Chapter 230 The Flame in the Heart

“Damn it, I don’t want to do problems!”

“But if I don’t do them, it will be embarrassing when my score is too low…”

That night, Obito looked at the two test papers on his desk and felt a headache coming on.

There were a total of fifty-five problems, and if he wanted to finish them in three days, he would have to do at least eighteen problems a day.

“Shadow Clone Technique!”

Finally, Obito formed hand signs and created two Shadow Clones, saying, “You two play rock-paper-scissors. The loser picks a test paper.”

After speaking, Obito picked up a test paper and a pen, pretending to work on the problems.

For Obito, both having a Shadow Clone do problems and doing them himself were painful. Doing them himself was continuous, uninterrupted pain, while a Shadow Clone experienced immense pain in an instant. Obito chose the short pain.

Worried that the Shadow Clones might not cooperate, Obito not only created an extra clone for competition but also pretended to be working on the problems himself.

“The Shadow Clone Technique still has its merits,” Obito thought to himself, drawing a chibi Rin Nohara on his scratch paper with his pen.

“Rock-paper-scissors? You can keep the test papers and do them yourself. I’m not doing any problems,” one Obito Shadow Clone flatly refused.

Just as Obito was wondering where he went wrong, the other Shadow Clone spoke up:

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking? Remember, I am also Uchiha Obito.”

Obito was a bit speechless. These two clones were actually going to slack off together. Obito couldn’t help but say,

“Since you two are me, then hurry up and help with the test papers.”

“But right now, I’m a Shadow Clone. It won’t be me who’s embarrassed later,” the Shadow Clone said nonchalantly.

What made Obito even more exasperated was that the two Shadow Clones not only didn’t help him with the problems but also read the novels he bought and ate the snacks he bought, while he, the main body, was doing the test papers.

Obito couldn’t help but activate Total Concentration Breathing and snatched the novels and snacks from their hands.

“What are you doing? I was just getting to the good part!” the novel-reading Shadow Clone angrily shouted.

“Are you looking for a fight?” the snack-eating Shadow Clone charged at Obito, looking displeased.

The novel-reading Shadow Clone, not wanting to miss out on the excitement, also charged forward.

Obito directly punched and kicked the two Shadow Clones until they dissipated. Since they were meant for doing test papers, he hadn’t given them much Chakra, so these two Shadow Clones had no combat ability.

Although Obito enjoyed the fight, he only remembered after he finished that Shadow Clones have memory feedback. The memories of punching their faces and roundhouse kicking their chests instantly flowed back into his mind.

“Damn the Shadow Clone Technique, it’s completely useless,” Obito complained, sprawled on his bed.

“I don’t want to do test papers!” After writhing on the bed for a while, Obito finally got up and sat down at his chair to start on the problems.

Play is play, and fun is fun, but Teacher Muzuki’s problems still needed to be completed.

…

The next day, Obito went to the South Border Forest as usual for his training.

First was the Armament Haki training time. After two and a half hours of practice, he took a break, followed by Constant State Breathing Technique training.

“You haven’t forgotten the rules, have you? It’s still the same as last time,” Muzuki asked with a smile.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Obito nodded with a heavy expression.

Getting hit once meant doing two problems, and what annoyed him the most was that if he failed to dodge even once, an additional ten percent would be added.

“Today’s training can’t be like last time, otherwise, installments will be unavoidable,” Obito secretly resolved in his heart.

He noticed that Shisui also failed to dodge successfully, but his problems were fewer, indicating that his own room for improvement was still very large.

If he was more cautious and managed to dodge once, he might only need to do around thirty-something problems.

“Teacher Muzuki, what if I don’t get hit even once and dodge all attacks?” Obito asked curiously.

“Then, according to the rules, the undone problems will be offset, or the problems added later will be offset,” Muzuki thought for a moment before answering.

This was like a carrot he dangled, because it was actually very difficult to achieve this effect. Muzuki intensified the training according to the time, so unless their strength significantly increased in a short period, it would be impossible to dodge all attacks.

Hearing that the problems could be offset, Obito’s eyes lit up. If he could clear it like this a few more times, it would be equivalent to several get-out-of-jail-free cards for problem-solving training.

“Start!” At Muzuki’s command, the two Shadow Clones began to move.

Shisui and Obito also immediately entered a state of Total Concentration Breathing and began to run at extreme speed.

Having learned his lesson from last time, Obito no longer tried to directly contend with Muzuki’s Shadow Clone in one spot. Instead, he tried his best to maneuver, only attempting to dodge attacks in place when there was truly no other option.

“Always just a little bit off, damn it, can’t I be even faster?” Obito shouted in his heart.

Even though he had used all his strength to dodge, Muzuki still hit him perfectly.

Time quickly came to the five-minute mark, the easiest time to get hit.

Having maintained a high concentration of the Breathing Technique for five minutes, Obito’s Breathing Technique, though still Total Concentration Breathing, was no longer as focused as it was at the beginning.

Sensing Muzuki’s figure continuously approaching, Obito knew another attack was coming.

Obito’s Sharingan could clearly see Muzuki’s finger approaching him. It seemed no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t avoid the fate of being tapped.

“Body, move!” Obito roared in his heart.

This tap wouldn’t cause any physical harm, but it could deal a heavy blow to his spirit.

“How can I be only this strong? Flame Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!” Obito continuously concentrated his breathing, instantly gaining stronger physical abilities, and narrowly dodged Muzuki’s tap.

Looking at the finger less than a centimeter from his head, Obito showed a surprised smile. Dodging this wasn’t just two problems, but also ten percent of the total problems!

“This is a small improvement. It seems that occasional problem-solving training is indeed the optimal solution, at least for Obito,”

Muzuki was very satisfied with this. He had thought it would take at least until the fourth time before Obito could dodge, but Obito managed it during the second training session.

After the time ended, Muzuki began to tally the training results of the two.

“Shisui was hit a total of nineteen times, dodged zero times, and needs to do forty-two problems.”

“Obito was hit a total of nineteen times, dodged once, and needs to do thirty-six problems.”

The joy on Obito’s face uncontrollably showed. Although thirty-six problems were still a lot, it was a huge improvement compared to the fifty-five problems of the first time.

“Indeed, the difference between dodging and not dodging is too great,” Obito thought to himself. He and Shisui were hit the same number of times, but because he dodged once, there was a difference of six problems between them.

“Obito actually managed to dodge the attack!” Shisui showed a surprised expression after hearing their results.

He had seen through the essence of this training during the first session. If there was no breakthrough, it would be impossible to dodge Muzuki’s attacks.

In other words, Obito had made a breakthrough in just the second training session.

Shisui felt a wave of pressure. Obito had a higher-level Sharingan and stronger Flame Breathing. Now, what allowed him to surpass Obito was his stronger Ninjutsu and Body Flicker Technique.

“This set of problems also has a three-day deadline. Additionally, the next training session is in three days,” Muzuki said.

The rhythm of special training every two days was a bit intense. No matter how talented someone was, it was impossible to break through so quickly every time. Muzuki would gradually extend the training time; the initial intensity was to provide sufficient pressure.

Since it wasn’t anyone’s birthday this time, Muzuki directly handed out the problems.

After carefully storing the problems, Shisui began to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to his training.

This special training truly made him feel a deep sense of crisis. If it came to results, he had already lost to Obito this time.

“I must become stronger! As Teacher Muzuki’s first disciple, how can I lose to others!” The belief in Shisui’s heart supported him in using Total Concentration Breathing to complete one training session after another.

He had his own pride. Although he was the youngest disciple, his strength had always been the best in Muzuki’s class, and his progress in various trainings was extremely fast. His learning speed for Fire Release far surpassed Obito’s.

Now, to be surpassed by someone he could once easily defeat, Shisui was naturally unwilling.

After training, Shisui went home, ate dinner, rested for a while, and then resumed training. He cycled through exhaustion and rest until 11:30 PM, when he washed up and went to bed.

In the following days, Shisui maintained this high-intensity training. He wanted to dodge Muzuki’s attacks and become stronger.

On the morning of the day before the third training session, Shisui made progress in his training, but it wasn’t in Breathing Technique; it was in Armament Haki.

Shisui imagined an invisible armor attaching itself to his body, then threw a punch. The part of the large tree he struck instantly exploded, sending a large amount of wood chips flying everywhere.

“Is this the power of Armament Haki?” Shisui looked at his fair, small fist.

The power of that punch just now was unusual. If he had used a lot of Chakra to reinforce his fist, he could have achieved that effect, but he hadn’t just now.

“Yes, you just imbued your fist with the power of Armament Haki,” Muzuki nodded and said.

He used appraisal to check Shisui’s Armament Haki proficiency, which had already reached twenty points.

Shisui threw another punch, but found that it had returned to normal.

When Shisui threw a third punch, he managed to use it again, and the large tree crashed down.

“You’re still not very proficient with it right now. Grasp this feeling and practice for a bit longer, and you’ll be able to use it initially,” Muzuki explained.

Listening to Muzuki’s words, Shisui closed his eyes and carefully savored the feeling of using Armament Haki just now.

However, this feeling was clearly not easy to find. Shisui continued to punch repeatedly but still couldn’t consistently use Armament Haki.

Obito and Kakashi, who were training nearby, both looked over.

They had also successively joined the training of Armament Haki, but compared to Shisui, who was already close to being able to use it initially, they still had no clue about Armament Haki.

To this, Muzuki could only say it was normal. Not to mention Shisui’s powerful talent in Yin Release, Kakashi, who started training Armament Haki second, only began his training half a month after Shisui had started.

Due to Shisui’s breakthrough in Armament Haki, Muzuki paused Shisui’s Breathing Technique training today and had Shisui spend the entire day training Armament Haki to find the feeling.

Although with the current Chakra levels of his disciples, there weren’t many opportunities to use Armament Haki in battle, it was a very powerful secret technique after all. Learning it early was a good thing; Chakra would gradually increase.

Having not trained his Breathing Technique during the day, Shisui practiced it by himself at night.

Anyway, he was the only one at home, so his training wouldn’t disturb his family’s sleep. As for neighbors, his training movements weren’t that loud.

“Why is Obito’s Breathing Technique progress so much faster than mine?” Shisui reflected during his break.

Training at the same time, with the same teacher, his Breathing Technique progress always lagged behind Obito’s.

Although Shisui couldn’t directly see proficiency like Muzuki could through appraisal, Shisui was also practicing Flame Breathing, and he could clearly feel that the gap between him and Obito in Flame Breathing was growing wider and wider.

Ever since he successfully got started, Shisui felt that he hadn’t made much progress in his Breathing Technique.

If they were to fight now using only Breathing Technique, Shisui was certain he would lose to Obito.

“Flame Breathing, flames…” Shisui thought of the step of comprehending the Breathing Technique. It was at that step that Obito’s Flame Breathing began to make rapid progress.

“Obito’s heart holds the fervent flame of helpfulness, but what flame do I have in my heart?” Shisui questioned himself.

Breathing Technique, of course, couldn’t improve by doing good deeds; after all, it was Flame Breathing, not Merit Breathing Technique. It was just that Obito’s genuine enthusiasm for helping others was very high, which stimulated the progress of his Breathing Technique.

Shisui seemed to understand the reason for his slow progress in Breathing Technique, but he couldn’t immediately figure out what kind of flame, if any, existed in his heart.

After 11:30 PM, Shisui still couldn’t figure it out. For tomorrow’s training, he quickly washed up and went to bed, but perhaps due to his cluttered thoughts, he didn’t fall asleep quickly and only drifted off after 2 AM.

He woke up in the morning by his biological clock and went to the forest as usual to begin training.

Today, Muzuki didn’t specifically disrupt his training plan. It was still the usual two and a half hours of Armament Haki training, followed by Breathing Technique training.

“Training start!” Seeing that Shisui and Obito were both ready, Muzuki announced the start of the special training.

Two Muzuki Shadow Clones rushed towards Shisui and Obito respectively.

To avoid interfering with each other, Shisui and Obito ran in two different directions.

Shisui ran through the already very familiar South Border Forest, still holding doubts about his Flame Breathing.

Perhaps it was because he hadn’t slept well yesterday, or his mindset was problematic, but Shisui’s special training results today were even worse than the second time.

“Shisui, forty-six problems; Obito, thirty-four problems.”

Hearing the results, Shisui sighed. He knew his own body best; he had felt it during the special training.

Obito’s eyes gleamed. Although it wasn’t a huge reduction, it was still progress twice in a row.

“Obito, you can start your training. Shisui, come here for a moment,” Muzuki said. He was very experienced with these kinds of things; usually, it meant there was a mental issue that needed to be talked through.

4k, there’s more coming.