Chapter 580: The Second Wood Release Ninja?
"It was only because we happened to capture those Iwagakure spies. Otherwise, defeating a larger force with fewer numbers would not have been so easy," Mugetsu replied humbly.
"How could that be called luck? That was clearly your own ability, Mugetsu," Hiruzen said with a chuckle as he set down the documents in his hand.
"If you had not mastered a Ninjutsu capable of distinguishing malice, then this would not have ended as a victory against greater numbers. It would have been another crushing defeat."
Before Mugetsu exposed those "Iwagakure spies," even Hiruzen had not realized that a Transformation Technique existed in the Ninja World that could deceive even sensory Ninja.
If that had continued, it would not have been a simple battlefield defeat. The spies would have caused widespread panic.
If another clan produced a spy, Hiruzen might only conduct a single investigation. But if the Uchiha produced a spy, he would absolutely suspect that the clan was preparing a coup in coordination with another Ninja Village.
When it came to the Uchiha, all Konoha higher ups were instinctively wary from the start, because the Uchiha truly did have a history of that kind of thing.
"Without Kenbunshoku Haki, those Iwagakure spies really are impossible to guard against, Sandaime-sama. I think we should select some Ninja with sensory talent and have them learn Kenbunshoku Haki," Mugetsu said proactively when he saw Hiruzen bring up the matter of the Iwagakure spies.
"If I am the only one who knows it, then I will not be able to cover too many places."
Since he had to teach it sooner or later anyway, it was better to take the initiative now so everyone could save face.
"Your concern is not without reason, Mugetsu. It is only that this will trouble you too much," Hiruzen said, the smile on his face growing wider.
He was extremely satisfied with Mugetsu's attitude.
"As expected of Mugetsu. He truly is a Ninja who possesses the Will of Fire," Hiruzen thought to himself with a sigh.
Mugetsu really did have a strong grasp of the bigger picture. He had even brought it up on his own without waiting to be asked.
It was not that Hiruzen coveted Mugetsu's Ninjutsu. Kenbunshoku Haki was simply too important.
If Mugetsu had kept it to himself and then something unexpected happened on the battlefield, Konoha would be completely helpless against Iwagakure spies in the future.
"This is something I should do as a Konoha Ninja," Mugetsu replied with a serious expression.
"Not every Konoha Ninja can make the same kind of contribution you have, Mugetsu. Is there any Ninjutsu you want?" Hiruzen asked with a smile.
"As long as it is not some forbidden technique, if you want it, I can give it to you."
This time, Mugetsu had not only rendered great service, he had also voluntarily handed over the sensory Ninjutsu he developed. As long as Mugetsu did not ask for something like Edo Tensei, Hiruzen was willing to agree.
Edo Tensei was indeed powerful, but it was too inhumane. It toyed with the souls of the dead and also required living people as sacrifices.
Unless Konoha was truly on the verge of destruction, Hiruzen would never allow anyone to study Edo Tensei.
"I want all the Wood Release research materials in the village," Mugetsu said after giving it some thought.
He wanted to legitimize the source of his Wood Release.
His current persona was already that of a Ninjutsu genius who had surpassed Hiruzen, and there was already a precedent in his development of Ice Release. If he developed Wood Release as well, it would at least be somewhat explainable.
The main reason Mugetsu wanted this was for Yamato. If Mugetsu's Wood Release was brought into the open, it would also make Yamato's existence much easier to explain.
With Mugetsu, the first Wood Release Ninja of the new generation, as a precedent, Yamato's situation would attract far less attention and appear far more reasonable.
"Wood Release?" Hiruzen was slightly surprised. Wood Release could only be used by those who possessed the Wood Release Bloodline Limit.
"Could it be that you, Mugetsu, want to..."
Hiruzen immediately recalled how Mugetsu's Ice Release had originated.
Before finishing the Land of Snow mission, Mugetsu had not known Ice Release at all. It was only after going to the Land of Snow and witnessing its ice based secret techniques that he had managed to develop Ice Release himself.
"If it is Mugetsu, perhaps it really is possible," Hiruzen thought carefully, and after considering the talent Mugetsu had already displayed, he found it was not impossible.
If it were anyone else, even Orochimaru, Hiruzen would have advised them not to waste their time.
Mugetsu was different. He had already successfully developed Ice Release once. He had a precedent.
"I want to see whether I can use the experience left behind by my predecessors to develop Wood Release," Mugetsu answered honestly.
This was the advantage of having a well established persona. If Mugetsu had not built up his genius image, then the moment he used Wood Release, Konoha's higher ups would likely make only two guesses. Either he was involved in experiments using Hashirama's cells, or he was some illegitimate descendant of the Senju main family.
"I will have someone gather everything together as soon as possible. Once it is organized, I will have the Anbu deliver it to you," Hiruzen agreed.
"If progress is not obvious, do not be too stubborn about it. Focus first on improving the abilities that can continue to make you stronger. You can research Wood Release later when you have the time," Hiruzen reminded him.
Although the talent Mugetsu had shown was already absurdly high, Hiruzen still did not believe Mugetsu would definitely succeed in developing Wood Release.
First, Mugetsu had only succeeded once with Ice Release. There might have been an element of luck involved.
Second, the only Ninja in history who had used Wood Release was the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama. Even his descendants had failed to awaken it. Because of that, Konoha Ninja naturally viewed Wood Release as something above all other Bloodline Limits, more powerful and more difficult.
As someone with plenty of life experience, Hiruzen did not want Mugetsu to waste the best years of his training by stubbornly forcing himself down a dead end.
In Hiruzen's view, even if Mugetsu never developed Wood Release, he would still remain the Ninjutsu genius who had surpassed him.
If Mugetsu continued training for another ten years, then even without a Bloodline Limit, he would still have the potential to become the strongest in the Ninja World.
Of course, if Mugetsu really did develop Wood Release, then his potential would be even more terrifying. He might even become the second God of Shinobi.
"No, calling him a second First Hokage is still too exaggerated. After all, Hashirama's chakra was simply not something ordinary people could compare to," Hiruzen thought to himself, shaking his head slightly.
"Thank you for the reminder, Sandaime-sama," Mugetsu said in thanks.
"Other than that, is there any other Ninjutsu you want?" Hiruzen asked with a smile.
He was not asking Mugetsu to make a single choice. As long as there was some Ninjutsu Mugetsu wanted, Hiruzen would consider giving it to him.
"For now, no. I want to focus first on researching Wood Release," Mugetsu refused.
Even a genius should not be too outrageous. Things had to be done one step at a time.
Besides, the only techniques in Konoha that truly interested Mugetsu at the moment were forbidden Jutsu like Edo Tensei, and there was no way Hiruzen would hand those over.
"If you become interested in anything else in the future, you can come to me. The day after tomorrow, the village will hold a memorial service for the fallen heroes, and all the Ninja in the village will be present. At that time, you can check whether there are any Iwagakure spies among them," Hiruzen said, shifting the topic to the matter of screening for spies.
Since ordinary sensory Ninjutsu could not identify Iwagakure spies, Hiruzen and the other higher ups genuinely could not feel at ease unless Mugetsu conducted a thorough inspection.
Mugetsu nodded, indicating that there was no problem.
After that, he reported some matters from the battlefield to Hiruzen.
When he was about to leave the Hokage's office, Mugetsu handed over the scroll containing the Kenbunshoku Haki training method.
"Sandaime-sama, Kenbunshoku Haki is quite different from ordinary sensory Ninjutsu. To use it to sense good and evil, one must first reach a certain level of proficiency," Mugetsu explained.
Since he was handing over the complete version of Kenbunshoku Haki, he naturally had to explain it clearly. Otherwise, its difficulty might easily cause misunderstandings.
"I see," Hiruzen replied, thoughtful.
After Mugetsu left, Hiruzen, curious by nature, opened the scroll Mugetsu had left behind.
As the Professor of Ninjutsu, he naturally had a deep understanding of sensory techniques.
"What an ingenious idea. A sensory Ninjutsu like this can be used not only for reconnaissance, but can also be of tremendous help in actual battle," Hiruzen said in amazement the moment he began reading it.
...
"One copy of the latest Leaf Newspaper, please," Kakashi said as he entered his usual bookstore and took a banknote from his wallet.
As Konoha's official newspaper, the Leaf Newspaper could be purchased at most large bookstores in the village.
"Konoha Ninja Show Their Might! Frontline Forces Crush Iwagakure with Fewer Numbers, Eliminating Over 1,600 Enemies!"
The bold and striking headline immediately caught Kakashi's eye the moment he picked up the paper.
He continued reading.
"Recently, in pursuit of its evil goal of invasion, Iwagakure dispatched a large Ninja force to attack our nation's borders, with the total size of their force exceeding two thousand."
"Compared with the Iwagakure Ninja force, our side had only twelve hundred Ninja, putting us at a massive numerical disadvantage."
"Even under such an overwhelming difference in numbers, under the command and leadership of Hayate Mugetsu, our forces bravely faced hardship and challenge, overcoming obstacle after obstacle with an unwavering Will of Fire. In the end, they successfully defended the Land of Fire and Konoha, using their actions to embody the Will of Fire..."
"As expected, most of it is about Mugetsu-sensei," Kakashi thought, unsurprised.
Although Jiraiya and Mugetsu had both served as commanders appointed by Konoha's higher ups, there was still a difference in contribution between them.
Kakashi quickly read the rest of the paper.
Although the article reported on the battle that had taken place in the Land of Grass, it did not go into the specific process. Its main purpose was simply to emphasize how powerful Konoha's forces were and how outstanding the unit commander, Hayate Mugetsu, had been.
This was completely within Kakashi's expectations. There was no way war details would be printed openly in a newspaper. That would be handing intelligence to enemy villages for free.
The purpose of publishing the paper was to raise morale and reassure Konoha's civilians, not to help hostile villages gather intelligence.
What did surprise Kakashi was that he and the others were mentioned too, though only in the most inconspicuous corner of the paper.
Because this had been a large scale chaotic battle, Kakashi and the others had not used their chakra draining trump cards like Breathing Technique Chakra Mode in prolonged combat. As a result, their battlefield performances had not been especially eye catching.
"It is probably because of Mugetsu-sensei and the others," Kakashi thought as he folded the newspaper.
Besides Mugetsu, who occupied the main part of the report, Minato also received a fair amount of space in this issue of the Leaf Newspaper.
With two highly capable teachers and with their own performances being solid, even if not dazzling, it was normal that they received a little mention as well.
After finishing the paper, Kakashi quickened his pace on the way to the South Border Forest.
When Kakashi arrived, he found only Yamato and Guy there.
Not long after Kakashi got there, Shisui arrived as well.
Obito came half an hour after Kakashi.
As for Rin, she arrived even later, nearly fifty minutes after Kakashi had gotten there.
If it had been before, Kakashi might have felt like teasing Obito for showing up later than him, but now he had no energy for that.
Because Kakashi was using the Shadow Clone training method.
Of course, with his current body and chakra reserves, he absolutely could not handle the backlash that would come from dispelling multiple Shadow Clones.
So Kakashi only had his main body train Lightning Release swordsmanship, while a single Shadow Clone studied the information on the Yang Seal.
Even so, when he dispelled the Shadow Clone after a certain amount of time, he could still clearly feel the fatigue.
"But this level is still acceptable," Kakashi thought.
The benefits were enough to justify it. He could endure this much exhaustion.
Kakashi wanted to master the Yang Seal as soon as possible while also improving his Lightning Release swordsmanship, so naturally he had to work harder.
On the other side, after finishing their Fire Release training, Shisui and Obito exchanged Shadow Clones and began practicing Kenbunshoku Haki.
Whoosh!
Obito's Shadow Clone did not hold back in the slightest. Every punch and kick it threw was powerful and fierce, stirring the air with strong gusts.
And Shisui, standing there with his eyes closed, seemed as though he had rehearsed against Obito's movements in advance. No matter how Obito's Shadow Clone attacked, it could not land a single hit.
"Shisui, did you already succeed?" Obito's Shadow Clone asked in surprise.
Shisui shook his head.
"Not exactly. I only have a faint sense of it so far."
The main reason he could avoid everything was that Obito's attacks were not only straightforward, they were also rather noisy.
"That's still really impressive," Obito's Shadow Clone said, giving him a thumbs up.
Its main body was still getting beaten around, yet Shisui was already starting to find the right path.
"Obito, try to make your attacks tighter and more varied. I need the pressure to be higher," Shisui said after thinking for a moment.
His talent for Yin Release seemed to be even better than his Fire Release. Shisui had the feeling that just like Armament Haki, he might once again become the first among them to make real progress with Kenbunshoku Haki.
When evening came, the disciples all returned to their respective homes for dinner.
After dinner, Obito chatted with his grandmother for a while before going upstairs. He slid open the door to his room and stepped inside.
Then he took a book called One Hundred Common Squad Combat Tactics from the shelf, walked over to his desk, and began reading it intently.
After failing the written portion of the Jōnin exam, Obito had bought a whole pile of books in an attempt to better himself.
But he had only managed to stick with it for a few days before giving up.
Later, after returning to the battlefield and eventually becoming a Jōnin through military merit, he had read even less.
Recently, however, Obito's desire to improve himself through study had flared up again.
Even someone as outstanding as Minato still had to do everything he could if he wanted to become Hokage.
With his current level, if he did not study, how could he possibly compete with others?
Losing to others was one thing.
But if he lost to Kakashi in the competition to become Hokage and allowed Kakashi to actually become Hokage, Obito felt he would truly explode from frustration.
That inherently evil white haired guy could already pressure him with authority just by being a captain. If Kakashi actually became Hokage one day, who knew what kind of nightmare that would turn into?
.....
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