Chapter 84: New System Mechanic

Saturday morning.

Because he had agreed with Minato and Kushina to teach them how to make squirrel-shaped mandarin fish in detail, Muyue sent a shadow clone to guide his disciples, while his main body taught Minato and Kushina how to cook at their home in the main district of Konoha.

The reason he didn't switch things around—having the shadow clone teach cooking while the main body taught the disciples—was mainly because the shadow clone lacked the chef skill's buff.

The shadow clone could use all the ninjutsu Muyue knew, but skills like cooking and teaching didn't provide any bonus to the shadow clone.

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

"When preparing the fish, first make a diagonal cut behind the gills and sever the spine."

Muyue cut off the fish head, then reminded:

"After removing the head, trim it a bit—cut off the gill cover here so it'll hold its shape when fried, and look much nicer when arranged on the plate."

"No wonder mine never looked good—so there's this step." Kushina's face lit up with sudden understanding.

When dealing with the fish meat, Muyue warned the two to be very careful with their strength: cut down to four-fifths of the thickness but don't break the skin, otherwise the appearance would already be a failure.

"The seventh stage is called River Sprint. He needs to sprint from one riverbank to the other within a time limit while falling into the water." Muyue explained.

Early the next morning.

The difficulty of learning that dish definitely wasn't ranked—Minato felt that dish, the Squirrel Kushina, was at least B-rank.

Obito didn't hesitate and charged straight in, relying on his extremely fast speed to cross without injury.

Muyue's calm voice reached Obito's ears.

"We followed step by step, so why is the result still so different?" Kushina felt that her and Minato's finished products were still far from Muyue's.

He immediately added that dish to the menu for when Jiraiya came back.

After Obito did some warm-up exercises, Muyue brought Obito to the challenge area he had set up.

"Hahaha, awesome!" Obito couldn't help jumping up and cheering, laughing out loud, no longer worried about losing points or having to do a hundred problems.

Just as Muyue was about to say something, the system suddenly popped up a prompt.

At this step, Muyue took out two fish he had prepared in advance for Kushina and Minato to try.

【Reward obtained: Magic Mapo Tofu】

"Speaking of sealing techniques, how is your Eight-Angle Seal practice coming along, Muyue?" Kushina asked.

"Teacher Muyue, I'm ready! This time I will definitely succeed!"

"That's the finish line. I still have two points to spare. Careful me is still pretty amazing." Obito strode toward the finish line with a swaggering gait.

Only then did Muyue appear and say, "Even though only one point is left, it's still a success."

Minato did okay, maybe afraid of cutting the meat too deep, he cut a bit too shallow; Kushina's side directly cut through the fish skin.

"Before you start, I'll release a certain level of interference with ninjutsu on the river surface." Muyue said with a smile.

"Is it that simple?" Obito looked delighted.

Obito's face once again lit up with a bright smile.

"But Teacher Muyue said that once I finish the taijutsu challenge, I can learn it, right?" Obito asked in confusion.

At that moment, Obito was overflowing with satisfaction. Through his own hard training and careful, not-at-all-lucky passage through the obstacles, nothing could be more satisfying—full of accomplishment.

Having passed the place where he had failed before, Obito relaxed a lot, a confident smile appearing on his face.

"Are you ready?" Muyue asked Obito with a smile, slowly taking out three test papers from a scroll.

"Muyue, thank you for your trouble this time, spending most of the day teaching us how to cook." Minato said with a gentle smile.

"The progress is acceptable. The time it took to finally master the technique should be about what I estimated." Kushina nodded after listening. "That's a positive."

"Teaching cooking counts as teaching? And teaching two people also triggers the lecture reward?" Two doubts instantly popped into Muyue's mind.

"Finally, just like Shisui and Gai, I've learned Shunpo."

"That's right, you finished the taijutsu challenge, but you only completed the first stage, Forest Sprint. The second stage hasn't even been done yet." Muyue explained.

【Lecture complete】

"This is really troublesome." Mu Yue was very satisfied inwardly.

"There's still no clue yet." Mu Yue shared his cultivation insights from the past eight days.

With the experience from the first time, Jiu Guiyu cut eight times before breaking the fish skin, which was considered a relatively small improvement.

However, Dai Tu didn't last more than eight seconds. He hadn't finished speaking for long before he fell straight into the small pit Mu Yue had dug.

Seeing Dai Tu so lacking in confidence, Mu Yue gave the ticket fee to Dai Tu and finished setting up the venue.

Since the crushing defeat last Saturday, I have been training hard for a week. Dai Tu chose to doubt his training results.

"Teacher Mu Yue, I want to start the seventh level challenge." Dai Tu wanted to finish the challenge quickly and end the shaving practice.

Having learned from the last lesson, Dai Tu did not look back at the Shadow Clone, but constantly watched his own 【Heaven's Will】 for traps and mechanisms.

The judgment of the lecture might not only be based on the number of people; the strength of the taught also has a certain weight. Although I only taught Shuimen and Jiu Guiyu, their strength is very high.

Relying on his cautious attitude, Dai Tu arrived at the small pendulum level where he had failed last time without triggering a single trap. There, a large number of thick trees swinging back and forth could appear at any time.

Having obtained Mu Yue's approval, Dai Tu's expression was very relaxed. Isn't it just Water Dragon Bullet plus water walking? Training that was completed long ago.

Shuimen was quite satisfied. He had actually completed a dish that looked so simple.

In terms of cooking, Jiu Guiyu would call Mu Yue the strongest, but when it comes to sealing techniques, Jiu Guiyu felt that the entire ninja world could not find anyone stronger than him.

The latter was unpleasant but acceptable, while the former was a bit terrifying.

"From now on, the step of cutting the fish will be left to Shuimen." Jiu Guiyu said solemnly, in order not to waste Mu Yue's time, Jiu Guiyu decided to temporarily stop struggling with the fish.

Isn't that water walking? For me now, it's too heaven-defying.

But just as Dai Tu was about to walk to the kunai, he was suddenly lifted up. What he didn't expect was that there was still a trap next to the finish line!

"As long as you get serious, that challenge is no big deal."

Dai Tu quickly jumped out of the small pit, then ran all the way carefully, no longer daring to be careless.

Afterwards, he also explained why the Heavenly Causality was not triggered, and why the teaching punishment was not invoked when instructing disciples.

Fortunately, Mu Yue was well prepared, and he took another fish for Jiu Lingting to try.

That lecture settlement was somewhat beyond Mu Yue's expectations, and the reward was also a bit abstract. It turned out to be a recipe, and if he remembered correctly, it was a recipe from "Cooking Master Boy".

That kind of teaching was very slow. By the time noon came, Mu Yue had not yet made a Sky-Dependent Squirrel Xinnai with Jiu Lingting and Shuimen; they had only almost completed the step-by-step instruction.

"Deduct one point." Mu Yue's voice once again reached Dai Tu's ears.

"If the meat is too tough, would he eat it?" Mu Yue showed a helpless smile.

It wasn't until a little after two in the afternoon that Mu Yue, along with the two, made their own Squirrel Xinnai.

"There's nothing troublesome about it. You two often solve my doubts about sealing techniques as well." Mu Yue replied with a smile, indicating that the two didn't need to mind.

After careful thought, Mu Yue had some guesses.

Accustomed to running with weights, after not carrying weights, Dai Tu felt his body was incredibly light, and his running speed suddenly became fast.

"Deduct one point."

Dai Tu quickly extricated himself from the trap, not daring to laugh anymore. He was afraid that if he laughed again, he would laugh away the last point and laugh out three test papers.

Dai Tu carefully checked the surroundings before crossing the finish line.

Mu Yue nodded. It was indeed Water Dragon Bullet, but the number was a little too large.

"After all, you are beginners. With more practice, the appearance should be better." Shuimen said.

Seeing the three test papers appear in Mu Yue's hand, Dai Tu's face instantly fell. No matter what, he didn't want to do problems.

【Evaluation: B】

After running carefully for a long time, Dai Tu saw a kunai inserted into a wooden stake. On the kunai was tied a flag with "finish line" written on it.

The price of carelessness was too heavy. Not only did he have to restart the challenge, but he also had to add another hundred problems.

Jiu Guiyu and Shuimen each tasted a bite of the Squirrel Lingting they made, and both showed satisfied smiles. Although it looked a bit ugly, the taste was still very good.

"Same as before, keep walking east and you'll see the finish line." Mu Yue reminded.

It could be considered done, as the difference in form between the sky and the ground was relatively small.

Obito nodded, then directly used all his strength to sprint in the direction Yue Mu pointed.

"Yue Mu also said to you all, it's no trouble at all, no need to be polite, it's a simple favor." Jiugui Yu said with a quiet laugh.

Obito came very early, for the first time arriving at the training ground earlier than Shisui.

You are someone who truly understands gratitude. Just now, Yue Mu taught you and Minato to cook so earnestly and meticulously, and Jiugui Yu also played along.

"Go back and write down some insights from your subsequent training of the Sealing Technique, and give it to him when you're done." Jiugui Yu said after thinking.

In the evening, Obito belatedly told Yue Mu that he wanted to apply to start the Taijutsu Challenge again on Sunday.

"Who told him he can't learn Shave now?" Yue Mu asked in confusion.

As for why it didn't trigger during the later cooking lesson, Yue Mu felt it was because the timing and depth of teaching had reached a sufficient level.

"Haha, this fish meat is too soft, it cuts apart with one slice. Yue Mu, do you have any fish with firmer meat?" Jiu Lingting tried to find the reason from the fish itself.

"Or is it Water Dragon Bullet?" Obito asked.

Obito thought for a moment, and finally found the relevant memory from some corner, and indeed there was no such thing!

But when Obito looked at Might Guy and Shisui, who were practicing Shave nearby, and then recalled yesterday's conversation, Obito's fighting spirit instantly ignited and he said:

The teaching continued to progress; Yue Mu explained each step in great detail, and immediately after finishing, he had the two of them practice.

However, during the meal, it was still Yue Mu's squirrel Shinna that was eaten first. What I made was not bad, but Yue Mu's was too fragrant—I simply couldn't resist.

Since there is no saved draft, all five chapters were written while staying up late, so there might be some confusion. Everyone can just leave comments in the chapter sections, and I will read them.