Chapter 226: The Mountain and the Sea of Questions and the Birthday
"Let's practice Breathing Technique for another four hours after dinner. We need to raise our concentration level as soon as possible." On the way home, Kakashi was still preoccupied with his training.
At the moment, Kakashi focused mainly on training Lightning Breathing, supplemented by Armament Haki and Lightning Release Nature Transformation. He believed mastering Breathing Technique was his top priority, while Haki and Nature Transformation could wait.
After all, Breathing Technique improved both training efficiency and physical strength. His Thunderclap Flash required reaching the Constant State realm in Breathing to overcome its limitations.
Armament Haki and Nature Transformation were powerful, but they didn't benefit him much right now. No matter how skilled he became in Nature Transformation, his Chakra reserves were too limited to sustain it. The same went for Armament Haki—if he strengthened Purple Lightning with it, he'd deplete most of his Chakra after just one strike.
"Lately, there've been more missions related to the war, all taking place in Land of Grass. I wonder how things are on the front lines."
"I heard Jiraiya of the Sannin is leading a team there. With someone like him around, there shouldn't be any problems."
"It seems Sensei has also been thinking about heading to the battlefield. Maybe our next mission will be a war mission. We might even see Jiraiya in action."
"War… that's much more dangerous than regular missions. We'll have to watch each other's backs."
"Of course, we're comrades."
While walking down the street, Kakashi overheard these familiar voices. Turning his head, he saw two of his former teammates.
After a brief hesitation, Kakashi decided to approach them.
His straightforward movements caught their attention immediately.
"Did he hear what we said? Maybe he's been stewing about it at home and came to get revenge?" they thought, tension rising as Kakashi walked closer.
Despite thinking of him as cold and detached, they couldn't deny his strength. Though younger, he had proven himself a capable ninja.
"I'm sorry about before," Kakashi said plainly.
During his time on a team with them, he had often acted alone to complete missions, disregarding their safety. Back then, he believed a shinobi's duty was to complete the mission at all costs—even if it meant sacrificing teammates.
But now, Kakashi had changed. He no longer ran from his mistakes. If he was wrong before, he would face it.
"Huh?" His apology left them frozen. They had expected confrontation, not remorse.
Without waiting for their response, Kakashi continued walking home.
That apology wasn't just for his teammates—it was a farewell to his former self. From now on, he would live by his new conviction: to protect his comrades, no matter what.
"Suddenly saying all that… who would understand?" one muttered after he left.
"Strange… was that an apology for past missions? He's really changed."
...
Finally, the day Obito had been waiting for arrived—February 10th, his birthday.
Even on his special day, training continued as usual. The celebration would come later that evening.
Obito spent the morning training Armament Haki for two hours. Apart from Rin and Guy, all of Mugetsu's disciples had already begun Haki training. Rin didn't need it for now, while Guy's progress in Yin Release was too slow to qualify.
After Haki training, Obito continued with Constant State Breathing until the end of the day's session. Breaks were short, and the training routine unchanged.
"You must get bored doing the same basic training every day, right?" Mugetsu asked with a smile instead of immediately starting the next lesson.
"It's a little boring, kind of like our early physical training—except we have to keep Total Concentration Breathing the whole time," Obito admitted.
"Training is supposed to be boring," Shisui said calmly.
He wasn't one to complain. His motivation came from the satisfaction of progress and Mugetsu's rare words of praise.
"Then today, let's do something more fun—and challenging," Mugetsu said, smiling again.
Seeing that smile, Obito immediately felt a bad premonition. "Actually, I think Shisui has a point! There's no such thing as boring training," he said quickly.
"I'm fine with anything. I trust that whatever training you arrange for us, Mugetsu-sensei, will be the most suitable," Shisui said sincerely.
Obito: ...
That made him sound so unmotivated in comparison.
"He's not going to bring back that kind of training again, is he?" Obito thought, remembering his past suffering.
If given the choice, he'd rather fight another Jonin than relive those nightmare days of problem-solving drills. To Obito, nothing was more terrifying than that mental torture.
Even Guy—who prided himself on his unbreakable will—had once admitted he'd prefer a full day of physical punishment over solving endless written problems.
"The training is simple," Mugetsu explained, his smile deepening. "All you need to do is dodge my attacks. You can use any means—Sharingan, Ninjutsu, whatever you want. If you get hit once, you'll do two questions. Every successful dodge cancels out two questions. If you fail to dodge at all by the end, the total number of problems increases by ten percent."
"Mugetsu-sensei… to what extent will you control your strength? If you go all out, we won't even see you move," Obito asked cautiously.
The gap between them was far too great. If Mugetsu attacked at full speed, they wouldn't even see his shadow—let alone dodge.
"My Shadow Clone will train with you," Mugetsu explained. "I won't give it too much Chakra. Its strength will be close to yours. As long as your Breathing improves even a little, you'll have a chance to dodge."
"Also, the training will last for six minutes. During these six minutes, my Shadow Clone will attack at any time," Mugetsu stated calmly.
This particular training was designed not only to enhance their explosive potential but also to build endurance.
The essence of Constant State Breathing training lay in exactly that—to make their breathing more concentrated while extending the duration until they could maintain total concentration throughout the day.
"Six whole minutes!" Obito exclaimed, already picturing mountains of test papers bearing down on him.
"No matter what, I have to dodge at least once, or I'll suffer big time," he thought, calculating furiously.
He was well-versed in this kind of punishment. Even if it was only a ten percent increase, that meant ten extra problems for every hundred. If he couldn't finish and had to split them into multiple sessions, he'd rack up even more.
Shisui, on the other hand, remained calm. It's just problem-solving, he thought. He always finished written tests easily anyway.
"Shadow Clone Technique!" Mugetsu formed hand signs and instantly created two Shadow Clones.
"You can enter Total Concentration Breathing now. Training begins in five seconds. Five… four…"
"Flame Breathing, Total Concentration!" Obito and Shisui activated their Breathing Techniques simultaneously. Obito even opened his Sharingan; his eyes turned crimson, two tomoe spinning rapidly within them.
"Two, one… begin!"
The two Shadow Clones charged forward—one toward Obito, the other toward Shisui.
Through his Sharingan, Obito could tell that Mugetsu had indeed limited the clone's speed—it wasn't impossibly fast.
While running, he drew several shuriken from his pouch and flung them in a wide arc. He wasn't aiming for accuracy; he just wanted a distraction.
But even as a clone, Mugetsu wasn't fooled by such a simple trick. He used Wind Release to blow the shuriken back, forcing Obito to dodge his own weapons and lose momentum.
Thwack!
The clone's finger tapped Obito neatly on the forehead.
"That's two problems," the Shadow Clone said with a chuckle.
"Miscalculation… I should've focused on running," Obito grimaced.
"Still, I have my Sharingan. Maybe I can predict his attack this time," he thought, deciding to rely on his eyes.
Focusing his breathing, Obito fixed his gaze on the clone's hands.
"I can see it… I can do this!" He grinned, watching the movements carefully.
Thwack!
A sharp tap landed on the side of his head. He froze mid-dodge.
"Damn it! I almost had it!" Obito gritted his teeth.
He charged in again—
Thwack!
"That's six problems," the clone said leisurely.
Whoosh!
Obito immediately turned and fled. He wanted to try again, but each mistake meant two problems. The risk wasn't worth it.
"What kind of strange movement is that? I can't even feel the attack coming."
Meanwhile, Shisui was having similar trouble. The dense trees limited his movement, and the clone quickly tapped him as well.
Although he wasn't bothered by doing problems, fewer still meant better results—and Shisui wasn't the type to accept defeat easily. Activating his Sharingan, his crimson eyes focused sharply.
Thwack!
He saw the finger coming but couldn't dodge in time.
"I can't avoid it at all… this speed is just slightly faster than mine," Shisui realized, frowning.
He's maintaining this speed on purpose, he concluded.
It wasn't coincidence—Mugetsu was deliberately creating pressure to force them to break through their limits.
After realizing this, Shisui quickly withdrew, trying to create distance.
When the six minutes ended, Mugetsu clapped his hands and announced the results.
"Obito was hit twenty-five times and dodged zero. With the penalty for not dodging, that's fifty-five problems."
When Obito heard the number, he nearly fainted. Six minutes had never felt so long—or so cruel.
"Shisui was hit twenty-one times, also with zero dodges. He'll do forty-six problems."
Although he hadn't managed to break through, Shisui had played it safer and accumulated fewer hits.
"Phew… still couldn't dodge," Shisui sighed in frustration.
Mugetsu smiled quietly. They didn't know that he had activated the Transparent World during the session. Without reaching a breakthrough themselves, dodging was impossible.
He had even gone easy on them. During the first few minutes, he rarely attacked. But by the fifth minute, both students' stamina had started to crumble, and most of their failures occurred in the final stretch.
If he had held back any more, it would have been too obvious—and training was meant to be harsh.
"Take a short rest, then continue with normal training. We'll do another round of this two days from now," Mugetsu said gently.
"Another one?!" Obito groaned, feeling as though mountains of paper were crushing his spirit.
"Breathing Technique, please… get stronger fast," he muttered, resuming practice as soon as he recovered a bit.
That day, Obito devoted himself completely to Flame Breathing. He forced himself to maintain Total Concentration even as exhaustion dragged him down.
Shisui was just as relentless. Failing to dodge even once had hit his pride hard. He was Mugetsu's first disciple, the strongest among them—the undefeated champion of their internal training matches. Falling behind was unacceptable.
"I have to dodge at least once," he vowed silently.
By the end of the session, both lay collapsed on the ground, completely drained. They'd maintained their breathing through fatigue until they couldn't move another muscle.
"Obito, are you okay? It's your birthday today… are you sure it's fine to push yourself this hard?" Rin asked with a worried expression, seeing him slumped against a tree.
"Oh right… it's my birthday," Obito blinked, having completely forgotten after a full day of test-paper trauma.
"I'm fine. Just need a little rest," he assured her, waving weakly. This wasn't his first time collapsing from Constant State training, after all.
That evening, Mugetsu gathered all his disciples at Obito's home to celebrate his birthday.
It was a simple gathering—but for Obito, it was the best kind of day.
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