Chapter 85: Discovering a new system mechanism

Saturday morning.

Because he had arranged with Minato and the others for a detailed squirrel mandarin fish cooking lesson, Muzuki sent a Shadow Clone to guide his disciples, while his main body stayed at his home in the Leaf Village Main District to teach Minato and Kushina how to cook.

The reason for not swapping them, with the Shadow Clone teaching cooking and his main body teaching disciples, was primarily because the Shadow Clone did not benefit from the Chef skill.

All Ninjutsu that Muzuki knew could be used by his Shadow Clone, but only skills like Chef and Professor did not grant the Shadow Clone any bonuses.

Muzuki took out a fish and placed it on the cutting board, letting Minato and Kushina watch, and explained as he cut the fish:

“To process a fish, first make a diagonal cut behind the gills, severing the spine.”

Muzuki cut off the fish head, then reminded them:

“The fish head you cut off, process it slightly by cutting off the gill cover. This will help it keep its shape when fried later, and it will look much better when arranged.”

“No wonder mine didn’t look good when I made it; so there’s this step!” Kushina showed a look of sudden realization.

While processing the fish meat, Muzuki cautioned the two to control their strength carefully, cutting only four-fifths of the way through the fish meat without breaking the fish skin, otherwise, the shape would already be considered a failure.

At this point, Muzuki took out two pre-prepared fish for Kushina and Minato to practice on.

Minato’s performance was decent; perhaps fearing to cut through the fish meat, his cuts were a bit shallow. Kushina, however, directly cut through the fish skin.

“Haha, this fish meat is too soft, it cut through in one go. Muzuki, do you have any fish with tougher meat here?” Kushina tried to find the reason in the fish itself.

“If the meat were too tough, would you eat it?” Muzuki gave a helpless smile.

Fortunately, Muzuki was well-prepared, and he took out another fish for Kushina to try.

With the experience from the first attempt, Kushina only cut through the fish skin on her third cut, which was a significant improvement.

“From now on, this step of cutting fish will be up to you, Minato,” Kushina said with a serious expression. To avoid wasting Muzuki’s time, Kushina decided not to struggle with the fish for now.

The lesson continued, with Muzuki explaining each step in great detail, and then immediately having the two practice.

Teaching this way was very slow. By noon, Muzuki still hadn’t led Kushina and Minato to create a complete squirrel mandarin fish; they had only just about finished the breakdown teaching.

It wasn’t until past two in the afternoon that Muzuki finally guided the two to make their respective squirrel mandarin fish.

One could say they completed it, but the appearance varied greatly.

“We followed every step, so why is there still such a big difference in the end?” Kushina felt that her and Minato’s finished products were still far from Muzuki’s.

“After all, we’re beginners. With more practice, the appearance should improve,” Minato said.

Minato was quite satisfied; he had actually completed such a seemingly complex dish.

If the learning difficulty of dishes had levels, Minato felt this squirrel mandarin fish would be at least B-rank.

He immediately added this dish to Jiraiya’s menu for when he returned.

【Lecture Completed】

【Evaluation: B】

【Reward: Mabo Tofu of Illusion】

Just as Muzuki was about to say something, a system prompt suddenly appeared.

“Teaching cooking counts as teaching? Can teaching two people also settle a lecture reward?” Two questions instantly popped into Muzuki’s mind.

Why hadn’t he triggered a reward when he taught before? Why hadn’t he triggered a lecture reward when teaching his disciples?

After careful consideration, Muzuki had some guesses.

The judgment for lectures might not only depend on the number of people, but the strength of the taught individuals might also have a certain weight. Although he only taught Minato and Kushina, their strength was very high.

As for why it wasn’t triggered when he taught cooking before, Muzuki felt it was probably because the time and depth of teaching were insufficient.

This lecture settlement was truly unexpected for Muzuki, and the reward was a bit abstract—it was actually a recipe. If he remembered correctly, it was a recipe from Chinese Master Chef.

Kushina and Minato each tasted their own squirrel mandarin fish and both showed satisfied smiles. Although it looked a bit rough, the taste was still very good.

However, during the meal, Muzuki’s squirrel mandarin fish was still eaten first. Their own was good, but Muzuki’s was too fragrant; they simply couldn’t resist.

“Muzuki, thank you so much this time. You spent most of the day teaching us how to cook,” Minato said with a gentle smile.

“It’s no trouble at all. Don’t you two often help me with my questions about Sealing Technique?” Muzuki replied with a smile, indicating that they shouldn’t worry.

“Speaking of Sealing Technique, how is your Three-Finger Sealing coming along, Muzuki?” Kushina asked.

“I’m starting to get a grasp of it now,” Muzuki said, explaining his insights from the first three days of practice.

“Then your progress is quite good. The time it takes to successfully master it should be about what I estimated,” Kushina listened, nodded, and affirmed.

In terms of cooking, Kushina would call Muzuki the strongest, but when it came to Sealing Technique, Kushina felt that there was probably no one stronger than her in the entire Ninja World.

“I’ll go back and write down some of my insights from practicing Sealing Technique before, and I’ll give them to you once I’m done,” Kushina thought for a moment and said.

She was someone who understood how to repay kindness. Since Muzuki had just taught her and Minato how to cook so seriously and meticulously, Kushina also reciprocated in kind.

“That would be a great help,” Muzuki was very pleased.

“Muzuki, you’re still saying that to us. What trouble is it? No need to be polite, it’s just a small favor,” Kushina laughed loudly.

In the evening, Obito informed Muzuki in advance that he would apply to open the Taijutsu challenge again on Sunday.

“Are you ready?” Muzuki asked Obito with a smile, slowly taking out three test papers from a scroll.

Looking at the three test papers that appeared in Muzuki’s hand, Obito’s face immediately fell. No matter what, he didn’t want to do test questions.

But when Obito looked at Might Guy and Shisui, who were practicing Shave not far away, and then recalled their conversation from yesterday, Obito’s fighting spirit instantly ignited and he said:

“Teacher Muzuki, I’m ready! I will definitely succeed this time!”

Since his crushing defeat last Saturday, he had trained hard for a week. Obito chose to believe in the results of his training.

Seeing Obito so confident, Muzuki gave Obito the ticket and began to set up the venue.

The next morning.

Obito arrived very early, for the first time even earlier than Shisui at the training ground.

After Obito had done some warm-up exercises, Muzuki led Obito to the challenge area he had set up.

“It’s still the same as before; just keep walking east, and you’ll see the finish line,” Muzuki reminded him.

Obito nodded and immediately sprinted with full force in the direction Muzuki pointed.

Having learned his lesson from last time, Obito didn’t look back at the Shadow Clones but constantly paid attention to whether there were traps or mechanisms near him.

Relying on his cautious attitude, Obito arrived at the large pendulum obstacle, where he had failed last time, without hitting a single trap. Here, large, thick trees could swing back and forth at any moment.

Obito didn’t hesitate and charged straight in, passing through without injury thanks to his extremely fast speed.

Having grown accustomed to running with weights, Obito felt incredibly light without them, and his running speed instantly picked up.

After passing the place where he had failed last time, Obito immediately felt much more relaxed, a brilliant smile on his face.

“As long as I get serious, this challenge is nothing.”

However, Obito’s cool lasted less than three seconds. Not long after he finished speaking, he fell directly into a large pit dug by Muzuki.

“Minus one point.”

Muzuki’s warm voice entered Obito’s ears.

Obito quickly jumped out of the pit, then ran wildly and carefully, no longer daring to be careless.

The cost of carelessness was too heavy; not only did he have to restart the challenge, but he also had to do an additional one hundred questions.

The former, though annoying, was acceptable; the latter was a bit terrifying.

After running cautiously for a long time, Obito saw a Kunai stuck in a wooden stake. A flag was tied to the Kunai, and ‘Finish Line’ was written on the flag.

Obito’s brilliant smile returned.

“This is the finish line already, and I still have two points to lose. As a cautious person, I’m still very impressive!” Obito walked directly towards the Kunai with an arrogant stride.

At this moment, Obito’s heart was overflowing with satisfaction. Passing the difficult challenge through his arduous training and extraordinary caution—nothing was more satisfying than this. He was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

But just as Obito was about to walk next to the Kunai, he was suddenly hoisted up. He hadn’t expected there to be a trap right next to the finish line!

“Minus one point,” Muzuki’s voice entered Obito’s ears again.

Obito quickly escaped the trap and dared not smile anymore. He was afraid that if he smiled again, he would lose his last point and bring about three test papers.

Obito carefully inspected his surroundings before crossing the finish line.

It was then that Muzuki appeared and said, “Although you only have one point left, you succeeded.”

“Hahaha, yay!” Obito couldn’t help but jump up and cheer, laughing heartily, no longer worried about losing points or failing, no longer having to take a hundred questions.

“Finally, I can learn Shave like Shisui and Guy.”

“Who told you that you can learn Shave now?” Muzuki asked, puzzled.

“Didn’t you say, Teacher Muzuki, that I could learn it after completing the Taijutsu challenge?” Obito asked, confused.

“Yes, you complete the Taijutsu challenge, but you only completed the first stage, Forest Sprint. You haven’t even completed the second stage yet,” Muzuki explained.

Obito thought for a moment and finally found the relevant memory in some corner; there really was such a thing!

“The second stage is called River Surface Sprint. You need to sprint from one river bank to the other within the time limit without falling into the water,” Muzuki explained.

“Is that all?” Obito showed a joyful expression.

Isn’t that just water walking? For him now, it was too simple.

“I will release Ninjutsu on the river surface to interfere to a certain extent once you start,” Muzuki said with a smile.

“Still Water Dragon Bullet?” Obito asked.

Muzuki nodded. It was indeed Water Dragon Bullet, but the quantity was a little bit much.

Having received Muzuki’s affirmation, Obito’s expression was very relaxed. Wasn’t it just Water Dragon Bullet plus water walking? He had already completed that training long ago.

“Teacher Muzuki, I want to start the second stage of the challenge.” Obito wanted to finish the challenge quickly and start practicing Shave.

Since there are no drafts, all five chapters were written by staying up late, so there might be some dizzy moments. Please leave comments in the chapter sections, and I will read them.