I, Konoha's Sage of Life-Chapter 231: Don’t Make It Sound So Nice

"Handa’s junior?"

Kyoichi vaguely recalled—there was someone like that. A pretty decent cook, except... his food made people gain weight like crazy.

Handa’s poor daughter, taken away for just a couple of days, came back several sizes rounder.

Clearly, this guy’s cooking...

Was all about taste, not nutrition.

"You’re a Konoha ninja?"

"My lord, I’m a culinary ninja (cooking-nin) from the Land of Fire. This type of ninja used to exist in the past, but was later outlawed. I became a wandering ninja—until recently, when you opened this research institute."

Hakkaku’s tone grew somber as he spoke.

He was afraid Kyoichi might kick him out.

After all...

Culinary ninjas were seen as obsolete relics, not worth studying in the eyes of most. That’s why he had to reframe his work as "developing rations pills."

But truth be told...

It wasn’t going well.

He wasn’t a medical ninja—what did he know about making that kind of thing? It had become a chaotic mess, and he had no idea how to proceed.

"Culinary ninjas themselves aren’t the problem," Kyoichi said, thinking back to dietitians from his previous life.

Culinary ninjas should really be akin to nutritionists—but somewhere along the way, they’d gone down the wrong path, trying to contribute to war efforts by cooking for the troops directly.

"You’ve got a different take, Kyoichi-kun? Heh. I won’t hide it—back then, I was one of the people who opposed culinary ninjas," Orochimaru said, intrigued.

He had firsthand experience with the whole ordeal, so he had plenty to say.

The whole concept...

Was a joke.

During war or missions, the focus was naturally on whatever was quick and convenient. But culinary ninjas? They insisted on elaborate, gourmet meals.

Not only was it inefficient, it also turned people into pigs. Orochimaru had nearly slaughtered those fools on the spot.

So...

He was quite curious to hear what kind of argument Kyoichi could make for them.

"There’s nothing wrong with being a culinary ninja. The path they chose was the problem. As a culinary ninja, your job should be to manage day-to-day nutritional needs," Kyoichi explained.

"Daily nutrition?" Hakkaku repeated, as if mulling it over.

It sort of made sense—but not entirely.

"Ninja training takes a heavy toll, especially for children still growing. They need to build their bodies while maintaining chakra and stamina output. Nutritional balance is critical."

Kyoichi shared some basic knowledge he remembered from nutrition science.

"By comparison, flavor and taste are low-priority goals. As long as it’s edible, that’s enough."

"This... is that really okay?" Hakkaku was dumbfounded.

This was completely different from what he’d imagined. He thought Kyoichi wanted him to cook tasty meals for ninja on the regular. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Which was half right.

But taste and presentation didn’t matter at all?

That ran completely counter to everything he knew as a chef!

"What, you can’t do it?" Kyoichi asked, glancing at him.

If he couldn’t even manage that, what was the point of researching ration pills? Kyoichi might just report him for wasting funding.

Hakkaku jolted. This was clearly a loaded question—one wrong answer, and he was toast.

"Of course I can! But as a chef, I have principles—"

"Forget your principles. Just do as I say. Of course, if you can also improve the taste while keeping the nutrition intact, go for it. But nutrition comes first."

"Yes, sir!" Hakkaku trembled, completely forgetting all his chef’s pride—

Staying in the research institute came first.

"What about this meal, then?"

"Just make it like you normally would. Ahem. We’re past the stage where we need careful nutrition management—and we’ve got enough self-control."

Kyoichi wasn’t about to be anyone’s lab rat.

Nutritious meals were all well and good, but no matter how refined they were, they never tasted as good as real food.

Why torture yourself?

Orochimaru’s mouth twitched.

This guy...

Always had a clever justification for everything. Whatever happened, he’d find a reason to be right.

Still...

Orochimaru didn’t say much.

One thing was certain: no matter how effective those nutritious meals were, they probably didn’t taste great.

In the next room, they sat down. Orochimaru laid out a basic barrier, then leaned in and said in a low voice, "Kyoichi-kun, let’s put the nutrition talk aside for now—what about Sage Mode?"

"But Sage Mode affects the future of Konoha too, you know!"

"Ugh..." You bastard.

Trying to bait me, huh?

Orochimaru’s blood pressure spiked. Ever since he’d arrived at this research institute, he’d hardly ever lost his temper—except for the two or three times this guy was involved.

"All I know is that the three great summoning lands each have a way to train in senjutsu chakra. And senjutsu chakra is formed by mixing physical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy," Orochimaru explained.

That was about all he knew.

Knowledge was power—and he understood its value. He was prepared to pay a price for it.

"I understand that knowledge about Sage Mode might be taboo, so you don’t need to explain it all. Just tell me what you can share, and I’ll repay you somehow."

"Forget repayment. You’re probably bored out of your mind right now. If you left, Jiraiya and Tsunade would be in trouble. So I’m just giving you a new research project."

Kyoichi didn’t care about getting anything in return.

What Orochimaru knew, Kyoichi mostly already knew—and might even use better. The important thing was that Orochimaru was useful.

Any tricky jutsu research was best handed off to him. Even scientific and weapons development couldn’t do without him.

If Orochimaru ever left Konoha...

Kyoichi would have to do everything himself.

Orochimaru was quiet for a while. Then he sighed and said, "As grateful as I am... could you not make it sound like you’re doing me a favor when you’re obviously using me?"

"Hahaha..."

Kyoichi just chuckled and began explaining some of the basic knowledge surrounding Sage Mode:

Natural energy. Senjutsu. The foundation of it all.

Orochimaru listened with rapt attention, eyes gleaming with obsession—as if a door to a brand new world had just swung open.

He had long wanted to explore senjutsu.

The sages of the three great sanctuaries had all lived since the time of the Sage of Six Paths. He believed they might hold the secret to immortality.

No One to Rely On but Myself

Unfortunately, Manda was completely unreliable.

That creature only cared about personal gain, and when it came to Sage Arts and Sage Mode, he never uttered a single word—afraid, it seemed, that Orochimaru might learn and become even stronger.

And researching it on his own...

Sage Arts clearly weren’t that simple.

Besides...

Research still had to follow some kind of basic principle. How was he supposed to study or innovate something he knew absolutely nothing about?

Thankfully...

Kyoichi had arrived!

After listening to Kyoichi’s explanation, Orochimaru’s eyes lit up with excitement, and his hands actually trembled with anticipation.

"You’re saying there’s a village where, due to long-term exposure to a natural energy-rich environment, the people there have passively developed partial Sage transformation?"

"That’s right. My current research project is to gradually acclimate the body to natural energy and attempt to mass-produce Sage Mode."

Kyoichi said this with utter seriousness.

Orochimaru licked his lips; his eyes sparkled like a child’s discovering a new toy, and his fingers twitched with thrill.

Mass-produced Sage Mode?

Could that... actually be possible?

His first instinct was—

Impossible.

If Sage Mode were so easy to obtain, the Three Great Sanctuaries would have started raising hell long ago.

But...

The idea was thrilling.

The Three Great Sanctuaries? They all acted high and mighty—especially Ryūchi Cave, where Manda resided. That pompous overgrown snake acted like a king, extorting favors every time it was summoned to help.

Orochimaru had had enough of that arrogant reptile.

"You mean to gradually guide natural energy into the body, helping it adapt, and then begin Sage training once the body’s used to it?"

"Exactly. Shisui and the others have already begun training. I’ve started as well—made some small progress lately, though it’s still very difficult."

"So you want every ninja to eventually learn Sage Mode? To be honest, I don’t think that’s realistic. The threshold for sensing natural energy is already high—there’s no way just anyone could do it."

Orochimaru frowned.

This was asking too much. Was Kyoichi just dumping impossible work on him?

"That’s not it," Kyoichi replied. "I just want you to help stabilize the condition of those villagers. Right now, they’re in a chaotic state. As long as they can control themselves and not go berserk, that’s good enough."

If they could reach that point...

That would already be a huge success.

Orochimaru clearly understood this too. He went silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Can I run some experiments?"

"This involves people’s lives. You need to make sure your methods are safe and effective before letting them try anything."

Kyoichi’s expression turned stern. His goal was to heal those people—not treat them like test subjects. Safety came first, always.

"Tch... troublesome. But... acceptable. There are a lot of restrictions, sure—but who told me to be so fascinated by Sage Arts?"

Orochimaru sighed.

He understood the reasoning. He just... didn’t like waiting.

Still, if that was the requirement—

It’d just slow things down. Nothing more.

"If this training method works, then in the not-so-distant future... maybe Sage Arts could become a standard tool in the shinobi arsenal," Kyoichi said with a faint smile.

Truth-Seeking Orbs, huh?

They could block all ninjutsu?

Then let’s respond with Sage Arts and Sage Mode.

Of course...

Just having Sage Mode alone still wouldn’t be enough to take down an enemy wielding Truth-Seeking Orbs.

To defeat that kind of foe—

You’d have to master Yin-Yang Release.

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