At Training Ground 88, Iruka, with his ponytail, was practicing the newly acquired Genjutsu, Fire of Eight Fragrances.
After forming the hand seals, he picked up the whistle hanging around his neck, gathered Chakra in his mouth, and blew it at a specific rhythm.
Beep beep beep!
Chirp chirp!
The surrounding birds were startled and panicked, seemingly terrified by the unpleasant music, spreading their wings and fleeing into the distance.
Meanwhile, in the distance from the training ground, a figure was about to head to the training ground to practice. Seeing the birds in a state of panic, he was curious as to who was practicing Ninjutsu that could scare away birds from such a distance.
This was a young man with light blue hair and a slender physique. A sports cap tied the upper part of his head, revealing a delicate, blue-themed protagonist-like face. His medium-length hair rested on either side of his chin, and he currently wore a curious expression.
If Satoru were here, he would definitely recognize him—one of Konoha's classic figures, a background villain with a protagonist's face: Mizuki.
Mizuki slowly approached the training ground with curiosity, his aura habitually concealed.
As he drew closer, a series of unpleasant tunes drifted from the distance, making Mizuki frown. Who was playing such terrible music?
However, after walking a few more meters, he felt something was wrong. His tongue was unconsciously producing liquid, and as the liquid formed, a foul odor filled his mouth.
What kind of taste was that…
The moment the taste filled his mouth, his stomach immediately reacted, and a surge of gas rose from his stomach to his throat.
Ugh!
Mizuki leaned against a tree, dry heaving for a while, spitting out a lot of foul liquid.
"What's going on?"
He didn't understand why his body was reacting this way. Had he been hit by a Ninjutsu?
Or was the other party's music so terrible that it caused his body's reaction?
With these thoughts, Mizuki suppressed the nauseating taste and continued to advance stealthily.
He walked a few more meters.
The music changed, turning into another unpleasant tune.
"Doesn't he have any musical talent?" Mizuki mocked from the bottom of his heart, listening to the awful music.
But before he could laugh for long, his face twisted. A bitter taste, never experienced before, spread from his mouth.
His features instantly scrunched together, and his mouth continuously produced saliva, trying to dilute the bitterness and spit it out.
But it was useless; it was still bitter.
"Is this some kind of Secret Technique?"
Mizuki was also an experienced Ninja. Third time's the charm; he knew there was definitely something wrong with this music.
Thinking of Secret Techniques, his eyes showed a hint of jealousy.
Why was he a commoner, not born into a great clan, learning the ordinary Clone Technique, and having to complete so many missions just to get his own Ninjutsu, while others had powerful Ninjutsu and Secret Techniques to practice from a young age?
With these thoughts, Mizuki's aura became even more concealed. He wanted to quietly approach and see if he could secretly learn, who was practising the Secret Technique.
Gurgle gurgle ~
The musical rhythm changed again.
Mizuki had a bad feeling just as the wasabi taste erupted in his mouth, instantly rushing to his forehead. He felt as if his skull was being pierced by this sensation, and all his facial features felt assaulted by the wasabi.
"Damn it, I want to see who it is!" With this obsession, Mizuki continued to advance.
Spicy, foul, cilantro, fishy, sour…
After experiencing the next five flavours, the sound finally stopped. Mizuki, with his twisted and sour face, quickly approached. His stealth could no longer be maintained; he just wanted to see who was playing the music.
Tap tap!
Iruka put down the whistle in his mouth, a smile appearing on his face.
After a few days of practice, he could finally manage to use the Genjutsu his sensei taught him. Although the control of its power wasn't great yet, as long as he practised, with his Chakra control ability, it would be fine.
Suddenly.
He heard the sound of someone approaching and looked back.
A familiar yet strange figure appeared before his eyes, but his facial features seemed red and purple, as if he were sick, and his steps were unsteady.
"Big Brother Mizuki?" he asked in confusion.
"You came to practice too?
Are you injured?"
Mizuki slowly approached, and upon hearing the familiar voice, the mask of pain slowly lifted: "Iruka?"
Iruka, how could it be Iruka, that guy he pitied?
"Big Brother Mizuki, it's me. Are you alright?" Iruka asked worriedly.
Mizuki didn't answer but quickly scanned everything in the training ground: "Where are the others?"
He didn't find any other Ninja in the training ground apart from Iruka, only assuming they had already hidden or left.
"Ah, it's just me here!" Iruka was confused, Were there others here?
"Bastard, and I was so good to you! I'm talking about the guy who was just playing music here, that extremely unpleasant music! Quick, tell me, where is that guy?!"
Mizuki's face was distorted as he roared at Iruka.
Iruka was startled by his expression and stammered, "That… Big Brother Mizuki, the person playing music you're talking about, might… be me…"
As he spoke, he held up the whistle from his chest to show it.
"I used this to play it."
Mizuki was stunned. Iruka's expression didn't seem like he was lying, but he was still unwilling to believe it. How could Iruka have such a Secret Technique?
After confirming repeatedly that Iruka wasn't lying and there were no other Ninja in sight, he finally believed this was Iruka's doing.
"Damn it, how does he know this Secret Technique?"
He thought this, but his face returned to its usual smile, pretending to sigh in relief: "Iruka, I'm sorry, I scared you. I just passed by here and got hit, and I thought it was some enemy!
It was you who did it, that's truly great.
By the way, what kind of Ninjutsu was that just now? Why do you have to play such unpleasant music?"
Seeing Big Brother Mizuki return to his usual smile and hearing his words, Iruka immediately felt awkward.
The scroll annotations from his sensei stated that even if the enemy didn't possess human taste organs, it could still impact the enemy's ears, thus providing an additional attack point within the same timeframe.
But after Mizuki mentioned it, if it was that unpleasant, it would be embarrassing. Would people say he had no musical talent in the future?
He laughed awkwardly: "Ah haha, this is a gift from my sensei. It's a Genjutsu called Fire of Eight Fragrances."
After speaking, he seemed to think of something else and asked cautiously, "Big Brother Mizuki… you weren't… affected by me, were you?"
Only then did he seriously examine Mizuki, looking at that familiar complexion, just like how he looked when he was hit by his sensei. He felt even more embarrassed.
Big Brother Mizuki had always been very kind to him after his parents passed away, comforting him and encouraging him. Now, he was suddenly affected by that Genjutsu, and seemed to have been hit by all of it. His toes curled, and he couldn't stop his awkward smile.
Only he knew how difficult it was to experience eight flavours at once.
Now, Iruka felt like covering his face and running away.