On Saturday afternoon, Mokgetsu returned to his house in the main city.
After several instances of sharing meals, relationships had warmed up, so Mokgetsu directly called the two over to his place before cooking.
"Habu, what dishes are you planning to make today?" Kushina asked curiously.
After dining at Mokgetsu's home a few times, Kushina had never eaten the same dish twice.
It's not just the variety, but Mokgetsu manages to make everything delicious, which both impressed and made Kushina envious.
"Mushroom soup and stir-fried mushrooms," Mokgetsu said, pointing to a plastic bag full of mushrooms by the sink.
During lunch, Shisui and the others prepared too many ingredients: various fish, wild vegetables, and even worked together to catch a wild boar. Mokgetsu brought home the leftovers.
To say the least, wild mushrooms are very fresh, but they must be cooked thoroughly to avoid food poisoning. An upset stomach is the least of your worries; worse, you might end up bedridden.
"These aren't wild mushrooms gathered from the forest, are they?" Kushina asked, noticing the mushrooms varied in size and species, not like those bought from a market.
This reminded her of the first time joking at Mokgetsu's house during a meal, teasing if he added some oddly colored mushrooms that made her see illusions.
If there really were such mushrooms, coupled with Mokgetsu's cooking skills, it'd be like experiencing genjutsu.
Mokgetsu nodded, "I had a picnic in the forest with some students this afternoon, and there were too many ingredients, so I brought the extras home."
"Habu, you even took your students for a picnic?" Kushina asked with some envy.
Having attended the Ninja Academy for six years, she'd never seen any teacher who would do that, let alone take students for a picnic.
"Those students and I have a good relationship," Mokgetsu explained.
"Habu, do you need help? I can wash the vegetables," Minato offered, feeling awkward about freeloading.
"Namikaze, please wash the mushrooms, and I'll take care of the wild boar meat," Mokgetsu said without ceremony, assigning Minato a task.
Being overly polite can hinder the growth of friendships.
Feelings and relationships develop through mutual exchange.
Since there were three of them eating, besides mushroom soup and stir-fried mushrooms, Mokgetsu also planned to make braised pork belly.
In his past life, he didn't know why he wanted to vomit whenever he ate fatty meat, except for the braised pork belly, which he could accept and even found delicious when the fat and lean meat alternated. Braised pork with preserved vegetables was a particular favorite of his.
But since preserved vegetables weren't available now, he could only make braised pork belly without them.
"What about me? What should I do?" Kushina scratched her head as she watched Minato and Mokgetsu, feeling like an outsider as they worked well together like brothers cooking a meal.
"There's no more space here, so just sit back and wait for the food," Mokgetsu replied.
This isn't some restaurant kitchen; three people working together might cause more chaos than help. Two people were just right, and they didn't need much extra help.
Feeling a bit left out, Kushina sat on a chair in the living room and casually picked up a book from the low table.
"Hey," she exclaimed, surprised to see the title was related to fuinjutsu.
"'What is Fuinjutsu?' Habu, why are you reading a book like this? Judging from the title, it's not great. It's not even…"
Kushina paused, realizing she turned the page and saw the words "by Uzumaki Ashina."
"Cough, cough, this book isn't bad at all, Mokgetsu. You should really read it," Kushina said, clearing her throat and rephrasing her comment.
"Yes, I've read it several times. Lord Uzumaki Ashina truly deserves to be the founder of Konoha's fuinjutsu.
Even someone as clueless about fuinjutsu as I am gained a lot from it," Mokgetsu said, while dealing with the pork.
"Of course, he was the clan leader of the Uzumaki Clan," Kushina said proudly.
"But Mokgetsu, are you really interested in fuinjutsu?" she asked curiously.
"I'm very interested; fuinjutsu feels so mysterious and powerful," Mokgetsu replied, looking full of admiration.
"From the perspective of enhancing one's abilities, fuinjutsu is indeed a good choice," Minato nodded.
The three of them chatted about fuinjutsu until the meal was ready.
For the most part, Mokgetsu listened, occasionally interjecting with some novice insights that gave Minato and Kushina a sense of accomplishment.
Kushina first tried the braised pork, which she hadn't eaten before, and one bite was all it took. The tender and unctuous texture made her gobble a large mouthful of rice.
"This is too delicious! Why haven't I seen such good food before?" Kushina instantly fell in love with the taste of the braised pork.
"If you want to learn, I can teach you," Mokgetsu said with a grin.
"Deal, tomorrow night, Minato and I will buy the ingredients," Kushina quickly agreed.
As she spoke, Kushina glanced at the plate of stir-fried mushrooms, realizing over half were already gone while they'd been discussing cooking, Minato was busy gobbling down the food.
"I haven't even eaten yet, Minato, save some for me," Kushina hastily joined in eating.
The first bite left Kushina amazed as well—it was incredibly fresh.
After they were full, the three went for a stroll together.
Strolling inevitably led to more conversation, with Mokgetsu sharing some fun stories from teaching, while Minato and Kushina recounted some of their own interesting mission experiences.
...
Two days before the competition, Mokgetsu began the final training sessions with Obito.
"To make your ninjutsu appear more formidable, besides nature transformation and chakra amount, you can also enhance its form transformation to increase its impressiveness," Mokgetsu explained.
"But with only two days left, is it even possible to cultivate form transformation?" Obito scratched his head, questioning.
"Of course not," Mokgetsu answered straightforwardly, acknowledging that Obito doesn't have such strong talent in ninjutsu.
"But you don't need to master form transformation; you just need to learn my modified Great Fireball technique."
To secure Obito's first place and maximize the cultivation task rewards, Mokgetsu had put in a lot of effort.
He specially modified the Great Fireball technique to look larger, though it doesn't actually have more flames inside, maintaining the same power.
Simply put, it looks intimidating.
After all, in that Youth Ninjutsu Contest, there is no actual combat; each participant simply performs a jutsu, and scoring is based on that.
"Teacher Mokgetsu, you're like my Six Paths Sage!" Obito exclaimed, feeling confident thanks to Mokgetsu's arrival.
With Mokgetsu's guidance, Kakashi stood no chance!
"Since you've made such a lifelong request, as your teacher, I must give it my all," Mokgetsu said with a smile, encouraging Obito to develop the mindset of seeking out his teacher for help.
"Heh heh," Obito chuckled shyly.
"Focus on your cultivation," Mokgetsu knocked on Obito's head.
"Got it!" At once, Obito immersed himself in his cultivation.
He was eager to defeat Kakashi and take first place in front of Nohara Rin.