Chapter 579 The First is Today

Land of Grass.

Around the Konoha Ninja Force camp, Muzuki was teaching Kenbunshoku Haki.

Besides Obito, Shisui, and the others, Minato Namikaze was also learning Kenbunshoku Haki from Muzuki.

Muzuki had brought this up himself, reasoning that it would be too tiring for him to be the only one who could identify Iwagakure spies, so he needed Minato Namikaze’s help.

Muzuki knew very well that once the intelligence from the Land of Grass was sent back, no matter how much Hiruzen Sarutobi favored him, he would find a way to make him hand over Kenbunshoku Haki.

Even if the person who possessed this Ninjutsu wasn’t Hayate Mugetsu, but Hiruzen Sarutobi’s grand-disciple Minato Namikaze, or Hiruzen Sarutobi’s disciple Jiraiya, the result would be the same.

Such a Ninjutsu, which could play a huge role in war, must be handed over to Konoha regardless of who possessed it; otherwise, it would mean not having The Will of Fire, and not loving Konoha.

Since it had to be handed over sooner or later, Muzuki naturally chose to prioritize teaching Minato Namikaze, who had a better relationship with him.

Muzuki didn’t really mind the spread of Kenbunshoku Haki. After its localization, Kenbunshoku Haki had a much higher threshold than Armament Haki. Just the perception talent alone blocked a large number of people.

Moreover, having perception talent didn’t necessarily mean one could learn Kenbunshoku Haki, which blocked another large group of people.

Even if one could learn it, they might not be able to master it, sifting out another group, and finally, even if they mastered it, they might not possess the special abilities of Kenbunshoku Haki.

Konoha only had a few thousand Ninja. Under multiple screenings, it was likely that over the past few years, the Ninja who could improve their combat power by learning Kenbunshoku Haki would be few and far between.

After a few years, Muzuki might already be invincible, so he naturally didn’t need to worry about these things.

If he really didn’t want Kenbunshoku Haki to spread, there were actually many ways.

The first, simplest, and most direct way was to not use Kenbunshoku Haki to sense malice as the reason for finding White Zetsu.

The second was not to teach Minato Namikaze Kenbunshoku Haki, so Muzuki could modify a ‘castrated’ version of Kenbunshoku Haki and hand it over himself.

“In the early stages of training, try not to use your eyes to observe. Instead, avoid the opponent’s attacks by sensing their aura,” Muzuki said, emphasizing the key points of early Kenbunshoku Haki training.

Since there were no powerful beasts here, Muzuki had them split into Shadow Clones to train with each other.

For example, he had Shisui’s Shadow Clone attack Obito, and Obito’s Shadow Clone attack Shisui, training by exchanging roles.

Because Minato Namikaze’s seniority was different from Obito’s and the others, Minato Namikaze’s training was assisted by Muzuki’s Shadow Clone.

This created a problem: excluding Minato Namikaze, who was supervised by Muzuki, the number of Kenbunshoku Haki training squad members became odd, leaving someone without a partner.

This was because Might Guy and Kakashi had not participated in the Kenbunshoku Haki training.

“Damn it, do I have to let Kakashi split a Shadow Clone to train with Rin?” Obito felt uncomfortable just thinking about it.

Muzuki wanted to say that a person isn’t limited to splitting only one Shadow Clone.

However, to encourage harmonious and friendly interaction among his disciples, Muzuki did not speak up to remind them.

The final result was that Obito gave up training with Shisui and, embracing the mindset of ‘if I don’t go to hell, who will?’, teamed up with Kakashi’s Shadow Clone.

Perhaps because it was important training, Kakashi and Obito did not quarrel.

“Muzuki’s talent in developing Ninjutsu is no less than his talent in learning Ninjutsu. He actually managed to develop such a sensing Ninjutsu,” Minato Namikaze sighed in his heart during a break.

Minato Namikaze had a strong sensing talent and also knew sensing Ninjutsu, so his feelings about Kenbunshoku Haki were deeper than Obito’s and the others’.

In terms of difficulty, Muzuki’s Kenbunshoku Haki was the most difficult sensing Ninjutsu Minato Namikaze had ever seen. Even someone with his sensing talent could clearly feel the difficulty.

According to Konoha’s Ninjutsu grading, Kenbunshoku Haki was definitely an S-rank Ninjutsu.

What surprised Minato Namikaze the most was the potential of Kenbunshoku Haki.

Although he hadn’t been training for long, Minato Namikaze could feel from his own training and Muzuki’s explanations that this was a Ninjutsu that could be deeply developed in various directions.

Kenbunshoku Haki could sense Chakra over a wide range like ordinary sensing Ninjutsu, it could also be applied more in combat to predict enemy attacks, and it could also delve into sensing depth to perceive goodwill and malice.

If it weren’t for Kenbunshoku Haki’s high threshold in sensing talent and difficulty, Minato Namikaze felt that some members of the Hyuga Clan would be out of a job.

In addition, the value of the Uchiha Clan’s Sharingan would also decrease.

“Muzuki, I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?” Just then, Jiraiya suddenly walked over, looking at Muzuki and smiling.

Everyone present looked at Jiraiya. How could there be bad news after such a great victory?

Could it be that the intelligence squad discovered that Iwagakure had sent more reinforcements into the Land of Grass?

“The good news,” Muzuki thought for a moment and replied.

He felt that neither the good news nor the bad news should be a big deal, otherwise Jiraiya wouldn’t be so leisurely letting him choose.

“The good news is that the higher-ups will greatly reward you. You’ll probably get a large sum of money, and if you want, you might even hold an important position in a certain department,” Jiraiya replied.

For a Ninja to become stronger, money was indispensable. Not to mention various training resources, the consumption of various Ninja tools alone was not a small sum. It was quite normal in Konoha for Ninja to be rewarded with large sums of money for their merits.

With a raise in salary, there was naturally also a promotion.

However, due to the special nature of Ninja, not every Ninja was willing to sit in an office handling official duties, so this depended on individual preference.

For example, Jiraiya himself, although he was a famous Sannin in the Ninja World, if it were not wartime, he would have no other identity in Konoha besides being a Jonin.

Because Jiraiya had to travel the Ninja World to find and teach the Child of Prophecy, he naturally couldn’t hold an office in a certain Konoha department.

Tsunade had held an important position in the medical department before, but she voluntarily resigned after entering a relaxed state.

“So what’s the bad news?” Obito asked curiously.

“The higher-ups want Muzuki to take some Ninja back to Konoha, the kind that has to leave tomorrow,” Jiraiya sighed and said.

“This should also be considered good news, right?” Minato Namikaze said, puzzled.

Returning to Konoha was naturally more comfortable than being on a dangerous battlefield.

“If Muzuki goes back, where are we going to eat such delicious food?” Jiraiya patted Minato Namikaze’s shoulder, acting as if he was disappointed.

They looked so similar, but their culinary skills were so different. If only he had half of Muzuki’s skill, it would be good.

Minato Namikaze scratched his hair, having to admit that Jiraiya was right. Muzuki’s return was indeed bad news for them.

Not only would the quality of their three meals drastically decrease, but they would also lose a combat force capable of suppressing a Jinchuriki.

“It’s almost noon anyway, I’ll go prepare lunch,” Muzuki said with a faint smile.

Jiraiya wasn’t just hinting; he practically had the words “I want to freeload a meal” written on his face.

“You all stop training for now. After eating, rest for a while before training again,” Muzuki turned to his disciples and said.

Shisui and the others obediently stopped. Those who could help went to help, and those who couldn’t just quietly waited for mealtime to arrive.

Once the meal officially began, the atmosphere became even quieter.

When eating Muzuki’s cooking, only newcomers would chat. The regulars knew to talk less and eat more; it was too much of a loss to eat a few fewer bites for the sake of one sentence.

“That was satisfying,” Jiraiya commented after finishing his meal.

Although Muzuki had to leave tomorrow, at this moment, he was happy.

Everyone around him had a look of approval.

“Your contribution this time is so great, the new issue of the Leaf Newspaper will definitely feature you as the main character. Now you’ve truly become the number one of Konoha’s new generation,” Jiraiya said while picking his teeth.

Minato Namikaze had appeared in the Leaf Newspaper quite a bit, but usually as a supporting character.

As soon as the latest issue of the Leaf Newspaper was published, Muzuki’s prestige would definitely surpass Minato Namikaze’s.

At that time, talks of the two strongest of Konoha’s new era would disappear. There would be no “Muzuki of the South, Minato of the North”; Muzuki would become the strongest of the new generation, without a doubt.

Of course, if Minato also won a great victory against a famous and powerful Ninja in a short period, then the tide would turn back.

However, from a realistic perspective, that was difficult to achieve.

“It’s just an empty title with no meaning,” Muzuki shook his head slightly.

He truly didn’t care about these things. Having a reputation on par with Minato was already enough; there wasn’t much benefit in being higher.

After all, Muzuki didn’t have the dream of becoming Hokage.

If he were some Konoha prosperity system, becoming Hokage and wielding greater power would indeed be very necessary, but as an owner of a teacher system, becoming Hokage would purely be asking for trouble.

At the end of the day, Muzuki was a transmigrator, and one who had only transmigrated for just over three years.

Muzuki didn’t care about Konoha itself; there were many reasons why he went to the battlefield, but pure protection of Konoha was not among them.

Compared to Konoha as a power, Muzuki cared more about the people within Konoha, those he was familiar with.

The students who affectionately called him ‘teacher,’ the disciples who trusted him, and the friends who helped each other.

“It’s not entirely meaningless; these are still very useful for becoming Hokage,” Jiraiya explained.

Konoha’s selection of a Hokage was based on seniority, but if one’s prestige and contributions were high enough, they could, to some extent, disregard seniority or other restrictions.

It was just that Muzuki was not a true direct descendant of the Hokage lineage, and he had no master-disciple relationship with Hiruzen Sarutobi or Jiraiya.

Otherwise, with Muzuki’s current momentum, as long as he had the ambition, he could almost secure a Hokage position, either Fifth Generation or Fourth Generation.

“So Minato, you need to work harder, otherwise you might not be able to compete with Muzuki for the Fifth Hokage position in the future,” Jiraiya said, encouraging Minato Namikaze.

Jiraiya knew that Minato Namikaze had always been working towards becoming Hokage.

“Yes, although Muzuki is excellent, I will not give up,” Minato Namikaze nodded seriously.

He admitted that his current self was not as good as Muzuki, whether in terms of strength or the ability to lead the Ninja Force in combat.

However, Minato Namikaze was not someone who would give up easily; not being as good as Muzuki now didn’t mean he wouldn’t be as good in the future.

If he worked hard and still didn’t surpass him in the end, Minato Namikaze would accept it.

Losing honorably after putting in effort was always more comfortable than regretting not trying after losing.

Obito ruffled his hair, his mood somewhat complex.

According to the information provided by Yamato and Naruto from the future, Minato Namikaze became Hokage, and not the Fifth Hokage, but the Fourth Hokage.

If they successfully changed the future and Muzuki didn’t die, would it lead to Minato Namikaze not being able to compete with Muzuki and failing to become the Fourth Hokage?

Obito had no doubt that Minato Namikaze would lose to Muzuki.

After all, no matter how powerful Minato Namikaze was, he was still a mortal, and his opponent was the omnipotent Lord Mu Yue.

“For Lord Mu Yue, I can only make Minato-sensei suffer a little,” Obito thought with a slight apology in his heart.

Compared to Muzuki’s life, Minato Namikaze’s Hokage position was a minor matter.

Let alone Minato Namikaze’s Hokage position, Obito would even give up his own Hokage dream for Muzuki.

In the afternoon, Muzuki received a mission from Root; Danzo Shimura needed him to find the body tissue of an Iwagakure spy.

Muzuki directly ignored this mission.

He didn’t want Danzo Shimura to get the White Zetsu’s body, which was why he had his Shadow Clone kill the White Zetsu, so how could he actively help Danzo Shimura find the White Zetsu’s body?

Muzuki estimated that Danzo Shimura had also seen the battlefield intelligence and become green with envy, so he was notifying him with a ‘let’s try’ attitude.

…

The next day, Muzuki and the others departed under the reluctant gazes of Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze.

Since Iwagakure’s attitude was currently unclear, Muzuki didn’t take many Ninja with him, only a few dozen, all of whom had been on the battlefield for some time.

Apart from Muzuki and his disciples, all the other Ninja from the support unit stayed behind.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi’s order was to return to Konoha as quickly as possible, Muzuki and his group marched rapidly, quickly returning to Konoha.

“It hasn’t even been half a month, but it feels like a long time has passed,” Obito sighed as he once again saw the peaceful scene at Konoha’s main gate.

This wasn’t his first time participating in a war, but it left an impression on him no less than his first time on the battlefield.

It was also his first time seeing the Konoha Ninja Force looking like a pack of stray dogs.

When they first rendezvoused, the morale of the Konoha Ninja Force was visibly low.

This was also Obito’s first time participating in a major Ninja war where the total number of combatants exceeded three thousand.

Konoha had twelve hundred Ninja, and Iwagakure had nearly two thousand Ninja, totaling three thousand two hundred Ninja from both sides.

During the battle, Obito felt like there were endless enemies to fight, and he didn’t even dare to enter Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

He was worried that running out of Chakra would make him a burden to others.

“Because this time the pressure was greater than any previous time,” Kakashi replied.

On the Hidden Mist battlefield, they didn’t need to think about anything else; they just needed to execute the orders given by Orochimaru.

But this time in Land of Grass was different.

First, they were urgently summoned to support Jiraiya’s unit, and at that time, they didn’t even know what had happened at the front line, only that the unit had been defeated.

This kind of unknown, powerful enemy could easily create psychological pressure.

And later, Muzuki even made them one of the few informed individuals of the ambush plan, involving them in unit affairs.

“Perhaps that’s it. I really wish war would disappear completely,” Obito said sincerely, recalling the scenes of blood splashing and limbs flying on the battlefield.

Sharingan gave Obito extraordinary observational skills.

When he saw an uncle he had greeted just a few hours ago pierced through the heart by a sharp Kunai, even if the person was just an uncle whose name he didn’t know, Obito felt bad.

“Then you’ll have to study more and work harder,” this time Kakashi didn’t mock him, but encouraged him in a calm voice.

Obito looked at Kakashi in surprise, as if thinking, ‘You can say things like that too?’

“Look at Lord Mu Yue and Minato-sensei, then look at yourself. Do you think your current self is worthy?” Kakashi reverted to the tone Obito was familiar with.

Obito instantly felt that the familiar Kakashi was back, and the urge to punch Kakashi also returned.

“Dismissed. I will report the mission details to Sandaime,” Muzuki said to everyone after entering Konoha.

“Lord Mu Yue, goodbye,” the Ninja waved goodbye to Muzuki and quickly left.

Many of them hadn’t seen their families for a long time and were eager to chat with them.

“You all are dismissed as well. If you want to go home, go home. If you want to train, you can go to the South Border Forest,” Muzuki said to his disciples who were still standing behind him.

“For the next two days, you can rest as you wish. If there are no other matters after two days, we will gather for training as usual.”

Obito and the others had recently reached a crucial period; once they mastered the new abilities Muzuki taught them, each of them would have a significant improvement.

So even though they had just come from a major battle, Muzuki didn’t give them too much rest time and explicitly stated that they should come to train after resting.

Uchiha Madara’s actions were becoming more and more blatant, and Obito and the others had to be stronger to protect themselves in the coming chaos.

“Yes, Lord Mu Yue, I understand,” Obito nodded.

He was definitely going to train, especially since he had just been mocked by Kakashi.

However, Obito planned to go home to see his grandmother first before going to the South Border Forest to train.

The other disciples also nodded.

Their thoughts were basically similar to Obito’s.

Kakashi wasn’t planning to go home but was going to buy a Leaf Newspaper before going to the South Border Forest to train.

He was curious how Konoha would report this great victory and how they would report on Muzuki.

After finishing all the instructions, Muzuki headed to the Hokage Building.

Thump.

Muzuki walked to the Hokage Office and gently knocked on the door of the Hokage Office.

“Enter.”

The Third Hokage’s voice came from behind the door.

Only then did Muzuki open the wooden door and enter the Hokage Office.

“Sandaime,” Muzuki greeted respectfully.

“Muzuki, you really are someone who can bring surprises to people,” Hiruzen Sarutobi replied with a wide smile.

“The reason I pushed past all opposition to choose you as commander was because I valued your steady character and believed you could turn the tide of the disadvantage.

As a result, you truly gave me a big surprise, eliminating over sixteen hundred enemies, which is four hundred more than the number of people in your unit.”

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not mention Kenbunshoku Haki but praised Muzuki’s achievements.

PS: 5k, whether there will be more is uncertain.

I will write, but I won’t write too late. If I don’t finish by two o’clock, I’ll find time tomorrow to finish it during my break and then post it.

Not staying up too late has indeed made me feel much more comfortable, and I feel a bit more energetic.