Hokage, no one knows better than me how to cultivate talent.

Chapter 102 is just a little short.

There's no way to control auto-aim.

Tsunade raised her eyelids and glanced at him, her expression unchanged, before turning her gaze back to continue talking to Kurenai.

Qiu Shui breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Judging from her reaction, she probably has no memory of what happened yesterday when she was drunk.

However, Kurenai was also nearby, and he suddenly had a strange feeling, as if he had been caught in the act of adultery, and his spine tightened slightly.

But soon, Qiu Shui convinced herself.

Why is he panicking?

He and Kurenai Yuhi are not in a romantic relationship.

Besides, it was Gang who started it yesterday, so even if he brings up old grievances afterward, he's still in the right.

"Qiushui, you're back." Jingyin poked her head out from the kitchen, holding a cleaver in her hand. "I prepared the groceries for you in advance."

She's ultimately a bit shy and doesn't feel comfortable eating and drinking for free every day; she always has to do something to feel at ease.

Qiu Shui responded, went into the kitchen, tied on an apron, and prepared to start cooking.

He glanced at the neatly arranged ingredients on the cutting board. The scallions, ginger, and garlic were cut precisely, the meat slices were of uniform thickness, and even the potato shreds were of consistent thickness. Silent's knife skills were indeed quite good, almost as good as his.

"Um... Qiushui." Shizune stood beside her, rubbing her fingers together, and said somewhat shyly, "Could you teach me how to cook?"

She is a thoughtful person.

She knew she couldn't come to Qiushui's place for meals as often as Xi Ri Hong, and she didn't know how long she could stay in the village this time, so she thought she should learn a few skills now so that she could cook for herself when she went out.

"No problem," Qiu Shui readily agreed.

Anyway, he's not a chef who makes a living from this.

The reason his food tastes so good is because he has the culinary skills of Zhonghua Xiaodangjia. As for whether Jingyin can make the same taste or trigger that illusion effect after learning the skills, that's hard to say.

"Thank you." Shizune's eyes lit up slightly as she said sincerely.

She felt that Qiu Shui was a really good person.

"What dish would you like to learn first?" Qiu Shui asked.

"Braised pork, please," Shizune said after thinking for a moment.

Although Qiu Shui's other dishes were also delicious, her favorite was braised pork.

The soft, sweet, and melt-in-your-mouth texture always made her want to have an extra bowl of rice.

"You must use pork belly to make braised pork." Qiu Shui picked up a piece of pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. "The fat releases oil during stewing and becomes tender and soft, while the lean meat absorbs this oil and doesn't become dry. When you take a bite, the succulence of the fat and the aroma of the lean meat burst forth at the same time, which is something that pure lean meat can't achieve."

Shizune listened intently, and being well-prepared, she pulled out a notebook and began meticulously recording every word that Akisui said, even more attentively than when she was in class at the Ninja Academy.

"Cut the meat into two to three centimeters square, not too big." Qiu Shui raised her knife and made a series of "thump-thump" sounds on the cutting board. In the blink of an eye, the pork belly was transformed into neat and uniform small cubes.

This is not difficult for mute.

As a medical ninja, she is skilled with knives.

"Put the chopped meat in a pot of cold water, add ginger slices and cooking wine, bring to a boil over high heat and skim off the foam. Cook for three to five minutes, then remove and rinse with warm water. Never use cold water, as hot meat will shrink and harden when it comes into contact with cold water."

"The most crucial step is caramelizing the sugar. Put a little oil in the pot, add a small handful of rock sugar, and stir-fry over low heat. After the rock sugar melts, it will first bubble up in large bubbles, then become fine and dense bubbles, and the color will change from white to light yellow, amber, and finally to jujube red. At this point, immediately add the meat and stir-fry quickly so that each piece of meat is coated with the caramelized sugar. If you are worried about it becoming bitter, you can skip this step and add dark soy sauce directly, but the flavor will be slightly different."

Draw a horizontal line on the notebook to highlight the key points.

"Stir-fry over medium heat until the surface of the meat is slightly yellow and the oil is released. Add ginger, scallions, star anise, and cinnamon and stir-fry until fragrant. Then drizzle a spoonful of cooking wine along the edge of the pot, add enough boiling water to cover the meat, add two spoonfuls of light soy sauce and one spoonful of dark soy sauce. If you have caramelized sugar, add less soy sauce. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour."

While stewing the meat, Qiu Shui continued to explain while cooking other dishes: when stir-frying vegetables, the oil and pan should be hot enough, and they should be taken out of the pan as soon as they are cooked through; before frying fish, be sure to dry it thoroughly, otherwise it will splatter oil and break the skin; when stewing soup, add the ingredients to cold water and simmer over low heat to make it clear; it is better to use less seasoning than more, because if it is too salty, it cannot be salvaged.

"After stewing, taste it to check the saltiness and add a little salt. Then turn up the heat to reduce the sauce, stirring constantly to prevent it from burning. Once the sauce is thick and glossy, coating each piece of meat, it's ready to serve," Qiu Shui said, lifting the lid and tasting a little sauce with a spoon.

Silently, she smelled the aroma filling the air and looked at the tempting, bright red braised pork in the pot, and couldn't help but swallow.

In the end, Qiu Shui had Jing Yin make a tomato and egg stir-fry herself.

The dish looks quite appealing after being cooked and plated, with its bright red and yellow colors. I just don't know how it tastes.

Just then, a system notification popped up in front of Qiu Shui's eyes.

[Talent training completed]

Overall Rating: C

[Received training reward - 20 Chakra]

Qiu Shui was slightly taken aback when she saw the message.

He truly never imagined that teaching people how to cook could be considered talent development and even earn him a reward.

Although it's only 20 chakra points, it's just a piece of cake, practically free money.

He felt he had found a new way to earn rewards.

Dishes were served one after another at the dining table.

"It's so delicious." Kurenai picked up a piece of pork rib and stuffed it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging, and praised it indistinctly.

Although she eats this dish every day, she never gets tired of it.

In particular, she would experience brief hallucinations after each meal, a feeling that made her feel that every meal was a pleasure. During this period, she even felt that eating Qiu Shui's cooking had a certain effect on her illusion magic training.

"Qiu Shui, did you really not put any tonics, precious medicinal herbs, or hallucinogens in this dish?" She had actually noticed it yesterday; her fatigue and chakra were slowly recovering while eating these dishes. However, she forgot about it last night after drinking alcohol. She ate it again today, and the feeling was still there, so she couldn't help but ask.

"No, they're all ordinary vegetables I bought at the market," Qiu Shui said frankly. "Besides, where would I, a Chunin, get so much money to buy expensive medicinal herbs?"

"Lady Tsunade, this is because Shusui's cooking has reached a level of perfection, which is why it has this effect," Kurenai Yuhi explained earnestly from the side.

"I just cooked this dish with Qiu Shui in the kitchen. I can guarantee he wasn't lying," Jingyin said.

Tsunade pondered for a moment, then nodded.

She was well-informed and quickly accepted the fact. She could also sense that these dishes would only have benefits and no drawbacks after consumption. They wouldn't be as addictive as dishes containing medicine, nor would they harm the body.

"I made this dish!" Shizune pointed to the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, her tone carrying a hint of pride. "Lady Tsunade, Kurenai, you two should try it."

Tsunade and Kurenai each picked up a piece and put it in their mouths.

"How was it?" Shizune stared at them expectantly.

"It's alright," Kurenai Yuhi gave a fair assessment.

"Compared to Shusui, the gap is quite large." Tsunade showed no mercy.

Shizune's face still held a smile. She was pleased with Kurenai's words, but as for Tsunade's, she could only listen to them; after all, Kurenai rarely praised anyone.

"By the way," Akisui looked at Yuhi Kurenai, "how is Kurama Yakumo doing?"

"Lady Tsunade truly lives up to her reputation as the strongest medical ninja in the ninja world." Kurenai Yuhi's tone was filled with sincere admiration. "Before, no one else could do anything about it, but today, as soon as she went there, she woke up Kurama Yakumo. At this rate, it seems like it won't be long before he fully recovers."

"What Kurenai said is a bit of an exaggeration, but I should be able to handle Kurama Yakumo's health issues without much trouble. After observing her carefully for a few more days, I'll prescribe the right medicine, and it should be resolved in less than a month," Tsunade said confidently after downing a glass of sake.

Friday morning, in the classroom of Class 1, Grade 4.

"Ino, this male protagonist is so pitiful! He actually got dumped." Nagai Aya indignantly felt sorry for the protagonist, her fingers gripping the edge of the book's pages, wishing she could jump into the book and say a few words for him. "It's a pity his fiancée doesn't know that he already has a mysterious powerful figure backing him up. She'll definitely regret it later."

"Mmm-hmm!" Ino nodded vigorously. "Especially when the male lead threw out the divorce papers and said that line, 'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river,' I felt completely fired up!"

As she spoke, her voice unconsciously rose a few decibels. If she hadn't been mindful that she was still in the classroom, she probably would have stood up and raised her arms in a shout.

"But the male protagonist is really pitiful..." Aya Nagai sighed. "The only female protagonist who stayed with him had to leave because of her family. Before leaving, she was humiliated by the guards of her family.

Not only Ino and Aya Nagai, but other classmates also gathered in twos and threes, discussing the same novel.

The entertainment culture in the ninja world has always been poor.

Those 18+ books and magazines are explicitly prohibited from being sold to minors, so reading novels and comics has become their main form of entertainment during their spare time.

It costs nothing, and you can have common topics with your classmates so that you won't be considered unsociable, or be left out in a corner when others are having a lively conversation.

Sakura Haruno has also been reading this book recently.

The more she read, the more she felt that the male protagonist in the book was somewhat similar to Sasuke; both were young clan leaders from large families and both were alone.

The female protagonist's unwavering devotion to the male protagonist also made her vaguely see her own reflection.

Now only Sasuke remains of the Uchiha clan. Although she doesn't have the powerful family background of the female protagonist, her feelings for Sasuke have always been the same.

"Hinata, I've noticed you don't seem to have many leisure activities." Ino picked up the novel from the table, turned around and handed it to Hinata, enthusiastically recommending, "You can borrow this book."