"What did you do yesterday, Obito?" Mutsuki looked at Obito's panel, where Flame Breathing was already marked as "Beginner."
"Nothing much, just went out to play with Rin-chan," Obito replied.
"Just you and Rin-chan?" Mutsuki felt there might be something Obito wasn't saying.
"And one more annoying guy," Obito answered honestly, but he didn't mention Kakashi's name since he figured Mutsuki wasn't familiar with Kakashi.
With Obito's remark, Mutsuki knew who it was, undoubtedly Kakashi.
In his mind, Mutsuki gave Kakashi a thumbs up. Not only could he help trigger training missions, but he could also stimulate Obito's growth in strength. He truly deserved to be Obito's future teammate, already making an impact even before officially becoming one.
"Today, you don't need to do any other exercises. Just familiarize yourself more with your current Flame Breathing. You've already completed the Beginner stage of Breathing Technique training," Mutsuki said with a smile.
"Oh, I learned it?" Obito scratched his head. He had been so engrossed in his intellectual battles with Kakashi yesterday that he hadn't realized he had completely mastered the Breathing Technique.
"Yes, you've learned it. You're the first one to master the Breathing Technique," Mutsuki successfully praised.
"Ha-ha, really? Shisui and the others should be learning it soon too," Obito's face lit up with a bright smile.
"The first one..." Shisui, who was still practicing the Breathing Technique, felt a bit resentful. Despite his efforts in training, he was still a step behind Obito.
Mutsuki glanced at Shisui with Appraisal. His Proficiency level had already reached ninety points, just a small distance away.
The disciples' progress in practicing the Breathing Technique was much faster than Mutsuki had expected. Even though Shisui was slightly slower than Obito, Mutsuki felt that Shisui would complete his training before the end of this semester.
Mutsuki couldn't say much about Guy because his Proficiency level was only at seventy points.
However, Obito and the others also experienced rapid growth when they started combat training, so if Guy also made significant progress in combat training, he might catch up to the pace of Shisui and Obito.
"Next, Shisui, you will spar with Guy for training," Mutsuki suggested after some thought.
Guy had recently completed all his basic training as well. Mutsuki planned to pair Obito as Guy's opponent, believing that their strengths were similar and they could sharpen each other.
However, Mutsuki now felt that mastering the Breathing Technique required facing stronger opponents and enduring greater pressure to progress rapidly.
"Oh, what about me?" Obito pointed to himself, wondering. He still wanted to showcase his newly learned Flame Breathing and experience the feeling of Shisui's undefeated record when sparring with Guy.
"Familiarize yourself with Flame Breathing," Mutsuki tapped Obito's head and said.
Although Guy was still in the early stages of training, considering the differences between Flame Breathing and Stone Breathing, Mutsuki skipped directly to the third stage. This meant Shisui could use all abilities except Sharingan, and Guy could go all out.
After all, Guy's Stone Breathing purely enhanced physical strength, and he didn't know any Ninjutsu. If they stuck to the previous rules, it would only limit Shisui's abilities.
"Shisui, please teach me a lot!" Guy gave Shisui a thumbs up, eager for the battle.
Shisui was the youngest disciple under Mutsuki's tutelage, yet he possessed the strongest abilities. In Guy's eyes, Shisui was undoubtedly a genius, and Guy loved nothing more than challenging geniuses.
"Please teach me as well," Shisui nodded in response.
"Let the battle begin!" Mutsuki announced.
As soon as Mutsuki's words fell, Guy immediately changed the rhythm of his Breathing Technique and rushed forward, unleashing his most proficient Taijutsu moves.
"Konoha Whirlwind!"
The extremely swift Whirlwind Kick shot towards Shisui.
Since the end of the summer special training, Shisui hadn't sparred with Guy, so he wasn't clear about Guy's exact strength. Therefore, he chose to initiate a probing attack, using the Konoha Whirlwind Kick.
The tremendous force caused both of them to retreat several steps, with Shisui retreating much further.
"Such immense strength," Shisui remarked, somewhat surprised.
At this moment, the power unleashed by Guy was even greater than when Obito entered the Total Concentration Breathing state.
"I can't compete with Guy in Taijutsu head-on," Shisui thought to himself.
Without employing the Total Concentration Breathing technique, Guy exhibited such terrifying strength. Shisui could imagine how massive the enhancement of Stone Breathing on the body must be. Engaging in a Taijutsu confrontation with Guy was undoubtedly playing to his opponent's strengths and avoiding his weaknesses, an unwise move.
Boom!
Sensing the danger, Shisui employed a Soru and left his original position. In the next moment, the tree at his previous location was directly kicked by Guy, breaking and falling to the ground.
Guy's display of Taijutsu strength did not panic Shisui. Only this level of skill wouldn't allow him to fail in front of Mutsuki.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Shisui swiftly formed hand seals and unleashed a massive fireball towards Guy. At the same time, he used Shuriken to anticipate some of Guy's evasion space, and finally used Body Flicker Jutsu to flash to an unblocked area.
Guy didn't expect Shisui to think so much in the time it took to use a Ninjutsu. After dodging, Shisui shot a palm of flames towards Guy.
"Stone Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!" Unable to avoid it, Guy had to use Total Concentration Breathing to strengthen his body.
Training in Stone Breathing, which greatly enhances physical abilities, also makes the body's defense stronger.
If it were Mutsuki, Shisui's small flames wouldn't break through the defense. However, Guy still hadn't reached the Beginner level of Breathing Technique, so he could only reduce the damage he received. The high temperature of the flames still made Guy somewhat uncomfortable.
Physical abilities were once again enhanced, and Guy explosively kicked towards Shisui with Chakra.
Shisui also considered that Stone Breathing and Total Concentration Breathing would greatly enhance physical effects. He had no intention of capitalizing on his advantage. After a palm strike, he immediately used Body Flicker Jutsu to evade, causing Guy's attack to miss again.
"Indeed very strong," Shisui thought as he looked at the small pit created by Guy's kick.
The following battle made Guy feel extremely frustrated. Except for the beginning, he hadn't even landed a hit on Shisui.
"I got you!" Just when Guy exerted his utmost effort and used the second Total Concentration Breathing to hit Shisui, suddenly his foot passed through Shisui's body.
"Illusion?" Guy was stunned.
In that instant, a Kunai engulfed in flames flew past Guy.
"It's over," Shisui said. He could have thrown the Kunai at Guy while he was caught in the Genjutsu, but since he wasn't an enemy, there was no need.
"It was truly a battle full of youth!" Guy admitted his defeat, laughing heartily as he praised Shisui.
"Shisui, among his peers, has no rivals at all. Even Kakashi, who is two years older, wouldn't stand a chance against Shisui," Mutsuki judged inwardly.
Even if Kakashi has a bit more Chakra, Mutsuki doesn't believe Kakashi would be a match for Shisui. Without using the Sharingan, the odds might be even between them, as Kakashi has more combat experience. But once Shisui employs the Sharingan, he is no match for Shisui.
Mutsuki feels like he's gradually grooming Shisui into a boss-level figure. The Shisui in the original series couldn't have had such strength at this age.
With the early activation of the Sharingan and the significant increase in mental abilities, coupled with the training in Breathing Techniques, Shisui will become even more exaggerated in the future.
"You all did great. Take a break and then continue training," Mutsuki said warmly.
As he let his disciples rest, Mutsuki also began to ponder how to further elevate Guy's trust level on his birthday.
Today is December 10th, only twenty-one days away from Guy's birthday.
Observing the expressions and actions of the students, Mutsuki confirmed that while celebrating Shisui's birthday helped increase the trust level of the other disciples, Guy's trust level should be considerably higher now compared to before Shisui's birthday.
However, Mutsuki doesn't know the extent of this increase in trust level. Trust level cannot be directly assessed, nor can the magnitude of the increase be observed. Mutsuki can only speculate based on the students' behavior.
To be on the safe side, Mutsuki strives to do his best to elevate Guy's mood as much as possible and break through to trust level four.
However, the difficulty is greater for Guy. Unlike Shisui, who has been an orphan since early childhood, Guy has been raised by his father and has a good relationship with him, receiving plenty of paternal love.
As for gifts, Guy rarely uses ninja tools, so giving him one wouldn't hold much significance. Moreover, since Shisui has just given a gift, giving another one to the second disciple might seem somewhat perfunctory.
In fact, Mutsuki had been planning the birthday for quite some time, but for Guy, he couldn't come up with any good ideas.
"Perhaps we can start with Guy's father," Mutsuki suddenly thought of something, feeling that his previous ideas were too limited.
Increasing the trust level of disciples might not necessarily require focusing solely on the disciples themselves; it could be expanded further.
With still over half a month left, Mutsuki wasn't in a rush to finalize the plan.
In the afternoon, due to it being Sunday, Mutsuki went to Asuma's house to tutor.
"Yumi-sensei, how's your Wind Release training going?" Asuma asked curiously during his break.
"Although I haven't become the Wind Release prodigy you envisioned, it seems I'm not too bad," Mutsuki replied with a smile.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Mutsuki swiftly formed hand seals and unleashed a gust of wind towards a large tree.
Rumble!
Under the onslaught of the fierce wind, the tree didn't break immediately but bent under the pressure, its leaves rustling continuously.
"The gap is still much wider compared to Fire Release and Water Release," Mutsuki sighed as he looked at the slightly bent tree.
To build his own character, Mutsuki made thorough preparations. He not only borrowed many books about Wind Release from the library but also sought advice from Minato, portraying himself as a novice in Wind Release.
"You're already quite strong, Yumi-sensei. You've only been learning for a little over a month," Asuma felt hopeful about his Wind Release.
"You should also work hard on mastering Fire Release. Don't wait until I've fully learned Wind Release and you haven't mastered the training content yet," Mutsuki said, patting Asuma's head with a smile.
"I won't. Recently, I feel like my Fire Release has improved a lot," Asuma assured Mutsuki he wouldn't disappoint.
After escorting Asuma home, Mutsuki spotted Hiruzen smoking.
"Third-sama," Mutsuki greeted.
"Training is over, well done," Hiruzen nodded with a smile.
When Mutsuki was about to leave, Hiruzen remembered something and called out to him.
"Mutsuki, have you decided on the candidates for the internship program?" Hiruzen asked. Not long ago, Hiruzen finalized the internship program after Mutsuki's revisions and selected Mutsuki as the supervisor.
"Yes, it's all done. The groups and mentor senseis have been determined," Mutsuki nodded. With only ten days left before the Academy vacation, he couldn't afford to delay.
"Should the list include Guy and Uchiha Obito?" Sarutobi Hiruzen continued.
"Yes, they were the top two in the recent Academy fourth-grade exam," Mutsuki replied.
"In that case, I'll leave it to you, Mutsuki. Modify the list, remove one person, or add two more. I have a graduated ninja who needs your guidance. Arrange him to be in the same group as Guy and Uchiha Obito, with you as the mentor sensei," Sarutobi Hiruzen explained his arrangement.
Looking at Mutsuki, Hiruzen remembered Kakashi, who currently had no team to join.
Hiruzen didn't want Kakashi to continue in this downward spiral. Obito and Guy were among the few people Kakashi cared about, and Mutsuki was considered by Hiruzen to be an excellent teacher with strong educational abilities.
With a one-month vacation plus three months of internship in the third semester, totaling four months, Hiruzen didn't expect Kakashi to completely emerge from the shadows in these four months, but at least not to remain as he is now.
"Isn't it inappropriate for graduated students to participate in internships?" Mutsuki, listening to Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, had a rough idea about the person who was about to join.
Having the opportunity to become Kakashi's mentor sensei was an unexpected joy, but Mutsuki had to play along first.
"Logically, yes, but it's also a last resort," Hiruzen sighed and explained Kakashi's experiences to Mutsuki.
From rapidly graduating to becoming a Chunin and being a highly regarded super genius to now struggling even to find a mentor sensei.
"Is it White Fang-sama's child?" Mutsuki showed a surprised and regretful expression, seeming to be worried about Kakashi.
"Third-sama, rest assured, leave Kakashi to me. I will do my best to help him overcome his shadow and regain his life," Mutsuki said earnestly.
"White Fang-sama is a Ninja I deeply respect. I cannot let his child continue living in the shadow," Mutsuki continued.
"With your words, Mutsuki, I am relieved," Hiruzen said with a smile.
It was unexpected that Mutsuki was still a fan of White Fang.
After returning, Mutsuki modified the internship plan. Originally, he planned to have Rin, Obito, and Guy in one group. Since Third wanted to include Kakashi, Mutsuki directly removed Rin from the internship plan.
It's better to learn from his Shadow Clones for four months than to do missions with those Chunin sensei.
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