Obito looked up at the sky, continuously covered by the black smoke billowing from the volcano. Coupled with the black-gray land, he seemed to be in a monotonous world of only black and gray.
"It's so hot, so spicy!" Obito took deep breaths, exhaling to make his tongue more comfortable.
Boom!
Suddenly, a deafening sound, an indescribable terrifying lava flame erupted from the volcano like a fountain, rushing towards the sky.
Hot black smoke, soaring flames, dark red lava – at this moment, the originally black-gray world gained a dangerous touch of red.
Following that, terrifying lava poured from the sky, submerging Obito, and Obito's gaze regained clarity.
"Spicy! Spicy! Spicy!" Regaining consciousness, the intense heat gradually diminished, but the lingering spicy taste on his tongue persisted.
Obito, however, did not stop eating despite the spiciness. Even though it was spicy, it was just too delicious, completely uncontrollable.
"High temperature, burning." Obito couldn't help but recall the inexplicable illusion that appeared, the flames erupting from the earth, and the high-temperature lava that melted him.
Huff, huff, huff!
In the next moment, Obito, who was panting with his tongue out, directly breathed out a crimson flame.
While shouting about the spiciness, Obito continued to spit fire, fanning his tongue with his hand, almost like a variety performer showcasing a fire-breathing stunt.
"..." Obito was a bit bewildered.
"Stop the output of Chakra," Mutsuki calmly said.
Obito then realized that he had unknowingly used Chakra at some point and cut off the Chakra supply, causing the flame to disappear.
"While the state hasn't disappeared, hurry up and practice." Mutsuki handed Obito a palm-sized ice block.
"Remember the feeling just now, the high temperature, and the burning," Mutsuki reminded.
Recalling Obito's trance just now, Mutsuki roughly guessed something.
"I didn't expect that skillful cooking with illusions could have such an effect," Mutsuki was also somewhat surprised.
"It seems I'll have to make Obito some more passionate dishes recently," Mutsuki thought to himself.
A simple home-cooked stir-fry with added chili had such an effect. If Obito ate Mapo Tofu every day, wouldn't his progress be rapid?
"Yumi-sensei, look quickly!" Obito excitedly shouted to Mutsuki while watching his hand rapidly melting the Ice Block.
After looking, Mutsuki nodded slightly. The palm-sized Ice Block had shrunk one size in just a few seconds.
"Very good, keep it up. Don't forget this feeling," Mutsuki affirmed, also reminding Obito not to get carried away.
"Yeah, yeah!" Obito nodded quickly, focusing entirely on the Ice Block, continuously releasing Chakra.
With noticeable progress, he was very excited.
Sometimes, the unbearable and dull training is simply because there is no feedback.
"If every training session could show such progress, I might become a training maniac," he thought.
"Obito, you probably don't dislike spicy food, do you?" Mutsuki suddenly asked with a smile.
"Spicy? If it can be as delicious as the one just now, a little spiciness is fine," Obito said, unconsciously licking his lips, reminiscing about the delicious meal he just had.
It was his first time eating such delicious stir-fry. Although it was a bit spicy due to the chili, it was undeniably tasty.
"Don't worry, I guarantee it will be delicious," Mutsuki patted Obito's shoulder. "After all, you said so yourself."
Obito, who was diligently melting the Ice Block, suddenly had a bad premonition.
Could it be...?
Even though he was holding the Ice Block, Obito couldn't control the chills running down his back.
"Yumi-sensei, I actually quite like fried rice," Obito tried to salvage the situation.
"Yeah, chili fried rice, I'll make it for you," Mutsuki showed a gentle smile.
"Can chili fried rice be made without chili?" Obito asked eagerly.
He had a bad memory once, eating something extremely spicy, and he learned the hard way what "spicy on the way in, spicy on the way out" meant. If he had to eat dishes with Mutsuki saying "a little spicy" every day, Obito feared he might not make it out of the bathroom.
"Chili fried rice with extra chili? I didn't expect your taste to be so heavy, but it's doable," Mutsuki selectively feigned deafness.
Upon hearing Mutsuki's words, Obito's eyes went dark, and his legs almost gave way. He looked to Shisui for help, but Shisui, who had just finished eating and was savoring the taste, sensed Obito's gaze and pretended not to see.
It's not that Uchiha Shisui disregards kinship, but this matter isn't easy to get involved in. After all, Obito did experience an improvement in training efficiency after eating, and perhaps eating spicy food has a miraculous effect on Fire Nature Transformation training.
Moreover, Obito himself said it was delicious, and just now, he was shouting about the spiciness while devouring the food.
Of course, the main reason is that he knows if he says it, the result will be both he and Obito eating together.
Although Shisui doesn't mind eating spicy food, he also doesn't want to eat it every day. He doesn't have the urgent need to rapidly improve Nature Transformation like Obito.
Obito looked toward Might Guy.
Sensing Obito's gaze, Might Guy smiled, giving Obito a thumbs up. "In the fiery youth, you should eat a lot of spicy food!"
Obito: "..."
At this moment, his hands were cold, and his heart even colder. What about the bonds of the clan, the camaraderie of the disciples? None of them can be relied upon at a crucial moment!
Obito erupted with Chakra, melting all the ice in his hands in one breath, adjusting his goggles with his hand.
"Sensei, I think making three separate dishes for you is really troublesome. It would be much easier if you just make a larger portion of one dish and divide it into three for us," Obito said, pretending to consider Mutsuki's convenience.
Since it's like this, then everyone should suffer together. 'If I'm going down, they'll go down together with me.'
"It sounds good," Mutsuki showed a serious and contemplative expression.
He certainly knew what Obito had in mind, but Mutsuki chose to respond in a way that would be entertaining.
Shisui's originally indifferent expression couldn't be maintained. He didn't expect that this normally easygoing clan member would have such quick wit in pulling others into the situation.
"In the fiery youth, everyone should eat spicy together," Might Guy laughed heartily.
"So, Guy really thinks like that," Obito thought, speechless, looking at Shisui.
After thinking it over, Mutsuki felt it wasn't a bad idea. After all, the taste was guaranteed, Obito and Shisui both needed to practice Fire Release, and Might Guy was willing to eat spicy food.
From that day on, Obito, Shisui, and Might Guy began to live a physically fiery life.
"So spicy, so delicious!" Obito, with tears streaming down due to the spiciness, couldn't control himself and kept devouring the Mapo Tofu in his lunchbox.
"So spicy! So tasty!" Might Guy, also with tears streaming down, was eating the Mapo Tofu. The difference was that Might Guy was moved, not crying from the spiciness.
Shisui, continuously exhaling due to the spiciness, silently distanced himself from the other two.
The three of them went to the restroom together, entered standing up, and came out together while leaning against the wall.
Back in school, Rin often saw Obito inexplicably raising his buttocks, so she worriedly asked, "Obito, are you feeling unwell?"
Obito wore a slightly melancholic expression and said, "No, it's just a minor side effect from the hard training."
"This time, Rin, you definitely won't believe how much progress I've made in my Fire Release. I'm sure I'll defeat Kakashi in the upcoming Youth Ninjutsu competition," Obito confidently declared.
One of the reasons he could endure rigorous training was to erase past humiliations. He aimed to defeat Kakashi in front of Rin and secure the top spot.
"But Kakashi probably won't sign up for the competition. He's already a Chunin, and usually, only us ninja school students participate in this kind of competition," Nohara Rin remarked.
She believed Obito had genuinely made significant progress through arduous training, but someone like Kakashi, who had become a full-fledged ninja, wouldn't participate in civilian competitions.
"Ah?" Obito was dumbfounded; he had assumed that Kakashi would participate.
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