Chapter 109: Bound Training

"Teacher Muyue, I seem to feel a slight swelling in my abdomen. Is it because my posture is already perfect, and the airflow is swirling through the meridians and acupoints?" Obito asked excitedly.

"I think it's more like you ate too much for dinner." Muyue glanced at him and noticed that during the gradual breathing process, Obito's posture had gone wrong again, so she replied.

"Uh, maybe I did eat a little too much." Obito's face reddened slightly as he touched his slightly bulging belly and gave an embarrassed smile.

Hearing this somewhat absurd conversation, Shisui beside him couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing, immediately messing up his breathing rhythm.

"You have to dominate the air drawn into your body, not let the inhaled air affect your posture." Muyue corrected Obito's posture hand by hand and said.

"Shisui is doing well in this regard." Muyue pointed to Shisui, who had already recovered and resumed his posture.

Overall, Shisui's progress was not as good as Obito's, but in this part of the training, Shisui was a little faster than Obito.

"How about you tie me up and fix me in place, Teacher Muyue? Then wouldn't I be able to guide the inhaled air properly?" Obito had a flash of inspiration and came up with a good idea.

The strengthening moves of those breathing techniques are harder one after another—not only are they affected by airflow, but holding those difficult postures for a long time also makes the body very tired.

For a moment, Muyue didn't know if Obito was eager to train or had awakened some strange hobby, actually suggesting physical fixation.

Muyue had thought of this method too, but physical fixation like this—whether the effect is good or not is uncertain, but the body will definitely feel very uncomfortable, not very humane.

Those in the know would think they were practicing breathing techniques; those who didn't might think they were interrogating a spy from another country.

"This method might work, but the training process will be very uncomfortable. Are you sure you want to do this?" Muyue asked.

Since Obito took the initiative to try, Muyue wouldn't object either.

Ninja training is never easy.

Every day, training the body leaves one drenched in sweat; climbing trees and falling to the ground hurts a lot; stepping on water and making a mistake leads to falling in; training fire-nature chakra nature transformation carelessly can burn oneself.

"Let me just try it first. I feel pretty uncomfortable holding the posture here too." Obito nodded, still wanting to see if he could speed up progress through a shortcut.

Since the special training only lasted five weeks, although it was said that there would be a strength test every two weeks, the last practical test was actually three weeks apart.

Obito had barely won against Might Guy once before, and now he saw the hope of a winning streak in practicing breathing techniques; he didn't want to lose to Might Guy again so soon.

In the two practical exams at the Ninja Academy—class practical and grade practical—Might Guy had beaten him four times in total, and he had only won once so far.

Muyue fulfilled Obito's wish. He found some wooden boards and ropes, tied Obito to the boards, and fixed him in one posture.

However, Muyue didn't tie it too tightly; too tight would affect blood circulation, so Muyue reminded him:

"The ropes aren't very tight; they only serve as an auxiliary tool. You still have to guide it yourself. Don't think that just because you're fixed, you only need to breathe."

Obito nodded and began practicing the breathing technique seriously.

After practicing for a while, Obito found it seemed a bit useful, though being restrained felt a little uncomfortable.

Practicing one move, he had Muyue's shadow clone help him change to another posture. After training for an hour, Obito even felt pretty good.

As long as his posture deviated, he would touch the somewhat loose ropes and immediately know his form was off, then adjust right away.

Near the end of the training time, Muyue brought Might Guy over to where Shisui and Obito were.

"Guy, use the breathing technique and then use taijutsu." Muyue said to Might Guy.

Might Guy nodded and began to adjust his breathing rhythm, absorbing a large amount of oxygen into his body to enhance his strength.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

Might Guy picked the thickest tree nearby—one that three people might not even be able to wrap their arms around—and directly burst his chakra, flashing over and kicking it.

Crack!

With a boom, the big tree fell to the ground, the spot kicked by Might Guy already in tatters.

"His speed and strength have increased so much!" Obito, who often fought with Might Guy, said in surprise.

Just now, Might Guy's whirlwind kick seemed to actually bring out a gust of wind, and the surrounding grass was flattened.

"Once you take another step forward, you'll be able to apply the breathing technique to combat as well." Muyue said to Shisui and Obito with a smile.

Breathing techniques are so hard to practice, there has to be some hope. Now Might Guy is leading, so they use him as a benchmark.

"One more thing: in the practical test the day after tomorrow, none of you are to use the breathing technique." Muyue said.

"Why?" Obito asked with some confusion.

Currently, only Might Guy can use it in battle, so isn't this forcibly removing part of Might Guy's strength?

Although it was a favorable piece of news for him, Obito was puzzled—this wasn't some training competition, and forcibly leveling the playing field would require banning most of Shisui's ninjutsu and genjutsu.

"You've only just begun training and can't control the balance well. Using the Breathing Method in battle can easily overload you and leave hidden injuries in your body," Muyue explained.

This was only one reason; the real reason was that the Third Hokage would be coming to watch.

The Third Hokage was different from other ninja—he had mastered too many ninjutsu, taijutsu, and secret techniques. And Might Guy and the others were still young and unskilled; if they suddenly burst out, the Third could easily spot something wrong.

If it were just one person, it would be fine, but if Obito also exploded in battle and used the Breathing Method, that would be suspicious.

So Muyue simply told his students not to use the Breathing Method at all.

As for Shave, that was fine—aside from being a bit faster, it actually looked no different from an ordinary taijutsu Body Flicker Technique.

Since Obito and the others were stronger, their Body Flicker Technique was faster, so it was still reasonable.

"That day after I used the Breathing Method, I thought my legs had recovered, but the fatigue exploded instantly once I stopped maintaining it," Might Guy nodded. What Muyue said was indeed correct.

Obito looked as if a sudden realization dawned on him.

……

On Saturday, all the students gathered on time at the training ground, ready to take the final practical test.

Sarutobi Hiruzen came as he had said, and he wasn't alone—he brought quite a few teachers along.

This had been arranged between Sarutobi Hiruzen and Muyue in advance: on the day of the exam, they would bring other teachers to observe this form of special training.

"The students are full of energy and look very confident," said Sarutobi Hiruzen, wearing a white robe and a Hokage hat, speaking cheerfully.

"Let's all take a look at the results of their five weeks of hard training."

A bit late, but I still want to try to write five chapters.