Kushina's First DIY Meal!

"Grandma, isn't this basically deceiving Kushina?"

That stuff about being upset after getting scolded and being unable to keep an appointment was all bullshit. It was all a setup!

A setup meant to get Kushina to voluntarily take on the task and fulfill the promise.

Tsunade felt that this was a little immoral. After all, Kushina was still a child.

"Then do you have a better way to help Kushina let go of the grief in her heart, lower her guard against the village, and integrate into it?"

Mito Uzumaki shot her granddaughter an annoyed glare.

If you could do it, would this old woman need to meddle?

"Uh..." Everything you said made sense.

Tsunade shrank back and decisively shut up. She did not dare talk back to Mito Uzumaki.

"But aren't you worried something might go wrong? What if Kushina gets deceived?"

"Do you think Jingyi Hyuga is unreliable?"

Mito Uzumaki leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

Forget I said anything.

Tsunade could not help wanting to roll her eyes, but she was afraid her grandmother would seize the chance to lecture her for lacking even the slightest bit of feminine grace.

Tsunade feared her grandmother's nagging and lessons most of all. As for whether Jingyi was reliable...

What a joke. He was someone she had personally trained. And who was she?

Tsunade!

The First Hokage's eldest granddaughter, the Konoha Princess!

Could Tsunade's judgment possibly be wrong? Absolutely not!

Knock, knock, knock!

"The door isn't locked. Come in."

Jingyi, who was resting on the sofa, heard the knock.

The door slowly opened, and Kushina walked in while laboriously carrying a bag. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and she looked thoroughly exhausted.

"Jingyi, Tsunade had something to do today, so I helped her buy groceries for you. I didn't know what you liked to eat, so I bought a little extra."

Kushina set the bag on the floor and proudly showed off her haul.

"..."

Jingyi rose from the sofa and fell silent for a moment.

Although he could not see, he could tell through his senses exactly how much Kushina had bought.

It was a huge, bulging bag. Even a tough little girl like Kushina struggled to carry it, which showed just how heavy it was.

Jingyi felt he should not let Kushina's good intentions go to waste, so he smiled and asked, "You worked so hard, Kushina. Can you tell me what you bought?"

"Hehe, no need to thank me. I don't think it was hard at all. On the contrary, it felt great. It was really interesting."

Kushina wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was clearly in a good mood. Although it had been her first time shopping for groceries at the market and she had made quite a few blunders along the way, she had completed the task in the end.

"Potatoes, and beef. The uncle selling beef said that if I bought more, he'd give me a discount."

Kushina felt she had been very clever, buying plenty of beef at a low price.

"..."

No matter what you bought, purchasing a large quantity would get you a discount. After all, groceries were not luxury goods. Sellers would love nothing more than for you to buy everything they had.

Jingyi opened his mouth, then decided it was better not to say that.

After all, Kushina meant well.

"Then how about we have barbecue?"

"Sure!"

Kushina clapped happily, but then she worried about Jingyi's eyes.

"Maybe we shouldn't. Grandma Mito said that wouldn't be right. You can't see, so it's inconvenient for you to move around."

"Then let's do it together. I'll direct you, and you'll do the cooking. How does that sound?"

At Jingyi's invitation, Kushina hesitated for a moment before obediently agreeing. She did not want to disappoint him, and besides, she was eager to give it a try herself.

Food made with my own hands has to be delicious, right?

"First, cut the beef into large chunks. Yes, that size is just right. Then pour the chopped ingredients and seasonings into the pot and marinate the beef."

After marinating the beef, Kushina carried a small hoe into the yard to dig up some mud.

She kept thinking about it but could not figure out why roasted beef needed mud.

The CPU in her little head was practically burning out.

Wrap the marinated beef in lotus leaves, cover it with a thick layer of mud, then toss it into the fire to roast.

Looking at Jingyi's confident and handsome face, Kushina began doubting herself. Could meat cooked like this really be edible?

When the beggar's beef finally came out fresh from the fire, Kushina was dumbfounded.

So cooking could be done like this?

Mud and lotus leaves...

The process was strange, but the taste was truly amazing. The large chunks of marinated beef were incredibly tender and delicious.

Kushina ate happily. Aside from the beef being delicious in the first place, there was also the satisfaction of having made it herself.

Even though her clothes had gotten filthy, Kushina did not care in the slightest.

The smile never left her usually gloomy little face.

"So the Hyuga Clan's rules are really that strict? That's terrifying."

As Jingyi told her about the Hyuga Clan, Kushina was deeply shocked.

Compared to the Hyuga Clan, she felt the Uzumaki's rules might as well not have existed.

Not to mention that within the Hyuga Clan, the Main House stood above all else, while the Branch House could only serve and protect it.

Put nicely, they were all one family. Put bluntly, the Branch House were servants and slaves of the Main House.

Fortunately, the village kept them in check. Even though the Hyuga Main Family possessed the authority to punish the Branch House, they did not dare go too far.

From this perspective, the Third Hokage had at least done something decent.

Because of his control and suppression, much of the Hyuga Main Family's arrogance had been curbed, and much of their authority had been divided away.

A faint smile rested on Jingyi's lips. "Terrifying? It's not too bad. Now that the village mediates things, the Main House can't punish Branch House members without cause, much less kill people as casually as they did before."

Although F4 had their own motives for doing this, their measures had indeed made life much easier for the Branch House.

"The people of the Main House are absolutely awful," Kushina said indignantly. "They're nothing but a bunch of villains."

The more Kushina learned, the more she felt that Jingyi and she were the same kind of people.

Although Jingyi still had a clan and his own people, his circumstances were even more difficult than hers.

With the Caged Bird Seal in place, it was impossible for Branch House members to rebel.

"Jingyi."

Kushina was deeply worried that Jingyi would be targeted by his clan.

Jingyi smiled casually, raised a hand, and patted Kushina's little head in reassurance.

"Don't worry about me. I've passed the medical ninja assessment and started working at Konoha Hospital. With Tsunade around, the Main House won't dare come looking for trouble with me."

"Then I'm relieved."

Kushina was afraid that the Hyuga Clan would trouble Jingyi at any time or order him around in the name of the clan.

Ninjas from shinobi clans placed immense importance on clan honor.

Unfortunately, Jingyi was not one of them, because he was a transmigrator.

Clan honor was all bullshit to him, let alone the honor of a rotten, dark, and utterly heartless clan like the Hyuga Clan.

After listening to Jingyi's story, Kushina shared her own story with him as well.

It was about time, and Kushina knew she should leave.

Although she had gained a certain degree of freedom, she could not be willful. At this point, she did not have the means to be willful.

"Well then, Jingyi, I'm heading back first. I'll come visit you again another day."

Though reluctant to leave, Kushina obediently departed and returned to the Senju ancestral residence.

Mito Uzumaki had given her a certain amount of freedom, so she needed to keep her promise as well. She had to return home on time and could not stay out too long.

"This child..."

Although Jingyi was only thirteen, Kushina truly was a child in his eyes.

Even disregarding his previous life, there was still a full seven-year age gap between them in this life.

Kushina had bought far too much food at once. The vegetables could last a few days, but what about the meat?

If it was not dealt with, it would spoil quickly. At this time, household appliances like refrigerators had not yet become widespread in the Shinobi World.

To keep the meat from spoiling, Jingyi could only get to work marinating it and making smoked beef jerky.

"Luckily, she bought beef. If she had brought back a pile of pork, it really would have been hard to deal with."

Jingyi became busy.

Kushina happily returned to the Senju ancestral residence.

"Grandma Mito, Tsunade, Brother Nawaki, this is the beef I brought back for you. It's really tasty, and I made it myself."

Like she was presenting a treasure, Kushina placed the beef she had brought back on the table.