The sun was finally gone from the sky, letting the village fight the darkness that fell with their own resources. Even so, Hiruzen Sarutobi could see the village he led became more bustling through the window of his office, evidence to his success of stabilizing it after his sensei's death.
Hiruzen spewed out a bitter but comforting smoke from his mouth, his work for today was done. The ANBU now worked splendidly, maybe even more so than when his sensei was still in office. The espionage tactics and the counter-espionage tactics plan he enacted also gave Konoha quite a good harvest regarding the other's village information. The only programme he felt lacking was regarding Konoha's Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki.
Hiruzen sighed, letting his frustration known by the air. Kushina Uzumaki was someone he couldn't control as he wished. Both due her special status as a Jinchuriki and relatives to the first Hokage's wife Mito Uzumaki. When he heard from the grapevine that she was getting closer and closer to one ninja from Konoha that he paid special attention to, he thought that things would turn for the better.
His subtle nudge towards Minato worked wonders to reign in the Jinchuriki. Even though she was still as hot-blooded as her first day in the Ninja Academy, she started to inherit Minato's love for the village. A really good asset to have, even so in this kind of time.
But as if the world deemed the brewing tension across the Shinobi World was not enough pressure to Hiruzen's reign, it dropped another bomb on his head. He still remembered Minato visiting his home late at night and brought him news that made him question his knowledge about jutsus. A restaurant connected to many different worlds had opened its door to Konoha.
At first, Hiruzen thought Minato was attacked by some sort of Illusion Jutsu. But even after calling the Interrogation Division and diving into Minato's mind, they couldn't feel the trace of Illusion jutsu. In other words, what Minato told him was the truth.
From what Minato told him, the owner of the restaurant was someone who had a good grasp of spatial chakra, even better than Minato. Minato was strong, he dared to say himself. So for someone stronger than him inside Konoha? Such a powerful person without ties to the village couldn't be allowed to be in close proximity to Konoha's most strategic assets.
First, he dispatched a few of his most trusted ANBU to the restaurant. Not to investigate but to observe. Then, he used the rising tension on the border of Fire Nation to send Minato away from Konoha, minimizing his interaction with the weird restaurant. And when it came to Kushina, he thought long before coming to a conclusion. Using the pretense of teaching her advanced jutsus, he made Kushina busy.
Just when he thought his plan was working well, an accident struck. Kushina blew up after learning jutsus from him for one week straight. She went to the restaurant that night, attacking every ANBU that tried to stop her. But that was just the start, ever since that night, Kushina always went there without fail everyday.
When Hiruzen tried to dissuade her from going there anymore, she refused to listen, telling him that the food there was so good she couldn't eat anything in Konoha anymore. No matter how speechless he was after hearing his reasoning, alarm still set off in his mind. In a sense, it could be said that Kushina was brainwashed by the restaurant.
In an attempt to gather ideas on how to stop her, she told his friends his problem. Little did he know, it only made his life as a Hokage harder. Hiruzen sighed as he felt three familiar chakras walking towards his office.
"Hiruzen!" His bandaged friend banged the door open and shouted, disregarding his position as a Hokage. "Are you going to keep letting the Jinchuriki do whatever she wants?!"
Hiruzen could feel his head throbbed as he saw his two other friends walking behind Danzo. It seemed like they were here to support Danzo rather than him. "Danzo, you know well I can't do anything forceful against her. That's not how our village operates."
Danzo scoffed, he then hit his cane hard to the ground. "You have become soft, Hiruzen. She's not just a ninja of Konoha, she's our ultimate weapon. It's only natural for us to control her! If you can't restrict her, say the words and I'll let my Root do it."
Hiruzen scoffed in his head, he knew where this conversation was going. He knew his friends so well that even without him saying it, he knew what kind of goal he had in his mind. But no, he couldn't let his friend have a hand in matters regarding Kushina. His method was too cruel. Whether he succeeds or not, it would affect Konoha badly. But at the very least, he could throw him a bone to keep his hand busy from reaching her. If he succeeds, Konoha would benefit massively. And if he failed, well, of course he would take the fall.
"You absolutely can't touch Kushina, Danzo." Hiruzen's face became stern as he said so. "I'll solve Kushina's problem myself."
"You…" Danzo growled.
"I'm the Hokage, Danzo." Hiruzen's voice became sharp.
In response, Danzo roared, "You'll regret this, Hiruzen!" Then, he stormed out of the office.
After the door was slammed shut, silence once again found the Hokage office. However, unlike the light atmosphere from before, a heavy pressure that was palpable for anyone in the office made its presence known.
"Hiruzen, are you sure about letting Danzo take care of that weird restaurant?" A purple-haired woman with wrinkled skin opened her mouth not long after Danzo left the office.
Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe and let the smoke out first before answering. "Danzo will not move recklessly. He knew what we knew about the restaurant. Even though he's hot-headed, he's not a fool. He will only move after he's sure he could take them on."
"What if he felt that the restaurant was too strong for him and moved towards Kushina again?" This time, his other friend, an old man, opened his mouth.
"Then, I'll send him to the frontline to keep him busy." Hiruzen answered firmly.
The two council members looked at each other and nodded. Then, the man opened his mouth again. "What should we do to Kushina now?"
Hiruzen looked from the shining Konoha in the window to his friends. "We will observe her like always. If Danzo fails, I'll personally step in."
Just like that, the conversation in the Hokage office died down.
* * *
A round mixture of beef and fat was waiting on top of the metal tray. He took six of them in a single motion. The skillet heated until faint wisps of smoke curled upward. He dropped the mound of beef onto the metal; it hit with a muted slap. In one motion, he brought down the spatula, flattening the round meat against the hot surface. The hiss sharpened, edges crisping as the beef spread into a thin disk.
He let the crust build as his nose focused on the aroma. When the smell of roasted meat finally filled the kitchen, he flipped it after a quick scrape. A slice of cheese followed immediately, draped over the top, softening at the edges as it melted into the meat.
Beside the skillet, buns toasted face down in butter, their surface turning golden. He stacked the patty onto the bottom half, added a swipe of sauce, a few onions, then pressed the top bun into place.
Once the burger was assembled, he moved it towards three plates before bringing it out of the kitchen to the large table for twelve.
"Three burgers, please enjoy." Ludwig smiled before returning back to his post—behind the bar.
"You are really busy today." A soft sound crossed the separator and arrived in his ears.
Moving his gaze, he saw Claire smirking, hands playing on the glass of whiskey. "Thanks to Rimuru." His eyes looked at the table of twelve which was full of people.
Claire chuckled, her eyes shrinking into a crescent. "I think I'll do what he does in the near future. Your good food will surely make a meeting more enjoyable."
Ludwig received Claire's teasing or sincere thoughts with a chuckle. The restaurant was bustling today. No, not just because Rimuru wreaked havoc with his mouth around the restaurant but because it had more customers than usual even with the absence of some regulars.
The reason many more customers entered the restaurant today was simple: Rimuru decided to hold a meeting here after Ludwig made a slip of tongue about today's special menu yesterday.
Rimuru tried to force Ludwig to push the special menu to tomorrow, but Ludwig held firm. Not because of stubbornness but because he wanted Rimuru to be frustrated. But oh boy… It turned out it was a wrong move. After being frustrated, he declared to Shuna and Benimaru that the 'Tempest Monthly Meeting' would be held in the restaurant.
Ludwig was quite happy to see his restaurant bustling with people, however, with so many people coming in and only him serving them, he became busy. He couldn't imagine just how more busy he would be if all the regulars of the restaurant came in while the meeting was in place. So, he had decided he would look for a waitress. One or two should be enough for now.
Ludwig looked at Claire at that moment. "I'm surprised you are just sitting here instead of crashing the meeting."
Claire just chuckled at his question, "Well, I will be lying if I say I don't have the thought of doing that. But you know, Rimuru needs to keep an appearance as a leader. Moreover, I can hear the meeting just fine from here. I'll tease him about some stupid plan he wants to enact later."
Ludwig laughed. After all, he knew what stupid plan Claire was talking about. However, even though it was stupid, Ludwig could feel the caring nature of Rimuru from that plan. At that moment, Ludwig's mind buzzed, and from the opened door, a familiar face with red hair walked in.
But before he could greet the customer, Claire greeted her first. "Kushina!"
Kushina looked towards Claire and smiled. As he walked towards Claire, his eyes wandered towards the crowded table in the middle of the dining area. Once she sat on the chair, "Wow, I don't think Rimuru can look that serious in his slime form."
"I heard that!" Rimuru shouted, making Claire and Ludwig laugh. Talk about keeping appereance…
Once they finished laughing, Kushina gave Ludwig his order. But before she finished, "Kushina, you should stop eating the ramen for once. Try today's special menu, it's good." Claire interjected.
"Eh…" Kushina protested, but her eyes moved towards the menu. "It's just a sandwich, isn't it?"
"Even though it's just like a sandwich, it's completely different. You should try new food from time to time, you know?" Claire said, trying to make Kushina order it.
"Fine…" Kushina finally relented after Claire's many persuasion. "Give me today's special then, Ludwig."
"Coming right up." Ludwig said so before disappearing into the kitchen. Only returning to the two girls once he had Kushina's order in hand.
After serving it, he quickly walked away from the two girls and opened his book. Well, rather than walking away, it was running away. After all, the two girls were talking about Minato and Kushina's love life. One thing he learned in this life was to never involve himself in girl's talk about their men. It was even more dangerous than fighting against the Demon Lord.
And as Ludwig consumed more and more of the book's subject, it was already time to close the restaurant. Another day well spent.