EC

For the past eight years, Y/N has devoted herself entirely to her dream: cooking. Four years of formal schooling. Three years of apprenticeships abroad. Three more years working in Michelin-Star-rated kitchens. She has sacrificed, studied, worked, failed, learned, and pushed herself relentlessly to become the chef she always wanted to be. Now, finally, it’s time to come home. After returning to Ninjago, Y/N expects her experience to speak for itself. Instead, she finds herself facing rejection after rejection. Every application seems to end the same way—another polite email, another closed door, another reminder that talent and experience don’t always guarantee an opportunity. Then she finds an unusual Help Wanted listing on a local job site. The advertisement is vague. Almost suspiciously vague. The pay is good. The benefits are better. The position involves cooking constantly for eleven people, and apparently there is an NDA involved. It sounds strange. But after weeks of rejection, strange sounds better than unemployed. So Y/N applies. What she doesn’t know is that the position she’s being hastily offered isn’t for an ordinary household. It’s for the ninja. Yeah. Those ninja. Suddenly, Y/N finds herself stepping into a world she never expected to be part of—one filled with ancient secrets, extraordinary people, dangerous missions, and a kitchen that desperately needs someone who knows what they’re doing. Lloyd isn’t interested in Y/N—not at first. As the leader of the ninja, he is immediately wary of having an outsider brought into the Monastery. Their home is also their sanctuary, their workplace, and a place that contains secrets the outside world cannot know. The idea of allowing a complete stranger into that environment makes Lloyd deeply uncomfortable. Y/N, for her part, isn’t there to become involved with the ninja. She’s there because she finally found a job willing to give her a chance. She’s focused on doing what she was hired to do, pro