The Restaurant: Chapter 1: The Restaurant (Patreon)

Isekai Restaurant

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 1: The Restaurant

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- ??? -

I looked at the building in front of me. The place was old and in a remote alleyway in a town near Kyoto.

To be honest, it was a bad place for a thriving business but… there wasn’t much I could do.

I didn’t have the budget to get a better place.

And for my current situation, this place seemed to be quite good.

Thankfully it was well maintained.

If I advertised well, there was a chance I could catch the local crowd for my shop.

Right now my first priority is to hide from the yakuza.

I clenched my hands as I recalled those bastards.

They jumped on me the moment my parents passed away in the accident.

My property was taken away through forgery and bribing the officials.

But I was able to sell a large part of it away before they could get their hands on all of it.

The money I got from those along with the money in my parents' accounts was able to get me this place. A house with the ground floor as a restaurant and the upper two floors for living in this place in the whole other corner of the country.

And thus, I was here right out of High School, away from the home I grew up in, no family and friends to rely on and barely any money left in my pocket.

Almost eighteen years of my second life and this was the first time I felt alone.

I forced myself to get up, open the door and enter the building. I kept my bag on a table and looked around the place.

The Restaurant space was clean and honestly bigger than I was expecting. It had enough space to hold a dozen or so people quite comfortably.

It would still need some work before I can start work here.

My Father used to run a very successful Restaurant in the Tokyo area and my home was far better than this but that was what had attracted the Yakuza.

I don’t need to think about those right now. I shook my head and focused on the work in front of me.

Over the next two hours, I cleaned the place and rearranged the furniture according to my own choice.

The day was still young so I took the opportunity to go out and buy some ingredients for my Restaurant.

While doing so I inquired more about the nearby area and also spread a word about my restaurant.

I returned back home and decided to test the kitchen while I cooked myself a meal.

It was a simple meal. Just a bowl of Udon noodles and soup.

“Happy Birthday to me, I guess.” I sighed.

And that’s when the change happened.

A virtual screen appeared in front of me.

I must be too tired.

Shaking my head, I sat down to eat.

The funny thing is that I didn't stop seeing the screen in front of me the entire time.

Am I really going mad?

I looked at the screen and it only contained a few lines.

Restaurant Level: 1

Cooking Level: 1

Restaurant Privilege: Level 1

Store

Inventory

Just to test things out, I thought of opening the Store Option.

And just like that another menu appeared in front of me again.

Within the menu there were hundreds if not thousands of food items.

Beside each item, there was a price and the currency changed with my thought.

… this was too detailed to be a dream.

Only one way to check it.

I went down the list and saw a chicken, around twelve times more expensive than the one I bought today. I didn’t have anything to lose anyway so I clicked on the purchase button.

….

….

Nothing happened.

I guess stress is getting to me.

Yeah. Getting a fantasy type cheat in my reincarnated life… What is this, one of those anime worlds?

I ate the food and went back to the kitchen to clean up. When I finished, I decided to prepare for tomorrow’s shop opening.

And so I opened the refrigerator and suddenly paused at the sight in front of me.

There lay a large piece of whole chicken in the Refrigerator… which looked exactly like the one I had just purchased.

With shaking hands I picked up the thing and observed. It was different from the normal chicken.

No.

This cannot be real.

I quickly tried to verify it.

The screen was still in front of me so I purchased another thing.

With my heart beating fast, I opened the refrigerator once more and sure enough, there in front of me was another product all of a sudden.

… fuck.

I experimented with some other things and sure enough… it worked.

Suddenly another thought struck me.

Money.

If the products are real, is the money being charged for it also real? To verify it, I quickly ran to my cash counter and opened it quickly.

Sure enough, there was money missing from the place.

I did a quick maths and the amount missing was equal to the money I had used for the products.

Tired, I sat down on a chair.

Everything was real.

I really had a new power.

Or was it the power of this place?

I didn’t know.

Over the rest of the night, I explored everything I could about the System.

Doing so, I figured out a few things about this power.

First, it didn’t tell me almost anything due to low accessibility.

There was a note saying ‘Figure it out yourself.’

Second, everything I order comes from a place called Mathias’ Farm.

Now, I had no idea who this Mathias was or where he lived but damn this guy could produce some fine crops. Each and everything from his farm was way beyond anything found in the nearby markets.

Starting from common vegetables to food which supposedly increased someone’s health and vitality.

The only problem was the price it took to buy those things.

When I checked the list, it extended from simple, daily use ingredients to insane things with just as insane prices.

Finally, my cooking had improved beyond anything I had ever known.

It was even better than my dad who was a professional chef for all his life.

With all these, I finally felt a semblance of support in this world once more after all the shit I had been through these last few months.

Let’s hope that my new life in this place can be a quiet and peaceful one.

_________________________________x____________________________________

It was odd.

Three days had passed and yet… Barely anyone came to the Restaurant.

I knew that the location was going to be a massive problem but still, no one even accidentally strayed near the place.

To advertise, I had some flyers printed and even offered a discount but… to no avail.

My remaining funds wouldn’t last me long so I needed to do something.

If someone doesn’t come today, I will go to the main streets and offer some free samples to advertise my Restaurant.

With my dishes I am pretty sure I would get a crowd in no time.

Just at this time, the door to the shop opened and someone entered the Restaurant.

I looked over the counter to see a tall man, over two metres tall with blonde hair and the same coloured beard.

“Hahahaha is this a new restaurant in the neighbourhood? The atmosphere looks quite nice.” He laughed loudly while taking a seat.

I quickly went ahead to serve the first customer of my Restaurant.

“What would you like to eat, Sir?”

“Bring me a large serving of Soba Noodles and a Sukiyaki. When did you open this restaurant? I don’t remember one in this area the last time I visited.”

“It’s been a few days, Sir.”

“Oh, lay off with the formalities. My name is Furinji Hayato. Just call me Hayato, Mr. Neighbour.”

“My name is Silas Evans. Please take care of me.” I replied while preparing his Soba.

“Not from around here?”

“Yes. I moved in a few days ago.” I answered while working on my dishes.

My cooking skills were much better due to the Restaurant System and this included my Knife Skills.

Every cut was fine and equal with the accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre.

“Hoh, that’s some nice knife work. You have got a good potential for Martial Arts.” He said as he looked at me from what was a minimum eight metres distance.

I smiled but waved it off as a compliment and thanked the guy.

A few minutes later, I served the Soba to him and took a seat at the nearby table.

Mr. Hayato is someone with great energy.

He was apparently a Martial Arts instructor who ran a dojo nearby and invited me to train sometimes.

While this was going on, another guy entered the Restaurant.

He looked like a salaryman.

“I didn’t know there was a Restaurant here.” The guy asked as he sat down, taking a look at the menu. “Please get me some Ramen and some Tempura.”

The guy’s name was Mikami Satou. He was a salaryman in a nearby company.

The door of the restaurant opened and I looked up to see what looked like another salaryman. This one was a bit odd as he was looking around in wonder. with a strange mask filter that he proceeds to take off, too exhausted after the day’s work.

“Welcome. What would you like to eat?” I asked.

He picked the menu up and looked at it strangely before pointing out the same dishes as Mikami.

I cooked the meal soon and saw him chowing down the food with tears in his eyes.

When he finished his plate, he ordered a few more dishes in the same way and then thanked me profusely.

“Thank you Boss. This is the best food I have ever eaten.”

“Eh… you’re welcome?”

He thanked us once again, paid the bill and left.

“That was…” I whispered softly.

“A bit odd, yes.” Mikami, who was beside me, replied. “I mean not saying your cooking isn’t great. It is the best I have eaten in a long time but his reaction was strange. I guess he must really like food.”

“Maybe.” I answered as I picked up the bill when a strange fact caught my eye.

“The year…”

Mikami and Hayato looked at the bills too. “Did he just use fake money to do a dine-and-dash?”

Strangely though, my System did accept the money.

This thing accepts fake money?

“Let’s catch him first. That’s illegal.” Hayato said as he got to the door. I too opened the door only for us to stop at the sight in front of us.

Tall buildings, foggy atmosphere and people walking around with gas masks…

“What place is this?”

The three of us looked strangely at the scene in front of us.

“I don’t think we are anywhere near Osaka.” Hayato said.

“Osaka? This isn't Tokyo?” Mikami replied while I had several thoughts running in my head.

To confirm something, I decided to do something. I walked to someone. “Hello, Sir. Do you have a change for this?”

Hayato and Mikami probably realised what I was doing and didn’t ask anything. I handed him a bill the last guy had left and to my surprise, he brought out a similar bill.

We looked at the bill strangely but returned back to the Restaurant before we could do anything.

“Alright, what is going on?”

“This… first of all, let me say that this Restaurant is near Kyoto so it’s not Osaka or Tokyo.” I said, catching the attention of both people. “Just to confirm my doubt, can one of you two open the door?”

Hayato volunteered and the scene behind the same door changed.

I looked at Mikami and he too did the same thing and the scene in front of us changed again.

The next two hours, we discovered something amazing.

We were apparently from the Japans of completely different worlds.

They obviously questioned me on it and I told them I didn’t know how but this power just came to me three days ago. The surprising thing was both of them actually accepting it.

"Wow, this is quite amazing. Different worlds. It's like straight out of a manga."

"I can't say I disagree."

"Hahahaha but isn't this a great opportunity? To meet and see the people of other worlds and get to know them.” Hayato laughed out loud.

Both of those guys stayed there for a while and we talked about a few things.

I was still eighteen and couldn't drink but they could so I served them something from my side.

In return, they promised to return and bring others with them.

Mr. Hayato even offered to teach me some Martial Arts to defend myself.

Overall it was quite an eventful day today.

__________________________________x_________________________________

It's been a week since we figured out what my Restaurant could do.

As promised, Hayato visited everyday. He even brought some of his friends or rather colleagues with him.

Mikami and the guy from the last day returned too.

He said his name was Suzuki and was someone from a future version of Japan. The year 2138 to be precise.

We were kinda depressed to hear the state of his world.

I mean they had to wear gas masks outside their homes. The only reason he was without the mask last time was because he was on some work for his office and was given some kind of pills which allowed him to walk outside without being harmed.

The man literally cried when he saw the current world as it was.

Really, the greatest danger the human race faces is from themselves.

But enough of the depressing stuff.

The Restaurant had customers who needed food.

I stopped chopping the vegetables to look towards my side. A pink clad ninja girl with black hair was looking at my cutting board.

Shigure Kosaka was one of the teachers at Ryozanpaku Dojo and the Weapon’s Master of the place.

“What do you want, Miss Shigure?”

“Your knife skills… are good.” She answered while not removing her eyes from my hands. A small rat came out of her pocket and nodded but was eying the food instead.

“Thank you.” I answered while getting back to my work.

Shigure was just like this. Quiet and eccentric but incredibly skilled.

She had once chopped Kensei Ma’s, one of her colleague’s hats in two halves… with a freaking rolling pin, when he tried to peek down her shirt.

I didn’t even think it was possible.

I mean where even was the cutting edge?

“Pork Ramen.” She uttered when I was done cutting.

I nodded. “I will get it done in a minute, and a cheese cracker on the house.” I smiled looking at the rat who gave me a salute.

I finished the dishes for the customers and served them before getting back to Shigure’s Ramen.

Several minutes later, I got their orders ready and brought them outside.

“Thank you Silas. Your food is really the best hahahaha.” Hayato laughed. Beside him was his granddaughter Miu who was currently enjoying the food with the other Master’s of the dojo.

“It seems these food items have a special effects of increasing the effects of training. I have felt slight changes in my body and felt my training yielding better results for the last few days.” Akisame said.

Curious, I checked the description of the food and sure enough, some of the things promoted Cell Activity.

“Yes. The Lettuce promotes Cell Activity and the meat is good for healing minute damages to the muscles due to high intensity training. They also provide insane amounts of energy to consumers.”

“And it tastes damn good too.” Sasaki-san laughed as he picked up some salad from his plate and took a bite.

Just as we were talking, someone entered through the door.

Taking a look at him, he was an elderly man and walked with a slight hunch in his back. He had light blue eyes and tan skin, spiked white hair, thick white eyebrows, and a thick white moustache. He wore a long-sleeved black martial arts jumpsuit, light-coloured pants, and Tai Chi slippers.

Hayato and the rest of the Martial Arts masters however paused and looked in his direction. The man too stopped and looked in their direction.

There was an unspeakable tension in the air.

I waited for a few seconds and decided to break the silence.

“Welcome to the Crossroads Restaurant, Sir. What would you like to eat?” I greeted.

On a side note, I named the Restaurant too.

For a place which acts like a crossroads for different worlds, I named my Restaurant, Crossroads.

My words seemed to have done the trick as he looked in my direction giving me a nod.

Hayato-san seemed to have calmed down too. “Please join us. The more the merrier.” he welcomed.

The man walked to the table and joined him and took a look at the menu, ordering a hotpot for himself.

I went back to cooking while I heard them talking.

The man introduced himself as Bang.

“I didn’t know there were Martial Artists like you in the area.” He said, greeting Hayato-san who explained the power of the Restaurant.

When I got his order there, he questioned me too.

“Is it really true that the Restaurant can connect to different worlds?” he asked, amazed.

“Yes. Both me and Hayato-san are from different worlds. In fact, so are Mikami and Suzuki.”

“So, what kind of world do you live in Mr. Bang?” Miu questioned, looking interested.

The man explained some things about his world.

A world of Heroes and Monsters.

It was a dangerous world and I was kinda glad that my world was normal at least. I mean what’s a few Yakuza when compared to real monsters who could destroy an entire city.

Turns out that Bang-san was a Hero himself and a high ranking one at that.

“Wow, are you really a hero? Can I have an autograph?” Miu asked excitedly with a spark in her eyes. Even Shigure had a glint in her eyes.

“Hahahaha why not.”

Although the start was a bit tense, he seemed like a very kind old man. He got along  well with Hayato-san. They also shared a similar philosophy when it came to martial Arts and became friends fast.

A bit later, I got another customer, from Bang-san’s world too.

Saitama was someone who was training to be a hero.

He was interested in the talks about games between Mikami and Suzuki.

All three of them found this place to be very interesting.

The Restaurant was getting customers.

_________________________________x____________________________________

I started preparing for the day.

I opened the Restaurant and a while later, the Ryozanpaku members appeared as usual along with Mr. Bang. They had become regulars of my Restaurant since they found the beneficial effects of my dishes to their Martial Arts training.

The two had become quite close and even sparred with each other sometimes.

Quickly serving their orders, I sat down to talk with them when the door to the Restaurant opened again.

This time two people came in at once.

The first was a boy with black hair and eyes. He was wearing a white shirt and looked like a middle schooler.

The odd thing was him looking around the place as if expecting something to jump on him.

The second one was a white haired guy who looked like he was in his 20s.

"Welcome to the Crossroads Restaurant. Would you like to order?"

I went ahead and greeted them.

"Ah yes." The younger boy sat down and looked at the menu ordering some chicken wings.

The older one just wanted to look at the menu for a bit before ordering. He did pause when looking at me though and stared in my direction for a while.

"Do you need anything, Sir?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Nah, I will tell you when I’m ready."

"Sure thing. Take your time."

I went back to cook while the patrons started a conversation with the boy.

A little talk with him led to a couple of discoveries.

His name was Kamijo Touma and he was from a place called Academy City.

Touma was an Esper. His city was full of Espers. Even the world had other supernatural humans.

"That's so cool. Sounds like an anime." Mikami said, listening to the story.

The boy was also astonished at the power of this place.

"Really, this place is a connection between different worlds?"

"Hmm. We are all from different worlds. The owner's shop is near Kyoto but we live near Osaka. Mikami-san lives in Tokyo. Suzuki-san on the other hand lives in Japan of the future and all of these are different worlds. Bang-san and Saitama-san live in a completely different world." Miu explained.

"That's amazing."

"Can you tell us more about your world and Espers?"

"Espers are divided into different levels. The higher the level of the Esper, the stronger they are. Currently the highest Ranked Espers are level 5 and there are only a handful of them."

"What level are you?"

The boy's face fell at the question. "I am a level 0." He sighed.

….

"Oh… I am sorry." She apologised. "But hey, look at the bright side. You can always train and become stronger."

"Actually…"

On him explaining, we found out that his power could negate other supernatural abilities. And it only worked when touched by his right hand.

"That is quite an awesome ability. If anything, it's one of the best. As long as you train yourself more, you could become far stronger. In fact, you should learn Martial Arts to help you."

"She is right. You could always train your body, you know. When you have nothing else to rely on, use your fist.” Hayato chimed.

“If you want to join, I can recommend the Ryozanpaku or my own Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist Style dojo.” Bang added his two cents.

He looked at the three in a bit of confusion and I decided to give them a push.

“They are very accomplished Martial Artists. I know you cannot do anything about your luck but you can train your body to become strong enough to be able to survive, right?”

“That… does sound quite reasonable.” He shifted his bowl near the Ryozanpaku group and began talking to them about Martial Arts.

It looks like Hayato can get a student.

Touma joined the Ryozanpaku dojo after some thinking.

___________________________________x__________________________________

Two weeks had passed and the Restaurant had two new regular customers.

Both Touma and the other white haired guy came by regularly.

The former always ordered a meal here before going out to train with the Ryozanpaku masters and returned hours later.

It was the latter who was odd.

He always came in before anyone else, ordered sweets and spent the rest of the day in the Restaurant, leaving when I closed the place.

We did talk about several things about my world but till now, he hadn't given his name.

I was fine because the Restaurant was under my control.

Today too, we talked about a few things when Touma returned.

“Goodbye Silas-san.” Touma waved but as he was about to leave, the white haired guy stood up to leave too.

“Hello. I guess we haven’t really talked with each other much but do you mind if I ask you a few questions.” They shook hands first.

“Umm sure.”

“You see, I am a bit of a magician myself.” He said as he created a red orb in his hand in front of us. “I… please just consider this the curiosity of a magician but can you dispel these kinds of powers too?”

“Eh… I am not sure because I haven’t tried anything on a magician before but I can give it a try if you want to.” Touma offered.

“Please.”

Touma slowly extended his right hand and touched the ball of red light which completely vanished from existence.

“Woah. That was quite cool.” I said softly.

“Amazing.” The white haired guy said. “Hayato-san was correct. Your power is really amazing. Do you mind if we do a few more experiments? I can reimburse you if you want. From what I have seen, we can convert currencies of different worlds in this Restaurant. Am I right, Owner?”

I looked at him surprised but nodded. “Yes.”

He turned back to Touma. “Don’t worry. I assure you it won’t be anything dangerous. I just want to see the effects of your power on different objects. You will not be harmed in any way.”

Touma looked a bit conflicted.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to Touma-kun.”

“I…”

“This will help out a lot of people.” The white haired guy said.

“I… sure. I will do what I can.” Touma agreed.

“Great. My place is a minute away. You can look at it right from outside the Restaurant. When you are free the next day, I can pick you up or if you want, we can work in the Restaurant too… if the owner permits us.” He walked with Touma to the door and went outside first before offering his hands for a handshake again.

Touma took the hand and immediately a cracking sound came from outside.

“What was that?” I asked as he pushed Touma back inside the Restaurant and jumped back in too.

“A cave in. Phew, that was close.”

We opened the door a few minutes later and sure enough there was smoke and dust everywhere.

“You can wait here if you want till the fire department clears the place up.” I offered.

“Ah… I will be fine. I was just taken aback by the suddenness of the incident.”

“You sure?”

….

He looked at us with a grin which looked cocky as fuck. Not exactly annoying but cocky.

“Ahahahaha don’t worry… I’m the strongest.”

Before he left, he brought out his mobile and sent me a payment.

“This is for the experiment today and twenty percent is the owner’s cut. Thanks for the help, Touma-kun, Owner.”

I checked the account to find twenty million in my account. Twenty percent of that is… woah.

At that point I remembered something.

He still hadn’t told us his name.

__________________________________x___________________________________

Two weeks had passed since that sudden windfall.

I got the much needed money for myself from a completely unexpected source.

The guy hadn’t returned since then and things went back to normal… or well as normal as things could get in a place between different worlds.

A few things I had observed were that some people just couldn’t find the Restaurant no matter what.

I found out about this from my neighbours.

Recently, I had distributed free samples of my dishes to the neighbours to promote my Restaurant in my own neighbourhood.

Safe to say that they all loved the dishes a lot and promised to come visit my Restaurant.

It’s just that none of them came.

Now, it could have been them but when I went out the next day, I was called by several neighbours who said they could find my Restaurant and they didn’t seem to be lying.

Could it be that no one from this world can find my Restaurant?

That would suck.

Thankfully, my customers were increasing bit by bit in the Restaurant.

Bang-san brought his brother, Bomb and a friend, Atomic Samurai.

Seriously, this guy… Atomic and Bomb…

Those names alone proved that they were not Japanese despite the similar culture in their worlds too.

They sat together with the Ryozanpaku group. In fact they were also joined by another old man, Isaac. He was a hunter of some kind although he seemed more like a priest to me. All of them talked about Martial arts in their free time.

As I was thinking, Saitama entered the shop and was soon followed by the other two members of his group, Mikami and Suzuki.

Today all of them had a holiday and Suzuki had brought over several games from his world, so they were gonna spend the rest of the day there.

I didn’t have any problems with them. In fact, I kinda enjoyed having their company.

Since the death of my parents and me having to flee the place, I had been too lonely. This Restaurant was distracting but when everyone went back… those feelings returned again.

As I was thinking of this, the door to the Restaurant opened and in came a girl. She had purple hair and the same coloured eyes.

“Welcome to the Crossroads Restaurant. Would you like to order?"

“Umm, I would like to order some takeouts.” She ordered a couple of dishes.

“Would you like to eat something in the meanwhile?” I asked.

“No. That would be all.”

“Sure. I will get it ready in a while.”

“Thank you.”

Before I could leave, the door to the Restaurant opened again.

Oh.

Another guest?

This time it was a young kid around seven or eight years old.

He had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing a white shirt with a red spiral mark on the arm.

Perhaps the most prominent part of his features were the three whisker-like marks on his cheeks which made him look extremely cute.

It’s just that currently the boy looked roughed up as if he was there just out from a fight.

“Eh? There was a store here?” He looked around surprised.

I greeted the boy. “Welcome to the Crossroads Restaurant. What would you like to eat?”

The boy looked surprised at the offer and pointed a finger at him. “Me? I can eat here?”

“This is a Restaurant so I don’t see why not.”

A smile bloomed on his face at my reply.

I showed him to a table. “You can see the menu and choose anything you like. Are you with anyone, your parents maybe?” I asked.

His face dimmed a bit at the question. “I… don’t have parents.”

….

Somehow his expression reminded me of my own situation. It hadn’t been long since my own parents died in that car accident and I was so depressed that I couldn’t even go out of the house for a month. And to think a little kid like him would…

“I am sorry for asking something I shouldn’t have. You know what? To apologise, you can choose anything from the menu. Today’s meal is on the house.” I offered him the menu.

“Really!” His face lit up.

“Promise.”

The other Restaurant patrons also listened to the conversation and Shirgure and Miu offered a seat to the boy who opened the menu only to look confused. He tried reading but couldn’t read properly so they helped him.

“Ramen. Can I get Ramen?”

“Sure. I will make the Special.”

“Thank you Nii-chan. By the way, my name is Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo.”

“Are you a student, Naruto-kun?” Miu asked. “Did you get into a fight?”

“Eh… no. I lost in a taijutsu spar against that teme.” He gritted his teeth.

“Oh, you are learning Martial Arts?” Hayato asked, getting interested.

“Yup. I am training to be a Shinobi and one day I am gonna be The Hokage dattebayo.” He got up and shouted with a fist pump.

A what?

“Shinobi?”

“Yes. I am gonna be the strongest Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the leaves.” he said.

On asking further, we found out more about him.

Naruto Uzumaki… was an eight year old orphan who was currently studying to be a Shinobi. We got a basic idea about his world.

Apparently Ninjas were very common in his world and worked more like a mercenary organisation in cooperation with the government.

Shinobi of their world did a variety of work from cleaning the garden to protecting important people.

The Hokage was supposedly the leader of their village of ninjas and his idol the fourth Hokage was someone who saved their village from some kind of fox.

To be honest, seeing a child being so convicted about his aim… was inspiring.

In the last few months, I had lost sight of my life due to the circumstances. But now, someone who is in a worse situation than me is trying so hard to live a life and chase his dream… what was I doing?

I vowed to myself that I would stop sulking and work to make something of my new life.

Being honest to myself, I actually enjoyed my current peaceful life in the Restaurant.

“So, Naruto-kun, you said you lost in a spar against someone. A Taijutsu fight?”

“Yes. It was that teme Sasuke.” he grit his teeth. “One day, I will defeat him for sure, believe it!”

“Hahahaha that’s the spirit. If you need any help in Martial Arts, you can ask me for help. I am a martial arts teacher too.”

“Really, you will help me?” He jumped quickly, looking at Hayato.

“Why not? I don’t see how giving you a pointer or two will be a problem. You just need to get permission from your guardian.”

“Guardian?”

“Yes. The one who takes care of you.” Hayato asked.

“Eh? I live by myself. Grandpa Hokage comes by to give me the pension money at the start of each month.”

….

….

“You live by yourself?”

“Hmm.” He nodded as he continued eating. “I have an apartment in the village.”

“And you live by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Hmm, let’s see… for two years.”

“And where did you live before that?”

“In the orphanage.”

Did they just kick him out at the age of 6?

Those fuckers!

My outrage was matched by the other patrons of the Restaurant as well.

Especially the oldies.

Hayato-san was especially angry.

He got up and put a hand on the kid’s head. “Say kid… would you like to be my grandson?”

….

….

….

….

I was not the only one surprised by the words of the old man.

Everyone was the same.

Miu on the other hand looked positively enthralled.

“Really, can we adopt him?”

“Since he is not in an Orphanage and lives by himself without any guardian… I don’t see why not. But only if he agrees to this himself. A child should not be forced to live by themselves. Even if he does have a guardian… they failed their task here.”

The boy in question was looking at the old man with shocked eyes. “Wha….?”

“Would you like to join my family?” He asked as he offered his hand. “You can be my grandson and Miu’s little brother if you agree.”

“B-b-but why? People… they don’t like me. I am…”

“Then they are blind. I don’t care about what people do. I just wish to ask for your opinion. Normally, children can be adopted from the Orphanage but since you are not living in one, then I can directly bring you with me.”

“Yes yes. See, we even look similar. Blonde hair and blue eyes. We totally look like siblings.” Said Miu happily

The boy got tears in his eyes and tried to speak but his voice choked when he tried to speak any words.

I patted his head. “You can take your time. Getting a loving family is something….very few are blessed with. Hayato-san is a very great man. He will always take care of you.”

He looked at me and then back at Hayato-san and nodded.

“I… thank you. I would love to join your family, Jii-san.”

“Ahahahaha Silas-kun. I just got a grandson today. We are having a party.”

I smiled and gave them a 50% discount on everything.

The crowd welcomed the newest addition to our little group with great enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, the purple haired girl looked at everything in wonder.

I prepared her order first as she was also invited by the other patrons to join the party. She refused politely but kept looking at them in a daze.

She did ask about the Shinobi thing and found out about the powers of the Restaurant too.

“Is it real? Can people from other worlds really visit this place?”

“Yes. You might not realise it yet but you probably are from a different world from us as well. This shop is actually in a town bordering Kyoto.”

“Kyoto? That’s… quite far away.”

“Oh. Which place are you from?”

“I….I am from Fuyuki City.”

“Fuyuki City? I am sorry but I haven’t heard of such a place.” I replied.

“It’s near Kobe.”

“Oh. You can still get back home whenever you want to.”

I walked to the door and opened it, showing her a different scene. “This is my world. Similarly, when you open the door, you can get to your world.”

“That’s…”

“Amazing right? I know. We still have a hard time believing it.”

She nodded lightly.

“By the way, your order should be ready. Are you sure you don’t want to try something?”

She shook lightly as if suddenly awakened. “Umm thank you but I… am getting late.”

“Alright. Come back again, miss?”

“Sakura.” She answered.

“Miss Sakura. My name is Silas Evans. Please visit us again.”

She left the Restaurant but not before looking back at everyone once more.

– Satoru Gojo –

He watched the fight between Aoi and Yuji against the curse which had almost taken out Nanami and Nobara from a distance.

Both of them had lived thanks to him reaching there in time and using the reverse curse technique.

"Sensei, shouldn't we help them?" Nobara asked, looking worried.

He didn't answer and just looked in the direction. It took him only a fraction of a second to realise just how badly he would have fucked up if he didn't encounter the Restaurant and the guy Kamijo Touma inside when he had.

He took two weeks to verify that none of it was a trap from the one occupying Suguru's body.

The owner also made him cautious but when he did, he took the help of the so-called Esper and to his surprise, the boy was able to bypass his Limitless and touch him as well as dispell the Reversal Red Technique.

It was a scary technique and yet a boon at the same time.

One touch could exorcise the worst of the curses permanently.

Those bastards at the top would have done anything to get control of him or even try to make him into a cursed puppet to control his power if possible and in doing so, most likely causing the ruin of the entire Jujutsu world.

As strong as his power was, Satoru had observed that he couldn’t even cause ripples in the Restaurant or the owner.

Thinking about it, a smile came to his lips.

Other worlds.

‘Are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo? Or are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest?’

It seems we would know the answer.

The great food was just a cherry on the cake.

On observation of Kamijo Touma’s power, he found that any technique or supernatural event was simply erased when it came in contact with his right hand and that’s why he asked for a handshake from across the door, while in the Prison Realm. Sure enough, as soon as his hand came in contact with the Prison Realm, the entire thing crashed.

And thus, here he was… free.

The imposter had been able to flee in the time it took him to talk to Touma back in the Restaurant but all his lackeys were still out. He was able to arrive right on time and barely save the lives of both Nanami and Kugisaki.

And this time, Satoru decided to see things through.

Since there was such an interesting thing in front of him, he didn’t need any distractions.

The unregistered Special Grade Curses, those bastard higher ups, the imposter and Sukuna… all of them need to step aside.

He was pretty sure they would try to put the blame of the whole incident on him so… he would let them.

Since they think Satoru Gojo is sealed or possibly dead… let them.

And when they get out of their way, ready to dig their graves….

Maybe in doing so, both little Megumi and Yuji would progress further… just like now.

“After today, we are increasing the training of the team, especially yours. Megumi and Yuji will have to train on their own for a while.”

“What exactly are you planning to do now?” Nanami asked, suspiciously.

“To finish things.”

- Hiruzen Sarutobi -

“What do you mean you can’t find Naruto? He’s an eight year old. How could he hide from all of you?” He shouted as the Anbu in front of him kneeled.

“We don’t know, Sir. One moment he was in front of us and the next he was gone. No matter how much we tried to find him, there was no trace of him in the area.”

He narrowed his eyes at the statement.

Several options jumped through his mind at the same time.

Genjutsu.

Space Time Ninjutsu.

But who?

“Tell me everything about the incident.”

The Anbu explained and he was dumbstruck at the explanation.

The only explanation was that someone put them under a Genjutsu and disappeared with Naruto.

In recent years, the village hasn't been in the best state due to the events of the past few years.

The Third Shinobi war, the Nine Tails war, Orochimaru’s defection, the Uchiha situation and now this.

He had the Anbu sent to the T&I department to have him checked but he doubted there would be anything in him. These were the people he had personally selected.

Kakashi could have been used to keep an eye on Naruto but the village couldn’t afford such a talent guarding someone and not going out on missions.

Shisui was a good option but…

Itachi needed to be used to keep an eye on the Uchiha situation.

Jiraya was always out maintaining his spy network while the less said about Tsunade, the better.

He had thought that with Naruto going to the academy, the guard on him could be relaxed as he would be in the presence of the teachers of the academy for most of the day. There Iruka could probably get close to him, forming a bond between him and the village. But Iruka still hadn’t opened up to him.

And then… this happens suddenly.

Who could it be?

Other villages?

The Uchiha?

Or maybe… his old friend was up to his antics once more?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he sent out a summon for the Inuzuka and the Aburame Clans.

All his Anbu were already scouring the village for any signs of Naruto.

In a short while several members of the village were in his office.

Shibi Aburame and several of the Inuzuka Jonins were present. Kakashi, Itachi and Tsume as well as her daughter were out for missions so they couldn’t be here.

His two advisors and Danzo also came in just in time.

“Hiruzen, how can you be so careless?” Koharu commented but one look from him shut her up.

He was not in a mood to joke around at this time.

Naruto was a sensitive topic for him due to several reasons.

“What is the case, Hokage-sama?” Shibi asked.

He let out a sigh.

“This information needs to be kept under wraps so I put it under an A Ranked secret. If you do not wish to participate after hearing this, you can walk away.”

None of them did so he continued.

“As of eight hours ago, Naruto Uzumaki has gone missing.” He stated and sure enough there was a cacophony of noise but he stopped them with one signal.

“We can stay here all day arguing about things but that will come after we find him. Our first priority should be to find out where he is.”

They quieted down and he ordered.

“Shibi, you take your clan’s selected people and search the area of the forests around Konoha. The Inuzuka clan will search throughout the village for any clues. Inform me personally if you find anything.”

They bowed and left the room, leaving only him and his previous roommates behind.

“It must be those Uchiha. Hiruzen, your kindness has finally left them to show their true face. Do you think the village can resist another Nine Tails attack? Give me permission and I will…” Danzo began.

“You will do nothing.” He cut him off in the middle of the sentence, his voice firm.

“But Danzo has a point. Those damned Uchiha have truly crossed the line.” Koharu started speaking but was cut off by his raised hand.

“First of all, we don’t know if it was the Uchiha. Pushing them at such a point would cut off any chance of peace. Second, if they do have Naruto, it will be even more dangerous to proceed without caution. If the Nine Tails is released, there won’t be a fourth Hokage to stop him this time. You all… would just run aside and hide like the last time.”

“Hiruzen!”

“Am I wrong? Where were you when the village was attacked the last time? Trying to stop the Uchiha? You went behind everyone’s back, out of your authority to stop the clan. If the Uchiha had really been behind the Nine Tails attack, they wouldn’t have stopped so easily at your command. But they did. They even accepted moving to the outskirts of the village under surveillance for the sake of peace. This… no one can deny. On the other hand you, Danzo, have tried to assassinate me twice.” He replied, shutting him up suddenly.

“If we consider the crimes and who to punish, I should have executed you years ago.”

“Hiruzen, calm down.” Homura tried to mediate but he shut him up too.

“The Uchiha might be responsible for this. I am not denying it. But what matters the most is Naruto’s safety. I will not have your doubts endanger any of it. If the Uchiha are responsible for it, then they will be dealt with in the same manner as well.”

“You are letting your feelings for the Jinchuriki get in the way of your judgement.” Danzo bit back.

“All of you may leave. Oh and Danzo, the Root is not to move out of their base till this matter is taken care of.”

“Hiruzen, are you…”

“You haven’t left me much of an option. Do you think I have no idea about Shisui?”

He observed the expressions of his friend while his reaction would have been the textbook definition of innocent, he knew Danzo more than that. That expression was more than proof that Danzo was responsible for Shisui’s disappearance.

If so then with Shisui’s Mangekyou Sharingan, he would have more than enough of a tool to brainwash Naruto.

“You are also to remain in the Hokage guesthouse under the Anbu surveillance until Naruto is found. Everyone will be informed that you are under a temporary leave due to ill health.”

“Hiruzen, you are too much.”

“I'm Hokage.”

All of them left the room, leaving him alone in his thoughts.

He looked at his successor’s picture staring back at him and felt a pang in his heart.

They owed Naruto too much and it pained him greatly that he couldn’t give him a better life. He had only assured himself that it was for the best of the village and for his own protection but even he knew how hollow that reason sounded.

To be honest, he was tired and after Biwako’s death… he had lost some of his will too.

But whatever the reason may be, he will be damned if he let that become a reason for endangering the boy.

If that required the ‘God of Shinobi’ to come back, then so be it.

__________________________________x_____________________________________________________________________x___________________________________

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Author’s Note:

It’s back again as a full story this time.

There will be slight changes in the plot and I will try to expand the plot a bit more to properly focus on the interactions between the people more. In the meanwhile, we will also see how the changes affect the other worlds which were left aside in the Snippets.

I also want to focus more on Silas this time which was ignored a bit in the Snippets due to the fast pace.

The first chapter was used to bring in some of the basic characters to get a base.

We got a few new members compared to the Snippets and while not Zeref level shit, it still caused some chaos in other worlds.

I wish to continue this story for a long time and hope you all will enjoy the story.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.