Chapter 357: Training Root

"Academy teacher, I get stronger just by teaching" Volume 275: Training the Root "Moon-sensei, this technique's name is really strange—why does it start with 'Michiru Legend'?" During a break, Might Guy asked Tsukiyo.

Katoku Sword and Golden Horizon Guy could understand: Katoku Sword was named because the technique uses a chain-linked nunchaku, and Golden Horizon came from the technique's effect. But he really didn't get the "Michiru Legend" at the beginning.

"It was created by the developer to commemorate a ninja named Michiru." Tsukiyo thought for a moment and said.

Then Tsukiyo told the story of Michiru and Michiru the Second, adapted to the ninja world, to Might Guy.

Michiru had been separated from his little sister as a child due to war. To let his sister know his information, to show her he had the power to protect her, and to bring her back, Michiru didn't hesitate to fabricate lies and collaborate with a dark ninja organization to stage a play, shaping himself into a powerful hero.

Michiru the Second had once received help from Michiru by chance and therefore deeply admired him.

By accident, Michiru the Second discovered Michiru's collaboration with the dark ninja organization. The organization wanted to silence Michiru the Second, but Michiru's strength was fake—he couldn't use power to protect the child who admired him.

Michiru already felt deeply guilty about his actions. He couldn't bear to watch the dark ninja organization kill the child who admired a hero, so he stepped forward, exposed the truth, and admitted he was not a hero but an ordinary ninja.

In the end, Michiru was severely beaten and died amidst the crowd's scorn and contempt. The child he saved resolved to carry on Michiru's name and fulfill his unfinished wish.

"To commemorate Michiru, Michiru the Second named the taijutsu he developed after learning the Eight Extremes Heaven as 'Michiru Legend: Katoku Sword · Golden Horizon'!" Tsukiyo finally said.

"That's so youthful!" Might Guy clenched his fists and said.

He, with his abundant tear ducts, was already crying before Tsukiyo finished.

"This kind of taijutsu must be trained with the most youthful attitude!" Soon, Might Guy turned that emotion into training motivation and threw himself into practice.

Seeing this, Tsukiyo smiled and nodded. Golden Horizon suited Might Guy perfectly—Guy never feared any difficult training.

"Maybe in the future, there really will be a legend of Michiru in the ninja world," Tsukiyo thought.

Because Might Guy literally roared out the taijutsu's name when using it.

Soon, the day passed with teaching and studying the Flying Thunder God.

The next day, Tsukiyo didn't go to teach his disciples or the ninja academy in the morning. Instead, he arranged to meet Kushina.

Minato was currently the only ninja in Konoha who had mastered the Flying Thunder God, and his proficiency was high. Tsukiyo really wanted to consult Minato, but Minato was still on the battlefield and hadn't returned.

Tsukiyo figured that Kushina was so close to Minato that Minato might have tried to teach her the Flying Thunder God, so Kushina might know some Flying Thunder God techniques.

As usual, Tsukiyo arrived at the meeting place fifteen minutes early, but Kushina was even earlier. When Tsukiyo got there, he found Kushina already standing waiting for him.

"Good morning, Tsukiyo." Kushina waved her arm cheerfully and greeted Tsukiyo.

Although they hadn't seen each other for a while, Kushina didn't feel a sense of reunion after a long separation. She thought it might be because she ate the food Tsukiyo sent her every day.

"Mm, good morning." Tsukiyo smiled gently and walked up to respond.

As soon as Tsukiyo came over, Kushina couldn't wait to meet him and took the lunchbox he handed her.

"It's different from last time." Kushina opened it and found it was ordinary nerikiri.

"Eating the same snack all the time gets boring." Tsukiyo explained. This time it wasn't because he wanted to eat it—he genuinely wanted a change of flavor.

Kushina grinned and said, "If it's made by you, Tsukiyo, I feel like I wouldn't get tired of it no matter how long I eat it."

Saying that, Kushina picked up a dumpling and popped it into her mouth. As soon as she tasted it, her eyes lit up. Although it was a very common snack, Tsukiyo's version was many times more delicious than anything bought in the market.

Kushina ate all the way to the small pavilion where they had met before.

"Ahem." Kushina sat down, puffed out her chest, raised her head, and said seriously, "Even though your snacks are delicious, Tsukiyo, if your sealing technique practice doesn't meet my expectations, I won't go easy on you."

"Then I'll trouble you." Although Tsukiyo's main purpose in meeting Kushina was to ask about Flying Thunder God techniques, he was happy to learn some sealing techniques as well.

Without testing, he wouldn't know; upon testing, he was shocked. Kushina was very surprised by Tsukiyo's progress in sealing techniques. Whether it was the Five Elements Seal or the Four Symbols Seal, Tsukiyo used them very proficiently. He also answered all the difficult questions Kushina asked smoothly.

"Normally, people learn slower and slower as they go. How come with you, Tsukiyo, you learn faster and faster?" Kushina was a bit puzzled.

But she quickly figured it out. Kushina struck her right fist into her left palm and showed an enlightened expression: "Could this be what they call 'accumulating thickly to burst forth thinly'?"

Tsukiyo smiled faintly and said nothing.

He had just revealed most of his sealing technique level, so Kushina's shock was expected.

At this level of strength, there was no need to hide everything—revealing a bit more was actually more reasonable.

"As expected of someone I, Kushina, taught!" Kushina lifted her fair chin slightly, a proud smile on her face.

At that moment, she was very satisfied with her teaching ability. After all, she had only taught sealing techniques to two people: Minato and Tsukiyo. Even though Tsukiyo had studied for much less time, his sealing technique level was enough to surpass most ninjas in Konoha's sealing squad.

Kushina was very happy, so she taught Mu Yue several sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan.

Mu Yue quietly learned them, and only after Kushina finished teaching did he start discussing the Flying Thunder God with her.

"I'm currently learning the Flying Thunder God Technique, but I have no inspiration. If only Minato were in Konoha."

Mu Yue expressed his difficulties in training the Flying Thunder God.

"Ah, the Flying Thunder God Technique. This jutsu is indeed very hard to learn. Minato taught me before, but I couldn't learn it at all."

Remembering that time she learned Flying Thunder God, Kushina scratched her hair.

"But I think Minato is also partly responsible. When I asked him about the technique, he always said 'swish' and it's over, but he couldn't explain how that 'swish' works." Kushina complained.

Kushina's words made Mu Yue fall into deep thought. This was a bad sign. If it was really as Kushina said, then he might not be able to gain any Flying Thunder God experience from Kushina and Minato.

Mu Yue chatted with Kushina for a while, and finally concluded that on the matter of Flying Thunder God, he really couldn't get much help from Kushina.

Then Mu Yue turned the topic back to sealing techniques.

By noon, Mu Yue personally stir-fried a few hot dishes to reward Kushina, and then the two went home separately.

Although he didn't obtain the Flying Thunder God technique from Kushina, Mu Yue wasn't too disappointed. After all, Kushina couldn't use Flying Thunder God herself; he just went to try his luck, and moreover Kushina taught him new sealing techniques.

In the afternoon, Mu Yue went to the South Border Forest to teach his disciples their training.

Kakashi thought Mu Yue would teach him a new ability today, since Obito and the others had already learned theirs. But after waiting for a long time with no sign, Kakashi grew a bit anxious.

Whether it was the Great Snake Slash that Obito learned or the Golden Horizon that Might Guy learned, both looked very impressive. Especially the Golden Horizon — its power was truly massive.

Kakashi didn't have to wait long. Halfway through the afternoon training, Mu Yue called him to stop.

"Although you can now use Transparent World and have solved the reaction problem, you still need to learn the technique of using Lightning Release chakra to strengthen cells. You can strengthen other parts of the body." Mu Yue said.

After Thunder Breathing reaches the Constant stage, there are not only techniques for strengthening nerves but also for strengthening other parts, further enhancing the body's explosive power to increase the technique's power.

Good news: Mu Yue did teach him a new ability. Bad news: the new ability was not what he expected.

He had thought it would be a powerful ninjutsu or taijutsu like Obito and Might Guy's, but it turned out to be advanced training in Thunder Breathing.

Although it didn't match his expectations, Kakashi was still very serious when learning.

Because he knew this was probably the most suitable for him at present. If there were something more suitable, Mu Yue would definitely teach him, after all Mu Yue had directly taught him powerful secret techniques like Breathing Techniques and Armament Haki.

If Mu Yue knew what Kakashi was thinking, he would surely nod — indeed it was so.

In terms of Lightning Release ninjutsu, Kakashi already had Purple Lightning and False Darkness, two powerful Lightning Release techniques. He generally used Earth Release ninjutsu for support, and he had practiced a lot in that area.

With Kakashi's Thunder Breathing reaching Constant, and mastering Transparent World, plus those ninjutsu, actually Kakashi's arsenal was not small now.

Mu Yue believed that the most important thing for Kakashi now was to improve his physical abilities to increase his chakra and physical strength. Otherwise, with Kakashi's current chakra, after using Thunderclap Flash at full power and then Purple Lightning, he would basically be done for. In such a situation, no matter how many ninjutsu he had, it would be useless.

Once his chakra increased and he learned Armament Haki, even if he only used Thunder Breathing, Transparent World, and Armament Haki, his strength wouldn't be weak.

Because of the difference in the new abilities he learned, Kakashi studied even harder, hoping to break through in Breathing Techniques again soon.

Mu Yue had already explained the Breathing Techniques to them in detail. The Breathing Techniques could be divided into four stages, and he was currently at the beginning of the second stage.

When he reached the third stage, he could enter the Thunder Breathing Chakra Mode, and his strength would increase by a large margin.

After returning home in the evening, Mu Yue did not train the Flying Thunder God but instead first delved into sealing techniques.

The Yin Seal obtained from Tsunade was Mu Yue's main research target now.

This was a completely new challenge for Mu Yue, because he was not learning it, but rather researching how to break the Yin Seal and then develop a similar technique.

The Yin Seal was also a sealing technique of the Uzumaki system. Mu Yue, who was taught by Kushina, found the research relatively smooth, and felt it was much better than learning Flying Thunder God.

Because when learning Flying Thunder God he couldn't feel any progress, but researching the Yin Seal, though difficult, he could feel himself moving forward.

……

Root Organization Office.

Bang!

"Hiruzen is too conservative. At a time like this, he still wants to restrain the power of Root." Shimura Danzo, whose proposal had been rejected, grew angrier the more he thought about it and couldn't help slamming the table.

Due to the increasingly chaotic situation in the ninja world, Shimura Danzo repeatedly requested Sarutobi Hiruzen to expand Root's power, so as to gain more advantages for Konoha in the war. But all requests were rejected, only allowing replenishment of losses, not expansion, on the grounds that Konoha's situation was now very good and unnecessary.

This left Shimura Danzō at a loss for words. He believed that now that Konoha had the advantage, they should expand their victories and gain greater benefits from the war in order to solidify their position as the number one ninja village.

But Danzō really had no way around it, because not only was Sarutobi Hiruzen opposed, the two advisors also firmly sided with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Can I only develop power secretly outside?" Danzō frowned deeply.

He had two major methods for developing Root: one was illegally increasing Root members, and the other was secretly cultivating Root forces outside Konoha.

The former was temporarily impossible because Hiruzen had just reprimanded him, so only the latter remained.

But the latter was the most troublesome, because the ninja cultivated this way not only lacked Root enrollment, but also lacked Konoha ninja enrollment and couldn't receive pay from Konoha.

Although Danzō was a bit reluctant, there seemed to be no better option now. Since he couldn't expand, he could only replenish, and the war had even caused a decline in Root's overall strength, because the veterans lost were stronger than the new recruits.

The nearby Aburame Ryōma noticed Danzō's hesitation and spoke up: "Lord Danzō, without expanding, strengthening the existing personnel can also boost the organization's overall strength."

He was also one of Root's high-ranking members, second only to Danzō and Orochimaru, so he was aware of some of Root's current issues.

"Hanyū Muzuki is good at teaching, isn't he? We could let him try training the new team members." Aburame Ryōma offered his opinion.

"Hanyū Muzuki…" Danzō's eyes flickered as he fell into thought.

In fact, he didn't think Muzuki had that ability, because teaching at the ninja academy was different from teaching Root ninja; Root ninjas were at least elites among chūnin.

"Bring me Hanyū Muzuki's records since he entered the ninja academy," Danzō said after finishing his contemplation.

Kakashi and Obito had left a deep impression on Danzō during the chūnin exams, and Muzuki had also taught them. He just didn't know exactly how much of a role Muzuki had played, considering one was the son of the White Fang and the other was an Uchiha with awakened eyes.

Soon, a Root ninja brought all of Muzuki's teaching results since he entered the ninja academy, including both class performance and holiday training results.

Danzō compared Muzuki's results with those of other teachers and immediately understood why Sarutobi Hiruzen had poached Muzuki back then—even if he only remained teaching at the ninja academy, he was still a talent.

Danzō decided to give Muzuki a try. If it succeeded, he would save a lot of money; if it failed, there would be no loss.

With this in mind, Danzō picked up a scroll and began writing.

There will be another chapter later, but it will be quite late—suggest you wake up and read it tomorrow morning.