Chapter 114: Promotion to Jonin

"What do you all think of the summer special training that Mu Yue organized?" After watching the tests, Sarutobi Hiruzen stroked his goatee and asked the chunin instructors who had come to observe with a hearty laugh.

"It's incredible. I feel like the students improved more in this month-plus of training than they would in an entire semester of normal classes." Iketani Isamu exclaimed.

He wasn't praising like that just because he had a good relationship with Mu Yue; he genuinely felt that Mu Yue's special training this time was exceptionally effective.

He was the homeroom teacher of Class 2, Year 4, and had students in groups A, B, and C. Recalling his students' strength before they participated in the training, he found it truly unbelievable.

For example, average students like Nakamori Goichi had improved to good, and those who were already decent became outstanding—every single student had improved.

"It seems very suitable for students in Year 4 who are about to graduate. If we run more similar training sessions, then our Konoha genin will be even better in the future." Kimura Shinto mused.

In fact, improving genin strength had a very significant implication: it allowed genin to qualify faster for missions with higher rewards.

Considering the strength factor of genin, to train ninja more safely, newly graduated genin normally had restrictions. At the start, they could only do miscellaneous tasks like picking up trash, catching cats, or weeding.

If the quality of genin improved in the future, these restrictions might be relaxed somewhat.

The higher the reward, the harder the mission; the harder the mission, the more training it provided. This could create a virtuous cycle that accelerated the overall training pace.

Even that teacher, Namiashi Raidō, changed his opinion of Mu Yue and kept praising Mu Yue's teaching ability.

The facts were right there; there was no need for baseless speculation. Anyone with eyes could see the results of Mu Yue's teaching over this past month.

"I just did my best to teach. The students' progress here wouldn't have been possible without their own hard work." Mu Yue said with a gentle smile.

"The special training is much more tiring than regular school. With eight hours of practice a day, it wasn't easy for the students to stick with it." Mu Yue remarked with a sigh.

Mu Yue didn't credit himself for all the students' progress; instead, he began praising the students' efforts.

On one hand, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the teachers had already seen his results and praised him a lot, so he didn't need to brag.

On the other hand, the students really hadn't had it easy. His class wasn't like PE class in his previous life, where they did a little exercise and then were free to wander around.

The Teaching Skill only made it easier for students to absorb what Mu Yue taught; it wasn't some strength-boosting device. If the students didn't study and work hard, even with the Teaching Skill, it would be useless.

"No matter what, Mu Yue, you've given me a great surprise this time. The students' progress is substantial, and I've seen it all." Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a beaming smile.

"Your summer special training has set an extremely excellent example for everyone and also points out a new direction for improving the strength of graduating genin."

"In recognition of Yū Mu Yue's strong teaching ability, outstanding work performance, and tremendous efforts... I hereby promote you to Tokubetsu Jōnin!" Sarutobi Hiruzen said cheerfully to Mu Yue.

Sarutobi Hiruzen handed a scroll to Mu Yue, showed him a kind smile, and patted him on the shoulder, saying:

"Mu Yue the Jōnin, I hope you will continue to work hard, nurture the next generation well for Konoha. The future of Konoha depends on you young people."

The promotion to Tokubetsu Jōnin was something Sarutobi Hiruzen had agreed with Mu Yue from the very beginning. As long as Mu Yue made the summer special training a success, he would be promoted.

In fact, when Mu Yue handed over the results data to Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage had already decided to promote Mu Yue.

So everything for his promotion was prepared in advance. As long as no problems arose on the day, he would promote Mu Yue on the spot.

Promotion to Jōnin or Tokubetsu Jōnin—if you said it was hard, it was very hard: you had to complete many missions to accumulate merits, have exceptional skills beyond the ordinary, and possess superhuman strength.

But if you said it was simple, it was also simple: as long as Sarutobi Hiruzen was willing, he could directly promote a genin to Jōnin.

Having been Hokage for decades, he had the authority to have the final say, and no one would question his decisions.

However, for the sake of Konoha's credibility and the value of the Jōnin title, Sarutobi Hiruzen would certainly not casually promote a ninja to Jōnin.

"Thank you for your trust, Lord Third. I will devote all my energy to teaching students and cultivate even stronger ninja for Konoha." Mu Yue said with a moved expression, accepting the scroll with both hands.

Although he didn't feel anything special inside, with so many people present, he had to show proper gratitude.

"Jōnin..." Iketani Isamu's eyes widened as he looked at Mu Yue with intense envy.

Even a Tokubetsu Jōnin was still a Jōnin—part of the upper echelons of ninja, able to attend Jōnin meetings and discuss various important matters.

In the Ninja Academy, there were only two Jōnin among the teachers in total: the homeroom teacher leader was a Jōnin, the deputy leader was a Tokubetsu Jōnin, and the rest, like the grade heads and office directors, were all Chunin.

Seeing Mu Yue, who was a few years younger and had only recently become an Academy teacher, become a Tokubetsu Jōnin, Iketani Isamu felt nothing but intense envy.

If he were a Tokubetsu Jōnin, chasing girls would be a bit easier, right?

"Promoted so quickly." Ueda Aya was also very surprised. Although she knew that Mu Yue's teaching level would eventually lead to a promotion, she hadn't expected it to come this fast.

Thinking carefully, it was actually reasonable. He had produced a class like Year 1, Class 1 with such outrageous results, and he had also pioneered the summer special training to improve the strength of graduating students.

The chunin instructors all looked at Mu Yue with extremely envious eyes.

However, this was merely an emotion of envy, since Muyue's results were truly earned; if they were in his place, they really didn't have the confidence to produce such results.

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded inwardly after seeing the expressions on Muyue and the other Chūnin.

Promoting Muyue to Special Jōnin so directly would not only make Muyue especially grateful to him, but it would also make the other Chūnin think that the Third Hokage promoted capable people, spurring them to work even harder at their teaching in hopes of advancement.

This was a good thing that could achieve multiple goals with just a little preparation in advance.

"Hey, what are the students gathered around for?" a teacher asked curiously.

"It should be that my Shadow Clone has finished compiling the results and posted them. The final comparison between the last results and the initial group test scores will let the students see their progress more intuitively," Muyue explained with a smile.

Apart from the rather special Team A, Teams B and C had been the standard for the grade from start to finish.

"Let's go see the students' progress too," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a laugh, leading the teachers over.

Muyue also showed a sincere smile as he walked alongside Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Unlike his initial expression of gratitude, this time his smile came from the heart.

However, his smile was not because of the Special Jōnin position, but because the system's rewards had arrived and were more than he had imagined.

【Under your guidance, the students participating in the summer training camp improved in both ninjutsu and taijutsu, and their overall strength increased.】

【Rewards obtained: Chakra +800, Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll, Combination Ninjutsu (Proficient Level).】

Not a single reward from the summer training camp's improvement bonus was something he couldn't use.

Chakra goes without saying—no matter how much he got, he would never have enough. The Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll could be used for ninjutsu that still needed refinement or high-difficulty techniques, and Combination Ninjutsu allowed him, who had mastered a large number of jutsu, to further enhance his offensive output.

Moreover, the rewards were not only the improvement bonus from the summer training camp. Muyue continued looking at the system notifications below.

【Disciple Uchiha Shisui trained hard and achieved a perfect score in the summer training camp. Reward obtained: Chakra +200.】

【Disciple Uchiha Obito trained hard and achieved an excellent score in the summer training camp. Reward obtained: Chakra +150.】

【Disciple Might Guy trained hard and achieved an excellent score in the summer training camp. Reward obtained: Chakra +150.】

Another five hundred chakra added to the account.

Looking at the exam results that had appeared, Muyue could only say that the system's bugs were indeed not easy to exploit.

His guess was half right and half wrong. The exams he designed himself could indeed trigger the system's exam rewards, but there were trigger conditions he didn't know about.

It might be the interval between exams, or the students' improvement during the exam period; Muyue couldn't immediately determine which factor it was.

However, since there were rewards, exams were still worth doing, but taking an exam every few days to farm system rewards was definitely not going to work.

A direct increase of 1,300 chakra, half a Kakashi's worth of chakra more—Muyue was naturally overjoyed.

Muyue opened his panel to check his latest stats.

【Name: Hanyū Muyue】

【Chakra: 】

Muyue's total chakra had now reached the level of six Kakashis.

Muyue could only say that holding the summer training camp was an excellent decision. Originally, he had been prepared for the rate of chakra increase to slow down after the vacation, but because of the summer training camp, the actual growth even exceeded that of school periods.

In just over a month, his chakra had increased by a full 3,250 points. And this was without factoring in the increments from training missions; Muyue hadn't even calculated the gains from obtaining ninjutsu.

The increased chakra had many components. The largest chunks came from the improvement settlement and the exam settlement. Others were rewards from giving lessons, the teaching return, and the student-training-returns-to-teacher chakra. Additionally, Muyue's natural chakra growth had also increased this month.

Chakra is synthesized from physical energy and spiritual energy. Ever since he had reached Master-level Rock Breathing, with the boost from Constant Chakra Enhancement, Muyue's physique slowly grew stronger every day, so his natural chakra increase also rose.

Muyue estimated that before the next semester ended, his chakra might break through the 20,000 mark.

"You've improved a lot, from twelve points to twenty-three points."

"Hehe, you've improved a fair bit too, from fifteen to twenty-five."

When Muyue and the others arrived, the students were cheerfully discussing their progress with their peers.

Comparing data really made the progress very intuitive, and the teachers once again exclaimed in surprise.

After looking over the scores, Muyue gathered the students for a final speech.

"Are you all satisfied with your improvement in results?" Muyue asked with a smile.

"Satisfied!"

"Didn't expect to improve this much in five weeks..."

"Teacher Muyue, you're amazing. I never thought improving strength could be so easy."

The students answered Muyue's question one after another. The specific words might differ, but the expressed meaning was all very satisfied.

"It seems everyone is satisfied with their improvement. But what I want to say here is that the most important thing for such improvement is your own hard work. Keep up this effort, and everyone can become excellent ninjas in the future." Muyue said with a serious expression.

This was probably the greatest kindness he had shown to the students in over a month.

Not to increase favorability and training efficiency, not to obtain improvement rewards by various means to make students train harder, but simply hoping these children could strengthen their strength and survive in the future great war.

Having traveled through time for less than five months, Muyue had no sense of belonging to Konoha. He only wanted to strengthen his strength and remove the curse mark on his body.

But he felt that anyone who had received a modern education shouldn't have the heart to watch children around ten years old go to the battlefield to fight.

Unfortunately, Muyue himself was like a clay Buddha crossing a river—hardly able to save himself. While busy developing, he also had to worry about being discovered by that old silver Danzo. No matter how unwilling he was, it was useless.

On site was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the highest superior. After Muyue finished speaking, he wisely invited Sarutobi Hiruzen to also come up and give a speech.

"Actually, before coming today, I was somewhat worried. But after seeing the progress of you children, I am relieved." Sarutobi Hiruzen revealed a kind smile.

"Seeing the new era of the village all working so hard, I am very gratified. The struggles and sacrifices of our predecessors have not been in vain, and the village has been growing strong."

As he spoke, Sarutobi Hiruzen uttered the famous saying of the Will of Fire.

"Where the leaves of Konoha dance, the fire will never cease. The flames will continue to illuminate the village and allow the new leaves to sprout."

"You are the new leaves of Konoha. There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing you grow." The Third Hokage said with a smile, holding a pipe in his right hand and his left hand behind his back.

Muyue stood right behind the Third Hokage, facing the students with a gentle smile.

He recalled a phrase: "That year, eighteen, standing like a lackey."

After the Third generation finished speaking, it was really time to end, and time to dismiss.

However, the students didn't disband immediately. Instead, they pulled Muyue and wouldn't let him leave, and even tied his eyes, saying they wanted to give him a surprise.

Using perception ninjutsu to check the surroundings, Muyue let the students push him along.

"Ta-da! A super large five-layer cake."

Accompanied by Anko's energetic voice, Muyue's covered eyes regained sight. He saw that he was surrounded by students, and in front of him was a super large cake only slightly shorter than him. On top of the cake were eighteen kunai-shaped desserts, and the cake was also densely covered with small candles.

"Teacher Muyue, thank you for your guidance this past month!" The students said in unison.

Among these more than three hundred students, a large half had not been very familiar with Muyue before the special training started. Some had only taken a class for them once, some might have only heard of Muyue's reputation.

But during this month and more of getting along with Muyue, they all came to like this teacher who was strong in teaching ability and extremely gentle.

When grouping first began, many students were quite disappointed with Muyue, feeling that he was also a teacher who would treat students differently based on grades, putting the low-performing and average students together to neglect them.

But soon they realized they were wrong. The grouping was not to treat the high-performing students better, but to arrange teaching more reasonably.

Although group A basically consisted of excellent students from each class, Muyue did not favor group A. One shadow clone took care of one group, while the main body rotated teaching among the three groups. No group received extra attention.

Every student received guidance from Muyue's main body. Even if they didn't actively approach Muyue with questions, Muyue would come over to teach when he saw them on the side.

Muyue could accurately call out each of their names, not just "Hey you, that's wrong."

Muyue said the students were hardworking and put in effort, but the students knew Muyue was even more hardworking and putting in more effort than them.

When they trained, Muyue was teaching. During breaks, Muyue rarely rested, taking the opportunity to talk about training-related theoretical knowledge.

No matter how tired they were, they only had to train themselves. But Muyue not only had his main body constantly moving between three groups to teach, but also had to split off three shadow clones to cover the gaps when the main body was absent. He truly used himself as four people.

Excellent students might not feel it deeply, but the ordinary and poor students who were rarely cared for by teachers truly felt the warmth from a teacher at Muyue's place.

What they originally didn't get from ordinary teachers, they received from a renowned excellent teacher, which truly surprised the students.

This was the biggest motivation for many students to work hard—they couldn't let such a good teacher Muyue down, right?

"We all pooled money to buy the cake. The eighteen kunai are because Teacher Muyue is eighteen this year. There are three hundred and fifty-nine candles on it, and everyone stuck one in..." Obito enthusiastically explained the students' intentions to Muyue.

Looking at the innocent smiling faces around him, Muyue's eyes flickered, and he felt a stir in his heart.

Students of this age are pure. If you treat them well, they will treat you well.

Although they didn't know the true purpose of the person who was kind to them.

"When I become capable enough, I'll also do what I can." Muyue thought to herself.

Even though this world is rotten, there are still many lovely people.

"Your teacher accepts your feelings. I really appreciate everyone's trouble." Muyue said, her smile as bright as a warm sun.

"No trouble at all, if Teacher Muyue is willing to become the homeroom teacher of Class 4-6, then it'll be no trouble." Shiranui Genma snickered.

"That's right, Teacher Muyue, become the homeroom teacher of Class 4-3, so we can be taught by you often."

"Class 4-1 too."

The students of Class 4-2 smiled without speaking; they believed that as long as Ikegaya Isamu was there, Teacher Muyue was practically their subject teacher.

"No, no, absolutely not. Teacher Muyue can only be the homeroom teacher of Class 1-1." Anko shielded Muyue and looked warily at the surrounding students.

"Let's share the cake together. If I eat this whole cake by myself, you probably won't see your Teacher Muyue ever again." Muyue said with a relaxed smile.

Hearing Muyue's words, the students temporarily stopped their argument over who Muyue belonged to and began to take their share of cake one by one.

Finding it too slow alone, Muyue split into several shadow clones to help cut the cake.

"The only thing the old man did right this year was to hire Teacher Muyue as a private tutor." Asuma thought while eating cake.

Since each student came from a different family background, those with more money contributed more, those with less paid less or helped out with effort. Asuma gave most of his saved allowance, making him the biggest contributor.

Next, they chatted while eating cake, sharing funny stories from training.

"Ebisu-brother, I have good news for you." Gōzetsu Inabi said excitedly to Ebisu.

"What good news?" Ebisu asked dejectedly; he still couldn't figure out why he had been criticized.

"Your fame as a genius has reached the Hokage!" Gōzetsu replied.

"Ebisu-brother, you really have to treat Jisetsu to something this time. He bravely ran into the group of teachers to get this result." Mochizuki Izumo also said with a smile.

"What fame as a genius?" Ebisu sensed something was wrong. He had a vague, terrifying answer and had found the reason for his inexplicable scolding.

"It was like this: I heard Teacher Muyue say my name, and the Hokage-sama was right next to her, so I intentionally said your name loudly—Ebisu-brother, the main contributor to perfecting the Confusion Technique." Gōzetsu said proudly.

"But Ebisu-brother, don't take it to heart. This is my way of repaying you for teaching us." Gōzetsu said magnanimously.

"In front of the Hokage…" Ebisu's face turned pale. His ninja path seemed doomed before it even began.

"Ebisu-brother, why aren't you laughing? Don't you like laughing?" Mochizuki Izumo felt something was off with Ebisu.

His fists clenched, fists clenched tightly.

"I really should treat you two to something. Have some cake!" Ebisu finally lost his composure and wiped the unfinished cake onto their faces.

Then a chain reaction started a cake fight.

Though everyone ended up a mess, most were very happy.

"Don't be too sad. I'm not leaving the Ninja Academy. If you have problems, you can come ask me. I'll always be your Teacher Muyue." Muyue said at the end.

Today Muyue was in a good mood. Her chakra increased slightly, and she had received what she considered her second gift since arriving in this world.

On his way home, Asuma saw the Third Hokage waiting for him.

Asuma recalled Muyue's earlier words and felt moved. Then he said, "What did you think of my fight today?"

"Too many mistakes. If it were me, I could have won in over a hundred ways." Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.

Asuma's face darkened, and he walked right past Sarutobi Hiruzen to go home.

That was pretty long this time, writing it all in one go. Two small chapters left.