Seimei left the training ground and walked through the hallway. His facial expression was composed, and his mind seemed to be somewhere else.
It's already September of the Year 015, the Konoha calendar. I'm already in the final year of the academy, and after a few more months, I will graduate from it and start my career as an official ninja of Konoha.
Seimei mused as he walked forward.
At that moment, I will be twelve, too.
But more importantly, I have nothing left to learn from the academy. If not for the fact that I would hardly have any free time after graduation, I would have applied for early graduation.
The chakra beasts are more active, and the ninjas from the other nations are becoming more restless with each passing week.
Even with 200,000+ ninjas, we are stretched thin.
And from the recent missions and the pieces of information and rumors I am hearing, I would have to be an idiot not to understand what it meant.
The war is coming. And it's coming faster than I had expected.
By the time I turn thirteen, the First Great Ninja War would erupt.
I would hardly get any rest for the next five years at the very least.
Seimei thought inwardly as he ruffled his snow-white hair in irritation.
He wanted to invent new Ninjutsu. He wanted to develop new potions.
He wanted to research the mysteries of chakra.
He wanted to delve into the wonders of Fuinjutsu Seals.
He also wanted to try learning Senjutsu on his own. He wanted to see whether he could harmonize his chakra with the nature energy to develop a new Sage Mode that fitted him perfectly.
After all, Shirayuki, his frost wolf summon, had already explained how the Senjutsu that the humans learned from the great sage areas, such as Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest, was nothing but an imperfect Sage Mode.
No, it wasn't that the Sage Mode and the way to learn the Senjutsu were imperfect.
Not at all.
To be precise, they were imperfect for humans.
Mount Myoboku's Sage Mode was perfect for the toads.
Ryuchi Cave's Sage Mode was perfect for the Snakes.
And the Sage Mode of Shikkotsu Forest was perfect for the slugs.
However, whether it was the Sage Mode of Mt. Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, or Shikkotsu Forest, they had a very low level of compatibility with humans and their physiques.
No wonder that even when humans could sense nature energy perfectly, they had a tough time mastering and maintaining the Sage Mode of those sacred places.
However, without the guidance of the techniques from those places, absorbing nature energy, and finding the right rhythm to balance the chakra and the nature energy were both extremely difficult and highly dangerous.
Any mistake could be fatal.
That was exactly why a very few ninjas in the last thousands of years managed to create their own Sage techniques.
Each Sage Mode was different. But they were perfectly tuned to their users.
Seimei wanted to explore it, but he simply didn't have enough time.
He had too many things to do, but he also had too little time to explore them.
The feeling was almost too suffocating.
It is like you have the most tempting sweets in front of you, but you can't eat them because you have diabetes.
It's like getting an invitation from the most beautiful woman for a passionate one-night stand, but you can't accept it because you have erectile dysfunction. Your little brother, your weenie, the dear third leg, just won't stand up.
"Is this what they call the curse of knowledge?" Seimei whispered. His voice was laced with exasperation.
"Whatever. Let's soothe my wounded heart with something delicious."
And with that, he directly entered the kitchen, ready to cook something filling and delicious.
Then, he paused for a moment.
Tenseigan—Activate
His already mesmerizing Tenseigan seemed to come alive as his eyes glowed with a faint, ocean-blue light. The tentril-like white flower patterns that looked like the blazing sun's corona moved faintly.
His perception had amplified.
He could sense and see everything within a twenty-kilometer radius. No obstacles, except for some complex sealing barriers, could stop him from peering into things he wanted.
But he didn't activate his Tenseigan to spy.
He just wanted to check who was still at home.
Since he was going to make himself lunch, he might as well make lunch for everyone at home.
Shadow Clone Jutsu
Puff!
Seimei activated the shadow clone technique, and a figure—a solid clone—that looked exactly like Seimei came into existence with a puff of smoke.
The shadow clone went inside the living room, where Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito were playing with little Tsunade.
The goal was simple: to ask whether they would like to eat something specific.
Meanwhile, the real Seimei wasted no time and went into the kitchen, checking the counters and refrigerator to see what ingredients were in stock.
Fortunately, the kitchen had all the spices and supplies. Chicken, beef, the meat of specific chakra beasts—the kitchen had it all, igniting Seimei's passion for good food.
All that remained was to make them. And then, he could devour them to his heart's content.
After a couple of minutes, the shadow clone's memories flooded into his mind. The clone had already dispelled itself after confirming what his uncle, aunt, and little Tsunade would like to eat.
Seimei smiled and muttered, "Well, it's easy."
Without further ado, he began to prepare the ingredients.
The kitchen knife danced in his hands, cutting the meat, veggies, and other ingredients precisely with fine grace.
He made spice blends and marinated the chicken. He prepared corn, carrots, beans, garlic, ginger, and vegetable stock for an appetizing soup.
He rinsed the rice and put it in the cooker.
He even prepared heavy cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract for a satisfying dessert—vanilla ice cream.
After he finished the initial preparation, he reached for the stove and switched the gas on. Chakra flared in his hands as he pointed his index finger at the stove.
At the next moment, a small spark of electricity flickered at the tip of his index finger, which lit the stove.
He washed the rice, vegetables, and meat using the Water Release application.
Finally, he started cooking.
And he finished all the dishes in less than 45 minutes.
"Too many plates and pots. But I only have one pair of hands."
"Time to use my most trusted slaves once more."
Seimei quietly activated the Shadow Clone Jutsu once more, making six shadow clones materialize before him.
Seeing them, Seimei smiled and said, "You know the drill, boys."
The shadow clones rolled their eyes and groaned in frustration.
But they still followed his order.
There was no choice. They were his shadow clones, after all.
Their real body always complained about the bloodthirsty capitalist boss who forced Seimei to work overtime, and the Hokage was a ruthless exploiter of labor, who had practically turned the Konoha ninjas into workhorses.
But here he was, exploiting his own shadow clones.
Unfortunately, the clones had no legal rights. There was no justice at all.
So, they just grabbed the plates, pots, chopsticks, spoons, and the food, and made their way toward the dining table.
And before long, the entire dining table was filled with all sorts of food.
From the lemon-splashed tandoori chicken as an appetizer to the bowls of piping hot sweet corn soup to the hearty beef stew with chunks of tender beef and gravy-coated vegetables, the foods displayed their majesty, making Hashirama's and Tsunade's mouths water.
"Wow, they smell so good." x2
Tsunade and Hashirama spoke in unison, all while wiping the saliva that almost leaked from their mouths.
Hearing this, Seimei's mouth twitched for a moment as he remembered a meme from his previous life.
Uncle, I just hope your bromance with Uchiha Madara didn't reach the point where you smelled him and spouted, "Bro, you smell so good." Seimei lampooned inwardly.
Mito smiled, "I can see Tsunade and your uncle can't wait any longer."
Seimei smiled, "Hehe, let's not make them suffer. It's time to eat."
Before he could even finish his sentence, Hashirama and Tsunade had already dived into the food.
Seeing Tsunade, who was barely four years old, eat with such gusto, he could only marvel at the physical prowess of the mixed bloodline of Senju and Uzumaki.
Even at such a tender age, Tsunade could eat three or four times more food than an average adult.
And most importantly, all that food wouldn't make her fat, but would enrich her physique and increase her chakra capacity.
Well, he wasn't complaining. His own physique was even more exaggerated than that of Tsunade's.
Being fat? The Senju and Uzumaki clan members didn't know what that meant.
"Tasty, tasty, so tasty," muttered Hashirama. His eating speed kept increasing with each passing second.
"Indeed." Mito chimed in.
Seimei looked at the bright expressions on his family members' faces with a smile.
If this peaceful life could continue without disturbance, how great it would be.
Unfortunately, this world wasn't peaceful.
Seeing the smile on his family's faces, he strengthened his resolve to get stronger once again, so he could protect his home from every storm.
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