Chapter 315: Mu Yue: Warm Outside but Cold Inside?

The Ninja Academy Teacher: I Get Stronger Just by Teaching — Volume 233 of the Main Story: Is Mu Yue Hot on the Outside but Cold on the Inside? It wasn't just Obito and the others striving to improve themselves; Asuma, as the only member of the team to advance to the third round of exams, also wanted to make a comeback within the month.

However, Asuma didn't know where Mu Yue lived, so he waited for Mu Yue at the gate of the Ninja Academy after school on Monday afternoon.

As soon as he saw Mu Yue come out, he immediately greeted him.

Mu Yue responded with a smile, already guessing in his mind the reason Asuma had come to see him.

After all, at this point in time, there probably wasn't anything else that would make Asuma seek him out on his own.

"Teacher Mu Yue, could you spare some time to think up a special training plan for me? I feel like I only have a hope of defeating Obito if I train with you." Asuma asked a bit sheepishly.

Though saying this might be a little hurtful, his jōnin instructor was indeed far behind Mu Yue; if he trained with his jōnin teacher for this month, he would definitely lose.

"I do have some ideas for short-term power improvement, but beating Obito is still very difficult." Mu Yue replied tactfully.

It wasn't that Asuma was weak; it was that Obito's strength was no longer on the level of an ordinary chūnin. He had the Sharingan and could activate his Mark, even if it wasn't the complete version.

Even if Asuma's strength improved significantly within this month, he would still not be a match for Obito, because Asuma specialized in Wind Release and Fire Release.

For someone of the same age to defeat Obito, they would need either an elemental advantage like Mei Terumi's, or they would have to be another disciple who, like Obito, received daily instruction from Mu Yue.

Don't underestimate the system rewards—though they all went to Mu Yue, his disciples also benefited, such as with the unusual forbidden technique of Breathing Method, or powerful teaching skills.

Obito and the others learned various powerful ninjutsu taught by Mu Yue so quickly partly thanks to those teaching skills. Although Asuma had received more instruction than anyone outside Mu Yue's direct disciples, the amount of time he had spent being taught was far less than Obito and the others.

Moreover, because Asuma was the Third Hokage's son, Mu Yue had previously been limited to teaching ninjutsu that he openly possessed, to avoid exposing his abnormality. He could only teach nature transformation and C-rank or B-rank ninjutsu, since back then he wasn't yet a jōnin strong enough to help Jiraiya defeat a tailed beast.

Now Mu Yue could teach Asuma the Breathing Method, and continue to build up his image as a genius.

Although the Mark and Transparent World effects were extremely powerful, neither could be mastered just by casual practice. The basic Breathing Method was just a decent secret technique, not something that would shock the world.

So even if Asuma hadn't come to him, Mu Yue would have taught him the basic Breathing Method the next time he taught him.

As for why it was Basic Breathing instead of Flame Breathing—because Asuma clearly had more talent in Wind Release and was more suited to Wind Breathing. However, the system had never rewarded Wind Breathing, so Mu Yue would have to develop it himself.

Mu Yue now had Master-level proficiency in Wind Release nature transformation, two Perfect-level Breathing Techniques and two Master-level ones, plus experience developing Water Breathing. He estimated that within half a year he could develop a complete Wind Breathing.

Once he finished developing Wind Breathing, Mu Yue would attempt to develop Sun Breathing on his own.

If Wind Breathing was completed, Mu Yue would have gathered all five basic Breathing Techniques, and he couldn't bear not to try for Sun Breathing.

Mu Yue currently speculated that Sun Breathing mainly involved Yin Release nature transformation, possibly Yin plus Fire, or maybe related to natural energy and Sage Mode, or perhaps a combination of all these.

"No problem. If I give it my all and still can't win, then I'll accept the loss willingly." Asuma said seriously.

Right now, Obito was strong and he was weak. Even if he trained hard in the coming month while Obito did little training, whether he could defeat Obito was still uncertain. So Asuma knew winning would be very difficult; he just didn't want to lose so easily.

After all, he was somewhat Obito's senior. If he was defeated by Obito in a couple of moves like that person in the preliminaries, it would be too embarrassing. He was the only one left on the team now.

"I understand your resolve." Mu Yue nodded, and after dinner, he began teaching Asuma.

"Next, I'll teach you a secret technique that enhances physical abilities. From now on, you must train diligently in this every day." Mu Yue introduced the basic Breathing Method to Asuma.

The basic Breathing Method was a must-learn. It could both strengthen taijutsu and lay the foundation for future Wind Breathing—excellent value.

"Also, to strengthen your Wind Release nature transformation training, I'll teach you a Wind Release ninjutsu with powerful wind force." Mu Yue continued.

It was impossible for Asuma to defeat Obito with Fire Release. Even without Obito using Flame Breathing, Asuma couldn't win. Obito had higher proficiency in Fire Release nature transformation and more chakra, so Asuma had to focus on Wind Release.

Although in terms of elemental nature, Fire Release was superior to Wind Release, actual collisions between the two weren't like Water Release versus Fire Release; but if the wind force was strong enough, it could greatly affect the opponent's control over flames.

Of course, elemental advantage still existed. The main problem was that Fire Release gave a smaller chance of winning, and there was no time to learn Water Release now. Wind Release still offered a glimmer of hope.

Mu Yue planned to teach Asuma the Wind Release: Air Current, a B-rank ninjutsu he obtained from the Ninjutsu Hall. It suited Asuma well in various aspects.

After explaining the plan, they began actual training. Asuma, new to the Breathing Method, performed the same as Obito and the others had at first—unable to find the correct breathing rhythm.

"I never thought breathing could be developed into a technique. How come I've never heard of it before?" Asuma complained.

"This field is relatively niche. Apart from myself, I rarely hear of others developing ninjutsu related to breathing." Mu Yue replied with a smile, subtly revealing that he was the developer.

"Wow, so Teacher Mu Yue developed it yourself!" Asuma's eyes lit up, feeling he had hit the jackpot by learning Mu Yue's unique technique.

Mu Yue lifted his black-rimmed glasses with his right hand and smiled gently: "If your ability permits, developing your own ninjutsu is a good choice, because you know your needs best."

After that, Mu Yue became very busy.

He had to attend classes at the Ninja Academy to grind skills, conduct special training for his disciples, find time to learn from Tsunade, and also squeeze in time to develop Wind Breathing and self-study sealing techniques. From dawn till dusk, every hour except those spent sleeping was fully occupied.

But Mu Yue could still accept it, after all, his busyness was truly effective in improving his own strength.

Although he was helping Asuma devise strategies to defeat Obito, Mu Yue also spared no effort in helping Obito come up with Fire Release ninja body techniques.

Mu Yue mastered many advanced ninjutsu, and his Fire Nature Transformation was at the perfect level, so he had a great advantage in developing Fire Release ninja body techniques.

However, considering that Obito's learning ability was somewhat weaker and there was only one month, Mu Yue developed three moves for Obito.

The first was Fire Release: Flame Fist. In developing it, Mu Yue borrowed all the techniques of Monstrous Strength—condensing and compressing chakra in the fist, so that the moment it hits the target, flames burst forth and engulf the enemy.

The second was Fire Release: Leaf Whirlwind. While retaining the high-speed spinning kick of the Leaf Whirlwind, it added high-temperature flames to enhance power.

The third Fire Release ninja body technique was called Fire Release: Blazing Charge. It concentrates chakra at the shoulder, igniting the entire body in flames to charge forward, then using an Iron Mountain Lean to ram the target. It was the most powerful of the three Fire Release ninja body techniques.

Though they all seemed simple and unadorned, learning them was not easy. In terms of Hokage-level ninjutsu classification, Flame Fist and Blazing Charge could both be ranked as B-rank, but because they perfectly fit the characteristics of Flame Breathing, actual training was somewhat simpler.

After Mu Yue taught Obito these three ninja body techniques, Obito spent every day using Blazing Charge to crash into trees, breaking them with the Iron Mountain Lean. He thought this move was cool—his whole body ablaze with flames, so dazzling.

Kakashi's special training was truly hellish; he was the most arduous trainee among all of Mu Yue's disciples.

Because Kakashi had to push his body to its limits before starting combat, and Mu Yue's Shadow Clone didn't hold back much—it would injure him when it had to.

This high-difficulty training, even just once a day, put great pressure on Kakashi. His Breathing Technique improved quickly. Although his stats were still just a little short of the proficient level, Mu Yue could sense that Kakashi's Lightning Breathing was growing stronger.

It was worth mentioning that ten days after the Chunin Exams, Mu Yue encountered Terumi Mei again on the street.

It was the same place as last time; Terumi Mei was still standing in front of the ice cream stall with a conflicted expression.

"If you don't know what to buy, just buy them all," Mu Yue said as he walked up to the ice cream stall.

"You'd need money to do that," Terumi Mei replied, staring at Mu Yue with a resentful look.

She wasn't stupid—if she could have everything, she wouldn't still be hesitating over a choice.

Because she had come for the exams, Terumi Mei hadn't brought much money. She was on a mission to get good results, not to go sightseeing.

On top of that, her failure in the Forest of Death had made her very unhappy. After five consecutive days without any sweets, she had binged on ice cream for days—eating it like a meal—so she quickly spent most of her money. To ensure she could still have some sweets every day, Terumi Mei had to reluctantly control her spending.

Terumi Mei felt that Mu Yue bore one percent of the blame for her empty wallet—after all, it was Mu Yue who opened the door to the "want it all" world for her, and her failure in the Forest of Death was also due to his disciple.

"Give me three portions of strawberry ice cream," Mu Yue said to the stall owner instead of answering Terumi Mei.

The owner was quick and efficient; he soon packed three portions of strawberry ice cream and handed them to Mu Yue.

Terumi Mei cast an envious glance. A few days ago, she could have been even more carefree, directly telling the owner to give her three of each flavor.

Then, to Terumi Mei's surprise and delight, Mu Yue handed two portions of strawberry ice cream to her.

"Last time you gave me one portion, this time I'm giving you two—call it even," Mu Yue said with a smile.

When he heard Obito say that Terumi Mei was crazy enough to fight him over the reward of strawberry ice cream, Mu Yue still couldn't keep a straight face just thinking about it.

He had decisively left to avoid causing trouble for himself, but that had brought Obito an undeserved disaster.

So Mu Yue bought three portions of strawberry ice cream: two for Terumi Mei to break this fated entanglement caused by strawberry ice cream, so she wouldn't keep dwelling on it; the remaining one for Obito as compensation.

Terumi Mei took the two portions of strawberry ice cream, feeling delighted. That way, if she bought herself another vanilla one, it would be absolutely perfect.

But then Terumi Mei felt a little embarrassed—she had beaten his disciple and still accepted ice cream.

"I'll make sure he loses with style and dignity in the Chunin Exams." There was no way she was giving back the ice cream she already had, so Terumi Mei decided to play along during the Chunin Exams—let Obito show his spirit and brilliance, then defeat him. That way, Obito might also get promoted, repaying Mu Yue's ice cream kindness.

"Thank you, you're a good guy." A happy Terumi Mei thanked Mu Yue and gave him a nice guy card.

Mu Yue said nothing more, calmly accepted the card and left. How the relationship between Mist and Leaf would develop was unknown, and too much interaction would be bad for both sides.

Inside a dimly lit cave, Uchiha Madara was listening to Black Zetsu's report.

"Beneath Hanyu Mu Yue's warm surface may lie coldness. He stayed right there but didn't intervene, watching his students get hurt. Though Jiejian Xiuxing was ultimately dealt with by his students working together, they only barely succeeded through a burst of their limits." After reporting on Obito's changes, Black Zetsu also mentioned Mu Yue's behavior.

"Usually he takes meticulous care of his disciples, but when they are in danger, he just watches from the side..." Uchiha Madara felt that this Hanyu Mu Yue was somewhat interesting and must have some secret.

"If he really doesn't care about these students, then the plan will go smoothly." Uchiha Madara smiled at the thought.

If everything Mu Yue had shown to Obito was just an act, then in the beginning, not much would be needed—just guiding Obito to discover this would be enough to break his emotions once, and then killing that girl he liked, Nohara Rin, would plunge Obito into the abyss of darkness for his use.

"But if it's not, then this Hanyu Mu Yue will be a huge obstacle. He injured the Cloud Village's candidate Raikage without using his full strength, and his power might even surpass that of Namikaze Minato," Black Zetsu warned.

Due to monitoring Obito, Black Zetsu had also obtained much intelligence on Muyue: Armament Haki, Flame Breathing, and Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

These techniques were all extremely powerful, and even Black Zetsu, who had lived for over a thousand years, had never heard of them. They were undoubtedly created by Muyue himself. In Black Zetsu's eyes, Muyue was a figure like Tobirama Senju, only preferring to keep a low profile.

If Uchiha Madara were in his prime, he naturally wouldn't need to worry about Muyue—after all, even Tobirama Senju himself would only die if he came. But the current Uchiha Madara was just an old man surviving in the world by relying on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. If he wanted to deal with Muyue, whether he succeeded or not, it would take a great deal of effort.

"Even Hashirama has passed away. What can a junior less than twenty years old do?" Uchiha Madara said calmly.

It wasn't that he looked down on anyone in the ninja world; he simply looked down on everyone equally, except for his brother and Hashirama.

A bit of a writer's block. It seems I'm still not used to one update a day. I'll see if I can change it back tomorrow.