Chapter 316: Mugetsu Is Hot on the Outside but Cold on the Inside?
It was not only Obito and the others who were pushing themselves. Asuma, the only member of his team to advance to the third round of the Chunin Exams, was also determined to make a breakthrough in the month they had been given.
However, Asuma did not know where Mugetsu lived, so on Monday afternoon, after classes ended at the Ninja Academy, he simply waited at the school gate.
The moment he saw Mugetsu walk out, Asuma hurried over to greet him.
Mugetsu answered with a gentle smile. He could more or less guess why Asuma was here.
At this point in time, there was really only one reason a student would come looking for him of their own accord.
"Teacher Mugetsu, do you have time to help me come up with a special training plan?" Asuma asked somewhat awkwardly. "I feel like only if I train under you will I have any hope of defeating Obito."
It sounded harsh, but his own jonin instructor truly could not compare to Mugetsu. If he spent this entire month just training under his team's jonin, Asuma was certain he would be crushed.
"I do have some ideas for raising your strength in a short time," Mugetsu replied tactfully, "but defeating Obito will still be very difficult."
It was not that Asuma was weak. It was that Obito's current strength was already on a completely different level from ordinary chunin.
Obito had the Sharingan and could already activate his Mark, even if it was not yet complete.
Even if Asuma's strength improved sharply in a month, he still would not be Obito's match. Asuma specialized in Wind Release and Fire Release, while the people who had a real chance of beating Obito were either elemental counters like Mei or disciples whom Mugetsu trained personally every single day, just like Obito.
Although the system's rewards all went to Mugetsu, his disciples benefited as well. Forbidden techniques like the Breathing Techniques, and his powerful teaching skills, all flowed into their training.
Obito and the others had been able to master all sorts of advanced ninjutsu and new skills at astonishing speed largely because of that.
By comparison, Asuma was already the non disciple Mugetsu had taught the most, but the total time he had spent receiving Mugetsu's direct instruction was still far less than Obito's group.
On top of that, because Asuma was the son of the Third Hokage, Mugetsu had always been careful about what he taught him. In the past, when his own public achievements were not that astonishing yet, he had only dared to teach Asuma nature transformation basics and some C rank and B rank ninjutsu. He had not yet been a jonin level monster who could openly help Jiraiya fight a tailed beast.
Now, however, Mugetsu could safely pass Basic Breathing to Asuma and continue building his image as a genius.
The Mark and Transparent World were indeed extraordinary, but those could not simply be handed out at will. Normal Breathing Techniques could still be described as a secret art, not something earth shattering enough to draw immediate suspicion.
So even if Asuma had not approached him today, Mugetsu had already planned to teach him Basic Breathing during their next session.
As for why he did not go straight to Flame Breathing, that was because Asuma clearly had more talent in Wind Release and was better suited for Wind Breathing. The problem was that Mugetsu had not yet obtained Wind Breathing from the system. He would have to develop it himself.
At this point, Mugetsu already possessed proficient Wind Release nature transformation, two Breathing Techniques at perfect level, two more at proficient level, and practical experience in creating Water Breathing.
By his estimate, he could complete a full Wind Breathing system in about half a year.
Once Wind Breathing was finished, he would try to push further and develop Sun Breathing on his own.
If he managed to complete Wind Breathing, he would have all five basic Breathing styles gathered. It would be hard to resist the urge to aim for the source.
In Mugetsu's current speculation, Sun Breathing would be built primarily on Yang Release nature transformation, perhaps combining Yang and Fire Release, perhaps linked with natural energy and Sage Mode, or even some combination of all of these.
"It is fine," Asuma said seriously. "If I give everything I have and still cannot win, then I will accept losing."
Right now, Obito was strong and he was weak. Even if he trained desperately for the next month and Obito slacked off, the outcome was still uncertain. Asuma knew winning would be hard. What he refused was losing without dignity.
After all, he was Obito's senior. If he were defeated in two blows like that poor guy in the preliminaries, it would be humiliating. At this point, he was the only one from his team left in the exam.
"I understand your resolve," Mugetsu said with a nod.
After dinner that evening, he began officially instructing Asuma.
"From now on, I will teach you a secret breathing method that will strengthen your body," Mugetsu said. "You must practice it every single day."
He introduced him to Basic Breathing.
Basic Breathing was mandatory. It boosted taijutsu and laid the groundwork for future Wind Breathing, making it an incredibly efficient investment of training time.
"In addition, you must intensify your Wind Release nature transformation training," Mugetsu continued. "I will also teach you a Wind Release ninjutsu with very high cutting power."
There was no way for Asuma to beat Obito using Fire Release. Even if Obito did not enter Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Asuma still would not win. Obito's Fire Release already surpassed him in both nature transformation control and chakra volume.
So Asuma could only gamble on Wind Release.
On paper, fire should suppress wind, but in actual combat the interaction was more complex than the simple Water Release versus Fire Release relationship. If the wind pressure was strong enough, it could significantly affect the opponent's control over their flames.
Elemental advantages still existed, but in this situation, Fire Release gave Asuma fewer winning lines, and it was too late now to pick up Water Release from scratch. Only Wind Release still held a faint hope.
The ninjutsu Mugetsu intended to teach him was Wind Release: Cyclone, a B rank technique he had exchanged for at the Ninjutsu Pavilion. In terms of range, power, and compatibility with Asuma's current abilities, it was almost a perfect fit.
After explaining the overall plan, formal training began.
Asuma, who had just started learning Breathing Technique, behaved almost exactly the way Obito and the others had at the beginning. He simply could not find the correct breathing rhythm.
"I never thought you could create ninjutsu just from breathing," Asuma complained between attempts. "Why have I never heard of this before?"
"This field is relatively obscure," Mugetsu replied with a small smile. "Aside from myself, I very rarely hear about anyone developing breathing based techniques."
"Wait, so Teacher Mugetsu, you are the one who developed this?" Asuma's eyes lit up instantly.
He suddenly felt as if he had struck gold. Not only was he being personally trained, he was learning Mugetsu's original ninjutsu.
Mugetsu adjusted his black framed glasses with his right hand and smiled warmly.
"Creating your own ninjutsu once you have the ability is a very good option," he said. "After all, you are the one who understands your needs best."
From that point on, Mugetsu's schedule became crammed.
He had to teach at the Ninja Academy to grind his skills, give special training to his disciples, find time to study alongside Tsunade, carve out hours to research Wind Breathing, and continue his self study of sealing techniques.
He was left with only a few hours of sleep each day.
Even so, Mugetsu accepted the workload calmly. Every bit of this busyness translated directly into growth in his own strength.
While he was helping Asuma search for a path to overturn Obito, Mugetsu was also pouring effort into Obito's Fire Release taijutsu.
Mugetsu had already mastered a large number of advanced ninjutsu, and his Fire Release nature transformation had reached perfect level. That gave him enormous advantage when it came to designing Fire Release techniques tailored for Flame Breathing.
However, considering Obito's slightly weaker learning capacity and the fact that they only had a month, Mugetsu decided to create three techniques for him.
The first was Fire Release: Flame Fist.
When designing it, Mugetsu borrowed heavily from the principle behind monstrous strength. Chakra was condensed and compressed inside the fist. At the instant of impact, flames exploded outward, engulfing the target completely.
The second was Fire Release: Leaf Whirlwind.
It retained the high speed spinning kicks of the original Leaf Whirlwind but wrapped each kick in high temperature flames to dramatically increase its destructive power.
The third was Fire Release: Blazing Impact.
Chakra was gathered into the shoulder and then driven through the whole body, igniting it in flames for a head on charge. At the moment of contact, the user slammed into the target with an iron mountain lean. Among the three, this technique had the highest raw power.
On paper, they sounded simple, but they were not easy to master.
In terms of classification, Flame Fist and Blazing Impact could both be considered B rank ninjutsu. Because they were perfectly matched to Flame Breathing's traits, however, they were slightly easier for Obito to train than other B rank techniques.
After Mugetsu finished teaching all three, Obito immediately fell in love with Blazing Impact in particular.
Every day, he charged full speed into tree after tree with his entire body aflame, driving them down with iron mountain leans.
He thought this ninjutsu was far too cool. Lunging forward in a blaze of fire, smashing everything in front of him, felt unbelievably satisfying.
Kakashi's training, by contrast, could only be described as hellish. Among all of Mugetsu's disciples, his training was the harshest.
He had to push his body to the absolute limit before he was even allowed to start his sparring. Mugetsu's shadow clone would not hold back much in those battles; if injuries were needed, they would be inflicted.
Even though he only trained that way once a day, the intensity put enormous pressure on Kakashi. His Breathing Technique, however, was improving at frightening speed. His raw statistics had not yet reached the threshold of proficiency, but Mugetsu could clearly feel his Thunder Breathing growing stronger and more refined.
Ten days after the Chunin Exams, Mugetsu encountered Mei again on the street.
It happened in the exact same place as before. Mei was standing in front of the same ice cream stand, frowning at the rows of flavors with a conflicted expression.
"If you cannot decide what to buy, just buy them all," Mugetsu said as he walked up to the stall.
"You need money for that," Mei shot back, glaring at him in mock resentment.
She was not stupid. If she could have all of them, she would not have been standing here agonizing over the choice.
Because she had come to Konoha to take the Chunin Exams, Mei had not brought very much money. This trip was a mission, not a vacation.
On top of that, she was already in a bad mood over her failure in the Forest of Death. After going five days without sweets, she had retaliated by binging on ice cream for several days in a row, eating it like meals.
As a result, her wallet had emptied at high speed.
To make sure she could still have a little sweetness every day, Mei had been forcing herself to control her spending at the stall.
In her heart, she privately felt that Mugetsu was at least one percent responsible for her financial crisis. He was the one who had first introduced her to the bliss of "having it all," and it was his disciple who had ruined her performance in the Forest of Death.
"Three strawberry ice creams," Mugetsu said to the vendor, ignoring her grumbling.
The owner moved quickly and soon handed him three strawberry cones.
Mei watched with envy. A few days earlier, she could still have swaggered up and ordered three of every flavor.
To her surprise, Mugetsu turned around and placed two of the strawberry cones into her hands.
"Last time you gave me one," he said with a slight smile. "This time I am giving you two. Let us call it even."
He still felt a bit of second hand embarrassment whenever he recalled Obito's complaint about her being crazy over a single strawberry ice cream and picking a fight about it.
He had decisively left the scene back then to avoid getting dragged into trouble, which had led to Obito being the one to suffer.
So this time, Mugetsu bought three strawberry cones. Two for Mei, to settle that odd karmic knot over the ice cream and stop her from brooding over it, and one for Obito as compensation.
Mei happily accepted the two cones.
With these in hand, she could even afford to buy herself a vanilla one. That thought alone made her feel absurdly satisfied.
Then a hint of guilt crept in. After all, she had hammered this man's disciple and was still accepting his ice cream.
"During the Chunin Exams, I will make sure he loses gracefully," she decided to herself.
Returning the cones was out of the question. Mei chose instead to repay the favor in battle. She would let Obito fight with full spirit, put on a spectacular show, and then defeat him. If he still managed to advance despite losing, that would count as paying Mugetsu back.
"Thank you. You are a good person," Mei said aloud, smiling as she handed Mugetsu an invisible good person card.
Mugetsu did not argue. He calmly accepted the compliment and turned to leave.
The future relationship between the Hidden Mist and Konoha was unpredictable. Getting too close would not be good for either side.
…
In a dimly lit cave, Uchiha Madara sat listening to Black Zetsu's report.
"Under Hayate Mugetsu's warm exterior, there may be coldness," Black Zetsu said slowly. "He was clearly nearby, yet he did not intervene and simply watched his students get injured. Although Akami Hideyuki was finally defeated when they joined forces, the victory was barely snatched through an extreme outburst of power."
"Most of the time, he is meticulous and gentle with his disciples," Black Zetsu continued. "But when they are facing true danger, he stands aside and observes."
Madara's interest was piqued.
"This Hayate Mugetsu is quite interesting," he murmured. "He is very likely hiding some secrets."
"If he truly does not care about these students, then things will go smoothly," Madara thought, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
If everything Mugetsu had done for Obito was only an act, then the first step would be simple.
All he needed to do was guide Obito to discover that truth. That alone would be enough to make Obito's heart collapse for the first time.
Then, by killing Rin, the girl he loved, he could drive Obito completely into the abyss of darkness and turn him into a perfect pawn.
"But if that is not the case, then Hayate Mugetsu will become a serious obstacle," Black Zetsu warned. "He was able to injure the Raikage candidate from the Hidden Cloud without even using his full strength. His power might already surpass Minato."
Because he had been ordered to monitor Obito, Black Zetsu had also gathered a great deal of information about Mugetsu: Armament Haki, Flame Breathing, Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
Every one of these techniques was terrifyingly strong, and in all of Black Zetsu's thousand years of existence, he had never heard of any of them.
That could only mean they were Mugetsu's own creations.
In Black Zetsu's eyes, Mugetsu was another Senju Tobirama, but one more inclined to keep his fangs hidden.
If Madara were in his prime, he would not have cared about someone like that at all. Back then, even Tobirama would only have been another corpse on the battlefield.
But now, Uchiha Madara was an old man barely hanging on through the power of the Gedo Statue.
To move personally against Mugetsu, whether he succeeded or not, would cost him dearly.
"Even Hashirama is already gone," Madara said calmly. "What can a junior who is not even twenty do?"
He did not despise any specific person in the ninja world. He simply looked down on everyone equally, save for his younger brother and Hashirama.
<><><><><>
[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]