"Isatis Root" Medicinal Cuisine

After leaving Konoha through its green-painted gates, the group of six slowly made their way along the forest dirt road.

Naruto walked at the very front, like a husky that had just torn up the house and been taken out for a walk. He could study even the foxtail grass by the roadside for ages.

Tazuna carried that bottomless sake bottle of his, trudging along in the middle with a dejected look on his face. Sakura followed closely behind, her gaze occasionally drifting toward Sasuke's cold face while she remained alert in case Tazuna drunkenly wandered into a ditch.

At the very back of the group was Ye Tian, whose whole vibe was completely different.

He carried an enormous bamboo pack half his height. With every step, he cooperatively let out a heavy pant, his back slightly bent as though he were carrying not pots and pans, but the coffin boards of the Uchiha Clan.

"Whew... whew... Slow down... a little..."

Ye Tian pulled out a white handkerchief and wiped away nonexistent sweat from his forehead, his pale complexion just convincing enough.

"Hey, you sickly brat!" Tazuna finally could not help turning back to snap at him. "What have you got in that huge box, rocks? Are you here to hold us back?"

"Mr. Tazuna, these are all... life-saving supplies." Ye Tian patted the bamboo basket with a solemn expression. "First-aid medicine, bandages, plus pots and pans to improve our quality of life. After all, we're going there to do construction, not to cultivate immortality... Ah, no, not to suffer."

In truth, the real supplies were all in his system space. The basket was full of rocks, purely so he could physically burden this mortal body while walking and speed up the absorption of Spirit Liquid.

"Tch." Sasuke snorted coldly without saying anything, but his pace unconsciously slowed by thirty percent.

Kakashi, walking at the rear, narrowed his dead-fish eye as his gaze swept over Ye Tian.

This boy's breathing... three long breaths and one short, as regular as a precision instrument. He isn't tired at all. He's clearly practicing some kind of special breathing technique. Kakashi muttered inwardly, but did not expose him.

At noon, the sun beat down mercilessly.

As they passed an ordinary-looking puddle, Ye Tian's Divine Sense suddenly tightened.

On such a sunny day, there's actually a puddle on the ground. The Hidden Mist Demon Brothers? Their IQ has basically said goodbye to bicycles.

He sneered inwardly, but deliberately staggered and crookedly dropped onto the tree trunk beside him. "Ow... slipped."

Almost at the same instant, the puddle exploded!

Two black shadows shot out like ghosts, and their barbed chains instantly "dismembered" Kakashi.

"Teacher Kakashi!" Sakura screamed, so loudly that Ye Tian's eardrums hurt.

Having dealt with the strongest opponent, the Demon Brothers split up at once. One charged at the terrified Naruto, while the other brandished poisonous claws glowing an eerie green and pounced straight at their core target, Tazuna.

Uchiha Sasuke truly was a genius. He leaped into the air, threw a shuriken, and pinned the chain down in one fluid sequence.

But that could only stop one of them.

The other Demon Brother had already bypassed Sasuke. The poison-glinting iron claw was less than two meters from Tazuna's throat. Though Sakura stood in front of him, her legs shook like she was tap-dancing.

"Die!" The Demon Brother's eyes gleamed with bloodlust.

Ye Tian sat beneath the tree roots, his right index finger slightly curled.

"Off you go."

Spiritual Power surged faintly from his fingertip.

[Finger Flick Divine Skill: Sky Piercer]

Whoosh—!

A transparent force invisible to the naked eye crossed several meters in an instant, precisely striking the edge of the iron claw.

Clang!

A faint, crisp sound rang out. The originally fatal strike was forcibly knocked off course by that push, grazing Sakura's hair before viciously embedding itself in the tree trunk beside her.

"What? It missed?" Before the Demon Brother could react, Kakashi suddenly appeared and seized both brothers by the throat, one in each hand.

"Whew... that scared me to death." Ye Tian took the opportunity to slide down onto the ground, panting heavily. His acting was practically Oscar-worthy.

No one noticed his little move just now.

Only when Sasuke retrieved his kunai did he glance suspiciously at the iron claw lodged in the tree trunk. At that speed, it should not have missed. And had he just heard a strange impact?

Night fell, and a thin mist rose through the woods.

"Let's set up camp here." Kakashi pointed toward the stream.

Everyone was exhausted. The Soldier Pills tasted like dry, hard sawdust.

"Um... everyone must be hungry, right?"

Ye Tian took off his huge pack and, as if performing a magic trick, pulled out a large black iron pot. He lit a fire, set up the pot, and added rice, his movements smooth and practiced.

When no one was looking, he sprinkled a handful of Spirit Rice into the pot and switched out the water for Spirit Spring water.

Gurgle, gurgle...

Before long, a rich aroma of rice, mixed with the fresh scent of vegetation and even carrying a faintly soul-hooking quality, burst through the camp.

Grrr—

Sasuke, who had been putting on a cold and aloof act, had his stomach let out an incredibly loud growl that rang especially clearly through the silent woods.

Uchiha Sasuke's face instantly reddened all the way to his neck, and the atmosphere became extremely awkward for a moment.

"It smells so good! What is that?" Naruto had already scrambled over, nearly drooling into the pot.

"Special medicinal congee." Ye Tian served everyone a bowl. "I added some warming, nourishing herbs and my secret sauce. Give it a try."

The moment the first mouthful of congee went down, Naruto froze.

That warm current spread from his esophagus through all four limbs and every bone in his body. The fatigue from traveling was instantly washed away, and even his depleted Chakra rapidly recovered.

"It's delicious!" Naruto's eyes brimmed with tears of emotion.

Though Kakashi wore a mask, the speed of his chopsticks was so fast they left afterimages.

Sasuke kept his head down and ate furiously, his face nearly buried in the bowl. He had no time to speak at all.

A few minutes later, the bottom of the pot had been licked cleaner than Ye Tian's face.

"Hey." Sasuke put down his bowl, his eyes full of vigilance. "What did you put in this? This recovery speed is absolutely not something ordinary food can achieve."

Ye Tian paused, looked at the pairs of eyes fixed on him, and revealed an inscrutable smile.

"What I put in it was... love."

Everyone: "..."

"Ahem, just kidding." Ye Tian took out a packet printed with strange characters reading "999" from his robes—actually an ordinary heat-clearing drink mix exchanged through the system—and began to bluff with a perfectly serious expression.

"It was actually isatis root. A miracle medicine from my hometown. It clears heat and toxins, strengthens the foundation and nourishes vitality. Drink it and you'll know."

Looking at Ye Tian's sincere expression that seemed to say, I wouldn't lie to you, then feeling the warmth inside their bodies, everyone actually showed expressions of realization.

"Isatis root... Got it." Sakura earnestly wrote it down in her notebook, planning to scour the village for it when they returned.

Late at night.

Ye Tian sat beside the extinguished campfire, keeping watch as the Longevity Formula circulated wildly within him. That pot of congee nourished everyone else's bodies, but for him, it replenished Spiritual Energy.

"Peak Qi Refining Fourth Level."

He touched the several modified Explosive Tags, covered in immortal cultivation runes, hidden inside his sleeve and looked into the pitch-black distance.

"Tomorrow, we'll run into Zabuza, won't we?"

"Demon Zabuza... I hope your Broken Blade can withstand one finger from me."

He closed his eyes, a selfish yet calm curve lifting at the corner of his mouth.