Chapter 284: Jiraiya

“This special training is still about striking. Use your full strength to attack the Shadow Clone and achieve victory,” Muzuki said after creating three Shadow Clones.

Since Kakashi was participating for the first time, Muzuki re-explained the penalty mechanism for the special training.

“Then I need to finish this quickly. Hit the Shadow Clone as fast as possible,” Kakashi thought to himself after hearing the rules.

Since it was a graded special training, Kakashi naturally hoped to achieve a good score, and he didn’t want to do too many problems.

If the problems were at the Ninja Academy level, it wouldn’t matter, but Muzuki’s problems were not simple. Kakashi found a few problems now and then quite nice, but too many would be overwhelming.

Kakashi found around thirty problems per training session more acceptable. This way, completing them in a week would average only four to five problems a day, which he could easily finish while resting after training.

“Start!”

“Thunder Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!”

Kakashi silently changed his breathing rhythm, concentrating his breath to its absolute limit.

The moment Muzuki shouted “Start!”, Kakashi immediately drew his White Fang Short Blade and charged to attack the Shadow Clone.

Special training is different from actual combat. Actual combat requires reserving Chakra and stamina to deal with various unexpected situations, which is clearly not needed for a ten-minute timed special training.

Kakashi channeled a large amount of Chakra into Lightning Release Nature Transformation and then unleashed it in his lower body, causing his speed to suddenly increase. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the Shadow Clone.

A flash of white light passed, and the tree next to the Shadow Clone was cut down, but the Shadow Clone, having retreated and dodged in time, remained unharmed.

“It can react even at this speed? It seems that a normal full-power attack won’t end the training quickly,” Kakashi thought to himself.

Because it was training, the Shadow Clone wouldn’t attack him, so Kakashi had pushed his speed to the limit. Even so, he still narrowly missed hitting the Shadow Clone. Therefore, Kakashi judged that using his full power normally would not allow him to complete the training early.

The training was difficult, but it was within Kakashi’s expectations. After all, even someone like Obito, who made rapid progress, found this training extremely tough, so its difficulty was evident.

Kakashi then probed a few more times, discovering that no matter how much he pushed his strength to the limit, he always fell just short.

After three minutes of probing, Kakashi changed tactics. He threw a smoke bomb to conceal himself, then a Shadow Clone attracted attention while his main body moved underground.

After the Shadow Clone engaged in close combat for a while, Kakashi decisively revealed himself and used Purple Lightning. To ensure he hit Muzuki, Kakashi dispersed Purple Lightning into more than a dozen lightning bolts that rushed towards Muzuki.

Muzuki calmly dodged, creating a small distance between himself and Kakashi’s Shadow Clone, then clasped his hands together and exhaled a large amount of flames, blocking all of Kakashi’s Purple Lightning.

“Normal tactics won’t work either,” Kakashi temporarily stopped his offense, quickly replaying the situation in his mind to gather more information.

Based on Muzuki’s performance, Kakashi judged that Muzuki must have known his main body was hidden in the shadows the entire time; the series of movements was too fluid.

When nine minutes had passed, Kakashi still hadn’t hit the Shadow Clone once.

“I probably won’t be able to finish early this time, but with this experience, I can devise a targeted strategy when I get back,” Kakashi thought to himself. One minute was clearly not enough for him to organize an attack sufficient to hit the Shadow Clone.

During these nine minutes, Kakashi wasn’t just blindly charging at the Shadow Clone like a headless chicken; he was trying to gather information.

Currently, the information Kakashi had gathered was that the Shadow Clone’s speed was just slightly faster than his, and its Ninjutsu was much stronger, making it impossible to win a Ninjutsu duel. Also, if he didn’t use Ninjutsu, the Shadow Clone wouldn’t either.

The second and third points could corroborate each other. If the Shadow Clone’s Ninjutsu was that strong and it used it freely, they probably wouldn’t even be able to touch the Shadow Clone even if their strength doubled.

After ten minutes, Muzuki announced the results.

“No one hit the Shadow Clone before ten minutes. All three of you have fifty problems.”

“Ah, fifty problems again,” Obito’s eyes gradually lost their luster at the thought of the horror he would face tonight.

Shisui took two breaths. He had also executed a battle plan this time, but it failed. Moreover, Shisui noticed that this Shadow Clone was even faster than the last one.

“Everyone, try your best to complete the problems. This time, there’s no time limit for completion, and you can come to me tonight for explanations,” Muzuki said with a smile.

This time, he had reset the Shadow Clone’s strength. Unless the disciples made a breakthrough during training or came up with a good battle plan, the training would basically just end automatically after ten minutes.

However, most of the students had graduated now, so Muzuki removed the time limit, allowing the students to complete them as they saw fit. The greatest significance of doing problems wasn’t the act of doing them itself, but the thought generated by doing them and the knowledge Muzuki imparted afterward.

“Alright!” Obito’s lifeless eyes immediately regained some sparkle. No time limit meant there would be no more of that hateful installment system.

Although the installment system had made him feel relaxed for a while, the thought of the extra problems made Obito feel it was an incredibly evil existence.

After the afternoon training, considering it was Obito and the others’ last day of rest, Muzuki announced that he would cook them a grand meal. For this, Muzuki purchased a lot of ingredients.

However, coincidentally, an unexpected guest arrived that evening.

“Haha, it’s quite lively here. It seems we’ve arrived at just the right time,” Jiraiya laughed heartily as he and Minato entered Muzuki’s house.

The war with Iwagakure had come to an end. Although it wasn’t a complete ceasefire, there were no more large-scale battles, so Jiraiya returned to Konoha to rest.

“Minato-sensei, Toad Uncle, why are you here?” Obito greeted Jiraiya.

“What Toad Uncle? I am the Toad Sage!” Jiraiya corrected him.

“Ahem, the Toad Sage is a hidden title. A more widely known title is the Sannin. I am Jiraiya, the most handsome white-haired man among the Sannin!” Since there were also two children he didn’t know, Jiraiya made a grand self-introduction.

“Is that Jiraiya-sama, who is as famous as Lady Tsunade?” Rin Nohara asked with a surprised expression.

The Sannin were very well-known in Konoha. Even students who had just graduated, like Rin Nohara, knew their names.

“That’s right, the legendary Jiraiya-sama is me!” Jiraiya said, puffing out his chest and looking proud.

Minato couldn’t help but lightly rub his forehead, watching Jiraiya proudly introducing himself to a few children.

Shisui’s expression was a bit odd. These Sannin didn’t seem very reliable.

“You’ve chosen a really good time. I’m about to prepare a grand feast,” Muzuki said with a chuckle.

Jiraiya’s arrival was indeed very timely. Some time had passed since he chose Mystical Palm Technique as a reward, and he could now use a perfectly normal reason to ask Jiraiya to connect him with Tsunade for advice.

“Feast!” Jiraiya’s eyes lit up. He swore this was the most wonderful sentence he had heard in days. This was Muzuki’s grand feast; how many delicious dishes would there be?

Minato immediately went to the kitchen to help when he heard Muzuki’s words.

Jiraiya, meanwhile, stayed in the living room, recounting his travels around the Ninja World to the children.

“Toad Uncle, are you that free? You can travel to so many countries,” Obito became interested when he heard Jiraiya talk about traveling to various countries.

He had only been to a few small neighboring countries so far, and he always left quickly.

“I travel the Ninja World not for fun, but for a very important matter, one that concerns the fate of the entire Ninja World,” Jiraiya said, raising an eyebrow.

Jiraiya had been searching for the child of prophecy foretold by the Great Toad Sage. After the war completely ended, he would continue his journey.

“What kind of matter is so important that it concerns the fate of the entire Ninja World?” Obito looked at Jiraiya suspiciously. Although he knew Jiraiya was very strong, the entire Ninja World was a bit too exaggerated.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. Anyway, a fool like you who can’t even say a name correctly can definitely not be the child of prophecy,” Jiraiya said, then burst out laughing.

Among the disciples Jiraiya had taught, the one he considered most like the child of prophecy was Nagato, because Nagato possessed the Rinnegan of the legendary Six Paths Sage. His second choice was Minato, whose Ninja talent was incredibly strong.

“I’m not a fool! The elders of our Uchiha Clan all say I’m a genius!” Obito retorted.

Rin Nohara was right there, so how could Obito let himself be labeled a fool?

“It is said that only fools are eager to explain themselves when called a fool,” Jiraiya added.

“I…” Obito showed an expression of wanting to speak but holding back. He wanted to explain but had to suppress it because of Jiraiya’s words.

“Hahaha, you’re a really interesting kid, not like those Uchiha at all.” Obito’s expression, wanting to speak but not daring to, successfully made Jiraiya smile.

It was his first time encountering such an innocent Uchiha like Obito; he couldn’t help but want to tease him.

Kakashi:…What else could he say? He could only say that Jiraiya’s image in his mind continued to crumble.

Kakashi silently noted Jiraiya’s tactics, planning to use them on Obito later.

“Jiraiya-sama, could you tell me something about Lady Tsunade?” Rin Nohara asked, looking at Jiraiya with expectant eyes.

Jiraiya thought for a moment, and his first thought was Tsunade’s gambling addiction and her habit of skipping out on bills. However, looking at Rin Nohara’s eager little face, Jiraiya still picked out some of Tsunade’s good qualities to mention.

“Chicken soup’s here!” Muzuki brought a large pot of chicken soup to the dining table.

Following that were various dishes, most of which were from Muzuki’s previous life’s major cuisines, with a small portion being indigenous to the Ninja World.

When plate after plate of enticingly fragrant dishes were brought out, no one spoke anymore. Everyone swallowed and stared at the dishes on the table with longing.

As Muzuki placed the last dish on the table, a war without gunpowder erupted.