Ten jars were placed in front of Teuchi.
Takuya picked his chopsticks back up and continued eating the ramen Teuchi had made. It couldn't match the gourmet-level stuff from the system, but it was still delicious.
Teuchi watched him, and something in his heart was stirred.
"I never aimed to reach the peak of cuisine," Teuchi said, bending down and slowly opening a cabinet. "But I've always wanted every customer who comes to Ichiraku Ramen to leave satisfied."
A thick stack of bills landed in front of Takuya.
Five hundred thousand yen.
Enough for one full set of Level 1 jars—30,000 transaction points.
"Please."
Takuya reached out, and the money vanished instantly.
"I wanna open one!" Naruto said, already lunging forward.
Thud.
Tsunade smacked him right on the head.
"These jars are best opened by the person they're meant for," she said, remembering what Takuya told her.
The jars were tied to the fate of whoever opened them.
This was Teuchi's dream, after all.
Seriously—who would've thought dreams could be fulfilled in such a weird way?
Tsunade kept eating her ramen, and Teuchi…
Stared at the jars, swallowed hard, and slowly reached out.
Even Sasuke couldn't look away—everyone watched, breath held.
Takuya had hyped these jars up so much. Gourmet hunters, destiny, even Tsunade treating them seriously… it made the jars feel almost sacred.
Under all that pressure, Teuchi finally picked one up and opened it.
Inside… a jar of edamame?
He dumped the contents out. Yep. Just plain ol' edamame beans.
"What the heck? Just edamame?" Naruto looked super let down. "That's it for 50,000 yen?"
"This is it?" Sasuke frowned at Takuya, clearly disappointed.
So much talk, and the guy turns out to be a scammer?
"These aren't regular beans," Tsunade said, already familiar with how the jars worked.
"Correct." Takuya nodded with a smile. "It's true the value's not high—bad luck—but it's still rare. Teuchi-san, open one of the pods."
Everyone leaned in again, curiosity piqued.
Looked like normal edamame from the outside.
Teuchi didn't hesitate. He picked one up and opened the shell.
"Ahhh!" Sakura let out a startled squeak.
Because inside the pod… was a tiny eyeball.
No joke—white sclera, black pupil, perfectly round.
Even Naruto and Sasuke got the chills.
"This is a rare bean called the Eyestalk Edamame," Takuya explained cheerfully. "It looks creepy, sure, but the flavor is amazing. Paired with alcohol, it gives off a unique aroma. It's actually a delicacy for drinkers."
Yep, straight outta Toriko.
Takuya had stuffed a bunch of weird, magical ingredients into these jars.
"Drinking snack, huh?" Tsunade's eyes lit up. "You've got sake here, right? Gimme a bit, I wanna try."
Ichiraku did stock a little sake—plenty of ninja liked to drink, after all.
They poured her a cup, and Teuchi poured himself one too. He popped a creepy little bean into his mouth.
"This… this is…" Teuchi's eyes went wide. "What a flavor… It's still got the edamame taste, but it's like the sake wakes it up—hard to describe!"
"See?" Takuya shrugged.
"Teuchi-ossan, it's really that good?" Naruto looked conflicted.
"I'm never eating something like that!" Sakura practically shivered.
"If I could brew sake with this… no, if I could make ramen with that aroma…" Teuchi's eyes lit up with ambition.
Sasuke's eyes were glowing, too.
Could these jars really hold miraculous things? Could they actually make someone stronger?
Teuchi carefully stored the beans away.
Then opened the next jar.
Inside: a cooking experience orb, a box of sweet pickled ginger for refreshing the palate, a packet of flavor-enhancing spices, an aloe plant that healed external wounds…
All incredibly bizarre but extremely useful items.
And of course, the classic "here's a single thousand-yen bill" jar—the scam jar.
Until the second-to-last one.
Finally, something rare—a secret recipe (fragment).
"Takuya-san, why is this recipe only one-third complete?" Teuchi looked anxious, like he'd hit a cliffhanger in a good book. His soul itched with frustration.
"Tch, this trick again." Tsunade scowled. "I've opened 20 sets of medical jars and still haven't collected the full healing manual. And don't get me started on the duplicates."
Knowledge was only useful if it wasn't repeated. Duplicates were just trash.
"No helping it." Takuya raised his hands. "Level 1 jars can't afford to hold full recipes."
Of course not.
Fragmented content was the ultimate way to milk money. Why waste such a perfect system?
Teuchi already felt it—that itchy feeling of "just one more set…"
But for now, there was still one jar left.
He gently tucked the recipe away and opened the last one.
Inside was a small, bright red fruit.
"Oh, this one's rare." Takuya raised an eyebrow. "Teuchi, your luck isn't bad. That's a Vermillion Fruit. The taste is just okay, but it gives a slight boost to physical strength."
From some random cultivation world.
It could increase arm strength by about 10 kg—not bad at all.
"A strength boost?" Sasuke suddenly spoke up. "Isn't this the food jar series?"
Though Sasuke hadn't said much, he'd been listening carefully the whole time.
From Takuya and Tsunade's conversation, he'd figured it out.
These jars came in different series.
The one Teuchi bought was food-themed, so it had ingredients and recipes.
"A chef needs strength too," Takuya replied, turning to Sasuke. "Kneading dough takes serious muscle."
Sasuke tried to play it cool.
But his eyes had already betrayed him.
He was hooked.