Chapter 41: Chapter 42: Mu Yue’s Interest in Sealing Techniques
On Saturday afternoon, Mu Yue returned to his house in the main city.
After several instances of mutual meal-sharing, his relationship with Kushina and Minato had grown closer. Without much ceremony, Mu Yue invited them over before starting to cook.
"Yusheng, what are you cooking today?" Kushina asked curiously.
Over the course of her visits, she had yet to encounter a repeated dish from Mu Yue.
It wasn't just the variety that impressed her, but the consistent quality. Each dish was delicious, earning her admiration and envy.
"Mushroom soup and stir-fried mushrooms," Mu Yue replied, pointing to a plastic bag brimming with mushrooms sitting by the sink.
The ingredients were leftovers from his outing earlier that day with his students. They had gathered fish, wild greens, and even hunted a wild boar, which was far too much for one meal. Mu Yue had brought the excess back home.
Wild mushrooms, in particular, were prized for their freshness, but they needed to be thoroughly cooked. Food poisoning wasn't something he wanted to deal with—a minor issue like diarrhea was manageable, but the risk of serious complications was real.
"Are these wild mushrooms from the forest?" Kushina asked, eyeing the varied shapes and sizes of the fungi. They didn't look like store-bought mushrooms.
Her question reminded her of her first time eating at Mu Yue's house when she jokingly accused him of using hallucinogenic mushrooms after the meal left her feeling unusually elated.
If these mushrooms truly had strange effects, combined with Mu Yue's exceptional cooking skills, the result might be akin to falling under a genjutsu.
Mu Yue nodded. "I had lunch with some students in the forest today. We gathered some ingredients on-site, and the extra mushrooms came home with me."
"You take your students on picnics?" Kushina asked with a hint of envy.
In all her six years at the Ninja Academy, none of her teachers had ever done anything as considerate as taking students on a picnic.
"I have a good relationship with those students," Mu Yue explained.
"Do you need help, Yusheng? I can wash the vegetables," Minato offered, not wanting to take advantage of Mu Yue's hospitality without contributing.
"Sure, you can help wash the mushrooms. I'll start processing the wild boar meat," Mu Yue replied without hesitation, assigning Minato a task.
It was important to strike a balance in relationships. Over-politeness could create distance, while mutual cooperation strengthened bonds.
Since there were three people eating, Mu Yue decided to prepare one more dish in addition to the mushroom soup and stir-fried mushrooms: stewed pork belly.
In his previous life, for some inexplicable reason, he couldn't stand fatty meat—except in the form of stewed pork belly. Its tender, balanced flavor made it the only fatty dish he genuinely enjoyed. While he particularly loved Mei Cai Kou Rou (pork belly with preserved mustard greens), he didn't have mustard greens on hand, so a simple version would have to suffice.
"What about me? What can I do?" Kushina asked, feeling a bit out of place as Minato and Mu Yue worked together in the kitchen.
"There's not much room here. You can just relax and wait for the food," Mu Yue answered.
With limited space and minimal prep work left, having three people in the kitchen would only cause chaos. Two was the perfect number.
Feeling a bit excluded, Kushina wandered into the living room and picked up a book lying on the coffee table.
"Huh." She raised an eyebrow at the title: What Is Sealing Jutsu? It seemed like an overly basic book, far beneath someone like her.
"It's even written by Uzumaki Ashina," she muttered, noticing the name as she flipped through the pages.
Her tone quickly changed. "Cough, cough. It's a decent book, Mu Yue. You should study it carefully," she said, trying to mask her initial reaction.
"I've already gone through it several times. Uzumaki Ashina truly lives up to his reputation as the founder of sealing techniques in Konoha. Even someone like me, who knows nothing about the subject, learned a lot from it," Mu Yue replied as he continued handling the pork.
"Of course! He was the clan leader of the Uzumaki, after all!" Kushina said proudly.
"Do you have an interest in sealing techniques, Mu Yue?" she asked curiously.
"Very much so. They seem both mysterious and incredibly powerful," Mu Yue answered, his expression filled with admiration.
"From the perspective of increasing strength, sealing techniques are indeed an excellent choice," Minato agreed with a nod.
The three of them chatted about sealing techniques until dinner was ready. For most of the conversation, Mu Yue listened attentively, occasionally chiming in with a beginner's perspective, which gave Minato and Kushina a sense of accomplishment.
Kushina was the first to try the stewed pork belly. One bite in, she was utterly captivated. The soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture and the balance of flavors made her grab a large spoonful of rice.
"This is amazing! How have I never seen such a delicious dish before?" Kushina exclaimed, immediately falling in love with the dish.
"If you want to learn, I can teach you," Mu Yue offered with a smile.
"Deal! Tomorrow night, Minato and I will bring the ingredients," Kushina replied enthusiastically.
Just as she said this, she glanced at the stir-fried mushrooms and noticed the plate was already more than halfway empty. Minato had been quietly eating while they were talking.
"Hey! I haven't even had any yet. Leave some for me!" Kushina shouted, quickly diving into the meal.
The first bite of the mushrooms amazed her as well—they were incredibly fresh and flavorful.
After the meal, the three of them went for a stroll together, chatting along the way. Mu Yue shared some amusing anecdotes about teaching, while Minato and Kushina recounted interesting stories from their missions.
With only two days remaining until the competition, Mu Yue began the final phase of training for Obito.
"To make a jutsu appear more impressive, besides nature transformation and chakra output, you can also use shape transformation to enhance its visual impact," Mu Yue explained.
"But isn't it too late to train shape transformation now? There are only two days left," Obito asked, scratching his head.
"Of course it's too late," Mu Yue said bluntly. Obito didn't have the talent to master shape transformation that quickly.
"But you don't need to master it. You just need to learn my modified version of the Great Fireball Jutsu."
To ensure Obito won first place and maximized the rewards from the training mission, Mu Yue had gone out of his way to create a modified Great Fireball Jutsu. The new version looked larger and more intimidating but didn't actually consume more chakra or increase in power.
In short, it was all for show.
The upcoming youth ninjutsu competition didn't involve actual combat; participants simply displayed their ninjutsu, and judges scored them based on the performance.
"Mu Yue-sensei, you're like my Sage of Six Paths!" Obito exclaimed, feeling more confident than ever about taking first place.
"With you as my teacher, there's no way Kakashi can beat me!"
"Well, since you went as far as to make a heartfelt request, how could I, as your teacher, not give it my all?" Mu Yue replied with a smile, subtly reinforcing Obito's habit of turning to his teacher for help.
"Hehe." Obito scratched his head, grinning sheepishly.
"Now, get back to training," Mu Yue said, knocking lightly on Obito's head.
"Yes, sir!" Obito replied enthusiastically, diving back into practice.
He couldn't wait to defeat Kakashi and impress Rin by taking first place.
(End of Chapter)
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