The others watched as Uchiha Gen picked out a larger rock and coated his kunai in chakra, carving the boulder into a flat surface.
He set the ingredients on top, put together a makeshift stove, and began fussing over everything. Apparently unable to manage alone, he even sent a few clones off to fetch water.
Curious, Minato Namikaze watched for a while before moving closer, his head full of questions. "What are those things you're holding?"
Had food in the Ninja World changed this much since his death? The thought left Minato strangely conflicted. Aside from the seasonings, none of this really looked edible.
Uchiha Gen wiped the pot clean with a rag and replied calmly, "Octopus tentacles, snake meat, and mushrooms." Put that way, they all sounded like things one could eat.
Hearing this, Hashirama came closer and poked the chunk of meat with black suckers sitting in the pot, looking puzzled. "This seems to contain the Eight-Tails' chakra. But why is it black?"
"There's ink inside."
"..."
"Then this snake meat..."
At that, everyone instinctively looked toward Orochimaru. He leaned against a tree, resting "calmly" as though he hadn't heard a thing. The slight twitch at the corner of his eye, however, betrayed his true feelings.
Manda's death had been both humiliating and utterly pointless. Orochimaru inwardly regretted the loss, though it had at least spared him one source of trouble.
Seeing no reaction from Orochimaru, they gave it some thought. Fine. At least this looked edible compared with the other ingredients.
Tobirama stared at the pile of vividly colored little mushrooms, his expression turning odd. "Are you... sure those things are edible?"
He seemed to have seen a few of these mushrooms before and knew they were poisonous. As for the rest, those colors alone practically guaranteed