Obito lifted his head.Black smoke poured endlessly from a massive crater, swallowing the sky.Dark gray earth stretched in every direction.A world with only two colors—black and ash.
"It's so hot—so spicy!" Obito gasped, trying to cool his burning tongue.
BOOM!!
A deafening blast erupted.A pillar of molten fire exploded upward—lava spraying into the heavens like a volcanic fountain.
Black smoke thickened into a suffocating plume.Scarlet magma carved violent streaks into the monochrome world, painting everything with lethal red.
Then—The sky rained lava.
It swallowed Obito whole.
His vision snapped back to reality.
"SPICY! SPICY! SPICY!"The illusion of the volcano faded, but the fire on his tongue had not.
Even so—Obito kept shoveling food into his mouth.
It hurt.It was delicious.He couldn't stop.
"High temperature… burning…"The words drifted across his mind.
The volcano…The eruption…The lava that consumed him…
FWOOOH—
A jet of red flame erupted from Obito's mouth.
He froze.Hands waving frantically at his tongue like a street performer caught practicing fire-breathing.
"Abba—?!"
"Cut off your chakra output," Hanyū Yuuma said, voice steady as steel.
Obito blinked, realized chakra was surging through him, and stopped it.The flames vanished instantly.
"Train while that sensation's still imprinted," Yuuma said, placing a palm-sized ice block in Obito's hand.
"Remember what you felt. Heat. Combustion. Burn."
Yuuma could already guess what had happened—the Chef skill's hallucination effect had synergized with Obito's fire nature.
He hadn't expected cooking illusions to become a catalyst for Fire Release growth.Useful.Terrifying.Useful.
If a simple stir-fry with chili could trigger this… what would happen if I fed him Mapo Tofu every day?Yuuma hid a small smile.
"Teacher! Look!" Obito shouted.
The ice in his hand shrank rapidly—melting far faster than before.
Yuuma nodded. "Good. Don't lose that feeling."
"Yeah!" Obito focused hard, face flushed with determination.Feedback like this made training addictive.If every session were like this, he might become a maniac for self-improvement.
"Obito," Yuuma said lightly. "You don't hate spicy food, right?"
"Spicy?" Obito licked his lips unconsciously. "If it tastes as good as that dish did… bring it on."
"Good. I'll make sure it's delicious."
The moment Obito heard Yuuma's gentle voice, a chill ran down his spine—despite the ice in his hand.
Wait.No.NO.
"Teacher Yuuma, I—I actually like fried rice too," Obito said quickly.
"Chili fried rice? Perfect. I'll make it for you."
Obito's soul left his body.
"C-can I have chili fried rice… without chili?"
"Chili fried rice without rice? Quite a bold taste. But I don't mind indulging you."
Obito nearly collapsed on the spot.
He turned desperately to Shisui.
Shisui looked away. Hard.
Not getting dragged into this. Absolutely not.
Obito then looked at Might Guy.Guy flashed a thumbs-up.
"A burning youth must eat burning food!"
Obito: "…"
His heart froze.His allies were traitors.
So he made a decision:
If he was dying… everyone was dying with him.
"Teacher," Obito said solemnly, "cooking three separate dishes must be tiring. Why not make one big batch of the same food and divide it for all of us?"
Yuuma touched his chin—considering.
He absolutely knew Obito's motive.He accepted anyway.
Shisui's eye twitched.This idiot… he's dragging us all into the volcano.
Guy clapped his hands passionately."Yes! In our heated youth, we should all eat spicy food together!"
From that day forward—
The three boys lived a physically fiery life.
"So spicy—delicious!" Obito cried, tears streaming as he devoured Mapo Tofu.
"So spicy! So moving!" Guy sobbed joyfully, eating through the pain.
Shisui, breathing heavily, quietly shuffled away from them.
Later, the three went to the bathroom together—Entered upright.Came out bent over, gripping the wall like survivors of a disaster.
At school, Rin noticed Obito constantly raising his butt for no reason.
"Obito, are you okay?" she asked, worried.
Obito stared into the void."It's just… a small side effect of hard training."
"But Rin, listen—my Fire Style has skyrocketed. This time, I'll defeat Kakashi for sure and take first place!"
Rin blinked."But Kakashi won't join the competition. He's already a Chunin. Only academy students and kids our age join the Junior Ninjutsu Tournament."
Obito froze.
"…He's not joining…?"
His entire worldview shattered.