Chapter 375: Mission Privilege

"So fast, even if I saw it, I couldn't react." Shisui quickly got up, thinking to himself.

He wasn't surprised by this, after all, this was Muyue; this speed was already greatly restrained. If Muyue went all out, Shisui felt he probably wouldn't even be able to see clearly.

"In that case, I have to maintain high-speed movement for a long time." Shisui didn't give up; instead, he thought of a countermeasure.

To truly defeat Muyue was naturally impossible, but he only needed to complete the training, which was still possible.

Because Muyue would certainly go easy to some extent and give them a chance; otherwise, with Muyue's Rock Breathing full concentration plus the Transparent World, how could they even get close? If they could seize the opportunity Muyue gave, they might complete the training.

Muyue, who had knocked Shisui away, did not pursue but smiled at Shizune and said, "Won't you give it a try? Even if not for the reward, it can add a bit of practical experience."

Shizune glanced at Shisui and Anko, hesitated for a moment, then finally used the basic breathing technique and walked toward Muyue, assuming a taijutsu stance.

Both of her teammates had taken a beating; if she didn't join, it would seem like she wasn't part of the group.

Shizune looked seriously at Muyue, let out a soft shout, and threw a left hook at Muyue.

She knew in her heart that it was impossible to snatch the bell; even Shisui, who far surpassed her in strength, had quickly been defeated, let alone herself.

But Shizune would not slack off just because failure was certain. Just like how she always advised Tsunade not to drink and get hungover—she knew Tsunade wouldn't listen, but she still had to do what she should.

Muyue reached out with his palm to grab Shizune's punching fist, but Shizune's left hook was only a feint; the chakra gathered in her leg instantly burst forth as she kicked a beautiful spinning roundhouse kick.

But in Muyue's eyes, Shizune's speed was far too slow. Muyue blocked the incoming spinning kick with his right hand, and then, with a backhand, he threw Shizune out as well.

"Fire Release: Fire Phoenix-Sage Flower Claw Crimson!"

Shisui, who had been waiting for an opportunity since getting up, immediately gathered chakra and spewed out a large amount of flame, then quickly threw out numerous shuriken.

Swish, swish, swish!!

Each shuriken carried a ball of flame and flew rapidly toward Muyue.

The speed of the Fire Phoenix-Sage Flower Claw Crimson was much faster than a Great Fireball. Muyue gave it the respect it deserved and dodged aside rather than blocking it head-on.

Boom, rumble!!

After the many flaming shuriken landed, they caused a series of explosions, scorching the ground black.

"What a powerful fire release technique." Anko said, watching the force and destruction of Shisui's Fire Phoenix-Sage Flower Claw Crimson. Then she thought of her own small fireball and felt that the gap between people was really huge.

The gap between her, the second-ranked in her year, and Shisui, the first-ranked, might be even larger than the gap between her and the last-ranked student.

Anko was really curious how Shisui trained. Everyone had two eyes, two ears, and one nose. How could he be so much more extraordinary than others?

"Oh, wait, Shisui's eyes can turn red." Anko suddenly remembered. Shisui really was different from them; no matter how much an ordinary person stayed up, their eyes wouldn't turn that red.

"Phantom Shunshin Technique!"

Shisui quickly formed hand seals, and immediately over twenty figures of Shisui appeared on the field, all of them continuously running at high speed around Muyue.

Muyue did not use the Byakugan or the Transparent World. He quietly stood there waiting for Shisui's next attack.

Suddenly, one Shisui charged from the front.

Muyue chopped with his left hand in the air, and a blast of energy shot out rapidly, instantly hitting the Shisui charging from the front, who then dissipated like a phantom.

Muyue was not surprised by this. Who would run around so many laps and then finally attack from the front? It was definitely a clone to draw attention.

As Muyue expected, the moment Muyue swung his hand, Shisui, who was on Muyue's left side, suddenly flashed out and lunged at Muyue's waist.

Zzzzap!!

Muyue's right hand erupted with dazzling purple electric light, which then split into several bolts of lightning that shot toward the Shisui attacking from the side.

Crackle and pop!!

The Shisui charging from the side dissipated instantly upon contact with the lightning. Since the lightning covered a wide area, several nearby phantoms also dissipated along with it.

Seeing Muyue use a seal-less lightning release, one Shisui on the right side also lunged.

Bang!

Sensing the movement, Muyue immediately swept his right hand to the right. The Shisui that was hit instantly turned into smoke and dissipated; this time it was a shadow clone.

"Here's the chance!"

The real Shisui, who had been continuously moving, had a flicker in his eyes. He immediately ordered the remaining shadow clone and phantoms to make a final distraction, while the real body gathered chakra, preparing to snatch the bell at the fastest speed while Muyue was off guard.

"Amazing." Hongdou, watching the dazzling battle, couldn't help but want to buy some dango to eat while watching. It was too exciting.

Just when Hongdou thought Shisui was about to succeed, when Shisui's fingers were less than three centimeters from the bell, Muyue's figure flickered and appeared at Shisui's side, throwing him away.

"If you were just a little faster, you might have succeeded." Muyue said with a warm smile, encouraging him.

The gap is too large, which is not conducive to striving. It's like buying a house: if you earn over ten thousand a month, you might have some hope; with four or five thousand a month, how can you buy anything?

"Since I can't trick you, I'll show my real strength!" Hongdou puffed out her chest, raised her head, and walked toward Muyue.

Shizune looked at Hongdou with a puzzled expression. Seeing that even the strong Shisui had lost, where did Hongdou get her confidence? Could she have been hiding her strength from the beginning?

"This ninjutsu's power is terrifying. Even a strong person like you, Teacher Muyue, might not be able to withstand it. Teacher Muyue, if you don't believe me, you can come up close and feel it." Hongdou walked toward Muyue with a serious expression and confident steps.

"Then I'll have to see just how terrifying the power is." Muyue replied with a smile, letting Hongdou approach.

If it were Obito, he might have been fooled by Hongdou, but Muyue was Hongdou's homeroom teacher; how could he not know what Hongdou was capable of?

"Hmph, then Teacher Muyue, you better open your eyes wide and watch!" Hongdou said while quickly forming hand seals.

"Confusion Technique!"

Bang! Bang!!

Several puffs of smoke flashed, and a few adult Hongdous wearing fishnet stockings appeared.

"If I succeed this time, I'll treat you all to dango." Looking at the bell within reach, Hongdou thought excitedly.

Although it had little effect on female ninja, Hongdou remembered that this ninjutsu concocted by her buddies was remarkably effective against male ninja.

So Hongdou came up with this idea: first use an excuse to get close to Muyue, then use the Confusion Technique to draw attention, and finally successfully snatch the bell.

Slap!

Faster than Hongdou's hand reaching the bell was Muyue's finger tapping Hongdou's head.

Muyue pressed his index and middle fingers together, tapped Hongdou's forehead, and said, "This is not terrifying."

He was not Teacher Chen or Hiruzen Sarutobi; such a ninjutsu was useless against him.

Under Muyue's tap, Hongdou stepped back two paces, increasing the distance from the bell she longed to obtain.

"Damn it, it's completely useless. When I see them, I'll give them two punches." Frustrated, Hongdou decided not to treat her buddies to dango but to treat them to fists.

Shizune:...

She hadn't expected that Hongdou, who looked like a cute junior, would be so hard to evaluate.

Whether it was walking over with confidence or the ninjutsu she used later, there were too many things to nitpick. Even Shizune, who was very quiet, couldn't help but want to complain.

Shisui, however, was not too surprised.

Although his main body trained every day in the Southern Forest, he always sent a Shadow Clone to school, and when the clone was dispelled, the memories would flow back. So he had been classmates with Hongdou for nearly two years and knew her well.

Hongdou had always been bold and didn't care about others' opinions. Whatever stunt Hongdou pulled, Shisui wouldn't be too surprised.

After a short rest, Shisui started a new round of bell grabbing.

As for Shizune and Hongdou, whose strength was insufficient for frontal combat, they also did their best to find ways to snatch Muyue's bell.

But whether fighting alone or the three of them joining forces to create opportunities for Shisui, in the end, they couldn't snatch the bell from Muyue's waist.

The sun gradually moved westward, and the sky changed from bright to dark. Until evening, no one had completed the training.

"Everyone worked hard. Let's call it a day. Tomorrow I'll take you on a mission." Muyue announced the end of the first day of the internship.

Muyue was not too surprised by this result.

What was Shisui's purpose for participating in the internship? It was to graduate early and improve his strength.

In order to make Shisui feel pressured and grow better, Muyue planned to apply intensity from the start. This training was impossible to complete as long as Shisui hadn't made a breakthrough.

The next day, the four of them gathered at the training ground first, then went together to the Hokage Building.

"Teacher Muyue, what kind of mission are we doing? It's not fighting against enemy village ninja, is it? I think it's still a bit early for that. Is there any ordinary bandit to practice on first?" On the way, Hongdou couldn't help asking.

"Don't worry, I won't have you fight ninja now." Muyue replied with a faint smile.

After arriving at the mission office of the Hokage Building, Hongdou was dumbfounded. It was indeed safer than she had imagined, but too safe.

"How come it's all just moving things and picking up trash missions? Is this what ninjas do?" Anko complained as she looked at the D-rank missions.

"This is for the safety of trainee ninjas and newly graduated ninjas," the registration ninja explained briefly.

Anko scratched her head, relieved that the pay wasn't bad—five thousand ryo per mission.

Next, Muyue led Anko and the others on a speed-clearing spree, finishing twenty D-rank missions in a single day.

Ordinary training certainly couldn't meet this team's growth needs, so Muyue needed to obtain the same privileges as last time.

But to get privileges, he first had to show his strength; otherwise, he would be breaking Konoha's rules.

Over the next week, Muyue alternated between missions and training—missions on Tuesday, training on Wednesday, then missions again on Thursday.

Except for the first day, when Muyue had them do the bell-snatching exercise, the rest were normal training, with Muyue teaching ninjutsu and taijutsu.

Muyue planned to do the bell-snatching exercise once every three weeks. After all, if they did it every day, they couldn't possibly break through every day.

During this period, Muyue taught the completed Wind Breathing to Asuma. By then, Asuma had been practicing Basic Breathing for several months, so he picked up Wind Breathing relatively quickly, similar to when Nohara Rin learned Water Breathing.

After witnessing the wonder of Muyue's Wind Breathing, Asuma was extremely excited.

"I knew it—Teacher Muyue, you're the most genius ninja. That old man calls himself a professor of ninjutsu, but how can the jutsu he developed compare to Wind Breathing?" Asuma said proudly.

Asuma had originally thought Basic Breathing's extra body enhancement was already very strong, since his chakra growth rate had increased ever since he started training in Basic Breathing.

After training in Wind Breathing, he realized that Basic Breathing really was just basic.

Wind Breathing nearly shattered Asuma's view of ninja; he never imagined there could be such a jutsu—enhancing wind nature transformation to boost Wind Release power, and upon reaching a certain level, entering Wind Breathing Chakra Mode to cast all Wind Release without hand seals.

"The Third Hokage's strengths are different from mine; he's better at combination ninjutsu," Muyue shook his head and said.

The Breathing Method's boost was strong, but Sarutobi Hiruzen's Five Element Ninjutsu at full power was nothing to scoff at.

Before Asuma learned it, Muyue had straightforwardly told him that Wind Breathing was a secret technique he had developed after much hard work, and if Asuma wanted to teach it to anyone, he had to inform Muyue first.

Asuma didn't have any particular objection to that; after all, it was such a powerful and profound jutsu.

Asuma had been warned before when learning the Sarutobi clan's Fire Style secret technique, but he felt that Fire Style secret technique was not even close to Wind Breathing.

Another thing worth mentioning was that Obito's Life Mission progress suddenly increased again.

Combined with the chakra reward notifications from Obito and Kakashi's completed missions and the Flying Thunder God coordinates he still couldn't detect, Muyue guessed that Minato had taken Obito and the others on missions in the battlefield, and Obito had performed well, so the mission progress was speeding up again.

To become Hokage, you really only need three things: first, strength; second, achievements; and third, fame.

The second and third can be accumulated gradually by doing missions, and the battlefield is the best environment for accumulation.

Muyue made a rough estimate: if the rate maintained, Obito's Life Mission would reach 20% in about four months.

In the second week, with Muyue's team clearing D-rank missions at high speed, Sarutobi Hiruzen eventually granted Muyue's team permission to take C-rank missions early.

"A team as excellent as yours can take on greater responsibilities," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a kind smile.

Though the words were nice, in truth it was also because if Muyue's team kept this up, the other trainee teams would have no missions left.

"Alright! Finally no more odd jobs. Lord Hokage, you really have good judgment!" Anko grinned and gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a thumbs up.

A faint smile appeared on Shisui's face. Doing D-rank missions all the time would obviously not let them improve like Might Guy and the others had; they had to leave the village.

After thanking Sarutobi Hiruzen, Muyue began selecting missions.

Choosing missions was also a technical skill, because Muyue had to pick one that had a high chance of going wrong, but not one where he couldn't handle the unexpected trouble.

It had to be close to the war, but not close to the center of the battlefield, and the battlefield couldn't have too many strong ninjas roaming around.

"Northern Country of Rivers..." Muyue spotted a good bandit suppression mission.