Chapter 362: Muyue, the Strongest of the Young Generation?

"Ice Release: 'Ice Swan Beak'!"

Just as Sarutobi Shinji's internal alarm bells were ringing, a massive ice bird suddenly burst out from the smoke that had not yet fully dispersed.

The ice bird carried immense impact force and exuded freezing cold air. Some shinobi, unable to dodge in time, tried to form hand seals and counter with taijutsu, but were knocked away and frozen into blocks of ice.

Caught off guard, five shinobi were frozen by the ice bird.

Those not frozen breathed a sigh of relief, having barely managed to charge out of the ice bird's path the moment the flames vanished—it was truly unexpected.

"He actually has the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai!" Sarutobi Shinji stared in shock at the frozen shinobi.

Although he had never personally witnessed an Ice Release shinobi using Ice Release jutsu, the effects of this technique were unmistakably the Kekkei Genkai Ice Release.

Sarutobi Shinji was deeply puzzled. Logically, Muyue was no unknown figure—a distinct Kekkei Genkai like this should be easy to recognize, yet he had no recollection of it whatsoever.

Sarutobi Shinji had to admire Muyue's ability to conceal his own information; even his own village's shinobi didn't know, let alone Muyue's enemies.

"To be able to use such Ice Release jutsu right after just fusing Ice Release into himself." Sarutobi Hiruzen, watching through the crystal ball, acknowledged Muyue's Ice Release technique.

Muyue had only fused Ice Release in the Land of Snow, and to reach this level in such a short time fully demonstrated his talent in ninjutsu.

The other shinobi also looked at Muyue with expressions of shock—this sudden Ice Release had truly caught them off guard.

But soon they had no leisure to ponder such things, as Muyue launched a new round of attacks.

Swoosh!

Muyue's main body flashed behind a Root shinobi and then delivered a lightning-fast spinning kick.

The Root shinobi only felt a blur before his eyes, and then the world around him began to spin wildly.

"Ice Release: Freeze Ray!"

At that moment, a shadow clone raised its hand and fired a beam of icy cold light, freezing the kicked shinobi solid.

In an instant, the trainees' side lost another shinobi.

"So strong... we're not even on the same level." Hida Kenji wiped cold sweat from his forehead as he watched Muyue rampaging through the crowd.

Muyue was alone, yet he was overwhelming all thirty of their elite shinobi.

Hida Kenji took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Although Muyue was their upcoming training instructor, having so many Root and ANBU shinobi fail to cause even a bit of trouble for him was too embarrassing.

They didn't need to defeat Muyue, but at least make him look a bit disheveled—not have him beat all of them without even dirtying his clothes.

The other ANBU and Root shinobi felt similarly. Under the immense pressure Muyue exerted, their cooperation became more coordinated.

Soon, thanks to the efforts of more than twenty elite shinobi on the field, they successfully dispersed two of Muyue's shadow clones.

Of course, Muyue had allowed that to happen.

If his shadow clones could easily trounce the ANBU and Root, it would make him appear too overwhelmingly strong, which did not align with his expectations.

"Secret Technique: Insect Vortex!"

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"

The shinobi all struck out, attempting to pin Muyue in place.

And at that moment, Hida Kenji also brought out his signature jutsu.

"Lightning Release: Four-Pillar Bind!"

As Hida Kenji rapidly formed hand seals, four massive stone pillars suddenly erupted around Muyue, and a dazzling electric net connected them, forming a cage.

"Earth Release: Clay Rain!"

Then another shinobi performed an Earth Release jutsu, summoning a large amount of clay from above the cage to pour down over it, aiming to seal Muyue.

But they still underestimated Muyue's taijutsu prowess.

"Golden Horizon!"

Muyue extended two fingers of his right hand, concentrated his Rock Breathing, and entered the state of the Transparent World.

Then he placed his right hand behind his waist, slightly bent his left leg, burst out chakra, and charged forward, slashing at the lightning pillar ahead.

Boom!

A flash of golden light passed, and a black line instantly appeared on the thick stone pillars. As Mu Yue took a step forward, the two thick stone pillars in front of him collapsed with a roar, and the electric grid directly disappeared.

Thus, Mu Yue openly walked straight out of the Lightning Release cage. The moment he walked out, a massive amount of clay surged down, becoming the backdrop for Mu Yue.

"Impossible! He actually destroyed my Four Pillar Bind with pure taijutsu!" Feitian Xianji revealed an unprecedented expression of shock.

His Lightning Release: Four Pillar Bind was a barrier technique that combined Earth Release, its characteristic being toughness—even ninjutsu could hardly break it—yet Mu Yue relied on taijutsu to get out from the hardest interior.

This directly challenged Feitian Xianji's worldview as a ninja.

"Unseen taijutsu—could it be that Mu Yue developed it himself? If Mu Yue continues to grow, he might be able to rival the Raikage's Hell Stab." Seeing the terrifying power of the Golden Horizon Line, even Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

He basically knew all of Konoha's ninjutsu, and the Lightning Release: Four Pillar Bind, which wasn't particularly special, naturally was among them, so he was very clear about this technique's characteristics.

Although its power wasn't as great as the Wind Release and Fire Release combination technique Mu Yue used at the start, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that Mu Yue's Golden Horizon Line was far more dangerous.

If this were on the battlefield, and Root and Anbu were enemies with Mu Yue, a direct use of the Golden Horizon Line at the start of the battle would definitely instantly kill most of the ninjas.

Watching Mu Yue, whose power grew more and more terrifying, some ninjas couldn't help feeling confused—clearly they had given their all, but they just couldn't have any effect on Mu Yue.

After demonstrating enough, Mu Yue began to act with the goal of defeating them, swiftly defeating the Anbu and Root ninjas.

Their genjutsu had no effect on Mu Yue, their combined ninjutsu couldn't match the ninjutsu Mu Yue released, and their taijutsu was completely crushed by Mu Yue. Once Mu Yue got serious, soon there were no ninjas left standing on the field.

Since they were all injured, Mu Yue didn't require them to stand; all thirty ninjas sat together.

Some ninjas lowered their heads in embarrassment. The Anbu and Root were elite ninjas of Konoha, yet as elites, thirty of them fighting together were easily defeated by Mu Yue alone.

Mu Yue separated a Shadow Clone to treat the ninjas. Although he had controlled his strength, it was still a battle, so injuries were inevitable. To avoid affecting later training, he treated them immediately.

"I roughly understand your strength. You are indeed a bit more outstanding than ninjas of the same age, but if we're talking about as Anbu members, there are still shortcomings." Mu Yue said while treating them.

"First of all, what you should least do is underestimate the enemy. Clearly, I already told you to go all out, yet you didn't immediately attack me."

Feitian Xianji looked a bit embarrassed. He really felt this wasn't their problem—who could have imagined that Mu Yue, at nineteen years old, already had such terrifying strength.

After all, Mu Yue's most outstanding achievement was only assisting Jiraiya in repelling a Jinchūriki, but that Konoha News report didn't show that Mu Yue had this kind of strength at all.

Although he had never seen Namikaze Minato in action, Feitian Xianji felt that Mu Yue's strength should be comparable to Namikaze Minato, who currently had the greatest reputation among Konoha's younger generation.

Compared to Mu Yue, Namikaze Minato had many more accomplishments. The most outstanding among them was on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water, where he single-handedly fought to a standstill with the new AB Combination, instantly making Namikaze Minato famous and spreading his name across the ninja world.

Killer B wasn't much yet, but the Fourth Raikage was a recognized powerhouse in the ninja world. Many famous strong ninjas had died at the Fourth Raikage's hands, building his reputation.

Feitian Xianji did a conversion and comparison and felt that Mu Yue was even more terrifying. In ten years, if nothing unexpected happened, Mu Yue would be a ninja on the level of the Sannin.

Mu Yue pointed out all the problems the ninjas had in battle one by one, precise to each individual ninja.

"He still had the energy to note these things during battle." Sarutobi Shinji instantly felt that Mu Yue was even more unfathomable.

After this battle, the thirty ninjas were all extremely convinced by Mu Yue. Simultaneously incredibly powerful and an excellent teacher, such a good instructor was hard to find.

On the first day, Mu Yue didn't formally start teaching, only expanded on the opening battle and talked about it a bit.

On one hand, the ninjas were injured and needed to recover, unsuitable for strenuous exercise; on the other hand, the previous steps had consumed a lot of time. Mu Yue figured he wouldn't be able to trigger the lecture reward, so he simply left it for the next day.

With Mu Yue's treatment, and since they were all Root and Anbu members with no weak strength, one day of rest was just right.

Shimura Danzo didn't know the Telescope Technique, so he directly ordered the Root members receiving instruction to report to him afterward.

Hearing that Mu Yue, using a combination technique with just a Shadow Clone, had blocked the attacks of thirty Root and Anbu ninjas, a look of surprise flashed across Danzo's face.

He knew that Mu Yue's ninjutsu was not weak in power, because he had happened to see it before at Sarutobi Hiruzen's house, but an open-field demonstration was ultimately not as convincing as actual combat.

A single ninja killing thirty ninjas and a single ninja overpowering thirty ninjutsu with one ninjutsu were not the same concept, not to mention that these thirty ninjas were all Root and Anbu members.

"Hiruzen, you do think highly of him." Shimura Danzo immediately assumed this was the result of Sarutobi Hiruzen's teaching.

When Mu Yue was with him, he didn't know any combination ninjutsu, and when he last went to Sarutobi Hiruzen's house, Hiruzen was indeed teaching Mu Yue.

Mu Yue now not only proficiently mastered the five chakra nature transformation ninjutsu but also combination ninjutsu. Shimura Danzo felt as if he was seeing a younger Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Too bad, no matter how hard you try, Hanyu Mu Yue is still a member of my Root." Shimura Danzo couldn't help the smile appearing on his face.

Whenever he thought about how Sarutobi Hiruzen, on one hand, restrained Root's development, and on the other hand, unintentionally helped improve Root's strength, he felt incomparable pleasure.

"He even used the Kekkei Genkai Ice Release!" Hearing that Mu Yue had Ice Release, Shimura Danzo was even more surprised.

As far as he knew, neither Mu Yue's parents nor his grandparents had a Kekkei Genkai, so how did Ice Release suddenly pop up with Mu Yue?

Shimura Danzo felt a flicker of doubt but didn't develop any real suspicion, because Mu Yue was indeed a pure-blooded Konoha native—both parents were Konoha ninja who died in the war, and Mu Yue had always acted normally.

If Mu Yue were an orphan who drifted into Konoha from outside, Danzo might suspect him of being a spy sent by Kirigakure. As for whether sending such a talented spy would be absurd, Danzo didn't care; an investigation would reveal the truth.

"An ancestor who once had the Ice Style? Or maybe he luckily awakened it himself?" Danzo made a simple guess and let the matter go.

A Kekkei Genkai was rare, but it depended on which one. The Ice Style's strength was so-so, nowhere near the Byakugan.

In Danzo's eyes, even the Byakugan wasn't that impressive. The Byakugan had high strategic value, but its combat enhancement didn't compare to the Sharingan. In Danzo's heart, the strongest Kekkei Genkai was the Wood Style; he believed the Wood Style was invincible in the world.

Having an unripe Wood Style user in his hands was Danzo's pride. He believed that once this Wood Style ninja was fully trained, he could clear all obstacles for Konoha.

After the Root ninja finished their report, Danzo briefly estimated Mu Yue's strength in his mind.

"In a one-on-one fight, he might not defeat Minato Namikaze, but he has a more versatile set of skills. He's probably about as strong as Hiruzen was at the same age."

Although Mu Yue had gained the Ice Style and his taijutsu was formidable, Hiruzen Sarutobi's combination jutsu was stronger and he had an excellent summoning beast. Danzo figured Mu Yue's strength was roughly equal to Hiruzen Sarutobi's at the same age.

This naturally stirred some pleasant fantasies in Danzo: a Wood Style ninja and Mu Yue, who was almost as talented as Hiruzen. Once both of them fully matured, could he perhaps contend for that position again?

The next day, in the same training ground, Mu Yue shifted his position a little because much of the area had been damaged by yesterday's battle.

Same training, same group of people, but the atmosphere was different from the first day. The thirty ninjas were very eager to see how Mu Yue would help them improve.

"Speed is very important in battle. Greater speed lets you dodge more attacks and also gives you the initiative in combat."

"Today I'll teach you a Body Flicker Technique. I developed this technique myself. It puts a lot of strain on the legs, but it's faster." Mu Yue began his lecture.

After all, they were elite Konoha ninja, so he had to offer something substantial. After careful consideration, Mu Yue decided to teach a weakened and modified version of the Shave technique.

The core of Shave lies in the chakra burst technique that can be stacked. After Mu Yue's modification, the burst output decreased, and the stacking limit was drastically reduced.

Of course, even this weakened Shave was much faster than ordinary Body Flicker Techniques. It was still an excellent technique; Mu Yue had mainly controlled its upper limit.

Having said that, Mu Yue demonstrated the speed of Shave.

The ninjas felt a strong sense of déjà vu—this was exactly how Mu Yue had flashed around and beaten them up yesterday.

This exceeded the ninjas' expectations. They hadn't thought Mu Yue would directly teach his self-developed Body Flicker Technique; they had expected more tactical instruction.

PS: The temperature has dropped these days, everyone take care. The author has already taken a hit—before posting this chapter, he was still battling it out in the bathroom…

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