Chapter 360: On the Importance of Acting for Ninjas

Shimura Danzo was very diligent when it came to matters related to the development of the Root organization.

Although Mu Yue's reply had already reached him by evening, Shimura Danzo still read through the response immediately, leading by example as the chief who worked overtime.

Seeing the opening content, Shimura Danzo nodded, thinking to himself that the Root members he had trained since childhood were indeed reliable.

Even though Mu Yue had now left Root and was already the vice principal of the Ninja Academy, having also earned some merits on the battlefield, it was still clear from Mu Yue's reply that he remained a subordinate who deeply respected him.

When Shimura Danzo saw that Mu Yue was worried that secretly training Root would lead to Sarutobi Hiruzen blaming him, he couldn't help but show an annoyed expression.

Shimura Danzo was not annoyed at Mu Yue; he was annoyed at Sarutobi Hiruzen, because all of his recent proposals had been rejected by Sarutobi Hiruzen, and based on his understanding of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mu Yue's concern was correct.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not want Root to grow stronger, and he had secretly recalled Mu Yue, who had already left Root, back for training—this was certainly something Sarutobi Hiruzen would not want to see.

Shimura Danzo wanted to keep this matter hidden, because he knew that negotiating with Sarutobi Hiruzen would inevitably lead to some unforeseen complications.

But he knew it would be difficult to hide this from Sarutobi Hiruzen's Anbu, because Mu Yue still had work at the Ninja Academy; he had to go teach there, and coming to Root for training could only be done at night. Going back and forth every day like this would easily be discovered.

"I have no choice but to talk to Hiruzen." After weighing the pros and cons, Shimura Danzo found that consulting Sarutobi Hiruzen was the best option.

Doing it secretly would likely be discovered, and if discovered, Mu Yue, this hidden piece, would be wasted, and he himself might be punished by Sarutobi Hiruzen for violating the rules, giving him an excuse to further weaken Root.

Shimura Danzo had high hopes for Mu Yue's future, believing that if Mu Yue continued to develop like this, he could become a solid support for him. It would be a pity if it were exposed because of such a matter.

The next morning, Shimura Danzo walked into the Hokage building and headed straight for the Hokage's office.

Shimura Danzo did not knock; he pushed the door open and walked in directly.

"You look in a hurry. Is there something urgent?" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up, saw it was Shimura Danzo, put down the documents in his hand, and asked.

Recently, he had reprimanded Shimura Danzo many times, so he didn't bother mentioning the issue of Shimura Danzo not knocking.

After all, Shimura Danzo was his old classmate and the Hokage's assistant; occasionally knocking was enough, but it couldn't be done every day—he had to give some face.

"You know, Root has lost many excellent members in order for Konoha to gain more advantages on the battlefield." Shimura Danzo did not immediately state his purpose but first played the victim.

Sarutobi Hiruzen said nothing, put his pipe in his mouth, took a deep drag, and exhaled a puff of white smoke, saying:

"Haven't you already replenished it with fresh blood?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that Shimura Danzo wasn't lying, just exaggerating the facts a bit, but he would not agree to the expansion of Root.

Root had developed to its current strength, almost becoming a second Anbu. If not for its leader being Shimura Danzo, Sarutobi Hiruzen would not tolerate such an organization existing in Konoha.

After all, the Anbu was directly under the Hokage, but Root was not.

"New people have been added, but they cannot compare to those excellent Root members who died, causing Root's strength to decline and affecting various aspects of work." Shimura Danzo stared into Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes and said in a deep voice.

Shimura Danzo's gaze seemed to say that Root had bled and been wounded for Konoha; couldn't Sarutobi Hiruzen be more lenient toward Root?

Sarutobi Hiruzen said nothing, just silently stared back at Shimura Danzo.

He had already given enough convenience to Danzo and Root; he didn't think he owed anything.

"I need Habu Mu Yue to help train the new Root members. Root currently needs someone with his excellent teaching abilities." Shimura Danzo clenched his fist, his face cold, and spoke slowly, as if this was his final bottom line.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not reply immediately. He took the pipe down, tapped the table with his finger, and showed a thoughtful expression.

Directly letting Mu Yue return to Root was impossible; with Mu Yue's strength, returning to Root would be a great enhancement.

Sarutobi Hiruzen thought for a moment and then spoke: "Letting Mu Yue train Root members is acceptable, but it can only be for a short period, and it must be done together with the Anbu."

"Recently, the Anbu has also added some new members. Since we're training, we'll do it together."

Sarutobi Hiruzen also wanted to see if Mu Yue could still demonstrate the same teaching ability he had at the Ninja Academy when instructing already grown ninjas.

Shimura Danzo was about to say something, but was directly interrupted by Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Danzo, don't forget the original positioning of Root."

Shimura Danzo instantly fell silent, because the justification he used to establish Root was precisely to train Anbu ninjas.

Then the two discussed the specific arrangements for the training. Shimura Danzo kept a cold face throughout, as if Sarutobi Hiruzen owed him thirty million ryo.

It was only after walking out of the Hokage building that Shimura Danzo's expression returned to normal.

As the leader of Root, Shimura Danzo was quite confident in his acting skills. Most of the time in the Hokage's office just now, he was acting, with the aim of making Sarutobi Hiruzen think he had suffered a loss.

Although there was a small hiccup along the way, Shimura Danzo had essentially achieved his fundamental goal. He felt it wasn't a loss this time.

Actually, Shimura Danzo knew the reason why Sarutobi Hiruzen rejected his proposal.

But Shimura Danzo believed the fault lay not with him but with Sarutobi Hiruzen. He, Shimura Danzo, was wholly devoted to Konoha; if Root grew a bit stronger, it would only benefit Konoha. Sarutobi Hiruzen should have given him more trust.

Considering that Muyue had classes all day, Sarutobi Hiruzen went to see Muyue after the Ninja Academy had let out for the day.

Knock, knock!

Soon, the wooden door of the Hokage's office was knocked on.

"Enter." Sarutobi Hiruzen took a sip of hot tea and said.

Muyue, standing outside the door, immediately pushed it open, walked in, and greeted Sarutobi Hiruzen with a respectful expression.

Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled and nodded in response.

"Anbu and Root have gained some fresh blood. I want you to conduct special training for them to raise their strength. At the Ninja Academy, I'll arrange for other teachers to cover your classes." Sarutobi Hiruzen cut straight to the point without wasting words.

Muyue put on a surprised expression and then said, "Anbu and Root are gathering places for elites. I'm afraid I can't teach them much."

"No need to be modest, Muyue. Your teaching ability is clear to everyone. Just go ahead and teach them." Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a look of trust.

"Thank you for your trust, Lord Third Hokage. I will do my utmost to help them improve their strength." Muyue said with gratitude.

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled and stroked his small mustache. This was the art of language — even though he was just assigning a mission, he still earned Muyue's gratitude.

Next, Sarutobi Hiruzen also discussed the training of Asuma with Muyue. Since it was already past work hours, after their talk, Sarutobi Hiruzen walked out of the Hokage building together with Muyue.

"Anbu and Root together..." On the way home, Muyue was thinking about the new mission Sarutobi Hiruzen had just given him.

This was somewhat different from what Shimura Danzo had anticipated; it was clearly a result of mutual compromise.

However, this was a good thing for Muyue, because his system was such that the more people he taught and the higher their quality, the easier it was to trigger better rewards.

If it were only some new members of Root, Muyue would have worried about not meeting the conditions, but with both organizations combined, that concern was unnecessary.

After returning home, Muyue began to think about the content of the special training. This was not the same as the Ninja Academy holiday special training. Those who could enter Anbu or Root were at least elites among chunin, or even jonin.

The caliber of Konoha's jonin was very high. If someone was too specialized, even if their strength was sufficient, they might end up as only a tokubetsu jonin.

This was an opportunity for Muyue to prove his teaching ability. If Muyue taught well, then his value as a teacher would be further amplified, and he would be more heavily relied upon. This would make Muyue's future actions a bit more convenient.

If there were to be major reforms at the Ninja Academy, if Muyue didn't have some outstanding achievements to his name, Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't be comfortable letting him make changes.

The results of the two Ninja Academy holiday special training sessions he led were outstanding, but when it came to a resume, the better it looked, the better.

However, Muyue didn't take this too seriously. With his current knowledge of ninja skills, plus his Teaching skill, simply helping people improve their strength wasn't very difficult.

For Muyue now, the two most important things were developing the power bank and learning the Flying Raijin.

The backup chakra could alleviate his chakra recovery speed problem to a certain extent. When it was used up, he could directly take from the backup, without needing to refine it again.

The Flying Raijin could give him the ability to instantly teleport over long distances, which would come in handy in many situations. It was very convenient.

Muyue spent twenty minutes writing an outline and then focused his energy on studying sealing techniques.

After Muyue had studied sealing techniques for two hours, Minato came to Muyue's house to discuss ninjutsu with him. Muyue learned the Flying Raijin from Minato, and Minato listened to Muyue talk about the development of the Rasengan. Minato didn't go home until it was almost time to sleep.

After Minato left, Muyue did a bit of research on the Breathing Method before going to sleep. Before sleeping, Muyue checked the Life Mission progress of his various disciples.

The rewards of the Life Mission were very generous. If any disciple's progress was close to a settlement point, Muyue would help them speed up the progress, just like that time with Obito.

Muyue looked through all his disciples' Life Missions. Currently, Obito had the highest progress; it had already been settled once.

Next was Might Guy. Muyue discovered that Guy's mission progress had actually reached 9.4 percent, needing only the final 0.6 percent to trigger a settlement.

Third was Shisui. Although he was third, his progress was very low, completely incomparable to Obito and Might Guy.

Last place was Kakashi, the only one at zero. But Kakashi's mission was a bit special; Muyue couldn't say for sure who would settle first between him and Shisui.

"If he can open the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates under normal conditions, then raising it by 0.6 should be no problem," Muyue thought to himself.

Based on the growth of the Life Mission over different periods, Muyue determined the key factors for Might Guy's Life Mission improvement — strength and fame.

Improving strength increased progress, and increasing fame also increased progress. For example, in the third round of the Chunin Exams, because there were many spectators and Might Guy performed well, after the fight, his Life Mission progress increased a bit.

However, according to Muyue's records, progress from improving strength was generally much greater than from increasing fame.

If it were only a gap of 0.1 or 0.2, Muyue would probably send Might Guy out to do some flashy missions. Maybe after finishing the missions, it would be done.

At 0.6, Mu Yue felt that Might Gai would be able to open the Fourth Gate faster through training—Might Gai was already not far from the Fourth Gate.

The next day, Mu Yue communicated with Teacher Chen and temporarily had Might Gai leave the team for special training.

However, Mu Yue always treated his disciples impartially; he wouldn't put pressure on Might Gai alone.

"Everyone might have to work hard for a while. The upcoming training will be a bit tough." Mu Yue said to his disciples with a warm smile.

"Youth is all about more training!" Might Gai laughed heartily, giving a thumbs up.

The tougher the training, the more excited Might Gai became—these were all stepping stones on his path to becoming the strongest.

Hearing Mu Yue's words, Obito's face turned pale, feeling that things were very bad.

Mu Yue rarely mentioned the difficulty of training; when he did, it meant it was really hard—like the Breathing Technique Constant State Training from a while back.

Constant State Training was the most terrifying training Obito had ever experienced. It was the first time he could actually fall asleep standing up. Being exhausted was bad enough, but on top of that he had to do problem sets—this caused Obito deep suffering.

Kakashi's expression grew somewhat serious; he too recalled the earlier Breathing Technique Constant State Training.

Shisui's expression remained unchanged; tough training usually meant big gains, which represented an opportunity to overtake on the curve.

Shizune sensed that the atmosphere was a bit different, but she didn't really understand. Mu Yue hadn't said anything special—just that it would be a little difficult.

As if sensing Shizune's thoughts, Obito looked at her with a pitying gaze.

"Such an innocent child. She has no idea what she's about to face," Obito remarked.

Slap!

Mu Yue's finger precisely tapped Obito's forehead.

After a simple punishment for Obito's clowning, Mu Yue quickly began arranging the training programs.

This special training was mainly targeted training according to each disciple's unique characteristics.

Might Gai had to open the Fourth Gate, Kakashi had to fully master the Transparent World, Obito was on the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode...

Mu Yue's idea was to have his disciples transform their foundation into combat power as quickly as possible to increase their fighting strength.

Although Shizune was an exchange student, she was still somewhat of a half-disciple, so Mu Yue gave her a token gesture.

At the start, Shizune was puzzled but smiling; after training began, she found herself missing the days she studied under Tsunade.

Even though Tsunade often made her do chores, Shizune felt that compared to training, doing chores all day wasn't really that tiring.

"Has Lin been through this all along? No wonder she became so strong." The image of Nohara Rin in Shizune's heart became more vivid.

"I must not give up. Lady Tsunade will be very surprised when she checks my training progress." Shizune tried every way to find motivation for her training.