Chapter 385: Yang Release Breathing Technique

"I wonder what it feels like to hit Kakashi-sensei's head." Naruto Uzumaki also had a mischievous grin on his face.

Last night, he saw Yamato hit Kakashi's head and make him look happy, so he wanted to try it too.

Kakashi, who was still planning the battle strategy, suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, looked around in confusion, but didn't notice anything wrong.

"Who goes first?" Muyue asked, looking at Yamato and Naruto Uzumaki.

"I'm the captain, let me go first." Yamato immediately stepped forward, looking like he was the only one for the job.

"How can the captain go first? I'll fight first." Naruto Uzumaki said, cracking his knuckles.

Although the two were talking to Muyue, they kept glancing at Kakashi, which made him wonder why they were all staring at him.

Kakashi, who was being watched by the two, drew the White Fang short sword and used its snowy white blade to observe himself, but found nothing unusual.

"Yamato spoke first, so let him go first." Muyue replied after thinking.

On the first day, Kakashi and the others had already experienced Naruto Uzumaki's powerful chakra once, so he thought it would be better to let Yamato, who had Wood Release, fight first this time.

Yamato smiled slightly, walked in front of Kakashi and the other two, and formed the opposing seal.

Kakashi, Obito, and Rin nodded at each other and formed the opposing seal together.

"Battle start!" Muyue shouted after seeing both sides were ready.

As soon as Muyue finished speaking, Kakashi and Obito immediately focused their breathing to enhance their physical abilities.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."

Obito rapidly formed hand seals, gathered chakra in his throat, transformed it all into fire-natured chakra at once, and finally spat it out to form a huge fireball that hurtled toward Yamato.

Swish swish!!

Rin Nohara, who had entered the Water Breathing state, started running and threw several shuriken at Yamato.

"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"

Yamato calmly formed hand seals on the spot, and under the effect of Wood Release chakra, rows of wooden pillars quickly grew from the ground and bent to form an arched wall, protecting Yamato inside.

Boom!!

The huge fireball smashed into the wooden arched wall and exploded, with fierce flames scattering in all directions.

Something surprising happened to Obito—his Great Fireball hadn't been able to break the wooden arched wall.

Although the wooden arched wall had severe burn marks, it had not been breached by the Great Fireball's explosion, and Rin Nohara's shuriken were all blocked by Yamato's wooden arched wall.

"Wood Release wood is different from ordinary trees; don't let your guard down." Kakashi said, gripping the White Fang short sword tightly as a warning.

Although Muyue had defeated Yamato very easily and Yamato's Wood Release had not been very impressive in that fight, that was still a battle against Muyue. Kakashi would not underestimate this Kekkei Genkai that had only appeared in the God of Shinobi.

Normally, Kakashi would use the extreme speed of Lightning Breathing to launch a surprise attack under the cover of Obito's Great Fireball, but this time he was facing a Wood Release ninja he had never fought before, so Kakashi chose to gather information first.

"Wood Release: Thorn Kill Technique!"

Yamato's figure suddenly burst out from behind the wooden wall, rapidly forming hand seals as he ran.

Wood resembling thorns drilled up from the ground and shot toward the three of them.

Seeing this, Obito focused his breathing again and directly entered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode. He refused to believe that his ultimate flames couldn't burn these pieces of wood.

After all, it was just training; being a bit reckless was fine. In a real battle, Obito wouldn't be so quick to use his trump card.

"Fire Release: Flame Fist!"

Obito gathered a large amount of chakra into his fist, and because he was in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, the chakra he gathered instantly turned into blazing flames.

The fire on Obito's fist fluctuated in size, but it wasn't because Obito's control was poor—he was compressing the flames on his fist.

By the time Obito had compressed the flames on his fist to the limit, the wooden branches created by Yamato's Wood Release were about to touch Obito's body.

Boom!!

Obito suddenly punched out with his fist burning with crimson flames. Faced with the immense force and high-temperature flames, the wood approaching Obito snapped instantly.

"What kind of ninjutsu is this? Won't the flames hurt him?" Yamato was a bit baffled by Obito's Flame Fist.

According to common ninja theory, Fire Style taijutsu is not ninja-like.

"Flash!"

Brilliant lightning radiance burst from Kakashi's feet and palms. With the boost of Lightning Release chakra activating his body and the Breathing Technique, Kakashi's physical abilities soared. With just one dash and one sword swing, he cut through all the wood on his and Rin Nohara's side.

Thud! The severed wood fell weakly to the ground.

If Obito's techniques only left Yamato somewhat puzzled, then the ability Kakashi demonstrated surprised Yamato.

"Was Kakashi-senpai always fighting like this?" Yamato wondered in his mind.

In his memory, Kakashi was an excellent jonin who developed evenly in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. In battle, he either relied on his vast repertoire of techniques to counter the enemy, or used Lightning Style and the Sharingan.

But this young version of Kakashi was most skilled in swordsmanship?

No joke, Yamato had hardly ever seen Kakashi fight with a sword, and he found it very strange.

"Is it because of the Sharingan?" Yamato guessed that the Sharingan had changed Kakashi's fighting style.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson!"

Obito gave Yamato no more time to think; shuriken carrying flames shot swiftly toward Yamato.

He knew Yamato possessed large-scale Water Style, so he didn't use his strongest Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

Although Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson had less overall power than Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, its penetration and small-area striking ability were superior.

"Wood Style: Piercing Tree!"

Yamato continued forming hand seals without changing expression, simultaneously performing Earth and Water nature transformations to create Wood Style chakra. A huge tree rapidly grew from his body, blocking all incoming attacks.

Kakashi focused his breathing to the utmost, entering the state of the Transparent World, ready to go all out together with Obito.

But upon entering the Transparent World, Kakashi's movements suddenly paused for a moment.

Kakashi's expression did not change. He gave Obito a look, then continued charging toward Yamato.

Although Obito didn't know what Kakashi's plan was, he still followed Kakashi's instruction and charged toward Yamato with full force.

Rin Nohara stared intently at Yamato, ready to support with Water Style ninjutsu at any moment.

But just then, another Yamato appeared silently behind Rin Nohara.

The one who first charged out was actually just Yamato's Wood Clone; his real body used Earth Style to burrow underground and circle around to Rin Nohara's side.

Even though it was the young version of Kakashi, he was still that reliable Kakashi-senpai, so Yamato did not let his guard down and prepared to end this battle steadily.

"Flash: Double Slash!"

The moment Yamato's real body appeared, Kakashi, who had been charging straight at Yamato, used the large tree Yamato had created to change direction and rush back at even greater speed.

When he first opened the Transparent World, he had already sensed Yamato lurking underground, but Kakashi pretended not to notice in order to catch Yamato off guard.

Seeing this, the Wood Clone tried to use Wood Style to block Kakashi, but Obito, who had activated Flame Breathing chakra, had already charged in. How could he let that succeed? He raised his hand and threw a Fire Fist.

Kakashi's speed was extremely fast. Yamato made an immediate decision, abandoning the nearby Rin Nohara, and burst chakra to create many huge trees to block Kakashi's advance.

Seeing Kakashi rushing toward her, Rin Nohara reacted instantly, condensed chakra, and threw a heavy punch behind her.

But Yamato had already given up the attack and retreated a short distance, so Rin Nohara's attack did not hit Yamato. Although Kakashi cut through many blocking trees, he also lacked the ability to injure Yamato.

Kakashi pulled Rin Nohara back rapidly, feeling no regret in his heart.

Yamato was, after all, a ninja who had once served as an ANBU captain. If he had lost due to a single unexpected move, that would have surprised Kakashi and made him worry about the level of ANBU ninjas in the future.

On Obito's side, the Wood Clone directly transformed into vines and bound Obito, but Obito's body surface burst into a large amount of flame, turning the vines to ash and freeing him.

"Truly impressive. If it were me a few years ago, without knowing the information, I really might have lost," Yamato thought with admiration.

The strength of Muyue's squad far exceeded his expectations. Kakashi and Obito's performance was entirely at jonin level. Rin Nohara hadn't demonstrated much, but one could still see that her combat instincts were not lacking.

"Wood Style: Tree Sea Birth!"

Yamato mobilized a large amount of chakra from his body to perform the strongest Wood Style ninjutsu he could use.

Actually, the one he trained was Tree World Birth, a powerful Wood Style ninjutsu that could create a vast forest in an instant. However, Yamato didn't have enough chakra, so he invented Tree Sea Birth—a cheap, budget version of Tree World Birth, much weaker in both power and range.

Although inferior to Tree World Birth, this was indeed the largest-scale Wood Style Yamato could use.

Under the influence of a massive amount of Wood Style chakra, trees rapidly shot up from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, several dozen large trees surrounded Kakashi and the others.

"So this is a Wood Style ninja?" Obito exclaimed, watching a stretch of golden desert suddenly turn into a small forest.

Compared to the jutsu Yamato had used before, he felt this was the real Wood Style.

Under Yamato's control, the trees that had grown in a burst all extended their branches to attack the three of them—the trees he created were not meant for landscaping.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet."

Obito unleashed his own strongest large-scale Fire Style jutsu. With the support of the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, he soon spat out a small sea of fire.

The extremely hot red flames engulfed all the incoming branches, turned many trees into blazing torches, and expanded the sea of fire.

Because the fire was too intense, Rin Nohara had to use Water Style to protect herself and Kakashi.

As for Obito, it was hard for fire to harm him while he was in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

Obito panted heavily, then looked at Kakashi. He had already consumed a lot of chakra and could barely maintain the Breathing Chakra Mode for now.

This was only because his chakra had somehow grown a lot recently; in the past, he would have already automatically exited the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

Kakashi nodded. Obito had already cleared most of the obstacles for him; the outcome of the next part of the battle was up to him.

Although the raging flames blocked Kakashi's line of sight, his Transparent World could pierce through the obstruction and lock onto Yamato, who was at the edge of the forest.

"Water Style: Water Wave Hand!"

Seeing the ferocity of the fire, Yamato reached out and released a wave-like Water Style jutsu, trying to extinguish all of Obito's flames.

Sizzle, sizzle!!

Kakashi exhaled a stream of white vapor. The large amount of chakra he had already gathered inside his body was completely converted into Lightning Nature chakra, coating his body in electric light.

He gripped the White Light Short Blade tightly, mobilizing every ounce of his strength without wasting a single bit.

"Thunderclap Flash!"

Boom!

In this world of fire, a sudden thunderclap exploded, followed by a blinding bolt of lightning that cut through the flames, split the incoming giant wave in two, and charged toward Yamato with the momentum to cut through everything.

Yamato looked at the approaching Kakashi in surprise. He had thought Kakashi was already fast enough, but he hadn't expected that Kakashi hadn't been using his full strength in the previous fight.

With that thought, Yamato held nothing back. In front of him, many tall trees grew rapidly, and even the trees that hadn't been caught in the sea of fire did their utmost to obstruct Kakashi's advance.

Shhh!

Crash!!

A flash of lightning passed, and giant trees collapsed with a roar as Kakashi continued to press forward.

Yamato kept his expression unchanged and continued to output chakra.

Countless incoming branches and vines were cut down by Kakashi, but his body was growing more and more exhausted.

When he was only ten meters from Yamato, Kakashi's sprint slowed down.

When he was only five meters from Yamato, Kakashi finally exhausted all his strength. He could no longer cut the trees in one stroke, and his body was bound by thick branches.

Seeing Kakashi stop, Yamato breathed a sigh of relief. This battle had been more difficult than he had imagined.

The young version of Kakashi fought in a way completely different from the Kakashi he remembered, and his strength was unexpectedly high. Obito's Fire Style was also terrifying; his final Fire Dragon Flame Bullet had already surpassed the Fire Style of many jonin.

Looking at Kakashi, who was bound by branches and looked powerless, a surge of malice rose in Yamato's heart, and he gave Kakashi another blow to the head.

After hitting him, Yamato immediately felt refreshed and much more relaxed all over.

Kakashi looked at Yamato with a puzzled expression. That attack was meaningless; even without it, Kakashi had no fighting strength left, and the blow wouldn't make him pass out.

"Sorry, every time I see that face of yours, I can't help but hit you." Yamato said apologetically.

Kakashi:...

If in the future he saw someone who looked a lot like Yamato and was also named Yamato, he would definitely punch him in the head without hesitation. If asked why, he'd say it was because of the face—he just couldn't help it.

"Why did Kakashi-senpai give up on Lightning Blade Kenjutsu?" Yamato wondered, deeply puzzled.

He thought the current Kakashi was good; if he kept going down this path, he might become even stronger.

After all, the current Kakashi, not yet even ten years old, already had the strength to defeat a jonin; if he trained for another seventeen years, it wasn't impossible for him to become a Hokage-level powerhouse.

However, the youthful version of Kakashi obviously couldn't answer that question for Yamato—only the future Kakashi could answer it. Yamato kept the doubt in his heart and continued the training.

Kakashi was completely incapacitated, and Yamato easily dealt with the remaining Obito and Rin, quickly ending the training session.

After the battle came the review phase. Muyue pointed out everyone's problems and gave them guidance.

After a break, they moved to another location for training, but Yamato's Wood Release combined with Obito's Fire Release had left that place in a complete mess.

The battle between Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi's team was straightforward.

Naruto Uzumaki didn't play any tricks—he just used Multiple Shadow Clones and Rasengan, overwhelming Kakashi and the others with raw strength.

During the fight, Naruto Uzumaki managed to hit Kakashi on the head just as he had hoped.

Naruto Uzumaki originally didn't want to laugh—after all, this was his future teacher Kakashi—but he simply couldn't hold it in.

When the training ended, Kakashi's face darkened. He finally understood what that bad feeling he had earlier meant.

If history made him Naruto Uzumaki's teacher again, he would definitely make Naruto Uzumaki understand what it meant to taste a teacher's love.

"Naruto big brother, are you really only good at those two ninjutsu?" After training, Obito couldn't help complaining.

He was a little envious of Naruto Uzumaki's chakra, using Shadow Clones as if they cost no chakra. If he had Naruto Uzumaki's chakra reserves, he could even use the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode like a full-concentration breathing.

"Of course not, don't underestimate me," Naruto Uzumaki shook his head and denied.

How could he only know Multiple Shadow Clones and Rasengan? He also knew Sexy Technique, Harem Technique, and the Rasenshuriken.

"Sometimes, continuously training and developing a single useful jutsu is also a good choice," Muyue said after some thought.

Even though Naruto Uzumaki only relied on Multiple Shadow Clones and Rasengan in battle, that didn't stop him from being very strong.

"Naruto big brother's Rasengan really is useful," Obito had to admit that this ninjutsu was truly powerful—no hand seals and massive damage.

"Obito, if you want to learn, I can teach you," Naruto Uzumaki said generously.

He felt a bond with Obito and didn't see any problem in teaching him ninjutsu.

If Obito became stronger by learning his Rasengan, it would count as Naruto Uzumaki's contribution to helping Kakashi and the others change history.

"Naruto big brother, I want to learn!" Obito instantly felt that calling him big brother was worth it.

Muyue had a subtle expression. Learning the Rasengan from Naruto was almost like inventing it yourself.

Still, Muyue didn't dampen Obito's enthusiasm. Since he himself also knew the Rasengan, he could teach Obito if Obito really wanted to learn.

After two consecutive defeats, Kakashi and his team threw themselves into night training with relentless fighting spirit, while Muyue guided Naruto Uzumaki and Yamato in their training.

Shadow Clones and Rasengan no longer required Muyue's guidance for Naruto Uzumaki, so Muyue chose to teach him taijutsu.

Thanks to Might Guy, Muyue had obtained many taijutsu bonuses. It was hard to say across the entire ninja world, but he could claim that no one in Konoha understood taijutsu better than he did.

After all, the taijutsu training experience in his mind was something no single person could accumulate from birth to death—that was the power of a cheat.

As for Yamato, Muyue chose to teach him Water Release and Water Breathing.

Yamato generally used three types of ninjutsu in battle: Wood Release, Earth Release, and Water Release.

Muyue didn't possess the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai yet, and while his Earth Release chakra nature transformation had reached the proficient level, his mastery was not high.

Muyue wouldn't mind teaching Yamato and Naruto Uzumaki breathing techniques, but he currently didn't have a suitable breathing technique for Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki's personality suited Flame Breathing, but Naruto didn't use Fire Release. Learning Flame Breathing would be inferior to learning Wind Breathing, since Wind Breathing could at least amplify the power of the Rasenshuriken.

After developing Wind Breathing, Muyue had been working on a Yang Release breathing technique. He felt that combining Yang Release with Fire Release might lead to the creation of Sun Breathing.

Naruto Uzumaki arrived too early—his Yang Release breathing technique hadn't been completed yet. If Naruto had come a few months later, Muyue might have already developed a prototype.

"Enhance chakra shape transformation and increase Water Release power!" Yamato couldn't help looking shocked when Muyue explained the effects of Water Breathing.

As an ANBU captain, he had come across many secret techniques, but he had never seen one as comprehensive and powerful as Water Breathing.

It could enhance the body, accelerate wound recovery, and boost Water Release. Once practiced to a certain level, it even allowed entering the Water Breathing Chakra Mode to freely use Water Release.

Not only had he never encountered it, Yamato had never even heard of such a secret technique.

"Could it be that because Muyue-senpai died in battle, it was lost?" Yamato thought of a possibility.

Yamato's gaze as he looked at Mugetsu was very complicated.

Although they had only known each other for two days, he truly admired this ninja named Hanyu Mugetsu.

"Mugetsu-senpai, don't you really want to know the future? Aren't you worried that you might encounter misfortune at some point?" Yamato asked tactfully.

He wanted to tell Mugetsu his speculation about the time of Mugetsu's death, so that Mugetsu would be more vigilant.

"There's no need for that. Our future is something we create ourselves." Mugetsu replied with a gentle smile.

Yamato sighed inwardly, but under Mugetsu's meticulous guidance, he quickly threw himself into learning Water Breathing. It was then that Yamato realized Mugetsu's teaching ability was also exceptional.

【Lecture Complete】

【Evaluation: S】

【Reward: Water Nature Chakra Nature Transformation +2, Water Breathing +1, Taijutsu Experience Slight Increase】

When the training ended, something Mugetsu hadn't expected happened. The lecture reward was settled and it was an S-rank evaluation.

This was unexpected for Mugetsu. Based on his experience, normally it would take at least dozens of students to trigger the lecture reward. The only exception was when he taught Minato and Kushina—that time there were only two people.

But the strength of Uzumaki Naruto and Yamato clearly couldn't be compared to Minato and Kushina.

Mugetsu thought hard and suddenly realized he had been mistaken about one point. In the system's assessment, Uzumaki Naruto and Yamato were not necessarily inferior.

In terms of potential assessment, the system was actually very rigid. For example, the Hyuga and Uchiha generally had high potential that didn't match their actual strength. Some people had potential higher than Sarutobi Hiruzen or Namikaze Minato, but their actual combat power might not last a few rounds.

So Mugetsu boldly speculated that the system's assessment of strength mostly looked at chakra, and Yamato and Naruto had plenty of chakra.

And thinking about the Nine-Tails inside Kushina and Naruto, Mugetsu could even be bolder: perhaps Yamato and Minato were just fillers, and what truly triggered the course completion reward was Naruto and Kushina.

This gave Mugetsu an idea: if he used the Yang Release Breathing Method he was developing as course content, could it increase his development speed.