Chapter 138: Ninja Intern (4k)
Chapter 138: Ninja Intern (4k)
"Could she be cultivating some terrifying forbidden technique that's powerful enough to destroy a town?" Obito couldn't help but ask.
The fact that Mu Yue, whose true strength was unknown, was injured had Obito's imagination running wild, thinking of some incredibly powerful jutsu.
"I don't know about destroying a town, but I do have a Fire Release that can burn down an entire forest," Mu Yue replied with a smile.
"What jutsu is it? Can you teach me now?" Obito asked eagerly, his eyes shining with anticipation.
Kakashi didn't need to look to know the outcome.
Smack!
Mu Yue tapped Obito's head with two fingers and said, "You should consider how much chakra you have first. You haven't even mastered the Red Morning Glory Claw yet, and you're already thinking about learning a new jutsu."
Obito indeed had access to many powerful Fire Release techniques, such as the Great Fireball Technique and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, which were immensely powerful jutsu. However, without sufficient chakra, he wouldn't be able to utilize their full potential.
"Hehe, Miss Mu Yue, you should really cut down on hitting me, not because I'm afraid of the pain, but because I'm worried about your hands," Obito said with a cheeky smile.
Smack! Smack!
Obito's words earned him a double strike.
"You don't have to worry too much about that. My body is still in good shape, and my recovery ability is excellent," Mu Yue said with a laugh.
"Let's begin the practice. This is the final step before initiation. Once you learn this, all you need to do is integrate what you've learned in battle, and you'll be able to master the breathing technique," Mu Yue explained.
With the training of the All-Concentration Breathing, the initial phase of their breathing technique cultivation was coming to an end. From now on, Obito and the others just needed to merge all their training together to truly master the breathing technique.
Hearing Mu Yue's signal to start the training, Obito stopped goofing around and began to search for the feeling of All-Concentration Breathing, as Mu Yue had just taught him.
He entered the breathing technique state and then continued to increase the intensity from there. However, at the very beginning, Obito didn't feel the noticeable change that Mu Yue had mentioned.
"It works better when combined with movement," Mu Yue instructed, telling them to keep moving instead of standing still while practicing the breathing.
After teaching Obito and Kakashi, Mu Yue went to check on Might Guy's progress.
Guy had already started his extreme sports training and was making decent progress at this step of the cultivation.
When Mu Yue found Guy, his mastery of Rock Breathing had reached thirty-nine.
Although it was still some distance away from Obito's fifty-two and Kakashi's forty-eight, his speed of improvement was no longer slow and was actually quite a bit faster than Mu Yue had expected.
Rock Breathing didn't have as many benefits as Flame Breathing, which could accelerate nature transformation and enhance both the power of flames and physical abilities. Rock Breathing only had one effect—to enhance physical abilities.
However, this single effect also led to an extremely powerful result. Through her own tests, Mu Yue found that in the All-Concentration Breathing state, Flame Breathing's boost to the body was inferior to that of Rock Breathing in its regular breathing state. Additionally, Rock Breathing's training effect was superior.
Mu Yue concluded that after her disciples mastered the breathing technique, Obito would undoubtedly be surpassed by Guy for a period of time.
...
On Saturday afternoon, Mu Yue went to Hiruzen Sarutobi's house as usual for tutoring.
"Next, we'll start practicing nature transformation," Mu Yue said, explaining the next focus of her teachings.
Nature transformation wasn't exactly a high-level cultivation technique; it was more of a mandatory course for ninjas.
Except for those with abysmal ninjutsu talent like Guy, all ninjas would generally undergo nature transformation training.
Take Hiruzen, for example; he had strong ninjutsu talent and had mastered all seven types of chakra nature transformations. Moreover, he had reached the system's proficient level in three nature transformations, and the rest were also at relatively high mastery levels, even if they hadn't reached proficiency.
However, an ordinary ninja would definitely not be able to achieve this level of mastery. They would usually choose to focus on cultivating the chakra attribute they were born with.
More skilled ninjas would typically choose to cultivate one or two additional chakra attributes to prepare for various situations.
For example, most Jonin of Konoha had mastered two or more chakra nature transformations.
During the Jonin meeting, Mu Yue had used her Appraisal on many Jonin and found that most of them had two proficient-level nature transformations. Some of the more skilled ones had three or four, but there weren't many Jonin with proficient nature transformations.
Mu Yue had also used her Appraisal on Asuma's attributes, and she didn't know how he had come up with the idea, but at such a young age, he was already simultaneously cultivating two attributes.
Currently, Asuma had a total of two chakra nature transformations in his skill panel—Wind and Fire. His mastery of Fire was slightly higher, hovering at the proficient level, while Wind was still at the edge of the initiation level.
Although Mu Yue knew some Wind Release ninjutsu, she felt that it was not yet time to reveal too much, so she chose to teach Asuma Fire-attribute chakra nature transformation and Fire Release jutsu.
Since Asuma had already mastered nature transformation to some extent, Mu Yue didn't need to start from scratch like she did with Obito.
For ninjutsu, Mu Yue chose the Dragon Fire technique previously given to him by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The reason she chose Dragon Fire was not only because it was a decent technique but also because she wanted to demonstrate her talent for ninjutsu in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi, implying that she could teach others after mastering the B-rank Fire Release technique within just over a month.
"Dragon Fire Technique!"
Mu Yue quickly formed the necessary hand seals and exhaled a ferocious fire dragon that soared to a height of several feet, dancing in the sky.
To conceal her true prowess, Mu Yue deliberately performed the full set of hand seals, even though she could execute this technique with just one seal.
"Dragon Fire may not have the same range as your current Grand Flame Technique, but it's more flexible, easier to hit with, and its power is also quite impressive. You can decide during battles which technique to use depending on the situation," Mu Yue explained.
"I understand," Asuma nodded.
When it was time for Mu Yue to send Asuma home, they happened to run into Hiruzen Sarutobi on his way back from work.
"Asuma, have you been studying hard with Teacher Mu Yue?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked with a smile.
"Of course, I study hard with Teacher Mu Yue. After all, Teacher Mu Yue isn't some old man who likes to smoke," Asuma replied.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was in the middle of smoking his pipe, paused for a moment and put it down.
Asuma, drenched in sweat from his training, didn't have the energy to banter with Hiruzen Sarutobi, so he simply retorted and went to get his change of clothes for a shower.
"Mu Yue, you've given me another pleasant surprise. Your Class 1-1 is probably the best class in the history of the Ninja Academy in terms of average grades," Hiruzen Sarutobi said.
From time to time, the Ninja Academy would produce some exceptionally talented students, like Orochimaru in the past and Kakashi a few years ago.
But it was rare to see an entire class performing as excellently as Mu Yue's Class 1-1.
The Ninja Academy's class assignments were truly random, with no special arrangements for gifted students. At least, that was the case at present; otherwise, if there were special classes for the gifted, how could Might Guy, who was admitted as a makeup student, end up in the same class as Kakashi?
"It's still the second semester of the first year, so it's hard to tell. There are still several years of study ahead," Mu Yue replied humbly.
"If this progress can be maintained until graduation, then the genin from your class will surely be extraordinary," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was eager to see what kind of class Mu Yue could mold, given her full responsibility for their education.
"Nowadays, the ninja world is in turmoil, with both the Rock and Cloud villages eyeing our Leaf Village with hostility. If all the teachers at the Ninja Academy were as excellent as you, I wouldn't have to worry about the school at all," Hiruzen Sarutobi added.
Mu Yue thought to herself that if all the teachers at the Ninja Academy had her strength, they wouldn't have to worry about the school, or even the war—that would be nearly a hundred elite jonin.
"What are your plans for the break after the second semester, Mu Yue? Are you going to conduct special training like you did during the summer vacation?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.
The break between the second and third semesters at the Ninja Academy was not as long as summer vacation, but it still lasted a little over a month.
Only the break between the third semester and the following academic year was short, lasting just two weeks.
"For ordinary students, special training can continue as usual. However, for exceptionally outstanding students, I suggest we begin their internship as ninja," Mu Yue replied.
Then, Mu Yue explained her idea to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
For the vast majority of students, special training was undoubtedly the best option. But for those at the top, such as the students with the highest grades in their year, she suggested providing them with special treatment and allowing them to start taking on missions to hone their ninja abilities.
Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't asked today, Mu Yue would have found an opportunity to bring up the topic of internships with him.
She wanted to take Might Guy, Obito, and the others on missions.
Since there were rewards for doing well on exams, she wondered if there would be rewards for her disciples completing missions.
She also wanted to use this opportunity to train her disciples and herself.
Mu Yue currently lacked combat experience, and by taking a few interns with her, the Third Hokage would most likely assign her only D- or C-rank missions, which were highly unlikely to involve any dangerous ninjas, ensuring their safety.
"There's no need to assign Jonin-level teachers. Just deploy some excellent Ninja Academy teachers, and restrict them to only accepting D-rank and C-rank missions," Mu Yue continued.
In fact, Mu Yue's idea of an internship somewhat aligned with Hiruzen Sarutobi's previous thoughts.
Previously, when Mu Yue had arranged special training for the fourth-grade students, Hiruzen Sarutobi had wanted to strengthen the graduating genin's capabilities and help them transition into the role of a ninja more efficiently.
Now, it seemed that Mu Yue's idea of an internship was even better.
Students like Might Guy and Obito were exceptionally skilled, and aside from not having taken the graduation exam, they were more powerful than ordinary genin. There was no doubt they could handle missions.
Once they became familiar with the ins and outs of taking on missions, they wouldn't have to start from scratch like other genin, doing menial tasks like picking up trash or mowing lawns. Instead, they could dive straight into C-rank missions.
"Mu Yue, this is a great idea. I think it's feasible, but you'll need to refine the details," Hiruzen Sarutobi said after some thought.
With a couple of months left before the holidays, he wanted to see what Mu Yue's complete plan looked like.
Mu Yue nodded and said, "I'll submit it to you once it's ready."
As long as Hiruzen Sarutobi showed interest, Mu Yue was confident that the plan would succeed.
The timing was perfect, and everything seemed to be falling into place.
Although the Ninja World War was still in the probing stage, various preventive measures required the mobilization of many ninjas, which meant that there would be fewer ninjas available for missions in the Leaf Village.
Mu Yue felt that in the end, it might not just be the top students who would get internships, but possibly all students with excellent grades.
He had considered many potential scenarios, including the possibility that the Third Hokage might want him to continue with special training instead of leading interns.
Mu Yue had prepared for this, and he had a few ideas up his sleeve. For instance, he could suggest that Hiruzen Sarutobi test out other teachers for special training and compare the results with his own.
Alternatively, he could take a step back and imply that such important matters shouldn't be left solely in his hands, and that it was time to give other teachers a chance to lead.
He had even contemplated the possibility of his plan failing entirely, and he knew that it wouldn't set him back significantly.
If he couldn't take his disciples on missions, he would focus on intensive training with them, which would still yield substantial benefits. Moreover, the break only lasted a little over a month, after which his disciples would resume their regular lives.
After that, Mu Yue returned to his simple daily routine.
During the day, he taught his students, and in the evenings, he studied the art of crafting ninja tools. Every now and then, his students would accidentally notice the marks left on his hands from crafting.
"Teacher Mu Yue, are you really cultivating some terrifying forbidden technique?" Obito asked with a serious expression.
Smack! Mu Yue tapped Obito's head with two fingers.
"I've just been learning how to forge ninja tools lately. Don't overthink it," Mu Yue explained.
"I see," Obito said, looking disappointed.
"Why are you learning this, Teacher Mu Yue? Do you plan to open a ninja tool shop?" Obito asked, curious.
"No," Mu Yue shook his head, not elaborating further.
Contrary to Obito's guess, Itachi believed that Mu Yue, as a powerful individual, was dissatisfied with ordinary ninja tools and had taken it upon himself to learn how to craft better ones.
On Monday at noon, Mu Yue attended a small meeting with only the grade level director and the instructional director present.
The main topic of discussion was the recent exam results.
Unsurprisingly, Mu Yue's Class 1-1's outstanding performance was praised again, but Mu Yue had become accustomed to such accolades.
They also discussed the large class format that Mu Yue had proposed earlier.
Currently, only the first-year students had large classes, taught by Mu Yue and another Chunin teacher named Heino Koji, with each teacher instructing four classes.
However, there was an embarrassing disparity in the results—the classes taught by Mu Yue far outperformed the other four classes.
It was clear that this wasn't an issue of class size but a reflection of Mu Yue's exceptional capabilities as a teacher.
Comparing the scores of the classes taught by Mu Yue with those of Heino Koji's classes was pointless, as the gap was simply too wide. So, they compared Heino Koji's classes' average scores from the previous semester, and they found that they had dropped by about six or seven points.
The drop wasn't significant, but it was still a decline, and the final decision was to continue the pilot in the first grade and not expand it to other grades for the time being.
(End of Chapter)
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