Chapter 434: Promotion

The disciples exchanged glances, each trying to read the other's thoughts from their expressions.

"I'll go back too," Kakashi said after a moment of silence.

He would need too long to recover; if a sudden major change occurred on the battlefield and he hadn't fully recovered by then, he could become a burden.

Kakashi felt that staying on the tense battlefield was not as good as returning directly to Konoha to recuperate—a better environment would allow faster recovery, and once fully healed, he could return to the battlefield to carry out missions.

"Huh? You're going back too, Kakashi?" Obito ran his hands through his hair.

He wanted to stay on the battlefield, but if Kakashi returned to Konoha, staying on the battlefield would lose its meaning.

Because he wanted to compete with Kakashi on the battlefield and outperform him.

If Kakashi left, who would he compete with?

By then, even if he performed well, Kakashi could just claim he could have done even better.

"I need three weeks of rest. Going back to Konoha is more convenient. On the battlefield, even my movements are restricted during recovery," Kakashi replied calmly.

With a choice, it was definitely better to go back to Konoha—war was no joke.

"Muyue-sensei, is Rin going back?" Obito thought for a moment and asked Muyue.

Since Kakashi wasn't planning to stay on the battlefield, Obito had lost most of his interest in the war. After all, with his current strength, he couldn't end the war, and his presence or absence didn't make much difference.

Obito planned to decide based on Rin Nohara's choice: if she decided to stay, he would stay to protect her; if she returned to Konoha, he would go back too.

"I'll ask her later," Muyue replied.

Due to her gender, Rin Nohara was recuperating in a different tent from Obito and the others. Since there were more disciples here, Muyue came to ask Obito and the others first.

"If Rin is going back too, then I'll go back," Obito nodded.

If Rin Nohara also left, staying on the battlefield would really be pointless for him.

Kakashi glanced at Obito, feeling a bit speechless—this guy really had no independent opinion.

"I want to stay on the battlefield," Shisui said after careful consideration, sharing his thoughts.

He had been the leading disciple for a long time, but after the internships, Obito and the others had gained practical combat experience and improved rapidly, silently surpassing Shisui.

Shisui was reluctant to accept this. He didn't want to keep losing in internal battles among disciples; he wanted to reclaim the title of Muyue's strongest disciple.

Therefore, Shisui wanted to use this war to train himself and make up for the practical combat he lacked.

After the ten-day recuperation period ended, Shisui would take the initiative to ask Muyue to go out on missions.

Besides training himself, Shisui had another idea: to complete more war missions and increase his own credentials.

Right now he was only a chunin—a genius chunin was still just a chunin. A chunin couldn't make waves in the Uchiha clan. If he wanted his words to carry more weight at the clan meetings, he had to raise his ninja rank, and the battlefield was a good place to make a name for himself.

"No problem," Muyue nodded and agreed.

Apart from Might Guy, who was forced to return to Konoha, Muyue would not stop anyone else from staying on the battlefield.

As for Might Guy, Muyue was mainly worried that if an unavoidable battle occurred, Guy would forcefully fight with his injured body and leave irreversible aftereffects.

Although the Eight Gates were powerful, they were also extremely dangerous, and Might Guy also stacked Earth Breathing on top of it.

Breathing techniques normally wouldn't harm the body, but pushing power to the limit in extreme situations was very dangerous.

Next, Muyue went to Rin Nohara and asked the same question.

"Are Kakashi and the others going back?" Rin Nohara didn't answer immediately; she first asked about Kakashi and the others.

After Muyue told her honestly, Rin Nohara thought for a moment and gave her answer: "I'm going back to Konoha."

Rin Nohara's reasoning was simple: Kakashi needed that long to recover, so he must be seriously injured. If she went back with him, she might help him recover better with her medical treatment. At the same time, she could use this time to organize her recent gains and learn new knowledge from Tsunade.

After asking all the disciples, Muyue didn't arrange for them to return immediately. He planned to let them rest for a few days before sending shadow clones to escort them back.

After all, they had just come off the battlefield with serious injuries. If they left now, someone would have to carry them all the way back; at least they needed to regain some mobility.

Muyue didn't spend too long with his disciples; soon he went to complete the mission Orochimaru had given him.

Inoichi Yamanaka had examined the memories of the deceased Mizutsuki Kan and the five Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. The Mist's deployment was essentially exposed. Even if the Mist reacted quickly, they couldn't completely adjust everything instantly.

Muyue and the others' mission was to race against the Mist and overturn all the positions the Mist hadn't had time to adjust.

However, in this battle, Mu Yue hardly used the techniques he was truly skilled in; instead, he transformed into Minazuki Kan and used the Ice Release.

"Ice Release: Hail Pheasant Beak!"

With a wave of his hand, Mu Yue created a massive ice bird that flew out. The ice bird rapidly charged toward a spot not far from Mu Yue, freezing all the Mist ninja in its path.

The Ice Release he was now using was not his own Ice Release at the Proficiency level with 1000 proficiency points, but Minazuki Kan's Mastery level Ice Release with 3600 proficiency points.

The gap between the two was even larger than the gap between Initiate and Mastery with one proficiency point.

"Ice Release: Freeze Ray!"

For those who dodged the ice bird's attack, Mu Yue followed up with a Freeze Ray, freezing them.

Although he had transformed into Minazuki Kan, Mu Yue tried not to use the other's Ice Release techniques. He didn't have a Sharingan, and purely replicating techniques through talent alone would be somewhat beyond reason.

"Such strong Ice Release! How could a Konoha ninja possess such powerful Ice Release?!" The Mist ninja who were ambushed were stunned.

Kekkei Genkai aren't exclusive to any single village; for example, Magnet Release ninja exist in both Suna and Kumo. But they had never heard of an Ice Release user outside of Kiri, and one so powerful at that.

A Mist ninja looked at his rapidly freezing comrades and swallowed hard. "How does it feel that this person's Ice Release is even stronger than Lord Kan's?"

In a sense, he was not wrong, because Mu Yue had more chakra than Minazuki Kan. Even with the same proficiency in nature transformation, Mu Yue's usage would be stronger.

Ice Release was indeed quite effective against weaker opponents; Mu Yue quickly froze all the Mist ninja assigned to his area.

When Mu Yue moved to the next location, he failed to catch any Mist ninja, as the Mist forces rapidly contracted.

"Yagura of the Bloody Mist, huh? Not a bad opponent." After tallying everyone's results, Orochimaru's lips curled slightly.

Although Yagura was quick to react, this was still a successful operation, effectively striking the Mist forces on the eastern shore of the Land of Fire.

From now on, without external influence, with the shifting balance, Yagura was bound to lose; Orochimaru's victory was only a matter of time.

The other jonin in the meeting room also showed excited expressions; winning a battle brought them considerable benefits.

"From now on, Mu Yue-kun will serve as the vice-commander of the unit." As the meeting was about to end, Orochimaru announced Mu Yue's new position in the unit.

This was a resolution after the response from the Konoha high command.

However, that did not mean Nara Shikaku's vice-commander position would be removed; instead, they would both serve as vice-commanders.

This was a fairly common occurrence in Konoha: one chief and multiple deputies.

"Jonin Mu Yue, congratulations." Some jonin who knew Mu Yue offered their congratulations.

Although the position of ninja unit commander was a wartime temporary post, it carried unusual significance, indicating that Mu Yue was valued by Konoha's high command.

Mu Yue smiled modestly in response, with no ripple in his heart.

In his view, this was not an important matter; it only represented a signal that he would not be returning to Konoha anytime soon.

At the very least, the Mist would have to withdraw before he could return to Konoha with the ninja unit.

Before becoming vice-commander, Mu Yue actually held no official position. The reason he could attend the small meetings called by Orochimaru was due to multiple factors, unlike others who held key posts in the ninja unit.

Mu Yue believed there were two reasons for the change in his position: first, he had rendered great service; second, a change in Sarutobi Hiruzen's thinking.

Initially, Sarutobi Hiruzen might have planned to recall him to Konoha once the battlefield situation improved, but now Sarutobi Hiruzen expected him to resolve the Mist issue.

Orochimaru called out to Mu Yue as before, and they strolled together near the camp.

This time, however, Orochimaru did not chat about personal matters with Mu Yue; instead, he informed Mu Yue of the rewards from Konoha's high command for this skirmish.

"If your three disciples pass the assessment, they can become the youngest jonin in Konoha's history." Orochimaru looked at Mu Yue and said with a faint smile.

Konoha's requirements for jonin were too strict; no matter how genius, no one had ever been promoted to jonin at the age of ten.

Some had sufficient strength but lacked achievements; a very few satisfied both conditions but fell short in other aspects.

Mu Yue's eyes flickered. He was curious whether his disciples becoming jonin would trigger rewards. There were rewards for genin and chunin; logically, jonin should also have them.

"Based on my understanding of the assessment, Mu Yue-kun, your three disciples should have no difficulty passing it in terms of strength." Orochimaru thought Mu Yue was worried about his disciples failing the exam, so he spoke up.

Obito and Kakashi each had the strength to hold off one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and Might Guy in burst mode could even take on three. Passing the assessment was practically a sure thing.

"Orochimaru-kun, you overestimate them. Among them, probably only one can pass the exam." Mu Yue shook his head with a smile.

In terms of strength, Obito and the others need not worry, but promotion to jonin does not depend solely on strength.

When it comes to reviewing other aspects, Obito and Might Guy might not necessarily measure up to an experienced chunin.

The only one who can steadily pass the jonin examination is Kakashi. Kakashi is a true hexagonal warrior—he knows everything, but he just doesn't have enough stamina in battle.

ps: There's another chapter coming, but it'll be a bit late—maybe 2:30 to 3:00. I suggest reading it tomorrow; staying up late isn't good for you.