Chapter 363: Mugetsu Is the Strongest Among the Younger Generation?
"Ice Release: Savage Pheasant Beak!"
The moment Shinji's instincts screamed danger, a giant ice bird burst from the smoke that had not even fully dispersed.
It slammed forward with overwhelming force, carrying a bone deep chill. Several shinobi did not have time to dodge or form hand seals, so they tried to answer with taijutsu instead. They were instantly blown away, their bodies stiffening as frost swallowed them.
Caught completely off guard, five shinobi were frozen into solid blocks of ice.
The ones who escaped felt their hearts pounding. The flames had barely vanished before the ice bird surged out. The timing was brutal.
"He actually has Ice Release, a Bloodline Limit!" Shinji shouted, staring at the frozen shinobi.
He had never personally watched an Ice Release user fight, but there was no mistaking it. That effect could only be a Bloodline Limit.
What confused him was this: Mugetsu was not some unknown figure. An ability like this, clearly suited for combat, should have been noticed long ago. Yet Shinji had never even heard rumors of it.
He could not help but admire Mugetsu's ability to hide information. If even Konoha lacked details, then enemies would know even less.
"To be able to use a technique like that so smoothly after fusing Ice Release…" Hiruzen, observing through the crystal ball, acknowledged Mugetsu's control.
Mugetsu had only fused with Ice Release after going to the Land of Snow. Reaching this level so quickly was a blatant display of his ninjutsu talent.
The others stared as well, shock written across their faces. This sudden Ice Release exceeded every expectation.
But they did not have time to dwell on it.
Mugetsu launched a new round of attacks.
Whoosh!
His main body flickered behind a Root shinobi and snapped into a swift whirlwind kick.
The Root shinobi saw only a blur, then the world spun violently in his vision.
"Ice Release: Freezing Ray!"
A shadow clone lifted its hand and fired a beam of icy light, freezing the shinobi mid flight.
In an instant, another participant was removed from the field.
"So strong… we are not even in the same tier." Hiten's forehead beaded with sweat as he watched Mugetsu carve through them.
Even alone, Mugetsu was dominating thirty elite shinobi.
Hiten inhaled hard, forcing himself to steady his breathing. Mugetsu was their instructor for the coming training, but this was still humiliating. If so many Anbu and Root shinobi could not even trouble him, it would be a joke.
They did not need to defeat Mugetsu. They just needed to make him look pressured.
At the very least, they should make him messy, instead of watching him dismantle them without dirtying his clothes.
The others felt the same.
Under Mugetsu's crushing pressure, their coordination tightened even further.
Soon, with the efforts of more than twenty elite shinobi still in play, they finally dispersed Mugetsu's two shadow clones.
Of course, Mugetsu allowed it.
If even his shadow clones could casually dominate Anbu and Root, it would look too absurd. That was not the impression he wanted to leave.
"Secret Technique: Insect Tornado!"
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"
They attacked together, trying to keep Mugetsu pinned.
At the same time, Hiten unleashed his signature technique.
"Lightning Release: Four Pillar Bind!"
As Hiten formed hand seals, four massive stone pillars erupted around Mugetsu. Brilliant electric nets snapped between them, forming a cage.
"Earth Release: Clay Descent!"
Another shinobi followed up at once, conjuring a heavy flow of clay from above and pouring it down onto the cage, aiming to seal Mugetsu inside.
But they still underestimated Mugetsu's taijutsu.
"Golden Skyline!"
Mugetsu extended two fingers on his right hand. His Rock Breathing tightened, and he also entered the Transparent World state.
He set his right hand behind his waist, bent his left leg slightly, then burst forward with chakra and slashed toward the lightning pillar in front of him.
Boom!
A flash of gold cut across the air. A black line appeared on the thick stone pillar, clean and sharp.
As Mugetsu stepped through, the two pillars in front of him collapsed with a crash, and the electric net vanished instantly.
Just like that, Mugetsu walked out of the Lightning Release cage in full view.
The next second, a massive flood of clay poured down behind him, turning into nothing more than a dramatic backdrop.
"How is that possible?" Hiten's face twisted in disbelief. "He destroyed my Four Pillar Bind with taijutsu!"
His Four Pillar Bind was a barrier technique fused with Earth Release, known for its sturdiness. Even many ninjutsu struggled to break it.
Yet Mugetsu had shattered it from the inside, from its strongest point, with a single taijutsu strike.
It challenged everything Hiten believed about fighting.
"An unfamiliar taijutsu…" Even Hiruzen looked surprised. "Did he develop it himself? If Mugetsu keeps growing, he may rival the Raikage's Hell Stab."
Hiruzen knew Konoha's techniques well. The Four Pillar Bind was not special, so he understood its properties clearly.
Mugetsu's earlier Wind and Fire combination had greater scale, but Hiruzen could tell immediately that Golden Skyline was far more dangerous.
On a real battlefield, if these Anbu and Root shinobi were Mugetsu's enemies, Golden Skyline used at the start would have killed most of them instantly.
As Mugetsu's strength became more and more oppressive, some shinobi felt their minds go blank. They were fighting at full effort, yet they could not affect him.
After showing enough, Mugetsu shifted into a clean finish.
Genjutsu failed.
Combined ninjutsu could not overpower what Mugetsu released.
Taijutsu was crushed outright.
Once Mugetsu became serious, no one on the field remained standing.
Since everyone was injured, Mugetsu did not order them to stand again. All thirty sat together.
Some lowered their heads, awkward and resentful in silence. Anbu and Root were Konoha's elite, yet thirty elites together had been defeated by one person.
Mugetsu formed shadow clones to treat them. He had controlled his force, but it was still combat. Injuries were inevitable, and he did not intend to let today's damage interfere with the training schedule.
While healing them, Mugetsu spoke calmly.
"I have a clear grasp of your strengths now. You are better than shinobi your age, but as Anbu, you are still lacking."
He looked across their faces.
"First, your biggest mistake was underestimating the enemy. Even after I told you to go all out, you did not immediately launch at full force."
Hiten's expression stiffened.
He honestly felt this was not their fault. Who would assume a nineteen year old instructor already carried this kind of terrifying strength?
Mugetsu's most famous record was still only assisting Jiraiya in repelling a jinchuriki. The Leaf Newspaper report did not remotely convey this level of power.
Hiten had not seen Minato fight with his own eyes, but he believed Mugetsu's strength was comparable to Minato, the most renowned among Konoha's younger generation.
Minato had more battlefield achievements, the most famous being that he fought the new A and B duo to a draw in the Land of Hot Springs. That battle made his name spread across the shinobi world overnight.
Killer B was not yet at his peak, but the Fourth Raikage A was already recognized as a powerhouse. Many famous shinobi had died by A's hands, and that reputation was built in blood.
Hiten compared them in his mind and felt a chill. Mugetsu seemed even more terrifying.
In ten years, Mugetsu would undoubtedly be a shinobi on the level of the Sannin.
[TL: Ten years? LOL]
Mugetsu continued, pointing out mistakes from the fight, one by one, with precision tailored to each person.
Shinji's eyes narrowed.
"He was able to remember all of that during the battle…"
Mugetsu became even more unfathomable.
By the end of the critique, all thirty were completely convinced.
Mugetsu was not only frighteningly strong, he was also a genuinely capable instructor. A shinobi like that was rare.
On the first day, Mugetsu did not start formal teaching.
He only expanded on the battle.
On one hand, they needed time to recover, and heavy training on injured bodies would be foolish.
On the other hand, the initial confrontation had already consumed most of the day. Mugetsu estimated he would not get any lecture reward from forcing a rushed lesson, so he decided to save it for tomorrow.
With Mugetsu's treatment and their own physical conditioning as Anbu and Root, one day of recovery would be enough.
Danzo did not have the Telescope Technique, so he ordered the Root members involved to report to him afterward.
When he heard that Mugetsu had blocked the attacks of thirty Anbu and Root shinobi with only one shadow clone and a combination ninjutsu, surprise flickered across Danzo's face.
He knew Mugetsu's ninjutsu was strong. He had even seen it by coincidence at Hiruzen's house.
But watching someone demonstrate in a controlled setting was never as convincing as real combat.
One shinobi defeating thirty was one thing.
One shinobi overpowering thirty shinobi's combined ninjutsu with his own was a different concept entirely.
And these were not random shinobi.
They were Anbu and Root.
"Hiruzen… you truly value him greatly," Danzo murmured, immediately attributing it to Hiruzen's influence.
When Mugetsu was still under him, he did not know any combination ninjutsu. The last time Danzo had gone to Hiruzen's house, Hiruzen had indeed been teaching Mugetsu.
Now Mugetsu could use five nature transformations and combination ninjutsu. Danzo could almost see Hiruzen's youth in him.
"It is a pity," Danzo thought, a smile tugging at his lips, "no matter how much you invest, Hayate Mugetsu is still a member of my Root."
The pleasure was difficult to suppress.
Hiruzen was limiting Root's growth, yet unintentionally helping Root improve by pushing Mugetsu further.
Then another report reached him.
"He even used the Bloodline Limit Ice Release?"
Danzo's surprise deepened.
As far as he knew, Mugetsu's parents and grandparents had no Bloodline Limits. How did Ice Release suddenly appear?
He was confused, but not suspicious.
Mugetsu was born in Konoha. Both parents died in the war as Konoha shinobi. Mugetsu had always behaved normally.
If Mugetsu had been an orphan who wandered into Konoha from outside, Danzo might have suspected a Hidden Mist spy. Whether it would be insane to send such a genius spy was irrelevant. Danzo would simply investigate until he was satisfied.
"Did his ancestors have an Ice Release line?" Danzo considered. "Or did he get lucky and fuse it himself?"
He made a simple guess and moved on.
Bloodline Limits were rare, but rarity did not automatically mean supremacy. Ice Release was decent, but nothing compared to the Byakugan or similar bloodlines.
In Danzo's eyes, even the Byakugan did not matter much. Its strategic value was high, but in direct combat growth, he considered it inferior to the Sharingan.
To Danzo, the strongest Bloodline Limit was Wood Release.
Wood Release was invincible.
That belief was the foundation of his confidence. He had a Wood Release shinobi who had not yet fully matured, and Danzo believed that once properly trained, that shinobi could clear all obstacles for Konoha.
When the Root report ended, Danzo quietly estimated Mugetsu's strength.
"In a one on one fight, he may not defeat Minato," Danzo concluded, "but his methods are more comprehensive. He is similar to the young Hiruzen."
Mugetsu had Ice Release now, and his taijutsu was terrifying. But Hiruzen's combination ninjutsu was even stronger, and he also had an exceptional ninja beast.
Danzo judged Mugetsu to be roughly equivalent to Hiruzen at the same age.
That evaluation sparked pleasant fantasies.
A Wood Release shinobi.
Mugetsu, a genius comparable to Hiruzen.
If both matured fully, could he contend for that position again?
The next day, they returned to the training ground.
It was the same place, but Mugetsu shifted their position slightly, since yesterday's clash had ruined large sections of terrain.
The same training.
The same thirty people.
But the atmosphere had completely changed.
They were no longer skeptical.
They were eager.
"Speed is critical in combat," Mugetsu began. "If you are faster, you avoid more attacks. You also seize initiative."
He let that sink in, then continued.
"Today, I will teach you a Body Flicker technique. I developed it myself. It places heavy strain on the legs, but it is faster."
These were elite Konoha shinobi. Mugetsu needed to give them something real.
After considering carefully, he decided to modify and weaken Soru for teaching.
The core of Soru was burst chakra, stacked in rapid succession.
After Mugetsu's modification, the burst intensity was reduced, and the stacking limit was lowered drastically.
Even weakened, it was still far faster than an ordinary Body Flicker.
It remained an excellent movement technique.
Mugetsu simply controlled its ceiling.
After explaining, Mugetsu demonstrated.
The shinobi immediately felt the familiarity.
This was the same speed that had been flickering around them and beating them down yesterday.
Their expectations were exceeded.
They had assumed today would be guidance and adjustment.
Instead, Mugetsu was openly teaching a technique he created himself.
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