Chapter 253 Konoha: Victory is in sight

On a normal day, Muzuki, after training with his disciples, walked towards his home in the Main urban area.

On the way, Muzuki noticed that the official Leaf Newspaper was being sold today, so he bought a copy.

Konoha has its own official newspaper, which was founded by Senju Tobirama during his tenure as the Second Hokage. However, this newspaper is neither a daily nor a weekly, but rather an irregular publication, meaning it is not issued at fixed times.

It is usually only issued when major events occur, such as a war breaking out, Konoha achieving pleasing results in a war, or a new Hokage being appointed. At these times, the newspaper’s circulation would be particularly high.

After returning home, Muzuki sat on a chair to read the newspaper’s contents. Since its purpose wasn’t to make money, it was basically only issued when something significant happened, making it worth reading.

“Frontline forces have twice severely defeated the Iwagakure Ninja Force, with victory in the war in sight!”

Muzuki’s eyes immediately caught the prominent large characters at the top of the headline. Clearly, this newspaper was mainly about the war.

“The Iwagakure Ninja Force launched an unprecedented, premeditated sneak attack on our frontline positions, simultaneously dispatching the Four-Tails Jinchuriki and the Five-Tailed Jinchuriki. Among their Ninja Force was also an elite Ninja like Explosion Release Hunter from the Iwagakure Explosion Release Unit. Facing the sudden attack, our Ninjas fully demonstrated The Will of Fire spirit, with Jiraiya, the frontline commander, personally leading an elite squad to confront the Jinchuriki…”

The beginning talked about the ambush Muzuki encountered during his food delivery mission, mainly describing how Jiraiya demonstrated The Will of Fire to protect the frontline Ninjas and successfully inflicted heavy damage on the Five-Tailed Jinchuriki. It also highlighted how excellent Konoha Jonin Minato Namikaze was, what achievements he made in the war, and why he was called the Yellow Flash.

After reading the newspaper, Muzuki learned that not long after they left, Konoha and Iwagakure had another battle. This time, Konoha took the initiative and drove the Iwa Ninja Force to the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Grass.

Muzuki also saw his name in the newspaper, but it was in a much later section.

In the newspaper, Muzuki was also described as a inheritor of The Will of Fire. Although he was only on a C-rank food delivery mission, he resolutely chose to step onto the battlefield to fight, fighting to protect the Village, and in the battle, he defeated the powerful Explosion Release Hunter and also participated in the battle to repel the Jinchuriki, playing a significant role in it.

In fact, Obito and Kakashi also appeared in the newspaper, but they were unnamed; the three of them were collectively described as members of the squad led by Muzuki.

“From now on, I won’t be an unnamed Special Jonin,” Muzuki thought to himself as he put down the newspaper.

As Konoha’s official newspaper, and with every issue reporting major events, its sales were quite good. Ninjas basically all bought it, and ordinary people who cared about the Ninja World’s situation would also purchase it.

Although he was only mentioned briefly in the back, not many people could appear by their full name in this newspaper. Moreover, those who understood knew the true value of his combat achievements. It would be difficult to become famous throughout Konoha immediately, but it could certainly stir up some discussion within the Ninja community.

Becoming famous was a good thing for Muzuki; sometimes, to get things done, it was indeed necessary.

However, it wasn’t without drawbacks. For example, Danzo, who didn’t pay much attention to him, might be reminded by this report that he once had a subordinate who was taken from him, and who had now become quite strong.

But fortunately, Muzuki was very well prepared. He had no flaws in any aspect, and Danzo couldn’t possibly demand him back to work for Root again, because Hiruzen Sarutobi would tell Danzo who the Hokage truly was.

This newspaper did not have much impact on Muzuki’s life, as his main body maintained a two-point, one-line routine: either teaching disciples in the South Border Forest or studying Sealing Technique or developing Breathing Technique at home in the Main urban area.

However, it did have some impact on his Shadow Clone teaching at the Ninja Academy.

Some teachers who saw the report were very surprised to find Muzuki’s name on it. They might not know the strength of Explosion Release Hunter, who was active on the Land of Grass battlefield, but they could understand the significance of the phrase “played a significant role in the battle to repel the Jinchuriki.”

Jinchuriki are the ace combat forces of the Five Great Ninja Villages, the most terrifying existences on the battlefield—that is the impression most Ninjas have of Jinchuriki.

And Muzuki was actually able to play a significant role in a battle of that caliber. For Chunin teachers, this was far beyond their expectations.

“Teacher Muzuki, you actually went to the battlefield and repelled the Jinchuriki with Lord Jiraiya!” Kimura Sugito exclaimed, his face full of shock.

If Ikeya Yu told him one day that a beautiful girl was chasing him, the impact might be similar to what this report brought him.

Although Kimura Sugito knew that Muzuki was different from them, that his teaching ability was very strong and he was highly regarded by the Hokage, and that he had become the vice-class leader of the teaching class less than a year after entering the Ninja Academy.

But Kimura Sugito only thought that Muzuki’s teaching ability was very strong. In his mind, although Muzuki was a Special Jonin, his strength would not be much stronger than theirs.

Kimura Sugito even thought it was just a Ninja with the same name as Muzuki, until he casually asked during lunch break and received a definite affirmative reply from Muzuki’s Shadow Clone.

“No wonder Teacher Muzuki took a leave of absence for a while recently. Was it because you were on the battlefield and didn’t have time to replenish your Shadow Clones?” Ueda Aya speculated.

Muzuki nodded. To prevent too much fatigue from accumulating, his Shadow Clones at the Ninja Academy were regularly dispelled, basically maintaining a state where memory recall would not have too much impact. Sometimes, if a mission was prolonged, he could only take leave.

“Although it sounds a bit exaggerated, if it’s Teacher Muzuki, it’s quite reasonable.” Ikeya Yu was also very surprised at first, but quickly felt there was no problem.

After all, Muzuki was a formidable person who took interns and still used Shadow Clones to teach students.

Although Shadow Clone is indeed a very convenient Ninjutsu, no one would want to use a Shadow Clone to do double the work, because it’s really tiring; even a plowing ox isn’t used that way.

Muzuki is so diligent, it’s very reasonable for him to be strong. The only question is why Muzuki, being so strong, would teach at the Ninja Academy.

“Actually, it’s nothing much. I just assisted Lord Jiraiya in battle. The main effort was still Lord Jiraiya’s,” Muzuki said modestly with a gentle smile.

“That’s still something! The opponents were Jinchuriki, the battle must have been extremely dangerous,” Kimura Sugito exclaimed.

If he had such strength, he would definitely not be a teacher at the Ninja Academy; he would choose to be a Jonin instructor.

“Having achieved such merit, you’ll probably be promoted to official Jonin very soon.”

Witnessing a colleague younger than himself go from Chunin to Special Jonin and then to Jonin, Kimura Sugito felt not a hint of jealousy, because if it were him, he truly couldn’t do it; the gap was too wide.

Moreover, Muzuki had a very good personality. Although he was already a high-ranking member of the Ninja Academy, he always stayed in this small office and maintained his initial demeanor with them, the ordinary teachers, without changing due to his status. Facing such a Muzuki, Kimura Sugito couldn’t even feel envious; he only felt blessings in his heart.

The curiosity came and went quickly. After all, Muzuki was someone they could see every day, so the teachers were only excited for a few days, and then things returned to normal.

Muzuki’s achievements on the battlefield did not impact the students, because no student would buy and read newspapers. Although newspapers weren’t expensive, wouldn’t it be better to use that money to buy snacks?

Unless it spread particularly widely, with many villagers discussing it, only then might the students become aware.

But Muzuki’s performance this time clearly hadn’t reached that level, because even Minato couldn’t. The protagonist of this report was Jiraiya.

Muzuki could hear many people discussing Jiraiya repelling two Jinchuriki while walking on the street. There were also non-Ninjas seriously discussing the strength of the Sannin and Jinchuriki, and some even argued about it, much like the scenes of netizens in his previous life debating the combat power of various characters.

To cause such an impact, the report was one aspect, and another was that Jiraiya himself had a very high reputation in Konoha, being one of the Konoha Sannin.

Although the Konoha Sannin was a title bestowed by an enemy after their defeat, this did not mean the title implied disgrace, because the one who bestowed it was Hanzou the Salamander.

Although not a Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages, Hanzou, by virtue of his formidable strength, had an extremely high reputation in the Ninja World and was recognized as a top-tier Ninja. Some even believed that Hanzou might be stronger than the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

A title bestowed by such a strong person naturally was not a disgrace, but rather an acknowledgment from a top-tier expert in the Ninja World.

Compared to such a Jiraiya, the current Minato naturally fell a bit short; in the eyes of most people, he was just a promising young man.

“Why is everyone discussing Toad Uncle? I think Teacher Muzuki is also very amazing.”

During a training break, Obito, who hadn’t seen the newspaper but felt the atmosphere in the Village, grumbled.

“Obito, are you talking about Lord Jiraiya? Why do you call him Toad Uncle?” Rin Nohara thought for a moment, assuming Obito was referring to Jiraiya, and asked curiously.

“Because he says he’s a Toad Sage, but I don’t think he counts as a Sage, so I call him Toad Uncle,” Obito explained.

Obito believed that to be called a Sage, one must possess some unique abilities that others do not, for example, Fukasaku and Shima have lived for a very long time, and the Six Paths Sage is an existence recorded in myths.

“You haven’t read the Leaf Newspaper, have you? Teacher Muzuki’s report is at the very end, so of course the discussion level can’t compare to Lord Jiraiya’s,” Kakashi said calmly.

“Leaf Newspaper? What’s that?” Obito had no idea such a thing existed.

“A newspaper published by Konoha that records various major events happening in Konoha. This report is about the war on the Land of Grass battlefield,” Kakashi explained simply.

“Then won’t we be in it too?” Obito’s eyes lit up, and he immediately became interested in the Leaf Newspaper.

“If you insist, then yes, in a way, but…”

Before Kakashi could explain, Obito quickly asked, “Then, Kakashi, do you have it with you? Let me see.”

Seeing Obito’s eagerness, Kakashi didn’t explain further and simply tossed the folded newspaper to Obito.

“Rin, you haven’t seen it either, have you? Let’s read it together and see what it says about me,” Obito said, quickly jogging over to Rin Nohara and sitting beside her, inviting her.

“Mm,” Rin Nohara, curious and having not seen it either, nodded in agreement.

Obito placed the newspaper on his and Rin Nohara’s laps, then lowered his head to read the contents carefully.

“As expected of our Konoha!” Obito chuckled, looking at the largest and most prominent headline, “Victory in the War in Sight.”

But soon, Obito couldn’t laugh anymore, because he found that most of the beginning was about Jiraiya, then how the Konoha Ninja Force persevered through The Will of Fire to defeat the enemy, followed by Minato Namikaze. He only saw Muzuki’s name at the very end.

“Kakashi, you didn’t buy it and not read it, did you? Our names aren’t on here!” Obito asked indignantly, having originally wanted to show off.

“That’s why interrupting others is a bad habit. What I was going to say is that we are mentioned, but not by specific names,” Kakashi said, walking over and pointing to a paragraph.

Obito looked at Kakashi’s finger, then subconsciously read aloud: “Aside from Hayate Mugetsu, his squad members also contributed their share to the war. Their entire squad understood and practiced The Will of Fire.”

Obito was dumbfounded. When did he understand and practice The Will of Fire? Why didn’t he know? He always lost points on questions about The Will of Fire during exams.

“It’s already written, so why didn’t they write our names?” Obito asked, puzzled.

“Look closely at the content and see how many names you can find in it,” Kakashi calmly reminded him.

Obito looked carefully and found that on such a large newspaper, only five Konoha Ninjas’ names appeared, and two of them only appeared once. Although Muzuki’s position was towards the back, the amount of description was decent, placing him third.

“This newspaper is like that; if you’re not an important person, they generally won’t write your name,” Kakashi said as he collected and folded the newspaper.

“Sooner or later, I’ll be extensively featured in it,” Obito thought, recalling Jiraiya, who was described in great detail, and a thought arose in his mind: he could replace him.

“Cultivate diligently, and you’ll have everything,” Muzuki said with a smile, walking over after finishing the Great Waterfall Technique.

“Your graduation exam is coming up. You only have two weeks left. This time there’s no written exam; just demonstrate your strengths,” Muzuki said, patting Obito’s shoulder.

The Ninja Academy’s graduation exam does not test theory; instead, it selects one basic Ninjutsu for examination.

“As long as there’s no theory, I’ll definitely be fine,” Obito said, patting his chest confidently.

Muzuki nodded, feeling that this exam could earn them three Ninjutsu Proficiency Scrolls. Those basic Ninjutsu were already simple, and with the upgrade in teaching, even Might Guy could master them to a decent level. There would be no problem at all dealing with the Ninja Academy exam.

After teaching his disciples, Muzuki returned home as usual, but today he encountered an acquaintance on his way home.

“Muzuki,” Minato, who was talking with his teammates, also noticed Muzuki and greeted him with a warm smile.

4k, my stomach seems overly fragile. I woke up, drank some mineral water from yesterday’s opened bottle, and it’s been giving me a very subtle discomfort in my stomach. It’s not exactly pain, but it just feels off.

Recommending a friend’s book: Konoha: Starting as a Hyuga Experiment.

Synopsis: Konoha Year 54.

The Third Shinobi World War has ended, the Fourth Hokage has passed away, and Orochimaru has fled.

And Kagura Shuuzawa, a Hyuga experiment created by Orochimaru in his boredom, now a Root enforcer, falls into contemplation as he looks at one system mission after another.

Years later, Danzo lets out a soul-stirring cry: “I’m not dead yet, why are you already mourning?”