Chapter 358: Training Roots
"Mugetsu sensei, why is the name of this move so strange? Why does it start with Milong Legend?" Might Guy asked during their break.
He could understand Blade Intercepting Sword and Golden Skyline. Blade Intercepting Sword came from using a single section staff with a chain, and Golden Skyline clearly matched the effect of the move. But he really could not figure out the Milong Legend part at the front.
"It is to commemorate a ninja named Milong, according to the one who created it," Mugetsu said after thinking for a moment.
Then he adapted the stories of Milong and Milong II into a ninja world version and told them to Guy.
Because of the war, Milong had been separated from his younger sister when he was a child. To let his sister know he was still alive, to show her he had the power to protect her, and to make her want to return to him, Milong did not hesitate to weave lies and cooperate with a dark ninja organization to put on a show, shaping himself into a powerful hero.
By chance, Milong II had once received Milong's help and came to deeply admire him.
Later, Milong II accidentally discovered that Milong was secretly working with that dark organization. To silence him, the organization decided to kill Milong II. But Milong's power was fake. With his real strength, he could not protect the child who admired him.
Already crushed by guilt over his own actions, Milong could not stand by and watch the dark organization kill the boy who still believed in heroes. So he stepped forward, exposed the truth, and admitted that he was not a hero, just an ordinary ninja.
In the end, Milong was gravely wounded and died under the scorn and contempt of others. The child he saved, however, made a resolve: he would inherit Milong's name and live on, fulfilling the last wish Milong had not been able to complete.
"To commemorate Milong, Milong II named the taijutsu he developed after learning Eight Extremities Heaven as Milong Legend, Blade Intercepting Sword, Golden Skyline," Mugetsu finished.
"That is truly the essence of youth!" Guy said, clenching his fists.
With his overly active tear ducts, he was already crying before Mugetsu even finished the story.
"Such taijutsu must be trained with the most youthful spirit!"
Very quickly, Guy turned that emotion into motivation and threw himself back into training.
Mugetsu smiled and nodded at the sight. Golden Skyline really was a perfect match for Guy. Guy did not fear hard training at all.
"Maybe in the future, the ninja world will really have a legend of Milong," Mugetsu thought.
After all, Guy always shouted out the names of the taijutsu he used.
The day soon passed in a blur of teaching and studying the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The next morning, instead of going to guide his disciples or to the Ninja Academy, Mugetsu went to meet Kushina.
Right now, Minato was the only ninja in Konoha who had mastered Flying Thunder God, and his proficiency was extremely high. Mugetsu really wanted to consult him, but Minato was still at the front lines and had not yet returned.
Since Kushina and Minato were so close, Mugetsu thought Minato might have tried to teach her Flying Thunder God before. If so, Kushina might know something about the technique.
As always, Mugetsu arrived at the agreed meeting place fifteen minutes early, only to find that Kushina had arrived even earlier. When he got there, she was already waiting.
"Good morning, Mugetsu," Kushina called, waving at him with a bright smile.
Even though they had not seen each other for a while, she did not feel any real sense of distance. In her mind, it was probably because she ate the meals Mugetsu sent her every day.
"Good morning," Mugetsu answered with his usual gentle smile as he walked over.
The moment he approached, Kushina hurried to meet him and took the bento box he handed her.
"This is different from last time," she said as she opened it, finding ordinary wagashi inside.
"Eat the same snack too often and you will get tired of it sooner or later," Mugetsu explained. This time, he genuinely just wanted to try a different flavor.
Kushina chuckled. "If it is made by you, Mugetsu, I feel like I could eat it forever and never get tired of it."
She picked up a dango and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up at once. Even though it was a common snack, what Mugetsu made was on a completely different level from what shops sold.
Kushina ate as they walked, and by the time she finished, they had reached the small pavilion where they had met before.
"Ahem."
Kushina sat down, puffed out her chest, lifted her head, and put on a serious expression. "Even if your snacks are delicious, Mugetsu, your sealing technique progress has not met my expectations. I will not go easy on you."
"Then I will be in your care," Mugetsu replied.
Although his main reason for meeting Kushina today was to ask about Flying Thunder God, he was also more than happy to learn more sealing techniques.
Once she actually tested him, Kushina could not hide her shock at how far Mugetsu's sealing skill had come. He used both Five Elements Seal and Four Symbols Sealing with ease, and he answered all of her difficult questions smoothly.
"Most people learn slower and slower, so why do you learn faster and faster, Mugetsu?" Kushina muttered, a little confused.
Then, as if inspiration suddenly struck, she smacked her left palm with her right fist and said with an enlightened look, "Could this be the payoff from accumulated knowledge?"
Mugetsu only smiled faintly and did not answer.
He had deliberately revealed most of his sealing level, so Kushina's reaction was within his expectations.
With his strength at this level, there was no need to hide everything. Showing a bit more actually made things more reasonable.
"As expected of someone taught by me, Kushina!" she said proudly, tilting up her fair chin as a satisfied smile spread across her face.
She was very pleased with herself. After all, she had only ever taught two people sealing techniques: Minato and Mugetsu. Yet even though Mugetsu had started later, his sealing level was enough to easily defeat most members of Konoha's sealing squads.
In her good mood, Kushina taught Mugetsu several more Uzumaki clan sealing techniques.
Mugetsu quietly absorbed everything. After she finished teaching, he brought up Flying Thunder God.
"I am currently learning the Flying Thunder God Technique, but I have no idea how to make progress. If only Minato were in Konoha right now."
Mugetsu explained his difficulties with the jutsu.
"Flying Thunder God, huh? That ninjutsu really is hard to learn. Minato tried teaching me before, but I could not learn it at all," Kushina said, scratching her hair as she remembered those days.
"But I think Minato is also partly to blame. When I asked him how the technique worked, he always just said it whooshed by, but he could not explain how it actually whooshed," she complained.
Her words made Mugetsu fall into thought. That was not a good sign. If it was really like she said, he might not be able to get any useful Flying Thunder God experience from either Kushina or Minato.
They talked for a long time and ultimately concluded that Kushina truly could not help him with Flying Thunder God.
So Mugetsu shifted the conversation back to sealing techniques.
Around noon, he personally stir fried a few hot dishes to treat Kushina, and afterward, the two of them went their separate ways.
Although he had not gained anything for Flying Thunder God, Mugetsu was not too disappointed. Kushina did not know the technique herself, so he had only been trying his luck. Besides, she had just taught him several new sealing techniques.
In the afternoon, Mugetsu headed to the South Border Forest to guide his disciples' training.
Kakashi assumed Mugetsu would be teaching him a new skill today, since Obito and the others had already received theirs. But the more time passed with nothing happening, the more anxious Kakashi became.
Obito's Fire Style, Orochi Nagi and Guy's Golden Skyline both looked extremely powerful, especially Golden Skyline, which had truly terrifying destructive power.
Kakashi did not have to wait forever. Halfway through their afternoon training, Mugetsu finally called him over.
"Although you can already use Transparent World, which solves your reaction speed problem, you still need to learn the Lightning Release chakra cell strengthening technique. It can be used to reinforce other parts of your body," Mugetsu said.
Once Thunder Breathing reached Constant State, it no longer just strengthened the nerves. It also included techniques for reinforcing various parts of the body to greatly increase explosive power and boost the strength of one's techniques.
The good news was that Mugetsu had indeed taught him something new. The bad news was that it was not what Kakashi had expected.
He had thought it would be some powerful ninjutsu or taijutsu like Obito's and Guy's, but it turned out to be advanced Thunder Breathing training instead.
Even so, Kakashi took it very seriously.
He understood that this was probably the most suitable choice for him right now. If there were something better for him to learn at this stage, Mugetsu would definitely teach it to him. After all, Mugetsu had already passed on powerful, top secret arts like Breathing Technique and Armament Haki without holding back.
If Mugetsu could have heard Kakashi's thoughts, he would have nodded. That really was how he saw it.
When it came to Lightning Release ninjutsu, Kakashi already had Purple Lightning and False
Darkness, both very powerful techniques. He usually supplemented them with Earth Release ninjutsu, and he had trained plenty of those on his own.
His Thunder Breathing had reached Constant State, and he had mastered Transparent World. Counting all that together, Kakashi actually had quite a wide arsenal already.
In Mugetsu's opinion, Kakashi's most important task now was to improve his physical ability, increasing both his chakra and stamina. Otherwise, with his current chakra reserves, if he used Thunderclap Flash at full power and then Purple Lightning, he would almost be unable to continue fighting. In that situation, more ninjutsu would be meaningless.
Once his chakra pool grew and he learned Armament Haki, then even with just Thunder Breathing, Transparent World, and Armament Haki, Kakashi would already be formidable.
Because his new training was different from the others, Kakashi pushed himself even harder, hoping to make another breakthrough in his Breathing Technique soon.
Mugetsu had already explained the stages of Breathing Technique to them. There were four stages in total, and Kakashi had just begun to step into the second stage.
Once he reached the third stage, he would be able to enter Lightning Release Chakra Mode, and his strength would leap forward.
That evening, instead of practicing Flying Thunder God, Mugetsu focused entirely on researching sealing techniques.
The Yin Seal he had obtained from Tsunade was his main research target now.
This was a completely new challenge for him, because he was not learning it in the usual sense. He was trying to decipher the Yin Seal and develop a similar technique of his own.
The Yin Seal was also an Uzumaki style sealing technique. Thanks to what he had learned from Kushina, his research progressed relatively smoothly. Compared with Flying Thunder God, it felt far less hopeless.
With Flying Thunder God, he had felt no progress at all. With the Yin Seal, although it was difficult, he could clearly feel himself advancing step by step.
...
Root office.
Bang.
"Hiruzen is far too conservative. Even now, he still wants to restrict Root's power," Danzo Shimura growled. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and he slammed the table in front of him.
As the ninja world situation grew more chaotic, Danzo had repeatedly requested Hiruzen Sarutobi to allow Root to expand its influence so that Konoha could gain more advantages in the war. But every request had been denied. He had only been allowed to replenish losses, not expand, on the grounds that Konoha's current position was stable and further expansion was unnecessary.
Danzo was speechless. In his view, Konoha's current advantage was exactly why they should push harder, seize even more benefits from the war, and completely secure their position as the number one hidden village.
But he had no way to force the issue. It was not only Hiruzen who opposed him. The two advisors stood firmly by Hiruzen's side as well.
"Do I really have no choice but to secretly develop power outside?" Danzo muttered, frowning deeply.
He had two main methods for growing Root. One was to illegally recruit additional members into Root. The other was to secretly cultivate Root forces outside Konoha.
The first option was off the table for now, since he had just been reprimanded by Hiruzen for it, so only the second remained.
But that second option was the most troublesome. Ninja raised that way would not be official Root members, nor would they count as official Konoha ninja. They could not receive funding from the village at all.
Danzo was not happy about it, but there seemed to be no better choice. Since he could only replenish and not expand, the war had actually weakened Root overall. The veterans who had died were far stronger than the new recruits replacing them.
Aburame Ryoma, who stood nearby, noticed his hesitation and spoke up. "Lord Danzo, even without expanding, strengthening our existing personnel can also increase the organization's overall strength."
Ryoma was one of Root's higher ranking members, with a position just beneath Danzo and Orochimaru, so he understood many of Root's current problems.
"Hayate Mugetsu, is he not good at teaching? We could let him train the newly joined members," Aburame Ryoma suggested.
"Hayate Mugetsu…" Danzo's eyes narrowed slightly as he fell into thought.
He did not really believe Mugetsu had that much ability. Teaching Ninja Academy students was one thing. Teaching Root members, who were at least elite chunin, was something else entirely.
"Bring me Hayate Mugetsu's records from after he entered the Ninja Academy," Danzo said at last.
Kakashi and Obito had left a deep impression on him during the Chunin Exams, and Mugetsu had taught them both. But Danzo did not know how much of their ability actually came from Mugetsu's guidance. One was the son of the White Fang, and the other was an Uchiha who had awakened his Sharingan, after all.
Soon, a Root ninja brought over all of Mugetsu's teaching records since he had joined the Academy staff, including both classroom performance and the results of his holiday special training programs.
Danzo compared Mugetsu's results with those of other teachers and immediately understood why Hiruzen had wanted to recruit him so badly back then. Even if Mugetsu only stayed as an Academy instructor, he was still an undeniable talent.
Danzo decided to test him. If it worked, he would save a great deal of money. If it did not, there would be no real loss.
With that thought, Danzo picked up a scroll and began to write.
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