"Minato, do you sll sothing?" Kushina, who was preparing to cook, suddenly caught a whiff of an incredibly enticing aroma.
"I do. It slls like sothing fried… and really good," Minato nodded.
"Yes! It's so tempting. What kind of cooking produces that kind of scent?" Kushina sniffed again, curiosity bubbling inside her.
She'd made fried dishes like Tempura before, but none of them had ever slled this good. Just the scent alone painted a golden, crispy image in her mind.
"No way, I have to check it out." Kushina wiped her hands and stepped outside.
She followed the trail of the delicious sll and found it led to the house next door—just to the right of Minato's place.
"Hey, isn't this Mugetsu's place? Minato, co out here!" she called.
If she rembered correctly, that house belonged to the new Ninja Academy teacher—Mugetsu.
They'd only known each other a few days, but he'd left a strong impression on her: golden hair and blue eyes, just like Minato. Sharp, eloquent, and an excellent teacher.
Minato stepped out, followed her line of sight, and nodded. "Yeah, that's his house."
"Let's go. We're visiting the neighbor." Kushina grabbed Minato's hand and marched over, knocking on the door.
Inside, Mugetsu had just placed a shrimp into a bowl. He set his chopsticks down and opened the wooden door.
The mont it swung open, Kushina bead.
"Mugetsu, are you making dinner?"
"Sorry to bother you," Minato added, glancing at the apron Mugetsu still had on.
"It's no trouble. I just finished cooking and was about to eat. You ca at the perfect ti." Mugetsu smiled warmly and stepped aside, inviting them in.
Kushina followed the scent straight to the table, where golden-fried Tempura sat glistening on a plate. Her eyes lit up—this was it!
But as soon as she stepped inside, she also noticed the aroma of fried rice wafting through the room.
"Mugetsu, you've been hiding your chef skills! I could sll that Tempura from next door!" she praised.
"I wouldn't say chef—just got used to cooking since I live alone," Mugetsu said modestly, pouring them water from the cabinet.
"Try so. I just made it." He laid out two extra sets of cutlery.
"Are you sure? It looks like you haven't eaten yet," Kushina asked, already eyeing the Tempura like a hawk.
"I'm starting now." Mugetsu chuckled and took a bite of Tempura from the bowl.
"Thank you, Mugetsu." Minato smiled politely.
"I'm digging in!" Kushina clapped her hands in prayer, then eagerly picked up her chopsticks and brought a steaming piece of Tempura to her lips.
"Mm!" The crisp exterior gave way to soft, tender shrimp, and her eyes went wide with surprise.
Then sothing strange happened. Kushina felt like she'd been transported—floating in the ocean, surrounded by brilliant blue water, swimming freely like a fish in a dream.
"Huh?" She blinked, shaking her head, wondering if she'd just fallen under a Genjutsu.
But there was no one nearby who could cast one…
"Mugetsu, what did you put in this? You didn't add any weird-colored mushrooms, did you?" she asked suspiciously.
She'd heard tales of ninja who picked mushrooms in the forest and ended up in the hospital, muttering nonsense about needing their leaves trimd.
"Eh? No mushrooms. Just this, and then that…" Mugetsu explained casually.
At that mont, Kushina noticed sothing odd—Minato had taken one bite of the fried rice and then gone completely quiet.
She poked him. "Minato? What's wrong?"
"Eating wild vegetables," he mumbled absently.
"What wild vegetables? There aren't even mushrooms in this!" Kushina looked at the rice—besides so egg and chopped green onions, there was nothing suspicious.
"After I ate it... I felt like I turned into a wild chicken, living freely in the mountains," Minato murmured dreamily.
Kushina now looked closely at the fried rice. Each grain was golden and plump, almost glowing.
"This is the best fried rice I've ever had," Minato said, scooping up two more spoonfuls without hesitation.
"Is it really that good? Try the Tempura next." Kushina passed him a piece as she herself dove into the fried rice.
And just like that, their expressions flipped again—shock, followed by joy.
"Mugetsu, did you develop so Ninjutsu to make food taste this good? This is crazy!" Kushina half-joked.
"If you ever open a restaurant, please let know," Minato added seriously.
He wasn't one to care for luxuries, but this food—this food gave him an experience unlike any he'd ever had.
"If you enjoy it, feel free to co by more often. It's a little lonely here by myself." Mugetsu smiled softly.
"If it's not too much trouble, we'll definitely visit! We can even cook for you next ti—though it won't compare to this." Kushina grinned.
"I look forward to it." Mugetsu nodded.
After seeing them off, Mugetsu thought to himself—this new skill really was sothing. Just a al, and he'd already established regular visits.
He headed upstairs, pulled out so books, and thought it was ti to gradually reveal more of his interests.
…
With Mugetsu's encouragent—and Asuma setting an example—Obito was fired up. By Saturday, he'd be wrapping up his control training and starting Nature Transformation.
And just like that, Mugetsu the private tutor was back in business.
"You liar!" Asuma's voice rang out in frustration.
Last week, he'd trained like his life depended on it. Exhausted himself to the bone—because he thought every ryo counted.
The harder he trained, the more resentnt he felt now that he knew the truth.
"What did I lie about?" Mugetsu asked, smiling.
"You said your fee was twenty-five thousand ryo per hour! But it's actually only two thousand!" Asuma fud.
"Did you actually lose anything?" Mugetsu asked, still smiling.
"I—" Asuma started to protest but paused. Co to think of it, he hadn't really paid twenty-five thousand…
"See? You didn't lose anything. In fact, you gained. You thought you paid two hundred thousand ryo, but you only spent sixteen thousand. That's a gain of one hundred eighty-four thousand. You should be thanking ."
"I gained…?" Asuma blinked, running the math in his head. Technically... that made sense.
"So no harm done. Let's start training," Mugetsu said calmly.
"No! Sothing is definitely, definitely wrong here…" Asuma grumbled.
Check my Pâtreon for Advanced Chapters
Pâtreon /Fanficlord03
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