Chapter 146 Combat Training (3k)

“Disciple Uchiha Obito: Set Training Mission.”

“Training Mission: Defeat Kakashi.”

“Reward: Based on mission completion and strength growth during the mission period.”

Muzuki nodded to himself. It had to be Kakashi; he single-handedly supported Might Guy and Obito’s training missions.

“First, master Flame Breathing. In a few days, you will fight Shisui to get familiar with using Breathing Technique in combat,” Muzuki said, outlining the next arrangements.

Obito nodded. Actually, he wanted to fight Might Guy more, because fighting Might Guy meant both winning and losing, which was more respectable.

When fighting Shisui, Obito wasn’t confident he could win, especially now that Shisui had also activated his Sharingan.

In the evening, after Muzuki had prepared dinner, Minato walked into Muzuki’s house alone.

“Isn’t Kushina coming today?” Muzuki asked as he placed the stir-fried dishes on the dining table.

Kushina and Minato were not living together at this time; she just spent a lot of time at Minato’s house during the day.

“Kushina has a secret mission recently, so she won’t be able to come for a while,” Minato explained with a smile.

“If you have any questions about Sealing Technique in the future, just ask me directly.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. I even made steamed pork with preserved vegetables today,” Muzuki said with some regret.

“Muzuki, can I pack some to go? I also have an urgent matter and need to leave soon.” Minato’s face flushed slightly as he said this, feeling a bit embarrassed about getting a free meal at someone else’s house and then asking for leftovers.

However, he couldn’t help it. Although he wanted to eat, it wasn’t to that extent; if he had time, he’d eat, if not, he wouldn’t.

The one who truly needed the packed food was Kushina. Kushina said that if Minato didn’t bring her food, she would knock out an Anbu and come to Muzuki’s house to finish her meal before returning.

Minato was helpless; he believed Kushina was truly capable of doing something like that.

Kushina was in a very dangerous period now, and Minato didn’t want anything to happen to her.

Due to changes in the Ninja World situation, Konoha’s higher-ups hoped that Kushina, the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, could become Konoha’s trump card in the war. Thus, they had Kushina undergo training to master the Tailed Beast.

But the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tailed, was not so easy to control, especially since Kushina had only recently become a Jinchuriki.

Using the Nine-Tailed’s power came with the risk of being influenced by it. Given the Nine-Tailed’s immense strength, once a Jinchuriki lost control, it would cause huge losses to Konoha. Therefore, Kushina’s movements were restricted; she had to stay most of the time in a building with enhanced sealing effects.

Considering Kushina’s own needs, the higher-ups sent people to create a large Sealing Technique barrier centered around that building. The barrier’s effect was not as strong as inside the building, but it also had the effect of suppressing the Nine-Tailed, so as long as she didn’t stay outside for too long, she would be fine.

“Pack some? No problem, it’s too much for me to eat alone anyway,” Muzuki said with a smile, then took two lunchboxes, filled them with food, and handed them to Minato.

“It might be a bit much. Can you finish it, Minato?” Muzuki asked.

“Thank you, Muzuki. This delicious food is no problem to eat any amount of,” Minato replied with a smile.

Originally, he planned to bring the food to Kushina and just eat a little himself, but since Muzuki packed so much, he didn’t have to shortchange himself. It just meant his impression with Muzuki might become that of a big eater in the future.

Watching Minato’s disappearing figure, Muzuki activated his Byakugan and observed the surroundings for a while, not finding the Anbu who used to be stationed there permanently.

“One less camera pointing towards Hiruzen Sarutobi,” Muzuki thought to himself.

When Kushina used to come often, there were usually two Anbu watching this place every day.

Being incidentally watched by the Anbu wasn’t a bad thing; Muzuki had used those two “cameras” to do a lot.

For example, he displayed excellent Sealing Technique talent, and on the day he was promoted to Special Jonin, Muzuki also showed a joyful expression. When talking about the Third Hokage, he looked incredibly grateful for being valued.

“Secret mission, could it be that she’s undergoing training to control the Nine-Tailed?” Muzuki speculated.

Knowing Kushina’s identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Muzuki naturally wouldn’t think she was on some dangerous S-rank secret mission.

During wartime, unless the war reached a point where Tailed Beasts had to be deployed, Kushina would always be confined within the village; there was no way she would be allowed to leave.

Although Muzuki wasn’t on the battlefield and didn’t know the current situation, he was sure that Konoha, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure either hadn’t officially started fighting or were only conducting probing attacks.

Because Minato was still in Konoha, if a real war had broken out, how could Minato have the leisure to ask him for packed food? He would definitely have been sent to the battlefield.

Minato was a very important indicator of the Third Shinobi World War. As long as Minato appeared unbusy in Konoha, Muzuki could determine the general state of the war.

After a simple guess, Muzuki didn’t continue to speculate wildly. Even without him, Kushina and Minato would live well until the end of the war and become winners in life, so he didn’t need to worry about them.

On the contrary, his disciples might become more miserable one after another: Might Guy would watch his father open the Gate of Death to save him, and Obito would first have half his body crushed and then witness his best friend kill the person he loved.

…

A few days later, Shisui also adapted to the Total Concentration Breathing training. Next, he just needed to deepen the content Muzuki had taught him before he could master Flame Breathing.

Muzuki had Obito and Shisui spar to familiarize themselves with the Breathing Technique.

“Combat practice is divided into three stages. The first stage uses only Breathing Technique, no Chakra. The second stage uses both Breathing Technique and Chakra, but no Ninjutsu. The third stage removes all previous restrictions. Additionally, Sharingan is forbidden in all stages,” Muzuki announced the upcoming combat training plan.

The Sharingan’s dynamic vision greatly enhanced taijutsu; if it wasn’t restricted, Obito wouldn’t be able to play at all.

“No Chakra, huh? Then maybe I can win.” Obito instantly felt a glimmer of hope for victory.

In terms of pure Breathing Technique training, his progress was even slightly ahead of Shisui’s.

“No Chakra means that the Breathing Technique doesn’t use Chakra. Body Flicker Technique, which requires Chakra, can be used,” Muzuki added.

The Hokage’s personalized Breathing Technique had two options: it could be used with Chakra or without.

Not using Chakra would lose many effects; for example, Rock Breathing’s enhancement to the body would be much smaller, Flame Breathing would lose its Nature Transformation acceleration effect, and furthermore, the marked state of all Breathing Techniques absolutely required Chakra; they couldn’t be activated without it.

Obito immediately felt his chances of winning shrink from very high to very low after hearing that, because Shisui’s Body Flicker Technique was trained better than his.

However, compared to Stage Three, he still had a significant advantage in Stage One, because his Ninjutsu wasn’t as good as Shisui’s.

“Are the rules clear to both of you?” Muzuki asked.

“Clear,” Shisui and Obito both nodded and replied.

“Then prepare to fight. We’ll do one week of Stage One combat first,” Muzuki said.

The two assumed their stances according to Muzuki’s instructions, ready to fight.

“Start!” Muzuki shouted.

Shisui and Obito both instantly entered the Breathing Technique state, inhaling large amounts of oxygen to strengthen their bodies.

But just as Obito was about to rush towards Shisui, Obito found that Shisui had already appeared in front of him.

“So fast!” Obito was very surprised; having also trained Body Flicker Technique, Shisui was much faster than him.

Fortunately, neither of them could use Chakra to enhance their Breathing Technique or Ninjutsu. Although Obito was a step slower, he only fell into a slight disadvantage.

“Flame Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing.” Obito wanted to turn the disadvantage into an advantage, directly entering Total Concentration Breathing state to greatly increase his strength.

Shisui chose not to clash head-on but to avoid his sharp edge, using Body Flicker Technique to create distance from Obito.

The disadvantage was indeed gone, but because he couldn’t catch up to Shisui, Obito couldn’t build an advantage. Instead, he consumed a lot of stamina due to Total Concentration Breathing.

Finally, Obito was directly defeated by Shisui who seized an opportunity.

Clap!

“You’ve made the same mistake I told you about a few days ago,” Muzuki said, tapping Obito’s head with two fingers joined together.

“Don’t use Total Concentration Breathing so easily,” Muzuki emphasized again.

With Obito and their current stamina and Chakra, Total Concentration Breathing was equivalent to an ultimate move. If he used it immediately in a close-quarters fight, how could he play the game later?

“I thought that if I didn’t use Total Concentration Breathing, the disadvantage would get bigger and bigger, so I just used it directly,” Obito said, scratching his head, revealing his thoughts during the battle.

“The greater the enemy’s advantage, the more likely they are to expose weaknesses. It’s easier to turn the situation around if you use it when you’re at a great disadvantage,” Muzuki said.

“Moreover, you need to know that Shisui is faster than you. If you enter Total Concentration Breathing state so easily, he will definitely avoid close combat with you directly.”

He wasn’t trying to completely negate Obito’s ideas. Sometimes, in combat, one really couldn’t fall into a disadvantage from the start, as that would directly lead into the opponent’s offensive rhythm. What he hoped was that Obito could flexibly judge the strategy needed for each battle.

“You know Shisui’s intelligence; don’t waste that point,” Muzuki emphasized.

He didn’t want Obito to learn a bunch of Ninjutsu and secret techniques only to perform poorly in actual combat. Practical combat ability was very important.

“I understand!” Obito replied, looking as if he had grasped something.

He had just carefully recalled the times he won against Might Guy; it seemed he had always utilized Might Guy’s intelligence, albeit unconsciously.

After resting for a while, Shisui and Obito fought again.

This time, Obito listened to Muzuki and didn’t use Total Concentration Breathing too early. Although Obito still didn’t win this time, he lasted a bit longer than in the first fight.

He still didn’t win the third time, but he lasted an extra half-minute. Obito felt he was making progress.

When the first day of combat training ended, Obito still hadn’t won once. In the last round, Obito used Total Concentration Breathing very well, and Shisui felt a bit tired after winning.

“Obito, I’m sorry, but I won’t lose under Muzuki-sensei’s gaze,” Shisui thought silently to himself. He wanted to live up to Muzuki’s expectations.

Kushina being restricted in her movements is a plot point from Minato’s story. If anyone is interested, you can check out Minato’s story. Although it portrays Kushina as somewhat fragile, overall it’s decent.

Also, there’s more coming soon.