Chapter 245: Sparring with a Sage (7k)

"Since you say you're an immortal, do you have any especially amazing skills?" Obito looked Jiraiya up and down and asked.

In Obito's mind, only someone exceptionally powerful could be called an immortal, like the Sage of Six Paths, the creation deity recorded in textbooks, or the immortal Muyue who always helped him.

If the Shadow Clone Technique could be used to solve problems without feeding back memories, Obito would be willing to call Tobirama Senju the Clone Immortal, but after discovering the massive drawback of shadow clones, he considered Tobirama Senju unworthy.

"I can enter Sage Mode and use immensely powerful Sage Arts!" Jiraiya said with a proud expression.

As a child, he was unremarkable, with teammates who were Tsunade and Orochimaru—Tsunade being the granddaughter of the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, blessed with the Senju bloodline and naturally enormous chakra, while Orochimaru, though a commoner like him, had exceptional talent and learned everything quickly; compared to them, Jiraiya was as mediocre as a dead last.

But now it was different—although all three had signed summoning contracts with the three great sacred places through their respective encounters, Jiraiya was the only one who could use Sage Mode.

Even though he needed the assistance of the two sages, Shima and Fukasaku, to use it, there was a fundamental difference between being able to use it and not.

In the past, he trained alone, suffering while tied to a pillar; now, he had mastered Sage Mode and numerous Sage Arts, and he was confident he could defeat any Konoha ninja except Hiruzen Sarutobi, including Tsunade and Orochimaru.

"What is that? It sounds like just mastering a powerful jutsu?" Obito said, indicating that alone wasn't enough to be called an immortal—it wasn't as if he had created Sage Mode himself.

"I can see you don't understand at all. But if you're unconvinced, how about going one-on-one with my student?" Jiraiya suggested with a grin.

Explaining Sage Mode and Sage Arts to a child was too troublesome.

"Fine, then, Toad Uncle, call your student out." Obito thought Jiraiya's student would be around his age and agreed outright.

"Minato, someone wants to fight you one-on-one. Come over here!" Jiraiya shouted to Minato with a laugh.

"Huh?" Obito looked at the face that bore some resemblance to Muyue and was dumbfounded—how was he supposed to fight this?

He had never seen Minato fight, but he had seen Minato use the Flying Thunder God Technique and disappear in an instant.

Moreover, Muyue had once said that Minato was extremely strong, surpassing many Konoha jōnin.

Obito did have a record of defeating a jōnin, but he had done so working with teammates, not alone, and Minato was among the elite jōnin.

"What do you think, goggles kid? Scared?" Jiraiya looked at Obito with a teasing smile.

"I'm not scared, but your student has trained for many more years than I have. It's unfair." Obito thought he wouldn't necessarily lose if they were the same age.

"Jiraiya-sensei, don't tease Muyue's student." Minato walked over with a helpless expression. How could he actually fight Muyue's student?

Jiraiya laughed a few times and stopped teasing Obito; he just found Obito an interesting kid.

"Muyue, are you interested in discussing cuisine with the sages of Mount Myōboku?" Jiraiya then remembered his promise to Shima-sage and asked Muyue.

"Those are the two sages I summoned during that fight earlier." Jiraiya briefly explained Mount Myōboku's existence to Muyue.

"Shima-sage and Fukasaku-sage are both sages who have lived for over eight hundred years. They are widely knowledgeable, immensely powerful, and have mastered all kinds of sage techniques." To pique Muyue's interest, Jiraiya emphasized the two sages' strength.

A glint of thought flashed in Muyue's eyes.

Based on Kurohaba's reaction, the food he made with his chef skills was also highly lethal to summon beasts, and it should work on the Mount Myōboku toads as well. Building goodwill shouldn't be hard, but Muyue was somewhat concerned about the Great Toad Sage.

The Great Toad Sage possessed a very mystical ability: he could see the future through dreams. In the original story, almost all of his prophecies came true, making him quite accurate with predictions.

Muyue found it somewhat difficult to understand the ability of prophecy. At this point, he could already be considered a master of ninjutsu, having mastered many nature transformations. He could understand why the Tailed Beast Ball had the terrifying power to destroy a city in one blow, and why Amaterasu could keep burning continuously, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how one could see the future.

Muyue thought the ability to see the future was terrifying. If the future could be observed, then wasn't everything predetermined? Even observing the future itself was something destined to happen.

"I'll find out soon enough whether the future can be changed." Muyue stopped his divergent thoughts and steadied his mind.

In the future without him, Might Duy would open the Eight Gates and die for Might Guy, Obito would turn into a madman and cause the deaths of Minato and Kushina, and Shisui would be ambushed by Danzo and then commit suicide.

But if they kept training at his pace, by the time Kirigakure and Konoha went to war, Might Guy would at least have constant Breathing Method and the Five Gates of the Eight Gates; there would certainly be no need for Might Duy to open the Death Gate.

Shisui's situation was easy to deal with. By that time, not to mention what level Muyue himself would have reached, even Shisui would far surpass his original counterpart and wouldn't be so easy to ambush.

Muyue felt the hardest problem to handle was Obito, because what happened to Obito wasn't due to war—the root cause was that he had caught the attention of Madara Uchiha.

At this stage, Muyue had no foolproof solution; he could only do his best to improve Obito's and Kakashi's strength. With greater strength, they could handle more dangers—that was a beneficial and harmless thing.

"Very interested. Sages who have lived over eight hundred years must have profound insights into cuisine." Muyue nodded with a smile.

Although he was somewhat wary of the Great Toad Sage's prophetic ability, contacting Mount Myōboku had more advantages than disadvantages.

To increase his strength, Sage Mode was an excellent choice. Among the three great sacred places where one could learn sage techniques, Muyue believed Mount Myōboku was currently the best option.

As for Shikkotsu Forest, he would have to get on good terms with Tsunade, which wasn't easy, and the Sage Mode of Shikkotsu Forest was not clearly shown in the original story.

As for Ryūchi Cave, Orochimaru was too dangerous. Muyue had many secrets and didn't want to arouse Orochimaru's interest for now.

After comprehensive consideration, Muyue agreed to the cooking discussion that Jiraiya had mentioned.

It wasn't certain whether Mount Myoboku would sign a contract with him or not, but since there was a chance to improve their impression, he might as well take it. Having more friends was never a bad thing.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Seeing that Muyue had agreed, Jiraiya performed the Summoning Jutsu to summon the two Toad Sages.

"Little Jiraiya, why did you summon us at this time?" Fukasaku Sage, seeing that they were not in battle, asked with a puzzled expression.

"Yeah, I was just about to go to sleep. I have to wake up early tomorrow to make breakfast," Shima Sage said with a yawn.

"Didn't I say earlier that after the battle I would introduce you to a cooking master? His name is Hanyu Muyue. I've traveled all over the Ninja World and never tasted cooking better than his," Jiraiya introduced Muyue to the two sages with a solemn expression.

He genuinely believed that Muyue's cooking had reached an unsurpassable peak. Not only had he never eaten anything as delicious as Muyue's, Jiraiya even felt he had never tasted cooking that was even half as good as Muyue's.

"His cooking skill is worthy of being called the best in the Ninja World!"

"Best in the Ninja World?" Fukasaku Sage showed a surprised expression, not expecting Jiraiya to hold Muyue's cooking in such high regard.

"I dare not claim to be the best. Perhaps in some unknown mountain there is a cooking master superior to me," Muyue said modestly. Admitting to being number one was a bit too boastful.

"Indeed, the culinary skills of us housewives in the mountains should not be underestimated," Shima Sage said, looking at Muyue with more favorable eyes.

Jiraiya recalled the meals Shima Sage had once made for him and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. In a certain sense, they were indeed not to be underestimated.

"Since Little Jiraiya says you're the best in the Ninja World, let me, this housewife, compete with you, the number one chef of the Ninja World," Shima Sage said, taking an interest.

Muyue smiled and nodded in agreement.

Hearing that the two were going to have a cooking competition, Jiraiya immediately sensed trouble. He was happy to eat Muyue's cooking, but as for Shima Sage's insect feast—no thanks.

"Then let Little Jiraiya and me be the judges," Fukasaku Sage said with a smile. He thought this was quite interesting.

At Fukasaku Sage's words, Jiraiya knew he couldn't escape tonight. He had only just summoned them earlier that day to fight the Tailed Beast; how could he refuse now?

"Minato, Dekai, Shuhei, since you're all free, come and be judges too," Jiraiya coughed lightly and extended an invitation to his disciples.

"What a great opportunity!" Dekai immediately beamed with joy, feeling that Jiraiya was too kind to them—he never forgot to include them when there was food.

He had just been savoring the taste of Muyue's cooking, and now he could eat it again.

Ueyama Shuhei smiled and nodded. Though not as excited as Dekai, his thoughts were similar.

Minato also smiled and agreed. Getting to enjoy Muyue's cooking was naturally a good thing.

Although Minato had signed a contract with Mount Myoboku, he had never been there, so he didn't know that Shima Sage's meals were all insect feasts.

After dragging all three disciples into it, Jiraiya then thought of Obito, who had been sparring with him earlier.

"Since it's your teacher's competition, you should come and be a judge too," Jiraiya invited Obito.

Obito immediately agreed upon hearing this, and also brought Might Gai and Kakashi along to support Muyue.

Seeing this, Jiraiya couldn't help but snicker, as if he could foresee the looks on their faces when they saw Shima Sage's insect cooking.

"I'm going back to cook. Summon me again in an hour and a half," Shima Sage said.

Although there were insects here too, Shima Sage believed that only the insects from Mount Myoboku tasted the best. For a competition, one should use the best ingredients.

Jiraiya dispelled the Summoning Jutsu, letting the two sages return to Mount Myoboku.

After the two sages left, Muyue thought briefly, then quickly began searching for ingredients to start cooking.

During this time, Jiraiya and the others followed Muyue the whole way. Some wanted to help, while others were curious about how Muyue made such delicious food.

"It feels like everything is very skilled and smooth, but there doesn't seem to be anything too special about it," Ueyama Shuhei said, even more puzzled after watching.

"Yeah, Jiraiya-sensei, did you figure it out?" Dekai looked at Jiraiya.

"This is a technique that has reached its peak and returned to simplicity. Every step is perfectly executed. It's like training in ninjutsu: if you perfect every step in training, the ninjutsu becomes incredibly powerful," Jiraiya thought for a moment and replied.

"I see. As expected of Jiraiya-sensei," the two felt that Jiraiya's explanation made perfect sense.

"Toad Uncle, you do have good insight in this area. Muyue-sensei's cooking skill is at the level of a Cooking Sage," Obito said, looking at Jiraiya with more favor after seeing him praise Muyue.

Jiraiya had already given up correcting Obito's address. Let the kid call him whatever he wanted. Muyue's cooking skill was indeed indisputable.

An hour later, the group sat in a tent with a long table. Jiraiya used the Summoning Jutsu to summon the two sages again.

"You're in for a treat. Usually I only cook for my husband."

Shima Sage proudly brought out a feast of her homemade insect dishes and set them on the table.

Dekai looked over—there were dishes and soup, but the soup had a strange purple color with gray-green bugs as thick as an arm floating inside, and the dish was pink finger-thick insects drizzled with an unknown brown sauce.

"Ugh." Obito's throat convulsed, and he barely held back a retch. He hurriedly glanced at Muyue's cooking a few times to steady himself.

Dekai and Ueyama Shuhei both looked at Jiraiya; even Minato couldn't help giving Jiraiya a puzzled glance.

Jiraiya's eyes drifted upward—if he couldn't see it, it never happened.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I suddenly feel like I ate a big dinner and can't eat anymore." Dekai stared at the purple soup and gray-green bugs, cold sweat instantly pouring down his forehead as he tried to back out.

"If you're full, then just eat a little less. Opportunities to taste Shima Sage's cooking are rare." Jiraiya implied that running away wasn't an option.

"Seriously, won't drinking that soup kill you?" Obito couldn't help asking.

He even suspected poison might have been added to the soup—why else would it be that color?

"It might not be poisoned; it could just be that the bugs themselves are toxic." Looking at Shima Sage's bug feast, even the normally non-picky Might Guy couldn't help shivering.

He believed a real man shouldn't be picky, but Shima Sage's cooking really didn't look like something meant for human consumption.

"How rude! This is a nourishing broth I specially prepared—it's great for replenishing energy after training or fighting." Shima Sage said with dissatisfaction.

"That's right, Shima Sage's cooking is very beneficial for training. You all must eat a lot." Jiraiya nodded in agreement, then reached with his chopsticks toward Muyue's dishes.

Muyue had made two dishes and a soup—the soup was Jade and White Jade Soup, and the dishes were tempura and fresh wild vegetables stir-fried with meat, sourced from the area.

"I've already eaten a lot of Shima Sage's cooking during my past training, so I'll take the disadvantage and eat more of Muyue's cooking instead, leaving Shima Sage's dishes for you." After one bite of tempura, an illusion appeared in Jiraiya's mind.

Kakashi: …

Jiraiya's image continued to crumble in his mind; he could no longer imagine what Orochimaru and Tsunade were like in private.

"Jiraiya-sensei, please don't say that. You are one of the Leaf's Sannin, someone with a chance to become Hokage in the future. Your strength is too important to the Leaf. Let us take the disadvantage instead." Ueyama Shuhei smiled at Jiraiya's words, picked up a wild vegetable, and put it in his mouth.

Ueyama Shuhei instantly felt as if he had transformed into a green blade of grass merging with nature—everything was so comfortable and harmonious.

"Hokage? There's no way I'll become Hokage." Jiraiya laughed and continued picking up dishes. If Hiruzen Sarutobi really wanted him to be Hokage, he would refuse outright.

Jiraiya had not the slightest desire to become Hokage—not only because the work was too heavy and interfered with his research material, but also because he believed he had a more important mission: finding the Child of Prophecy.

"Toad uncle, you have no ambition at all. I think I can become Hokage." Obito said proudly.

"Then you need to train hard. The way you are now, you can't become Hokage." Jiraiya didn't take Obito's words seriously and encouraged him with a chuckle.

Although he himself didn't want to become Hokage, he didn't think the dream of becoming Hokage was a bad one.

"Of course! With Muyue-sensei teaching me, I'll definitely surpass your disciples in the future, and I'll surpass you too." Obito grinned.

"Youth means not being picky! A real man must be brave enough to take on challenges!" Might Guy hypnotized himself, then finally gathered his courage, picked up a red bug, and put it into his mouth to chew.

He also wanted to eat Muyue's cooking, but Might Guy felt he couldn't waste the food that Shima Sage had worked hard for an hour to prepare.

A bitter, sour, and strange, awful taste exploded in Might Guy's mouth. He clenched his teeth tightly to keep from spitting out the food.

Then Might Guy took a sip of the purple soup. He had initially braced himself to drink it until he passed out, but found that the soup tasted slightly better than the pink bugs. It was still bad, but much better than the previous bug.

If Might Guy had to describe it, the bug's taste was like unwashed stinky socks turned into a sauce, poured over mud, and eaten directly—that was about right.

"Thanks for the meal!" Might Guy smiled and gave Shima Sage a thumbs-up.

"You have good taste." Shima Sage, who had been a little displeased, began to cheer up upon seeing Might Guy's thumb.

Jiraiya didn't actually eat only Muyue's cooking—he was just joking with his disciples. He had a good relationship with the toads, so of course he would eat some. After a few bites of Muyue's food, he also drank a mouthful of the bug soup, then quickly stuffed another piece of Muyue's tempura into his mouth.

"After hundreds of years, it's still as delicious as ever." Fukasaku Sage praised after eating the insect dish.

He wasn't praising it just because Shima was his wife; he genuinely thought it tasted good.

After all, it was a competition. Although Fukasaku Sage didn't particularly like humans' strange foods, he also picked up a wild vegetable and tried it.

With that one bite, Fukasaku Sage was instantly amazed. At that moment, he felt as if he was no longer a toad but a thriving green blade of grass in nature.

"Dear, that person's cooking isn't as good as mine, is it?" Shima Sage asked.

Fukasaku Sage savored the experience for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"Although your cooking is very delicious, Little Muyue's cooking can make one comprehend the true essence of nature. The gap between you is like the difference between ordinary ninjutsu and senjutsu."

At that moment when he took a bite, Fukasaku Sage was truly shocked. In his eight hundred-plus years of life, he had never eaten such a dish—the sensation was too vivid, as if he could feel a pulse of natural energy.

"Is it really that amazing?" Shima Sage, hearing her husband praise an outsider like that, was a bit unconvinced.

So she also picked up the same wild vegetables that Fukasaku Sage had taken.

After finishing, the dissatisfaction in Shima Sage's heart vanished instantly, and her displeased expression turned into shock.

"Since when did human cooking become this delicious?" Shima Sage said, her face full of astonishment.

"And that feeling just now was so vivid—how did you do that?" After her initial surprise, Shima Sage became intensely curious.

But Shima Sage soon couldn't afford to be stunned anymore; she had to hurry up and eat before the others finished everything.

Soon Muyue's cooking was completely cleared, and Shima's insect feast was also dealt with after everyone put on expressions of facing death.

"Little Muyue, what do you think of my cooking?" Shima Sage asked Muyue about his impression after eating her dish.

"For a housewife cook, it's quite good in all aspects, but not suitable for ordinary humans to eat." Muyue adjusted his expression and commented with a smile.

"It really can't compare to your cooking, Little Muyue." Shima Sage was quite satisfied with Muyue's evaluation.

"Little Jiraiya, what do you think of Little Muyue?" Fukasaku Sage suddenly asked Jiraiya.

"Very outstanding, both in strength and other aspects." Jiraiya thought for a moment and answered.

Although he hadn't interacted much with Muyue, Muyue had left a good impression on Jiraiya.

If it were the past, maybe Jiraiya would have taken Muyue as a disciple, since having two disciples who were very similar in many ways and both excellent would indeed be very nice.

But now Jiraiya only had the search for the Child of Prophecy on his mind; once the war ended, he would continue his journey and had no time to teach Muyue.

"Then when you have time, bring Little Muyue to Mount Myōboku as a guest. I'm really looking forward to him using Mount Myōboku's ingredients to make a feast." Fukasaku Sage said with a smile.

Jiraiya somewhat understood what Fukasaku Sage meant and nodded with a big laugh, saying, "When I have time, I definitely will."

Hearing their conversation, Muyue had some guesses—maybe the two sages had taken a liking to him and thought he could become a contractor of Mount Myōboku, but since they weren't familiar with him, they had Jiraiya observe him, and if he passed, they could take him to Mount Myōboku.

Of course, it was also possible that Fukasaku Sage was genuinely craving his cooking and simply wanted him to visit Mount Myōboku as a guest.

For Muyue, either way was a win—he would just be cooking a few dishes, which was a trivial effort for him.

To prevent Iwagakure from pulling any tricks, Muyue stayed in the war camp for a few days, but nothing happened, so he said goodbye to Minato and Jiraiya.

"Minato, do you have any message for Kushina? I can go back and pass it along for you." Muyue asked with a smile.

Minato thought it over. He did have a lot he wanted to say to Kushina—he wanted to ask if it was tiring having a monster inside her, and if she felt lonely training alone. But if he had to have Muyue relay all that, he might have to write a ten-thousand-word essay. So Minato condensed a thousand words into one sentence.

"Tell her I'm fine, and to take care of herself, not to stay up late, and to eat on time."

"I'll pass it on exactly as you said." Muyue memorized every word and then nodded.

"Muyue, I've already sent word of your exploits on the battlefield back home. There might be a surprise waiting for you when you return." Jiraiya laughed heartily as he said goodbye to Muyue.

He had sent news of the great victory on the very first day after the battle ended. Jiraiya specifically wrote a separate letter to Hiruzen Sarutobi detailing Muyue's performance in the war, suggesting that they invest more in training Muyue.

"I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, Jiraiya-sama." Muyue thanked him with a gentle smile upon hearing that Jiraiya had put in a good word for him.

"If you want to thank me, just make me a big feast when I get back. Also, your three disciples are all very good—keep training them well."

Obito and the others had gotten used to following Muyue, training wherever they went. In the camp these past few days, they had kept up their training. Seeing this, Jiraiya found that all three were extremely excellent, among the strongest of their peers.

"If they keep it up, they might have a chance to become the next generation of the Sannin, though it feels odd that it wouldn't be two men and one woman." Jiraiya thought to himself.

"Minato-san, Toad Uncle, goodbye." Obito waved goodbye to Minato and Jiraiya.

Minato was as modest and excellent as Muyue; after spending a few days with him, Obito had a very good impression of Minato. As for Jiraiya, although he could be annoying sometimes, Obito felt he was still a decent person.

"Dekai-san, let's have another youthful battle full of passion when we get the chance." Might Guy gave Dekai a thumbs-up.

After discovering that Dekai was an expert in Lightning Release ninja body arts, he had challenged him once. Though he was soundly defeated, the two got along well.

"Haha, if you pick a better time, no problem." Dekai laughed heartily and agreed.

"Jiraiya-sama, Minato-san, goodbye." Kakashi politely said goodbye to each of them in turn.

After the farewells, Muyue led his disciples and returned to Konoha with the supply convoy.

On the way, Obito kept fiddling with his camera, looking at the photos he had taken.

"So there are that many kinds of plants. You really wouldn't notice if you didn't look carefully." Obito discovered that the green trees that looked similar to him actually had many varieties, with leaves all a bit different.

When he flipped to the smiling face of Minato that Jiraiya had taken, Obito couldn't help but laugh and said:

"Teacher Muyue, are you really going to take this back to show Senior Minato's girlfriend?"

Obito felt that if he showed this kind of photo to Rin Nohara, he might not dare to show his face in front of her for two days.

"This is the most precious one. She should like it." Muyue replied with a smile.

7k, let me see if I can stay up and write another chapter. If I finish it before 2:30, I'll post it. If not, I'll post it tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll definitely hit ten thousand words.

The protagonist will later develop Sage Mode on his own, but such a high-level ability certainly cannot be thought up on a whim. In the early parts, he will first come into contact with existing Sage Mode.

Asking for double monthly tickets.