Chapter 419 Kakashi’s Promotion Reward

“Disciple Uchiha Shisui diligently cultivated and achieved a perfect score in the Chunin Exams, advancing to Chunin, receiving rewards: Chakra +1800, Random Bloodline Limit Extraction Scroll.”

Although Shisui’s first place was much easier than Kakashi’s, the system’s reward was no different.

Muzuki judged that the Chunin Exams rewards, like the Ninja Academy exam rewards, were fixed and given according to rank.

Muzuki went to the kitchen, turned on the faucet, washed his hands, and then prepared to use the Bloodline Extraction Scroll.

Although the operation didn’t require using his hands, the necessary sense of ritual was still important.

After greeting various deities in his heart, Muzuki mentally controlled and clicked to extract.

“Random Bloodline Limit Extraction Scroll consumed, obtained Bloodline Limit — Wood Release.”

“Wood Release, not bad,” Muzuki nodded, seeing a new entry-level skill in his skill bar.

Senju Hashirama’s power wasn’t due to Wood Release; with Senju Hashirama’s Chakra, any Ninjutsu he used would have great power, but Wood Release was still considered an excellent Bloodline Limit.

Wood Release could absorb Chakra and suppress Tailed Beast power, which was why Kakashi had to ask Yamato for help when training Naruto.

Muzuki also found Tailed Beasts quite troublesome; they were tough to beat and possessed terrifying abilities like the Tailed Beast Ball, so having Wood Release would indeed make fighting Tailed Beasts much easier.

Of course, this required a certain level of Wood Release proficiency; after all, even Yamato’s Wood Release was at the master level, just not highly proficient, and his entry-level Wood Release with zero proficiency probably couldn’t even grow very tall trees.

With a thought, Muzuki used the last Nature Transformation experience scroll on Wood Release.

This was one of the promotion rewards he received for training seven hundred students; he got two in total, and the other was used on Ice Release.

Because Muzuki’s seven great natures were all at master level or above, based on Muzuki’s experience, higher skill levels would be harder to improve in proficiency.

For example, an entry-level skill with one point of proficiency could be upgraded from entry to proficient by repeating the same Ninjutsu three times in class, but after reaching proficient level, the proficiency gained from the same entry-level skill would decrease, and eighteen repeated entry-level skills could not turn a proficient skill into a master-level one.

“Skill: Wood Release (Proficient: 1000/3000).”

With the use of the scroll, many memories about Wood Release cultivation appeared in Muzuki’s mind, instantly transforming him from someone who had never cultivated Wood Release into someone who understood it somewhat.

Immediately after, Muzuki went to the South Border Forest to test his Wood Release.

Before the test, Muzuki first used Perception Ninjutsu to sense the surroundings, then activated Transparent World and Byakugan to confirm that no one was around, only then did he officially begin the test.

Muzuki pointed his palm at the ground, rapidly converting the Chakra condensed within his body into Wood Release Chakra to activate Wood Release.

Under Muzuki’s gaze, a tender sprout burst out of the soil and grew at an unscientific speed into a tree eight or nine meters tall.

“What a miraculous nature,” Muzuki exclaimed after inspecting the tree he had created.

Logically, such forced growth should make the tree very unhealthy, but in reality, the tree was incredibly healthy, even more so and more vibrant than naturally grown trees.

Through practical testing, Muzuki could confirm that the Chakra Nature Transformation of Wood Release itself carried powerful vitality.

However, this vitality was only manifested in the trees created by Wood Release, and could only function as a Ninjutsu to exert power; the vitality of Wood Release nature was like the burning of fire nature, an inherent effect of that nature and could not grant the user of Wood Release powerful vitality.

“How to increase Wood Release proficiency? Should I hold another training session?” Muzuki fell into thought after burning down the tree he had created.

Compared to Ice Release, Wood Release held more strategic value for Muzuki, as it could enrich his methods for dealing with Tailed Beasts, so Muzuki wanted to increase his Wood Release proficiency.

Muzuki was willing to practice by himself; he had never been idle since transmigrating to the Naruto world and didn’t mind dedicating some of his time to Wood Release cultivation.

But practicing by himself would be very inefficient; Yamato had practiced for over twenty years and only just reached the master level.

Unless Muzuki’s Wood Release talent was like his Sealing Technique talent, it would be impossible for him to cultivate anything significant by himself before Uchiha Madara made his move.

Muzuki had a clear self-awareness on this point; even Senju Hashirama himself didn’t become invincible after just two or three years of Wood Release training.

Since self-practice wouldn’t work, he could only rely on cheats.

Muzuki’s current idea was to hold special training and then use two more Nature Transformation experience scrolls on Wood Release.

Not directly teaching Wood Release to gain Wood Release experience wasn’t because Muzuki was afraid to expose Wood Release, but because it wouldn’t work.

Muzuki had already given many S-rank rated lectures and understood the mechanism of S-rank reward.

The first major factor for an S-rank reward was that you get rewarded for what you teach, but this factor has a prerequisite: the students’ gains.

The more the students gain, the more rewards are provided, and conversely, the less the students gain, the fewer rewards are provided.

This was one of the reasons why there were differences in rewards for different natures when Muzuki taught Nature Transformation before; people’s Chakra natures are not balanced, with wind being very rare, while fire, earth, and water are relatively common.

Muzuki didn’t think those students could understand his Wood Release lecture; Bloodline Limits are almost equally reliant on learning and metaphysics, making them very difficult to popularize.

The next day, the disciples proactively invited Muzuki to officiate their internal sparring.

As everyone grew stronger, it was inevitable to get injured when trying to determine a winner, so having Muzuki present made it much safer.

Of course.

Kakashi and the others had not been able to hide from Muzuki from the beginning; he simply hadn’t revealed himself because nothing had gone wrong.

Muzuki felt that regular internal sparring was indeed a good method, as it could motivate the disciples to cultivate more diligently.

“Just a little more, it would have been better if it was a bit later,” Kakashi sighed softly.

His Armament Haki was still stuck at that last bit; he could use it, but not every time.

This was a fatal flaw for the explosively powerful Kakashi; if he couldn’t unleash that full-power slash, it was as if he hadn’t learned Armament Haki at all.

“Shisui, this time, the winner will definitely be me.” Obito, who had stayed up all night diligently studying Shisui’s detailed intel, was brimming with confidence.

This time, he had intel and wouldn’t be careless; his win rate against Shisui had already exceeded ninety percent.

“Obito, how do you know your opponent will be Shisui?” Kakashi asked, looking at Obito in surprise.

They were drawing lots for random battles; there were no fixed opponents.

Reminded by Kakashi, Obito’s expression stiffened.

Although he felt a little panicked, Obito’s mouth remained firm.

“No matter who my opponent is, I will win.” Obito seemed to have already reserved first place.

“You’ll win,” Kakashi said, imitating Obito’s expression from three months ago.

As Rin Nohara covered her mouth and chuckled softly, Obito’s face gradually flushed.

“Three months of changes, Kakashi, don’t underestimate my growth during this time!” Obito declared loudly.

Kakashi smiled without speaking; how could he not know how much progress you’ve made when they trained together every day?

Muzuki cleared his throat twice and began to draw lots for his disciples.

“Please, not Guy, please, not Guy…” Obito clasped his hands together and prayed silently.

He wasn’t afraid of Might Guy, but Obito was afraid of the penalty for losing in the first round.

Might Guy was his opponent with the lowest win rate; he would rather fight Kakashi.

After their last battle, Obito had thought about how to defeat Might Guy, but he found it too difficult, the conditions too harsh.

“Obito versus Kakashi, Shisui versus Guy.” Muzuki announced the drawing results.

Obito breathed a sigh of relief; facing Kakashi didn’t offer as much winning potential as facing Shisui, but it was still much better than Might Guy, a blessing in disguise.

Shisui and Might Guy exchanged glances, and a considerable pressure suddenly arose.

He had lost to Might Guy in the last internal sparring, allowing Might Guy to hold the title of strongest disciple for three months.

Obito and Kakashi stood facing each other, forming the Confrontation Seal, their eyes burning with fighting spirit.

They both desperately didn’t want to lose this battle, not only because of the penalty but also for personal reasons.

“How can I lose to this Guy under Rin’s gaze?” Feeling Rin Nohara’s gaze, Obito unleashed 120% of his strength.

This time, there was no carelessness or complacency; Obito maintained caution throughout, avoiding falling into Kakashi’s combat traps.

The two went back and forth, Fire Release and dazzling Lightning Release sword techniques constantly blooming.

Kakashi casually wiped away the fine sweat on his forehead caused by the intense heat of the flames, constantly running and dodging the incoming high-temperature flames.

Obito pushed his Sharingan to the limit, to avoid being caught off guard by Kakashi’s high-speed slashes.

The overall strengths of both sides were nearly equal; after several exchanges, they remained evenly matched, neither able to defeat the other in one go.

Under the pressure from Obito, when Kakashi attempted to use Armament Haki for the third time, he suddenly had an epiphany and successfully mastered the basics of Armament Haki, no longer needing to rely on luck or feeling.

“Kakashi wins!” After the final clash of flames and lightning, Muzuki announced the battle results and, along with Rin Nohara, treated both of them.

“Disciple Kakashi Hatake diligently cultivated under your guidance and improved his overall strength, receiving a promotion reward — Thunderclap Flash: Godspeed (Master Level).”

Many memories about Lightning Release sword techniques instantly appeared in Muzuki’s mind.

Muzuki was not unfamiliar with this skill; it was a Thunder Breathing technique from Demon Slayer, the ultimate form of Thunderclap Flash, extremely fast and powerful, very suitable for the current Kakashi.

Obito, receiving treatment, hung his head, not daring to look at Rin Nohara, fearing he would see a disappointed expression on her face.

Obito had no excuse for this failure, as he had given his all, without underestimating his opponent or being careless.

“No matter who my opponent is, I will win.” Noticing Obito’s dejection, Kakashi imitated him again.

“Damn you, Kakashi!” Obito, unable to hold back, suddenly looked up at Kakashi and cursed loudly.

The moment he looked up, Obito noticed Rin Nohara’s expression beside him; it wasn’t disappointment as he had expected, but only encouragement and care.