Chapter 451: Kakashi’s Promotion Gift

“Since everyone has fully recovered, it’s time for us to return to the East Bank Battlefield,” Kakashi said.

There was no emergency transfer order from the front line; this was Kakashi’s own idea.

Although everyone was alive and well now, Kakashi hadn’t forgotten that they had a less-than-ideal future.

In that less-than-ideal future, Lord Mu Yue was absent, Minato would die in the Nine-Tailed Fox’s rampage, and Rin Nohara and Obito wouldn’t live to see Uzumaki Naruto’s childhood.

To prevent such a future from becoming reality, they needed to become as strong as possible, and war was an excellent training ground.

War was dangerous, but it truly tempered people; this was something Kakashi had to admit.

Even now, Kakashi found it hard to imagine Lord Mu Yue dying an unnatural death.

This was Lord Mu Yue, who had mastered many Breathing Techniques, Armament Haki Secret Technique, and Flying Thunder God. What kind of Ninja or Ninja unit could possibly kill him?

Due to too little information, Kakashi found it difficult to analyze useful information. The only thing he could be sure of was that the weak would only hold Lord Mu Yue back.

Listening to Kakashi’s words, Obito’s expression also turned serious. He didn’t want to die before Kakashi, nor did he want Rin Nohara to be killed, and he certainly didn’t want to see such a good Lord Mu Yue unable to live a long life.

“I have no problem on my end; we can depart anytime,” Might Guy replied readily.

Might Guy was someone who was good at simplifying complex problems. Since Five Gates plus Rock Breathing Chakra Mode wasn’t strong enough, he would just keep training until he reached Eight Gates plus Rock Breathing Chakra Mode and Armament Haki.

After a long period of arduous training, coupled with Lord Mu Yue’s enlightenment and skill teaching, Might Guy had finally mastered the prerequisite for Armament Haki Secret Technique: Yin Release Chakra Nature Transformation, and had begun formally cultivating Armament Haki.

However, compared to the time it took Kakashi and the others to succeed in Yin Release Nature Transformation and Armament Haki, Might Guy’s path to Armament Haki would not be easy.

“Alright, then we’ll just call Rin and leave together,” Kakashi nodded and said.

Since they recovered earlier than Might Guy, they had already discussed it in advance.

The four then packed their belongings and headed for the East Bank Battlefield.

“This time, we must defeat Hidden Mist with Lord Mu Yue and then get promoted to Jonin!” Obito declared spiritedly after stepping out of Konoha’s gates.

Last time he departed, he was just a Chunin with a bit of fame from the Chunin Exams. After returning, he became a well-known Konoha genius. This time, he wanted to go a step further and become a renowned Jonin!

“Obito, please focus on the road and stop talking nonsense,” Kakashi said unceremoniously, emphasizing Obito’s status.

“You’ve only walked a few meters out of Konoha and you’re already showing off your vice-captain’s authority?” Obito retorted, not to be outdone, feeling Rin Nohara’s gaze.

“Alright, Obito Chunin, please don’t waste time,” Kakashi countered, stabbing Obito with his Ninja rank again.

Obito’s expression was a bit awkward. Now, not only was his status in the team inferior to Kakashi’s, but his Ninja rank was also suppressed by Kakashi.

“Kakashi just became a Ninja earlier, otherwise he definitely wouldn’t have been able to become a Jonin so quickly,” Obito comforted himself internally by using Kakashi’s Ninja age.

Thinking about how Might Guy and Shisui were still Chunin, Obito felt more at ease. Currently, most of Lord Mu Yue’s disciples were Chunin.

“Ahem, then let’s hurry,” Obito coughed twice to defuse the awkwardness and began to rush forward.

By the time Obito and the others arrived at the camp, it was already evening. Familiar Ninja gathered together to eat and chat.

“Our Konoha is truly thriving, with capable young powerhouses like Lord Minato and Lord Mu Yue, and super geniuses like Might Guy, the Green Beast of Konoha, and Shisui the Body Flicker,” a Ninja couldn’t help but exclaim.

The Ninja World was in chaos, with Konoha fighting three major Hidden Villages simultaneously. Such extensive warfare should have caused worry, but the continuous emergence of powerhouses and geniuses in Konoha made the Konoha Ninja very optimistic.

“Isn’t that right? I heard Uchiha Shisui is only eight years old this year, it’s truly terrifying! At eight, he killed three Mist Village Jonin in one battle. Even the legendary Uchiha Madara couldn’t have done better at the same age, could he?” a nearby Ninja clicked his tongue.

When he was eight, he was still in Ninja Academy, and seeing a Chunin teacher show off a move would make him exclaim in awe. There was simply no comparison.

“Kakashi Hatake is also very strong. He killed Suikazan Fuguki, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Now he is Konoha’s youngest Jonin, and perhaps he can surpass Lord Sakumo in the future,” someone added.

Obito stopped, waiting for a specific sentence.

“They all seem to be Lord Mu Yue’s disciples. It feels like this could make them the next Sannin.”

Obito’s forehead creased into a furrow. Lord Mu Yue had so many disciples, how could they be just the Sannin? At least the Five Ninja. And Suikazan Fuguki was clearly killed by him and Kakashi together, so why did it sound like it was Kakashi’s sole achievement?

“Naturally evil Kakashi, I didn’t expect you to be a credit thief!” Obito cursed in his heart.

Rin Nohara saw Obito suddenly stop and looked at him with a puzzled expression, forcing Obito, who still wanted to wait, to reluctantly continue moving forward.

Since Lord Mu Yue wasn’t out on a mission at this time, they quickly found him in the camp.

“Lord Mu Yue,” all the disciples greeted him.

“It seems you’ve all recovered well,” Lord Mu Yue responded with a smile. “Also, congratulations, Kakashi, on successfully being promoted to Jonin. Is it a bit too late to say it now?”

Kakashi showed a slight smile, “It’s not late at all, Lord Mu Yue, didn’t you congratulate me immediately?”

Lord Mu Yue was the deputy commander of the battlefield and bore heavy responsibilities, so he couldn’t leave the battlefield at will. Therefore, in Kakashi’s opinion, Lord Mu Yue’s congratulations were not late, and he had kept it in his heart all along.

“Whether it’s early or late, let’s not discuss it for now. Look forward to the promotion gift I have for you. You definitely won’t guess what it is,” Lord Mu Yue said in a mysterious tone.

This made Kakashi a bit curious. Lord Mu Yue never spoke idly. Since Lord Mu Yue said it was hard to guess, it must be a gift he couldn’t imagine.

“Could it be a Ninja novel?” Kakashi tried to guess something useless in his heart.

The next moment, Kakashi dismissed this idea. Lord Mu Yue wasn’t Obito; how could he give such a ridiculous gift?

If Lord Mu Yue gave him a Ninja novel, there was only one possibility: the Ninja novel Lord Mu Yue gave him was not an ordinary Ninja novel, but contained a deeper meaning.

Obito stared at Kakashi with envious, jealous, and hateful eyes. He also wanted a gift from Lord Mu Yue.

Obito then realized that failing the Jonin exam was a terrifying existence that could rank among the top ten major failures in life. Not only did it make him inferior to Kakashi, make him ashamed to play with Rin Nohara, but he could only watch Lord Mu Yue give Kakashi a promotion gift alone.

Lord Mu Yue walked into his tent, made a pretense of getting something, then took out a Pokémon Egg from his system space and walked out of the tent.

“This is your Jonin gift,” Lord Mu Yue said, holding the Pokémon Egg in both hands and handing it to Kakashi.

“What a big egg! What kind of egg is this? Are we going to have an all-egg feast to celebrate?” Obito asked, a bit curious.

It was his first time seeing such a large egg, bigger than their heads.

Crack!

With a crisp tapping sound, Lord Mu Yue’s finger made intimate contact with Obito’s forehead.

“This isn’t for eating; it’s an egg that can hatch a Nin-Beast,” Lord Mu Yue said, retracting his finger.

“So, Nin-Beasts are hatched from eggs?” Obito rubbed the spot that had been hit, feeling like he had learned something new.

Kakashi was speechless. Obito deserved to fail the Jonin assessment.

“It depends on whether it’s oviparous or viviparous, not whether it’s a Nin-Beast or a common animal,” Kakashi explained scientifically.

In fact, in Kakashi’s view, the difference between Nin-Beasts and ordinary animals was like the difference between ordinary people and Ninja: there were special aspects, but most things were common.

“Lord Mu Yue, what type of Nin-Beast is inside?” Kakashi asked after examining the Pokémon Egg for a few moments.

Biology class hadn’t taught how to identify specific animals from an egg.

“You’ll know when it hatches, but I can tell you that this Nin-Beast is very strong, with extremely high growth potential. After careful cultivation, it will become a great help in your battles,” Lord Mu Yue maintained his mysterious attitude.

Of course, this was mainly because Lord Mu Yue also didn’t know what kind of Pokemon would hatch from it.

However, based on the system’s past behavior, Lord Mu Yue felt that the Pokemon inside should be quite compatible with Kakashi.

Perhaps it would be a Ground-type or Electric-type Pokemon, similar to Kakashi’s Chakra affinity, or perhaps Water-type, capable of Combination Ninjutsu with Kakashi, and even something related to sword techniques was not impossible.

“Very strong…” Kakashi subconsciously hugged the Pokémon Egg in his arms tighter.

For a Ninja, a Nin-Beast with excellent combat ability was even more important than a powerful secret technique.

“What could it be, a bird?” Kakashi couldn’t help but speculate.

Birds were all oviparous, but Kakashi hadn’t heard of any very strong bird Nin-Beasts.

【You gifted a Pokémon Egg to your disciple. Due to the disciple’s immense gratitude, you received a huge reward burst, acquiring Ninjutsu: Kirin (Mastery Level).】

Perhaps it was because they hadn’t seen each other for a long time, plus Lord Mu Yue’s generous gift, Kakashi also had a small burst of gold coins, giving Lord Mu Yue a mastery-level S-rank Lightning Release.

Lord Mu Yue did not bring out Enma. He believed that the current Kakashi could not wield this cursed blade, and using it would be risky.

Putting aside fighting styles and sword techniques, the most suitable user for Enma was actually someone with a large Chakra reserve like Nagato, who could absorb as much as he wanted, as he had plenty of Chakra.

But with other restrictions, among Lord Mu Yue’s disciples, Kakashi was the most compatible with Enma.

Although Kakashi was an all-rounder, his strongest and most proficient skills were Lightning Release and sword techniques. A good sword would greatly enhance Kakashi.

The White Fang was just an ordinary Chakra blade. Its extraordinary reputation in the Ninja World was due to its owner, Sakumo Hatake, being strong, and had nothing to do with the blade itself.

Moreover, Lord Mu Yue had tested Enma in actual combat once. Enma could cut people and absorb Chakra, growing stronger with each cut, not entirely relying on its owner for power.

In that case, Kakashi using Enma would only have two problems: one was the Chakra needed for initial activation, and the other was that it would be difficult to absorb the enemy’s Chakra in a one-on-one fight.

Solving both these problems required a decent amount of Chakra from the user. Since Kakashi currently had to carefully manage his Chakra when using various techniques, Lord Mu Yue, after careful consideration, decided not to give Enma to Kakashi for now, planning to let Kakashi try it once he reached the next stage of growth.

“Lord Mu Yue, when I walked over, I heard someone mention Shisui the Body Flicker. What’s that about?” Obito asked, suppressing his desire for a Nin-Beast.

Shisui’s performance in skirmishes shouldn’t have been better than his, so why was his reputation so much greater now, even earning such a cool title?

Shisui, who had just finished a mission and came to find Lord Mu Yue, happened to hear Obito’s question, so he replied, “It’s nothing, I’ve just been doing a lot of missions lately, and I got a nickname.”

Obito’s mouth twitched. He also wanted a nickname like that.

“While you were recuperating in Konoha, Shisui was constantly on missions. One time, he was deeply trapped by the enemy, but Shisui, relying on his personal strength, continuously killed three Mist Village Jonin and successfully defeated the enemies,” Lord Mu Yue briefly described Shisui’s efforts over the past month or so.

A resilient green plant appeared in Obito’s mind. He regretted going back.

He failed to be promoted to Jonin. Because he was busy training and was too embarrassed by his failure, he didn’t deepen his relationship with Rin Nohara. In the end, he was even forced to celebrate Kakashi’s promotion to Jonin.

Thinking about it this way, Obito found his life in Konoha to be like hell.

Then, thinking about Shisui seizing this opportunity to establish the name Shisui the Body Flicker, his mood became even more complicated.

If Obito had to describe it, it was somewhat like a friend studying hard during vacation while he pursued a girl, but he didn’t get the girl, and his friend got good grades.

“Everything is in the past. As long as I start doing missions again, things will get better,” Obito skillfully comforted himself.

Afterward, Lord Mu Yue informed Kakashi and the others of the latest intelligence on the battlefield and transferred Shisui back to Kakashi’s squad.

Shisui had no objection to this. Although he got along well with Uesugi Tooru and the others, Kakashi and his team were more important to Shisui.

However, they had been teammates who had faced life and death together for over a month, so Shisui would explain the situation and bid farewell to Takagi Shinji’s squad.

“Lord Mu Yue, Obito said he’s very unwilling to be unable to be promoted to Jonin due to insufficient theoretical knowledge, so he hopes you can give him some challenging test papers to improve his written exam abilities. He also wants to become a Jonin who is both intelligent and brave,” Kakashi suddenly said before leaving.

Since Obito wasn’t acting like a human, then he, Kakashi, shouldn’t be blamed for being heartless.

“Oh, is that so?” Lord Mu Yue smiled and glanced at Obito.

Obito voluntarily asking for test papers, and challenging ones at that, was about as likely as Black Zetsu surrendering. He knew immediately it was Kakashi’s nonsense.

“Of course I’m an aspiring person,” Obito said stubbornly, his hands trembling slightly.

At this moment, Obito was cursing Kakashi wildly, because Kakashi had put him on the spot. If he refuted, it would mean he had no ambition and only wanted to be a Ninja with brawns and no brains.

In front of Lord Mu Yue and Rin Nohara, how could Obito admit that? It would be too disappointing.

“But now that I think about it, my thoughts back then were too immature. Lord Mu Yue is the deputy commander of the battlefield and must be very tired from work, so I shouldn’t add to his burden with such small matters,” Obito frantically tried to salvage the situation.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Whenever it came to situations like this, Obito’s mind worked like a well-oiled machine.

With Obito coming from the angle of being considerate of Lord Mu Yue, Kakashi really couldn’t say anything more.

“It’s alright. For an experienced teacher, it’s nothing. I will do my best to provide test papers that can help you improve, Obito,” Lord Mu Yue said with a smile.

Kakashi couldn’t help but smile. He usually didn’t smile, unless he couldn’t help it.

“This world is fake. This is… hell,” Obito stood frozen, a sad expression on his face.

Catch-up complete. It’s past two and I’m a bit sleepy. If there are any typos, please leave a comment in the corresponding paragraph, and I’ll correct them when I wake up tomorrow.