Chapter 223: Preparing to Extract Obito's Coins

On Sunday, Muyue gave his disciples a day off. Earlier, he had arranged the next meeting time with Kushina through the ninja who brought him meals, and they agreed to meet on the weekend.

Their agreed meeting time was nine in the morning.

Muyue arrived at the designated spot ten minutes early. Regardless of who he was meeting, it was his habit to arrive a bit ahead of time.

With those extra ten minutes, even if something unexpected happened, he wouldn't be late.

It was only because he was in Konoha, where travel relied entirely on walking—no cars, so no traffic jams—that he didn't set aside even more buffer time.

When Muyue arrived, he didn't see Kushina. After about five minutes, he spotted her walking over in a hurry.

"Eh, Muyue, you're already here? Am I late?" Kushina was a bit surprised to see him standing there already.

She had thought that as the teacher, she should arrive first, so she planned to come a little early, but didn't expect Muyue to beat her.

"Could my watch be broken?" Kushina scratched her head, thinking to herself.

"You're not late; you're even a bit earlier than the agreed time. But I came a little earlier than you," Muyue said with a smile.

Although he himself had the habit of arriving early, he never expected others to do the same; he only hoped that his companions wouldn't be late.

"Ahem, student Muyue, you're quite diligent. You should keep up that same diligence when we study later," Kushina coughed twice, getting into character.

"I'm a very strict teacher, you know. If Minato doesn't study well, I punish him," she tried to say with a stern face.

Unfortunately, Kushina didn't seem to have a talent for that. Her attempt at a stern face didn't look serious at all; rather, it looked like she was about to laugh.

"Teacher Kushina, don't worry. I'll study hard. Considering how hard you work teaching, I specially brought some homemade sweets for you to try," Muyue said cheerfully, pulling out a box and handing it to her.

Hearing that it was Muyue's own homemade dessert, Kushina's eyes lit up immediately. Her intention to maintain a teacherly demeanor flew straight out the window, and she quickly took the box, thanking him:

"Muyue, you're so multi-talented! You even know how to make desserts. Thank you so much!"

After thanking him, Kushina couldn't wait to open the box. But inside was not the wagashi, daifuku, or cake she had imagined; instead, it was a square white pastry.

"What kind of dessert is this?" Kushina asked curiously.

Although she had never seen this dessert before, just from the aroma she knew it had to be delicious.

"This is osmanthus cake. I tried making it myself. You can't buy it at dessert shops outside," Muyue explained.

"Amazing!" Kushina gave Muyue a thumbs up, then directly picked up a piece and ate it.

The moment it entered her mouth, Kushina experienced the sweet, soft, and chewy texture of the osmanthus cake. It was very sweet but not cloying. Then the fragrance of osmanthus brought a hint of coolness to her mouth.

In a daze, Kushina felt as if she were in the scorching summer heat and then jumped into a cool flower pool, enveloped by floral scent and coolness.

"So delicious!" Coming back to her senses, Kushina gave her verdict.

"I'm glad you like it. I was worried you might not be used to the taste," Muyue said with a smile.

"What a sly student! Are you thinking that if I take your bribe, I'll feel too embarrassed to punish you?" Kushina joked with a big grin.

"So, Teacher, will you accept it or not?"

"Of course I'll accept!" Kushina replied quickly. Jokes could be made, but the dessert could not be returned.

"Such delicious food shouldn't be finished in one go. I'll save the rest to eat when I get home," Kushina thought to herself.

Then the two of them headed toward the previous teaching location.

Walking along the road, Kushina was in intense internal conflict.

"Such a delicious dessert—just one piece didn't even let me taste it properly. I'll have another piece. There are still more than ten pieces anyway." In the end, Kushina decided to try another piece.

Once she ate it, Kushina again experienced an unprecedented delight.

"I've already eaten two pieces; eating one more won't hurt." Kushina couldn't resist and ate another piece.

Piece after piece, she kept breaking her own limits. As they neared their destination, Kushina habitually reached into the box and found nothing inside. When she looked, it was empty.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Kushina suddenly stop, Muyue asked.

"Ha-ha, nothing." Kushina quietly closed the box and forced a laugh.

She couldn't very well say she had just been thinking about how to get more osmanthus cake.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Kushina would find it awkward to immediately ask for more right after finishing it.

"Kushina's Sealing Technique class is now in session. Student Muyue, please answer: through what power is the Four Symbols Seal maintained?" Kushina began teaching the sealing technique.

"The cyclic power of the four symbols." Muyue answered.

"Then does the sealing power of the Four Symbols Seal remain constant forever?"

"No, it weakens over time and needs to be reinforced." Muyue continued answering.

"Very good. It seems you haven't forgotten what I taught you." Kushina nodded with satisfaction.

Next, Kushina asked a few more questions to confirm Muyue had grasped the previous material, and then began teaching new content.

Muyue quickly immersed himself in Kushina's teaching. Kushina taught in a conventional manner, but her knowledge of sealing techniques was truly profound, and combined with her own sealing talent, Muyue's progress in sealing techniques skyrocketed as he studied under her.

By one in the afternoon, Muyue's proficiency in the Four Symbols Seal had already reached fifty points before entry level.

When it was time for lunch, Muyue straightforwardly invited Kushina to eat. They went to the same restaurant as last time, and he lent the kitchen to Kushina so she could cook a sumptuous lunch.

"Although the meals sent over are delicious too, freshly cooked hot dishes are definitely better." Kushina said with a look of happiness.

After lunch, Kushina's free time was almost up. She handed the training scroll to Muyue and returned to the Uzumaki Sealing House with the Anbu.

Bidding farewell to Kushina, Muyue went to check on his shadow clone's progress in forging.

Obito said he'd like anything as a gift, but Muyue could tell from the envious look Obito had on Shisui's birthday that Obito definitely wanted a personally forged ninja tool from Muyue as well.

However, to differentiate between his two disciples, Muyue decided to forge this one in the shape of a standard kunai, rather than another short blade.

Although it was a standard kunai, Muyue planned to show his thoughtfulness through details—for example, carving a complex dragon pattern on the kunai, inscribing Obito's name on both sides, and engraving the Uchiha clan crest on the hilt.

When Muyue arrived, he found the kunai was mostly finished, only lacking some minor details.

"There's plenty of time—still six days." Muyue nodded to himself.

The emotional peak last time had been very high, directly upgrading to Trust Level 4 and yielding a Perfect-level reward. Muyue felt it would be hard for this birthday to produce such a super explosion again.

He'd be quite satisfied with a Mastery-level reward, because even without a reward, he still had to prepare the gift carefully. First, he couldn't let his disciples feel he was favoring the one whose birthday came earlier; second, Obito had given him gifts too.

For the next period of time, Muyue went to Asuma's house for tutoring.

"Today I'll teach you Wind Release nature transformation." Muyue smiled as he announced the new content he would teach Asuma.

"I knew you'd quickly master Wind Release, Teacher Muyue." Asuma said happily.

"Not bad, a bit smoother than I imagined." Muyue modestly replied before starting the lesson.

"For Wind nature transformation, try to imagine something thin and sharp."

Muyue plucked a leaf, gathered chakra in his hand, and rapidly performed nature transformation. In an instant, the leaf was sliced into several pieces.

"Or like a shockwave made of airflow."

Muyue quickly formed hand seals, gathered chakra in his throat, and then opened his mouth to spit out several transparent shockwaves. Large trees or rocks touched by the shockwaves were pierced through.

"Wind-natured chakra is like a blade; cutting and penetrating are its strengths."

Seeing even hard rocks being pierced by Muyue, Asuma's eyes widened. Muyue's Wind Release was even more impressive than he had imagined—he had mastered this level of Wind Release after only a few months of study.

"Teacher Muyue, I told you: you never know if you're good at something until you try. You really are a Wind Release genius." Asuma felt happy for both Muyue and himself.

Muyue's strength had increased, and that also secured a future Wind Release teacher for Asuma.

"Just a coincidence." Muyue said with a smile. This way, from Sarutobi Hiruzen's perspective, he was a ninja capable of fighting using three types of nature transformations.

"If you ask me, Teacher Muyue, you just lack resources. You might even be able to learn Lightning and Earth nature transformations." Asuma felt Muyue's strength should be even greater.

"Let's first continue deepening what we've already mastered." Muyue tapped Asuma on the head and laughed.

After studying Wind-natured chakra nature transformation all afternoon with Muyue, Asuma felt it was more useful than ten days of training with his jonin instructor.

When the training ended and they were about to part, Asuma said regretfully:

"I should have graduated a year later. That way I could have had the chance to do my internship under you, Teacher Muyue."

"It's still good to train hard with me now. I'll notify you in advance when I have time. Once the internship period is over, I should have more tutoring time." Muyue said after thinking for a moment.

After sending Asuma home, Muyue returned to his house in the main city area.

He first prepared dinner. After eating, he studied the Four Symbols Seal for a while, and then worked on developing Water Breathing.

Breathing techniques are ultimately at the forbidden technique level. Even though Mu Yue had already learned three breathing techniques, she still found it very difficult to develop the Water Breathing.

After all, any ability that other breathing techniques have, Water Breathing must also have. It must have the ability to enhance physical strength and also accelerate the speed of water-attribute chakra nature transformation.

3k, something came up and delayed me. Today's update may be a bit less. There will be more later.