Happy times are always fleeting. The morning after his birthday, Obito had this thought in his mind.
"Considering yesterday was your birthday, I didn't bring out the training papers, but we'll start on them today," Mutsuki said cheerfully, handing two exam papers to Obito.
Yesterday, he had only trained Obito and Shisui without giving them the exam papers afterward.
"I actually made a mistake when registering my birthday. Today is actually my birthday," Obito said as he looked at the pristine white papers with clearly printed black questions, feeling a bit dizzy and unsure of what he was saying.
Snap!
Mutsuki's finger accurately tapped Obito's forehead as he said,
"Even if every day for the next 365 days were your birthday, you still need to complete these exams. In ten days, you'll be returning to school for the exams. You wouldn't want to go back to the days of scoring barely double digits, would you?" Mutsuki remarked.
"Well, we don't have classes this semester, why do we still have exams?" Obito couldn't help but complain.
As Mutsuki mentioned this, Obito recalled that interns were supposed to return to school for exams.
"Perhaps it's to evaluate your internship achievements," Mutsuki replied with a smile.
"When the school announces the exam results, they will also publish the internship achievements of all interns, listing the number of tasks you completed," he continued.
"Then Guy and I will definitely be first!" Obito couldn't help but smirk proudly.
According to the registration in the mission hall, other intern teams can only take on D-Rank Missions, and D-Rank Missions are unlikely to have unexpected circumstances that would upgrade the mission. Therefore, it's impossible for others to even get C-Rank Missions.
On the other hand, he and Guy have records of two A-Rank Missions and one B-Rank Mission. Compared to others, they are ahead of their peers by several versions.
"Securing the top spot in task quality is definitely not an issue, but task quality won't earn you theoretical credits," nodded Mutsuki. Obito's internship record was undoubtedly superior when it came to interns.
Upon hearing the words 'theoretical' and 'credits', Obito scratched his head in worry. When others gather to see his task results, discovering that his theoretical knowledge scores were only in the tens or twenties wouldn't look good at all.
"You have three days to complete these questions. After finishing, come to me for a discussion," Mutsuki set the deadline for completing the tasks.
After discussing with Obito, Mutsuki then handed Shisui his set of questions.
He prepared different sets of questions for each. Obito's mainly focused on Academy-related knowledge, while Shisui's centered around history and politics.
These weren't simple historical questions about events over the years. They were either about "Analyzing the changes in the shinobi world with the arrival of the Shinobi Village era based on the provided materials and their reasons" or "Describing the conflicts between the Uchiha clan and Konoha by combining the internal history of the Uchiha clan with Konoha's history."
He, an outsider, trying to resolve the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha Clan on his own is unrealistic; it requires the cooperation of the Uchiha Clan itself. The best candidates are naturally his two disciples, Obito and Shisui. Mutsuki not only wants to make them stronger than in the original story but also to teach them more knowledge and broaden their thinking.
Mutsuki's fundamental purpose for making them do problems is not to improve their theoretical exam scores or to punish them, but to elevate their knowledge level and enhance their thinking abilities.
Shisui originally didn't take it too seriously. It was just two test papers; he could just have his Shadow Clone spend some time completing them. That was until he inadvertently saw one of the questions.
Looking at that profound question, Shisui seriously glanced at the questions on both test papers. He felt that each question could provoke deep thought and was very difficult to answer.
Looking at the two test papers, Shisui had a solemn expression. He felt he had misunderstood Obito and the others. No wonder Obito and Guy were always afraid of problem-solving training. If there were hundreds of such questions at once, he wouldn't be able to handle it either.
Mutsuki gave Shisui the same amount of time: three days to complete the questions and then discuss them with him.
If they felt unable to finish, they could request to split the work into stages, extending the time for completion, but increasing the number of questions.
The two collected their papers and began practicing Total Concentration Breathing during various basic exercises. Even with sweat pouring down their heads, soaking their clothes, and blurring their vision with sweat dripping into their eyes, Obito persisted until he couldn't stand any longer.
"We have a quiz training session tomorrow. We have to pass this one, take fewer questions, or we'll have to split them again," this was Obito's motivation to work so hard.
Fifty-five questions were manageable in three days if he gritted his teeth, but if another fifty-five came tomorrow, it would be a different story.
The experienced Obito knew well that once they started splitting the questions, they would only accumulate more. If Mutsuki didn't stop the quiz training, they wouldn't be able to finish them at all.
"Wow, this guy is working so hard just to stay ahead of me?" Kakashi rested for a moment and was surprised to see Obito putting in so much effort.
Seeing Obito's dedication, Kakashi couldn't sit still either. Despite not fully rested, he began practicing Thunder Breathing.
"I'll add another two and a half hours to tonight's training session!" Kakashi resolved in his heart.
Over on Mutsuki's side, no one was slacking off. Everyone was training earnestly, so Kakashi, wanting to catch up, decided to increase their training time.
"Everyone is so passionate about their training today," Guy observed, seeing his comrades exercising with such fervor.
"Open, open! Gate of Rest, open!" Excitedly, Guy suddenly realized he had finally completed the training for the Second Gate. He successfully opened the Second Gate of the Eight Inner Gates under normal conditions, not relying on awkward methods like stepping on his left foot with his right.
"Stone Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!"
Guy immediately adjusted his breathing to a highly concentrated state, continuously enhancing his body's strength.
"This is the power I need!" Guy clenched his fist, excitement clear on his face. After finishing the mission, he wanted to further refine his Noon Leopard technique, but he found that without opening the Second Gate, his power was still lacking a bit.
"Noon Leopard!"
Guy sprinted at high speed, the abundant chakra released from the Eight Inner Gates used to strengthen his physical abilities. His speed increased rapidly, reaching its peak. When he reached top speed, Guy fiercely kicked a huge rock, akin to a leopard pouncing on its prey.
Boom!
With a loud bang, the giant rock was directly shattered by this immense force, sending stone dust flying in all directions.
After the kick, Guy felt exhilarated.
The commotion from Guy's actions drew the attention of everyone around.
"Can he use this move normally now?" Kakashi felt that Guy had become much stronger again.
Previously, he had to forcibly damage his body to achieve this kind of power, but now it was possible in a normal state.
"What speed and strength!" The power Guy displayed surprised Shisui. It was the first time he saw Guy using both Total Concentration Breathing and the second gate of the Eight Inner Gates simultaneously, and it felt incredibly powerful.
"Isn't that the move he used in the last fight? Getting kicked by that would result in serious injury if not death." Seeing Guy's power and remembering Guy's previous desire to fight him made Obito's eyelid twitch uncontrollably.
After a day of training, Obito dragged his exhausted body home. On the way, he saw the Dango shop where he had previously eaten with Rin and thought about buying some Dango to replenish his energy.
"Obito, what's wrong? You look so tired." A somewhat familiar voice reached Obito's ears.
Obito turned around and saw someone with a Senbon in their mouth greeting him, with someone wearing sunglasses sitting next to him.
"Nothing much, just feeling a bit tired from training," Obito replied as he bought three skewers of dango and sat down at Shiranui Genma's table.
Although they were in different classes, they knew each other from the same grade, and became even closer after the summer special training.
"Who's your internship sensei? Are they that tough in training?" Genma asked curiously.
"It's Yumi-sensei. It's not that he trains me harshly, I push myself. Getting stronger requires rigorous practice," Obito explained with a skewer of dango in his mouth.
"Wow, your internship sensei is Yumi-sensei? You're so lucky," Genma said enviously.
Anyone taught by Mutsuki knew the stark difference between him and regular senseis; they weren't in the same league, so comparisons weren't fair.
"Having trained under Yumi-sensei for so long, your strength must have improved a lot. Now you're definitely solid for the top spot in practical combat, Guy probably can't beat you," Genma chuckled, suggesting Obito might as well start celebrating early.
"Uh, Guy and I are in the same class, and we're interning together under Yumi-sensei," Obito said after a brief pause.
He felt unsure if he could defeat Guy, because Mutsuki didn't allow him to casually activate the Sharingan. If he couldn't use the Sharingan during the fight and Guy could unleash the Eight Gates with Breathing Technique, Obito knew he would definitely lose.
"Oh, I see. So Guy is interning with you," Genma replied with a slightly awkward smile.
"That sounds like a fierce battle brewing. I'm really looking forward to your fight," he added.
"How's the internship going for you guys?" Obito finished another skewer of dango and asked.
"Eh, it's alright. Feels like our class time turned into doing odd jobs," Genma complained.
"Yeah, thought we'd get interesting missions, but it's either catching cats, finding dogs, picking up trash, or doing farm work. It's worse than sitting in the classroom," Ebisu joined in with his complaints.
Clearly, they weren't satisfied with their internship experience.
Obito couldn't help but straighten his back and tilt his head slightly upwards as he spoke:
"I think it's alright, not as boring as you guys make it sound."
Comparing himself to the two, Obito instantly felt his internship life was quite fulfilling. He had encountered the substitute Raikage with Mutsuki and joined forces with his comrades to defeat enemy village Jonin.
"No wonder your strength has improved so quickly, Obito. Not only do you train more seriously than us, but you also handle missions with true ninja style," Shiranui Genma exclaimed.
Honestly, he didn't want to do odd jobs either. His thoughts were similar to Ebisu's—he'd rather be in theory classes.
"Hehe, it's alright, nothing as impressive as you say," Obito chuckled upon hearing Genma praise his ninja style.
In truth, he was hoping Genma and Ebisu would ask him about mission-related matters so he could talk about his experience with two A-Rank missions. However, even after he finished his dango, they hadn't asked, leaving him feeling a bit disappointed inside.
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