Chapter 444: Chakra-Absorbing Demon Blade

"Obito failed after all." Looking at the promotion reward that only popped out Kakashi, Mu Yue had already guessed that Obito hadn't passed the jōnin assessment.

Mu Yue had expected this; after all, Obito's theoretical knowledge was indeed a weak point.

Although Mu Yue usually gave lectures to his disciples, he basically only taught political history, and the scope of the written exam for the jōnin assessment was far too broad.

In Mu Yue's vision, if Obito wanted to pass the written exam of the jōnin assessment on his own ability, he would need to seriously study theory under Mu Yue's guidance for a full year.

With the potential threat of Uchiha Madara, Mu Yue couldn't let Obito neglect training his strength to study theory—it really wasn't worth it just for the promotion reward.

Moreover, during wartime there were many opportunities, so Obito didn't necessarily need to be promoted to jōnin through the jōnin assessment.

Setting aside Obito's matter, Mu Yue looked at Kakashi's promotion reward.

Two thousand four hundred points of chakra was nothing to say—an ordinary chūnin generally had about that much chakra.

Mu Yue found the remaining two rewards a bit hard to judge. He had never obtained a Weapon Draw Scroll before and didn't know what kind of weapons could be drawn from it or what quality they would be.

Mu Yue knew quite a bit about Pokémon because he had played the games and watched the anime, but the system rewarded unknown Pokémon eggs, and individual Pokémon could vary significantly.

"But even the most ordinary Pokémon has potential that surpasses the vast majority of summoning beasts," Mu Yue thought to himself.

In Naruto, aside from the Three Great Sacred Lands, the upper limits of most summoning beasts were very low, with only a few being exceptional.

For Pokémon, if raised properly, even a Beedrill could match those so-called pseudo-legendaries.

As per his habit, Mu Yue washed his hands before drawing.

【Weapon Draw Scroll · Sword and Blade Type used — Obtained weapon: Great Blade Twenty-One Works: Enma】

"This sword..." Mu Yue wore a thoughtful expression.

If he remembered correctly, in the One Piece world, this was a conscious cursed blade that would forcibly absorb its user's Haki, and an ordinary person might die from having all their Haki drained.

Mu Yue estimated that the weapon would undergo localization; otherwise, this sword might be useless except for being a bit harder.

Because people in the Naruto world didn't have what was called Haki—Haki was a unique talent of the One Piece world.

The Armament Haki they used was essentially a Yin Release secret technique, which was very different from the native Haki of One Piece.

Mu Yue used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave the camp and find an uninhabited place to test Enma.

The Enma drawn from the system was almost identical to the Enma in Mu Yue's memory; the purple scabbard had floral patterns, and the tsuba looked like three rings joined together.

Holding the scabbard in his left hand, Mu Yue gripped the hilt tightly with his right and abruptly drew Enma.

Shing!

A flash of white light passed, and a tachi with a cold gleam flowing along the blade appeared in Mu Yue's hand, looking incredibly sharp.

Mu Yue's hand gripping the hilt felt a mysterious suction; the chakra in his body was slowly drawn into Enma by that force.

After about a minute, Mu Yue had lost seven thousand points of chakra.

"Interesting. So it turned into absorbing chakra." Mu Yue showed an intrigued expression and then focused on controlling his chakra with all his might.

Mu Yue's chakra control was very strong; Enma couldn't absorb even a bit of chakra from Mu Yue anymore.

Enma seemed a bit unwilling; an even stronger suction came from the hilt, but it still couldn't pull any chakra from Mu Yue.

Ignoring Enma, which kept trying to absorb his chakra, Mu Yue swung Enma at the trees ahead.

Swoosh!

A white blade light flashed, and a black line appeared on the large tree in front of Mu Yue, which then quickly fell backward.

Rumble!!

The sound of large trees falling rang out; not only the tree in front of Mu Yue, but also the trees not far from him were all severed in two.

"The strength isn't bad, but it's a bit dangerous," Mu Yue thought, looking at the destroyed forest.

Losing seven thousand chakra was nothing to him now, but many not-so-strong jōnin generally had only about seven thousand chakra, meaning Enma could drain a jōnin's chakra in a minute.

Next, Mu Yue tested Enma's chakra conductivity, which was very important in the ninja world.

As Mu Yue infused Lightning Release chakra into Enma, dazzling blue arcs enveloped the sword, and the slashes Enma produced turned into lightning strikes.

Mu Yue didn't stop; he soon tried infusing Fire Release chakra into Enma, causing the blade to burst into flames.

"The chakra conductivity is quite good." Muyue nodded in satisfaction.

Enma was the finest chakra blade he had ever seen; its data in every aspect was excellent. Even without using chakra enhancement, it was a hard and sharp blade.

"I'll find an opportunity to give it to Kakashi." Muyue did not plan to use Enma himself.

As for weapons, Muyue had the Six Paths Staff. Although he had never taken it out to use, it wasn't because it was ineffective or weak—rather, Muyue had never encountered a battle that required him to use the Six Paths Staff.

The strongest opponent Muyue had faced so far was Hanzō. Hanzō's specialty, Water Release, could not pose a threat to him, but Hanzō's poison was far more dangerous. Since the Six Paths Staff could not deal with poison gas, Muyue had not brought it out.

The Six Paths Staff itself was very powerful. First, it possessed terrifying hardness—Muyue's attacks, which consumed tens of thousands of chakra points, could not leave a mark on the Six Paths Staff. Second, the Staff had a special effect that could disrupt ninjutsu. As long as Muyue had not yet reached the Six Paths level, the Six Paths Staff would be of great use to him.

Finally, Muyue took out the Pokémon egg and glanced at it, wanting to try using his Byakugan to see what Pokémon was inside.

Perhaps because it was a Kakashi-exclusive reward and hadn't yet reached Kakashi's hands, Muyue saw nothing.

Having no result from his inspection, Muyue put the egg back into the System Space, planning to give it to Kakashi as a jōnin gift when he arrived on the battlefield.

After the evening combat meeting ended, Orochimaru and Muyue spoke alone again.

"Kirigakure's behavior has been somewhat unusual lately. Although they are still overall on the defensive and avoiding battle, there has been a slight change compared to before. Perhaps Kirigakure has sent reinforcements." Orochimaru stated his conjecture.

"If it's just an ordinary ninja unit, it's manageable, but if the Kirigakure reinforcements include a jinchūriki, things could become a bit troublesome."

Even a ninja of Orochimaru's caliber would find it difficult to defeat a jinchūriki in direct combat during a war.

The destructive power of a Tailed Beast Ball was too great; it could deal a devastating blow to both individuals and ninja units.

Of course, if the opportunity arose, Orochimaru would resort to underhanded means. The Eight-Tails jinchūriki of Kumogakure, Blue B, had been killed by Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was well aware of the nature of jinchūriki. The tailed beast was both the jinchūriki's most powerful weapon and a sharp blade that could be turned against the jinchūriki himself. As long as the seal was undone and the tailed beast was released, the jinchūriki would fall into an inescapable death situation.

The time he killed Blue B, Orochimaru hardly had to do anything. He simply took advantage of Blue B's weakened will, infiltrated Kumogakure, used his specially made illusion-inducing secret drug to paralyze Blue B's entire body, making him unable to move, then undid the seal on Blue B to separate the Eight-Tails from him. Blue B died instantly.

"The ultimate weapons of the five great shinobi villages are only 'a bit troublesome'—it seems you have full confidence in victory, Orochimaru-kun." Muyue noticed the strong confidence in Orochimaru's words.

Clearly, Orochimaru wasn't thinking he couldn't win, but rather that with a tailed beast involved, the casualties might look unsightly.

"Muyue-kun, my confidence lies in you. The role you can play on this battlefield is far greater than that of a so-called jinchūriki." Orochimaru chuckled lightly.

With Muyue's jutsu and his own exceptional strength, the role Muyue could play was truly worth more than a thousand troops. Even if Orochimaru were offered a unit of a thousand ninja in exchange for Muyue, he would refuse without hesitation.

…

Konoha, Uchiha Compound.

Obito got up early to prepare to go to the southern forest to train.

Earlier, Obito had been a little tempted by what his grandmother said, wanting to balance work and rest by reducing training time to go hang out with Rin, but after being provoked by Kakashi, Obito abandoned that idea.

Obito wanted to train. He had to surpass Kakashi, then from a victor's vantage point look down at Kakashi lying on the ground and say, "So what if you're a jōnin? It's still me who's stronger."

So not only did Obito not reduce his training time, he even increased it. Now, even Might Guy would have to give Obito a thumbs-up and shout, "So youthful!"

As Obito passed through the main street of Konoha's central district, he saw a figure that made him pleasantly surprised.

"Rin, good morning! What a coincidence." Obito greeted Rin with a grin.

Rin nodded and replied with a smile, "Good morning, Obito."

"Obito, have you had breakfast? If not, I can treat you to breakfast today."

"That's really great! I was just about to go have breakfast." Obito, who had just finished breakfast, agreed without hesitation.

Even though he had already eaten, breakfast treated by Rin was not the same as ordinary breakfast. Obito would have no problem eating two more portions.

Rin took Obito to a breakfast shop she had visited before and thought tasted good.

"Not passing the exam is very normal. Most ninja can't pass the Chūnin Exam on their first try." After they sat down for a while, Rin spoke up to comfort him.

Actually, she had come to find Obito on purpose because she had heard about the jōnin selection. Kakashi had passed, but Obito had not.

"Kakashi probably succeeded on his first try because he had many years of chūnin experience. If you keep working hard, Obito, I'm sure you'll be promoted too."

They looked the same age, but Kakashi had much more ninja experience than them. When they were in their first year, Kakashi was already a genin; when they were in their second year, Kakashi was already a chūnin.

Obito ate the breakfast Rin treated him to, with Rin's gentle voice soothing his ears, and he felt deeply moved in his heart.

Rin had come specifically to comfort him by treating him to this meal.

"Mm, you can rest assured, Rin. I definitely won't be discouraged by this. Kakashi has only read a little more than me, and I even defeated the examiner during the practical test. Kakashi could only endure until the exam time ended, and the shinobi who notified the results also said I had enough skill, just that the written test was a bit off." Obito said with confidence.

At that moment, it seemed as if he was the successful one, and Kakashi the failure.

"Defeating the examiner during the jōnin exam? That's amazing." Rin Nohara clasped her hands in front of her chest and praised with a smile.

Although she didn't understand much because she didn't participate, normally speaking, the examiner of the jōnin exam must be strong, so winning meant being strong.

"Hehe, just average amazing. You can do it too, Rin, if you train a bit more." Obito scratched his head sheepishly.

"As for me, I need to work much harder. My strength still has a long way to go compared to you two." Rin had a good sense of her own ability; at present, her role was more supportive.

"Obito, do you have time this afternoon? If you do, could you come to the park? The one with the cherry blossom trees nearby." Rin suddenly asked.

"This afternoon..." Obito fell into thought.

His original plan for the afternoon was to train, but Rin asking him to go to the park... Could it be...

"Could it be the legendary date!" A gleam flashed in Obito's eyes, and he became completely excited.

Rin taking the initiative to ask him on a date — what a dreamlike thing that was.

"If you don't have time, then..." Before Rin finished, Obito interrupted.

"I have time. I'm free in the afternoon. I have the whole afternoon." Obito quickly replied.

If it was a date with Rin, Obito could have time all day.

"Then let's meet at the cherry blossom tree in the park at two in the afternoon." Rin said with a smile.

"I'll definitely arrive at the park at two sharp, no tardiness." Obito said seriously.

"Mm, I believe you, Obito." Rin nodded and said goodbye to Obito.

Watching Rin's retreating figure, Obito couldn't help but grin foolishly.

Even if he didn't become a jōnin, being able to date Rin was fine.

In the time that followed, Obito couldn't help but keep thinking about the afternoon date under the cherry blossoms, and couldn't even concentrate on training.

"I have to take a shower and change clothes, otherwise I'll smell like sweat. Should I bring a gift? Buy some flowers, or bring some snacks?" Obito fell into hesitation.

After careful thought, Obito decided to buy snacks. He would buy roses for Rin when he confessed his feelings.

"Will I encounter contemptuous shop assistants while shopping? How should I deal with hooligans who like to tease..." Obito frantically simulated the process of the date with Rin.

"Wait, will Rin call Kakashi along too?" Obito's expression turned serious.

It wasn't that he was worrying needlessly; when Rin had called him out to play before, she usually also called Kakashi.

Obito clasped his hands together and silently prayed. This was the day he least wanted to see Kakashi.

In Obito's random thoughts, time quickly passed. After overcoming difficulties and arriving on time, he found that Rin hadn't called Kakashi, but the situation was even worse than that.