Chapter 367: Completed Breathing Technique

The Land of Water.

Hidden Mist Village, Mizukage Building conference room.

"According to the latest intelligence, Konoha repelled Cloud in the Land of Hot Water, forcing the Cloud forces to return to defend their homeland," the captain of the Mist Jonin Squad said.

"Stone and Konoha clashed again in the Land of Grass, and once again Konoha holds the advantage."

"The war between Cloud and Sand..."

The captain of the Mist Jonin Squad unhurriedly read out the latest war intelligence from the continent one by one.

"Konoha gains the advantage again. Despite facing attacks from two major ninja villages simultaneously, they still win repeatedly. Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, why is Konoha so much stronger than Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud? Is Konoha too strong, or are Stone and Cloud too weak?" a grim-looking middle-aged ninja said with a frown.

Because of the ocean barrier, the Land of Water rarely involves itself in continental affairs, as traveling there is troublesome.

With the development of productivity and changes of the times, this situation gradually changed.

"Although Konoha keeps winning, this does not mean Konoha has the capability to fight two villages at once. After all, Cloud and Stone haven't thrown all their strength into the fight against Konoha, so there's no need to exaggerate Konoha's power," a ninja with bandages covering the lower half of his face analyzed.

"Stone and Cloud haven't used their full power, but who can say Konoha has used theirs?" the grim-looking middle-aged ninja retorted.

"Konoha's strength is too great. If we want to gain benefits on the continent, we must first weaken Konoha's power!"

"Genji, what do you think of Konoha's strength?" the Third Mizukage, who had been resting with his eyes closed, squinted and looked at Genji sitting at his right hand.

As soon as the Third Mizukage spoke, the conference room instantly fell silent, and everyone looked at the Third Mizukage and Genji with their mouths shut.

Although the Third Mizukage often appeared smiling and seemed easygoing, those familiar with him knew this was just a facade; taking him for a softie would lead to an unknown death.

"I can only offer some speculations. Although I visited Konoha once, why would Konoha show me its true strength?" Genji shook his head and replied.

Aside from being intimidated by the Third Hokage's aura, he only watched some genin battles and didn't gain much intelligence.

"Speaking of strength, I believe Konoha remains the strongest ninja village in the ninja world," Genji stated his conclusion first.

The Mist elites all looked at Genji, quietly waiting for his explanation.

It was only because Genji said this; if any other elite had spoken thus, they would certainly have been refuted by the others.

Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, admitting another is the strongest without a war is undoubtedly showing cowardice before battle.

Even if the opponent is truly strong, one should not say it so directly; one must despise the enemy strategically.

"Due to an accident, I engaged in a contest of aura with the Third Hokage. He is strong, his strength not inferior to the Third Mizukage," Genji said tactfully.

Although in reality Hiruzen Sarutobi's strength was greater than that of the Third Mizukage, this was still a high-level meeting, so he had to save face for the Third Mizukage.

Moreover, those sitting in high positions were not foolish; they could understand his implication.

The expressions of several elites changed slightly, then quickly returned to normal.

For someone at the level of the Five Kage, even if weaker, they are not much weaker; if they cannot win, they can still hold the opponent off, so it is not a huge problem.

They subconsciously ignored an outlier like Hashirama Senju, after all, there has only been one Hashirama Senju in so many years.

The Third Mizukage's expression did not change; he remained with squinted eyes and a faint smile, revealing nothing of his inner thoughts.

"Although we brought excellent genin from the village and also gathered several young ninjas above genin rank, none of them made it to the final battle. In the comparison of young ninjas, we have already lost once," Genji continued.

He did not know if Konoha used the same method as Mist, but Kakashi and the others looked at most ten years old from their appearances; regardless of their ninja rank, Mist had lost in this contest.

Genji continued with his speculations: the fact that Konoha dared to hold such a Chunin Exam while fighting on two fronts was itself a sign of confidence in their strength.

"It seems that Konoha is indeed very strong now." The Third Mizukage closed his eyes and then said slowly.

"Then what attitude should we adopt toward this powerful Konoha?"

Two weeks after the teaching of Shunpo began, Muyue completed the development of a training breathing method.

This was a bit faster than he expected; the state of enlightenment was indeed powerful, and it proved useful in development as well.

However, Muyue did not immediately apply it to training; instead, he went to the Third Hokage's office.

"Muyue, are you having trouble with your work?" Hiruzen Sarutobi put down the documents in his hand and asked with a chuckle.

Muyue's willingness to use his own excellent Body Flicker Technique to teach and train ninjas showed that he valued the training task personally issued by him, which made Hiruzen Sarutobi even more satisfied with Muyue.

Mu Yue shakes his head, then respectfully hands two scrolls to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"These are the taijutsu techniques I developed. I would like to dedicate these two techniques to the village," Mu Yue said with a gentle smile.

As he spoke, a faint light gleamed in Mu Yue's eyes, as if he was happy to be able to contribute to Konoha.

"You are thoughtful, Mu Yue," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile, stroking his goatee.

Leaving aside the power of the two taijutsu techniques developed by Mu Yue, Hiruzen Sarutobi appreciated his approach.

The five D-rank ninjutsu that Mu Yue had previously developed were also added to Konoha's ninjutsu library.

"The ninjutsu I submit to the village are truly insignificant compared to the ones the village rewards me with," Mu Yue said modestly.

If he used this breathing method to teach the Anbu and Root, that would be equivalent to handing it over to Konoha, so Mu Yue might as well submit it to Hiruzen Sarutobi first and get a bit more reward.

For ninjutsu developed by the village's own ninja, Konoha does not force everyone to submit them, but there are rewards for submitting; the stronger the ninjutsu and the better the effect, the greater the reward.

Not only would he submit to Hiruzen Sarutobi, but he would also notify Danzo, in order to maintain his persona.

Hearing Mu Yue's reply, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and opened two scrolls: one was Shunpo, and the other was called Dark Breathing Method.

Hiruzen Sarutobi briefly glanced at both scrolls and found that the Dark Breathing Method had some substance.

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi had started to examine the scroll contents, Mu Yue also began to explain.

Although Mu Yue felt that Hiruzen Sarutobi likely already knew the details of Shunpo, Mu Yue could not assume what his superior knew, so he dutifully explained both taijutsu techniques.

Since Shunpo was much simpler, Mu Yue first quickly finished explaining Shunpo and then focused on Dark Breathing Method.

"Dark Breathing Method can strengthen the body by absorbing a large amount of oxygen. The more focused the breathing, the greater the enhancement. It can increase overall physical power and also accelerate recovery from injuries."

"After mastering Dark Breathing Method, one can also accumulate breathing power to enhance instantaneous burst, unleashing attacks far beyond one's own strength."

Strengthening the body and accelerating recovery are basic abilities of breathing methods. Mu Yue's most important modification was removing the breathing method's enhancement of training, and increasing the bonus when using the breathing method, so Dark Breathing Method does not have a constant-state realm.

Compared to normal breathing methods, Dark Breathing Method is more like a burst-type secret technique.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a Ninjutsu Professor who had mastered over a thousand ninjutsu, but in fact his taijutsu was not bad either. He quickly associated the best use of Dark Breathing Method with ambushes and assassinations.

Using power beyond the body's capacity inevitably brings corresponding burden; Dark Breathing Method certainly cannot be used for too long.

Of course, this type of burst ninjutsu is certainly useful in ordinary combat, but ambushes and assassinations are more cost-effective.

"Truly a taijutsu technique full of ingenious ideas," Hiruzen Sarutobi praised.

Mu Yue's Dark Breathing Method was not on the same track as most of Konoha's existing taijutsu. To be able to develop ninjutsu of this level in a new field, Mu Yue's talent for developing techniques was even stronger than he had imagined.

"Shunpo can be recognized as a B-rank taijutsu, and Dark Breathing Method can be recognized as an A-rank taijutsu," Hiruzen Sarutobi said after thinking for a moment.

The rank of ninjutsu is only a difference in learning difficulty; all of Konoha's ninjutsu are rated according to this rule.

Of course, generally speaking, the harder a ninjutsu is to learn, the greater its power. Saying that high-difficulty ninjutsu are strong is not too far off, but lower-rank ninjutsu are not necessarily weak either.

For example, the Fireball Jutsu, a Fire Release ninjutsu, although only a C-rank technique, is often used by the Uchiha, from Academy students all the way up to Jonin.

Mu Yue nodded, indicating he had no objections.

He had specifically developed Dark Breathing Method to be simple; it would be problematic if it received an S-rank evaluation.

"I plan to use Dark Breathing Method for training; this technique is very suitable for the Anbu and Root," Mu Yue then stated his thoughts.

"Haha, then I'll be looking forward to the test two months from now," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a laugh, exhaling a puff of white smoke.

Obviously, Root and Anbu members did not have that much time to participate in tests, so Mu Yue only set up an exam on the last day of the special training to demonstrate his training results.

"Two months from now, Mu Yue, if you want to learn ninjutsu, just go look in the Ninjutsu Hall. If it's not in the Ninjutsu Hall, come to me to apply."

Hiruzen Sarutobi finally decided to grant Mu Yue permission to freely browse ninjutsu in the Ninjutsu Hall.

Originally, with Mu Yue's current merits, he was not qualified to obtain such permission, but Mu Yue was a ninjutsu genius, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was very satisfied with him in all aspects.

"Granting you this permission now might invite criticism. After the training ends, when everyone knows your abilities, there will be no problem," Hiruzen Sarutobi explained the timing issue.

Although the reward still outweighed the merit, it was somewhat more justified this way, and it could also give Mu Yue more motivation to teach.

"Thank you, Third Hokage-sama," Mu Yue said with an excited smile, indicating understanding.

"From now on, except for some special ninjutsu, I don't need to hide anything," Mu Yue thought to himself. This time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was more generous than he had expected.

ps: Yesterday I finished writing at 2am, had some insomnia, only fell asleep at 4am. Today my energy is a bit low. Tomorrow I'll rest a bit, tomorrow I'll sprint for 10k words.