Chapter 315: Their Respective Training
"Mugetsu sensei!"
Obito's voice echoed excitedly from outside the door.
A minute passed. There was no response.
Obito scratched his head, puzzled. On the way over he had considered many things, including the fact that today was Saturday, which meant Mugetsu would not be at the Ninja Academy teaching.
"Could it be that since it is a day off, Mugetsu sensei decided to sleep in?" Obito muttered to himself.
He immediately rejected that thought. He might do something like that, but Mugetsu absolutely would not.
"Mugetsu sensei, are you home?" Obito knocked again and called out.
Another minute went by. Still no answer.
Obito turned around decisively and headed for the South Border Forest instead. Mugetsu might not be at home, but in the South Border Forest, even if the real body was absent, there would definitely be one of his shadow clones.
When Obito arrived at their usual training ground, the scene before him made his jaw drop.
Kakashi was swinging his sword over and over. Might Guy was doing all kinds of strength exercises. Shisui was cycling through hand seals and breathing fire. Rin was standing in front of Mugetsu, listening intently to his explanation.
"Wait, no way. Did all of you run to find Mugetsu sensei this early in the morning, right after the exam ended?" Obito stared at them, stunned.
He had been planning to work in secret and shock everyone later. Instead, it turned out the others were even more diligent than he was. He had gotten up at eight and seen no one. Who knew what time they had woken up to drag Mugetsu out here?
"Of course," Kakashi replied calmly between breaths.
Minato was his teacher, and Kakashi respected him deeply. But when it came to training Transparent World, Minato could not help much. For this entire month, Kakashi planned to ask Mugetsu for guidance, pushing himself to fully master Transparent World and prepare for the Chunin Exams.
Originally, this exam had not mattered much to a Chunin like Kakashi. But now, with the promotion format, he would face Obito and Guy again. He did not intend to keep losing. He wanted to reclaim everything he had lost.
He was a genius. Constant defeat was not acceptable.
"It is perfectly normal to get up at six," Guy said as he hopped past, rock in hand, maintaining his Breathing Technique while doing frog jumps.
"Getting up at six is not normal at all! Only you would think that is normal, Guy," Obito complained.
Then he strode over to Mugetsu.
"Mugetsu sensei, can you help me make a special training plan?" Obito asked, eyes blazing. "I want to improve my strength so that even if my ninjutsu is countered, I can still defeat my enemies."
"No problem, Obito," Mugetsu replied with a nod. "Start by entering Constant State and continue your Breathing Technique training. I will guide you one by one."
Since he had already obtained perfect level Water Breathing, and Rin had been practicing Basic Breathing for nearly three months, it was time for her to learn a formal Breathing Technique. Water Breathing was the natural choice.
"Mm!" Obito gave Mugetsu and Rin a thumbs up, then began his Constant State training.
He had been learning the Breathing Technique for almost a year now and was already very familiar with the exercises for this stage.
"When you are using Water Breathing, you must not be impatient," Mugetsu reminded them. "Keep your heart calm and steady. Only then can Water Breathing show its full power."
Water Breathing did not suit hot headed people. The user needed a quiet, still mindset.
After covering the basic theory, Mugetsu officially began teaching Rin Water Breathing.
Since she had already studied Basic Breathing for three months and Water Breathing was the simplest and easiest of the Breathing Techniques to learn, Rin progressed quickly. She did not suffer through days of zero proficiency the way Obito and the others had when they first started. After about half an hour, Mugetsu used Appraisal on her. Water Breathing had already appeared in her skill list with a proficiency of two.
Mugetsu nodded to himself. Rin was much luckier than Obito and the others had been back then.
First, his own understanding of Breathing Techniques had deepened. Second, he had accumulated more teaching experience. Third, his teaching related skill had been upgraded and was now stronger. With all those buffs stacked together, this rate of growth felt perfectly normal.
Next, Mugetsu split off a shadow clone to continue guiding Rin, while his real body walked over to Kakashi. Guy had been the first to come to him this morning, and Mugetsu had already finished helping him adjust his training.
Kakashi stopped swinging his sword when he saw Mugetsu approach, but he kept his Breathing Technique active.
"First, tell me in detail what you felt when you entered Transparent World that day," Mugetsu said.
His own Transparent World came directly with perfect level Breathing Technique, and he had been able to use it freely from the beginning. To design the right training plan for Kakashi, he needed to understand Kakashi's situation clearly.
Kakashi nodded, recalled the battle in the Forest of Death, and began to describe it.
"My whole body hurt," he said. "Everywhere was aching, and I had no strength left. Just moving felt like it took everything I had. But right before I swung my sword, I actually did not feel that pain clearly anymore. At that moment, I only had one thought in my mind: to defeat the enemy. As that thought grew clearer, a transparent sensation slowly appeared in my mind. I could see my own body and the enemy's body clearly at the same time…"
"Extreme physical pain combined with an unyielding will?" Mugetsu mused.
He had to admit, Kakashi's awakening of Transparent World had been pure protagonist level treatment. The intense pain, the desperate desire to protect his comrades, and Kakashi's own talent had all stacked together to force the door open early.
But Mugetsu did not think this was a path that could be reproduced easily. At that time, in both physical suffering and mental resolve, Guy had not been inferior to Kakashi at all, yet Guy had not awakened Transparent World.
This was an ability that would only be reliably unlocked once a Breathing Technique reached perfect level. Before that, it was simply too rare.
"All right," Mugetsu decided after a moment. "First, train your body to its limit. Once you are there, fight one of my shadow clones. Fight with the resolve to cut it down. Do not hold anything back."
Since Kakashi's Transparent World had been triggered under extreme conditions, then they would start by recreating those conditions as much as possible.
Mugetsu left a shadow clone with Kakashi to supervise and walked over to Obito.
"You want to defeat those Hidden Mist ninja who use Water Release in the Chunin Exams, don't you?" he asked directly.
If nothing unexpected happened, Obito's second round opponent would be Mei, based on the tournament bracket.
"Yeah," Obito said quickly, looking up at him with bright, expectant eyes.
The battle in the Forest of Death had left a scar on him. Every single Mist ninja seemed to know Water Release, and it had driven him crazy.
Kurosawa and Zabuza were manageable. Although water naturally countered fire, with Flame Breathing Chakra Mode boosting his Fire Release, he could still overwhelm them by sheer force. Even if the attribute matchup was bad, fire that was hot enough could still boil water.
But when it came to Water Release users like Mei and Kisame, his Fire Release was simply not strong enough.
"There are two approaches," Mugetsu said after thinking for a moment. "One is to start special training in Earth Release nature transformation. Earth counters water. Even if you only learn Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall, you can block many of their attacks."
Given what they already knew, the simplest fix was indeed to treat the matchup directly. If the enemy was strong in Water Release, then learn Earth Release.
"What about the other way?" Obito pressed.
He understood the basic strengths and weaknesses of every elemental nature. During the Forest of Death battle, he had once hidden behind Kakashi's Earth Flow Wall to block a Water Release attack.
But Obito felt that learning Earth Release for a month just for a few Mist ninja was not very cost effective. Nature transformation was not easy, and his innate affinity was still Fire.
"The second option is to try developing your Flame Breathing Chakra Mode and use stronger flames to suppress their Water Release," Mugetsu said.
In Mugetsu's view, both choices were valid. Learning a new elemental ninjutsu type would allow Obito to handle more situations in the future, while awakening Flame Breathing Chakra Mode early would greatly increase his burst power.
"I pick the second one!" Obito decided after thinking for about ten seconds.
No surprise there. Mastering Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was far more attractive than learning Earth Release.
To avoid burning down too many trees, Mugetsu led Obito to the riverbank for his training.
There, he first demonstrated. He switched from Rock Breathing to Flame Breathing, then smoothly entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
With a single thought, a huge amount of chakra instantly converted into Fire Release. Violent flames surged to life in Mugetsu's hand, blazing so fiercely that the air distorted, yet they did not harm him at all.
Every Breathing Technique had its own special traits. Flame Breathing Chakra Mode granted extremely high resistance to flames. Even without protection, the user could let fire cling to their body without being burned.
And this protection did not only apply to their own flames. It also worked against others' Fire Release. In game terms, activating Flame Breathing Chakra Mode massively boosted fire resistance.
Obito stared at the blazing flames in Mugetsu's hand, eyes wide. Standing less than half a meter away, he could clearly feel the terrifying heat that his current Fire Release could not even come close to matching.
His anticipation only grew. During his battle with the Mist jonin, he had also unconsciously stepped into Flame Breathing Chakra Mode once. That meant he would eventually be able to reach this level as well.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique."
Mugetsu flicked his wrist. The flame in his hand flared wildly and then shot forward, splitting into three roaring fire dragons that hurtled across the ground and plunged into the surface of the river.
Sizzle.
The moment they struck, the river exploded into steam, and thick white mist rolled up into the sky.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet."
Mugetsu pressed his hands together, then opened his mouth and unleashed a sea of fire. The flames twisted like a living dragon as they roared outward, carefully avoiding Obito and turning the nearby ground into scorched earth. As that massive torrent of fire poured out, the white mist on the river was instantly vaporized into nothing.
Even though the flames did not touch the hem of his clothes, Obito's face was soon drenched in sweat just from standing next to that inferno.
Beneath the sweat, his eyes shone with irrepressible excitement. He knew both of those jutsu. If he could enter Flame Breathing Chakra Mode as well and unleash Fire Release at that level, then even Mei's Water Release would not be a problem.
"This is Flame Breathing Chakra Mode," Mugetsu said as he let the flames die and exited the state. "You can use Fire Release freely without hand seals, gain very high resistance to flames, and greatly increase the power of your fire."
He looked at Obito. "Your turn. Recall what you felt that day and push your Breathing Technique to its limit."
Obito closed his eyes and sank into his memories.
The sudden attack by the Mist jonin. His own body and Rin's both badly wounded. Guy getting knocked down again and again, only to stand back up each time to protect them. The jonin's mockery of their stubbornness.
As each memory surfaced, the fire in Obito's chest burned hotter. That Mist jonin was already dead, cut down by Kakashi, but the anger in Obito's heart still had not cooled. In the future, there would be others like that who would try to hurt his comrades.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Obito tried to fling his hand out and cast the jutsu without hand seals the way Mugetsu had, but only a single tongue of flame burst from his palm. It was nowhere near the scale of Great Dragon Fire.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Obito quickly clasped his hands together and attempted the second technique, but all he managed to exhale were two fist sized fireballs.
He scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. The gap was simply too big.
"You have not truly entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode yet," Mugetsu said, ruffling his hair. "Of course you cannot show all of its effects."
Obito's Flame Breathing Chakra Mode only had ten points of proficiency. It would be a miracle if he could use the same mode Mugetsu did. His chakra reserves were nowhere near enough to support that either.
At the end of the day, Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was an ability guaranteed to awaken once the Breathing Technique reached the proficient level. Obito had not even reached that level yet. Being able to touch the edges of the state at all meant his compatibility with Flame Breathing was incredibly high.
Mugetsu was not surprised that he could not maintain it. After all, even Kakashi was struggling to reenter Transparent World, and Kakashi already had twenty points of proficiency in that ability.
Thinking it through carefully, Mugetsu felt the difference came from the natures of the two abilities. In that battle against the Mist jonin, Kakashi had fully stepped into Transparent World, while Obito's Flame Breathing Chakra Mode had never truly taken shape.
Next, Mugetsu took Obito through tests to measure the effects of his incomplete Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
His Fire Release nature transformation speed was much higher than in ordinary Total Concentration state. The flames themselves were hotter and more destructive, and his resistance to fire had clearly increased.
Overall, the power boost was higher than regular Total Concentration in every way. The downside was the cost. Chakra consumption soared. In a full power fight, including the drain from the Sharingan, Obito would burn through everything in three minutes.
"This mode eats chakra way too fast," Obito complained after only a few minutes of testing, feeling as exhausted as if he had fought for half an hour.
"In that case, when you enter Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, try to use fewer Fire Release ninjutsu, or even none at all," Mugetsu suggested. "Instead, focus on Fire Release taijutsu, using flames to coat your body while you attack."
Originally, the idea of Fire Release taijutsu did not exist in the ninja world, because coating the body with fire was too dangerous. It was too easy to burn oneself. But Flame Breathing Chakra Mode's near immunity to flames solved that problem perfectly.
Combined with the ultra high temperature burns, ramming a person with a flaming body would be devastating. The power would be guaranteed, and the chakra cost would be lower than spamming large scale fireballs.
For Water Release techniques normal Fire Release could not overcome, he could then spend chakra to launch one or two greatly strengthened ninjutsu. That way, he could extend his fighting time.
Obito felt Mugetsu's plan was excellent. Fire Release taijutsu also sounded incredibly cool.
And so, his special training plan was finalized.
He would primarily focus on Breathing Technique and taijutsu, then combine the two to develop Fire Release taijutsu, coating every punch and kick with flame.
<><><><><>
[P@treon Christmas Discount: 20% OFF]
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]