Cooking Over a Fire

Half an hour passed after Hayakumo Sōma fully absorbed the Hashirama Vaccine. At this point, Hayakumo Sōma seemed to have received a second boost, radiating an immense aura.

Hayakumo Sōma and shouted directly to Qingcheng, "Thank you for your guidance, Hokage- sama. I will definitely inherit your Will of Fire and fiercely burn the enemies of Konoha!"

Hayakumo Sōma, now only wanted to fight the Mist Ninja and kill a few of them as a sacrifice to his flag.

Qingcheng shook his head and said seriously, "Once the Mist Shadow's forces gather, we'll wipe them out in one fell swoop. Our Konoha army will be here soon, once both sides have assembled."

Upon hearing the Fifth Hokage's words that Hayakumo Sōma nodded immediately and said respectfully, "Hokage- sama, I understand."

Qingcheng looked at Hayakumo Sōma's Chakra levels that morning, which were at least at the quasi- Chakra Quasi-Kage Level, and were still slowly increasing. He then said, "Take this opportunity to consolidate your strength and try to catch up with Yichenglou! We'll fight the Mist Shadow tonight. Let's go back first!"

After saying that, Qingcheng led Hayakumo Sōma, along with several surviving border ninjas, to join the main force of border ninjas.

Teyano Hisashi and Hyuga Natsuen, seeing that Qingcheng and Hayakumo Sōma, all got up and ran straight to Qingcheng, shouting, "Fifth Hokage! Fifth Hokage!"

Qingcheng looked at the ninjas, who were running and shouting, and said with a smile, "You guys are really geniuses at escaping. You've even mastered the Body Flicker Technique so quickly!"

Some border ninjas were picking up pots and pans from the ground to cook for themselves. It was already noon, and many of them hadn't eaten breakfast, having been fleeing the area. They were all extremely hungry.

Qingcheng looked at Teyano Hisashi and the others, who were still accusing Uchiha Obito, saying that Uchiha Obito had killed Konoha ninjas and that the Konoha Ninja Hokage avenge them.

Qingcheng nodded and said seriously, "I will definitely avenge this, but he has the Kamui Mangekyo and is the king of escape in the Shinobi World. I just killed him once, but unfortunately he used Izanagi and escaped directly."

Immediately afterward, Qingcheng called out, "You all sit down and recover your Chakra. Tonight we will begin our great battle against the Mist Shadow."

Upon hearing the Fifth Hokage's words, all the border ninjas sat down on the ground and began to recover their Chakra.

Some ninjas, whose Chakra consumption wasn't high, had already started cooking, using smokeless coal. Others were taking out pre-prepared rations and pouring them into pots. These rations consisted of cooked beef, braised pork, ribbonfish, and various other foods—mostly pre-cooked dishes.

These foods were all found on the ground by these Konoha border ninjas. They cooked whatever they found, and one of them even shouted, "Look everyone, I found a bag of salt! We have salt to eat now!"

Qingcheng watched his men rummaging around on the ground, first finding pots and pans, then salt and soy sauce.

Qingcheng was also quite helpless, and said with a look of disgust, "When you ran away, you threw away all your food and even your eating utensils. Now you're picking things up everywhere. Isn't that too shameful?"

After saying that, Qingcheng took out a Storage Scroll filled with food, including many exquisite dishes such as braised lion's head meatballs, deep-sea lobster, mountain-grilled beef ribs, whole roasted lamb, and pan-fried tuna steak.

Qingcheng then addressed the group of Konoha Ninja, saying, "Here's some food for you. I brought it all from the Uchiha Clan. I guess I was just unlucky to run into you guys. Look at you all, all covered in dust. Why don't you dare to Uchiha Obito?"

Upon hearing this, Teyano Hisashi looked completely bewildered and said, "Hokage -sama, wasn't it your order to run away from anyone we can't defeat?"

When Qingcheng heard someone dare to contradict him, he turned to Teyano Hisashi and said sternly, "Didn't I say that when I saw Uchiha Obito immediately used a smoke bomb to seal him in smoke? And when I used Shadow Clone Mangekyō Sharingan, his Kamui Intangibility time was up. Wasn't he just meat on a chopping board, at the mercy of others?"

Teyano Hisashi, then said with a look of shame, "Understood, Hokage- sama. Next time we see Uchiha Obito, we'll just use smoke to seal him, and then use the Shadow Clone Jutsu to finish him off."

Qingcheng waved his hand again and said with a serious face, "Forget it! Next time you see Obito, just run away! But don't throw away the pots, pans and other supplies, so you don't all run away hungry."

Upon hearing the Fifth Hokage's order, the group of border ninjas shouted, "Understood, Hokage- sama! Next time we run away, we promise we won't throw away pots and pans!"

Qingcheng observed that Hayakumo Sōma, with a large amount of Chakra gathering around him, and the soil on the ground was still pulsating irregularly. Clearly, he was cultivating, Earth Release Chakra nature transformation.

Hayakumo Sōma mastered the nature transformation of Earth Release Chakra, and Qingcheng was full of praise for it. He said, "With the four Chakra transformations of your subordinates, you can represent the face of Konoha when you release them. If you can fuse the ultimate transformations of two Chakra and perform Kekkei Genkai fusion, you might even awaken your Kekkei Genkai. That would be a leap forward, allowing you to enter the realm of the Kage Village's elite."

Upon hearing this, Teyano Hisashi's face was filled with expectation, and he said with joy, "Fifth Hokage, do you think I have a special talent? Do I have a chance to reach the Kekkei Genkai?"

Qingcheng looked at the fat, big-eared Teyano Hisashi, whose honest-looking face revealed a hint of cleverness, and who stared at him respectfully.

Qingcheng laughed, but not wanting to disturb someone's dream, he said, "You have a good chance of reaching the Kekkei Genkai. Try harder next time!"

Then Qingcheng asked again, "Teyano Hisashi, I remember you seem to use Earth Release Chakra, a Chakra nature transformation. What does it fuse with? You need to train in another Chakra Nature Transformation to have a chance to reach the Kekkei Genkai."

As Qingcheng spoke, he felt his right eye start to itch again, as if ants were crawling on it. It was like the fusion of the Mangekyō Sharingan was starting to take effect.

Qingcheng said excitedly, "Could it be that the fusion has already begun? That would be wonderful!"

Upon hearing the Fifth Hokage's words, Teyano Hisashi saying, "What chakra should I fuse my Earth Chakra with? Should I use Water Release Chakra? Maybe that could awaken Wood Release."