On the fifth day back in Konoha, the Ninjutsu Pavilion credential was issued. Mutsuki went to the Ninjutsu Pavilion to select ninjutsu.
He could choose any ten ninjutsu, and if he chose well, it would greatly enhance his apparent strength.
He didn't have many good ninjutsu that he could use openly. The ones he generally used were traceable ninjutsu. Great Dragon Fire and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet were both given to him by Danzo, and Vacuum Sphere was a reward from Sarutobi Hiruzen.
In addition, he had legalized some relatively ordinary ninjutsu through various opportunities. For example, he used Water Wall and Water Dragon Bullet while teaching Asuma. Because he was being watched by the Third or ANBU, these two ninjutsu were recorded on his profile. He also used a Water Colliding Wave in a battle with a tailed beast.
However, this method can only be used for very common ninjutsu, as Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't care about such ninjutsu.
Konoha's control over ninjutsu mainly concerns advanced ninjutsu and forbidden techniques. After becoming a ninja, learning ordinary ninjutsu is not difficult.
Moreover, in battle, most ninjas don't actually use many ninjutsu; they mainly rely on taijutsu and ninja tools for damage. Learning too many ninjutsu is not very useful as there isn't enough chakra.
If Mutsuki were to use a Water Severing Wave, it would be problematic because it is an advanced Water Release technique developed by Senju Tobirama, which is not easily accessible, even to members of the Root.
Mutsuki didn't know if the Ninjutsu Pavilion had Tobirama's Water Severing Wave. If it did, he would definitely choose it. The Water Severing Wave is very difficult to learn, and if he could master it, it would prove his talent in Water Release.
At first, Mutsuki thought the Ninjutsu Pavilion would be hidden in some secluded place protected by a barrier. However, upon arriving, he found out that it was simply not on the surface but built underground, with the entrance guarded by a ninja.
Mutsuki presented his credential, and after the guard carefully examined it, he nodded and opened the door.
Inside the door, there was another middle-aged ninja on duty. Mutsuki handed his credential to him.
"You can choose any ten ninjutsu regardless of their level, but I suggest you pick those that suit you instead of just looking at the level," the middle-aged ninja reminded him as he accepted the credential.
Usually, very few people get ten free choices at once, and seeing that Mutsuki was quite young, he gave this special reminder.
The evaluation of ninjutsu levels is not actually based on power but on the difficulty of learning the ninjutsu. The higher the level, the harder it is to learn. If you choose a bunch of high-level ninjutsu, whether you can learn them and how long it will take are both issues.
Of course, it's not that high-level ninjutsu aren't powerful. In fact, high-level ninjutsu are generally quite strong. They are harder to learn because they incorporate advanced nature transformation and shape transformation, as well as various profound ninjutsu knowledge. Therefore, their power is significant, but the main issue is that they are very difficult to master and may waste a lot of time.
"Thanks for the reminder," Mutsuki replied with a smile.
Although this advice didn't apply to him, it was appropriate to express thanks when receiving someone's kindness.
Mutsuki glanced around the entire Ninjutsu Pavilion. It was similar in layout to Konoha's library, just much smaller.
The two-meter-tall bookshelves were filled with various ninjutsu scrolls, each with a small plaque in front of it providing a brief introduction to the ninjutsu.
Mutsuki first went to the nearby Water Release ninjutsu section. Of the five basic nature types, the ones he could use openly were wind, fire, and water, so these had a slightly higher priority.
After browsing for a while, he indeed found the Water Severing Wave. The small plaque indicated it was extremely difficult and not recommended for ninjas who weren't masters of Water Release and proficient in shape transformation.
Mutsuki took down the scroll for the Water Severing Wave and continued browsing. He saw other Water Release techniques developed by Tobirama but didn't choose any of them. With the Water Severing Wave scroll in hand, he left the Water Release section and entered the Fire Release section.
After searching around, he found that the Intelligent Hard Work technique wasn't there, so he went directly to the Wind Release section. His current Fire Release techniques were sufficient.
Maybe the Blade of Wind is unique to Hidden Sand Village, as Mutsuki didn't see it here. However, he did find Cyclone and picked it up right away.
He had encountered Cyclone twice during lessons, and it was more useful than Great Breakthrough, whether for combination jutsu or standalone use.
Next, Mutsuki chose a Lightning Release: Lightning Strike, then an Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall, and also Mystical Palm Jutsu, among a series of other ninjutsu.
Being able to use Mystical Palm Jutsu openly was quite important to him. He could treat his disciples without sneaking around and approach Tsunade as a medical ninja.
After making his selections, Mutsuki went to the entrance to register with the duty ninja.
Seeing the ten ninjutsu Mutsuki had chosen, the middle-aged ninja was a bit taken aback. Six out of the ten ninjutsu involved different chakra nature transformations, and all were B-rank or higher advanced ninjutsu.
"Are you sure you want to choose these? You can still change them now. Once I register them, you can't change them," the middle-aged ninja reminded him one last time.
"Yes, I'm sure. Thank you," Mutsuki nodded with a smile.
Seeing Mutsuki's nod, the middle-aged ninja said no more and helped Mutsuki complete the registration.
After selecting the ninjutsu, Mutsuki went to the southern forest to continue teaching his disciples. While teaching, he also practiced the Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu given to him by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
To better solidify his image as a genius ninjutsu ninja, he would seek out Hiruzen for ninjutsu guidance and then demonstrate the ninjutsu taught to him on the spot.
Possibly due to his mastery-level water chakra nature transformation and having many memories of practicing Water Release in his mind, Mutsuki's training progress was quite fast. It was much faster than he remembered the original Mutsuki training Fire Release. It took him about a week to reach the beginner level with Great Waterfall Jutsu.
At 7 PM on the day he reached the beginner level, Mutsuki went to Sarutobi Hiruzen's house.
"Yumi-sensei," Asuma greeted Mutsuki with a smile as soon as he saw him.
"Yumi-sensei, why are you here? It's late, so you're not here for tutoring, right?" Asuma asked curiously.
It had been a long time since Asuma trained with Mutsuki, and he missed it quite a bit.
"Mutsuki must be here to ask me for ninjutsu guidance," Hiruzen said leisurely from his chair.
Before Mutsuki could respond, Asuma looked skeptically at Hiruzen and said, "You're teaching Yumi-sensei? Really, what are you teaching him?"
Feeling his son's distrust, Hiruzen's face darkened. He was, after all, the Third Hokage, renowned throughout the ninja world, and a ninjutsu professor who mastered thousands of secret techniques. Teaching Mutsuki, a young Jonin, was more than sufficient.
"Third-sama is teaching me Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu and Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu. Both are A-rank ninjutsu and quite powerful. Among them, Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu is even a technique created by Third-sama himself," Mutsuki said with a smile.
Hiruzen glanced at Asuma with a look that seemed to say, "Even your respected sensei shows me such respect."
Asuma immediately felt a bit annoyed and said, "Is this Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu really that impressive? I've never heard of it. For example, the Wood Release created by the First Hokage is renowned throughout the ninja world."
Hiruzen was speechless. Comparing Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu to Wood Release was certainly unreasonable. It was just an attack ninjutsu developed from Shadow Clone Jutsu, so it couldn't possibly compare to Wood Release.
"Of course, it can't be compared to the First Hokage's Wood Release, but you'll see its power in a moment," Hiruzen decided to teach Mutsuki while also giving Asuma some insight.
Hiruzen led them to the backyard, then threw a shuriken into the air.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Hiruzen quickly formed seals after the shuriken was thrown.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The shuriken split into two, then four, and in the blink of an eye, one shuriken turned into a thousand, all of which fiercely embedded into the ground.
As the thousand shuriken landed, the ground was immediately covered in green grass, dirt, and sand, with shuriken scattered everywhere.
"How about that?" Hiruzen stroked his mustache and looked at Mutsuki and Asuma with a smile.
This ninjutsu was one of his proudest creations, and its power was immense.
The shuriken thrown by a ninja is on a completely different level from the projectiles thrown by ordinary people. A ninja of Hiruzen's caliber can throw a shuriken with enough force to penetrate a boulder. The Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu can multiply such shuriken from one to a thousand or even ten thousand, making it extremely difficult for enemies to evade.
"The power is indeed quite impressive," Asuma had to admit that this seemingly unimpressive ninjutsu was actually quite formidable.
"Mutsuki, have you looked at the ninjutsu scrolls I gave you these past few days?" Hiruzen, satisfied with his son's astonishment at the power of his ninjutsu, asked Mutsuki.
"Yes, I've already started learning them and can use them at a basic level, but not as proficiently as you, Third-sama," Mutsuki replied after some thought.
"You can already use them? Then demonstrate for me," Hiruzen said, slightly surprised.
Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu is even more difficult than Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu because creating shadow clones of an object like a shuriken is more challenging than creating clones of oneself. It is considered one of the more difficult A-rank ninjutsu.
If Mutsuki could learn it within half a month, Hiruzen would already be impressed. Yet, in just one week, Mutsuki was able to use it, which was quite surprising.
Mutsuki took out a shuriken, quickly threw it, and immediately focused his chakra to form the seals.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The shuriken rapidly multiplied into dozens of shuriken, which then embedded into the ground.
Hiruzen exhaled a puff of white smoke and looked at Mutsuki with growing admiration. Initially, he thought nurturing talent in the Root was useless, but unexpectedly, he had discovered a ninjutsu genius.
"That's amazing! You learned it in just a few days? As expected of Yumi-sensei," Asuma said happily.
"Ahem," Hiruzen, who was smoking, choked on Asuma's words.
He had managed to produce thousands of shuriken, which was just "okay," but Mutsuki producing dozens was "amazing." Whose son was this, anyway?
"Asuma, go inside and take a bath," Hiruzen said, deciding that out of sight was out of mind
"Yumi-sensei, keep it up! When you master it, come teach me. The old man doesn't know how to teach," Asuma encouraged Mutsuki before leaving, and casually criticized his own father.
"Mutsuki, please excuse Asuma," Hiruzen said, rubbing his forehead with a pained expression. He felt helpless about his own child saying he couldn't teach.
"Children like Asuma at his age are often rebellious and insincere. He should still respect you deeply," Mutsuki said with a smile.
From Mutsuki's perspective, it was almost inevitable that Hiruzen and Asuma would not get along when Asuma was young; there were too many contributing factors. The clash between Asuma's and Hiruzen's personalities, combined with the pressures of being the Third Hokage's son, created many points of contention.
Hiruzen was indeed skilled in politics, but as a father, he performed quite ordinarily.
"I know he's still young, so I don't take it too seriously. Once he grows up, he'll understand everything I've done for him," Hiruzen said, removing his pipe and showing a hint of a smile.
Hiruzen then began teaching Mutsuki the secrets to stabilizing Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu to produce more shuriken.
"Mutsuki, what do you think about working at the Academy?" Hiruzen suddenly asked.
"If you don't want to work at the Academy, I can make you a guiding Jonin, and you can keep the option of guiding an internship team."
Given Mutsuki's ability to defeat Gari and his exceptional ninjutsu talent, Hiruzen was considering focusing on his development.
Compared to teaching at the Ninja Academy, a guiding Jonin has more flexible teaching hours, can decide their disciples' training schedules, and has more time to improve their own skills. Additionally, they can earn significant money from completing missions to purchase training resources.
Mutsuki shook his head, refusing the Third Hokage's offer, and explained with a smile:
"Thank you for your kind offer, Third-sama, but I really enjoy the atmosphere at the Academy and the students there. I genuinely feel relaxed and happy teaching at the Academy."
"However, rest assured, Third-sama, that I am also diligently improving myself outside of class. The more knowledge I acquire, the better I can teach my students."
Hiruzen thought of saying that teaching Academy students didn't require such exceptional skill, but he refrained, choosing instead to offer encouragement. After all, it was Mutsuki's own choice.
He guessed that Mutsuki's preference for the Academy might stem from seeing too much darkness during his time in Root, which made him appreciate the innocence of the Academy's students even more.
"Danzo, you nearly destroyed a genius," Sarutobi Hiruzen thought, feeling relieved that he had managed to pull Mutsuki out of Root. He believed that stricter control over Root was needed after the war.
In addition to demonstrating Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, Mutsuki also asked Sarutobi Hiruzen some questions about Great Waterfall Jutsu, preparing for his next Water Release demonstration.
...
The next noon, after completing the morning training, everyone began to rest. Mutsuki selected some topics for Shisui to explain and invited all the students to come and listen and learn.
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