Chapter 115: The Third Hokage's Goodwill

After returning home, Mu Yue opened the scroll the Third had given him and took a look.

After reading it, Mu Yue found that it was essentially an appointment letter for a Special Jōnin, bearing the signature of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. It was a bit more formal than when he became a Chūnin—in his predecessor's memories, the promotion to Chūnin was just a piece of paper, but at least the Special Jōnin appointment was written on a scroll.

Casually placing the scroll in his study, Mu Yue began to look over the sealing technique materials given by Kushina.

The Five Elements Seal was much harder than Mu Yue had imagined; no wonder it was an extremely difficult sealing technique. It had been twelve days since he first attempted to learn the Five Elements Seal, but his proficiency was still stuck at over eighty points, unable to grasp it.

Mu Yue was considering whether to use the Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll on the Five Elements Seal, which should allow him to instantly master it.

After thinking it over, he gave up on that idea. Using a Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll on a practice jutsu that had almost no practical use was too wasteful—after all, it wasn't that he couldn't learn it; his talent for sealing techniques was indeed decent.

This kind of good item, which could bypass a technique's difficulty and directly raise it to the proficient level, Mu Yue wanted to save for high-difficulty techniques.

If he ever got the chance to obtain Flying Thunder God and successfully learned it, that's when the Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll would come in handy.

According to the system's rule that acquiring the same technique could stack proficiency, it was possible that by consecutively using several proficiency scrolls, he could achieve a mastery-level technique.

After some time had passed, Mu Yue heard a knock at the door downstairs, so he put down the sealing technique materials and went to open the door.

"Jōnin Mu Yue, this is what the Third Hokage asked me to deliver to you." The ninja handed three scrolls to Mu Yue.

Mu Yue thanked him and invited him in for tea, but the ninja delivering the items shook his head, declined, and left.

Mu Yue mused to himself that the ninjas under the Third Hokage were at least a bit more courteous than those under Danzo—at least they wouldn't appear silently inside his house and knew to knock.

Mu Yue opened the scrolls one by one. The first scroll recorded two techniques: Water Release: Water Fang Bullet and Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique.

Both techniques were fairly good. Water Fang Bullet had few hand signs and was both offensive and defensive—it could either turn water into a whirlpool to protect oneself or control the water to rush at the enemy like a waterfall. Great Fire Dragon was also a flexible Fire Release technique.

However, Mu Yue had already mastered Great Fire Dragon, and he had also obtained Water Fang Bullet once during his lectures.

Still, it wasn't for nothing—now he could openly use these two techniques without concern.

As for the second scroll, it was simply three hundred thousand ryō in cash.

Considering a ninja school teacher's monthly salary of one hundred thousand ryō, it seemed Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him roughly three times that amount.

Mu Yue accepted it with a clear conscience—it was what he deserved.

He had taught eight classes in the fourth grade alone, along with some outstanding students from other grades and some graduated genin. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi paid him ten times the salary, it would still be what he deserved.

The third scroll contained Hiruzen Sarutobi's arrangements for his upcoming work.

The ninja school would start in nine days, and the teachers had to start a week earlier than the students. Mu Yue would have to report to the ninja school in two days.

Hiruzen Sarutobi expressed that he wanted to promote Mu Yue to vice-class leader of the teaching staff. However, since Mu Yue had only been at the ninja school for a short time and had only held the position of an ordinary teacher, it might cause controversy. So, Hiruzen asked Mu Yue to serve as the grade director for one semester first and then promote him to vice-class leader of the teaching staff in the third semester.

The content of this scroll was what Mu Yue valued most. He didn't care about the salary increase that came with the promotion, but he could use the authority gained from the promotion to obtain more rewards for himself.

From the summer intensive training, he knew that conducting large-group lessons gave twice the rewards of regular lessons.

So he could definitely apply for a curriculum reform at the ninja school, adding more large-group lessons to earn more rewards.

Moreover, adding large-group lessons could also relieve the teaching pressure on the ninja school's teachers. For example, teachers like Ikegaya Isamu, who taught two classes, had nearly full schedules.

Of course, not all classes could be large-group lessons. Mu Yue was confident that he could handle a hundred or even several hundred students in ninjutsu and taijutsu classes, but ordinary chūnin teachers didn't have that ability—they would certainly end up teaching a mess.

Mu Yue planned to apply for adding large-group theoretical classes, such as courses on ninja world history, Konoha history, and mathematics, to be taught as large-group lessons.

Theoretical lessons were relatively easier to teach than ninjutsu and taijutsu classes. Regardless of how many people were in the audience, the teacher simply stood at the podium and lectured. As long as the students listened attentively, the results wouldn't be too different.

Through this scroll, Mu Yue could feel the goodwill Hiruzen Sarutobi was sending his way.

Hiruzen Sarutobi might tolerate a Root ninja quietly working as an ordinary teacher, but he would never actively promote a Root ninja to a high position in the ninja school.

Mu Yue estimated that he would be able to leave Root very soon. Perhaps he wouldn't even have to remove the cursed seal himself—Danzo might be forced to remove it for him.

In Konoha, Danzo was no match for Hiruzen Sarutobi, because the Hokage really could do whatever he pleased.

During dinner that night, Mu Yue took the opportunity to tell Kushina and Minato that he had been promoted to Special Jōnin.

"The old Third can move this fast sometimes?" Kushina was a bit surprised, not expecting the Third to have finalized Mu Yue's Special Jōnin promotion on the very same day the training ended.

"From now on, we can all go to meetings together." Minato said with a warm smile, happy that Mu Yue had become a Special Jōnin.

The difference between a Chūnin and a Jōnin—even a Special Jōnin—was significant, essentially two different levels.

Normally, it might not be very apparent, but in times of war, the right to speak was completely different. A Jōnin could lead a team to carry out important missions.

"Earlier, I thought you, Mu Yue, had good talent in sealing techniques and should be able to become a Special Jonin through sealing techniques. It seems I underestimated you, Mu Yue Jonin," Kushina said with a laugh, expressing admiration.

Earlier, after she tested Mu Yue's aptitude for sealing techniques, she wanted to give Mu Yue a boost through sealing techniques. However, Mu Yue was too excellent in teaching. As soon as the sealing techniques were on the right track, he directly became a Special Jonin through his teaching ability.

"Compared to you and Minato, I'm still far behind. Becoming a Full Jonin is the goal of my next efforts," Mu Yue replied with a chuckle.

"If you train hard, you will definitely make it," Minato encouraged.

Since Kushina had brought up sealing techniques earlier, Mu Yue smoothly steered the topic toward the practice of sealing techniques and raised some problems he had encountered.

He would not place all his hopes on others. He still had to do the research work he needed to do, and he would continue to study sealing techniques.

Extra skills never weigh one down. Even if not for breaking the Root's curse mark, mastering more advanced sealing techniques could also enhance overall strength.