Chapter 247: Stat Increase

【Disciples Might Guy, Kakashi, and Uchiha Obito worked hard to complete the entrusted mission, earning growth reward Chakra +1540, with an additional reward of Chakra +770 for being led by the teacher himself】

The chakra from the mission settlement was about what Muyue had imagined, even a little more.

Last time when the situation was so critical, all three disciples had pushed their limits and barely managed around two thousand; this time the three combined actually gave 2,310 chakra, which was pretty good.

The chakra earned from these two missions almost matched the total chakra he had when he first transmigrated. Muyue could only say it was really tough for ordinary people to become ninja.

With his chakra slightly increasing again, Muyue took a look at his current status panel.

【Name: Hanyu Muyue】

【Chakra: 】

【Skills: Fire Nature Transformation (Perfect: 9/ ), Busoshoku Haki (Perfect: 5/ ), Thunder Breathing (Perfect)…】

Muyue's chakra had finally reached his set small goal of fifty thousand, including a large amount from missions, as well as small rewards from exam settlements and disciple teaching returns, but the biggest portion of chakra increase actually came from the chakra returned through teaching disciples.

The chakra from missions looked abundant, giving 2,310 all at once, but if you calculated the time and divided it per day, it wasn't actually that much.

The chakra from teaching disciples appeared to add little by little per disciple, but there were four disciples contributing together, and because Obito had recently awakened his Sharingan, his chakra growth had entered a stage of rapid increase, bringing Muyue a substantial chakra income.

Besides reaching the small goal for chakra, Muyue's high-level skills were also decent now, with three perfect-level skills and twelve proficient-level skills.

"I need to start grinding more skills in the second school year." Muyue thought to himself after carefully reviewing all his skills.

Although he had over a dozen proficient-level skills, Muyue felt their overall quality was average. Among the twelve proficient-level skills, three were Fire Release, and none of the other five basic nature transformations; the rest were taijutsu and sealing techniques. The two proficient-level sealing techniques were ones Muyue practiced himself: Contract Seal and Five Elements Seal.

Undoubtedly the best quality proficient-level skills were Water Nature Transformation, Rock Breathing, and Flame Breathing.

Ignoring proficiency, his skill configuration was actually quite good—he had techniques for all seven nature transformations, plus taijutsu and sealing techniques—but the ones with high proficiency were mostly Fire Release or taijutsu.

Muyue knew the reason: system rewards weren't completely random. Teaching returns had a high probability of dropping rewards related to the disciples and a small probability of random drops, while training missions were certain to drop rewards related to the disciples.

Before taking in Kakashi, his disciples Shisui and Obito played with fire, and Might Guy played with taijutsu, so the rewards in those two areas were much higher than others. It wasn't until after Kakashi joined that he got proficient-level Lightning and Earth Nature Transformations.

Grinding ninjutsu in class was very efficient. Even a small class could net two beginner-level ninjutsu in a day, and one extra large class would add one more beginner-level ninjutsu.

Getting the same beginner-level ninjutsu three times was almost enough to reach skilled level; on that basis, obtaining it eighteen more times could bring it to proficient level.

However, the probability of a single jutsu appearing twenty-one times was too low. Muyue only wanted to grind a few more skilled-level skills.

Through this battle with the jinchūriki, he fully realized the importance of skills. If Rōshi had any other strong methods besides Lava Release, Muyue would have had to think harder about how to reasonably block him.

After leaving the Hokage building, Muyue went directly to the southern forest to instruct his disciples.

He had promised Minato to deliver a message to Kushina and show her the photos, but the photo studio needed time to develop the pictures, and he couldn't contact Kushina immediately.

Kushina didn't just respawn around the Hokage building. The only way Muyue could reliably contact her was to have the meal-delivery ninja pass along a message for him.

So Muyue decided to arrange a meeting time with Kushina after the photos came out, to tell her what Minato had said and also hand over Minato's photos to her.

When Muyue arrived at the southern forest, everything was as usual—all his disciples were training seriously.

"Muyue-sensei, what rank did this mission finally turn out to be? It shouldn't still be C-rank, right?" Obito stopped his Fire Release training and asked curiously.

"Of course not. Just having combat with ninja means it shouldn't be C-rank. Guess higher," Muyue said with a mysterious smile.

"It's not S-rank, is it?" A hint of excitement appeared on Obito's face as he asked.

An ordinary person might try asking if it was A-rank, but Obito never lacked the courage to make bold guesses, so he directly guessed S-rank.

"You guessed right. Here's a candy as a reward." Muyue nodded with a smile, took out a candy, and tossed it to Obito.

This was one reason he had such high popularity among his students—Muyue was always happy to reward them and carried some snacks with him.

"Hehe." Obito let out a chuckle, tore open the wrapper, and popped the candy into his mouth.

"Now that mission hall ninja uncle definitely won't underestimate us anymore. An S-rank mission should be impressive enough, right?" Obito said with a grin.

Even Kakashi was a bit surprised when he heard that. A mission that escalated due to unexpected circumstances rarely reached S-rank, after all—S-rank was the highest mission rank in Konoha, and Kakashi hadn't done a single S-rank mission in the several years since becoming a chūnin.

Following a normal squad, he had no S-rank mission record, but by teaming up with genin interns, he had gotten two A-ranks and one S-rank. Kakashi felt the world was really strange.

"The mission being upgraded to S-rank doesn't have much to do with us. It should be mainly thanks to Muyue-sensei's contribution," Kakashi analyzed rationally.

He thought his own performance on the battlefield was decent, but Kakashi believed Muyue's contribution was the decisive factor.

"But Muyue-sensei is also part of our team, part of our team's overall strength." Obito felt that Kakashi was splitting hairs too finely—it wasn't necessary.

He felt that during this mission, their Muyue Squad was just wreaking havoc on the battlefield.

Obito's words, Kakashi really couldn't refute. In terms of the entire squad's strength, Muyue had to be counted in. But the problem was that without Muyue, their squad's strength would drop to the point of disbanding on the spot.

"I have merits, and your performance is not bad either. Lord Jiraiya thinks highly of you and believes in your future." Muyue said with a gentle smile.

"Keep working hard, and one day you will be able to complete S-rank missions on your own strength."

In fact, it was precisely because of his great contributions that the mission was upgraded to S-rank, but encouraging his disciples a little more had no harm.

"To become Hokage, how can you not even have the strength to complete an S-rank mission?" Obito was full of anticipation and confidence in his future.

"Becoming Hokage requires more than just strength. With your current knowledge, you're not even qualified to be a jonin." Kakashi reminded calmly.

"Do you have to take an exam to become Hokage?" Obito asked in surprise.

"Becoming Hokage doesn't require an exam, but people generally don't want someone with muscles for brains to become Hokage."

"Damn Kakashi, you're the one with muscles for brains." Obito realized Kakashi was mocking his poor theoretical knowledge.

"But I scored full marks on all my ninja academy exams. What about you?" Kakashi asked, the corners of his mouth slightly lifting.

Obito:...

He shouldn't have let Kakashi come with him to check the results back then.

"By the way, I also scored full marks on the written test of the chunin exams. I really feel sorry for your future teammates. If you get eliminated because of the first-stage theory, that would be too ridiculous." Kakashi continued to attack.

After Obito had taunted him many times following his victory, now that he had the chance, he naturally needed to deal a bit more damage.

"I should be the one worrying about your future teammates. A chunin still lost to a trainee ninja." Obito began to counterattack.

They all knew the team wouldn't last forever. After Obito and the others graduated, this squad formed for the internship would disband.

"Good, full of spirit. Then let's start training in Total Concentration Breathing Constant." Muyue stopped the two's verbal battle, letting them channel their passion into training.

Although Kakashi had just started learning the Breathing Technique, he had no urgent training items; Lightning Breathing was currently the highest priority skill for him, so starting Constant training early was not a problem.

After all, the so-called "Constant" is actually about increasing the upper limit of Total Concentration while keeping the body in a state of highly focused breathing for a long time.

Might Guy was different. Mastering the Third Gate as soon as possible was more important, followed by Constant training, because the first three Gates of the Eight Gates were easier to train.

They started Total Concentration Breathing training. At first, the two still had the mind to compete, but later they were exhausted, and their minds were only on training.

After training, both lay on the ground exhausted, with no strength left to bicker.

But Obito, remembering he still had something to say, forced himself to stand up with willpower and slowly walked over to sit beside Rin Nohara.

"Rin, you'll never guess how many enemies we encountered on this mission." Obito took a deep breath to adjust his state and said.

No matter how hard or tired he was, he had to tell Rin Nohara about his heroic deeds.

Kakashi noticed Obito's movement and saw him chatting with Rin Nohara. He quietly leaned against a nearby tree, to prevent Obito from secretly defaming him.

"Did you encounter twenty enemies?" Rin Nohara pressed her finger to her chin and asked with a smile.

"Twenty? Too few."

Obito said with an exaggerated expression: "At least six hundred! Everywhere were ninjas wearing Iwagakure headbands, as if endless. Defeat one, and three more come to attack you."

"So many enemies! Were you hurt?" Rin Nohara was very surprised. A single grade in the ninja academy only had a little over three hundred students; she could hardly believe how dangerous it would be for so many full-fledged ninjas to fight together. So she asked with a worried expression.

"Just some minor injuries. They were healed by Teacher Muyue after the battle. It's nothing." Seeing Rin Nohara so concerned, Obito felt warm inside.

"Although there were many enemies, we also had many comrades. I saved several comrades, including a chunin. They all praised me for being strong, and the enemies were amazed by my strength, calling me a genius."

As he said this, Obito couldn't help but show a smug smile.

"That's wonderful." Rin Nohara showed a relieved smile.

"I still remember a few years ago, you couldn't even take care of yourself, forgetting to bring your enrollment documents. Now you've become a reliable boy who can save his comrades at critical moments."

Hearing Obito say that he had saved village comrades and gained the enemy's recognition, Rin Nohara truly felt the joy of seeing the seed she had painstakingly planted bloom.

For four years at the ninja academy, she had been helping Obito like taking care of her own little brother. Watching him grow to this level, Rin Nohara was both surprised and happy.

"You feel as reliable as Kakashi now."

Rin Nohara said with squinting eyes and a smile. The slightly upturned corners of her eyes were like two curved boats, loaded with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Obito only felt that this smile was like the warm sun in spring, gentle and bright, driving away the fatigue of training for him.

"If only it weren't for those three words, it would be even better." Obito complained inwardly.

What does it mean 'as reliable as Kakashi'? Making it sound like he's a step below Kakashi. He would have no problem with being as reliable as Muyue-sensei.

"Hehe, that time really thanks to your help, Rin-chan. I thought I was going to miss the chance to enroll." Obito scratched his head and smiled in thanks.

"After all, we're future classmates, helping each other is only right." Rin Nohara said softly.

"By the way, I took a lot of photos during the mission. Some of the flowers in them are ones I've never seen in Konoha. They look quite nice. I wonder if they are unique to the Grass Country." Obito remembered the photos.

"After the photos are developed, I'll give you some."

"Sure, then I'll thank you in advance." Rin Nohara replied with a full smile.

Not hearing anything about his own private matters, Kakashi inwardly nodded, feeling that he had rested enough, so he stood up and prepared to leave.

"It seems Kakashi really knows you well. He must have picked it out carefully. You two should get along well." Rin Nohara pressed her palms together and said with a smile.

Kakashi, who happened to be passing by, slightly turned his head and explained, "Don't overthink it. The store just happened to have a sale on cameras."

"Maybe I bought the wrong thing. I should have bought dozens of exam papers from Muyue-sensei and given them to him. He might need that more."

Obito was dumbfounded by Kakashi's words. He had never heard such a malicious idea. Dozens of exam papers as a gift? Wasn't that asking him to die?

"Damn Kakashi." Obito pondered how to deal with it if Kakashi actually gave such a gift.

Having said that, Kakashi didn't linger and went home for dinner.

"…"

Having learned from Obito that the photos would be available two days later, Muyue finished cooking dinner and communicated with Kushina through the lunch-carrying ninja.

After confirming the schedule, on the morning of the fourth day after returning to the village, Muyue brought Minato's photo and his own homemade pastries to the meeting place to wait for Kushina's arrival.