Chapter 229: Flame in the Heart

"Damn it, I don't want to do the problems!"

"But if I don't do the problems, my score will be too low and it'll be embarrassing..."

That evening, Obito stared at the two test papers lying on the table and felt a headache coming on.

There were fifty-five problems in total; if he had to finish them in three days, he would need to do at least eighteen problems each day.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In the end, Obito formed hand seals and created two shadow clones, saying, "You two play rock-paper-scissors; the loser picks a test paper."

With that, Obito picked up a test paper and a pen, pretending to be working on the problems.

For Obito, having shadow clones do the problems was just as painful as doing them himself—doing them himself was a continuous, unending pain, while shadow clones experienced intense pain in an instant, and Obito chose the short pain.

Worried that the shadow clones might not cooperate, Obito not only created an extra clone to create competition but also pretended to be working on the problems himself.

"The Shadow Clone Jutsu does have its merits." Obito drew a chibi version of Rin Nohara on his scratch paper while thinking.

"Rock-paper-scissors? You keep the test papers for yourself; I'm not doing any problems." One of Obito's shadow clones flatly refused.

Just as Obito was wondering where he had gone wrong, the other shadow clone spoke up:

"You think I don't know what you're thinking? Remember, I am also Uchiha Obito."

Obito was a bit speechless; both clones were going to slack off together. He couldn't help but say,

"Since you two are also me, hurry up and help me with the test papers!"

"But now I'm a shadow clone; it's not me who'll be embarrassed." The shadow clone said indifferently.

What made Obito even more furious happened next: not only did the two shadow clones refuse to help him with the problems, but they also watched his shows and ate his snacks, while he, the original, was stuck doing the test papers.

Obito couldn't stand it anymore and activated Total Concentration Breathing to snatch the snacks from the two of them.

"What are you doing? I was watching the good part!" one shadow clone yelled angrily.

"You looking for a fight?" The snack-eating shadow clone, looking annoyed, charged at Obito.

The other shadow clone, not one to miss out on the fun, followed suit and charged.

Obito knocked both shadow clones into oblivion with one punch and one kick. Since they were made for doing test papers, he hadn't given them much chakra, so they had no combat ability.

Although Obito enjoyed the fight, he only remembered afterwards that shadow clones provide memory feedback. The memories of punching a face and kicking a chest with a whirlwind kick instantly flowed back into his mind.

"Damn Shadow Clone Jutsu, it's completely useless." Obito collapsed onto the bed and complained.

"I don't want to do the test papers!" After writhing on the bed for a while, Obito eventually got up, sat down at the desk, and started working on the problems.

Play is play, fun is fun, but he still had to finish Teacher Muyue's assignments.

…

The next day, Obito went to the Southern Forest as usual to train.

First was Armament Haki training; after practicing for two and a half hours, he took a break, then moved on to Breathing Technique training.

"You haven't forgotten the rules, right? Same as last time." Muyue asked with a chuckle.

"I haven't forgotten." Obito nodded solemnly.

Getting hit once meant doing two extra problems; what annoyed him most was that if he failed to dodge even once, an additional ten percent would be added.

"Today's training can't be like last time, or I won't be able to avoid installment plans." Obito secretly resolved in his heart.

He noticed that Shisui also hadn't succeeded in dodging, but his problem count was a little lower, which meant Obito still had a lot of room for improvement.

If he was more careful and managed to dodge once, he might only need to do around thirty-odd problems.

"Teacher Muyue, what if I don't get hit once and dodge all the attacks?" Obito asked curiously.

"Then according to the rules, you can cancel out the problems you haven't done, or cancel out the problems that get added later." Muyue thought for a moment and answered.

This was probably a carrot he was dangling, because it was very hard to achieve in practice—Muyue increased the training intensity over time, and unless Obito's strength skyrocketed in a short period, it was impossible to dodge every attack.

Hearing that he could cancel out problems, Obito's eyes lit up. If he could pull off such a clear run a few times, it would be like having multiple free passes for the problem-solving training.

"Begin!" At Muyue's command, the two shadow clones started moving.

Zhishui and Obito immediately entered a state of Total Concentration Breathing and began sprinting at top speed.

Having learned from last time, Obito no longer tried to stand his ground against Muyue's Shadow Clones; instead, he focused on maneuvering, only attempting to dodge in place when he had no other option.

"I keep missing by just a hair. Damn it, can't I go any faster?" Obito shouted in his heart.

Even though he was putting all his effort into dodging, Muyue still struck him with perfect timing.

Time quickly reached the five-minute mark, when getting hit became easiest.

After maintaining a highly concentrated breathing method for five minutes, Obito's breathing, though still technically Total Concentration Breathing, was no longer as focused as at the start.

Sensing Muyue's figure approaching steadily, Obito knew another attack was coming.

Obito's Sharingan clearly saw Muyue's fingers closing in, as if no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape being flicked.

"Body, move for me!" Obito roared in his heart.

This flick couldn't cause any physical damage, but it dealt a heavy blow to his spirit.

"How could I be only this strong? Flame Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!" Obito focused his breathing again and again, instantly gaining greater physical ability, and barely dodged Muyue's flick by a hair's breadth.

Looking at the finger less than a centimeter from his head, Obito revealed a delighted smile. This dodge wasn't just two problems—it was ten percent of the total questions!

"So there's already a small improvement. It looks like occasional problem-solving training is indeed the optimal solution, at least for Obito."

Muyue was quite pleased with this. He thought it would take at least the fourth session before Obito could dodge, but he managed it on the second try.

When the time was up, Muyue began tallying the training results for both of them.

"Zhishui was hit nineteen times, dodged zero times. He needs to do forty-two problems."

"Obito was hit nineteen times, dodged once. He needs to do thirty-six problems."

Obito couldn't help showing the joy on his face. Thirty-six problems were still a lot, but it was a huge improvement from the fifty-five of the first session.

"Indeed, the difference between dodging and not dodging is huge," Obito thought. He and Zhishui had been hit the same number of times, but because he dodged once, the difference in problems was a full six.

"Obito actually managed to dodge the attack!" Zhishui looked surprised after hearing their results.

He had seen through the nature of this training during the first session—without a breakthrough, it was impossible to evade Muyue's attacks.

That meant, in just the second session, Obito had made a breakthrough.

Zhishui felt a wave of pressure. Obito had a higher-level Sharingan and stronger Flame Breathing; the only things Zhishui still had over him were superior ninjutsu and Body Flicker Technique.

"This time, you will also have three days to complete the problems, and the next training session is three days from now," Muyue said.

The pace of training once every two days was a bit tight. No matter how talented, no one could break through that quickly every time, so Muyue would gradually extend the interval. The initial density was meant to apply enough pressure.

Since no one had a birthday this time, Muyue directly handed out the problems.

After saving the problems, Zhishui devoted himself fully to training.

This training session truly made him feel a deep sense of crisis. If they were comparing results, he had already lost to Obito this time.

"I have to become stronger. As Teacher Muyue's first disciple, how can I lose to others?" The conviction in Zhishui's heart supported him as he used Total Concentration Breathing to complete one training task after another.

He had his own pride. Though he was the youngest disciple, his strength had always been first in Muyue's class, and he progressed rapidly in all kinds of training, learning Fire Release much faster than Obito.

Now, being surpassed by someone he could once easily defeat—Zhishui naturally felt unwilling.

After finishing training and returning home, Zhishui ate dinner, rested for a while, and then resumed training. He cycled between exhaustion and rest until 11:30 PM before washing up and going to sleep.

Over the next few days, Zhishui maintained this intense training regimen. He wanted to dodge Muyue's attacks and become stronger.

On the morning before the third training session, Zhishui made progress—not in his breathing method, but in Armament Haki.

Zhishui imagined an invisible armor coating his body, then suddenly threw a punch. The spot where he struck a large tree instantly burst apart, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

"So this is the power of Armament Haki?" Zhishui looked at his own small, fair fist.

That punch had abnormal power. If he had used a lot of chakra to strengthen his fist, it could have caused such damage, but he hadn't done so just now.

"Yes. You just coated your fist with the power of Armament Haki," Muyue said, nodding.

He used Appraisal to check Zhishui's Armament Haki proficiency and found it had reached twenty points.

Zhishui threw another punch, but found it had returned to normal.

When Shisui threw the third punch, he managed to use it again, and the big tree collapsed with a roar.

"You're still too unskilled with it. If you grasp this feeling and practice more, you'll be able to use it at a basic level," Muyue explained.

Hearing Muyue's words, Shisui closed his eyes and carefully contemplated the feeling of using Armament Haki just now.

But this feeling was obviously not easy to find. Shisui's subsequent consecutive punches still couldn't use Armament Haki stably.

Obito and Kakashi, who were training alongside, both looked askance.

They had also joined the training of Armament Haki one after another, but compared to Shisui who was almost able to use it at a basic level, they still had no clue about Armament Haki at all.

To this, Muyue could only say it was normal. Not to mention Shisui's strong talent in Yin Release, Kakashi, who was the second to start training Armament Haki, only began training Armament Haki half a month after Shisui started.

Because of Shisui's breakthrough in Armament Haki, Muyue stopped Shisui's Breathing Technique training today and had Shisui practice Armament Haki all day to find the feeling.

Although, with the disciples' current chakra levels, there weren't many opportunities to use Armament Haki in battle, it was still a very powerful secret technique. Learning it early was a good thing; chakra would gradually increase.

Having not trained the Breathing Technique during the day, Shisui practiced the Breathing Technique alone at night.

After all, he was the only person in his house, so training wouldn't disturb family sleep. As for neighbors, the noise from his training wasn't that loud.

"Why is Obito's progress in the Breathing Technique so much faster than mine?" Shisui reflected during a break.

Training at the same time, with the same teacher, his progress in the Breathing Technique always lagged behind Obito's.

Although Shisui couldn't directly see proficiency through appraisal like Muyue, Shisui was also training in Flame Breathing, and he could clearly feel that in Flame Breathing, the gap between him and Obito was growing larger.

Since successfully entering the door, Shisui felt he hadn't made much progress in the Breathing Technique.

If he were to have a battle using only the Breathing Technique now, Shisui was sure he would lose to Obito.

"Flame Breathing, flames..." Shisui thought back to the step of comprehending the Breathing Technique. It was at that step that Obito's Flame Breathing began to advance rapidly.

"Obito has the fire of enthusiasm to help others in his heart. What kind of flame do I have in my heart?" Shisui asked himself.

Of course, the Breathing Technique couldn't improve just by doing good deeds—after all, it was Flame Breathing, not Merits Breathing. It was simply that Obito's sincere enthusiasm for helping others was very high, which stimulated the advancement of his Breathing Technique.

Shisui seemed to know the reason why his progress in the Breathing Technique lagged behind, but for a moment he didn't know what flame he had in his heart, or even if he had any flame.

After reaching half past eleven, Shisui still couldn't figure it out. For the next day's training, he quickly washed up and went to bed. However, maybe because his mind was disturbed, he didn't fall asleep quickly and only drifted off after two o'clock.

Waking up by his biological clock in the morning, he went to the forest as usual to start training.

Today, Muyue didn't disrupt the training plan especially for him. As usual, they started with two and a half hours of Armament Haki training before beginning Breathing Technique training.

"Training start!" Seeing that both Shisui and Obito were ready, Muyue announced the start of the special training.

Two of Muyue's Shadow Clones rushed toward Shisui and Obito respectively.

To avoid interfering with each other, Shisui and Obito ran in two different directions.

Shisui ran through the already very familiar Southern Border Forest, still harboring doubts about his own Flame Breathing.

Not sure if it was because he didn't sleep well last night or because his mentality was off, Shisui's special training results today were even worse than the second time.

"Shisui forty-six, Obito thirty-four."

Hearing the results, Shisui sighed. He knew his own body best—he had felt it during the special training.

Obito's eyes sparkled. Although the increase was small, two more was still progress.

"Obito, you start training. Shisui, come here for a moment," Muyue said. He was experienced with this kind of thing—usually it was a mental problem that needed a talk.

4k, there's more later.