A ninja who is always hungry

Two days. He had to walk for almost two full days before finding a pair of elderly people picking mushrooms in the forest. He asked them for directions to reach civilization. When he finally saw the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village, night was falling and they would soon be closing.

"Should I go in now or wait until morning?" Tony hesitated.

Staying outside while the gates were still open could make him look suspicious, but if he entered now, he had no place to sleep. Who knows, he might even get kidnapped by a ROOT ninja.

"Note to self: Don't enter any dark, sinister alleyways," he reminded himself. "Maybe I could offer some food in exchange for lodging for the night." He thought before frowning. "But if I do that, I can't go to a civilian establishment; I'll have to look for a clan willing to make this deal."

He knew some of the clans in the village, so it didn't take him long to think of a possible target. He entered through the gates under the watchful eyes of the guards and began searching for his destination, always sticking to the main paths and discreetly picking up some branches along the way.

"Here they are, the Inuzuka clan!"

Yes, Tony thought of three possible clans, but the Inuzuka were the most suitable at that moment. They had a pack mentality, liked direct deals, and had ninja dogs. And it was precisely those dogs that were his backup plan. He had saved the branches he collected inside his shirt and transformed them into high-quality sausages. Their taste, along with their smell and rapid recovery effect, should drive the dogs crazy for them.

He would offer them all he had in exchange for letting him spend the night. It was a simple deal; they would benefit, and he wouldn't have to worry about security. After all, he would be surrounded by trained dogs everywhere.

He approached the entrance guards and proposed the deal. As he expected, they agreed after one of the dogs tasted the sausages. Its delighted expression and the effects it felt made it incredibly energetic, more than usual. But when they asked where he got them, he told them it was a trade secret.

That was one of his plans: to open a ninja grocery store later. The two days of walking were not in vain; he had plenty of time to think. He remembered that in this world, ninjas had a kind of pills called soldier pills. He remembered this especially because Sakura made some with such a terrible taste that neither Sai nor Naruto could stand them. He had read something about them and recalled that they were made from wheat germ, potato, special fat, and other things, before being compressed. If he could come up with something to replace them, like ninja candies, it would be a great business.

He spent the night sleeping peacefully and without worrying about his safety.

"Would Danzo dare to kidnap someone in the middle of a pack of territorial ninja dogs? Come on, I dare you!"

The next morning, he woke up due to the relentless attack of dozens of dogs licking him, hoping to taste the sausages that the other dogs had boasted about. He played with them a bit before saying goodbye and promised to bring more another day as a thank you.

Now that it was daylight and he had an entire clan that remembered his scent, he could feel more at ease. He thought about the other two clans: Aburame and Akimichi.

The reason he thought about these clans was their importance related to food. The Aburame clan raises many insects, so if he provided them with honey or fruit, he might have done the same as with the Inuzuka clan. The reason he didn't do it was that he had a bit of a phobia of insects. He didn't like them at all! Moreover, the clan members were quiet and had somewhat poor social skills. Discarded. Maybe as potential customers in the future, but he had no interest in going to their nest.

Then there was the Akimichi clan, the village's legendary gluttons. To be honest, if he were to open a ninja food business, he definitely needed to make sure it was in proximity to their clan. Their calorie usage for techniques, along with their insatiable appetite and deep pockets, made them his perfect match. He still remembered how a friend of his told him that, apparently, in Boruto, Hinata won a ramen-eating contest against an Akimichi.

He didn't believe it at all. Where would all that food go? Clearly, she was trying to pull his leg. Too bad for her, she didn't fool him for a second. Ha!

Now, his plan was to find Naruto, Minato, or Kushina. He could confirm that the village was not in an advanced point of the story, thanks to the huge stone heads that could be seen from almost anywhere in the village. Apparently, the Third Hokage was the current leader, which meant that Minato had not yet assumed the role or that the Nine-Tails attack had already happened, and if so, he needed to know how much time had passed since then.

His first stop was the most logical: the village cemetery.

If he found the name Ikkaku Umino, Iruka's father who died during the Nine-Tails attack, he could confirm that he was in the period after Minato and Kushina's death. It took some time, but he managed to find the grave with the name engraved on it.

He felt a bit sad about it. If he had been in the time before the attack, say, in Naruto's parents' childhood, he would have thought of some way to save Kushina from both Minato's deception and Obito's attack. The girl known as the Bloody Habanero was likable and understood what it was like to be messed with for no reason.

Minato? Yes, he died. Who cares? He was just an idealistic puppet to make Kushina feel tied to the village, we all know that. And what nonsense is this about splitting the Nine-Tails' chakra between Naruto and him? Give it to Kushina, you fool! With the Nine-Tails' chakra, the Uzumaki constitution, and medical ninjas, she could have survived and Naruto would have had a mother to grow up with, besides someone who knows what it's like to be a jinchūriki.

That is, it must have been Minato's genes that made Naruto become half an idiot during his childhood and adolescence. That and the mistreatment that the Third Hokage didn't prevent or that Jiraiya decided to ignore.

"According to the date of death and the date I asked about earlier in the Inuzuka clan, I'm really in Naruto's childhood period. That... is not good," he sighed as he accepted the reality. "I was thinking of joining an orphanage after they examined my memory to prove my innocence, but if I do, Danzo might pull me into ROOT or I'll become cannon fodder for suicide missions. I need a backup, one strong enough for them to notice my disappearance if it happens and not so strong that they try to use me as a sacrifice."

He spent a long time thinking in front of the grave and came up with only one solution.

Be adopted by a clan.

But that was easier said than done. Depending on the clan, he might end up as a servant in the secondary branch or be genuinely part of the family. Maybe not at the level of the heirs or the main bloodline, but that would be good enough for him.

He would no longer be alone in this world.

One of the things many transmigrators forget is that, when traveling to another world, their family is left behind. He had only been in this world for a few days and already missed them. He left the cemetery with tears in his eyes and didn't calm down until noon.

He tried to tidy himself up a bit and walked decisively toward the clan he thought he had the most chance of being successfully adopted by.

And it wasn't just any clan; he aimed for one of the four noble clans of the village.