Chapter 33: Perseverant Asma (Seeking follow-up reading)

“Obito-Nii, when are we going to start Nature Transformation training? Lately, I’ve been reading the handbook you gave me every night, and I really want to try it out,” Obito asked while walking back and forth on the small river.

Climbing trees and walking on water every day was really boring.

Moreover, Muzuki’s Nature Transformation handbook truly inspired him, and he instantly felt like his Fire Release was about to improve.

“Do you find walking on water boring? Have you almost finished your training?” Muzuki asked with a slight smile.

“Mhm, mhm.” Obito nodded quickly; he could already jog on the water.

“Alright then, I’ll test your level and help make walking on water a bit more interesting,” Muzuki quickly formed hand signs, and his Chakra burst forth.

“Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!”

A massive Water Dragon quickly formed, then rolled around in the small river, instantly turning the calm surface into a turbulent one, stirring up large waves from time to time.

“Ugh, ugh…” Obito accidentally stumbled and fell directly into the water, gulping down a mouthful.

Muzuki instantly pulled Obito out and laughed, “See, you still haven’t perfected your training.”

“Teacher Muzuki, how could I withstand you suddenly pulling a stunt like that?” Obito complained.

There was a classmate and a junior from his clan present, so he still wanted to save face.

“Then try again,” Muzuki said with a smile.

Walking on water greatly tests a Ninja’s control over continuous Chakra output. With the Water Dragon Bullet interfering and distracting him, and having to dodge waves, being able to maintain stable continuous output in such conditions indicates excellent Chakra control.

Obito was stubborn, but his skill wasn’t. He fell into the water again after only a few minutes.

“The shoes I’m wearing today don’t fit, it’s affecting my performance,” Obito spat out the river water and explained, then placed his shoes on the bank and walked barefoot on the water.

Muzuki smiled slightly and said nothing.

After a while, Obito fell into the water again.

“Oh dear, I must have stayed up too late reading yesterday, which is why I’m not energetic today. No wonder I made so many mistakes.”

Obito stretched his limbs, twisted his neck, rolled up his sleeves, and his eyes became serious as he said, “Now, I’m going to get serious.”

Splash!

The sound of falling into the water rang out again.

After Muzuki quickly pulled Obito out, Obito’s eyes were blank, his face devoid of expression, and he said nothing more.

“Obito-Nii, it’s okay, I know you’re just trying to learn how to swim,” Shisui comforted him.

Obito covered his face with both hands and said, “Shisui, you go on, I’ll be fine by myself for a bit.”

“Do you feel your performance was too poor?” Muzuki squatted beside Obito, not looking at him, but gazing into the distance.

As the saying goes, without comparison, there is no harm.

While Obito hadn’t even started his control training, Shisui had already begun.

And Shisui progressed rapidly, skipping tree climbing from the start, and later walking on water was easy for him; even with Muzuki’s interference, he could last a long time on the water.

With Shisui, his clan junior, performing like that, Obito kept being stubborn. He admitted he might not be as good as Shisui, but he shouldn’t be that far behind.

“Actually, last weekend afternoon, I left because I went to the Hokage’s house to be a tutor,” Muzuki said.

“The Hokage has a younger son, you should know him, Asuma Sarutobi, he’s only one year older than you.”

Obito nodded; he did know him.

“When he was doing water walking training, I also interfered with the Water Dragon Bullet. He fell into the water at least dozens of times that afternoon, and finally, on the last attempt, he lasted for five minutes.”

“Asuma, he actually…” Obito hadn’t expected Asuma, an honor student from the Ninja Academy, to be so miserable, and yet he still persevered for an entire afternoon under such dire circumstances.

Obito had a new respect for Asuma. He hadn’t realized he had such perseverance when they knew each other before.

“Teacher, I understand now! I’m rested, let’s start training!” Obito took a deep breath and said spiritedly.

If Asuma could persevere, why couldn’t he? His goal was to defeat Kakashi in front of Rin and take first place!

“Eat something before you train,” Muzuki handed Obito a portion of dango he had bought earlier.

“Okay, thank you, Teacher!” Obito shouted energetically, quickly finished the dango, and then walked into the river.

【You gifted your disciple Anko dango. Because your disciple was extremely grateful, the reward was a critical hit, granting you the skill Chef.】

【Chef: The dishes you create are so delicious they can cause hallucinations.】

“Eh, it actually popped a skill, and a life-skill one at that,” Muzuki thought, a little surprised.

Although the rewards from teaching disciples were sometimes quite random, like Might Guy yielding Water Nature Transformation mastery, he didn’t quite understand why Obito yielded a Chef skill.

However, it didn’t stop Muzuki from being happy, because from the skill description, this skill was very powerful.

Being a good cook was a huge bonus.

If he had this skill earlier, he could have directly pretended his cooking equipment at home was broken, then gone to Minato’s house to cook, showcasing his extraordinary culinary skills. Perhaps Kushina and Minato would have actively befriended him then.

He could also quickly increase his disciples’ favorability. Who wouldn’t like a teacher with top-notch teaching quality and exceptional cooking skills?

After all his disciples completed their training, Muzuki returned to the Leaf Village Main District early. He wanted to try how delicious the dishes made with his new skill truly were.

Muzuki chose two dishes: egg fried rice and fried Tempura.

He had cooked egg fried rice before; he preferred dishes with eggs. He had never made fried Tempura.

From the moment he picked up an egg, Muzuki felt a subtle enhancement. Although the steps were similar to before, everything was just right.

After the egg fried rice was cooked, looking at the distinct, golden grains that subtly glowed, Muzuki was a little lost in thought.

He wondered if he hadn’t put fluorescent powder in it when he cooked it, so why did it seem to be glowing?

Muzuki took a spoonful to taste. The tenderness of the egg, the elasticity of the rice, the freshness of the chopped green onions—everything burst in his mouth. He had never eaten such delicious egg fried rice.

Muzuki even vaguely saw a strong rooster running and flying in the grass, so free and so exhilarating.

“It really is so delicious it causes hallucinations,” Muzuki shook his head and quickly came to his senses.

Muzuki switched to a frying pan and began preparing to fry Tempura.

First, he prepared the batter, then heated oil in the pan, coated the pre-prepared shrimp with batter, and placed them in the pan to fry.

Soon, the Tempura’s coating began to change color, and a unique frying aroma filled the kitchen, drifting into the distance.

Muzuki instinctively scooped out the Tempura, placed it on a plate, and carried it to the table.

Just as Muzuki picked up a Tempura to taste it, a knock sounded at the door.