Chapter 226: Muyue's Gift

"How rare—so many people here today." Obito's grandmother chuckled, seeing so many friends come to celebrate Obito's birthday.

"Hello, I'm Yusheng Muyue, Obito's teacher." Muyue greeted Obito's grandmother with a smile.

"Grandma, Teacher Muyue has been really good to me. The reason my grades improved so fast is all because Teacher Muyue taught so well." Obito said from the side.

"Then I really must thank you, Teacher Muyue. Let me pour you some tea." Obito's grandmother thanked Muyue and prepared to stand up to pour tea for her.

"You just sit tight, Grandma. I'll do it." Obito quickly poured a cup of tea for everyone, not even excluding Kakashi.

"Obito must have given you no end of trouble, Teacher Muyue. I've watched him grow up—he does drop the ball sometimes, but he never means to. Obito has a good heart." The grandmother squinted and said with a smile.

"Actually, it's fine. Obito works hard in every aspect and is truly kind-hearted. He's a student I'm proud of." Muyue praised with a smile, then took a sip of tea.

Before he became a nutjob, Obito really could be called warmhearted and kind.

"Grandma!" Obito couldn't help but protest. What did she mean by "drops the ball"? He was perfectly reliable!

"I remember when Obito was three years old, he was still…"

"Grandma, didn't you leave some laundry outside and forget to bring it in? Let's go get it together, or it might rain." Cold sweat poured down Obito's forehead as he quickly spoke up. If she said it out loud, he'd have to automatically learn Earth Release and burrow into the ground.

"I think I did forget something." Obito's grandmother thought for a moment and realized she had indeed forgotten something.

"I can go alone. You stay and chat with your teacher and friends, Obito." The grandmother said with a smile.

Obito originally wanted to help, but his grandmother insisted. Figuring the laundry was just in the yard, Obito obeyed and sat back down to continue chatting with everyone.

"What was it when he was three?" Might Guy rubbed his chin, looking intensely curious.

"Nothing—just that I still couldn't write when I was three." Obito brushed it off casually.

"I always thought Obito and his grandmother had a great relationship. Their daily life must be very warm." Rin said softly with a smile.

"Heh heh, well, my grandmother raised me after all." Obito scratched his head and grinned sheepishly.

Kakashi wanted to press further about what Obito was doing at three, because his answer felt very evasive, but thinking that today was Obito's birthday, he decided to let it go for now and ask when the need arose.

Shisui couldn't quite join the conversation because he hadn't been raised by direct relatives. By the time he started forming memories, his grandparents, father, and mother were all gone.

"Obito, want to try guessing what gifts everyone prepared for you?" Muyue noticed the silence from Shisui and Kakashi, so she spoke up with a smile.

Whether the shinobi world was too cruel or they were simply unlucky, among the people here, four had lost both parents. Might Guy had a father but no mother. Only Rin still had both parents alive.

"Guy, yours must be a jumpsuit." Obito started with the easiest guess—Might Guy.

"As expected of you, Obito! You guessed it!" Might Guy said, looking shocked.

"Because you always like giving that, right?" Kakashi couldn't help but quip. Ever since he'd known Might Guy from school, every time he saw him he was wearing that green jumpsuit, and when he grew taller, he just switched to a bigger size.

"Is that so?" Might Guy scratched his head and fell into thought.

Since Kakashi had already voiced the quip, Obito moved on to the next person.

"Rin, would yours be flowers you grew yourself?" Obito asked uncertainly.

"No." Rin shook her head, indicating Obito guessed wrong.

"Could it be a handmade craft?" Obito continued guessing.

"That's too broad—you can't do that." Rin laughed and shook her head again.

"Forget it, I can't guess. I'll just wait until you give it to me, Rin." Obito scratched his hair and decided to guess the next person.

"Shisui, is your gift related to training?" Obito asked first.

"No relation." Shisui shook his head slightly in reply.

"Could it be a notebook with cultivation experience?" Obito thought about it and asked, since Shisui was a super genius.

"No. If that were the case, it would be better to ask Teacher Muyue directly." Shisui denied Obito's guess again.

Another miss. Obito's head throbbed. He switched to someone else and asked Kakashi:

"Kakashi, yours definitely has to be something related to training, right?"

"It has nothing to do with training at all." Kakashi replied calmly.

Obito felt his brain itch. Why was it different from what he thought? Kakashi and Shisui were supposed to be pragmatists—how could he keep guessing wrong?

"Don't you want to guess what my gift is?" Yue asked with a chuckle.

"No, no, I feel like it'd be too hard to guess. I'll just leave it as a surprise," Obito said, giving up on guessing the gift. But after this, he looked forward even more to everyone's presents.

Next came preparing dinner. Although Obito's grandmother said that guest Yue didn't need to help in the kitchen, Yue still managed to persuade her and ended up cooking a few dishes himself. The other disciples also helped as much as they could. Kakashi, who could cook, handled the ingredients, while those who couldn't do anything else washed vegetables and dishes.

"I never knew you had such a skill, sensei. If Obito could learn even a third of your cooking ability, I wouldn't worry about him not finding a wife in the future," his grandmother said, amazed after tasting Yue's cooking.

She didn't know about Yue's ninja abilities, but his cooking was the most incredible she had ever seen in her entire life.

"Grandma, this is delicious, have some more." Obito, feeling a headache coming on, quickly placed some of Yue's dishes into his grandmother's bowl, hoping she would enjoy the food and let him get through his birthday safely.

"Having a partner like Teacher Yue would really be wonderful. Every meal would be a happiness," Rin said with a blissful smile after taking a bite.

"Teacher Yue, I want to learn this!" Obito shouted in his mind.

Hearing Rin's words, Obito really wanted to ask Yue to add cooking to the training schedule.

"After eating Teacher Yue's cooking, I feel my youth burning even more intensely!" Might Guy said, giving a thumbs-up.

Kakashi, who already had some cooking skills, nodded. Yue's cooking was so delicious that he suspected there was some special cooking jutsu involved.

"Teacher Yue's cooking lets you truly feel the thoughts of the ingredients," Shisui remarked. Eating Yue's cooking was always a delight for him.

"I'm glad you all like it," Yue said with a warm smile.

The chef skill helped him far more than some proficiency-level skills—it was truly a miraculous way to boost favorability.

After the meal, they cleared the table, set up the cake, and started the gift-giving part.

"Custom-made jumpsuit, tailored just for you. Training in this will definitely double your results!" Might Guy said, presenting a green jumpsuit slightly different from his own, introducing it to Obito.

"Thanks, Guy. I can feel your sincerity. I'll cherish it," Obito said with a smile as he accepted the gift.

He could tell that Might Guy really wanted him to train in the jumpsuit, but its deadly green color made Obito hesitate.

"Here, happy birthday," Rin said with a smile, handing Obito a piece of paper.

"It's a hand-drawn picture," Obito said curiously, bringing it closer to his eyes. He saw a scene of them playing together from a few days ago.

There was an image of him and Kakashi competing to net fish, and another of them dueling with shuriken throws.

"Rin, why didn't you draw yourself?" Obito looked left and right, puzzled, because he only saw himself and Kakashi, not Rin. He asked with a confused expression.

A picture with only him and Kakashi—it would have been better if it were just him alone.

"Because that day you and Kakashi were only focused on playing with each other and forgot about me, so I'm not there," Rin said, puffing her cheeks slightly as if a little annoyed.

"Ah? Rin, don't be angry. Actually, it's because..." Obito was stunned, his hands flailing involuntarily, and then he couldn't think of how to explain.

Then Obito saw Rin smile.

Rin placed her left hand lightly in front of her mouth and held out a palm-sized sculpture with her right hand, handing it to Obito as she said with a smile:

"I'm not angry, just joking. This is the real birthday gift. Obito, don't you want to become Hokage? I believe you'll definitely succeed, so I made you a stone statue in advance."

Obito looked at Rin's palm. The sculpture, though small, was lifelike, perfectly capturing his smile.

Obito's mood instantly shifted from flustered to overjoyed. Even the earthy yellow statue in Rin's palm seemed to turn a little pink.

"Rin, thank you so much! I'll treasure it well!" Obito said, nodding firmly after taking the sculpture.

Obito carefully put away the sculpture and the hand-drawn picture. Even though Rin wasn't in the drawing, it was still something she had painted, so he needed to keep it safe.

"Obito, happy birthday. This is my gift," Shisui said, handing Obito a silver kunai.

"Isn't this the same kunai I gave you before? You don't have to do this. Although this kunai had sentimental value to me, once I gave it to you, it gained a new meaning," Obito said, waving his hand.

He had indeed been a little reluctant when he gave that kunai to Shisui before, because it was the first time he had won first place, and it happened when Kakashi was participating and Rin was watching.

But since it had already been given as a gift, the kunai had become proof of the bond between him and Shisui. Taking it back wouldn't be right.

"It's not yours. This is the one I got from winning first place in a competition," Shisui explained.

"Isn't the Youth Ninja Tournament held once a year?" Obito asked, puzzled. Shisui's age would certainly allow him to participate.

"Maybe the last one had a good outcome, so now it's held twice a year. I remembered you liked this kind of kunai, so when I passed by and saw the event, I joined and got first place," Shisui replied with an easy smile.

Hearing Shisui's words, Obito felt like Shisui hadn't gone to compete for a first place—he had just gone shopping for a first place.

"That's thoughtful of you. I really like it. Thank you very much." Obito said in thanks.

Given Shisui's strength, his words really weren't an issue—if he entered the Young Ninja Tournament now, he'd just be stocking up, easily dominating the whole field with a simple Fire Release.

"Now we both have first-place prize kunai, carrying the bond between us two Uchiha geniuses!" Obito grinned, raising a fist.

Kakashi forcibly suppressed his urge to spar with Obito and also presented his gift.

"Happy birthday." Kakashi said flatly, then handed Obito a camera.

Obito's eyes lit up when he saw Kakashi's gift—he really wanted a camera to record the scenery from missions and his daily life.

"Didn't know what to get, saw cameras on sale at the shop, so I bought one." Kakashi added, as if afraid Obito might misunderstand.

Obito couldn't tell whether Kakashi was being truthful or not—last mission he'd mentioned wanting a camera, and now Kakashi gave him one as a gift.

If it were Rin, he'd be sure she was too embarrassed to say it outright, but with Kakashi, he couldn't be sure.

"My gift is also a kunai, but I made it myself. With the experience from last time, the appearance is much better this time." Muyue smiled as he took out his gift—a white kunai engraved with a dragon pattern.

Obito took the kunai, and before even examining it closely, he could already feel how much care Muyue had put into this gift.

The shape of the kunai was mostly the same as a standard issue one, but its appearance far surpassed ordinary kunai—both sides of the blade had intricate, majestic flying dragon patterns, carved in exquisite detail, with the dragons' expressions full of life.

Upon closer inspection, Obito discovered that the two sides of the kunai were engraved with the characters "Obito," and the handle bore the Uchiha clan emblem.

"Muyue-sensei, you've gone to so much trouble—spending all that time training us every day and still preparing such a heartfelt gift. A kunai this detailed must have taken you ages." Obito said solemnly, expressing his gratitude to Muyue.

In truth, when Shisui received his gift, he had already thought it would be nice to get something similar. Last time Muyue asked what gift he wanted, he almost answered that he wanted a ninja tool personally forged by Muyue-sensei.

But thinking of how much Muyue had already given him, Obito couldn't bring himself to say it, so he just said he would like whatever Muyue gave him.

"Not really, actually I used a Shadow Clone to forge it—there's quite a lot to take care of, after all." Muyue explained with a carefree smile.

Muyue's explanation only made Obito more touched—it wasn't like he didn't know how to use Shadow Clone; he knew exactly what it was.

Forging with a Shadow Clone is just as tiring as forging with the original—the exhaustion eventually returns to the original body, and since the original is doing other things at the same time, it only adds to the fatigue.

Then Muyue took out four photos and handed them to Obito with a smile:

"Obito, back during the mission you regretted not bringing a camera, right? I managed to get some photos from that place. From now on, just make sure to record whatever you want to remember."

These photos were taken after Muyue returned to Leaf—he bought a camera and had a Shadow Clone go to the Land of Rivers to take them. The spot was exactly the same, but there were only scenery shots, no people.

"Muyue-sensei, I'm so grateful! I love your birthday gift!" Obito couldn't help hugging Muyue, a hint of moisture in his eyes.

He really hadn't expected Muyue to remember the desert scenery thing—he had only mentioned it in passing.

A personally forged ornate kunai and four photos—Obito could deeply feel Muyue's care for him.

4.2k, total today 8.2k. Got a bit dizzy toward the end. If anyone sees mistakes, leave a comment—I'll fix them tomorrow.