Chapter 24: New Training Begins

The next day, after finishing his morning classes, Muyue went to the Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, after all, was the Third Hokage; he couldn't wait in the school office every day for his reply, so Hiruzen Sarutobi told Muyue that if he was interested in taking on a tutoring position, he should go to the Hokage Building to find him.

When Muyue reached the floor of the Hokage's office, he was stopped for a moment, but he had anticipated this and said directly that the Third Hokage had sent him, so he was let through.

Muyue knocked on the wooden door of the Hokage's office.

"Lord Third, I've made my decision." Muyue stated his identity and purpose.

"Ah, Yusheng, come in." The Third Hokage's voice came from inside.

Muyue opened the door and entered, surprised to find that not only was the Third Hokage there, but Minato was also present.

Minato was also a bit surprised to see Muyue come in; he hadn't expected to run into the new neighbor he met yesterday at the Hokage's office today.

"This is Teacher Yusheng from our Ninja Academy. His teaching ability is especially strong—even I couldn't help but want to ask him to be Asuma's tutor." The Third Hokage put down his pipe and introduced with a smile.

Immediately after, the Third Hokage noticed their expressions and asked:

"Minato, do you two know each other?"

Minato nodded and said, "We're neighbors. Yusheng's house is right next to mine."

"That's quite a coincidence. Yusheng, Minato, the two of you can exchange more—you're both outstanding ninja in your respective fields." Hiruzen Sarutobi praised.

"Not at all, I'm just doing my best." Muyue said modestly.

Minato also said something modest and then left; he had a good impression of Muyue, but the Hokage's office was not a good place for chatting.

Muyue had the same thought—the place wasn't suitable—so he didn't have much further exchange with Minato.

"Lord Third, after going back and seriously considering it, if I manage my time properly, I can spare a few hours on weekends to instruct Asuma." Muyue gave his answer.

"Good, with you teaching him, Yusheng, I won't have to worry about that child Asuma's growth." Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a chuckle, his words full of trust in Muyue.

"I will try my best not to disappoint your expectations, Lord Third, and teach Asuma with all my effort." Muyue showed a grateful expression, affirming that he would take the tutoring job seriously.

What followed was the rather conventional discussion about salary; the Third Hokage was fairly generous, offering a price of two thousand ryo per hour, teaching a total of eight hours over the weekend, with payment settled weekly.

Muyue set the time to start at one o'clock in the afternoon and end at five o'clock.

Today was Friday, and Muyue had no classes in the afternoon, so he went straight to the riverside where he usually trained; Shisui was there practicing Fire Release with Muyue's shadow clone.

Ever since he effortlessly took first place in the grade in that exam, Shisui had followed Muyue's advice to use a shadow clone to attend school and spent school hours training with Muyue.

After Muyue arrived, he dismissed the shadow clone. Shisui sensed Muyue's main body's arrival and temporarily stopped training, greeting him, "Teacher Muyue."

Muyue nodded, took out a handkerchief and handed it to Shisui with a smile, saying, "Take a rest and wipe your sweat."

Shisui thanked him, took the handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead and neck, and sat leaning against the big tree together with Muyue.

Muyue performed an appraisal on Shisui.

【Name: Uchiha Shisui】

【Chakra: 580】

【Potential: SS-】

Compared to a month ago, his chakra had improved considerably; on one hand, the training intensity had increased, and on the other, Shisui's body was gradually developing, so the growth rate would be even faster in the future.

What made Muyue somewhat dissatisfied was that this panel was too simplistic; it could only show chakra and potential.

After resting for a while, Muyue spoke up:

"Shisui, starting today, the training plan changes. Begin training in the Body Flicker Technique and enhancing chakra control ability."

Since Shisui had earned the name "Shisui of the Body Flicker" in the Third Shinobi World War, Muyue felt there was no problem teaching Shisui some Body Flicker techniques first.

"Mm." Shisui nodded and raised no objection; after a month of learning, he had great trust in Muyue's teaching ability.

The Body Flicker Technique is actually not the name of a single jutsu, but a broad category of jutsu; any technique that achieves a body-flicker effect can be called a Body Flicker Technique.

On the higher end, space-time ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Technique also count as Body Flicker techniques, and techniques like Lightning Release Chakra Mode that activate the body to increase speed can also be considered.

However, Muyue naturally did not know the Flying Thunder God or Lightning Release Chakra Mode; the Body Flicker he mastered was the most ordinary type.

It involved forming hand seals to gather chakra in the legs and then burst it out, strengthening the body to achieve high-speed movement; the drawback was that using it too many times would fatigue and injure the leg muscles.

Although it's just a common D-rank taijutsu move, it's very practical in combat, whether for a sudden assault or a retreat.

Shisui's talent still did not disappoint Muyue. Although he had not yet awakened the Sharingan, his formidable talent allowed Shisui to learn the Body Flicker Technique directly after Muyue demonstrated and explained it once.

When the ninja academy let out for the day, Might Guy and Obito soon arrived at the training ground.

"You two, don't rush into training just yet. I've drawn up a special two-month training plan for you," Muyue said, stopping Might Guy and Obito, who were about to start training.

Hearing Muyue's gentle voice, Obito thought Muyue was going to teach something new and asked with an expectant look:

"Muyue-sensei, are you going to teach us a new powerful ninjutsu?"

"You haven't even fully mastered Grand Dragon Fire and Great Fireball yet. Why would I teach you a new ninjutsu?" Muyue shook his head.

"Then what's the special training?" Obito was a bit disappointed to hear there was no new ninjutsu to learn.

"Training that will let you defeat Hyuga Hikami in the next final exam," Muyue said with a smile.

"Obito, your taijutsu is far too sloppy. Never mind Hyuga Hikami — even if you fought the current Guy, Guy could stop you from using a single ninjutsu. So you have to strengthen your taijutsu training."

Hearing Muyue's words, Obito wanted to say something but found he couldn't argue, because his fights against Hyuga Hikami and Might Guy had both ended in defeat just as Muyue had described.

Although ninja combat sometimes looks no different from mages blasting each other, if you really treat yourself as a turret mage and don't practice taijutsu, you'll be the first to die on the battlefield. Generally, any strong ninja knows at least some taijutsu.

"As for Guy, what you need to do is strengthen your strong point. You need to become faster — fast enough that even if Hyuga Hikami's Byakugan clearly sees your movements, he can't dodge in time."

The Byakugan's observation ability is indeed strong, but Might Guy doesn't need to outpace the Byakugan's observation; he only needs to outpace Hyuga Hikami's reaction.

"From now on, the two of you will train for one hour, then do half an hour of real combat. You may only use taijutsu; no ninjutsu allowed."

"Ah, no ninjutsu?" Obito was dumbfounded. He couldn't even win with ninjutsu — without it, wouldn't this be pure beatdown?

"If you don't want to be defeated by Hyuga Hikami again next time, then don't use ninjutsu," Muyue replied.

Obito thought about the bragging he had done in front of Nohara Rin. Even though he could already foresee the painful training life ahead, he could only nod with tears in his eyes.

A new round of training began. Muyue was wondering whether this special training would trigger the reward for his disciple's growth. He hadn't triggered it even once yet, and he had no idea how much improvement would be needed.