https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-225-Jonin-Instructors-Fall-Short-of-Interns/12558233/
Chapter 226: Scrolls, Mountains of Questions, and Birthdays
Chapter 226: Scrolls, Mountains of Questions, and Birthdays
"Let's practice the breathing technique for another four hours after dinner and work on improving our focus." On the way home, Kakashi's thoughts remained focused on his training regimen.
Currently, Kakashi was primarily cultivating the Lightning Release alongside the Body Flicker Technique and manipulating his chakra nature to enhance his attacks with lightning and physical strength.
He believed that mastering the breathing technique was the top priority, and he could temporarily set aside his training in the Body Flicker and nature transformation.
The breathing technique would enhance his training efficiency and strengthen his body. Additionally, his Lightning Blade needed the breathing technique to reach a higher level and address its shortcomings.
While the Body Flicker and nature transformation techniques were undoubtedly powerful, they didn't offer much improvement for Kakashi at this stage. No matter how strong his nature transformation skills became, Kakashi didn't have enough chakra to convert for those techniques.
The same was true for the Body Flicker; he could only use it a few times in battle, and if he further enhanced it with physical strength, he would deplete most of his chakra in a single move.
"Lately, there have been more war missions, all taking place in the Grass Country. I wonder how the front lines are faring."
"I heard that one of the Sannin, Jiraiya-sama, has led a team to the front lines. With such a powerful ninja there, I'm sure everything will be fine."
"It seems like our teacher has been thinking about going to the battlefield soon. Maybe our next mission will be a war mission, and we might even get to witness Jiraiya-sama in action."
"War is much more dangerous than our usual missions. We must look out for each other when that time comes."
"Of course, we're teammates after all."
On the street, Kakashi heard voices that sounded vaguely familiar. He turned towards the source and spotted two of his former teammates.
Kakashi hesitated for a moment, then decided to approach them.
Kakashi's deliberate actions immediately caught the attention of his ex-teammates.
"Could it be that he heard us back then and went home to stew over it, planning his revenge?" One of the former teammates couldn't help but speculate about Kakashi's intentions.
With that thought, the other former teammate tensed up, warily eyeing Kakashi. Although they found Kakashi cold and ruthless, they had to admit that he was undeniably talented, possessing strength that belied his younger age.
"I want to apologize for what happened before," Kakashi said, taking the initiative.
During the time they were teamed up, Kakashi had, on several occasions, prioritized the mission over his teammates' well-being.
Back then, Kakashi believed that a ninja's duty was to complete the mission, even if it meant sacrificing his teammates. In his eyes, failure to complete the mission would bring reproach, regardless of whether his teammates were protected or not.
Although his relationship with these two former teammates wasn't as close as the one he shared with Might Guy and Obito, the enlightened Kakashi had now solidified his beliefs. He would not shy away from his past mistakes and would own up to them.
"Huh?" Kakashi's apology caught the pair off guard, leaving them stunned and rooted to the spot. They had expected Kakashi to pick a fight, not offer an apology.
After speaking, Kakashi noticed their confusion and continued walking towards his home.
His apology wasn't just to his former teammates but also served as a formal farewell to his past self. From now on, he would dedicate himself to his training and uphold his beliefs, protecting those he cared about.
"What's with that sudden outburst? Who can understand what he's thinking?" Even after Kakashi left, his former teammates were still perplexed.
"It's strange. Could he be apologizing for something that happened in the past? That's a huge change."
...
Time ticked by, and finally, the much-anticipated February 10th arrived—Obito's birthday.
However, birthdays didn't warrant a break from training. Celebrations would have to wait until evening.
Obito's morning training schedule for the first two hours involved cultivating his Body Flicker Technique. Apart from Yahiko and Might Guy, the other three disciples had already begun their training in this technique.
There was no immediate need for Yahiko to cultivate this technique, and Might Guy's progress in Yin Release transformation was slow, so he hadn't reached the level required for Body Flicker training yet.
After two hours of cultivating the Body Flicker, Obito continued to practice the breathing technique at the Constant level until the day's training session ended. There would be rest breaks in between, but the training content would remain the same.
"You must be feeling bored with all these basic training projects every day, right?" Instead of rushing them to start, Mu Yue asked with a smile.
"It is a bit boring, similar to the physical training we did at the beginning. The only difference is that we have to maintain full concentration and proper breathing," Obito agreed.
"After all, it's training," Kakashi added.
Training itself was rarely fun, but the motivation to persist and deliver high-quality performances came from the sense of improvement afterward and Mu Yue's praise.
"So, let's do something fun and challenging today," Mu Yue suggested, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
Seeing her smile, Obito had a bad feeling about this. He quickly interjected, "Actually, I think Kakashi makes a good point. Training isn't supposed to be boring or fun."
"I'm up for anything. I trust that whatever training you've arranged, Teacher Mu Yue, is what's best for us," Kakashi chimed in, expressing his willingness to try something new.
Obito: ...
His reaction made him seem rather dull-witted.
"Don't tell me you're going to bring out that terrifying training method again," Obito thought, shuddering as he recalled the dark times he had endured.
If given a choice, Obito would rather face an elite ninja in battle again than relive those days.
The question-answering punishment training was, in Obito's opinion, the most horrifying form of training. It had once caused him to lose all sense of time, making every day feel like a never-ending Friday, followed by an eternity of answering questions.
This sentiment wasn't unique to Obito. Even Might Guy, who prided himself on having an iron will as sturdy as rocks, had once stated that he would rather train for a day than answer questions.
"The training is simple," Mu Yue explained with a cheerful smile. "You just have to dodge my attacks using any means necessary. You can use your Sharingan or ninjutsu to attack me if you want.
If you're hit once, you'll have to answer two questions. Successfully dodging once cancels out two questions. But if you fail to dodge until the end, the number of questions will increase by another ten percent."
"Teacher Mu Yue, how much will you hold back? If you use your full strength, how can we possibly dodge your attacks?" Obito asked, concerned about the vast gap in their abilities.
If Mu Yue unleashed her full speed and power, they wouldn't even see her shadow, let alone dodge her attacks.
"I'll use shadow clones for this training," Mu Yue assured them with a nod. "I won't give them too much chakra, so their level will be similar to yours. As long as you improve your breathing technique a bit, you should be able to dodge them."
"Additionally, the training will last for six minutes, and during this time, the shadow clones will continuously launch attacks.
The essence of constant breathing training is to focus one's breathing and prolong the duration of the breathing technique to achieve a state of constant concentration throughout the day.
"It's actually going to last for a full six minutes!" Obito couldn't help but exclaim, as if he could see a mountain of practice questions rushing toward him.
"I must successfully dodge at least once, or I'll be at a huge loss," Obito thought to himself.
Obito was experienced in such matters. Although it was only a 10% increase, if he ended up with a hundred questions, he would have to answer ten more out of thin air. And if he couldn't finish answering them all at once, another ten would be added.
Kakashi didn't feel too daunted; after all, it was just answering questions, and he always scored full marks on his exams without much effort.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Mu Yue quickly performed the necessary hand seals and created two shadow clones.
"You can enter the full concentration breathing state now. The training will begin in five seconds... five, four..."
"Breath of Flames, Full Concentration Breathing!" Both Obito and Kakashi entered the breathing state, with Obito even activating his Sharingan, his eyes turning crimson with two black tomoe spinning within.
"Two, one, begin!"
Mu Yue's two shadow clones swiftly rushed out, each heading toward Obito and Kakashi.
Through his Sharingan, Obito could observe that Mu Yue had indeed controlled her speed and hadn't increased it drastically.
As he ran, Obito pulled out a large number of shuriken from his ninja tool pouch and threw them at Mu Yue without even aiming, simply hoping to distract her.
However, these tricks barely disturbed Mu Yue's shadow clones, who easily blew the shuriken back with Wind Release, causing Obito's movement speed to temporarily decrease as he dodged his own returning shuriken.
Pap!
A shadow clone of Mu Yue accurately tapped Obito's forehead with her finger.
"That's two questions," the shadow clone said with a smile.
"That backfired," Obito thought, realizing he had made a mistake by not focusing solely on running.
"Since I have the Sharingan, why not try to dodge head-on?" Obito decided to trust in the power of his Sharingan.
Obito concentrated his breathing and directed all his attention to Mu Yue's hands.
"I can see her attack trajectory! Maybe I can do it!" Obito rejoiced inwardly.
Pap!
The crisp sound of a tap echoed as Mu Yue's finger accurately struck Obito's head again, this time on the side as he was trying to dodge. Obito froze in his tracks.
"Damn, I was so close to dodging that!" Obito felt a bit disappointed.
Not willing to give up, Obito tried again.
Pap!
"That's six questions now," the shadow clone said casually.
Whoosh!
Obito took off running. Although he wanted to try again, one mistake meant two more questions, and he didn't want to pay such a painful price.
"What a weird technique, I can't sense any signs of her attacking at all," Kakashi muttered as he was chased down by one of the shadow clones due to the dense trees obstructing his path. He, too, was tapped by Mu Yue.
Although Kakashi didn't mind answering questions, fewer questions meant better training performance, so he, too, activated his Sharingan, turning his eyes crimson.
Pap!
Kakashi watched helplessly as Mu Yue's finger tapped his head.
"I can't dodge it at all. Her attack speed is just a bit faster than my evasion speed," Kakashi immediately concluded that he couldn't evade Mu Yue's attacks under normal circumstances.
"She must be intentionally maintaining this speed," Kakashi guessed.
There were no such things as coincidences, and he believed that she was doing this to push them to break through their limits.
Understanding this, Kakashi quickly moved away to create some distance between himself and the shadow clone.
When the six-minute training session ended, Mu Yue announced the results:
"Obito was hit a total of twenty-five times and dodged zero times. With the additional penalty for not dodging, he has to answer a total of fifty-five questions."
Upon hearing the number fifty-five, Obito nearly fainted, as the short six-minute training session had brought him an unknown amount of future suffering.
"Kakashi was hit a total of twenty-one times and dodged zero times. He will have to answer forty-six questions." Mu Yue continued, announcing Kakashi's results.
Kakashi also failed to break through with his breathing technique, but he was more cautious, so he had slightly fewer questions to answer.
"Huff, I still couldn't dodge her attacks," Kakashi sighed, feeling a bit disappointed.
Mu Yue smiled but remained silent. After all, she had even used her Transparent World technique, and without a breakthrough, there was no way they could successfully dodge her attacks.
In fact, she had gone easy on them. In the beginning, she didn't attack much, mainly because Obito and Kakashi lacked endurance, and their performance declined significantly after five minutes, resulting in most of the questions being accumulated in the last minute.
Otherwise, it would have been too obvious that she was holding back if she didn't attack when their speed decreased so much. Training sessions couldn't be conducted in such a way.
"Take a rest and continue with your regular training. There will be another session like this the day after tomorrow, so work hard," Mu Yue said with a gentle smile.
"There's another one the day after tomorrow?!" Obito felt like more bad news was pouring in, as if an endless pile of exam papers had already landed on his shoulders.
"Breathing technique, please get stronger quickly," Obito pleaded inwardly as he began his training again after recovering some of his stamina.
That day, Obito wholeheartedly cultivated the Breath of Flames, trying to maintain the full concentration breathing state as much as possible. Even when his stamina was almost depleted, he continued to use the breathing technique until he was completely exhausted.
Kakashi's dedication was no less than Obito's. Having failed to dodge even once, Kakashi felt very dissatisfied with himself.
After all, he was Mu Yue's first disciple and her strongest one, never losing to any of her other disciples. He believed that his progress should be leading the others.
"I must at least successfully dodge once!" Kakashi told himself.
By the time their cultivation ended, both Obito and Kakashi were so tired that they couldn't even stand up. They repeatedly pushed themselves to use the breathing technique until they were completely drained of energy, then rested and cultivated again.
"Obito, are you alright? Today is your birthday. Are you overdoing it with your training?" Nozomi Yamanaka asked with concern as she saw Obito slumped against a big tree.
"Oh yeah, it's my birthday today," Obito remembered that it was his birthday, but he had been living in fear of the questions all day and had forgotten about it.
"I'm fine, I just need a little rest," Obito assured her, indicating that it wasn't a big deal, as he had been doing constant breathing training for a while now.
At dinnertime, Mu Yue and her disciples gathered at Obito's home to celebrate his birthday.
4k, and more to come
(End of Chapter)
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