Chapter 254: Disciples Want to Win Muyue's Favor

In the afternoon of the week before the graduation exam, Obito, Kakashi, and the others who had finished training did not go home but gathered together at the dumpling shop.

"No one here doesn't eat these, right?" Obito asked before ordering.

Seeing everyone nod, Obito ordered five portions of dumplings from the owner, then casually found a seat near the back of the shop and sat down.

"You all know what this is about, right?" Obito looked left and right, then spoke in a serious, low voice.

"Mm, I know. It's about that." Rin Nohara nodded and replied softly.

"Oh, it's about that." Might Guy also followed in a low voice.

"Isn't it just discussing how to hold a thank-you party for Muyue-sensei? Do we have to act like we're on a secret mission?" Kakashi couldn't help but tease.

Because Obito and the others were about to graduate, their time to meet Muyue would decrease after graduation. And although Kakashi had already graduated long ago, he would also join a new team due to the team's disbandment, and he wouldn't be able to see Muyue every day like this anymore.

So they discussed for a while and decided to hold a thank-you party for Muyue to thank him for his teaching and help.

Although Shisui neither graduated nor was in the internship team, he definitely wanted to participate in something like this.

"Seeing Obito so serious, I thought I'd play along with him." Rin revealed an embarrassed smile as she explained.

"I thought they were integrating secrecy into daily life as training." Might Guy admitted he had misunderstood.

"I'm just worried about bumping into someone who knows Muyue-sensei and having him find out in advance." Obito thought staying alert was important.

"How could it be that coincidental—bumping into someone right at the dumpling shop and having them overhear?" Kakashi looked speechless, feeling that Obito's seriousness was misplaced; if only he had this kind of alertness during missions.

Obito wanted to say something more, but Shisui on the side couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up:

"None of that matters. Let's hurry and discuss the specifics."

He understood Obito and Kakashi—once those two started arguing, it wouldn't stop for a while.

With Shisui mediating as the middleman, both gave Shisui face and stopped arguing.

Although Shisui was two years younger than them, his outstanding performance in all aspects prevented Kakashi and Obito from treating him like a first-year student.

"How about we set the time for right after the graduation exam ends?" Obito asked for everyone's opinion.

"I think that's good. When you pass the exam, the teacher will directly hand out the headbands. We can wear the headband and thank Muyue-sensei for teaching us." Rin smiled with her hands clasped.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Obito nodded with a sly grin.

Originally at the bottom of the class, thanks to Muyue's teaching he was now graduating with excellent results and could thank Muyue while wearing the headband.

"I have no problem with that." Kakashi gave a slight nod to indicate he had no objections.

For him, the choice of time wasn't particularly important since there wasn't any special occasion.

"Feels great—just thinking about it gets me excited." Might Guy could barely hold back tears of emotion just from imagining it.

"It works." Shisui agreed. He didn't have a better time option, so he went along with it.

With the time decided, the next topic was the specific content of the thank-you party.

"We definitely need to give gifts, but do you think it's better to give one gift together or each give one individually?" Obito asked.

Kakashi looked thoughtful, but Shisui quickly gave the perfect answer.

"Why choose? Everyone gives one individually, and then we also give one together—why not do both?" Shisui thought that since they didn't conflict, they could have it all.

"Shisui, you've got a point." Obito thought it over and realized he had indeed fallen into a blind spot—there was no need to choose; they could do both.

What each person wanted to give was personal privacy and didn't need discussion, but what the five of them would give together was indeed a problem.

"We could start with Muyue-sensei's preferences. You've known him longer, so you go first." Kakashi gave a suggestion and then quietly looked at everyone.

Although he had a good impression of Muyue, Kakashi had only spent a little over three months with him. He thought Obito and the others might know Muyue better.

As the first to get to know Muyue, Shisui fell into thought. Muyue liked watching them grow stronger and improve, but that obviously couldn't be a physical gift.

He recalled the details of his interactions with Muyue, trying to find something from them.

The most obvious hobby was calligraphy. Shisui had heard that Muyue basically practiced calligraphy in the office every afternoon, and occasionally Muyue would give them his calligraphy works.

But Shisui wanted to dig deeper, so he tried harder to recall and analyze what Muyue might like from his memories.

But when he tried hard to analyze, he suddenly realized he couldn't figure it out at all.

In his memory, Muyue always taught them with a gentle smile, not only in ninjutsu and taijutsu but also helping them resolve any negative emotions they had.

Since they were the ones being helped, they actually didn't know much about Muyue—only his personality and character; many other things they only half-understood.

"Maybe if I grow a bit more and become stronger, I'll discover more," Shisui thought to himself.

If Muyue faced a difficulty of his own level, the current Shisui definitely wouldn't be able to help.

"Teacher Muyue likes calligraphy and enjoys teaching students," Shisui finally said.

For now, those were the only two things he could mention; he didn't know anything else.

"Those are indeed Teacher Muyue's preferences, but can't anyone think of something more subtle?" Obito scratched his head and asked.

Many people in the ninja academy knew that Muyue liked calligraphy—it was a rather obvious hobby of his, and he had even given Muyue a writing brush before.

But Obito felt that since the five of them were preparing a gift together, they should put in a bit more effort; buying one brush together seemed a bit perfunctory.

"I remember Teacher Muyue once said he likes egg dishes. What if we make an egg dish for him together?" Might Guy said seriously, stroking his chin.

He might not remember the names of people he wasn't familiar with, but he usually remembered everything about Muyue clearly.

"Can you all cook?" Obito thought the idea might work, so he asked.

Shisui and Kakashi nodded. Although Shisui was young, due to special circumstances, he had learned to take care of his own meals early on.

Might Guy shook his head; he had only proposed the idea but couldn't cook at the moment.

Rin Nohara also shook her head in denial. Her parents were both alive and she was still in school—there was no need for her to cook, so she hadn't yet mastered the skill.

"I can't either. So it's just Shisui and Kakashi. Forget it—we can't let only the two of them do all the work," Obito finally decided to abandon what seemed like a promising idea.

Then Obito kept recalling his memories with Muyue, trying to find inspiration for a gift.

And then he realized it was really hard—after thinking over and over, only calligraphy seemed reliable.

"Actually, I don't think we need to overthink it. Maybe Teacher Muyue doesn't have any other hobbies," Rin Nohara said after a moment of thought.

"We just need to convey our gratitude to Teacher Muyue."

"Besides, there's still a week left. We can also ask other teachers or Teacher Muyue's friends," Rin Nohara said with a gentle smile.

"That's true." Hearing Rin Nohara's words, Obito's earlier restlessness calmed down.

There were still seven days. They could ask teachers who were close to Muyue. If they couldn't find anything, they would just do their best with what they could—convey their feelings.

While the group was chatting and discussing, the shop owner brought five portions of dango to the table one by one.

"You're lucky, Shisui—you met Teacher Muyue as soon as you started school." Looking at Shisui, who was as calm as ever, Obito picked up a skewer of dango and shoved it into his mouth, speaking with some envy.

If he could have met Muyue earlier, maybe he would be much stronger now, and could have spent more time with Muyue.

Shisui's lips curled up slightly, and he smiled reassuringly: "Even though we've graduated, we're all Teacher Muyue's students. You can still come to him for training just like before."

Obito naturally knew that. If graduation meant he would never see Muyue again, he might deliberately fail and delay graduation for a few years.

"Kakashi, are genin who just graduated busy?" Obito asked the only official ninja present.

He wanted to compare his life with that of an actual ninja and their training.

"It's pretty much like when you first started training—training every day, and you can't take missions above D-rank," Kakashi replied.

In Kakashi's impression, that was what being a ninja meant—either training or carrying out missions every day.

"Of course, it depends on the arrangement of the team leader," Kakashi added.

"I hope they give us a hands-off teacher, so I can keep training with Teacher Muyue like before," Obito clasped his hands together and prayed.

In Obito's mind, having Muyue as his team leader would be the best option, but he had already asked Muyue, and Muyue said he had no intention of becoming a team leader for now.

"That's not possible. If they were hands-off, they wouldn't be team leaders. And Teacher Muyue also has to teach classes," Kakashi poured cold water on Obito.

"Anything is possible. You really have no dreams. I feel sorry for your future teammates—having to train and complete missions with someone as boring as you," Obito said indignantly.

Even if Muyue's main body was busy, couldn't he spare a Shadow Clone to teach him?

"I'm the one who feels sorry for your future teammates—having to complete missions with someone daydreaming all day like you," Kakashi shot back.

3k, writing state wasn't good, got stuck here and there while writing.