Chapter 313: Chunin Exams Conclude for Now

A Ninja Academy Teacher, I Get Stronger Just by Teaching - Volume 231 - The Chunin Exam Comes to a Temporary End. After learning about Rin Nohara's opponent, Obito finally bothered to check on his own opponent. He was number nine, and in order, his opponent was number ten.

"Hey, it's Asuma." Obito only then realized that his first-round opponent was actually a friend he knew. The tenth examinee was Asuma Sarutobi.

When Obito looked for Asuma, Asuma happened to be looking at Obito as well. Their eyes met, and Asuma walked over to Obito and said seriously,

"Obito, you have to give it your all when the time comes. Even though you're strong, I won't lose because I'm carrying the hopes of my teammates!"

The three of them had once vowed together to become Chunin, but in the end, only Asuma made it to the third round. At this moment, he was no longer alone—he was moving forward with his teammates' expectations.

"Haha, of course I'll use my full strength, and I'm definitely going to win!" Obito declared confidently.

Although his opponent was a friend, Obito absolutely wouldn't hold back in battle. After all, that would not only be disrespectful to Asuma but might also affect Asuma's promotion.

According to Nono Yakushi, the more spectacular the fight and the better one demonstrated their strength, the higher the chance of becoming a Chunin.

Kakashi looked directly toward the bottom of the big screen. The number he had drawn was sixteen. There were only sixteen examinees in the third exam, and his match would be the last one in the first round. His first-round opponent was number fifteen.

"Koichi Hyuga." Kakashi murmured the name in his mind, recalling Koichi Hyuga's performance during the preliminaries.

No flashy moves—just opening the Byakugan and finishing the opponent off with some Gentle Fist.

Kakashi thought for a moment, took out his notebook, and wrote down the serial numbers of all sixteen examinees on one page. He felt confident about his first-round match and wanted to analyze the opponents he might face after advancing.

"Kakashi Hatake… a formidable opponent." Koichi Hyuga's expression turned serious as he watched Kakashi taking notes with his head down.

Although Kakashi hadn't made his opponent surrender on the spot with a single jutsu like Obito had, Kakashi had also swiftly disposed of his opponent after a brief probing exchange. He was one of the fastest in the entire preliminaries.

"But if he's a speed-type ninja, maybe I can handle him." Thinking of his bloodline limit, Koichi Hyuga steadied his nerves.

Kakashi had displayed incredible speed in the preliminaries, but the strength of his Byakugan lay in observation—Kakashi's speed might not necessarily work against him.

"Damn bastard, I'll beat you again in the second round." Mei Terumi glanced at her opponent, saw it was a Leaf ninja who had performed average in the preliminaries, and dismissed him. Instead, she focused on who her second-round opponent might be.

Her serial number was eleven, and her second-round opponent would be determined between numbers nine and ten.

Based on Mei Terumi's observations in the preliminaries, she believed the tenth examinee, Asuma Sarutobi, would be no match for Obito, so her second-round fight would most likely be against Obito.

Mei Terumi was very satisfied with this draw. Even though the match hadn't started yet, she felt she had already made it to the semifinals, and there she could take revenge for the scroll theft.

"Might Guy, you won't win so easily next time." Unlike the inwardly composed Mei Terumi, Kisame Hoshigaki didn't care about the rankings. He only paid attention to when he would face Might Guy.

Kisame Hoshigaki himself was number one, and Might Guy was number six. If both won their first two rounds, they would meet in the semifinals to compete for the final slot.

After clearly seeing their first-round opponents and possible second-round opponents, Kisame knew they would definitely meet in the semifinals.

Kisame's first-round opponent was number two, Aoba Yamashiro. His second-round opponent would be determined between number four, Shio Nara, and number three, Rin Nohara. Kisame felt he could easily handle all of them.

Might Guy's first-round opponent was number five, Nobushige Noguchi, a Mist ninja from the same team as Mei Terumi. Might Guy's second-round opponent would be determined between Kurosawa and Midori Inuzuka. In Kisame's eyes, even the three of them together couldn't beat Might Guy, let alone in a one-on-one fight.

"Also, the third exam will officially begin one month from now. During this time, you can train to increase your strength, gather information on your opponents, and do everything you can to improve your chances of victory. After all, at that point, you'll be fighting for your respective villages." Nono Yakushi reminded them.

"Ah, one month from now? Why does it take so long?" Obito asked, very confused.

He didn't quite get it—wasn't it just sixteen people fighting? Why did they need to prepare that long?

"The third exam has many spectators. To ensure they don't have to rush to Konoha, enough time must be set aside." Nono Yakushi replied.

Unlike the first two exams, the main purpose of the third exam was to show off military might and demonstrate the village's strength, so many nobles and officials would be invited. They needed enough time for those wealthy merchants and aristocrats to travel here comfortably.

Obito still didn't quite understand. A whole month seemed excessive—was Konoha inviting people from seven or eight countries away to watch?

But then Obito thought about his failure in the Forest of Death and decided a one-month interval was actually good. That way, he could ask Muyue to train him for a month to improve his strength. Otherwise, Obito wasn't confident he could take first place.

Both Kisame and Mei Terumi had excellent Water Release jutsu. Might Guy, with three Gates and Ganu, had solid strength. The scene of Kakashi channeling some kind of godly possession to instantly kill a jonin was deeply etched in Obito's mind. He had no sure-fire way to beat any of those four.

"If there are no questions, everyone may leave the exam venue." Nono Yakushi said finally.

Nono Yakushi had explained everything clearly. No one asked any more questions. They all walked out of the tower together, heading outside.

Obito wanted to ask Muyue for help with training, but thinking that Muyue was exhausted from being the proctor these past few days, he didn't disturb Muyue too much. He just greeted Muyue and left the Forest of Death with Kakashi and the others.

"I really envy them—they still have unlimited potential." Nono Yakushi sighed as he watched the examinees' departing figures.

Among the examinees were many geniuses he envied: Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, Mei Terumi… Even though they were barely ten years old, they already possessed extraordinary strength.

Meanwhile, in a little over a month, he himself would turn thirty-two, and he was still just an ordinary jonin—nothing compared to his former classmate Orochimaru and the others.

"Senior Nono, you've only walked through a third of your life. You still have great potential, too." Muyue said with a warm smile.

Hiruko shook his head with a bitter smile and said:

"A ninja is already set at this age. Look at Jiraiya and Orochimaru—they can already lead the five great ninja villages in war, while I, at the same age, can only serve as an examiner for the Chunin Exams."

Muyue said he still had sixty years to live, and Hiruko was happy, but in his heart, he knew that if he didn't do something, his life would be just like this—an ordinary person without talent.

"If I could complete that, maybe I could catch up with Orochimaru and the others," Hiruko thought quietly to himself.

Gradually overtaken by his peers and friends, Hiruko now didn't even know how big the gap between them had become. He only knew that ordinary jonin could be slaughtered by Orochimaru and Jiraiya, and his own strength was not outstanding among jonin...

Although his strength was average, Hiruko had his own strengths—he was good at research, and in theoretical knowledge, he was considered an expert among experts.

To change his innate disadvantage in talent, Hiruko read all the ninja-related books openly available in Konoha.

Eventually, he came up with a solution: fusion. By merging others' physical talents into his own body, he could become a genius too.

However, achieving this was extremely difficult. Hiruko had already spent a great deal of time just on the theoretical stage.

Now, with the theoretical stage nearing its end, Hiruko began to worry about the next step of experimental development.

His jutsu was too dangerous; it had to be developed through human experimentation, but the problem was that the jutsu he was developing was highly inhumane, the kind that could not see the light of day, so he had to find a way to do it secretly on his own.

"That's hard to say. Actually, my own strength wasn't outstanding before either. It's only in the last two years that I suddenly understood some things and made rapid progress. Perhaps you are the type who accumulates more before bursting forth," Muyue comforted him, while continuing to polish his own persona in Konoha.

Hiruko smiled and nodded: "Mm, I hope so."

He knew Muyue was comforting him, but he didn't think Muyue could truly understand his feelings, because from what he knew, Muyue was also a genius—young but already able to fight alongside Jiraiya against a jinchuriki.

Besides, he had already spent so much time; he couldn't give up the Guiyaluo Jutsu he was developing to gamble on suddenly understanding something and getting a power boost one day.

After a brief chat with Hiruko, Muyue finished some remaining work and returned to his house in the main district.

When Muyue got home, it was four in the afternoon, still some time before dinner.

Today, Muyue didn't start learning sealing techniques right away when he got home; instead, he took out a notebook and thought about the candidates for his fifth disciple slot.

Muyue first wrote down the four characters: Itachi Uchiha. Although Itachi Uchiha's actions were very controversial, his talent was unquestionable, and his potential was definitely not low. In the early stages, he sent Kakashi to the hospital with a single glance; later, he performed exceptionally well after being reanimated by Edo Tensei.

However, there was a problem with choosing Itachi Uchiha: Itachi had just been born not long ago. He had heard last month that the head of the Uchiha clan had a son, so if he wanted to give this slot to Itachi Uchiha, he would have to wait several years.

Muyue then wrote the next name—Kabuto Yakushi.

As a master dream-fulfiller, Kabuto Yakushi stirred up trouble in the later stages. Not only did he use Edo Tensei to fight the Allied Shinobi Forces, but he also learned the Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode that Orochimaru had not mastered. Muyue estimated that Kabuto was also S-rank potential without any bonuses.

Kabuto was a bit older than Itachi, but there was another big problem: in Muyue's memory, Kabuto Yakushi was taken in by Yakushi Nonou, and right now Yakushi Nonou had not yet become the head of the Konoha Orphanage. She was still working in Root. If Muyue wanted to find him, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Muyue temporarily ruled out Naruto, Sasuke, and the others. Although their potential was undoubtedly extremely high, the timing was too far off. They were still several years away from being born, and it would be even longer before they could take disciples and teach. By then, Muyue might already be invincible, unless there was an enemy from the sky.

After thinking it over, Muyue ultimately did not write down the three characters for Mei Terumi.

Although Mei Terumi was suitable in many ways, and Muyue had no objection to teaching someone outside Konoha, Mei Terumi came to take the exams and would return after finishing, while Kirigakure was too far from Konoha. Muyue would find it difficult to manage both Konoha and Kirigakure at the same time, and abandoning the home base of Konoha for Kirigakure was even more impossible.

He couldn't possibly trick Mei Terumi into defecting from her village within this one month. Muyue felt that was completely unnecessary.

Thinking more carefully, Muyue then thought of Yamato. Yamato was a bit younger than Kakashi, just the right age. However, the awkward thing was that Yamato had an even bigger problem—due to Wood Release, Yamato was probably being secretly trained by Danzo right now.

After thinking back and forth, except for those with issues, Muyue found that Asuma had actually become the most outstanding candidate.

But Muyue was not planning to use this slot on Asuma.

When teaching non-system disciples, Muyue would still teach with all his might and not hold back, because they also called him teacher and respected and liked him, just like how he specifically developed Water Breathing for Nohara Rin.

However, the system disciple slot involved very important matters. Muyue had to give it to a more suitable person to maximize his own strength improvement. Strength was too important in the world of Naruto. For both himself and his disciples, he had to become stronger until he could crush all conspiracies.

"Nagato." After thinking for a long time, Muyue wrote down these two characters.

Nagato had many problems. First, Nagato did not meet Muyue's requirement of being under ten years old, because Nagato was only six years younger than Minato, and Muyue was the same age as Minato. The two of them would be more like senior and junior brothers; as master and disciple, the age gap was a bit close.

Secondly, Nagato had Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan, and Madara Uchiha would likely keep an eye on Nagato's situation.

Also, Nagato was not in Konoha. Although the Land of Rain was right next to the Land of Fire, if Muyue wanted to successfully take Nagato as a disciple, he would definitely have to spend some time and waste some time farming rewards.

There were also some trivial issues, such as Nagato already having Jiraiya as a teacher. However, Muyue only needed Nagato to acknowledge him as a teacher in his heart, so that aspect wasn't a big problem.

No matter how many problems there were, it was hard to overshadow Nagato's advantages. He was from the Uzumaki clan with excellent talent, and even though his eyes weren't originally his, he could use them with his massive chakra reserves. This meant that if Muyue raised Nagato's trust high, he could gain a massive amount of chakra.

Moreover, Nagato didn't require waiting. As long as Muyue came up with a plan, he could go directly to the Land of Rain and act.

Looking at the three names on the list and their advantages and disadvantages, Muyue finally closed the notebook and began studying sealing techniques.

He didn't need to make a choice within a few days. Uchiha Itachi and Yakushi Kabuto would both need to wait a long time, and it was still far from the incident happening on Nagato's side, so there was no need to rush over there.

After all, this was a real Naruto world. There might be geniuses whose names he didn't even know. He hadn't even memorized all the characters from the manga, let alone in a real world.

Perhaps one day, by using the Appraisal Technique on a random person, he would find an S-rank potential genius.

For dinner, Muyue cooked at Tsunade's house. After finishing, she packed two portions and had a Shadow Clone deliver them to Minato.

……

The next day, Obito woke up at eight, quickly finished washing up, then ate breakfast and immediately headed toward Muyue's house.

To be first, he would secretly train hard and then amaze everyone.

Today I sorted out the outline, so the word count is a bit less, only 4.2k. Tomorrow I'll write more.