Chapter 230: The Flame in the Heart
"Damn it, I don't want to do problems!"
"But if I don't do them, it'll be embarrassing when my score is too low…"
That night, Obito stared at the two test papers on his desk, his head pounding.
There were fifty-five problems in total, and if he wanted to finish them in three days, he'd have to complete at least eighteen per day.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
With a series of hand signs, Obito created two Shadow Clones. "You two play rock-paper-scissors. The loser picks a test paper."
Then, trying to look like a responsible student, he picked up one of the test papers and a pen, pretending to focus on solving problems.
For Obito, whether his Shadow Clones did the problems or he did them himself, it was pure torture. Doing them personally meant long, drawn-out suffering, while letting his clones handle them meant all that pain would come crashing back at once. He chose the shorter agony.
Still, worried that his clones might slack off, Obito made two of them—one to compete with the other—and even pretended to work himself to keep them motivated.
"The Shadow Clone Technique does have its uses," Obito thought, idly doodling a chibi Rin on his scratch paper.
"Rock-paper-scissors? You can keep the test papers and do them yourself. I'm not doing any problems," one Shadow Clone said flatly.
Obito blinked, confused about where things went wrong.
The other clone snorted. "Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Don't forget—I'm also Uchiha Obito."
Speechless, Obito could only sigh. His clones weren't just lazy—they were him, multiplied.
"Since you two are me, then hurry up and help with the test papers," he ordered.
"But right now, we're Shadow Clones. When the results come out, it's not us who'll be embarrassed," one clone replied lazily.
To make things worse, the two clones didn't even attempt to help. Instead, they grabbed his novels and snacks, reading and eating happily while Obito was left actually working on the problems.
Fuming, Obito activated Total Concentration Breathing and snatched the novels and snacks back.
"Hey! I was just getting to the good part!" the novel-reading clone shouted.
"Are you picking a fight?" yelled the snack-eating clone, charging forward.
The novel-reading clone, not wanting to miss the fun, rushed in too.
Without hesitation, Obito punched and kicked both of them until they dispersed into smoke. He hadn't given them much Chakra anyway—they were useless in combat.
But the moment they vanished, all their memories of being beaten were fed back into his mind.
"Damn the Shadow Clone Technique! It's completely useless!" Obito groaned, collapsing face-first onto his bed.
"I don't want to do test papers!" he cried, rolling around in frustration before finally dragging himself back to the desk.
Play was play, fun was fun—but Mugetsu's test papers still had to be completed.
...
The next day, Obito arrived at the South Border Forest for training as usual.
First came the Armament Haki practice. After two and a half hours, he took a short rest before beginning his Constant State Breathing training.
"You haven't forgotten the rules, have you? It's still the same as last time," Mugetsu asked with a smile.
"I haven't forgotten," Obito replied with a grim expression.
Getting hit once meant doing two problems—and if he failed to dodge even once throughout the entire session, ten percent more would be added.
"Today's training can't be like last time," Obito thought firmly. "Otherwise, I'll have to do installments again."
He noticed that Shisui had also failed to dodge last time, but his penalty had been lower. That meant Obito still had plenty of room to improve.
"If I'm more careful and manage to dodge once, maybe I'll only get around thirty-something problems," he muttered.
"Teacher Mugetsu, what if I don't get hit even once and dodge all your attacks?" Obito asked curiously.
"Then, according to the rules, your remaining problems will be offset—or future problems will be canceled," Mugetsu answered after a moment of thought.
He had said it deliberately—it was like dangling a carrot. In truth, dodging all attacks was extremely difficult. The training intensity adjusted dynamically; unless one's strength improved drastically, perfect evasion was nearly impossible.
Still, the moment Obito heard "offset," his eyes lit up. If he could pull it off a few times, he could erase future problem sessions entirely.
"Start!" Mugetsu commanded.
At once, his two Shadow Clones lunged forward.
Obito and Shisui immediately entered Total Concentration Breathing, darting through the forest with full focus.
Having learned from his mistakes, Obito no longer tried to counter Mugetsu's clone head-on. Instead, he constantly shifted positions, dodging only when absolutely necessary.
"Always just a little off—damn it! Can't I be faster?" Obito thought through gritted teeth.
Even when he poured every ounce of effort into dodging, Mugetsu's finger still tapped him effortlessly.
As the timer reached five minutes, Obito's breathing began to falter. Maintaining Total Concentration for that long wasn't easy. His rhythm started to waver.
Mugetsu's clone blurred closer. Obito could see the finger approaching, his Sharingan spinning wildly. No matter how much he strained, he couldn't escape its trajectory.
"Body—move!" he screamed inwardly.
The tap wouldn't hurt physically, but spiritually, it was crushing.
"How can I still be this weak?! Flame Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!"
Obito roared and forced his breathing to its absolute limit. His power spiked—just enough to twist away at the final moment.
The finger missed him by less than a centimeter.
A triumphant grin spread across Obito's face. That dodge wasn't just worth two problems—it also reduced his total by ten percent!
"This is real progress. It seems problem-solving training truly works best for Obito," Mugetsu thought, clearly satisfied.
He had expected Obito to succeed only after four sessions, but the boy had managed it on the second.
When the training ended, Mugetsu calmly tallied the results.
"Shisui was hit nineteen times, dodged zero times, and needs to do forty-two problems."
"Obito was hit nineteen times, dodged once, and needs to do thirty-six problems."
Obito couldn't hide his joy. Thirty-six problems were still a lot—but compared to fifty-five, it felt like heaven.
"Indeed, the difference between dodging and not dodging is huge," Obito thought to himself. He and Shisui had been hit the same number of times, yet because he had managed to dodge once, there was a difference of six problems between them.
"Obito actually managed to dodge the attack!" Shisui said in surprise after hearing their results.
He had already understood the essence of this special training during their first session—without a breakthrough, it was impossible to dodge Mugetsu's attacks.
In other words, Obito had made real progress in just the second session.
A faint sense of pressure rose in Shisui's heart. Obito's Sharingan was more advanced, and his Flame Breathing was stronger. The only areas where Shisui still surpassed him were in Ninjutsu and Body Flicker Technique.
"This set of problems also has a three-day deadline. The next training session will be in three days," Mugetsu said calmly.
The rhythm of special training every two days was too intense; no matter how talented they were, breakthroughs couldn't happen that frequently. Mugetsu planned to gradually extend the intervals. The initial pressure was meant to push them to adapt faster.
Since there were no birthdays to celebrate this time, Mugetsu directly handed out the test papers.
After carefully storing his, Shisui devoted himself fully to training.
This special training gave him a deep sense of crisis—he had lost to Obito this time, and that was unacceptable.
"I must become stronger! As Teacher Mugetsu's first disciple, how can I lose to anyone else?"
That conviction fueled Shisui's every breath. He threw himself into Total Concentration Breathing again and again, pushing through fatigue.
He carried his own pride. Although he was the youngest among Mugetsu's disciples, his strength had always been the highest. His progress was faster, his comprehension sharper, and his mastery of Fire Release far exceeded Obito's.
Now, to be surpassed by someone he had once easily outclassed—it was something he simply could not accept.
After finishing his daily training, Shisui returned home, ate dinner, rested briefly, and then resumed his practice.
He alternated between exhaustion and recovery until 11:30 PM, when he finally showered and went to bed.
In the days that followed, Shisui maintained this relentless pace. He trained with unwavering intensity, determined to dodge Mugetsu's attacks and reclaim his lead.
On the morning before the third training session, Shisui finally made progress—but not in Breathing Technique. It was in Armament Haki.
He visualized an invisible armor coating his body, then threw a punch. The section of the tree he struck exploded instantly, scattering splinters in every direction.
"Is this the power of Armament Haki?" Shisui murmured, looking at his small, fair fist in awe.
That punch had carried abnormal power. Normally, he would've needed to infuse a large amount of Chakra to achieve that effect—but this time, he hadn't used any.
"Yes. You just imbued your fist with the power of Armament Haki," Mugetsu said with a nod.
He quietly used Appraisal, noting that Shisui's Armament Haki proficiency had reached twenty points.
Shisui threw another punch, but nothing happened. When he punched a third time, the power flared again—and the large tree toppled over with a crash.
"You're not very proficient yet. Remember that sensation—once you grasp it firmly, you'll be able to use it at will," Mugetsu explained.
Closing his eyes, Shisui concentrated, trying to recapture the elusive feeling of Armament Haki flowing through him. But no matter how many times he punched, it refused to come back.
Nearby, Obito and Kakashi paused their own training, watching in curiosity.
They had both started learning Armament Haki as well, but neither had gotten as far as Shisui. Compared to him, they were still at square one.
Mugetsu wasn't surprised. Shisui possessed extraordinary talent in Yin Release, and Kakashi—who had started training in Armament Haki second—had begun nearly half a month later.
Because of Shisui's breakthrough, Mugetsu adjusted the day's schedule, having him focus entirely on Armament Haki to strengthen the connection.
Although their current Chakra reserves were still limited, learning this powerful secret technique early would give them an immense advantage in the future.
That night, Shisui trained his Breathing Technique alone at home.
He had no family left, so there was no one to disturb. And his movements, though precise, were quiet enough not to bother the neighbors.
"Why is Obito's Breathing Technique progressing so much faster than mine?" Shisui wondered during his break.
They trained under the same teacher, at the same time, yet his Breathing progress always lagged behind.
He couldn't see proficiency numbers like Mugetsu could, but he could feel it—Obito's Flame Breathing had grown far stronger than his.
Since learning the technique, Shisui's improvement had slowed to a crawl.
"If we fought using only Breathing Techniques, I'd lose," he admitted quietly.
"Flame Breathing… flames…" Shisui thought back to the moment of enlightenment during the comprehension step. That was when Obito's Flame Breathing had surged forward rapidly.
"Obito's heart burns with a flame of compassion and helpfulness… but what kind of flame do I have in my heart?" he asked himself.
Breathing Techniques didn't grow stronger by doing good deeds—it wasn't Merit Breathing, after all. But Obito's genuine enthusiasm for helping others seemed to resonate with his breathing, fueling his progress.
Shisui began to understand why he was struggling. His Flame Breathing lacked passion—it lacked a true flame. But even with that realization, he couldn't yet define what kind of flame burned within him.
After 11:30 PM, still without an answer, he washed up and went to bed. But his restless mind wouldn't settle. Sleep only came around 2 AM.
By morning, his internal clock woke him as usual. Tired but disciplined, he went to the forest to begin his training.
Mugetsu didn't alter the day's plan. It started as always—two and a half hours of Armament Haki, followed by Breathing Technique training.
"Training start!" Mugetsu announced once both disciples were ready.
His two Shadow Clones dashed forward, targeting Shisui and Obito respectively.
To avoid interference, the two disciples split, running in different directions.
Shisui dashed through the familiar paths of the South Border Forest, still burdened by uncertainty over his Flame Breathing.
Maybe it was because he hadn't slept well, or maybe his heart simply wasn't in it—but today's results were even worse than the second time.
"Shisui, forty-six problems. Obito, thirty-four problems," Mugetsu read out the results.
Shisui sighed. He already knew how poorly he had performed. His body had felt it the whole time.
Obito, on the other hand, smiled with satisfaction. It wasn't a huge reduction, but it was steady progress—two improvements in a row.
"Obito, continue your training. Shisui, come here for a moment," Mugetsu said gently.
His voice carried the calm of experience. He had seen this many times before—it was the tone of a teacher who knew when a student's struggles came not from the body, but from the heart.
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