Strictly speaking, this ramen was a large bowl of pork miso chashu ramen. Tonton and Naruto's relationship had always been bad precisely because Naruto always ate pork!
The tall man finished eating quietly, like a gourmet, then closed his eyes to savor the flavor carefully. "Truly delicious. The ingredients, the technique, and the heat control are all perfect. What is even more precious is that it carries strong emotions. Let me think... this kind of thing is truly too distant for us. This seems to be... the taste of home? Or love?"
After finishing the noodles, he stood up with a smile. "A rare delicacy indeed. I still want to wander around other places, so I won't disturb the three of you."
He took two steps out, then suddenly turned back as if making casual conversation. "Please make sure the North Kai wins the bet. This matter is extremely important to you."
Ino wanted to ask why the North Kai winning the bet would be important to her, but a long staff appeared in the tall man's hand. He took a step forward and vanished into thin air.
The next day.
Ino encountered the tall man again outside a shop.
"Didn't you leave?" She had spent the entire night thinking about the problem, worrying about gains and losses. She didn't even have much strength when clashing beams, and she couldn't even use her signature Dragon Fist. When she woke up this morning, she found she had dark circles under her eyes.
The result? She strolled around the Martial Arts Village and actually saw the tall man again.
This guy didn't play by the rules. If she had known he would come back today, she wouldn't have wasted so much mental energy blindly speculating last night.
When Ino saw the tall man, the other party was eating something that looked like a birthday cake.
He held a knife and fork, eating with great refinement. Seeing Ino appear, he smiled somewhat embarrassedly. "The food here is simply too delicious. I did indeed leave yesterday, but today... Hahahaha! I really couldn't resist!"
Glutton! Ino gave the other party an evaluation.
This person was no longer a matter of crushing Frieza with "one finger"; he belonged to the category of characters Frieza couldn't beat even if Frieza did push-ups.
Ino asked curiously, "For Your Excellency to appear before me again, there must be something, right?"
The tall man took another bite of the cream cake. "What 'Excellency'? I am just a servant. My name is Whis. Remember, just Whis. Not Lord Whis or Excellency Whis."
Ino: "..."
Quite a personality.
She asked again, "Then... Whis, is there something you need from me?"
Whis wiped his lips very gracefully and smiled. "Actually, your current situation is very dangerous. Have you realized it?"
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, everything around them began to reverse rapidly.
Customers who were preparing to eat returned to the shop entrance. Hot oil that had already been poured into the pan violated the laws of physics and flew back into the oil drum. Flames extinguished automatically. Ino even saw a shadow that looked seventy percent like herself walking backwards, returning to the accommodation area.
In a trance, Hinata was even speaking backwards: "...today uncomfortable bit a is stomach Himawari's Little..."
Whis's ability was limited to what was before his eyes. He snapped his fingers again, and the flow of time around them returned to normal.
"Look, actually, I also possess a little bit of Time Power. I can rewind time to three minutes ago. This isn't my limit, it's just that I... hmm, don't really want to use this ability."
Time Power? Is this thing dangerous?
Ino read a lot of information from his words. She wanted to ask for more details, but Whis just smiled and didn't pick up the topic at all.
Riddlers are the absolute worst!
Ino thought of her own Time Freeze and Time Loop abilities. Is this the Time Power he was talking about? Is using this ability dangerous? This was an ability awakened in her bloodline!
Whis seemed to know that riddlers were prone to getting beaten up, so he actively offered some information. "Using it occasionally probably won't attract the gaze of the Time Nest, but... traveling through time is a great taboo... By the way, do you know about the Tournament of Power?"
"I don't know, never heard of it." Ino shook her head. Even if she knew, she couldn't say she knew.
Whis wasn't surprised. "The original intention of the Tournament of Power was just to compete for some, hmm... food. Later, the scale became larger and larger. Now, the losers will lose everything. An existence far beyond the limits of your imagination will erase everything you cherish. This includes you, and it includes me."
Isn't it a bit too early to talk about this now? Ino thought for a long time but couldn't figure out what this had to do with her.
She couldn't even beat Frieza who had taken off his pants, and she was supposed to participate in the Tournament of Power? Don't be joking!
Whis's next sentence revealed the answer. "I think your singing is quite good... No, no, actually what I mean is that you have great organizational skills. If we can grasp the preparation of the Tournament of Power in our hands, it will undoubtedly give us an advantage in the future competition."
He lowered his voice. "If we can't beat them, I think we can also use food to conquer the other party? Oh my, this thing looks delicious."
As he spoke, he went off-topic. He picked up a pancake that looked like a crepe sold by an alien on the roadside, took a small bite, and looked intoxicated.
"The other party? Who are we fighting?" Ino waited for him to swallow the food before asking the core question.
Whis replied, "Want to know the answer? That requires you to strive for it yourself. As long as you obtain this opportunity to prepare the Tournament of Power, or even just partial rights to the preparation, I dare say there won't be many secrets left in the universe that can be kept from you."
Ino put half of her suspended heart back down. Organizing a martial arts tournament? This was indeed more suitable than having her go up and fight personally.
It wasn't that she couldn't fight. Counting from when she fought Sasuke in the Ninja Academy after crossing over, she was obviously more skilled at crushing weaklings. When facing enemies of the same level, she was a bit lacking.
"Then... how do I strive for it?" Ino smiled. "Is it also writing a proposal, writing a preparation plan?"
Whis looked at her. "That will be a relatively long test. Handle the competition before you well first."
Whis lowered his voice. "You must let your North Galaxy team win. This... let's tentatively consider it the first test?"
Ino's eyes rolled around twice. "You mean... the test is how to help our side cheat, how to make our side qualify? Is that what you mean?"
Whis ate his crepe as if he hadn't heard anything.
The other party vanished in the blink of an eye, just like yesterday.
Ino remained in place, contemplating the information contained in today's conversation. The Supreme Kai had also said before that she should run the First Other World Martial Arts Tournament well. She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but looking back now, there was obviously a hidden meaning in those words.
Fortunately, she hadn't agreed to the Supreme Kai's recruitment back then. If she had defected to him, wouldn't all the benefits have gone to the Supreme Kai?
Prepare the "First Other World Martial Arts Tournament" and then organize a "Tournament of Power." If she handled these two meetings well, she could pretty much retire!
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 10 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉