After returning home, Mokgetsu went to the bathroom and stuck out his tongue in front of the mirror.
As Mokgetsu expected, there was a black curse seal on his tongue, which was the Tongue Curse Seal that every Root member had to bear.
If Mokgetsu remembered correctly, the effect of this curse seal was that saying anything related to specific matters would paralyze the whole body, rendering it immobile.
The curse seal set by Danzo was naturally related to him and the Root's information, so even if a member of the organization were captured or defected, they couldn't leak secrets.
If it was just this, it might not matter since he didn't intend to leak Root's information to anyone. However, Mokgetsu was worried that Danzo could control the curse seal actively, equating to a fatal weakness being controlled.
Mokgetsu thought carefully, trying to find a way to break the Tongue Curse Seal from the original story.
"It seems that apart from Danzo's death, there are no good methods."
But upon reflection, Mokgetsu realized that in the original story, no one broke this curse seal. Perhaps those taken by the Third from Root would have it lifted by his order, otherwise, it would only automatically deactivate upon Danzo's death.
But Danzo was not like a fragile AD in a MOBA game who would die on his own in a group fight without needing to be dealt with.
Danzo was very cautious about his own survival, usually staying in the Root Base without going out and possibly carrying revival items, making it really tricky.
Considering his current strength, Mokgetsu temporarily gave up on the idea of killing Danzo.
"I can only either seek Orochimaru or research on my own." Mokgetsu found that he only had two choices at this moment.
Actually, it could be considered just one choice, because the connection with Orochimaru couldn't be established for the time being.
Mokgetsu glanced at the time, feeling it was about right, and then activated Perception Ninjutsu, sensing Shisui approaching.
Mokgetsu walked out the door and into the yard, thinking to himself that Danzo seemed to trust the original owner quite a bit since he had activated Perception Ninjutsu many times without sensing any Root Ninja watching him.
When Shisui was almost about to walk in, Mokgetsu quickly formed hand seals, gathered Chakra with all his might, and instantly created a giant fireball eight meters high, turning the training dummy in the courtyard to ashes and scorching large patches of ground.
Just entering the yard, Shisui happened to witness this astounding scene, shocked by Mokgetsu's proficiency in Fire Release.
Though the Great Fireball was merely a C-level Fire Release Ninjutsu, its level was determined by the difficulty of cultivation. Many Uchiha Jonin were fond of using the Great Fireball.
But Shisui was certain that even those Jonin from his clan couldn't exhibit such might with the Great Fireball since they couldn't convert such a large amount of Chakra into flames so quickly.
"Teacher Habu, sorry for interrupting your cultivation." Shisui quickly apologized as he came back to his senses.
"No worries, I was just finishing up." Mokgetsu exhaled a deep breath, smiling as he invited Shisui into the room.
"Actually, the current state of the Uchiha is greatly related to your former clan leader, Uchiha Madara." Mokgetsu poured two glasses of water, handed one to Shisui, and held one himself as he began telling the story of the Uchiha.
"You should know that Uchiha Madara defected, right?"
Shisui nodded, "The clan history says the leader left Konoha."
"If it were just leaving, it wouldn't have turned out like this." Mokgetsu informed Shisui that had it not been for Hashirama being strong enough, Konoha might have been destroyed by Uchiha Madara.
Shisui fell into silence.
But Mokgetsu told Shisui that the events were far from over.
This incident caused the already wary Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, to be more cautious of the Uchiha, leading him to create numerous policies to govern the Uchiha after he became Hokage.
These policies provoked dissatisfaction among the Uchiha hawks, sparking ideas of seizing power by force, ultimately discovered by the Anbu and leading to imprisonment.
The series of events eventually caused the Uchiha's negative reputation to overshadow their past achievements, leading to unpopularity among the villagers.
"So, so many things happened…" Shisui realized he had oversimplified matters.
"Actually, some among the Uchiha worked hard to change this situation, such as Uchiha Kagami, who was one of the most successful." Mokgetsu shifted the topic to Uchiha Kagami.
"So Teacher Habu, what kind of person do you think Uchiha Kagami was?" Shisui suddenly became curious about his grandfather's image from Mokgetsu's perspective.
He had never seen his grandfather in person but had heard a lot from other clansmen about his great strength and being a genius ninja, which he had heard many times.
"An Uchiha with the Will of Fire, he made himself a bridge connecting the Uchiha and Konoha, easing the conflict between both sides." Mokgetsu thought for a moment and said.
Although Mokgetsu's words didn't contain grand praises, Shisui considered it the best and most fitting evaluation he had heard so far.
"I want to become an Uchiha like my grandfather!" Shisui said with determination, not realizing he directly called him grandfather.
"Grandfather?" Mokgetsu looked at Shisui with some confusion.
Only then did Shisui realize his slip of the tongue. He simply didn't want to impose a debt of gratitude, and since he wasn't guilty of any wrongdoing, he straightforwardly admitted it.
"Teacher Habu, you don't need to worry too much about this so-called debt of gratitude. If you have time, just pay your respects at my grandfather's grave. I think that would make him very happy," Shisui said.
"The kindness of saving one's parents must be repaid. How about this, Shisui, would you be willing to become my disciple?" Mokgetsu asked.
Shisui understood Mokgetsu's intention and felt that it would be too great a loss for Mokgetsu.
However, he didn't want to see Mokgetsu, a person who knows how to repay kindness, put in a difficult position. Besides, Shisui thought it would indeed be a good thing to become the disciple of such a learned and powerful teacher like Mokgetsu. In the end, Shisui nodded and called out, "Teacher Mokgetsu."
[Would you like to establish a master-disciple relationship with Uchiha Shisui?]
The system prompt appeared immediately, and Mokgetsu unhesitatingly chose yes, as he had finally managed to enlist a talented disciple.
[Relationship established successfully. Current trust level: Two. "Apprentice Returns Master" and "Gift Return" unlocked.]
Mokgetsu glanced at the description and was overjoyed. "Apprentice Returns Master" meant that as his disciple trained and grew stronger, he would also become stronger. The higher the trust level, the more feedback he'd receive. At trust level two, it's a double return—if Shisui increased by one point in Chakra, he could gain two points!
Gift Return meant that if he gave something to Shisui, the system would randomly reward him with something in return. The higher the trust level, the better the reward, limited to once per day.
Mokgetsu thought for a moment and took out a small booklet to hand to Shisui.
Inside was the Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes Cultivation Manual he had written that afternoon. It was initially intended to find an appropriate time to give it to Shisui to improve their rapport, but now he wanted to test the Gift Return function.
"This is a Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes Cultivation Manual I summarized myself. Take it back and read it. I will periodically check on your progress. As a teacher, I am very strict and won't relax my standards just because of gratitude," Mokgetsu said sternly.
If Shisui became stronger, he could become twice as strong. Mokgetsu felt it was necessary to properly supervise Shisui's training.
"Thank you, Teacher Mokgetsu. I will train diligently." Shisui said earnestly, accepting the booklet Mokgetsu gave him.
As for Mokgetsu's strict requirements, Shisui didn't see a problem with them. Instead, it proved that Mokgetsu truly saw him as a disciple, rather than just repaying a debt to his grandfather.
[You gave your disciple a Nature Changes Cultivation Manual, and due to the disciple's immense gratitude, the reward was critical, gaining you the Ninjutsu Fire Release: Mighty Dragon Fire Jutsu (proficient level).]
The moment he received the reward, a large section of memory of him practicing the Mighty Dragon Fire Jutsu appeared in Mokgetsu's mind, as if he had trained this Ninjutsu thousands or tens of thousands of times.
The Mighty Dragon Fire Jutsu is a B-level Fire Release Ninjutsu. Compared to the Great Fireball, it doesn't focus on area but rather on flexibility, allowing free control of fire dragons to attack enemies. Once proficient, you can simplify it down to a single hand sign and can release multiple fire dragons at the same time.
Since the system provided the proficient level, Mokgetsu now only needed to perform a single hand sign to instantly release three fire dragons.
The way Mokgetsu looked at Shisui was no longer as if he were a person, but rather an inexhaustible gold mine, one that could drop gold coins every day like Tenten.
Noticing that the sky outside was gradually darkening, Mokgetsu said, "It's getting late. Let me walk you home so your family doesn't worry."
"Thank you, teacher. I can walk back slowly by myself. I'm the only one at home right now," Shisui said, waving his hand.
He felt that he had already troubled Mokgetsu enough today and didn't want to waste more of his time.
Hearing Shisui's words, Mokgetsu remembered that Shisui's parents seemed to have never appeared—they probably died shortly after Shisui was born.
Only then did he realize that between them, they couldn't even piece together a set of parents—it was rather incredible.
"But my uncle does often come to take care of me," Shisui added, explaining so as not to worry Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu nodded, not forcing the issue. It was only the first day he and Shisui had met; there would be many more opportunities to build rapport in the future.
On the way home, Shisui flipped through the cultivation booklet Mokgetsu gave him and recalled the Fire Release Ninjutsu he saw when entering the courtyard, growing more curious about Mokgetsu.
Being a famed prodigy in his clan, and with his grandfather being Uchiha Kagami, Shisui had encountered many strong Uchiha, and his insight far exceeded that of his peers.
He felt that, given Mokgetsu's strength, he shouldn't be just a Chunin. It was also strange that he stayed at the Ninja Academy as a teacher when such strong teachers weren't needed there, where only the Three-Body Jutsu was taught.
Mokgetsu watched as Shisui gradually walked away, feeling even more anticipation for tomorrow.
He had classes both in the morning and afternoon tomorrow and wondered what kind of rewards he might receive.
Furthermore, the afternoon class would be Might Guy and Obito's class. What level of potential did the two of them have?