Chapter 468: Sun Breathing Chakra Mode

"Although some are thin and small, fortunately I came prepared."

Might Guy set Riolu down on the ground, pulled out a pile of green tights from who knows where, selected the smallest one, held it up to Riolu, and found that it fit perfectly.

"Seriously, your dogs keep getting weirder and weirder. This one stands on two legs just like a human," Obito couldn't help but complain as he stared at the bipedal Riolu.

"And Guy, your obsession with green tights is way too deep — you even want your summoning beast to wear them." Obito felt there were too many things to criticize; he couldn't finish them all at once.

"It's not an obsession — these clothes are really suitable for training and fighting!" Might Guy said, giving Obito a thumbs-up.

"Obito, you should try them too. Trust me, once you put them on, you'll fall in love with them."

Might Guy reached back into the pile of green tights, picked out a pair that matched Obito's build, and handed them to him.

Obito shook his head like a rattle drum, showing his strong refusal.

"Just give them a try — they're really comfortable." Might Guy kept enthusiastically recommending them, unfazed.

He genuinely believed the green tights were great, and if given the chance, Might Guy wanted to promote them across all of Konoha, even the Land of Fire and the entire shinobi world, spreading that comfort far and wide.

"Guy, go ask Kakashi. I see him wearing a green vest every day — maybe he'd like this green outfit too." Sacrificing a friend to save himself, Obito promptly sold out Kakashi.

It wasn't that Obito had any color discrimination; it was that Might Guy's tights were a deadly, putrid green. Obito felt that if he actually wore them, even if he looked good to begin with, he'd end up ugly.

Kakashi:???

He was wearing the standard-issue vest Konoha provided for chunin and jonin — all Konoha shinobi wore green — how did that mean he liked green?

"Kakashi, you..."

Before Might Guy could finish, Kakashi cut him off:

"I once went to a temple to have my fortune read. The master said my destiny is countered by green, so I can't wear green clothes — otherwise I'd be in mortal danger."

"If that's the case, then there's really nothing I can do." Might Guy rubbed his chin and stopped bothering Kakashi, instead turning back to look at Obito.

Obito was speechless — Kakashi was obviously fooling him, and yet Might Guy actually believed it.

If Kakashi's destiny were countered by green, then Obito might as well be Uchiha Madara: "Because I was wounded by Wood Release, I hate green and won't wear green clothes."

"Obito, if you don't try it even once, you'll never know how comfortable these clothes are." Might Guy strongly recommended.

"Guy, don't waste your breath. I'm pretty satisfied with my current clothes. Why don't you wait until Shisui gets back and ask him?" Obito then brought up Shisui again.

Shisui had been strangely busy these past few days; he came to train less often.

Obito remembered that Shisui started becoming like this after going to some kind of martial demonstration event; Obito had wanted to attend too because there were rewards.

Obito was happy to participate in activities with rewards — getting something for free was a very enjoyable thing.

However, Shisui said he had something important to do and asked Obito not to join, so Obito didn't go.

Freeloading was satisfying, but his friend's request mattered more.

Might Guy thought it over and found it somewhat reasonable, so he continued training and planned to recommend it to Shisui later.

Since Riolu had just been born, Might Guy didn't make it train alongside him; instead, he put Riolu on his back and continued doing one-finger push-ups.

Riolu felt Might Guy's pure heart for training and couldn't help wanting to train with him.

But being newly born, Riolu was still clumsy — not only could it not train effectively, it kept falling. Luckily, Might Guy was quick and caught it steadily every time, so it wasn't injured.

"How nice — it feels really heartwarming," Rin Nohara remarked as she watched.

Even though Riolu had just been born, the interaction between Riolu and Might Guy gave Rin a family-like feeling.

"Rin, don't be jealous — we'll have ours sooner or later." Obito decided that from now on, whenever he got a ninja beast egg, he would never let it leave his hands, ensuring it hatched as quickly as possible.

"Mm." Rin smiled gently and nodded.

After a day of training, Mu Yue, as usual, bought groceries and went to Tsunade's house to cook dinner. While eating, he chatted with Tsunade for half an hour about ideas for perfecting the Yang Seal.

Then he declined Tsunade's invitation to play Ninja Killer, returned home, and studied sealing jutsu while developing and training in Yang Breathing.

Mu Yue not only had multiple experiences developing breathing techniques but also possessed two Perfect-level breathing techniques and two Expert-level ones, so when he officially began cultivating Yang Breathing, his progress was extremely fast.

He entered the beginner level in one second, went from beginner to proficient in one day, and within two weeks, his Yang Breathing proficiency had reached two thousand four hundred — only six hundred away from the Expert level, which would grant him the Yang Breathing Chakra Mode.

"But this still isn't the Yang Breathing I envisioned. Even if I reach Expert level, I won't be able to fuse it with Flame Breathing to create Sun Breathing." Mu Yue shook his head with some regret.

Originally, he envisioned that the Yang Breathing Technique should be combinable with some type of chakra nature and a corresponding breathing technique—for example, the Fire Nature Flame Breathing, when layered with the Yang Nature Yang Breathing, would become a stronger Fire Release.

But the current Yang Breathing is not like that at all. The effect of the current Yang Breathing is to enhance Yang Release, while the Yang Breathing Chakra Mode allows for seal-less healing of the body and, to some extent, enlarging the body, similar to the Akimichi clan's Expansion Technique.

This kind of Yang Breathing is not weak in itself—it enhances Yang Release while carrying the effects of the Akimichi secret technique and the Hundred Healings Technique—but it is still far from the Yang Breathing Muyue envisioned. For a while, Muyue suspected that he might have gone slightly off track.

At around nine-thirty, there was a sudden knock on Muyue's door.

Muyue put down the manuscript in his hand, opened his Byakugan, and glanced toward the door, only to find Orochimaru.

"What does he want with me at this hour?" Muyue thought as he walked downstairs, pondering Orochimaru's purpose.

After returning to Konoha, Muyue and Orochimaru had actually met only a few times, because Orochimaru seemed very busy, and Muyue rarely saw him.

Opening the door, Muyue put on a slightly surprised expression. "Orochimaru-kun, please come in."

"Muyue-kun, sorry for the intrusion." Orochimaru gave a slight smile and followed Muyue into the house.

Muyue led Orochimaru to the living room, then poured two cups of tea, placing one in front of Orochimaru.

"After returning to Konoha, there have been too many trivial matters. I haven't been able to find time to talk with you as often as on the battlefield."

Orochimaru picked up the teacup, took a sip, and sighed, as if he and Muyue were close friends who would chat idly whenever free.

"After all, Orochimaru-kun holds a high position and great authority; Konoha needs you in many places." Muyue chuckled in reply.

He hadn't been entirely sure before, but since Orochimaru started by building rapport, Muyue guessed that Orochimaru must have some important business with him.

Orochimaru set down the teacup. "Now that the shinobi world is in chaos, it's not just me that is needed."

Muyue adopted a listening posture.

"Although Kirigakure has been driven back, they show no intention of signing a peace treaty with the village. War may break out again." Orochimaru first explained the current situation between Kirigakure and Konoha.

Kirigakure and Konoha had reached a silent understanding—for now, neither side intended to make a move.

But this understanding is only temporary. For Konoha, it's due to pressure from other fronts; for Kirigakure, it's due to losses in shinobi strength.

Once either side resolves its own problems, war could very well erupt again.

"Kumogakure and Sunagakure are fighting fiercely. I want to take the opportunity to strike a heavy blow against Kumogakure, thereby alleviating Konoha's pressure," Orochimaru explained.

Compared to waiting for Kirigakure to recover and then having them come knocking, Orochimaru naturally wanted to relieve pressure on other fronts and free up enough strength to deal with Kirigakure.

Even if that force wasn't enough to counter-invade Kirigakure's homeland, it would at least make Kirigakure hesitant to attack easily.

Muyue understood Orochimaru's meaning: "Want to go to the battlefield together and make a name for yourself?"

With Orochimaru analyzing the shinobi world situation at nine in the evening, unless he had nothing better to do, he was clearly trying to recruit Muyue.

"Orochimaru-kun, you have great foresight. I truly admire you." Muyue praised, as if he hadn't caught Orochimaru's subtext.

Orochimaru's idea was good, but Muyue didn't want to go to the battlefield with him.

The Kumogakure battlefield was far more dangerous than the Kirigakure one. On one hand, Kumogakure was stronger than Kirigakure; on the other hand, the Raikage was too reckless.

The Third Raikage would personally engage in real battles. If a major war broke out, there was a considerable chance he would appear on the battlefield.

Muyue wasn't afraid of a single Third Raikage—his defense was formidable, even difficult to harm with the Rasenshuriken—but Muyue had many offensive means. Stacking Perfect Armament Haki with Perfect Breathing, he could certainly break through that defense at full power.

But once on the battlefield, you couldn't expect a fair one-on-one; anything could happen.

Even now, Muyue still felt that the Kirigakure battlefield incident was too fishy. Although Konoha had won, it was only because of Muyue's unexpected variable.

The final battle with Kirigakure was far too strange. Suddenly, their intelligence level surpassed Konoha's by a large margin, nearly wiping out Konoha's main force at once.

With Flying Thunder God, Muyue wasn't worried about his own survival, but he also had to protect his disciples—that was another issue altogether. That's why Muyue didn't want to go to the battlefield.

At this time, his disciples had just completed a breakthrough, and it was an important period for a new phase of training. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered Muyue to the battlefield, Muyue would find a way to weasel out, let alone when it was Orochimaru asking.

Orochimaru rubbed his fingers against the teacup, his expression unchanged, and spoke directly:

"Muyue-kun, our cooperation on the Kirigakure battlefield was excellent. Therefore, I would like to invite you to join me on the Land of Hot Water battlefield to eliminate Kumogakure."

A subordinate with both strength and ability like Muyue was truly hard to find. Even though Orochimaru guessed that Muyue had been playing dumb just now, he didn't want to give up.

Orochimaru could actually sense that Hiruzen Sarutobi favored Jiraiya somewhat more, but he believed that if his contributions were great enough and he gained enough support, then Hiruzen Sarutobi would have no choice but to choose him.

Muyue showed an expression of sudden realization, then said with a reluctant tone, "Orochimaru-kun, although I would very much like to make achievements alongside you, I simply can't spare the time recently."

Muyue's clear refusal still did not make Orochimaru's expression worsen.

Orochimaru showed a slightly apologetic smile and said, "Sorry, I didn't consider the situation on your side, Muyue-kun."

Orochimaru did not leave immediately after being rejected by Muyue; instead, he chatted with Muyue for a while about the shinobi world situation before taking his leave.

"Did Danzo notice my movements and use this to pressure me?" Orochimaru's eyes flickered coldly as he left Muyue's home.

Actually, normally, if he wanted to take Muyue to the battlefield, he would have to notify Shimura Danzo first, because Muyue was Danzo's man.

The last time Muyue went to help Orochimaru was also the result of Shimura Danzo's efforts.

So why did Orochimaru bypass Shimura Danzo and come directly to Muyue?

Orochimaru's main purpose was to test Muyue's thoughts. If Muyue directly agreed, it would mean Muyue was willing to leave Shimura Danzo and stand with him. Otherwise, Muyue still maintained his Root stance.

Orochimaru did not want Shimura Danzo to have too much power in his hands.

It wasn't that Orochimaru was worrying about the Hokage's affairs before becoming Hokage, but if Shimura Danzo had too much power, their cooperative relationship would become unbalanced, which would be disadvantageous for Orochimaru.

To investigate whether Muyue's displayed attitude was Muyue's own or the result of Shimura Danzo's influence, Orochimaru indirectly asked Shimura Danzo a few things about Muyue.

Orochimaru was very cautious; he asked only trivial matters, and his reason was legitimate—curiosity about Muyue, a genius ninja with whom he got along well.

But Orochimaru still underestimated Shimura Danzo's level of caution.

Shimura Danzo immediately felt something was off about Orochimaru. He quickly sent people to investigate Orochimaru's movements and discovered that Orochimaru had actually taken the initiative to contact Muyue many times, and without his knowledge.

"That's a good one, Orochimaru! You even want to poach the most perfect product of my Root." Shimura Danzo was somewhat angry.

He had put in great effort to get Orochimaru to become Hokage, going back and forth with Hiruzen Sarutobi several times to send Muyue to the battlefield to support Orochimaru.

And this is how Orochimaru repays him—before even becoming Hokage, he wants to poach his people.

If not for being too deeply bound to Orochimaru—both knowing each other's dirty secrets—Shimura Danzo would have truly wanted to harshly reprimand Orochimaru as the leader of Root.

But Shimura Danzo could not, because although Orochimaru was nominally a Root ninja and his subordinate, the two were actually equal in status—they were collaborators.

"Heh, Muyue is utterly loyal to me. It's a futile effort." Shimura Danzo sneered inwardly. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi had not been able to achieve that, and he didn't think Orochimaru could.

Of course, confidence aside, Shimura Danzo still thoroughly investigated Muyue. He had always believed in better safe than sorry.

When Shimura Danzo found that Muyue never actively sought out Orochimaru, he felt relieved, believing Muyue was still that incomparably loyal subordinate to him.