Chapter 450: Kakashi's Promotion Gift

"Since everyone has fully recovered, it's time for us to return to the eastern front battlefield," Kakashi said.

No urgent orders came from the front lines; this was Kakashi's own decision.

Although everyone was alive and well now, Kakashi hadn't forgotten that they had a less-than-ideal future.

In that less-than-ideal future, Muyue was absent, Minato would die in the Nine-Tails incident, and Rin and Obito wouldn't survive until Naruto Uzumaki could remember things.

To prevent that future from becoming reality, they needed to become as strong as possible, and war was an excellent training ground.

War was dangerous, but it truly tempered people—something Kakashi had to acknowledge.

Even now, Kakashi found it hard to imagine Muyue dying an unnatural death.

This was Teacher Muyue, who had mastered many breathing techniques, Armament Haki secrets, and the Flying Thunder God—what kind of ninja or ninja squad could possibly kill him?

With so little information, Kakashi struggled to analyze anything useful; the only certainty was that the weak would only hold Muyue back.

Hearing Kakashi's words, Obito's expression turned serious. He didn't want to die before Kakashi, much less see Rin killed, and least of all see the wonderful Teacher Muyue fail to live a long life.

"I have no problems here, ready to leave anytime," Might Guy replied cheerfully.

Might Guy was a man who liked to simplify complex problems. Since the Five Gates plus Rock Breathing Chakra Mode wasn't strong enough, he would just keep training until he reached the Eighth Gate plus Rock Breathing Chakra Mode plus Armament Haki.

After long and arduous training, combined with the double boost of Muyue's enlightenment and teaching, Might Guy had finally mastered the prerequisite for the Armament Haki secret technique—Yin-nature chakra transformation—and officially began practicing Armament Haki.

However, comparing the time it took Kakashi and the others to master Yin Release nature transformation and Armament Haki, Might Guy's path to Armament Haki wouldn't be easy.

"Alright, then let's call Rin and set off together," Kakashi said with a nod.

Since they had recovered earlier than Might Guy, they had already discussed this in advance.

After that, the four of them packed their things and headed for the eastern front battlefield.

"This time, I'm definitely going to defeat the Mist along with Teacher Muyue and get promoted to jonin!" Obito declared spiritedly as he stepped out of the village gate.

Last time he set out, he was just a moderately famous chunin from the chunin exams; this time, he wanted to go further and become a renowned jonin!

"Obito, please focus on the journey and stop talking nonsense," Kakashi said bluntly, emphasizing Obito's status.

"We've barely left the village a few meters and you're already throwing your weight around as deputy captain?" Obito shot back, feeling Rin's gaze on him.

"Fine then, Obito the chunin, please don't waste time," Kakashi retorted, stabbing Obito again with his ninja rank.

Obito's expression stiffened; not only was his position in the squad lower than Kakashi's, but his ninja rank was also inferior.

"Kakashi only became a ninja earlier—otherwise there's no way he'd become a jonin so quickly," Obito consoled himself internally, thinking of Kakashi's ninja age.

Then he thought about how Might Guy and Shisui were still chunin, and Obito felt more at ease—among Muyue's disciples, chunin were the majority for now.

"Ahem, let's hurry up then," Obito cleared his throat twice to ease the awkwardness and buried his head in the road.

By the time Obito and the others reached the camp, it was already evening. Familiar ninjas gathered together, eating and chatting.

"Konoha is truly thriving—we have young and talented powerhouses like Lord Minato and Lord Muyue, and super geniuses like Konoha's Green Beast Might Guy and Shisui of the Body Flicker," a ninja couldn't help but sigh.

The shinobi world was chaotic now, with Konoha at war with three great villages at once. So many battles should have been worrying, but the steady stream of strong ninjas and geniuses emerging from Konoha kept the village's ninjas very optimistic.

"Isn't that right? I heard Uchiha Shisui is only eight years old this year—really frightening. At eight, he cut down three Mist jonin in a single battle. Even the legendary Uchiha Madara couldn't have done better at the same age," another ninja clicked his tongue.

At eight, he was still in the Ninja Academy, and he'd have been awed by just seeing a chunin teacher show off—truly incomparable.

"Hatake Kakashi is also very strong—he killed Samehada's wielder, Hiramekarei's owner, among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Now he's Konoha's youngest jonin. Maybe he'll surpass Lord White Fang in the future," someone added.

Obito stopped in his tracks, waiting for a certain line.

"And it seems they're all disciples of Lord Muyue—feels like they could become the next Sannin."

Obito's forehead creased into a grimace; Muyue had so many disciples, how could they be just the Sannin? At the very least, it should be the Goshin (Five Ninjas). Besides, Hiramekarei's owner was killed by him and Kakashi together—how did it become Kakashi's sole credit?

"That inherently evil Kakashi—I didn't expect you to be a credit thief!" Obito cursed inwardly.

Seeing Obito suddenly stop, Rin looked at him with confusion, forcing Obito, who wanted to wait longer, to continue reluctantly.

Since Muyue wasn't out on a mission this time, they quickly found him in the camp.

"Teacher Muyue," all the disciples greeted him.

"Looks like everyone has recovered well," Muyue replied with a smile. "Also, congratulations to you, Kakashi, on successfully becoming a jonin. Is it a bit too late to say it now?"

【】

Kakashi revealed a hint of a smile. "It's not too late, Instructor Muyue. Didn't you come to offer your congratulations right away?"

As a deputy battlefield commander, Muyue bore heavy responsibilities and couldn't leave the battlefield casually, so in Kakashi's view, Muyue's thanks were not late at all, and he had always kept this in mind.

"Whether it's early or late aside, look forward to the promotion gift I'm giving you. You definitely won't guess what it is." Muyue spoke like a riddle master.

This made Kakashi a little curious. Muyue never made baseless claims, so since Muyue said it was hard to guess, it must be a gift Kakashi couldn't imagine.

"Could it be a ninja?" Kakashi tried to guess in the most useless direction in his mind.

The next moment, Kakashi dismissed this idea. Muyue wasn't Obito; how could he give such a nonsensical gift?

If Muyue gave him a ninja, there was only one possibility: the ninja Muyue gave was not an ordinary ninja, containing deep meaning.

Obito stared at Kakashi with eyes full of envy, jealousy, and hatred. He wanted a gift from Instructor Muyue too.

Only then did Obito realize that failing the Jōnin exam was a terrifying existence that could rank in the top ten of life's greatest failures. Not only did it make him lower his head to Kakashi and leave him too ashamed to play with Rin Nohara, but he could only watch helplessly as Muyue gave Kakashi a promotion gift alone.

Muyue walked into his tent, made it look like he was fetching something, then took out a Pokémon Egg from his system space and walked out of the tent.

"This is my jōnin gift to you." Muyue held the Pokémon Egg in both hands and handed it to Kakashi.

"What a big egg! What kind of egg is this? Are we going to make a whole-egg feast to celebrate?" Obito asked curiously.

It was the first time he had seen such a big egg—bigger than their heads.

*Smack! *

Along with a crisp tapping sound, Muyue's finger made intimate contact with Obito's forehead.

"This isn't for eating. It's an egg that can hatch a summoning beast." Muyue withdrew his finger and said.

"So summoning beasts are hatched from eggs?" Obito rubbed the spot where he was tapped, feeling like he had gained knowledge.

Kakashi was speechless. No wonder Obito deserved to fail the jōnin exam.

"That depends on whether it's oviparous or viviparous, not on whether it's a summoning beast or a ninja beast," Kakashi explained.

Actually, in Kakashi's view, the difference between a ninja beast and an ordinary animal was like the difference between a ninja and an ordinary person—there were special traits but also many commonalities.

"Instructor Muyue, what type of summoning beast is inside?" Kakashi examined the Pokémon Egg for a few moments and then asked.

After all, biology class didn't teach how to identify specific animals from eggs.

"You'll know when it hatches. But I can tell you this summoning beast is very strong, with extremely high growth potential. If you nurture it carefully, it will become a great help in battle." Muyue maintained his riddle-master attitude.

Of course, this was mainly because Muyue himself didn't know which Pokémon would hatch from the egg.

However, judging by the system's usual style, Muyue felt the Pokémon inside would probably be relatively compatible with Kakashi.

It might be a Ground-type or Electric-type Pokémon similar to Kakashi's chakra affinities, or a Water-type that could combo with him for combined ninjutsu, or even related to swordsmanship.

"Very strong..." Kakashi instinctively hugged the Pokémon Egg a little tighter.

For a ninja, a summoning beast with excellent combat ability was even more important than a powerful secret technique.

"What could it be? A bird?" Kakashi couldn't help speculating.

Birds were all oviparous, but Kakashi hadn't heard of many strong bird-type summoning beasts.

【You gifted your disciple a Pokémon Egg. Because the disciple was extremely grateful, a massive crit reward was triggered: Obtain Ninjutsu: Kirin (Mastery Level).】

Probably because they hadn't seen each other for a long time and Muyue gave such a generous gift right away, Kakashi also gave a small gold coin explosion, rewarding Muyue with a Mastery-level S-rank Lightning Release.

Muyue did not take out Enma. He believed that the current Kakashi could not handle this demonic sword; using it would carry risks.

Setting aside combat styles and swordsmanship, the one most suited to Enma would be someone like Nagato—a "chakra ton"—who could let it drain as much as it wanted since he had plenty of chakra.

But considering other limitations, among Muyue's disciples, Kakashi was the best match for Enma.

Although Kakashi was an all-rounder, his specialty and strongest area was still Lightning Release swordsmanship. A good sword would greatly enhance Kakashi.

The White Fang was just an ordinary chakra blade. Its extraordinary reputation in the ninja world was due to its owner, Sakumo Hatake's exceptional abilities, not the blade itself.

Moreover, Muyue had tested Enma in combat once. Enma could cut people and absorb chakra on its own, becoming stronger the more it cut; it didn't need the owner to supply all the chakra.

If that were the case, Kakashi would only have two problems when using Enma: first, the chakra needed for the initial activation, and second, it would be difficult to absorb an enemy's chakra in a one-on-one fight.

Solving both these problems required a decent amount of chakra himself. Since Kakashi had to budget his chakra carefully for every technique, Muyue thought it over deeply and ultimately decided not to give Kakashi the sword yet. He planned to let Kakashi try it when he reached the next stage.

"Mu Yue-sensei, when I was walking over I heard someone mention 'Shisui of the Body Flicker.' What's that all about?" Obito suppressed his craving for summoning beasts and asked.

Shisui shouldn't have outperformed him in skirmishes, so how come Shisui's reputation was so much bigger now, and he even got such a cool nickname?

Shisui, who had come to see Mu Yue after finishing his mission, happened to hear Obito's question and replied, "Nothing much. I've just been doing a lot of missions lately, and someone gave me a nickname."

The corner of Obito's mouth twitched. He wanted a nickname like that too.

"While you two were recuperating in Konoha, Shisui kept doing missions. Once he fell into an enemy trap, but relying on his personal strength, he killed three Kirigakure jonin in a row and defeated the enemy." Mu Yue briefly described Shisui's efforts over the past month or so.

A resilient green plant appeared in Obito's mind. He kind of regretted going back.

He had failed his jonin promotion. Because he was busy training and embarrassed by the failure, he hadn't deepened his bond with Rin Nohara, and in the end he was forced to celebrate Kakashi's promotion to jonin.

Thinking about it like that, Obito felt his life in Konoha was like hell.

And then thinking about how Shisui had seized this chance to make a name as 'Shisui of the Body Flicker' made his mood even more complicated.

If Obito had to describe it, it was like a friend who studied hard during the holidays while he chased girls—only to end up not getting the girl while his friend aced the exams.

"It's all in the past. Things will get better once I start taking missions again." Obito skillfully comforted himself.

Then Mu Yue gave Kakashi and the others the latest battlefield intel and transferred Shisui back to Kakashi's team.

Shisui had no objection to that. Although he got along well with Uesugi Toru and the others, Kakashi's group was more important to him.

Still, they had been comrades through life and death for over a month, so Shisui would explain the situation to Takagi Shinji's team and say goodbye.

"Mu Yue-sensei, Obito said he's really frustrated that he failed to become a jonin due to insufficient theoretical knowledge, so he hopes you can give him some challenging test papers to improve his written exam skills. He also wants to become a jonin who is both wise and brave." Kakashi suddenly spoke before leaving.

Since Obito wasn't acting like a human, he couldn't blame Kakashi for being ruthless.

"Oh, is that so?" Mu Yue smiled and glanced at Obito.

Obito voluntarily asking for test papers, and difficult ones at that—the odds were about the same as Black Zetsu turning himself in. He knew at once it was Kakashi's bullshit.

"Of course I'm an ambitious person." Obito's hand trembled as he bluffed.

At that moment, Obito was cursing Kakashi in his heart, because Kakashi had put him on the spot. If he argued, it would mean he had no ambition and just wanted to be a brawny, simple-minded ninja.

In front of Mu Yue and in front of Rin Nohara, how could Obito admit that? That would be too disappointing.

"But thinking back, my idea at the time was really immature. Mu Yue-sensei, as the deputy commander on the battlefield, you must be very tired from work. I can't add to your burden over such a trivial matter." Obito desperately tried to salvage the situation.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Whenever it came to a moment like this, Obito's brain worked like a well-oiled machine.

Since Obito was framing it as consideration for Mu Yue, Kakashi couldn't really say anything else.

"No problem. For an experienced teacher like me, it's nothing. I'll do my best to come up with test papers that will help you improve, Obito." Mu Yue said with a beaming smile.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile. He usually didn't laugh—unless he couldn't help it.

"This world is a lie. This is... hell." Obito stood there frozen, his face full of sorrow.