The Spice of Life

A Naruto/ Food Wars Xover

By JayLito

Premise: Totsuki Academy is said to produce the best chefs in Japan. A young girl with the fabled God's Tongue world is flipped upside down when she meets a certain blonde. Read as Naruto, said to be the next Asura, takes the cooking world by storm.

(Naruto x Erina) (Souma x Megumi)

Author's notes: Author's notes are troublesome. Enjoy the story.

Co-Author: Dragonkyubii. Check his stories out.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto/ Shokugeki no Soma.

CHAPTER 1

Tokyo, Japan

"Naruto, Souma.. finish cleaning up I need to head out and pick up some food for tomorrow," said a man with long, maroon colored hair swept back, save for a single group of bangs that hung over his face reaching his chin.

His body, well toned for someone his age, showed he exercised regularly. He looked at his two sons and smiled at them, watching them try to get one over the other with a gross dish before leaving to go run his errand.

A boy with red untamed hair and gold eyes looked over at his twin brother, his younger brother had bright blond hair with red streaks that outshone the sun and bright gold eyes like his mother had, they were only a minute apart with Souma being born first. Most people didn't believe they were twins since they had different hair colors.

"Come on Naruto let's see who can make the grossest squid," said Souma while looking at his younger brother with an evil smirk making Naruto laugh and accepting his brother's challenge.

He grabbed Naruto's hand, along with the dirty plates they had just used and took him to the kitchen. He gently set the plates down in the sink and told Naruto to follow him.

They walked over to the fridge and Souma opened it, taking out a container full of squid tentacles. He smirked evilly as he grabbed some peanut butter and grape jam and spread it on the tentacle.

Naruto was watching in amusement as his brother did this; It had become a common occurrence since they were both three years old when they both first held a cooking knife and fell in love with cooking.

The redhead finished up the last piece and stuck one out to Naruto with an evil grin and a megawatt smile on his face.

"Here try this!" he said excitedly, setting the peanut butter and jelly tentacle in front of Naruto. The jelly slowly fell down onto the plate, making Naruto shiver in disgust.

Naruto hesitantly opened his mouth up as Souma forced the tentacle inside, almost causing the young blonde to digest faster than intended and choke on the food.

Naruto took in the taste and realized how bad it was. He felt as if he was being groped by large tentacles; it was horrible. The worst thing yet.

Souma noticed Naruto's distaste of the food and laughed, "It's gross right, oh man this is one the worst things I've made so far! I think I've got you beat with this one!" Souma said with happiness in his voice.

Naruto fumed, not enjoying being outdone and went over to the shelf where Souma had gotten the peanut butter from.

He looked at the variety of sauces, condiments, and more and chose what looked like chocolate syrup and grabbed whipped cream from the fridge.

Souma watched as Naruto drizzled the chocolate syrup onto the squid and sprayed some whipped cream on it.

He watched his younger brother grab some chopsticks, bringing the plate over to Souma. He took one tentacle and brought it up to Souma's mouth, forcing the food in, the same manner his brother did just before.

Souma's eyes widened as he tasted how horrible the squid was. His taste buds felt violated; he felt as if he was being groped by the large squid with slimy, syrup tentacles.

He tried to break free from the disgusting taste, but it was useless. "The flavor of the tentacles took a turn in the wrong direction. It tastes so bad I feel like my whole body is being groped!" Souma thought to himself in despair.

He ran over to the sink and tried to get the taste out of his mouth. It was at this moment that Joichiro, their father, arrived and asked what happened.

Naruto and Souma told him the full story, and he laughed, high-fiving his young blonde son for his resourcefulness and competitiveness.

"He reminds me of his mother…" thought Joichiro with a reminiscent smile, ruffling an excited Naruto and a pouting Souma's hair.

It was on this day that both Naruto and Souma became more than brothers.

They became rivals.

Time skip: 10 years later

Three plates of fried rice were on the counter as a girl who looked no older than fifteen years old tried a bite of all three.

"This one." She said pointing at the one on the right making everyone shout that the owner had one again.

"It's decided the old man won the cooking match again!" A customer shouted as they cheered. Yes, this was a common occurrence in the diner called Yukihira's Diner, the father and son trio would always hold a cooking contest between each other to see who would win. So far, the twin sons have never beaten their father.

"Hm, it seems it's our loss today." A boy with red hair and a scar on his right eyebrow said while pouting. He looked over at his brother and saw him running his chin trying to figure out what he wronged or what he could add to make it taste better.

"It seems the two of you still need practice Souma, Naruto," Joichiro said with a serious face before smirking like an idiot. "Doesn't this make your 500th loss already?" He asked while laughing.

"We've only lost 489 times' old man so don't get too cocky!" They both shouted in annoyance while their eyebrows twitched, making the regulars laugh at the father-son trio.

"The food is so delicious! Especially the old man's and Souma's." A girl with blonde hair said while smiling not noticing the annoyance in Naruto's eyes but hiding it before anyone could see it.

"To think we can eat this in the neighborhood whenever we want we're so lucky!" The girls yelled out in happiness.

"Yukihira-Kun's was also delicious if all the fried rice I've ever eaten it was one of the best." Mayumi Kurase said with a smile on her face hoping to make Souma somewhat more cheerful.

"Thank you. Would you like to try the new dish I made this morning?" Souma asked making Naruto smirk knowing how disgusting it would be, grilled squid's tentacles with peanut butter. He hid his smirk knowing she was an innocent girl and didn't know what he had planned for her.

"Is it ok? I-I want to try it." Kurase said with a gentle smile on her face.

"Grilled squid's tentacles dress on peanut butter," Souma said with a smirk on his face, he had just made this dish this morning and it was disgusting, it was easily one of the top ten most disgusting things his family had tried.

"Oh, crap this time's dish looks even more disgusting." Were the thoughts of Souma and Naruto's friends, they were truly worried about her

"Now it's done, it's so bad it'll make you laugh." Souma chuckled while standing over the poor girl she looked terrified and before she could respond Souma shoved the tentacle in her mouth.

An image of her appeared with the tentacles wrapping around her body, making her feel violated. "The squid's tentacles flavor matured hastily, it was so terrible it felt as my whole body was being groped…" she thought to herself.

A few hours passed by since the cooking competition between the three, Naruto was clearing the table not hearing his father talk to him. Joichiro looked at his youngest and knew something was off. He tried being close to him like he and Souma were but knew that Naruto was closer to his mother.

"Maybe if I added some red pepper flakes, along with some soy spice so it gave it that burnt taste it would've been better." Naruto mentally thought while thinking about today's cook-off. He wanted to surpass both his Old Man and his brother. He wanted everyone to know that he was an amazing cook of his own.

He gently held a necklace with what looked to be two golden jewels. They matched his hair perfectly making him smile; It had been his mother's, and she passed it down to him. She told him that as long as he had it she would always be with him.

"I'm sorry to trouble you when you're in the middle of business, but may I come in?" A lady asked who was wearing what looked to be like a business suit and a skirt, she had three men with her who were all wearing business suits and glasses making the father and son trio raise an eyebrow.

"What would like to order? Today we would recommend you the splendid Alfonsino dish." Naruto said with a bored face while his brother looked confusingly at the lady.

"I'm sorry, but you see I came to explain to you once again what the plan I talked to you about the other day," She said while holding up a pamphlet with what looked like a hotel or something on it. "We want to build an urban apartment with a garden residence as a concept."

"Ah… you're one of those land sharks and you want us out of here, right? Go back we don't want to shut down this shop at all, now how about you leave all leave." Naruto said with a bored tone making the land sharks look at him pissed.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard there's a lot of stores have trouble even when buying the daily stocks." She said while looking up at Naruto with a knowing smirk on her face since she and her people made that possible.

"That doesn't happen here. At Yukihira we take responsibility to offer what the clients want." Naruto responded while grabbing the dirty plates, as she walked up to him and placed her hand on his chest, making him raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"My that's splendid! You're the model of the service sector! Then what if you couldn't give the client the dish they want how would you take responsibility?" She asked while leaning in closer to him their faces inches apart. She had a smug smirk on her face.

"If that ever happens, we'll mainly close the shop and go out of business or whatever," Naruto said while burning the lady's business card on the shichirin grill with a smirk on his face.

"Hmm, a man who doesn't go back on his word, if only you were older." She smirked before leaving the diner.

The next day Souma and Naruto were walking home and talking about what to make for breakfast tomorrow, that's when Souma's phone rang after answering it and putting it on the speaker for both of them to hear.

"Souma, Naruto, I went out for some errands I had to run so I closed the shop. I'll come back tomorrow, so you don't have to open up the front, but I have a question for the both of you." Joichiro said making their sons listen.

"Hmm, what is it?" They both asked trying to figure out what their father meant.

"What do you both plan to do after you finish middle school?" Joichiro asked his son's.

"That's obvious we will practice cooking at the shop and take it over once you get too old," Naruto responded bluntly making Souma laugh.

"I see," Joichiro said before hanging up.

"Wonder what he meant by that, because I do not know if you ask me… So!" exclaimed Naruto, drawing out the word putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Should we have a cooking contest once we get home?" he asked Souma while they walked home.

"Best meat dish wins?" Souma asked while smiling, they had just gone shopping earlier and they both bought ingredients for breakfast.

"That's per-" Naruto didn't get to finish as they both saw the mess on the floor, the meats were all destroyed, someone had stepped and poured salt on the meats.

"GO CHECK THE FRONT NOW!" Naruto shouted as Souma nodded and ran to the front of the store only to see the shop sign covered in what looked like to be painted, a glob if it fell on the floor pissing Souma off.

"My my the scenery looked so much better than yesterday, is it because someone covered that sign? Ah, somehow I feel like enjoying some meat at the moment. The marbled steaks I always eat in Roppongi are always the best. I love how the meat's juices always overflow in my mouth. Where's that cute brother of yours I want you both to make me a juicy meat dish?" She said with a confident smirk on her face while her men smirked.

"So these are the assholes who had the balls to break into our shop and destroy not only our ingredients but our shop!" Naruto growled out while glaring at the four people in the shop. All three of the bodyguards tensed and the woman found herself weak in the knees.

"Fine, we'll make you a meat dish, one that will make you and your sorry asses shut up for once," Naruto said with a sadistic smirk causing them to become fearful for what he would do. The air suddenly felt a lot thicker. Souma was shocked for once, he felt a little scared by seeing his brother act so serious like this. He felt as if he was watching his father work. Never once in his life had he seen his brother act this way.

An hour passed by and Naruto presented his dish to the land sharks and the smell assaulted their noses, Souma had made them a fake pork roast with thick bacon slices and mashed potatoes and mushrooms high in fiber to help produce more fats so they could absorb the bacon's juices.

"Th-this ste-steak it smells so delicious, the smell of garlic and thyme it's so delicious," She gently touched the steak with her fork and watched as it cut through with the weight of the fork alone. "It's so tender it broke apart just from the weight of the fork itself. This should be impossible how, how did he make something so tender?" The sauce he used the was from the same pan that Souma used for the bacon, Naruto had added red wine, butter and some rosemary to help enhance the sauce's flavor.

"Take a bite, and after you do, you will apologize for disrespecting this diner!" Naruto said with a sadistic smirk on his face scaring them all of this pressure was so intense that it felt like they were in the presence of a demon. The way his eyes were glowing made him look more menacing, she knew she messed up for destroying their meats and ruining their sign.

She slowly brought the steak to her mouth and ate it, the umami exploded in her mouth as the steak slid down her throat like it was water. An image of her clothes flying off and being surrounded by angels came to mind as she ate the steak in front of her.

"This steak it's drinkable, that shouldn't be possible, the flavors the spices this puts everything I've ever eaten to shame." She thought to herself.

"Now what do you have to say for yourself?" Naruto asked while he looked at her.

"I-I'm so-sorry." She said weakly, before falling into an unconscious from the delicious steak.

The Next Morning

"Naruto, Souma I'm going to be closing the shop for two or three years, I'll have to apologize to our regulars," Joichiro said while looking at his son's cleaning the sign that looked like it was covered in white paint. An amused smile came on his face as he saw his son's freak out and demand an apology first before he apologized to the regulars, he had a surprise for them and he wanted to spread their wings.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE CLOSING THE SHOP FOR TWO OR THREE YEARS!" Naruto and Souma both shouted in annoyance, how the hell could their father do this to them the shop meant so much to them and he was going to close it.

"I just told you both, an old pal asked me to work with him, I'll be bothering for a while so I won't come back or have time to open the shop. I'll be leaving as soon as I pack my things, I'll send you both living expenses every once in a while." Joichiro said while looking at both of his annoyed son's.

"We said wait goddammit!" Souma and Naruto both yelled out while glaring at their father, they were still trying to figure out what he was going on about. One day they were all cooking dinner and the next they're being told he's going to close shop, they wanted answers and they wanted them now.

"It's time to part you two. Go measure your abilities." Joichiro said with a smirk while looking at his twin sons, this school was going to challenge them and push them past their barriers.

"Show everyone what you're made of, don't let anyone bring you down and If you boys can't survive in this school then saying you'll surpass me is a big joke. It's time for you guys to go measure your abilities."

Kitchen - Location: Unknown

"Terrible. It was a horrible fettuccine, it was as if while walking on the quiet country 50,000 swimming crabs crossed by, that kind of flavor was Terrible." A girl with honey brown hair and violet eyes said while glaring at a couple of different chefs.

"You should all quit being chefs if this is how you make your dishes, they were terrible each and every one of them." She finished while glaring at the remaking chefs making them flinch in fear.

"Do I have any other appointments today?" She asked a girl with short pink hair that reached her chin, she looked through the clipboard and noticed she didn't have any appointments until tomorrow.

"No Erina-sama your schedule is free for the rest of the day."

Totsuki Culinary Academy Grounds

Naruto and Souma made their trek towards their new school, the Totsuki Culinary Academy. As they walked, they were both thinking about what their father had told them earlier: "If you boys can't survive in that school then saying you'll surpass me is a big joke. It's time for you guys to go measure your abilities."

Souma sighed. "I wonder why dad thinks some dumb cooking school will help us," he said, imagining some old frail man giving cooking lessons with a wooden spoon.

Naruto snickered. "Actually, I've heard that the school we're going to is prestigious. I might be wrong though," said Naruto as they continued the trek towards the place they would spend the next couple of years of their young lives at. As he imagined an old lady telling them, they would bake chocolate chip cookies.

"You're thinking about chocolate chip cookies now aren't you," Souma asked with a sweat drop while looking at his brother before putting a squid tentacle in his mouth before offering his brother one who did the same.

"I am, I have a sweet tooth and besides you know you love my desserts it's one thing I'm better at than you," Naruto said while sticking his tongue out at him. They both walked into a building they assumed was the administrative building, after a few minutes of talking they found that they were at the building meant for janitors and the actual school was three kilometers away.

While they were walking Naruto pulled out his phone and called their father so they could ask what the hell was going on after seeing a few people begging to lift their children's expulsion and offering millions of Ryō's making them look confused.

"Huh, didn't I tell you two? That's one of Japan's best cooking schools." They could hear the voice of Joichiro through the phone as Naruto put it on the speaker for him and Souma to hear, both brothers looked shocked as their father continued.

"It's a superior elite school where less than 10% of the students graduate. Well, do your best Naruto, Souma." Joichiro said while his sons looked on, shocked while listening to their father talk. They could both hear someone talking in the background and it confused them both.

"Eh? What I can't hear you. It's noisy there. Where are you now, old man?" Souma asked while Naruto turned the volume up on his phone hoping they could hear their father better.

"New York City. At Manhattans Royal Hotel's VIP only reception hall. I'm cooking there now." Joichiro replied while they heard him tell some guy not to yell or his blood pressure would go up. They waited as they heard more talking and yelling trying to figure out what was going on.

"At first I worked in India, Italy, and Spain. I came to the U.S. yesterday. I'll be cooking in a city on the east coast for a while."

"... W-we can't follow up with the conversation." Souma and Naruto both said in a confused manner.

"Well, I just followed my old connections, Souma, Naruto. If you can't survive in that school, saying you'll surpass me is a big joke…!" Joichiro said with a smirk on his face although not being able to see the determination on both of his son's faces he knew it was there. Knowing they'd never back down from a challenge.

"WE'LL SHOW YOU!" they both shouted in unison with a fire burning in their eyes.

"All right, then... I'll teach you both a secret that will help you improve your cooking-… they hung up on me." Joichiro said out loud to no one specifically.

"Listen Souma and Naruto the secret to becoming a good chef is meeting a woman who will make you want to give all the food you make to her." Joichiro thought to himself before visualizing his wife with Souma and Naruto smiling as they made her breakfast on her birthday before she passed away a few months later.

"I feel incredibly out of place here!" Were the moral thoughts of both Souma and Naruto as they walked around the school waiting for the entrance exam to begin. At the moment's heat, Souma kicked a bench not realizing a boy was sitting on it.

"Ah, sorry for kicking the bench I didn't see you sitting there," Souma said with an apologetic look on his face while Naruto chuckled and shook his head.

"Don't worry, are you both taking the exams? I'm Nikaido Yoshiaki, my family owns a French restaurant." He said while offering a seat to the duo.

"What a coincidence our family also owns a restaurant," Naruto said while he and Souma sat down making the guy chuckle.

"Fufu, it might be no coincidence. The man over there is the heir to a restaurant that's expanding throughout the country. That one over there is from Oodon'ya, which sells fresh fish in all the Kanto regions…. Most people here are from families well known in the cooking industry. So what kind of shop does your family own?" Nikaidou asked while sipping his tea.

"Ah, it's called Yukihira," Souma replied while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yukihira? A traditional Japanese restaurant?" He asked while looking at the redhead and the blonde in confusion.

"Ah it's nothing that big, it's just a special- of- the day shop in the downtown," Souma replied before the boy kicked them both off the bench.

"You vulgar plebeians. DON'T YOU DARE SIT NEXT TO ME!" the boy yelled while the surrounding people laughed and mocking the brothers.

"Did you hear?"

"It seems two punks from a cheap restaurant are trying to get admitted!"

"Humph, you must joke!"

"Listen carefully!"

"This academy is a holy garden where only the elites of the elite of the food business may learn. That's what this place is. The Totsuki Culinary Academy, a vulgar plebeian like the both of you will most likely get dropped out after they've reviewed your document-eh!" Nikaidou never got to finish as Naruto lifted him up off the ground by his shirt.

"You haven't even eaten at Yukihira's once! So don't go on deciding our value like that, you're probably the type who would run away from a good challenge!" Naruto yelled while the boy's butlers looked at them in shock.

Souma started sweating from nervousness, "W-we really… came to an amazing place. 'If you can't survive in that school saying that you'll surpass me is a big joke' Damn it like I'll drop out. I have to get the examiner to accept me!" Souma thought to himself with vigor.

Naruto seeing his brother's nervousness just put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be fine, Souma," he said as they walked to the main venue where their admission test would be held.

They kept on walking not realizing what they were getting themselves into. This day would mark the beginning of a long journey that would change their lives forever. Not that they knew that though...

It was a quiet night and Naruto was sitting on the roof of the diner with two cups of tea and two cookies that looked like it was designed to be a rabbit and a picture of a blonde woman with gold eyes. Most people if they saw this would judge him and ask why the cookies looked like a rabbit, they were his mother's favorite animals and she'd always make them for the family and she taught him how to make them. No matter how hard he tried to remake them they didn't taste the same, it was like an ingredient was missing.

"So the idiot lady had guts to tell us to shut down all because they want to build some fancy apartment." Naruto said with a chuckle as he drank his tea and gently bit his cookie. He looked at her picture and smiled warmly, he missed his mother so much he was closer to her than he was with his father and when she passed away he took it the hardest. To him it felt like a part of him had died that day, he'd never hear her voice again and never watch as she made them cookies while they drank tea and talked about their day.

"I miss you so much Kaa-chan." Naruto whispered as he gently held her necklace in his hand, it was the last thing she gave him before she passed away. He promised her that he would always wear it no matter what, it was a reminder that she was always watching over him making sure he was safe.

Flashback

"Kaa-chan! Look, look!" A 5 year old Naruto shouted while showing her a necklace he made for her. It was on black sting and had two small noodles hanging down, like her necklace had.

"Oh my Naru-chan that's beautiful necklace, are you trying to be like mommy and have the same necklace like me?" She giggled while Naruto nodded his head with a giant smile on his face as she tickled him making him laugh. "Hmm how about I make you a trade my little Naru-chan, I'll give you my boring necklace and I'll take your beautiful one?" She offered as Naruto shook his head immediately, she couldn't help but giggle at her son's reaction. She knew how much he loved her necklace and would often let him wear it, he watched as she unhooked her necklace and placed it around his neck and felt her lips on his forehead.

"Promise me that you'll always wear this Naru-chan, this necklace has a special power wanna know what this special power is?" She asked teasing her son knowing he really wanted to know. "The special power is no matter what happens this necklace will always keep you safe from harm, it will always let me watch over you no matter how far apart we are." She said with a smile on her face as she watched him hold the gold jewel gently in his hands like it was fragile.

"Wow Kaa-chan, does that make you a superhero who kicks bad guy butt?" Naruto asked while doing some punches and kicks in the air while looking at her in awe. She couldn't help but giggle as she picked him up and kissed his face repeatedly making him laugh.

"Of course I'm a superhero my little Naru-chan."

Flashback end

"You'll always be my superhero Kaa-chan," said Naruto as a lone tear ran down his cheek.

X Chapter End X

A/N: What Research Society should Naruto be a part of? Should I have Erina want to be a part of his RS?