"Do you think I'm fast?" Mokgetsu asked Kakashi.
"Fast," Kakashi immediately nodded in response.
Mokgetsu was definitely the fastest ninja Kakashi had ever seen. When Mokgetsu unleashed his true speed, Kakashi couldn't even see where Mokgetsu was.
"If you can master the technique I'm about to teach you, you'll be able to become just as fast as I am," Mokgetsu said with a smile.
Kakashi had a pretty good Lightning Attribute Chakra talent. Among the Breathing Techniques he currently mastered, the Breath of Thunder was most suitable for Kakashi.
As for Kakashi's reaction problem, it could be solved with focused training.
The Fourth Raikage could be as fast as the Flying Thunder God using the Lightning Release: Chakra Mode, without any reaction issues, because the Lightning Release Chakra activated his nerves. The Breath of Thunder was no less than the Lightning Release: Chakra Mode and could achieve the same effect.
If Kakashi couldn't quite grasp the micro-manipulation, the Breath of Thunder could also enhance the power of Lightning Release. Once he trained to access the Transparent World, everything would be easily resolved.
"The technique I'm going to teach you next can be considered a Kinjutsu, and it will be very challenging to learn, so prepare yourself mentally," Mokgetsu reminded with a serious face.
He needed to let Kakashi know how powerful what he was teaching was, so that Kakashi would be grateful.
"Kinjutsu!" Kakashi's face showed surprise. He didn't expect that not even half a month as Mokgetsu's disciple, after learning a Secret Art yesterday, he was to learn a Kinjutsu today.
"Could it be that Teacher Mokgetsu actually knew my father?"
Mokgetsu's generosity made Kakashi suspect that Mokgetsu had a good relationship with his late father, hence why he was taking care of him so much.
Such advanced ninjutsu, secret techniques, and Kinjutsu being taught as casually as C-rank ninjutsu turned Kakashi's world upside down, as he hadn't seen anything like it in any squads he had been part of.
"The name of this Kinjutsu is the 'Breath of Thunder,' its core involves using highly concentrated breathing to enhance oneself.
Once you've mastered Full Concentration Breathing of the Breath of Thunder, you can instantly increase the rate of Lightning Attribute Chakra Nature Changes, while using the transformations to activate your cells and enhance explosive power," Mokgetsu explained.
"Increase nature changes and activate cells?" Kakashi's face under his mask grew incredibly astonished; while he'd heard of activating cells, enhancing nature changes was entirely unheard of.
Listening to Mokgetsu's words, Kakashi remembered that during previous battles with Might Guy and Obito, they both suddenly exploded with powerful strength.
"Have Obito and Guy already mastered this?" Kakashi pondered aloud.
"They also learned breathing techniques, but different from yours; they learned two other Breathing Techniques," Mokgetsu explained without hiding anything from Kakashi.
"Obito trained in the Breath of Flame, enhancing Fire Release and physical abilities, and Might Guy trained in the Breath of Rock, which doesn't enhance any nature but greatly boosts physical capabilities."
Kakashi was stunned to learn there were several types of such powerful Kinjutsu, all mastered by Mokgetsu.
This confirmed his suspicion—Guy's and Obito's rapid progress made sense now; every meeting felt like their strength had considerably improved.
If instructed by a powerful ninja like Mokgetsu, these developments were reasonable, based on Kakashi's ten-plus days of learning experience with him—Mokgetsu was really a great teacher.
"If you learn the Breath of Thunder quickly, I might consider teaching you other Breathing Techniques as well," Mokgetsu smiled while saying this.
Different Breathing Techniques weren't conflicting; the reason students weren't taught more was that it demanded too much focus and wasn't worthwhile for now.
"To move on, let me show you the practical effects of Breath of Thunder," Mokgetsu switched his Breathing Technique to Breath of Thunder, entered Full Concentration, and took Kakashi on a run through the forest.
When Mokgetsu put Kakashi down, Kakashi could barely stand.
Leaning against a tree and shaking his head, Kakashi felt like he had toured the entire Southern Border Forest in just a few minutes.
"Of course, apart from speed, all Breathing Techniques once cultivated to a certain realm can lead to corresponding Chakra Modes. The Breath of Thunder Chakra Mode allows one to use any Lightning Release Ninjutsu without any hand signs, boosts lightning power, and keeps cells activated throughout."
Once Kakashi regained a bit, Mokgetsu explained the true strength of Breathing Techniques to Kakashi; only when mastering the Pattern could the technique truly be considered a Kinjutsu.
Then Mokgetsu entered the state of Breath of Thunder, with intensely concentrated breathing and continuously bursting Chakra, Mokgetsu was surrounded by dazzling blue lightning, as if wearing lightning armor.
"Lightning Release: Pseudo-Darkness!"
Without any hand signs, Mokgetsu spewed out a surge of powerful lightning that instantly destroyed a large area of trees.
He then grasped the air, forming a lightning spear out of a massive surge of blue lightning, and when Mokgetsu launched it, a tremendous explosion echoed, leaving a large crater.
Mokgetsu, under the Breath of Thunder Pattern State, seemed like the reincarnation of a thunder god; his every move could unleash electricity comparable to Lightning Release Ninjutsu.
That's the strength of the Breathing Pattern, achieving the ultimate nature transformation, never knowing what hand signs were, using ninjutsu freely.
Indeed powerful, but the Chakra consumption was fiercely high, and after demonstrating how strong the Breath of Thunder could be in the future, Mokgetsu quickly exited the Pattern State.
"No wonder it's a Kinjutsu." As a ninja skilled in Lightning Release, Kakashi felt his perspective on the ninja world could fundamentally change.
Mokgetsu creating powerful lightning with a clap was overwhelmingly exaggerated; even with complete hand signs, Kakashi couldn't replicate such potent Lightning Release Ninjutsu.
And what's truly terrifying upon deeper thought is that, Mokgetsu has also mastered other Breathing Techniques. Wouldn't Mokgetsu in the Breath of Flame Chakra Mode be able to create a sea of fire with a single breath? And how powerful would Mokgetsu's body be in the Breath of Rock Chakra Mode?
If he simultaneously used the Breathing Chakra Mode and then enhanced it with Haki, how terrifying would Mokgetsu's power become?
Kakashi could only feel that Mokgetsu's power was unfathomable, and he couldn't possibly assess its full extent.
"We'll start learning from the basics of breathing, you need to change your normal breathing method to full concentration breathing," Mokgetsu officially began teaching.
Although Kakashi's strength was significantly greater than Shisui and the others when learning the Breathing Technique, his performance was no better than theirs, both sides were almost the same.
[You imparted Breath of Thunder to your disciple. Due to the disciple's great gratitude, a critical reward was granted, and you obtained the reward: Lighting Attribute Chakra Nature Changes (Proficient Level)]
However, Mokgetsu was still quite satisfied with Kakashi's reward. Although they were only at the proficient level, in Mokgetsu's mind, a proficient level Chakra Nature Change is better than master level ninjutsu.
Of course, such powerful skills as Armament Haki and the Breathing Technique are exceptions.
An afternoon passed, and just like Shisui and Obito before, Kakashi did not gain any increase in proficiency.
After a whole afternoon of stagnation, Kakashi, who had always learned everything rapidly, felt a sense of frustration. However, with Mokgetsu's reminder, Kakashi also understood that the Breath of Thunder was different from the ninjutsu he learned before, and was very difficult, so this frustration quickly dissipated.
As the cultivation time was nearing its end, Mokgetsu received some good news: Might Guy could finally open the First Gate of the Eight Gates.
After successfully using the First Gate of the Eight Gates, Might Guy's improvement rewards were also settled.
[Disciple Might Guy seriously cultivated under your guidance and gained certain growth in strength, obtaining the reward—Eight Gates (Proficient)]
The improvement rewards were quite good, and this time they didn't offer only three gates or six gates but directly allowed Mokgetsu to master the entire Eight Gates.
Although Mokgetsu rarely used the Eight Gates in battle, with the constant strengthening of the body through the Breath of Rock, Mokgetsu believed that one day he could open the Sixth Gate, or even the Seventh Gate, without injury.
Even if not used for battle, teaching Might Guy using it is excellent.
Mokgetsu thought that Obito would trigger the improvement rewards first, but Might Guy took a turn and was the first to trigger the rewards.
"The worst era for Obito is coming. Before opening the Sharingan, he can't defeat anyone except Nohara Rin," Mokgetsu thought to himself.
Facing Might Guy, who can simultaneously use the Eight Gates and the Breath of Rock, Obito simply has no chance of winning. And Obito's old rival, Kakashi, currently has strength above Obito, let alone Shisui, who is the youngest but strongest among Mokgetsu's disciples.
"You should become more familiar with the Opening Gate state of the Eight Gates, the first three gates are the safe zone of the Eight Gates, you can speed up the progress a bit," Mokgetsu said to Might Guy.
Since Might Guy could now open the Eight Gates, it was time to complete the cultivation task.
After all, Kakashi has now also become Mokgetsu's disciple, and as long as Kakashi is willing to study seriously, his strength will soon progress. Even unmastered Breathing Techniques can enhance strength to a certain extent.
Mokgetsu calculated the time, and Might Guy's cultivation task had lasted for more than five months, making it the one with the largest time span among the cultivation tasks so far. He felt that the rewards after settlement should be quite good.
Moreover, after Might Guy's trust level reached four, no life task appeared. Mokgetsu speculated that the cultivation task might not coexist with life tasks, or that the life task could not be triggered while the cultivation task was in progress.
Might Guy's life task should be fairly easy to guess, and Mokgetsu guessed it would be to become the strongest Taijutsu practitioner in the Ninja World.
About five days later, Obito's improvement rewards were also settled.
[Disciple Uchiha Obito seriously cultivated under your guidance and gained certain growth in strength, obtaining the reward—Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes (Proficient)]
Mokgetsu was somewhat disappointed; if it had been Wind Attribute Chakra Nature Changes, he would have all five basic attributes at proficient level or above.
In the end, this proficient level Fire Attribute Nature Change turned into 750 proficiency points, bringing Mokgetsu's proficiency in Fire Release Chakra Nature Changes to 8350 points at the master level.
In these five days, Might Guy quickly familiarized himself with the feeling of opening the Eight Gates.
Mokgetsu tested the strength on both sides, then compared them, revealing that Might Guy, who could use both the Breath of Rock and Eight Gates, was slightly stronger.
Mokgetsu didn't hesitate and scheduled a practice battle between the two at noon the same day.
"A proper amount of battle can help grasp the learned abilities better. Today, you, Guy, will battle Kakashi, then Obito and Shisui will battle. Rest a bit after the fight and then switch opponents to continue battling," Mokgetsu said.
As the cultivation task was nearing completion, Mokgetsu also decided to give his disciples a bit of motivation.
He thought Kakashi probably didn't know that Shisui was stronger than him, and Obito's memory was still stuck on the stage where he was stronger than Might Guy.
As for Nohara Rin, the current strength gap was too large, and being involved wouldn't mean much. Watching the battles would be more motivational.
"Why is it not me against Kakashi?" Obito sighed. Fighting Shisui really was boring, with no chance at all.
Besides, he felt that he had recently improved a bit, maybe there was hope in defeating Kakashi.
"My dear rival, you should be careful this time. Today my youth burns especially bright!" Might Guy laughed and gave Kakashi a thumbs up.