Jingo Kumano

Tan-skinned and slim, Jingo stands a little taller than most, with grey buzzed hair and a face marked by sharp cheekbones and deep hollows beneath the eyes. In his shinobi days he wore the standard Kumogakure outfit; since taking up cooking, he is usually seen in a white chef's uniform and an apron bearing his restaurant's logo.

Jingo is an anxious, self-doubting sort who freely admits he never measured up as a ninja and has struggled to find something he does well. Set against that uncertainty is a real passion, an earnest drive to prove himself behind a stove as a chef.

Feeling he had no gift for the shinobi life, Jingo walked away from Kumogakure and became a missing-nin. His village later pardoned him, but he was left broke and adrift, and his wandering carried him to Konohagakure. Starving as he passed Ramen Ichiraku, he was taken in by Teuchi and Ayame, who fed him out of kindness. Moved by the flavor and by the simple joy such food could bring, he resolved to start over in Konoha as a ramen cook. Fully trained though he was, his shinobi skills stayed modest; what he developed instead was a genuine knack for cooking and creative recipes, along with a lingering talent for gathering information, once spotting a disguised food critic in his own dining room.

After buying a knife at Ninja Tools Roll Roll Roll, Jingo was mistakenly detained by Inojin Yamanaka and Chōchō Akimichi, whose mission data was out of date; Kohan Yamanaka arrived to clear up the mix-up and confirm his pardon. Grateful yet embarrassed, the genin agreed to help him invent a new dish to win over an incoming ramen critic. Things grew tangled when a fleeing thief bumped into him and swapped stolen data for a spice container, and Jingo was later kidnapped by the thieves hunting for it before Chōchō, Inojin, Shikadai, and the others rescued him. Inspired by Shikadai's words on teamwork, he mixed differently flavored crushed chips into his ramen, and a glowing review of the new recipe drew a wave of fresh customers to his shop.