Chapter 361: Beating Root and Anbu Ninja

A few days passed, and it was the day for Muyue to conduct training for Root and the Anbu.

The training period lasted two and a half months total, and Muyue would just finish the training when the second semester of the Ninja Academy ended.

Before the training officially began, Muyue obtained some information on the members participating in the training.

However, since they were all Root and Anbu members after all, what Muyue could obtain was only some basic information.

Of course, this information was enough for Muyue; it was just a small training session of less than three months.

There were thirty ninja participating in the training, with a fifty-fifty split between Root and Anbu, fifteen spots each.

Shimura Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi said they were new recruits, but where would that many new recruits come from? These two departments usually only recruit a few per year; during wartime it's a bit more, but not too many.

Muyue guessed they had included some members who had joined Anbu or Root less than three years ago as new recruits and stuffed them into the team.

Before obtaining the materials, Muyue had guessed the number to be under fifteen.

This result was somewhat unexpected; although it was only thirty people, these were Anbu and Root members, all elites among ninja, and the stronger ones among them might not even be defeated by the current Kakashi or Obito.

Although it was unexpected, for Muyue this was a good thing.

From the perspective of system rewards, having more and better ninja made it easier to trigger good rewards; from a realistic perspective, this proved that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo valued him.

For the training ground, Muyue casually chose a relatively remote training ground with a forest, a river, and adjacent to a mountain.

Muyue arrived at the training ground a bit early, and the thirty ninja receiving training also arrived one by one before the start; no one was late.

The Root ninja and Anbu ninja split into two rows, standing voluntarily in front of Muyue.

"I am Hanyu Muyue, the person in charge of this training." Muyue first gave a brief self-introduction.

Now Muyue was somewhat famous in Konoha, but to prevent any unnecessary awkwardness, Muyue still did a self-introduction.

While speaking, Muyue kept scanning the ninja in front of him.

Possibly because training wasn't considered a mission, none of them wore masks, but wearing masks wouldn't hinder Muyue from using the Appraisal Technique anyway.

【Name: Tobita Kenji】

【Chakra: 8700】

【Skills: Lightning Nature Transformation (Proficient: 100/), Earth Nature Transformation (Skilled: 2600/3000), Lightning Release: Four Pillars Bind...】

【Name: Sarutobi Shinji】

【Chakra: 】

【Skills: Fire Nature Transformation (Proficient: 300/), Water Nature Transformation (Skilled: 1500/3000), Fire Release: Great Flame Technique...】

Among the fifteen Anbu members, the stronger ones already had proficient-level nature transformations, and their corresponding nature jutsu proficiency was not low.

Next, Muyue looked over the status panels of all the Root members.

【Name: Yamanaka Hiroshi】

【Chakra: 7200】

【Skills: Mind Body Switch Technique (Skilled: 2800/3000)...】

【Name: Yoneya Kohei】

【Chakra: 9800】

After looking over the panels of all the ninja, Muyue discovered that the Anbu ninja were overall slightly stronger than the Root ninja.

While Muyue was using Appraisal to look at the training ninja, they were also secretly sizing him up.

Some truly new recruits were fine, but those Anbu members who had already been in the Anbu for a year or two found it somewhat perplexing; Tobita Kenji was one of them.

He had heard of Muyue's reputation, knew that he was a powerful jonin who had once assisted Jiraiya on the battlefield in repelling a jinchuriki, but Tobita Kenji didn't think Muyue could help him improve his strength in such a short time.

He looked at Muyue's face and guessed his age was about the same as his own, around nineteen.

Tobita Kenji simply couldn't imagine how a person of the same age could help him improve his strength within two and a half months.

Most of the jonin among the thirty trainees shared Tobita Kenji's thoughts, and some even felt that this training was just a formality to let Muyue gain experience for a promotion.

But after all, they were Anbu and Root ninja; even if they were unimpressed in their hearts, they wouldn't show it, let alone discuss it openly.

【】

In the ninja world, strength speaks, and Muyue, being strong and valued by the Hokage, naturally wouldn't ask for trouble.

"To conduct better training going forward, I need to understand your abilities. All of you can attack me now, using the ninjutsu you're best at," Muyue said with a faint smile.

He had roughly guessed the thoughts of some of the ninjas, so he prepared to establish his authority first.

Even in the world of Hokage, seniority matters. Muyue's youth was a point that easily made people underestimate him.

Of course, another reason was that Muyue didn't have particularly outstanding feats. The most widely known was repelling the jinchuriki together with Jiraiya, but that was ultimately playing support, which lacked impact.

If Muyue spread the story of him single-handedly defeating the new AB combo, no one would underestimate him. In the ninja world, sufficient strength can ignore seniority. If one had the strength of Hashirama Senju, even if they didn't want to become Hokage, they might be pushed into the position.

"All of us together?" Tobita Kenji couldn't help asking. He felt either he had misheard or Muyue had lost his mind.

What did it mean for all thirty of them to attack together?

Tobita Kenji didn't know the situation on the Root side, but among their fifteen Anbu members, there were three jōnin, two special jōnin, and the rest were elite chūnin. Such a team was enough to carry out extremely important S-rank missions.

Yamanaka Hiro looked at Muyue with shock. On their Root side, there were two jōnin, two special jōnin, and the rest were elite chūnin.

"There are at least eight ninjas above chūnin level on the field, and the rest are not ordinary chūnin. Where does he get the confidence?" Yamanaka Hiro was extremely puzzled.

He didn't know the situation on the Anbu side, but normally Anbu would only be stronger than Root. Their thirty people acting together were stronger than many ninja organizations in the ninja world.

"Testing one by one is too troublesome, so all of you come at once," Muyue replied with a warm smile.

At this moment, Muyue had already activated his Byakugan. He noticed ninjas silently watching from the shadows.

This was within Muyue's expectations. Part of the reason he wanted to fight thirty at once was to refresh his strength and methods before Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, making his genius persona more complete.

Hearing Muyue's reply, the thirty ninjas on the field looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't expected such a dramatic start on the first day.

"Just go all out. Those who perform well, I will report to the Third Hokage and Advisor Danzo," Muyue continued, seeing that no one had made a move.

Yamanaka Hiro exchanged glances with a few of his teammates from Root and then nodded.

Swish swish swish!!

Three Root ninjas quickly flashed to three different positions and threw several shuriken at Muyue.

They weren't naive enough to think ordinary shuriken could defeat Muyue. The shuriken were just to seal off positions; the real killing move was ninjutsu.

"Mind Transfer Clone Technique!" Yamanaka Hiro immediately used his family's secret technique.

Although his teammates helped seal the positions, to be safe, Yamanaka Hiro used the more flexible Mind Transfer Clone Technique that could turn, rather than the linear Mind Transfer Technique.

Under the cover of numerous shuriken, Yamanaka Hiro's spirit rapidly shot toward Muyue.

Whoosh!

"Not a bad idea, but trying to hold me back with just shuriken is a bit naive."

Muyue still wore a gentle smile, then directly vanished from the spot in Yamanaka Hiro's astonished gaze.

Yamanaka Hiro's eyes darted rapidly, frantically searching for Muyue's position.

"Such speed! I can't see him at all." Yamanaka Hiro realized he had lost sight of Muyue.

"Damn!"

Then Yamanaka Hiro immediately thought of something, his expression turning ugly, and wanted to retract the spirit he had shot out, but it was already too late.

Bang!

Muyue, having flashed behind Yamanaka Hiro, directly kicked him, sending him flying backward.

Boom!!

Since the opponent was a jōnin, Muyue used a bit of force. Yamanaka Hiro crashed through six large trees before stopping.

—Silence

At that moment, the training ground was extremely quiet. No one spoke; all stared at Muyue with solemn expressions.

Defeating Yamanaka Hiro was actually nothing special, after all, he wasn't a famous powerful jōnin. What surprised them was the method and speed at which Muyue defeated him.

Actually, there were some Root and Anbu ninjas who had wanted to attack while Yamanaka Hiro was using his secret technique, but none of them could react to Muyue's speed. By the time they came to their senses, Yamanaka Hiro was already sent flying.

"He not only has extraordinary talent in ninjutsu, his taijutsu is also good." Hiruzen Sarutobi, watching from the Hokage's office using his crystal ball, nodded.

Muyue's Body Flicker Technique earlier was indeed dazzling enough; it was normal for the Anbu ninjas not to react in time—not because they were weak, but because Muyue was too fast.

"But how will you deal with this next?" Sarutobi Hiruzen put his pipe into his mouth, blowing out clouds of smoke, somewhat curious about the upcoming battle.

Since no order had been given by the higher-ups, at the start the Anbu and Root members naturally wouldn't all attack together.

But it was different now; Muyue had defeated Yamanaka Hiro with unstoppable momentum, making the ninjas on the field realize his terrifying strength. From now on, they would certainly go all out—after all, this was Muyue's own request.

Muyue's strength was indeed formidable, but the thirty ninjas on the field were no ordinary ninjas either. One versus thirty was completely different from a one-on-one fight.

"Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Secret Technique: Insect Sphere!"

The remaining twenty-nine ninjas each used their signature ninjutsu to launch an attack on Muyue; some even used combination ninjutsu with teammates.

In a short time, an overwhelming barrage of various attacks surged toward Muyue.

These ninjas were indeed worthy of being Anbu and Root members. Although they had never fought together before, their coordination was not chaotic, and there was no issue of their own Fire Release and Water Release canceling each other out.

Muyue calmly split off two Shadow Clones and began forming hand seals.

Hida Kenji, who had been watching Muyue intently, wanting to use Lightning Release to interfere with his dodging, was puzzled.

"Does he intend to block so many ninjutsu with his own power alone?" A bold and terrifying guess formed in Hida Kenji's mind.

Hida Kenji could only describe it as terrifying, knowing full well that these were ninjutsu unleashed by many Anbu and Root ninjas, including several Jonin.

If Muyue really could use ninjutsu to directly clash with that many people, it would only mean that Muyue's strength had a qualitative difference from that of ordinary Jonin.

There were gaps between Jonin as well; no ordinary Jonin thought they could compare to Orochimaru, Jiraiya, or Tsunade.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Muyue's main body finished forming hand seals first. A large amount of chakra transformed into fire-natured chakra in an instant, then, after being expelled, immediately formed a vast area of high-temperature flames.

The flames, raging like a violent dragon, incinerated everything combustible around them as soon as they appeared, causing the surrounding temperature to rise.

The ninjas who were a bit closer couldn't help but take a few steps back. Compared to Muyue's Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, the one Obito had used during the Chunin Exams was child's play—Muyue's was far stronger in terms of firepower, range, and temperature.

Even though Sarutobi Hiruzen was not on site, the scene he observed through the Telescope Technique still conveyed the ferocity of Muyue's Fire Release.

"Fire Release must be his specialty Release," Sarutobi Hiruzen thought to himself.

Even if Sarutobi Hiruzen himself, at the same age, used Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, he wouldn't dare to guarantee he could do it better than Muyue.

"Wind Release: Air Current!"

Then Muyue's Shadow Clone's Wind Release also completed.

An extremely fierce gale erupted from the Shadow Clone's mouth, instantly whipping up a fierce wind on the field, sending rocks, soil, and leaves flying.

The already ferocious Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, amplified by such terrifying wind power, immediately expanded rapidly. A large expanse of grass and tall trees was engulfed by the flames, as if turning the entire training ground into a hell.

"To actually be able to unleash a combination ninjutsu of this scale!" Sarutobi Shinji's eyes widened in disbelief.

He had only seen such a terrifyingly powerful combination ninjutsu from one person—the former Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Boom!!

A huge explosion sounded. The ground seemed to crack under the impact of such immense energy. For a moment, smoke of various colors spread across the training ground—black smoke from burning and yellow smoke from blasted earth.

The ninjas on the field all retreated backward to avoid being caught in this powerful collision.

The Destruction Bugs charging toward Muyue turned into black ash first; the Earth Release attacks were also burned to slag by Muyue's terrifying high-temperature flames; even the Fire Release of the same nature was crushed by this dreadful fire. For a moment, the combination ninjutsu used solely by Muyue overwhelmed the combined ninjutsu of the Anbu and Root ninjas, forcing them to retreat and dodge.

When the smoke gradually cleared, the training ground was left in utter devastation. Large craters and charred earth spoke volumes about the terrifying power of the ninjutsu just unleashed.

"It seems he split off two Shadow Clones just now," Sarutobi Shinji suddenly noticed something.

Muyue had created two Shadow Clones in total, but only one was using Wind Release ninjutsu to cooperate with the main body in blocking the incoming attacks.

I was a bit busy today, so I'm a little late.