Ramen (TLDP Chap 32)

Game

Thoughts

“Talking”

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Naruto sighed loudly, slumping in his bed as he stared at the ceiling.

“What’s wrong, Naruto-chan?” Yasaka asked, the naked woman sitting on the edge of his bed frowning as he didn’t spare her a glance.

“Yeah! You were like this last night too, Naru-chan!” Serafall pouted, the gorgeous Maou, notably also butt naked, sitting on the opposite side of Naruto’s bed and pouting at him.

“...Yes, I would also like to know what is wrong,” Grayfia said stiffly, the woman not being fully naked, but she might as well have been in her extremely skimpy maid outfit as she stood nearby, “If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know. I wasn’t able to be here two nights ago, so I’ve been waiting even longer than Serafall-sama and Yasaka-sama…”

Naruto didn’t answer, instead staring up at the ceiling blankly. For the last few days, he had been left feeling empty - and not because of anything related to physical or emotional connections, as he had an extreme amount of those.

No, it had to do with the very thing that he wanted most when he arrived in this world - ramen. Naruto had managed to find some pretty decent ramen shops throughout his time in this world, and he even had makeshift chefs in Raynare and Kalawarna who made what Naruto would consider a ‘pretty good’ bowl of ramen. But, compared to the ramen back in Kohona…

It’s not the same.

And so, Naruto had fallen into a deep depression - well, not that deep of a depression, but he was too sad to bring himself to have sex the last few days. As a result, his constantly horny harem viewed it as a deep, very deep, depression.

He had hoped the Seekvaira would be able to be able to get him some better ramen but instead had just found himself having more sex. He was in a situation that very few men in all of history had faced - he had access to too much sex.

Too many women, not enough ramen.

“Ramen,” Naruto spoke finally, still staring at the ceiling blankly, “I need… good ramen.”

“Oh! You wanna eat ramen, Naru-chan?” Serafall asked, shooting up from her seat on the bed, “Then let’s go get some! We can go to the mini-golfing place nearby after-”

“No,” Naruto shut her down bluntly, declining the usual ramen restaurant he went to with Serafall. Serafall blinked, looking at him confusedly.

“I don’t need just any ramen,” Naruto shook his head slowly, a deathly serious look on his face, “I need… good ramen! No! I need great ramen!” 

He shot from his lying position abruptly, a fire lit in his eyes, “I need the best ramen this world has to offer!”

They keep calling me a god, right?! Then a god should at least be able to get some tasty ramen!

“The ramen shop we go to isn’t good enough, Naru-chan?” Serafall pouted at him, but Naruto simply shook his head.

“It’s decent, Sera-chan, but…” Naruto raised his finger dramatically, “The only thing that can fix my sex drive is not decent ramen, Sera-chan! It’s the best ramen!”

As he finished his words, a thick tension filled the room. Yasaka, Serafall, and Grayfia all stared at him with wide eyes, varying thoughts running through their head. 

“I-I’m on it!” Yasaka shouted, quickly standing up and hurriedly pulling on her clothes, “I’ll get ramen from the best chefs all around the globe, Naruto-chan!”

She rushed out of the room, a determined look on her face. That night, thousands of Youkai in Kyoto would be summoned from their beds for an ‘emergency’ - being sent all around the globe in search of the most prestigious ramen-serving restaurants.

“I will try my best as well, Naruto-sama,” Grayfia nodded as well, a steely look on her serious face as she even used ‘sama,’ “If there is any devil chefs in the world who can cook ramen, they will make it today!”

She snapped her fingers and a magic circle appeared under her, whisking her away.

“Right! I’ll also help look, Naru-chan!” Serafall shouted dramatically, standing up and hurriedly running toward the door to the main room, still completely naked as she rushed through it.

“I need to use that, Op-chan!” Judging by the Maou’s next words and how loud they sounded, she didn’t go far.

Naruto forced himself out of the bed, following the woman through the door.

“...I am using it,” Ophis shot back, the petite woman sitting in front of the sole computer in the Kyoto temple-house hybrid. There was a video of kittens wrestling on the screen, as the all-powerful Dragon God, who was considered one of the strongest beings in the whole universe, had a strange hobby of watching cat videos on Deviltube.

“I need it!” Serafall huffed, squatting down and wrapping her arms around Ophis’s weight, giving Naruto an eyeful of her bubbly rear, then picking up the woman. She dragged Ophis out of the chair, uncaring of the power gap between them.

“Why are you not wearing clothes?” Ophis asked dryly as Serafall’s large breasts pressed into her, looking blankly at the woman as she took her spot in front of the computer. Then, she turned around, glancing over at the naked Naruto. Her eyes slowly panned down, settling on his bare crotch.

“I see,” Ophis nodded cutely, reaching down and starting to take off her gothic dress, “It is that time, so I will enjoy myself.”

“No, it’s not,” Naruto shut her down, stopping the shorter woman as he patted her head lightly, “What are you doing, Sera-chan?”

“Looking up how to cook ramen!” Serafall shouted, her cheeks puffed out as she was cutely determined, “I’ll make you the best ramen you’ve ever tasted, Naru-chan! I’ll show you I’m the best housewife!”

Naruto blinked in surprise at her answer.

This is actually kind of sweet.

“You're not actually my wife yet, and you don’t-” Naruto cut himself off, pausing.

Wait, Sera-chan is a super powerful devil, right? She can probably cook pretty good!

Naruto slowly raised his hand, placing it on Serafall’s bare shoulder. Serafall glanced over at him, their eyes locking.

“I’m counting on you, Sera-chan,” Naruto nodded dramatically, and Serafall gave a cute determined nod back.

“I won’t let you down, Naru-chan!”

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Two Hours Later

“We need to bet something on it!” Yasaka suggested.

“Bet? What would we bet?” Grayfia tilted her head confusedly.

“Naru-chan, of course!” Serafall grinned brightly, “Whoever wins gets Naru-chan all to themselves for the whole night!”

Naruto was sitting in the middle of the long kitchen table, watching the conversation blankly. In front of him were 10 pieces of paper, each of which had a number from one to ten written on it. On each of his sides sat cute and petite women, one of which was Ophis and the other Shirone.

“W-Wait! That’s not fair!” Kuroka whined, the catgirl having joined the group in the kitchen after helping Yasaka search for good ramen restaurants. She pointed at Yasaka, “If she wins, then I win too! We’ll share Naruto-chan!”

“I’ll agree to that,” Yasaka nodded, “You did help me, after all.”

“Oh! Oh! Then I win too!” Shirone cheered, “I helped too!”

“...I’m not sure that I would consider ‘watching us search while eating cookies’helping,” Yasaka replied dryly.

“You can be on my team, Op-chan!” Serafall said excitedly, “Since you let me use the computer!”

Ophis looked at her blandly, “...I will be there regardless of who wins.”

There was a slight edge in her tone that ensured that no one argued against her. 

“Let’s just start,” Grayfia said, taking a step forward and placing three bowls of ramen in front of Naruto, Shirone, and Ophis, “Please taste the ramen I have acquired first, Naruto-sama.”

Not what I expected, but I won’t complain.

Somehow, the situation had turned into a ramen-judging competition - with Naruto, Shirone, and Ophis as the judges.

“W-Wait! Don’t start without me!” Serafall whined, and a moment later there was a collection of nine ramen bowls sitting on the table. All of them were steaming, the smell of the noodles filling the air.

As Naruto reached for the first bowl, Serafall stepped up to the table, leaning forward to speak to him in a hushed voice.

“If you choose mine, Naru-chan, I’ll call Sona to join us for the private night,” Serafall smirked enticingly, standing on her tiptoes and jostling her breasts to make them jiggle lightly.

That’s a pretty good offer!

“T-That’s cheating!” Grayfia huffed, also stepping forward again as her supernatural hearing picked up on what Serafall said, “I-If you choose mine, Naruto-sama, I’ll call Sirzechs here right away to watch you blow my back out while you pound my big juicy as-”

“Ahem,” Yasaka intervened, literally shoving Grayfia to the side as she stepped forward, “If we’re going to play like this, then I’ll also-”

“I’m not taking bribes,” Naruto deadpanned, cutting off Yasaka before she could even make an offer.

Normally I would be willing to hear them out, but this about…

“Ramen is no joke,” Naruto said, his voice deathly serious. A thick tension filled the room as he glowed in a dangerous aura, shadows covering his eyes and causing all three women to take a step back nervously.

“Listen carefully,” Naruto continued, “Ramen is the food of the gods! It can’t be compared to something like women or sex! It’s a creation above all of us!”

He slammed his hand down on the table dramatically, causing all the ramen bowls to jostle lightly.

Persuasion Check

[Rolling…]

[God’s Luck] has added +20 to your roll!!

[Ladies Man] has added +5 to your roll!

25!

Check success!

“O-Of course, Naruto-sama! I shouldn’t have disrespected such a holy food!” Grayfia bowed lowly.

“Y-Yeah! Sorry, Naru-chan! Ramen-sama!” Serafall also bowed cutely.

“...I will be more careful with my suggestions in the future, Naruto-chan,” Yasaka looked less happy with the result, but also bowed slightly.

“Good, now that I’ve made that clear…” Naruto grinned, grabbing the first bowl of ramen, “Let’s dig in!”

First, Naruto tried the bowl Yasaka had brought. He raised it to his lips, slurping it down in one motion, then started chewing.

“I got this from a 5-star human restaurant, Naruto-chan,” Yasaka explained, a slightly smug look on her face, “They usually only serve things such as steak and caviar, but I forced them to make an exception! I think it will definitely be the best ramen you have ever tasted-”

“Five out of ten,” Naruto decided, slamming the empty bowl on the table as Yasaka facefaulted, “Compared to Ichiraku Ramen… It’s not good enough!”

“So… good…” To his side, Shirone had stars in her eyes, staring at her bowl in awe, “A ten! A ten!”

“Zero,” Ophis deadpanned to the other side, “Why is this human food so slimy? How am I supposed to eat it cleanly?”

“Then try mine, Naruto-sama,” Grayfia intervened, looking over at Yasaka with a slightly superior look in her eyes, “Humans chefs are clearly overrated. I scoured all of devil society and found a chef from a lowly extra branch. However, they are known for making the best food in the entire world, being able to make meals that can entice even dragons-”

“Eh, another five.” Naruto shrugged, slamming down the bowl again and causing Grayfia to facefault, “It was a little bit better, but it’s still not good enough…”

“Ten! A perfect ten!” Shirone cheered to his side, the girl having even more awed eyes as she stared at the bowl of ramen, “It’s soooooooooo good!”

“Negative one,” Ophis countered on his other side, “It is even more slimy. I do not like it.”

“Entice dragons? You need to entice a god here…” Yasaka teased, getting back at Grayfia for her earlier look.

“T-Then try mine, Naru-chan!” Serafall said, pushing her bowl towards Naruto, “It might not have been made by a bunch of fancy chefs, but I made it with love, Naru-chan! The power of love is way better than any fancy pants chefs-”

“Four,” Naruto deadpanned, and Serafall fell over on the ground, still naked, as a cloud of depression formed over her, “I don’t know if this can even be considered ramen, Sera-chan. I’m just giving you points for trying your best.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of…” Shirone closed her mouth, not having it in her to be mean to the magical girl, “...sorry, Sera-chan… I’m giving it a three.”

“Ten,” Naruto blinked as Ophis spoke, glancing over at the dragon girl. Ophis nodded approvingly at the bowl of ramen, “Hard. Crunchy. Full of sustenance. This is how food should be.”

‘Hard’ and ‘Crunchy’ are definitely ways to describe Sera-chan’s ramen.

Serafall blinked, shooting to her feet excitedly, “Yay! I won! I won!”

Naruto blinked, glancing over the bowls and doing the math.

She did win… how the hell did she win?!

More importantly…

There’s no truly good ramen in this world.

Naruto slumped back in his chair, a somber look covering his face again.

“I’m sorry, Naruto-chan,” Yasaka apologized, frowning as she didn’t know what to do anymore.

“Yes, I apologize for failing you, Naruto-sama,” Grayfia bowed, an equally disappointed look on her face.

“Well, you might not have found the best ramen, Naru-chan,” Serafall squeaked, “But, maybe the ramen was the friends we made along the way!”

Naruto blinked, his face lighting up slightly at her words. He glanced around, his eyes glancing from Serafall, to Yasaka, to Grayfia, to Kuroka, to Shirone, and finally to Ophis.

She’s… right.

He remembered why he loved ramen so much - it wasn’t because the dish itself was good. It was because the man behind the ramen stand, Teuchi, was one of the few people in his childhood who treated him kindly. He didn’t eat ramen because it was the food of the gods - he ate it because it made him feel accepted. It made him feel loved.

“You’re right, Sera-chan,” Naruto nodded slowly, “I don’t need good ramen, because I have-”

No, I fucking need some good ramen!

Naruto shot up in his chair, not even finishing his sentence as he walked towards the stove, “If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself!”

And so, the group of sexy, horny, and willing ladies were forced to watch as Naruto ignored them all night - instead focusing on channeling his inner Teuchi to create the best ramen this world had ever seen.

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Naruto Uzumaki:

[Youkai God]

Lvl: 705

STR: 920

DEX: 900

CON: 650

INT: 320

WIS: 900

CHA: 999

LUK: 0 [x[Anicent Youkai King’s 999 multiplier!] 

Skills: [Chess Mastery]

Perks: [Martial Arts], [You’re a Wizard, Naruto], [Ladies Man], [God’s Luck]

Debuffs: [Confusion], [Bad Timing]

Naruto Uzumaki is a Hero from another world, who has been reborn with the power of the Gamer system! 

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