Chapter 378: Disciple Strength Changes and Flying Thunder God

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Anko gathered a large amount of chakra in her throat, then used Fire Nature chakra transformation to spew out a massive flame, forming a fireball that hurtled toward Muyue.

At the same time, from another direction, Shizune flung a volley of shuriken at Muyue, sealing off his position.

Unfortunately, the fireball missed, and the shuriken were casually deflected by Muyue.

Then Shisui, hiding in the shadows, took the chance to use his Body Flicker Technique and charged at Muyue to attack.

As if foreseeing Shisui's attack, Muyue easily dodged it with a single backward step.

Just then, Anko and Shizune also closed in for close-quarters combat, looking for an opening.

Even though it was two hands against six, the gap in strength allowed Muyue to effortlessly knock down Anko and Shizune, leaving only the ever-cautious Shisui untouched.

As if resolved to make a final desperate attempt, Shisui stopped using his signature Body Flicker to evade and instead charged straight at Muyue as he approached.

Poof!

The Shisui in front of Muyue turned into smoke and vanished, while the real Shisui burst his chakra from behind Muyue and lunged toward his waist.

"Still a little too slow." Muyue whirled around, caught Shisui's reaching hand, and smiled.

Bang!

Muyue hurled Shisui aside, slamming him next to Anko and the others, leaving all three lying in a neat row.

"This is so hard. We've already tried five times, and only Shisui succeeded once." Anko lay spread-eagled on the ground, staring up at the sky and sighing.

The bell-snatching training, held every three weeks, was the session Anko looked forward to the most. She always hoped to grab the bells so Muyue would teach her an ultimate ninja technique, just like the protagonist teacher in the ninja stories.

But after five attempts, let alone grabbing one, she hadn't even gotten a close look at the bells. Every time she got near, she ended up on the ground.

When she saw Shisui snatch a bell during the third attempt, Anko was incredibly envious. Still, it seemed Shisui hadn't used it yet.

"Training is for improvement. If it were too easy, it wouldn't be meaningful. If you can beat Shisui, I'll give you a bell directly." Muyue offered Anko a shortcut to getting a bell.

Muyue designed the bell-snatching training to push his students to break through faster. Even if she couldn't win—if Anko could last three minutes against Shisui going all-out, Muyue would hand her a bell. That alone would be a major breakthrough.

"Beat Shisui? Is that even a real possibility?" Anko sat up, scratched her head, and looked bewildered.

In combat she was no match, and in academics she was crushed. Anko had no idea how to defeat Shisui.

Maybe only in the Ninja Killer card game, if she got a lucky hand, could she win once.

"If you become as strong as Kakashi, you should be able to beat me," Shisui said calmly.

Even though his strength had improved after three months of hard training, Shisui still wasn't confident he could defeat Kakashi.

If he could switch places with his past self to fight Kakashi, he might have a chance, but Kakashi must have improved over that time too, not stood still.

"I think I'll lie down a bit longer." Hearing Shisui's words, Anko chose to lie back down.

Who was Kakashi? A graduate from years ago whose legend as a genius still echoed through the Ninja Academy.

Anko remembered a teacher once saying Shisui could match Kakashi. So in her eyes, Kakashi was just a bigger version of Shisui. Even if she trained nonstop, she could never catch up.

"Shisui, you're overestimating Kakashi. He's only showing off now. Once we get our Sharingan to three tomoe, we'll definitely beat him easily."

Speaking of Kakashi, Kakashi, Obito, and the others had just finished a mission and arrived at the South Border Forest, right in time to overhear Shisui and Anko's conversation.

Hearing someone praise Kakashi, Obito—Kakashi's eternal rival—couldn't help but jump in and tell Shisui not to sell himself short and diminish the Uchiha clan's pride.

"What if you lose?" Kakashi asked blandly.

"Lose? Lo—" Obito was momentarily at a loss. He was just talking big. He hadn't reached three tomoe yet, so how could he know if it would let him beat Kakashi?

"Never thought about it, because there's no way I'll lose." Obito said stubbornly.

Rin was still right there, and there were younger ninja school students present. Of course Obito had to sound tough.

"Is that so? If you lose, how about you run a lap around Konoha's main district, shouting 'Obito is not as good as Kakashi' the whole way?" Kakashi's lips curled slightly as he looked at Obito.

Obito's forehead and back broke out in a cold sweat. That bet was utterly vicious. If he actually had to do it, he might have to pack up and move out of Konoha with his grandma overnight.

"Anyway, since you said you won't lose, the penalty doesn't matter." Kakashi hammered home the point that Obito claimed he wouldn't lose.

Obito was dumbfounded. If he didn't accept, wouldn't that prove he had just been bluffing?

"You... you know that, a three-tomoe Sharingan is very... very powerful." Obito said, appearing calm but sweating profusely.

He had already made up his mind: if upgrading to three-tomoe Sharingan still wasn't enough to beat Kakashi, he would temporarily stop using the Sharingan to avoid being discovered.

At the same time, Obito prepared to engage in high-intensity training to improve his strength; disguise was ultimately not a long-term solution, only winning could put his mind at ease.

"What if you lose, Kakashi-san?" Anko asked curiously.

Kakashi kept talking about what Obito would have to do if he lost, but never mentioned what would happen if he himself lost.

Kakashi turned to look at Anko; this girl seemed to focus on a different point than the others.

"Yeah, you can't have a punishment for me if I lose while you have nothing, even though I'm sure I won't lose. But since you made this bet, you have to add a penalty for yourself too." Obito quickly said.

"Since it's deciding victory in a battle, let's keep it fair. If Obito-senpai loses, he shouts 'Not as good as Kakashi-senpai.' If Kakashi-senpai loses, he shouts 'Not as good as Obito-senpai.'" Anko enthusiastically came up with a plan for the two.

This put Kakashi in a bit of a tight spot, since he was the one who proposed it.

"No problem." Kakashi nodded calmly, but inwardly he was somewhat solemn.

"Looks like I'll have to devote more time to training," Kakashi thought silently.

Obito wasn't confident he could beat Kakashi, but Kakashi also didn't have a 100% guarantee of defeating Obito with his three-tomoe Sharingan.

If he really had to run around Konoha shouting "Not as good as Obito," Kakashi would stop wearing his mask and instead wear a hood when going out.

Shisui glanced at Anko; he realized that Anko had a considerable talent for stirring up trouble.

Originally, both sides could have treated this as a joke, but with Anko's words, it turned into a genuine battle bet.

Both Obito and Kakashi, unwilling to lose, quickly threw themselves into training, making the training atmosphere in the Southern Forest even better.

Looking at the two who acted like they would train themselves to death if it didn't kill them, Muyue thought: if Rin Nohara had this ability to stir things up, the two would have probably already been in an arms race. The best fourth member of the Minato Squad turned out to be a yet-to-graduate student?

But it was good that his disciples' willingness to train had increased; the shinobi world was getting more dangerous, and only stronger strength could protect oneself in this chaotic situation.

After the three had trained for a while, Muyue gave them a strength test.

For the past few months, Obito and the others had basically been on missions on the battlefield, only occasionally returning. Fortunately, the Enlighten skill could be applied to the system's disciples directly through the panel, so the benefits were similar to when they were in Konoha.

Since this time they had been away for two months, to ensure the training plan was on track, Muyue wanted to confirm their latest strength.

For sufficient accuracy, Muyue even tested them individually, rather than having them all at once.

Combining the feelings from actual combat tests with the data from the Appraisal skill, Muyue quickly grasped the growth of Obito and the other two over the past three months.

The battlefield truly was a place that could hone a person. According to the Appraisal data, the three actually had only moderate growth in stats, but their actual combat ability had improved significantly.

Now both Kakashi and Obito had true Jonin-level combat power, enough that with sufficient merits they could be directly promoted to Jonin.

Moreover, because of the Transparent World and Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, their actual output ceiling was somewhat stronger than that of an ordinary Jonin.

However, it wasn't without flaws. The two shared a common weakness: they couldn't sustain prolonged combat at full power.

Kakashi's Lightning Flash consumed a lot of chakra and stamina, and Obito's Flame Breathing Chakra Mode even more so.

Because he had awakened his Sharingan, Obito had experienced a period of rapid chakra increase, so he had much more chakra than Kakashi. Even Obito with his larger chakra couldn't use two Fire Dragon Flame Bombs at full power in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

It could be said that both had obtained abilities suited to them. If Kakashi had awakened the Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode, his chakra would probably be insufficient to even use Purple Lightning once at full power.

However, this flaw wasn't due to a talent issue with Obito and Kakashi, but rather their age and physical condition. They were still too young now; if they were eighteen, they wouldn't have this problem.

Rin Nohara gave Muyue a small surprise. She had the greatest overall improvement, with significant progress in medical ninjutsu. The battlefield training also made her water release and taijutsu more proficient, making her outstanding among Chunin.

This "outstanding" referred to the role she could play, not her combat power. If current Rin Nohara fought against Obito or Kakashi from a few months ago, she would still be utterly defeated.

Muyue planned to teach Rin Nohara some support-type water release techniques next. At her current stage, she was still not suitable for direct combat output; she'd need a few more years of development.

Muyue estimated that in a few more years, Tsunade would be able to develop the Hundred Healings Technique. Once Rin learned Yin Seal plus Hundred Healings, she could both output and support.

Obito's return was a happy occasion for Muyue, because it meant Minato was also back. And his Flying Thunder God Technique was currently stuck at ninety-nine points of proficiency, so he needed to consult Minato.

After getting started, it wouldn't be so troublesome. Muyue not only had a Ninjutsu Proficiency Scroll but also a Ninjutsu Mastery Scroll, which could directly raise the Flying Thunder God proficiency to mastery level.

In the evening, Minato came to Muyue's house as usual.

"Minato, I've encountered a problem with Flying Thunder God. Do you have time tonight?" Muyue asked directly while cooking.

"Mm, I'll go over it with you after dinner," Minato nodded in agreement.

He only has a few days left to relax; if Muyue is busy, he will try to help as much as possible.

After Muyue finished cooking, Minato first used the Flying Thunder God to go deliver food to Kushina, and then ate together with Muyue.

He had already met Kushina once after returning to Konoha, so he wasn't in a rush to chat with her.

"Obito and the others will have to trouble you, Muyue, for a while again," Minato said apologetically.

He really wasn't doing enough as a teacher, always leaving his disciples in Muyue's care.

"The village assigned me a mission to cooperate with Lord Orochimaru to quickly deal with the Cloud forces in the Land of Hot Water," Minato explained.

Mist's declaration of war on Konoha wasn't just empty talk; Mist had already launched operations on the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, so Konoha was a bit anxious, wanting to resolve one battlefield as soon as possible to free up strength to deal with Mist.

As for why it was Cloud instead of Rock, because compared to Rock—which had two jinchuriki—Cloud, whose Eight-Tails jinchuriki had encountered trouble, seemed easier to handle.

Konoha really didn't want to face three major ninja villages at the same time; even if they weren't united against it, it would still be enough to trouble Konoha, and if anything went wrong, there was the risk of suffering severe damage.

Fighting three different major ninja villages on three battlefields was truly immense pressure; it meant that each Konoha ninja had to defeat three opponents on average to win, which was clearly very difficult to achieve.

"No trouble at all; I'm also their teacher," Muyue replied with a warm smile.

"And Minato, you're doing this to protect Konoha, to protect them; after all, now there's another Mist village, and the village's pressure is too great."

Minato nodded and said, "Mist has directly entered the Land of Fire's territory; that's the last thing the village wanted to see."

Konoha's general plan now was to first end the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water, then concentrate forces to drive out Mist, and finally deal with Rock.

Minato knew very well how much pressure Konoha was under; he was like a brick now—moved wherever needed, with very little rest time.

Muyue listened quietly as Minato spoke about the frontline war; as a rear-area ninja and also a teacher, he indeed found it relatively difficult to access the latest information on this front.

Especially intelligence on Mist, because Mist had only just started fighting Konoha; only ninjas who had taken on related missions would know some relevant information.

It wasn't exactly classified, just that not many people had access to it.

After dinner, Muyue gave himself an enlightenment and then voiced all the areas he didn't understand; no matter what happened on the front lines, improving oneself was always the most important.

"This? It's simple, you just need to do this..." After a moment's thought, Minato solved Muyue's problem.

At first, Muyue couldn't quite keep up with Minato's train of thought; Muyue's problem was like a multi-step problem, while Minato directly wrote the answer without showing the steps.

However, under Minato's patient explanation, Muyue successfully understood.

【Skill: Flying Thunder God Technique (Beginner: 1/500)】

Happy New Year everyone, and a small request for monthly tickets.