Chapter 34 Did you add mushrooms to this rice? (Please read on)

“Minato, do you smell anything?” Kushina, who was preparing to cook, suddenly smelled an extremely enticing aroma.

“I smell it, a very enticing fried aroma.” Minato nodded.

“Yes, what a tempting aroma, how exactly is it made?” Kushina sniffed the air, unable to suppress her curiosity.

She also cooked and had made fried foods like Tempura before, but she had never produced such an enticing aroma; just by smelling it, she could already imagine the perfect golden and crispy appearance of the food.

“No, I have to go out and see.” Kushina said, then walked out.

She carefully sniffed the aroma in the air and found that the source of the scent was the house to the right of Minato’s home.

“Hey, isn’t this Habsheng’s house? Minato, come out quickly.” Kushina waved to Minato inside the house.

If she remembered correctly, this house belonged to that Ninja Academy teacher, Hayate Mugetsu.

Although they had only known each other for a few days, Muzuki had left a rather deep impression on Kushina.

He had golden hair and blue eyes similar to Minato, was very articulate, and had strong teaching abilities.

Minato walked out, looked at where Kushina was pointing, nodded, and said, “Yes, it’s Habsheng’s house.”

“Let’s go, we’re visiting the neighbors.” Kushina pulled Minato and knocked on Muzuki’s door.

Muzuki put the shrimp he had picked up into a bowl, then put down his chopsticks, walked to the door, and opened the wooden door.

As soon as the door opened, Kushina eagerly asked,

“Habsheng, are you making dinner?”

“I’m sorry to bother you.” Minato said apologetically, looking at the apron Muzuki was still wearing.

“It’s fine, I’ve already finished and was just about to eat; you both came at the perfect time.” Muzuki said with a gentle smile, then invited them both into the house.

Kushina followed the aroma directly to the dining table, and when she saw the slightly golden-fried Tempura on the plate, her eyes instantly lit up; this was the smell.

However, upon entering Muzuki’s home, Kushina also noticed the aroma of fried rice.

“Habsheng, you’re a hidden chef! I could smell the Tempura from next door.” Kushina praised.

“I’m not much of a chef; I just got used to cooking because I’m often alone.” Muzuki said as he took out two water glasses from the cabinet and poured a glass of water for Minato and Kushina.

“You can try them; I just made them.” Muzuki said, taking out two sets of cutlery.

“Can we? It looks like you haven’t eaten yet.” Kushina said, staring at the Tempura.

She really wanted to try what such fragrant Tempura tasted like.

“I’m starting to eat now.” Muzuki smiled and picked up a piece of Tempura from the bowl and put it into his mouth.

“Thank you, Habsheng.” Minato said.

“I’m going to eat.” Kushina put her hands together, saying it with great ceremony, then picked up her chopsticks and put a steaming piece of Tempura into her mouth.

“Hmm!” As she bit through the crispy outer layer, the moist and incredibly tender shrimp inside instantly made Kushina’s eyes widen.

Something even more magical happened; Kushina, in a daze, seemed to have arrived in the ocean, surrounded by a mysterious and magnificent blue world, and she was a free and carefree fish, happily swimming in the sea all day long.

“Huh?” Kushina quickly came to her senses, almost thinking she had just been caught in a Genjutsu.

Then, upon careful thought, there was no one present who could have cast a Genjutsu on her.

“Muzuki, how did you make this Tempura? You didn’t add any strange-colored mushrooms, did you?” Kushina asked, puzzled.

She had heard that some Ninja went into the forest in the summer to pick and eat mushrooms, and when they entered Konoha Hospital, they were still saying they had too many branches and leaves on their bodies and asking if anyone could help them trim them.

“Uh, no, it’s just like this and then like that…” Muzuki briefly described his cooking process.

Just then, Kushina noticed that Minato seemed to have taken one bite of the fried rice and hadn’t said much. She looked at Minato and saw he was spacing out, so she patted him.

“Minato, what’s wrong?” Kushina asked.

Minato instinctively replied, “Eating wild vegetables.”

“Where are there wild vegetables here?” Kushina looked at the fried rice; besides egg, there was only chopped green onion, and no mushrooms, so she asked, puzzled.

“After eating the fried rice just now, I seemed to have transformed into a wild chicken living in the mountains in a daze…” Minato explained.

Kushina looked at the fried rice on the plate; each grain was plump and golden, as if emitting a golden glow.

Because she had been focused on the Tempura, Kushina only now realized that the fried rice seemed to be glowing!

“This is the best fried rice I’ve ever eaten.” Minato said, unable to resist scooping two spoonfuls into his mouth.

“Is it that good? You should try the Tempura.” Kushina said, puzzled.

Then Kushina ate the egg-fried rice, and Minato ate the Tempura.

Expressions of shock and happiness reappeared on both their faces.

“Habsheng, have you developed a Ninjutsu that makes food taste good? This is too delicious!” Kushina joked.

“If you ever consider opening a restaurant, Habsheng, please be sure to tell me.” Minato said seriously.

He wasn’t someone who focused on material enjoyment, but Muzuki’s fried rice and Tempura gave him an experience he had never had before.

“If you like it, you can come visit more often; it’s quite lonely here.” Muzuki smiled and invited them.

“As long as it’s not too much trouble for you, we can also let you try my and Minato’s cooking in the future, although it won’t be as good as yours.” Hearing Muzuki’s invitation, Kushina was a little excited.

“Then I’m quite looking forward to it.” Muzuki replied with a smile.

After seeing them off, Muzuki thought to himself that the new skill was indeed powerful; it quickly advanced to mutual meal-sharing.

Muzuki brought down some books from the upstairs bedroom; he could gradually show his interests now.

…

With Muzuki’s encouragement, and with Asuma as a friend setting an example, Obito was full of motivation, and by Saturday, he would soon complete his control training and begin practicing Nature Transformation.

By the weekend, Muzuki, the private tutor, was back at work.

“You liar!” Asuma angrily rebuked Muzuki.

Last week, in order not to waste the high tuition fees, he really trained desperately, collapsing from exhaustion when he got home.

The more effort and pain he endured during training, the more Asuma hated Muzuki after learning the truth.

“Oh, what did I lie to you about?” Muzuki asked with a smile.

“Your tutoring fee is clearly two thousand ryo per hour, but you lied to me and said it was twenty-five thousand ryo!” Seeing Muzuki deny it, Asuma became even angrier.

“Did you lose anything then? Did you really give me twenty-five thousand ryo?” Muzuki continued to ask.

“Of course, I…” Asuma wanted to say something, but suddenly realized he hadn’t lost anything.

“See, you didn’t lose anything, you even gained. You thought you spent two hundred thousand ryo, but in reality, you only spent sixteen thousand ryo, earning one hundred eighty-four thousand ryo. You should thank me.” Muzuki said quickly.

“I gained?” Asuma thought according to Muzuki’s logic and it seemed he really had gained.

“Then there’s no problem, let’s start training.” Muzuki said leisurely.

“No, something is very, very wrong.” Asuma felt something was amiss.

Transitional Chapter