"Teacher Mokgetsu, I think I've got it!" Obito suddenly exclaimed with surprise during the evening training.
"Try some Taijutsu, attack me." Mokgetsu glanced at him and said.
Although the strongest effect of the Breath of Flame is to enhance the power of Fire Release, it can also improve physical abilities to a certain degree. This is a feature common to all breathing techniques and the first to appear. Obito is not yet at the stage where he can enhance his Fire Release.
"Hah." Obito adjusted his breathing rhythm, recalling the feeling he had earlier, inhaled a large amount of oxygen to strengthen his body, and then sprinted towards Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu steadily caught Obito's straight punch, noticing that Obito's speed had increased slightly. He quickly threw Obito aside, but Obito promptly launched a Tornado Kick.
After grasping Obito's leg and tossing him, Mokgetsu had already made a judgment in his mind.
"You've indeed made a breakthrough. If you practice the breathing steps until the start of the term, you should be able to proceed to the next stage of cultivation." Mokgetsu said.
Once you move to the next stage, the features of the Breath of Flame will gradually become apparent, beyond just enhancing physical abilities.
"Still need to practice for another five days." Obito said after recalling the date. He thought he could immediately start practicing like Might Guy today.
Snap!
Mokgetsu tapped Obito's head with his fingers together and said, "Don't aim too high. When Guy began sensing attributes, his breathing technique was much more proficient than yours."
Obito's current proficiency level is only twelve points, while Might Guy began sensing the breathing technique characteristics at nineteen proficiency points. However, Guy's situation was somewhat unique; Mokgetsu estimated that in five days, Obito's Breath of Flame proficiency should reach at least fifteen points, at which point he could move on to the next stage.
Mokgetsu assessed Shisui, who was still getting used to various breathing postures. Shisui was currently lagging slightly behind Obito in his Breath of Flame progress, but not by much—just two proficiency points.
"I thought it was enough just to use the breathing technique to strengthen myself." Obito said, touching his head.
Leaving behind a shadow clone to watch over the two, Mokgetsu's main body went to check on Might Guy's training situation.
Might Guy's training was quite abstract; here you could see a bizarre scene of a rock with arms and legs stepping on one large rock while holding another one in both hands.
"Guy, did you feel anything special today?" Mokgetsu asked.
"Yes." Might Guy replied.
Mokgetsu used an assessment on Might Guy and found that his proficiency was still at nineteen, feeling somewhat puzzled since Guy wouldn't falsely report his progress.
"The stone that's been heated by the sun is really hot." Might Guy shared his insight.
In the evening, it was fine, but during the blazing afternoon sun, it was scorching to the touch.
Mokgetsu didn't know what to say for a moment; he felt that Obito had led Might Guy astray.
"When the sun's strong, just find a shady spot and sit on a rock." Mokgetsu advised after thinking for a moment; he hadn't been here in the afternoon or morning, so Guy must have been training on his own.
Mokgetsu speculated that at this pace, Might Guy would likely master the Breath of Rock by graduation, or it might take about ten months.
Initially, it was estimated to take a year, but Might Guy had one instance of rapid progress, which saved him about two months.
Successfully mastering the Breath of Rock, along with the physical improvements during its cultivation and the other Taijutsu learned, Mokgetsu felt that Guy could attempt to complete the challenge against Kakashi by then.
"I wonder if the reward for a training task spanning nearly a year would be better." Mokgetsu thought to himself.
With the Ninja Academy about to open, and an exam one month in, Obito's training task would be settled by then. Mokgetsu also needed to think about how to trigger a new training task for Obito.
If Obito lost to Might Guy again and got second place, it would be simple—just take first place in the training task again.
If he got first place, Mokgetsu planned to guide Obito to challenge Kakashi.
This was currently the best choice, stemming from Mokgetsu's analysis of Obito's personality, goals, dreams, interpersonal relationships, and other influencing factors.
Obito dreams of becoming Hokage, so it's not feasible to trigger tasks too far out of reach, like Guy not being able to get a task to become the strongest, or Shisui not getting one to change the Uchiha.
For something closer, challenging Kakashi is the most suitable. Firstly, Kakashi as a target is strong enough, which relates to the task's reward. Secondly, he has a special relationship with Obito, making it easier to trigger the task.
Obito might have other thoughts, like his feelings for Nohara Rin, but Mokgetsu didn't think the system would give a task about teaching Obito to date—could that even be called a training task?
"I wonder if by the end of this year, one of my disciples will reach trust level four." Mokgetsu thought about how it had been a long time since a disciple had increased their trust level.
Although the presence of trust levels isn't very strong, Mokgetsu believes that trust is a core part of the mentor-student system.
Even at trust level two, he hadn't triggered master-level rewards, but at trust level three, things like Nature Transformation Mastery and Taijutsu Mastery appeared, and training tasks too were only triggered after reaching trust level three.
Not to mention other factors, just the doubling of Chakra with each trust level increase made Mokgetsu long to max out all his disciples' trust levels.