Chapter 330: Chunin Exam Ends

"Dammit, he can win like this." Obito had already started celebrating for Might Guy when he saw him use the Leaf Dragon God, but then Kakashi pulled out an even stronger slash at the very last moment.

And Kakashi collapsed just a little later than Might Guy, clearly pushing his limits too.

Hearing Nonō Yakushi announce the result, Obito felt sour inside, and when he saw Rin Nohara both smiling and looking worried as she watched Kakashi below, his mood worsened.

In his imagination, the one standing down there should have been him.

"I have to master the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode as soon as possible, then see if he can still withstand my Fire Release!" At this moment, Obito's motivation for training hit a peak; he wished he could train all night to boost his strength, then defeat Kakashi in front of Rin.

"They're both really strong." Asuma remarked. The two had fought to a level that shouldn't appear in a Chunin Exam.

Those who had trained with Might Guy before were even more shocked. Many of them were his classmates who had seen him go from dead last to top of the year, and now to second place in the Chunin Exam.

During training, they could still see the gap between them and Might Guy, but now that gap had grown so wide they didn't know how many years they'd need to train to reach his current strength.

"Guy, your youth burned to its peak today! I'm proud of you!" Might Dai gave Might Guy a thumbs up, tears of emotion streaming down his face.

Though Might Guy lost the final match, Might Dai didn't think Guy's efforts were wasted.

On the contrary, this Chunin Exam had made Guy's name known; many Konoha ninja now knew there was a taijutsu specialist like Might Guy who could defeat numerous geniuses using only physical techniques.

Even in defeat, Guy only lost in the final second; after that last move, both had reached their limit.

As a father, Might Dai naturally wanted his son to be first, but he didn't consider second place shameful, because second place had already surpassed countless ninja. As long as Guy kept working hard to surpass the first, that was enough.

In fact, Guy growing so fast already far exceeded Might Dai's expectations—getting the chance to take the Chunin Exam at age nine and then placing second.

"Guy, if you keep this up, you'll definitely achieve your goal!" Might Dai decided to make a big feast today to celebrate properly.

The audience in the stands discussed the match with lingering excitement, impressed by both fighters' unexpected final performance.

"It was definitely the right decision to have Kakashi follow you, Minato." Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile to Minato behind him.

Today, Kakashi truly shone brightly, even more so than when he was at the Ninja Academy.

At the Academy, he only dominated Konoha's students, but the Chunin Exam included excellent ninja from other major villages, making this first place especially meaningful.

Kakashi's performance exceeded Hiruzen's expectations. He had only hoped to help Kakashi move past his shadows, never imagining he would not only do that but also break out of his cocoon and transform.

Through these exam matches, Hiruzen felt he saw the next White Fang of Konoha.

"I didn't do much. Kakashi's excellence is mainly thanks to Muyue. Actually, by the time I became his instructor, Muyue had already healed most of the shadows in Kakashi's heart, and all the core training related matters were taught by Muyue." Minato shook his head and explained.

Minato wouldn't take credit for what wasn't his. Kakashi's current state wasn't really because of him.

In the beginning, Minato had worried about how to teach Kakashi, but when he took over, he found Muyue had already taught him well; except for being a bit quiet, everything else was normal.

In terms of ninja training, Kakashi focused on Breathing Techniques and Lightning & Earth Release. Minato obviously didn't understand Breathing Techniques, and though he knew some Lightning Release, it wasn't his specialty; he didn't know Earth Release at all.

For new ninja like Obito and Rin, Minato could teach them mission knowledge and what to do in various situations, but Kakashi was different—he had already been a ninja for years, so there was really little Minato could teach him.

Of course, it wasn't as if Minato had no influence at all. He just felt Muyue played the primary role compared to him.

"I see, but Minato, you don't need to belittle yourself. I can tell they like you too. If you were really that far behind Muyue, someone like Obito would have come to complain to me long ago." Hiruzen showed a thoughtful expression and then chuckled.

Since Minato said so, Muyue must have played a key role. Minato was humble, but not to the point of attributing all his own achievements to others.

"Muyue truly has a unique talent in education, and not just in large lectures." Hiruzen nodded to himself.

This was one of the reasons Hiruzen had previously rejected Danzō's request.

Someone like Minato, who could swiftly eliminate enemies on the battlefield, was still in the village; how could they send out a special talent like Muyue?

"What do you think about the final being a match between your own students? Did you guess Kakashi would win?" Jiraiya asked Muyue curiously.

Obito and the others' excellent performances had earned Muyue recognition from Jiraiya for his teaching skills; it was almost on par with his own.

"As for what I think—I'm just happy for them. I never considered who would win, because they're both my disciples." Muyue thought for a moment and replied.

He truly hadn't speculated who would take first, because Kakashi and the others were all similar in strength; any of them could win, depending entirely on performance. In that situation, Muyue couldn't guess, and he couldn't favor one disciple over another.

In that match just now, as soon as Might Guy used the Leaf Dragon God, Muyue immediately activated his Byakugan. He saw that Guy had indeed forcibly opened the Fourth Gate.

In truth, if it were a normal Fourth Gate plus Leaf Dragon God, the current Kakashi wouldn't have won, because the Transparent World also depends on one's own strength; the stronger you are, the better the Transparent World works.

But Might Guy forcibly breaking open the Fourth Gate caused severe damage to his body, so in the end Guy would fall first. It wasn't a matter of willpower; his body couldn't take it. Even managing to say something was extraordinary.

"Since they're both your disciples, it doesn't matter who wins. It's over now—hurry up and go buy groceries." Tsunade said, looking forward to tonight's dinner.

"Lady Tsunade, my disciples are injured like this. Do you think it's appropriate for me to go grocery shopping now?" Muyue hinted tactfully to Tsunade.

Without Tsunade's treatment, Muyue felt that Might Guy would have to lie in bed for at least a month.

Kakashi wasn't much better off. Might Guy was injured from forcefully charging the Fourth Gate, but Kakashi was also severely wounded after being hit by the Konoha Dragon God, and then he overexerted his body while already heavily injured.

"I think they're really badly hurt. Tsunade, please treat them first," Jiraiya chimed in.

At that moment, Kakashi and Might Guy looked utterly miserable, and it was obvious at a glance that they were seriously injured.

"I'll treat them first, okay? But you need to make more delicious food tonight," Tsunade emphasized.

"Hehe, what's the fun in just eating? I'll bring a bottle of good sake to enjoy with the meal," Jiraiya chuckled.

"You just want to freeload off my meal!" Tsunade crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, seeing through Jiraiya's real intention at once.

"Haha, good things are only fun when shared," Jiraiya said shamelessly after being exposed.

Tsunade said the sake had better be good. If he dared bring ordinary sake to freeload, she would make Jiraiya taste her fist, because this was a feast she earned through her work.

Jiraiya chuckled and agreed, and then the group went together to Konoha Hospital.

Shisui stayed for a while and then said goodbye to Muyue. After watching their battle, Shisui couldn't stand still for a moment.

Forget being first in the team; even for Nohara Rin and Obito, he had no certainty he could defeat any one of them. The only one he could probably beat for sure was Rin.

Shisui couldn't understand the speed of their progress, but he was greatly shocked. He had to train even harder to catch up.

"Teacher Muyue, I'm going back too." After seeing Shisui leave, Obito also prepared to slip away.

If he didn't leave, was he waiting for Kakashi to wake up and mock him? Obito didn't want to be face-slammed by Kakashi.

Facing Kakashi, who had taken first place, he had no way to talk back. When you win, anything you say is fine; when you lose, even your breathing can be criticized.

At that moment, Obito had only one thought: to make the most of his time training, surpass Kakashi while Kakashi was recovering, and then defeat Kakashi, so he could continue to mock Kakashi.

Obito had even thought of his lines. On the day of the Chūnin Exams, he hadn't eaten at his usual breakfast place, which affected his performance, so he let Kakashi win by luck; actually, he had always been stronger.

Muyue nodded. The hospital had people to take care of them, and with Might Guy and Kakashi in the same ward, Kakashi wouldn't be lonely.

Once free, Muyue glanced at the system panel.

【Disciple Uchiha Obito, under your guidance, trained seriously and increased his strength. Reward obtained—Fire Dragon Flame Bullet】

【Disciple Might Guy, under your guidance, trained seriously and increased his strength. Reward obtained—Reverse Lotus】

Both Obito and Might Guy had triggered improvement rewards.

The rewards were good, but they weren't of much use to Muyue now. The mastered-level Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was powerful, but Muyue currently wasn't lacking offensive Fire Release; the mastered-level Great Fire Annihilation was also very strong.

The Reverse Lotus was slightly more useful, because although it was useless to Muyue, it was a good taijutsu for Might Guy at this point. He could teach Might Guy the Reverse Lotus.

Muyue didn't see any rewards related to the Chūnin Exams. He guessed that the system would only settle after the results came out.

Muyue was a bit looking forward to it, because all three of his disciples had performed quite well; even Obito, who had the lowest rank, was in the top four.

…

After the third exam ended, Elder Gen gathered the Kirigakure examinees who had entered the third exam.

Mei Terumi was feeling a bit anxious, thinking that Elder Gen was mostly going to criticize them, since none of them had made it to the finals this time, and only one was in the top four. She, who had aimed for first, had fallen in the top eight.

Facing Elder Gen, an elder of Kirigakure with such high authority, even Kurosawa, who was extremely arrogant in front of Kakashi and the others, lowered his head and walked obediently to the designated room like a well-behaved child.

Zabuza, on the other hand, looked indifferent, mainly playing the part of rebellion.

Kisame Hoshigaki was expressionless. He was already the best performer among the Kirigakure; even if punished, it would be the lightest.

But contrary to Mei Terumi's expectations, Elder Gen did not criticize them. Instead, he smiled and said, "Everyone worked hard this time. The village will remember your contributions."

"Although our final results are a bit worse than Konoha's, this was after all a battle on Konoha's turf, so they had the advantage."

Elder Gen's actions surprised the Kirigakure ninjas. Elder Gen did not blame them for failing to get first place, but comforted them that Konoha had the home-field advantage and not to grieve over failure.

This immediately made some Kirigakure ninjas feel flattered. This was Elder Gen, the elder second only to the leader in Kirigakure.

Actually, even if Elder Gen scolded them, no one would have objected, because they knew that they had indeed messed up this time, and their later performance was crushed by Konoha ninjas.

"However, you must not forget your failure. Remember deeply the face of your defeat, and use it as motivation to train and increase your strength," Elder Gen continued.

With his discerning eye, he could tell that it wasn't that the Mist ninja were inadequate, but rather that the Konoha ninja participating in the Chunin Exam were ridiculously strong.

So he didn't intend to blame the Mist examinees; he just wanted to promote a few geniuses and incidentally gain some goodwill.

The Mist ninja all nodded, feeling that Yuan Shi was indeed a venerable elder of Kirigakure.

After offering some encouragement and casually dispensing a bit of platitudinous wisdom, Yuan Shi's image became benevolent and lofty in the hearts of many Mist ninja.

After all, in the Blood Mist, there were very few high-ranking officials with such affability; even if you didn't complete a mission well, not being killed was already good enough.

Mei Terumi felt relieved inside; since there was no criticism, it shouldn't affect her path to becoming Mizukage in the future.

But Yuan Shi's next words made Mei Terumi a bit nervous.

"Kisame, Mei Terumi, Zabuza — you three stay. The rest of you can leave." After deeming the time was about right, Yuan Shi spoke.

Soon the room was left with only Yuan Shi, Mei Terumi, and the others.

"All three of you are geniuses of Kirigakure," Yuan Shi said with a smile.

Even Obito was that strong, yet in the quarterfinals, his battle against Mei Terumi was suppressed for a period — enough to show Mei Terumi's strength. As for Kisame, needless to say, he nearly defeated Might Guy in the semifinals.

As for Zabuza, although his performance was far behind Mei Terumi and Kisame, he was still the youngest among the remaining participants and had the best showing.

Kurosawa's performance was about the same as Zabuza's, but Kurosawa was older.

"Kisame, your abilities are very strong. I think you should go train in the Anbu. Additionally, if either of you have Water Release questions you can't figure out, you can come ask me," Yuan Shi finally said.

Mei Terumi's face instantly lit up with joy as she nodded repeatedly; being able to learn under Yuan Shi greatly increased her chances of becoming Mizukage.

Sorry, I watched a match today, so the update is late. Although I had anticipated it, I still didn't expect to be swept 3-0. I feel a bit upset, and writing was blocked. I'll write more tomorrow.