Chapter 229: The Purpose of Learning
Chapter 229: The Purpose of Learning
Moments of happiness are always fleeting. This thought crossed Obito's mind on the morning after his birthday.
"Considering it was your birthday yesterday, I didn't give you any training exercises, but we're starting today," Mu Yue said cheerfully as she handed Obito two test papers.
The day before, she had only asked Obito and Itachi to train, and hadn't given them the test papers afterward.
"Actually, I made a mistake when I registered my birthday. Today is my real birthday," Obito said, feeling dizzy and disoriented as he looked at the pristine white test papers with their clear black print.
Pa!
Mu Yue's finger tapped precisely on Obito's forehead, and she said, "Even if you have birthdays for the next three hundred and sixty-five days, you still have to finish these tests. In ten days, you'll be returning to the academy for exams, and you don't want to go back to getting scores in the teens, do you?"
"Hey, we don't even have classes this semester, why do we still have to take exams?" Obito couldn't help but complain.
Mu Yue's mention of it made him remember—interns had to return to the academy for regular exams.
"It's probably to evaluate the results of your internship," Mu Yue replied with a smile.
"At that time, when the academy publishes the exam results, they will also announce the internship results of all the interns, including the number of tasks completed, which will be listed in the score column."
"Then Kakashi and I will definitely be at the top!" Obito couldn't help but smile proudly.
According to the task registration at the mission hall, other intern teams could only accept D-rank missions. And since D-rank missions would never have unexpected situations that would upgrade the mission, the others wouldn't even have a chance at C-rank missions.
But he and Might Guy had records of two A-rank and one B-rank mission. With this comparison, they were directly leading their peers by several versions.
"There's no doubt that we'll get first place in mission quality, but mission quality doesn't give extra points for theory," Mu Yue nodded. Obito's resume would definitely be a crushing one for other interns.
Hearing the word "theory," Obito frowned and scratched his hair. It wouldn't look good if others saw his impressive mission scores but found that he had only scored in the teens or twenties in theory.
"I give you three days to finish these questions. Come to me for a review after you're done," Mu Yue set the time limit for the questions.
After finishing with Obito, Mu Yue handed Itachi his set of questions.
She had prepared different questions for the two of them. Obito's questions were related to the knowledge taught at the ninja school, while Itachi's were about history and politics.
They weren't the usual history questions about what events happened in a certain year. Instead, they were more like, "Read the following materials and describe the changes and reasons for the shinobi era in the ninja world," or "Combining the history of the Uchiha clan and Konoha, describe the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha."
As an outsider, it wasn't realistic for him to rely solely on his own efforts to resolve the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha clan. He needed the cooperation of the Uchiha clan itself.
The best candidates for this were, of course, his two disciples, Obito and Itachi. Mu Yue intended to not only make them stronger than in the original story but also to teach them more knowledge and broaden their thinking.
Mu Yue's fundamental purpose in giving them these tests wasn't to improve their theory exam scores or to punish them but to elevate their knowledge and enhance their thinking abilities.
Itachi hadn't taken it too seriously at first. It was just two test papers, and he could just have his shadow clones work on them when he got back. But then he glanced at one of the questions, and his expression turned serious.
Looking at the meaningful question, Itachi perused both test papers with a grave expression. He felt that each question could provoke deep thoughts and was very difficult to answer.
Looking at the two test papers, Itachi's face grew solemn. He felt that he had misunderstood Obito and Guy, and no wonder they had always been afraid of these test-taking exercises. If they had to answer hundreds of such questions at once, he wouldn't be able to handle it either.
Mu Yue gave Itachi the same amount of time—three days to finish the questions and then review them with her.
If they felt they couldn't finish, they could apply for an installment plan and extend the time, but the number of questions would increase slightly.
The two of them put away their questions and began to cultivate their breathing techniques, maintaining a state of full concentration while performing various basic exercises.
Even with sweat pouring down his face and soaking his clothes, even with the sweat blurring his vision, Obito persisted until he could no longer stand.
"There's a test-taking exercise tomorrow. I have to get through it this time, so I'll get fewer questions. Otherwise, I'll be on the installment plan again," Obito thought, driven by this motivation.
Fifty-five questions—he gritted his teeth and decided he could finish them in three days. But if there were another fifty-five questions tomorrow, that would be a different story.
And Obito, now experienced, knew very well that once the questions started to accumulate, they would just keep piling up. If Mu Yue didn't stop the test-taking exercises, they would never be finished.
"This guy is putting in so much effort to keep me from catching up with him?" Kakashi, resting, was surprised to see Obito working so hard.
Seeing Obito's dedication, Kakashi couldn't sit still. Even though he hadn't fully rested yet, he began to cultivate the Lightning Breath.
"I'll add two and a half more hours to tonight's training session!" Kakashi secretly resolved.
Under Mu Yue's guidance, no one chose to slack off, and everyone cultivated diligently. So Kakashi, determined to overtake the others, decided to add extra training time.
In his excitement, Might Guy suddenly realized that he had successfully cultivated the second gate of the Eight Inner Gates without relying on the forced method of damaging his body.
"Adamantite Lung, Total Concentration Breathing!"
Might Guy immediately adjusted his breathing to a highly concentrated state, continuously enhancing his physical strength.
"This is the power I seek!" Might Guy clenched his fists, his face lit up with excitement. After the mission, he wanted to further improve his Afternoon Tiger, but he found that without opening the second gate, his power fell just short.
"Afternoon Tiger!"
Might Guy began to sprint at incredible speed. The massive chakra produced by the Eight Inner Gates exploded, enhancing his physical capabilities. As his speed reached its peak, Might Guy unleashed a powerful kick at a massive boulder, akin to a cheetah pouncing on its prey.
BOOM!!
The rock was shattered by this mighty force, sending stone dust and small pebbles flying in all directions.
After delivering the kick, Might Guy felt incredibly refreshed.
The commotion attracted the attention of the others.
"He's already able to use that technique normally?" Kakashi sensed that Might Guy had become significantly stronger.
Previously, he had to force his body to take damage to unleash such power, but now he could do it in a normal state.
"Such incredible speed and strength!" Might Guy's display of power surprised Genma Shiranui.
This was the first time he had seen Might Guy simultaneously use Total Concentration Breathing and the second gate of the Eight Inner Gates. It was truly formidable.
"That's the same technique he used in our last battle. Anyone who takes that hit would be seriously injured if not killed," Obito remarked as he witnessed Might Guy's power, recalling their previous conversation about wanting to fight him, and his eyelid twitched involuntarily.
After a day of training, Obito dragged his exhausted body home. Along the way, he passed by the dumpling shop where he and Yugao Uzuki had eaten before and decided to buy some dumplings to replenish his energy.
"Obito, what's wrong? You look tired," a somewhat familiar voice reached Obito's ears.
Obito turned around and saw a person with a kunai in his mouth greeting him, with a companion wearing sunglasses beside him.
"It's nothing, just a bit tired from training," Obito replied as he bought three skewers of dumplings and sat down at their table with the plate in hand.
Although they were from different classes, they were from the same grade and had become more familiar after the summer special training.
"Who's your intern teacher? Are they that harsh on you?" Hinata Hyuga asked curiously.
"It's Teacher Mu Yue. It's not that she's harsh, but I'm pushing myself. If I want to become stronger, I can't avoid rigorous training," Obito explained, popping a skewer of dumplings into his mouth.
"Wow, your intern teacher is actually Teacher Mu Yue? You're so lucky!" Hinata exclaimed, wearing an envious expression.
Anyone who had been taught by Mu Yue knew the difference between her and ordinary teachers—they weren't on the same level and couldn't be compared.
"Having been trained by Teacher Mu Yue for so long, your strength must have increased a lot. Your position as the top fighter in practical combat must be secure now. Even Might Guy probably can't beat you," Hinata said with a smile, thinking that Obito could pop the champagne early in celebration.
"Well, Might Guy and I are in the same class, and we're both being mentored by Teacher Mu Yue," Obito replied after a brief pause.
He truly wasn't sure if he could beat Might Guy. Since Mu Yue didn't allow him to use the Sharingan casually, if he couldn't use it in their fight while Might Guy could use the Eight Inner Gates and breathing techniques, he would undoubtedly lose.
"Oh, so Might Guy is interning with you too," Hinata said, his smile turning a little awkward.
"It must be a fierce competition between the two of you. I really look forward to your battle."
"It's alright, I guess. How do you guys find your internship so far?" Obito asked after finishing another skewer of dumplings.
"It's meh. It feels like our class time has turned into doing odd jobs," Hinata complained.
"Yeah, I thought we'd be able to take on some missions, but instead, we're just catching cats and dogs or picking up trash and doing farm work. It's more boring than sitting in a classroom," Ino Yamanaka chimed in with her own complaints.
Apparently, they weren't very satisfied with their internship experience.
Unconsciously, Obito straightened his back and tilted his head slightly upward, saying, "I think it's not bad. It's not as boring as you guys make it sound."
In contrast to their experiences, Obito suddenly felt that his internship life was incredibly colorful. He had encountered the Deputy Leader of the Cloud alongside Mu Yue, and he had also joined forces with his teammates to defeat an enemy village's jounin.
"No wonder your strength has improved so quickly, Obito. Not only do you train harder than us, but you also approach missions with a more ninja-like attitude," Hinata remarked.
To be honest, he didn't want to do odd jobs either. He shared Ino's sentiment—he'd rather attend theory classes.
"Hehe, it's not that amazing. It's not as awesome as you make it sound," Obito said, unable to hide his smug smile upon hearing Hinata's compliment about his ninja-like attitude.
In truth, he was hoping that Hinata and Ino would ask him about his missions so that he could brag about completing two A-rank missions. However, even after he finished eating the dumplings, they didn't ask, leaving him a little disappointed.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
