Ep 168: Burning Pot! Mix It, Stir It and Boil It!

Naruto and Choji plan to eat at Ichiraku but find it temporarily closed. Choji smells cHouking coming from the vent. They sneak a look from the roof. The ramen cook senses them and throws a rolling pin, knocking them into the shop. He serves the two his new ramen. Choji explains that to enjoy new ramen, they should first take a spoon of the soup, then dip some noodles into the soup to absorb the stock. They find the soup delicious but not the noodles. Choji explains the noodles are losing out to the soup. Naruto calls for Ayame to bring him some water but she’s nowhere to be found. Her father says with ramen like that he can’t get Ayame back from the ryou-nin. He then collapses.

Sakura gives the ramen cook some nutrient pills She notices his scalded arm. Choji explains ryou-nin is short for ryouri ninja, cHouking ninja, whose goal is to make good food for missions to raise the efficiency of a mission.

Teuchi, the ramen cook, wakes and explains that 2 weeks ago a man named Hakkuku who used to attend the same ramen school as he did, is now a ryoui ninja. He wants the legendary recipe, but Teuchi doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When Teuchi returned to the store that night, he found a picture of Ayame tied up, but did not report to the hokage because he was afraid of would happen to Ayame. If Teuchi can awe the judges with his ramen they will give up lHouking for the legendary recipe and return his daughter safely. The match is tomorrow. Naruto thinks about Ichiraku and Ayame and offers to help.

At night Naruto, Sakura and Choji learn how to make noodle. Teuchi thinks how it takes five years to become an expert noodle maker, but the team is determined.

The next day they meet Hakkaku for the challenge. More ryouri ninja appear. While Teuchi works on the soup, the team makes the noodles. Naruto fools around and makes a Kakashi doughboy then gets it knocked out of his hand by Sakura. They try again with the remaining ingredients. Naruto suggests making the noodles ninja style and uses kage bunshin and rasengan to mix the dough. Hakkaku notes that way the ingredients will mix evenly and speedily. Then Naruto shapes it into Jiraiya and shows it to Sakura. She starts to pound it angrily. Hakkashu observes that her strength will create strongly bonded noodles. Then Choji uses bubun baika no jutsu: partial multi-size technique on both arms to stretch the noodles. The noodles are now ready to be boiled and Hakkaku gets nervous. He stops and asks them who is going to be served first. Guests who arrive first must be served first but the 100 ryouri ninja all arrived at the same time.

No problem for Naruto who perfroms kage bunshin again. He boils the boodles and serves them all at the same time. Hakkaku admits that it’s the best ramen he’s ever had and that the ryouri ninja have no future left since the ninjas ate too much good food during missions and gained too much weight which interfered with missions. The only way to continue was to steal the legendary ramen recipe. The Akuma recipe (demon), Teuchi explains, is a Akunuki recipe to remove harsh or bitter taste from foods for soup.

Ayame appears, about 100 pounds heavier! She says that their cHouking was just so wonderful she continued to overeat. Her dad starts to cry.

Some time later Sakura, Choji and Naruto go to Ichiraku for their new menu, diet ramen, and find a very long line. Ayame is back to normal but her dad looks like a skeleton!

Review:
Stupid but the dough Kakashi and Jiraiya were funny and I like Ayame and her dad. (check out my ramen girl stories!)

Notes:
Are those fat Hidden Cloud ninjas?

Thoughts:
Five years to learn how to make noodles?