I'd Rather You Be a Chef

Tobirama Senju Residence.

"Brat, you're back just in time. Go make me some food." Tobirama Senju walked out of the study, exhaustion written all over his face.

This past year, he'd been researching a jutsu that could bring the dead back to the Shinobi World.

After hundreds or even thousands of experiments, he still hadn't made any progress.

The key to this technique lay in summoning the souls of the dead—that step was the hardest to pull off.

To gain control over souls, he planned to develop a jutsu specifically for trapping them, tentatively calling it Soul Imprisonment.

If he could successfully create Soul Imprisonment, he'd be able to control the souls of the dead, thereby completing the step of summoning them.

Tobirama had thrown himself into researching Soul Imprisonment to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.

During this time, aside from Sister-in-law dropping by occasionally to bring him meals, he'd been surviving on Military Rations Pills.

His mouth was so bland he could barely stand it.

So when he saw Renye come back, he immediately ordered him to cook.

During Renye's absence, Tobirama had grumbled plenty: "This brat's out running missions all day, doesn't even come home..."

Hearing Tobirama's words, Renye's eyelids twitched wildly, and he grumbled inwardly: "This Old Man's ordering him to cook again."

The thing was, he'd just walked in the door—hadn't even had a sip of water yet.

"Uncle, I'm injured." Renye said helplessly.

Tobirama heard this and finally noticed the bandages wrapped around Renye's abdomen.

"It's just a minor wound. Bear with it for now—I haven't eaten in days."

Renye: "???"

Wait, you haven't eaten in days—what the hell does that have to do with me?

"Uncle, I don't even want to say it... You're over thirty years old. If you're hungry, can't you just cook for yourself?" Renye's expression was complicated.

His face looked like he was staring at an idiot...

Tobirama's old face flushed red as he explained, "I'm busy developing jutsu—when do I have time to cook?"

"Uncle, you're secretly studying Forbidden Techniques behind Uncle Hashirama's back again." Renye sighed.

From what he remembered before, Tobirama Senju only researched those grand, high-level jutsu.

Until Renye saw with his own eyes the Ninjutsu Scrolls Tobirama kept—the techniques inside were all incredibly abstract.

Some of them were even downright heinous...

No wonder Hashirama Senju had forbidden Tobirama from continuing his jutsu research.

If he kept going, who knew what kind of heaven-defying techniques he'd come up with?

Even though Hashirama Senju had explicitly banned it, this Old Man was still sneaking around researching.

After Renye caught him at it, he even threatened him not to tell Elder Brother.

About this matter, Renye could only turn a blind eye and pretend he hadn't seen anything.

"The jutsu I develop aren't Forbidden Techniques—they're the village's legacy." Tobirama's expression turned serious.

In his view, the jutsu he developed were indeed very dangerous.

But once mastered, they could unleash immense combat power.

Even if he and Elder Brother were gone someday, the village could rely on these techniques to fend off invasions from other nations.

Hearing this, Renye didn't argue.

The jutsu Tobirama developed were indeed powerful—if you could master even one, your own strength would skyrocket.

Like the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and the Flying Thunder God Technique.

After Naruto's father learned them, they practically became his signature moves.

It was just that this Old Man's techniques, strong as they were, had the one flaw of demanding too much from the user.

The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique required the user to have a massive amount of Chakra.

If the user's Chakra reserves were insufficient, using it could drain them dry and endanger their life.

As for the Flying Thunder God Technique, the user had to grasp the complex principles of Space-Time Ninjutsu—and on top of that, they needed exceptional talent.

In short, ordinary people could hardly learn them...

Renye had long wanted to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique, but he'd never had the chance to bring it up.

Tobirama didn't offer, and he didn't feel right asking.

Even if this Old Man actually taught him, whether he could learn it was another matter.

"Alright, brat. Go cook now." Tobirama urged.

Renye let out a helpless sigh and trudged reluctantly into the kitchen.

"Compared to a ninja, I feel more like a chef."

Ever since he was adopted by Tobirama Senju, he'd become the Senju clan's personal cook.

Every time he came back from a mission, his first order of business wasn't rest—it was cooking.

At first it was fine; Renye only had to cook, nothing else to worry about.

Not anymore. Now he not only had to cook, but also buy groceries and wash dishes.

That Old Man always claimed he was too busy, then dumped all the dirty, tiring work on him.

Tobirama Senju watched Renye enter the kitchen with a complicated look, murmuring softly, "Kid, actually, I'd rather you became a chef..."

The world of ninja was too dangerous—basically living with your life on the line, liable to die any day.

He'd rather Renye had no talent for being a ninja and just opened a restaurant in the village.

As long as Konoha Village wasn't destroyed, Renye could live happily as an ordinary person for his whole life.

After all, he'd lived with Renye for so long—even raising a dog would breed attachment, let alone a living, breathing person.

Tobirama Senju naturally didn't want to see Renye die in battle.

But there was no helping it. Since he'd become a ninja, there were things he had to face...

He couldn't protect this kid forever, could he?

At the dinner table.

The taste of the food made Tobirama Senju forget his fatigue and worries.

Sure enough, this kid's cooking was top-notch!

After two bowls of rice, he still felt unsatisfied and refilled for a third.

This kid was often out on missions, sometimes not coming back for weeks.

If he didn't eat his fill now, he'd be stuck with Military Rations Pills in the lab later.

Just as Tobirama was enjoying the meal, Renye asked, "Uncle, is Sakurako-nee about to give birth?"

The Sakurako Renye mentioned was Hashirama Senju's daughter-in-law, Tsunade's mother.

"Should be soon..." Tobirama Senju set down his Chopsticks. "Probably within the next few days."

"I understand. I'll go visit Sakurako-nee when the time comes."

"Mm, make sure to give Tōka and Sakurako your blessings then."

"Don't worry, Uncle."

Tōka was Hashirama Senju's son, Tobirama Senju's nephew.

At first, Renye had wondered where Hashirama's son had gone.

Only later did he learn that Hashirama Senju had sent his son to the Daimyo's estate for a political marriage.

Tōka Senju had been living with his wife in the Land of Fire's capital, never returning to Konoha.

It was normal for Renye not to know.

If not for his wife's impending childbirth, Tōka might not have come back at all...

Renye had learned from Tobirama that

Hashirama and his son had a bad relationship—they hadn't been in contact for a long time.

The root cause was that whole political marriage business.

Put nicely, Tōka went for a political marriage; put bluntly, he went to be a live-in son-in-law.

Who knew what Hashirama Senju was thinking, making his own son become a live-in son-in-law?

Because of this, the father-son relationship had soured.

As for why Tōka came back?

Renye guessed it might be the law of true fragrance...

After all, Sakurako-nee was pretty good-looking.