Chapter 361 The Importance of Acting Skills to Ninjas

Danzo Shimura was extremely diligent in matters related to the development of Root.

Although Muzuki’s reply reached him at night, Danzo Shimura still read the reply immediately, prioritizing the leader taking the lead in working overtime.

When Danzo Shimura saw the beginning of the content, he nodded, thinking to himself that indeed, the Root members he had personally trained since childhood were more reliable.

Even though Muzuki had already left Root and was now the Vice Principal of the Ninja Academy, and had even achieved some merits on the battlefield, it was not difficult to see from Muzuki’s reply that Muzuki was still that subordinate who greatly respected him.

When Danzo Shimura saw Muzuki’s concern that secretly special training Root might lead to Hiruzen Sarutobi blaming him, he couldn’t help but show annoyance.

Danzo Shimura was not annoyed at Muzuki; he was annoyed at Hiruzen Sarutobi, because all of his recent proposals had been rejected by Hiruzen Sarutobi, and based on his understanding of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Muzuki’s concern was correct.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not want Root to become stronger, and he had secretly recalled Muzuki, who had already left Root, for special training. This was certainly something Hiruzen Sarutobi would not want to see.

Danzo Shimura did want to conduct this matter secretly, because he knew that negotiating with Hiruzen Sarutobi would certainly lead to some unforeseen complications again.

However, he knew it would be difficult to hide this from Hiruzen Sarutobi’s Anbu, because Muzuki still had work at the Ninja Academy and had to teach there. To come to Root for special training, he could only do so at night, and going back and forth like this every day would easily lead to discovery.

“I can only talk to Hiruzen.” After weighing the pros and cons, Danzo Shimura realized that discussing it with Hiruzen Sarutobi was the best option.

Doing it secretly was very likely to be discovered, and if discovered, Muzuki, this hidden piece, would be useless, and he might also be used as an excuse by Hiruzen Sarutobi to further weaken Root due to the violation.

Danzo Shimura was very optimistic about Muzuki’s future and felt that if Muzuki continued to develop this way, he could become a solid asset for him. It would be too regrettable if he were exposed because of such a matter.

The next morning, Danzo Shimura walked into the Hokage Building and headed straight for the Hokage Office.

Danzo Shimura did not knock, but pushed the door open directly.

“Looking so rushed, is there something urgent?” Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up, saw it was Danzo Shimura, put down the documents in his hand, and asked.

He had reprimanded Danzo Shimura quite a few times recently, so he didn’t bring up the issue of Danzo Shimura not knocking anymore.

Danzo Shimura was, after all, his old classmate and Hokage Assistant. Occasionally reprimanding him was enough; he couldn’t do it every day, he had to save some face.

“You know, Root has lost many excellent members for Konoha to gain more advantages on the battlefield.” Danzo Shimura did not immediately state his purpose but instead first played the victim.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not speak, put his pipe in his mouth, took a deep puff, exhaled white smoke, and said:

“Haven’t new blood been added?”

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Danzo Shimura was not lying, just exaggerating the facts a bit, but he would not agree to Root’s expansion.

Root had developed to its current strength, almost becoming a second Anbu. If its leader wasn’t Danzo Shimura, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not tolerate such a force appearing in Konoha.

One must know that Anbu was directly under the Hokage, while Root was not.

“New people have been added, but they ultimately cannot compare to those excellent Root members who died in battle. This has led to a decline in Root’s strength and affected work in all aspects,” Danzo Shimura said in a deep voice, staring into Hiruzen Sarutobi’s eyes.

Danzo Shimura’s gaze seemed to be saying that Root had bled for Konoha and suffered for Konoha, so couldn’t Hiruzen Sarutobi be more lenient with Root?

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not speak, just quietly met Danzo Shimura’s gaze.

He had given Danzo and Root enough conveniences and did not feel that he owed anything.

“I need Hayate Mugetsu to help me train the newly joined Root members. The current Root needs someone with excellent teaching ability like him,” Danzo Shimura said slowly, clenching his fist with a cold face, as if this was his final bottom line.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not reply immediately. He took off his pipe, tapped the table with his finger, and showed a thoughtful expression.

It was impossible to directly send Muzuki back to Root. With Muzuki’s strength, returning to Root would be a significant boost to Root.

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought for a moment and said, “Muzuki can train Root members, but it can only be short-term training, and it needs to be with Anbu.”

“Anbu has also added some new recruits recently. Since there will be training, let’s do it together.”

Hiruzen Sarutobi also wanted to see if Muzuki could still demonstrate the same teaching ability he had at the Ninja Academy when instructing already-grown Ninjas.

Danzo Shimura was about to say something but was immediately interrupted by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

“Danzo, don’t forget Root’s original purpose.”

Danzo Shimura was instantly speechless, because the pretext he used to establish Root was precisely for training Anbu Ninjas.

Then the two discussed the specific arrangements for the training. Danzo Shimura maintained a cold face throughout, as if Hiruzen Sarutobi owed him thirty million Ryo.

After walking out of the Hokage Building, Danzo Shimura’s expression returned to normal.

As the leader of Root, Danzo Shimura was quite confident in his acting skills. Most of the time in the Hokage Office, he was acting, with the goal of making Hiruzen Sarutobi feel like he was losing out.

Although there was a small unexpected turn in the middle, Danzo Shimura’s fundamental goal was achieved, and he felt that this time it was not a loss.

In fact, Danzo Shimura knew the reason why Hiruzen Sarutobi rejected his proposal.

But Danzo Shimura believed the reason was not with him, but with Hiruzen Sarutobi. He, Danzo Shimura, was wholeheartedly for Konoha, and a stronger Root was beneficial and harmless to Konoha. Hiruzen Sarutobi should give him more trust.

Considering that Muzuki had classes all day, Hiruzen Sarutobi went to find Muzuki after the Ninja Academy dismissed for the day.

Knock, knock!

Soon, the wooden door of the Hokage Office was knocked.

“Come in,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said, taking a sip of hot tea.

Muzuki outside the door immediately pushed it open, entered, and greeted Hiruzen Sarutobi with a respectful expression.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded back with a smile.

“Anbu and Root have added some new blood. I want you to conduct special training for them to improve their strength. I will arrange for other teachers to cover your classes at the Ninja Academy,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said straightforwardly, without wasting words.

Muzuki put on a surprised expression and then said, “Anbu and Root are gathering places for elites. I’m afraid I can’t teach them much.”

“No need to be modest, Muzuki. Your teaching ability is evident to everyone. Just go and teach them,” Hiruzen Sarutobi said with an expression of trust.

“Thank you for your trust, Sandaime. I will do my best to help them improve their strength,” Muzuki said with a grateful expression.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stroked his small beard with a smile. This was the art of language; he was merely assigning a task, yet he could still earn Muzuki’s gratitude.

Then Hiruzen Sarutobi also chatted with Muzuki about Asuma’s training. Since it was past working hours, after their conversation, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Muzuki walked out of the Hokage Building together.

“Anbu and Root together…” On the way home, Muzuki was thinking about the new task Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him.

This had some slight discrepancies with Danzo Shimura’s expectations, clearly a result of mutual compromise between the two parties.

However, for Muzuki, this was a good thing, because his system inherently triggered better rewards the more people he taught and the higher the quality.

If it were just some new members of Root, Muzuki would still be worried about not meeting the conditions, but with two organizations combined, that wouldn’t be an issue.

Back home, Muzuki began to think about the special training content. This was not the same as the Ninja Academy’s holiday special training. Those who could enter Anbu or Root were at least elite Chunin, or even Jonin.

The value of a Konoha Jonin was very high. If one was too specialized, even if they had enough strength, they might only end up as a Special Jonin.

This was an opportunity for Muzuki to prove his teaching ability. If Muzuki taught well, his value as a teacher would be further amplified, and he would be given more important roles, which would make Muzuki’s subsequent actions more convenient.

If there were to be major reforms to the Ninja Academy, if Muzuki didn’t have some special achievements, Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn’t trust him to make changes.

The two Ninja Academy holiday special trainings he led had outstanding results, but of course, a resume looks better the more impressive it is.

However, Muzuki didn’t pay too much attention to this. With his current Ninja knowledge and teaching skills, simply teaching people to improve their strength was not very difficult.

For Muzuki now, the two most important things were developing the power bank and learning Flying Thunder God.

Backup Chakra could alleviate his Chakra recovery speed problem to some extent. When it ran out, he could just take it from the backup, without needing to re-refine it.

Flying Thunder God would give him the ability to instantly move long distances, which could be useful in many situations and was very convenient.

Muzuki spent 20 minutes writing a rough outline and then focused on learning Sealing Technique.

After Muzuki studied Sealing Technique for two hours, Minato came to Muzuki’s house to discuss Ninjutsu with him. Muzuki learned Flying Thunder God from Minato, and Minato listened to Muzuki explain the development of Rasengan, until it was almost bedtime when Minato went home.

After Minato left, Muzuki briefly researched Breathing Technique before sleeping. Before going to bed, Muzuki checked the progress of each disciple’s life mission.

The rewards for life missions were very generous. If any disciple’s progress was close to a settlement point, Muzuki would help speed up their progress, just like with Obito that time.

Muzuki looked through all his disciples’ life missions. Currently, Obito had the highest progress and had already settled once.

Next was Might Guy. Muzuki found that Might Guy’s mission progress had actually reached 9.4%, just 0.6% away from a settlement.

Third was Shisui. Although he was third, his progress was very low, incomparable to Obito and Might Guy.

Kakashi, who was in last place, was the only one with zero progress, but Kakashi’s mission was a bit special. Muzuki couldn’t really say who between him and Shisui would settle first.

“If he can open the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates in a normal state, then a 0.6% increase should be no problem,” Muzuki thought to himself.

Based on the growth rate of the life mission at different stages, Muzuki determined the factors that increased Might Guy’s life mission progress—strength and fame.

Increased strength would lead to progress, and increased fame also led to progress. For example, in the third stage of the Chunin Exams, because there were many spectators and Might Guy performed very well, Might Guy’s life mission progress increased after the battle.

However, according to Muzuki’s records, an increase in strength generally added much more progress than an increase in fame.

If it was only 0.1% or 0.2% away, Muzuki would probably have Might Guy go out and do some show-off missions, and maybe it would be enough after the mission was done.

For 0.6%, Muzuki felt that training Might Guy to open the Fourth Gate would be faster. Might Guy was already not far from the Fourth Gate.

The next day, Muzuki communicated with Teacher Chen to have Might Guy temporarily leave the team for special training.

However, Muzuki always treated his disciples equally; he wouldn’t put pressure on Might Guy alone.

“Everyone might have to work hard for a while. The training recently will be a bit difficult,” Muzuki said to his disciples with a gentle smile.

“Youth is about training more!” Might Guy said with a hearty laugh, giving a thumbs-up.

The harder the training, the more excited Might Guy became. These were all steps on his path to becoming the strongest.

Hearing Muzuki’s words, Obito’s face turned pale, feeling very uneasy.

Muzuki rarely talked about the difficulty of training. When he did, it meant it was truly difficult, like the Constant State Breathing Technique training a while ago.

Constant State training was the most terrifying training Obito had experienced. Obito truly stood and fell asleep for the first time. It was exhausting, and he still had to do exercises, which made Obito feel deeply miserable.

Kakashi’s expression became somewhat serious. He also recalled the previous Constant State Breathing Technique training.

Shisui’s expression remained unchanged. Difficult training usually meant great improvement, which meant an opportunity for a shortcut had arrived.

Shizune sensed that the atmosphere was a bit different, but she didn’t quite understand. Muzuki didn’t say much; it was just a little difficult.

As if sensing Shizune’s thoughts, Obito looked at Shizune with pity.

“What an innocent child. She has no idea what she’s about to face,” Obito sighed.

Slap!

Muzuki’s finger accurately tapped Obito’s forehead.

After simply punishing the playful Obito, Muzuki quickly began to arrange the training programs.

This special training was mainly targeted training for each disciple’s different characteristics.

Might Guy had to open the Fourth Gate, while Kakashi had to completely master Transparent World, and Obito had to master Flame Breathing Chakra Mode…

Muzuki’s idea was to let his disciples quickly convert their potential into strength to increase their combat power.

Although Shizune was an exchange student, she was somewhat considered half a disciple, so Muzuki also gave her some attention.

At first, Shizune was puzzled and smiled, but after the training began, Shizune somewhat missed the days of studying with Tsunade.

Although Tsunade often made her do chores, Shizune felt that compared to training, doing chores for a day wasn’t actually very tiring.

“So Rin has always gone through this, no wonder she became so strong,” Rin Nohara’s image in Shizune’s mind became richer.

“I must not give up. Lady Tsunade will definitely be surprised when she checks my training progress,” Shizune tried every possible way to find motivation for her training.