Chapter 453: Power of Two Ninja Swords

As Muyue swung the lightning blade, a flash of dazzling purple electric light bloomed before Kakashi's eyes.

Shua!

Boom!!

Kakashi, who was moving at high speed, suddenly stopped, but it wasn't because he wanted to; rather, Muyue's slash was about to land, forcing Kakashi to swing his sword in advance to counter.

The purple electric light collided with the yellow lightning dragon, and almost instantly the lightning dragon split in two and dissipated in the air.

Kakashi desperately channeled chakra to resist, but the power of the purple electric light exceeded the limit of what he could withstand; even using all his strength, he could only hold it for one second.

Bang!

The next moment, Kakashi's body flew backward and slammed heavily into the ground.

This result was somewhat unexpected for Kakashi.

It wasn't that he thought Muyue couldn't one-shot him; rather, Kakashi didn't expect Muyue to test his strength in this way.

In the past, whenever Muyue conducted tests, he would first give them enough room to maneuver before making his move.

After all, given Muyue's strength, if he struck directly, his disciples would only be instantly defeated, making it difficult to achieve the testing effect.

Just as Kakashi was puzzled, he stood up and suddenly noticed the changes around him.

The originally dense forest was now reduced to only stumps; slightly higher slopes had been leveled, and the ground was littered with broken trees and rubble.

"That slash just now actually had such a terrifying range of attack." Kakashi was shocked.

Muyue's slash was like giving this forest a buzz cut, surpassing Kakashi's previous understanding of lightning-release swordsmanship.

Kakashi couldn't imagine that lightning-release swordsmanship could have such power and create such an effect.

In his understanding, lightning-release swordsmanship should be strong in single-target and burst damage, but this one slash from Muyue made Kakashi realize how little he knew about lightning-release swordsmanship.

"What I just resisted was probably only the residual wave." Kakashi sighed inwardly at Muyue's amazing control.

With his current strength, he couldn't directly withstand such a powerful slash; if the main force of that slash had been aimed at him, he wouldn't have been able to hold it even for a second and would have been directly cut into pieces.

"The intensity of your nature transformation barely meets the minimum requirement." Muyue nodded slightly.

If Kakashi's nature transformation intensity had been insufficient just now, he wouldn't have been able to block even the residual wave for a second.

"Continue attacking me; this time you can only use swordsmanship, not breathing techniques or chakra." Muyue stated the test requirements.

Kakashi patted the dust off his clothes, adjusted his breathing, and prepared to hold the White Fang short blade as he stepped forward.

Since after reaching a constant state of breathing he could always maintain relatively focused breathing, if he couldn't use breathing techniques, Kakashi would have to manually turn it off.

Kakashi focused his gaze, lunged forward, and slashed at Muyue's chest; the short blade cut through the air like lightning, leaving nothing to spare.

Clang!

With a resounding clang of steel, Muyue drew the sword Shisui had given him from a scroll and swiftly unsheathed it to block the incoming blade.

One strike failing, Kakashi remained expressionless and immediately changed his move, tightly gripping the short blade and thrusting swiftly toward Muyue's heart, perfectly illustrating the saying "an inch shorter, an inch more dangerous."

However, Muyue seemed to see through Kakashi's moves completely, holding his sword horizontally in front of him and blocking Kakashi's attack perfectly again.

Kakashi understood that this was a test, so he directly abandoned defense and used all his strength to attack, each strike aimed at Muyue's vital points, like an unceasing storm.

But Muyue acted as if he had a precognition cheat; no matter how Kakashi attacked, Muyue calmly blocked everything, giving Kakashi a feeling similar to fighting himself while in a state of transparent world.

However, Kakashi, who was fighting Muyue, was well aware that Muyue was not using breathing techniques or chakra; he was fighting purely with swordsmanship.

Actually, this wasn't the first time Kakashi had encountered such a situation; before White Fang had committed suicide, he would personally train Kakashi's swordsmanship.

A swordsmanship novice against a swordsmanship master renowned for battlefield kills—if Kakashi hadn't deeply admired his father, he might have been traumatized into self-isolation.

But now Kakashi could no longer be considered a novice; after years of training and real combat, his swordsmanship could be called proficient.

Even so, facing Muyue, Kakashi felt as if he had returned to his novice days.

Pata!

Muyue's sword back struck Kakashi's hand holding the blade, knocking the White Fang short blade from his grasp.

"Your swordsmanship is also barely adequate." Muyue sheathed his sword and said.

Although Muyue had hardly practiced the sword before obtaining Mushin Issen, relying entirely on the bit of reward that Kakashi dropped, after gaining the Proficient-level Mushin Issen, Muyue actually possessed a realm of swordsmanship that ordinary people could never reach in a lifetime.

This was one aspect of the teacher system that Muyue really liked: the rewarded ability would grant a certain corresponding level of knowledge to prevent inability to use it.

The fact that Muyue could master the seven chakra nature transformations so quickly was thanks to this function.

Normal cultivation would require an extremely high realm of swordsmanship to train Mushin Issen to the Proficient level, but with the system, Muyue reversed this process, gaining swordsmanship experience by obtaining Proficient-level Mushin Issen.

Although it couldn't compare with someone who truly cultivated step by step, it was certainly very convenient.

Kakashi picked up the dropped White Fang short blade, feeling a hint of anticipation; Muyue had once personally said that the lightning release sword technique he would teach next was no worse than the Golden Horizon.

To say that Might Guy's strength relied entirely on Golden Horizon would obviously be biased; the Eight Gates and Rock Breathing were the true core, but Golden Horizon had indeed given Might Guy a great boost.

Kakashi had lost several battles to Might Guy's Golden Horizon; it was an impeccable, powerful taijutsu.

Although Might Guy's strength had undergone a qualitative change due to comprehending the Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, making it impossible for Kakashi to surpass him in a short time,

having a lightning release sword technique that could match Golden Horizon at least gave him something to look forward to, so he wouldn't keep fretting over the Golden Horizon.

"Let's leave here first." Muyue moved to a different location with Kakashi.

Although he had chosen a remote spot, the commotion just now was still a bit large; to avoid disturbance, Muyue had to pick a good place again.

At times like this, the Byakugan's telescopic vision was very useful; no matter how powerful a perception jutsu was, it could only sense chakra, while the Byakugan truly used the eyes to see, offering a more comprehensive and detailed observation.

"The lightning release sword technique I'm going to teach you is called Mushin Issen—a peerless slash that condenses all the power of the body in a state of no-thought, no-mind." Muyue first gave a brief introduction.

Kakashi listened very seriously; although the name was a bit strange, that wasn't the point—as long as it was strong enough.

When formal teaching began, Muyue granted Kakashi an enlightenment.

Without the boost from enlightenment and teaching, Kakashi at his current level would not be able to learn Mushin Issen.

That was why Muyue said he could barely learn it; it was only possible with the system skill boost, and otherwise he wouldn't be able to.

Since they were on the battlefield, Muyue didn't teach for long; after a few hours, he brought Kakashi back.

On the way back, Muyue used Appraisal to check Kakashi; Mushin Issen didn't even appear on Kakashi's skill list, meaning he hadn't trained any proficiency at all.

This was within Muyue's expectations; when Might Guy trained the Golden Horizon, he also practiced hard for a long time before even getting the hang of it, and to this day he still hadn't reached the Proficient level. Powerful skills were indeed hard to train.

Returning alone to Konoha, walking through the lively streets that were no different from his memories, and returning to his empty home, Shisui suddenly felt a strange sense of melancholy.

The uncle who took care of him when he was young was not here, nor was Muyue; now, even among Muyue's disciples, only Shisui was in Konoha.

However, Shisui was not someone who dwelled on sadness; the melancholy came and went quickly. After cleaning the house, he began to train.

He wouldn't be separated from Muyue and the others for long; after the jonin exam ended, he would leave Konoha.

After dinner that evening, Shisui did not continue training but went to Uchiha Fugaku's house.

Of course, he wasn't going to see Uchiha Fugaku; Shisui was going to see Uchiha Itachi.

Shisui did not forget his responsibility to guide Uchiha Itachi. To prevent Itachi from becoming that cold-blooded renegade ninja of the future, he had to instill some positive thoughts in Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Fugaku was very pleased with Shisui's arrival. Although he was in the rear and didn't know the title "Shisui of the Body Flicker," just that encounter battle where Shisui and Obito had earned enough face for the Uchiha.

"This time you're back—how long will you be resting?" Uchiha Fugaku asked with a smile.

He thought that Shisui's entire squad had returned to the rear for a break.

"If nothing unexpected happens, I'll return to the battlefield the day after tomorrow," Shisui replied after thinking.

Tomorrow he would take the jonin exam; going by Kakashi and the others' experience, results would come out a day later, so Shisui planned to return directly to the battlefield after the results came out the day after tomorrow, regardless of whether he was promoted.

"The main purpose of coming back this time is to take the jonin exam, so I won't stay long."

A flash of surprise crossed Uchiha Fugaku's face. If he remembered correctly, Shisui was only eight years old now. If he passed the exam, Shisui would become the unprecedented eight-year-old jonin.

The record for the youngest jonin, recently broken by Kakashi, would be shattered again by Shisui.

"Itachi, you really should learn from Shisui; this is the kind of genius our Uchiha clan can be proud of." Uchiha Fugaku praised generously in front of them.

Young Uchiha Itachi couldn't understand the content of Shisui's and Fugaku's conversation, nor what being a jonin meant, but he obediently nodded.

Because compared to Obito, Shisui seemed very intelligent and didn't say things that were hard to understand.

"I'm not sure if I'll pass the exam or not. If I don't, Itachi, you don't need to learn it." Shisui patted Uchiha Itachi's little head and said with a smile.

Shisui was calm and quiet most of the time, but now he occasionally cracked small jokes.

"With your abilities, Shisui, you'll most likely pass." Fugaku Uchiha could already see the new topic of conversation among the ninjas in a few days.

"Being cautious makes it harder to make mistakes." Shisui shook his head and said.

He didn't underestimate the Jonin exam; after all, Might Guy and Obito had both failed it, leaving only Kakashi to pass and become a Jonin.

"For the written portion, it's hard to improve in a short time—it relies on long-term accumulation. But I can give you some pointers on your Fire Release through combat training." Fugaku Uchiha thought for a moment and said.

As the head of the Uchiha clan and captain of the Konoha Military Police Force, Fugaku Uchiha was actually very busy, with many matters to handle.

However, whether he had time also depended on the person. If the person was Shisui, one of the future hopes of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha could squeeze out his limited free time to help Shisui improve.

Shisui's original plan was to brush off Fugaku Uchiha and take Uchiha Itachi out for a walk to educate him.

But Fugaku Uchiha was too enthusiastic, making it hard for Shisui to refuse.

After all, Fugaku Uchiha had treated him well. Although it might be related to his ninja talent, the kindness Fugaku Uchiha had shown him could not be erased.

"Then I'll trouble you." Shisui finally agreed.

Then Fugaku Uchiha led Uchiha Itachi and Shisui to a nearby open ground.

After all, Shisui was a ninja who had fought against the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and was about to become a Jonin. Fugaku Uchiha would not underestimate him too much.

If he didn't want to sleep on the streets tonight, he definitely couldn't hold the fight in the yard of the house.

"Itachi, stand aside and watch carefully. Don't come too close." Fugaku Uchiha instructed before the fight.

He himself was confident that he wouldn't harm Uchiha Itachi no matter what, but he wasn't sure about Shisui.

Then Fugaku Uchiha looked at Shisui and said, "Shisui, don't hold back. Feel free to use your full strength."

Shisui thought for a moment and directly entered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

Fugaku Uchiha was, after all, the head of the Uchiha clan. Although Shisui had never heard of any impressive feats from him, he felt that Fugaku Uchiha's strength should be above that of two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Shisui wanted to test how his Flame Breathing Chakra Mode would perform in battle against such a strong opponent. Besides, Fugaku had taken the initiative to tell him to go all out.

Shisui pushed his breathing to the limit, inhaling a large amount of oxygen and converting it into power.

The moment Shisui entered the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, his chakra drained at an extremely fast rate, and at the same time, he felt the changes in his body.

Physical reinforcement was just a side effect. The true special feature of the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was its ability to enhance the nature transformation of Fire Release chakra, greatly increasing the power of flames.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Shisui clapped his hands together, instantly converting all the chakra condensed in his throat into Fire Release chakra, then expelled it in one breath.

The blazing fire formed by the Fire Release chakra rapidly coalesced into a massive fireball, hurtling toward Fugaku Uchiha.

Fugaku Uchiha, who had just finished making hand seals, was left with a question mark.

Being also an Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha had planned to start with the Great Fireball as well, but he never expected Shisui to be able to release it without hand seals—after all his years of practice, he couldn't do it himself.

Shisui's performance left Fugaku both astonished and baffled.