Hokage, no one knows better than me how to cultivate talent.

Chapter 134 Kurama Yakumo Joins Training

The aroma gently tantalized her taste buds, making her restless and unable to resist glancing towards the kitchen again and again.

Since it was the first day that Yakumo Kurama had moved in, Akisui specially prepared several extra dishes, making it much more lavish than usual.

Braised pork belly, sweet and sour pork ribs, steamed sea bass, garlic broccoli, corn and pork rib soup... one dish after another was served, steaming hot and tempting in color.

Kurama Yakumo stared at the table laden with colorful dishes, her eyes darting around, her mouth agape for a long time.

This was also the first time she realized that there were so many ways to cook and combine dishes, and that food could look so good and smell so delicious.

"Let's have a drink to celebrate Yakumo's first day here." Kurenai Yuhi raised her glass, smiled, and looked around. "Yakumo, you're too young to drink alcohol, so we'll have a soft drink instead."

Kurama Yakumo raised the orange juice in front of him and clinked glasses with each of them.

Looking at the gentle, smiling faces around her, she suddenly felt a surge of warmth in her heart, and her nose tingled slightly.

This atmosphere is just wonderful.

It was so wonderful that she felt like she was dreaming.

"Yakumo, come on, eat more, you're so thin." Kurenai picked up a chicken leg and put it in her bowl.

"Thank you, Ms. Kurenai," Yakumo Kurama said politely.

"Yakumo, this beef is also very good." Shizune placed a piece of beef into her bowl, adding with a smile, "This is one of Akisui-sensei's signature dishes."

"Thank you, Sister Shizune."

"This braised pork is the best." Seeing this, Tsunade also picked up a piece of braised pork and put it into her bowl.

"Thank you, Tsunade-neechan."

Before long, a small mountain had been piled up in Kurama Yakumo's bowl, almost completely covering the white rice.

Looking at the bowl full of food, her eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

Yakumo Kurama picked up a chicken leg, lowered his head, and took a small bite.

The moment the tender meat juice bursts between your lips and teeth.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

She found herself transformed into a chicken, basking in the warm sunlight, running freely through a lush forest.

The soft fallen leaves underfoot, the clear birdsong in my ears, and the feeling of the wind blowing through my feathers felt so real and so pleasant.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Kurama Yakumo snapped out of her daze, blinked, and looked at Yuhi Kurenai with a puzzled expression. "Did you use genjutsu on me? I just ate this chicken, and I felt like I really turned into a chicken, running around in the forest..."

"No, not at all." Kurenai couldn't help but laugh, her eyes curving into a beautiful arc. She patiently explained, "It's because Akisui's cooking is so delicious that it has this effect. We felt the same way the first time we ate it, but we gradually got used to it."

"I see..." Kurama Yakumo turned around, looking at Shusui with admiration, her eyes filled with amazement and worship. "Sensei Shusui's cooking is amazing!"

"Eat more if you like it," Qiu Shui said with a smile.

"Qiushui, why do I feel like your cooking tastes even better than before?" Tsunade asked suddenly, her eyes narrowing with satisfaction after finishing a piece of braised pork. "And the effects on chakra and stamina recovery seem to have improved as well."

"Maybe it's because I've been cooking more often lately, and my culinary skills have improved," Qiu Shui replied with a smile.

"Your culinary talent is outrageous." Tsunade stuck out her pink tongue and unconsciously licked the sauce residue from the corner of her mouth. "I feel like if you put half of your culinary talent into your ninja talent, you'd be at least a Jonin."

"Haha, I wish that were true." Qiu Shui didn't say anything more about the topic and continued eating with her head down.

After the meal, Kurama Yakumo got up without waiting for anyone to speak and helped Shizune clear the table.

Although her movements weren't very skilled, she carefully and meticulously stacked the dishes and carried them to the kitchen one trip after another.

Jingyin quietly guided her on how to arrange the items.

Qiu Shui didn't stop her; on the contrary, she supported her decision.

Letting Yakumo Kurama do some things within her ability will make her feel a sense of purpose and give her more peace of mind.

More stable.

"Red, what are your plans for Yakumo's daily life going forward?" Shusui asked, leaning back slightly as she sat in the middle of the sofa.

"There aren't any good plans yet." Kurenai thought for a moment and shook her head seriously.

Although she was skilled in illusion techniques, Yakumo Kurama's illusion techniques belonged to the bloodline limit, which was completely different from her own. Even if she wanted to teach him, she wouldn't know where to start.

Besides, she was born with that ability, so there's not much point in her going back to learn her conventional illusion magic.

"I'm giving special training to a few students this summer," Qiushui said. "Since you don't have any plans for Yakumo, I'll take her to training with me during the day. They're all the same age, so they should have things in common."

"I'm fine on my end." Kurenai nodded, then changed the subject, "But Shusui, aren't you being a little too dedicated to being a teacher? It's one thing to lead students in training every day after school and on weekends during the school year, but now that you finally have a holiday, you don't even give yourself any time to rest, and you still have to take Yakumo to train with you?"

Upon hearing this, Tsunade put down her teacup and looked at Shusui with a surprised expression.

She had indeed heard that Qiu Shui was very responsible in his teaching, but she never expected him to be this responsible.

Although Tsunade had excellent grades during her school years and never needed extra tutoring from her teachers, even her two grandfathers wouldn't spend so much time training with her.

Even after she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru became Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciples, Sarutobi-sensei only gave them guidance from time to time. He never devoted almost all his energy to his students like Shusui.

"Anyway, I don't have anywhere to go during my vacation, so I'm just killing time." Qiu Shui smiled. "Besides, this kind of life is very fulfilling, much better than before when I was often out on missions."

There is no harm without comparison.

The feeling of spending every day with the students and watching them make progress little by little does make him feel more at ease.

"Shusui-sensei, what are you talking about?" Kurama Yakumo asked curiously as she came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes, wiping her hands with her apron. "I think I just heard my name."

"Teacher Qiushui said he'll take you to training tomorrow, and there are a few students who are your age too," Kurenai Yuhi said to her with a smile as she turned around.

"Really?" Kurama Yakumo's eyes lit up immediately.

She's grown up without a single friend.

Peers?

friend?

These words, for her, almost only existed in Book 3 and in her dreams.

"Really." Qiu Shui nodded firmly.

"That's great!" Yakumo Kurama couldn't help but exclaim, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement. But then, as if remembering something, her smile turned somewhat apprehensive. "So... is there anything I need to prepare? Will they... not like me?"

"No need to prepare anything, just be yourself." Qiushui stood up, walked to her, and said gently, "They are all very nice people. Yakumo is so cute, they will definitely like you."

Kurama Yakumo raised his head and looked at Akisui-sensei's gentle smile, feeling much more at ease.

"That damn Naruto, that guy is too cunning!"

Sasuke arrived at the training ground at 6:30 in the morning. Looking at Naruto, the shadow clone who had been running with them that morning, and then glancing at the dozen or so Naruto and his clones practicing wind-style chakra nature transformation in the training ground, he couldn't help but grit his teeth and mutter to himself.

After he finished speaking, he immediately created a shadow clone. Both his main body and the clone picked up two green leaves and began to practice the nature transformation of fire-style chakra.

Although Naruto didn't hear the specifics of what Sasuke said due to the distance, he could tell from Sasuke's ugly expression and dissatisfaction that Sasuke was talking badly about him. However, Naruto didn't feel embarrassed at all; instead, he was secretly delighted.

Naruto knew that his chakra control was far inferior to Sasuke and Hinata's, but fortunately he had the Shadow Clone Jutsu, which could help him accelerate his training. While others trained alone, he was essentially training with more than a dozen people at the same time.

But in order to get those five menu cards, Naruto felt it was better to play it safe, so this morning he sent a shadow clone to run with Sasuke and Lee.

Meanwhile, the main body, along with the other clones, arrived at the training ground ahead of time to practice chakra nature transformation.

Half an hour later.

"Why is everyone here so early?" Hinata walked into the training ground and looked at the group of people who were already working hard, with a puzzled expression on her face.

She arrived an hour earlier than yesterday.

Hinata sighed silently to herself.

She felt that her awareness was still too low and that she was quite lazy.

Hinata decided to come an hour earlier tomorrow morning.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Akisui arrived at the third training ground on time with Kurama Yakumo.

"Her name is Kurama Yakumo, and she'll be training with you all starting today," Akisui said, calling the group of talents to her front.

Naruto stared at Kurama Yakumo with curiosity, noticing how pale her skin was and how thin and frail she looked, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

Hinata was secretly pleased because finally a girl had come.

Sasuke carefully examined Kurama Yakumo.

Although I haven't seen her in the village or school, since she was brought by Teacher Qiushui, she must be quite capable.

Kurama Yakumo had been watched by so many people before.

The number of onlookers was much larger than this when she was receiving treatment.

But for some reason, she felt an unprecedented tension this time.

"Yakumo, don't be nervous, introduce yourself." Shusui noticed her unusual expression and gently patted her back.