restaurant if Zebra was still in there and had not followed him outside. Regardless Kotonaru would ask Zebra “Say, do you wanna walk over to the library? We can probably study some jutsu there, perhaps you will find some tips on training the earth element…? What do you think?”

If Zebra sounded the affirmative, Kotonaru would meditate while walking. At least, that was his excuse. He remembered the way to the library, so he was curious to see if he could get there with his eyes closed. There was something he wanted to test about his eyes. He wanted to see if he could see anything with his eyes closed, particularly chakra, since if he was careful he would not hurt himself much walking around, unless he bumped into someone. The library was a fair distance away, hopefully he would find out some of his eye’s capabilities while he was doing it. If something, anything untoward happened then he would immediately deactivate his sharingan before opening his eyes, he did not want his secret revealed to anyone.

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(ttl wc: 6613+485= 7098)

"Sure, let us go to the library." Zebra would walk out of the ramen shop after paying for all the food and would begin walking towards the library. He would walk slowly at around 5 speed but it did not annoy him. He would eventually get to the library. Once there, he would find a chess board. The chess game was a game he sued to play when he was very young so he found it interesting to play again. He would sit down and ask Kotonaru if Zebra followed him if he would want to go and play chess. Zebra would grab one of each pawn and put it behind his back. He would then shuffle the pawns behind his back and quickly, he would show both hands with pawns clamped inside not visible to Kotonaru. He would then say: Which one is white?. Zebra would play e4 as his first move since he liked sharp play and how that often made the games interesting. He would then think about his move and wait for Kotonaru to move. He would then wait and decided to look around for any interesting books in case there were any of those things.