Chapter 226: The Mountain and the Sea of ​​Questions and Birthday

“Let’s practice Breathing Technique for another four hours after dinner. We need to raise the concentration of our breathing as soon as possible.” On the way home, Kakashi was still thinking about his training.

Currently, Kakashi primarily cultivates Thunder Breathing, supplemented by Armament Haki and Lightning Release Chakra Nature Transformation.

He believes that mastering Breathing Technique is the top priority, and Armament Haki and Nature Transformation can be put aside for now.

This is because Breathing Technique can improve training efficiency and strengthen his body. His Thunderclap Flash also requires Breathing Technique to reach the Constant State realm to overcome its shortcomings.

While Armament Haki and Nature Transformation are powerful, they don’t provide a significant boost to Kakashi at the moment. No matter how strong Nature Transformation is, Kakashi doesn’t have that much Chakra to transform.

The same applies to Armament Haki. He basically only uses Purple Lightning once in battle. If he were to strengthen Purple Lightning with Armament Haki, he would lose most of his Chakra after a single move.

“Recently, there have been more war-related missions, and they are all in Land of Grass. I wonder how the situation is on the front lines.”

“I heard that Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, led a team to the front lines. With a strong person like him there, there should be no problem.”

“It seems Sensei has been thinking about going to the battlefield recently. Maybe our next mission will be a war mission. We might even get to see Jiraiya fight then.”

“War… that’s much more dangerous than regular missions. We must look out for each other then.”

“Of course, we are comrades.”

On the street, Kakashi heard a slightly familiar voice. He looked towards the direction of the voice and saw his two former teammates.

Kakashi thought for a moment, then walked over.

Kakashi’s undisguised actions made his two former teammates notice him.

“Did he hear it that time, and then the more he thought about it at home, the angrier he got, plotting revenge?” His former teammates couldn’t help but guess what Kakashi was trying to do by walking towards them.

Thinking of this, his former teammates couldn’t help but tense their muscles, watching Kakashi cautiously.

Although they found Kakashi to be cold and ruthless, they had to admit that he was indeed a genius. He was much younger than them, yet his strength was not weak.

“I’m sorry about what happened before,” Kakashi apologized.

When he was on a team with these two, Kakashi had acted several times without regard for his teammates’ condition in order to complete missions.

At that time, he believed that a Ninja’s duty was to complete missions. As long as the mission was completed, the sacrifice of comrades was worthwhile. If the mission was not completed, even protecting teammates would lead to criticism.

Although his relationship with his two former teammates was not like that with Might Guy and Obito, the enlightened Kakashi had now solidified his beliefs. He would not run away; if he made a mistake before, he would admit it.

“Huh?” Kakashi’s apology caught the two off guard. They had thought Kakashi was coming to cause trouble, and for a moment, they stood frozen.

After speaking, seeing the two somewhat at a loss, Kakashi continued walking towards his home.

He had just apologized not only to his former teammates but also made a formal farewell to his past self. From now on, he would diligently train and uphold his beliefs, protecting the comrades he wished to safeguard.

“Suddenly saying all that, who would understand?” After Kakashi left, the two teammates still couldn’t figure out what had happened.

“That’s strange. Is he apologizing for previous missions? He’s changed so much.”

…

To Obito’s long-awaited anticipation, the time finally arrived at February 10th, his birthday.

However, even on his birthday, there was no holiday; training still proceeded as normal. Birthday celebrations were for the evening.

Obito spent the first two hours of the morning training Armament Haki. Currently, apart from Rin Nohara and Might Guy, the other three disciples had all begun their Armament Haki training.

Rin Nohara temporarily had no need to train, while Might Guy’s Yin Release Nature Transformation progress was slow, and he hadn’t yet reached the level for Armament Haki training.

After two hours of Armament Haki training, he continued with Constant State Breathing Technique training until the day’s training time ended. There would be rest periods in between, but the training content would not change.

“You must feel bored doing all sorts of basic training every day, right?” Muzuki didn’t rush them to start training but asked with a smile.

“It is quite boring, just like the initial physical training, but with the added condition of maintaining Total Concentration Breathing,” Obito agreed.

“It’s training after all,” Shisui replied.

Training itself would certainly not be interesting. The motivation that kept him consistently performing various training sessions with high quality was the improvement after completing the training, as well as Muzuki’s praise.

“Then today, let’s play something fun and challenging,” Muzuki said with a smile.

Looking at Muzuki’s smile, Obito somehow had a bad premonition, so he quickly said:

“Actually, I think what Shisui said makes a lot of sense. There’s no such thing as boring or not boring when it comes to training.”

“I’m fine with anything. I believe that the training you arrange, Muzuki-sensei, will definitely be the most suitable for us,” Shisui expressed a new thought after hearing Muzuki’s words.

Obito:…

This made him seem quite dull.

“He’s not going to bring out that terrifying training method, is he?” Thinking of the dark times he had endured before, Obito couldn’t help but shiver.

If given the choice, Obito would rather fight a Jonin again than return to those days.

The problem-solving punishment training was what Obito considered the most terrifying training, once making him lose his sense of time. It was as if every day was Friday, followed by endless hours of problem-solving.

This wasn’t just Obito’s opinion; even Might Guy, who believed he had a will of iron and rock, once stated that if he had to solve problems, he would rather choose to train for a whole day.

“The training is very simple: dodge my attacks. You can use any means, whether it’s Sharingan or using Ninjutsu to attack me. If you get hit once, you have to do two problems. Successfully dodging once cancels out two problems. If you don’t dodge at all until the end, the number of problems you have to do will increase by another ten percent,” Muzuki said, smiling as he explained the training rules.

“Muzuki-sensei, to what extent will you control your strength? If you use your full power, how can we possibly dodge your attacks?” Obito asked.

The gap between them and Muzuki was too great. If Muzuki unleashed his full speed, they wouldn’t even see his shadow. How could they dodge then?

“My Shadow Clone will train with you. I won’t give the Shadow Clone too much Chakra; its level will be similar to yours. As long as your Breathing Technique improves a little, you’ll be able to dodge,” Muzuki said with a smiling nod.

“Also, the training will last for six minutes. During these six minutes, my Shadow Clone will attack at any time,” Muzuki stated the time limit.

This training of his was not only to enhance their burst potential but also to make them more enduring.

The essence of Constant State Breathing Technique training was precisely this: to make breathing more concentrated and simultaneously increase the duration of the Breathing Technique to achieve a full-day, total concentration state.

“It’s going to last for a full six minutes!” Obito couldn’t help but exclaim. He felt as if mountains of test papers were rushing towards him.

“No matter what, I have to successfully dodge at least once, otherwise it’ll be a huge loss,” Obito thought to himself.

Obito was very experienced in this kind of thing. Although it was only ten percent, if he accumulated a hundred problems by then, he would have ten extra problems for no reason. If he couldn’t finish them and had to do them in installments, another ten would be added for no reason.

Shisui didn’t feel much. It was just doing problems, right? He always got full marks on exams effortlessly.

“Shadow Clone Technique!” Muzuki quickly formed hand signs and created two Shadow Clones.

“You can enter Total Concentration Breathing state now. Training begins in five seconds: five, four…”

“Flame Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!” Obito and Shisui simultaneously entered their Breathing Technique states. Obito even activated his Sharingan directly, his eyes turning crimson with two black tomoe rotating within them.

“Two, one, training begins!”

Muzuki’s two Shadow Clones quickly rushed out, attacking Obito and Shisui respectively.

Obito could see through his Sharingan that Muzuki had indeed controlled his speed; there was no situation where he was much faster.

While running, he pulled out a large number of Shuriken from his Ninja tool pouch and threw them at Muzuki. He didn’t even aim, only hoping to slightly distract Muzuki.

Although it was a Shadow Clone, Obito’s little trick obviously couldn’t distract Muzuki. Muzuki directly used Wind Release to blow the Shuriken back, and Obito’s movement speed temporarily decreased because he had to dodge the returning Shuriken.

Thwack!

The Shadow Clone Muzuki’s finger accurately tapped Obito’s forehead.

“That’s two problems,” the Shadow Clone Muzuki said with a chuckle.

“Miscalculation. I should have focused on running,” Obito felt he had made a wrong decision.

“Anyway, I have Sharingan. Should I try to dodge it head-on?” Obito decided to trust the power of his Sharingan.

Obito concentrated his breathing, focusing all his attention on Muzuki’s two hands.

“I can see it, maybe I can do it!” Realizing he could observe Muzuki’s attack trajectory, Obito secretly rejoiced.

Thwack!

A crisp tapping sound rang out, and Muzuki’s finger tapped Obito’s head again, but on the side. Obito, who was in the middle of dodging, froze.

“Damn it, I almost dodged it!” Obito was a bit unwilling.

Unwilling to give up, Obito wanted to try again.

Thwack!

“That’s six problems,” the Shadow Clone Muzuki said leisurely.

Whoosh!

Obito immediately ran away. Although he really wanted to try again, one mistake meant two problems, and Obito didn’t want to suffer such a painful price.

“What a strange move, I can’t feel any presence of an attack.” On the other side, Shisui was caught up because the trees were too dense for him to sprint, and he was also tapped by Muzuki.

Although he wasn’t resistant to doing problems, fewer problems meant better training performance, and Shisui definitely wanted fewer problems. So, Shisui also activated his Sharingan, his eyes turning crimson.

Thwack!

Shisui watched with wide eyes as Muzuki’s finger tapped his head at the last possible second.

“I can’t dodge it at all. This attack speed is just slightly faster than my dodging speed,” Shisui immediately concluded that it was impossible to dodge Muzuki’s attacks under normal circumstances.

“Muzuki-sensei must be intentionally maintaining this speed,” Shisui speculated inwardly.

There weren’t that many coincidences where it was just slightly faster. It was probably to give them the pressure to break through.

After understanding this, Shisui quickly dodged away, creating distance from Muzuki.

After the six-minute training session ended, Muzuki announced the training results:

“Obito was hit a total of twenty-five times, dodged zero times. With the penalty for not dodging, that’s a total of fifty-five problems.”

When Obito heard the number fifty-five, he nearly blacked out and collapsed. A short six-minute training session had brought him an unknown amount of suffering.

“Shisui was hit a total of twenty-one times, dodged zero times. He needs to do forty-six problems,” Muzuki continued, announcing Shisui’s results.

Shisui also hadn’t achieved a breakthrough in his Breathing Technique, but Shisui was a bit more cautious, so he had slightly fewer problems.

“Phew, still couldn’t dodge the attack,” Shisui exhaled, a little regretful.

Muzuki smiled without speaking. He had even used Transparent World; as long as they didn’t break through, they shouldn’t expect to successfully dodge.

Actually, he had still gone easy on them. He generally didn’t attack much at first, mainly because Shisui and Obito weren’t durable enough yet. After five minutes, their condition significantly declined, and most of the problems occurred in the last minute.

Otherwise, if their speed slowed down so much and he still didn’t attack, then going easy would be too obvious, and training certainly couldn’t be like that.

“Let’s rest for a bit and then proceed with normal training. There will be another training session like this the day after tomorrow. Work hard,” Muzuki said with a gentle smile.

“Another one the day after tomorrow!” Obito only felt bad news arriving, as if countless test papers were already pressing down on his shoulders.

“Breathing Technique, get stronger quickly,” after his stamina recovered a bit, Obito quickly began training and prayed inwardly.

On this day, Obito wholeheartedly trained in Flame Breathing. He tried his best to maintain the Total Concentration Breathing state, even when his stamina was low, he continued to use the Breathing Technique until his stamina was completely exhausted.

Shisui’s diligence was no less than Obito’s. He hadn’t successfully dodged a single time, which made Shisui very dissatisfied with himself.

He was Muzuki’s first disciple and also his strongest disciple, the undefeated number one in Muzuki’s internal disciple competitions. His progress should be ahead.

“At least I have to successfully dodge once!” Shisui thought to himself.

By the end of the training, both Obito and Shisui were so exhausted they couldn’t stand up. They repeatedly maintained their Breathing Technique until exhaustion, then rested and trained to exhaustion again.

“Obito, are you okay? It’s your birthday today, is it okay to train so hard?” Rin Nohara asked with a worried expression, seeing Obito slumped beside a large tree.

“Oh right, it’s my birthday today,” Obito only then remembered that it was his birthday. He had been living in fear of problems all day and had forgotten about it.

“I’m fine, I’ll be good after a rest,” Obito said, indicating that it wasn’t a big problem. It wasn’t his first day of Constant State training.

At dinner time, Muzuki gathered all his disciples at Obito’s home to celebrate Obito’s birthday.

4k, more to come