First to arrive was Minato. Whenever he had time, he would come and help Mutsuki with some work and not just show up for a free meal.
When Minato entered, he was momentarily surprised to see Kakashi and Obito sitting in the living room, but he quickly smiled and greeted everyone.
"Minato-sensei," Obito and Kakashi greeted him, not surprised at all.
Although this wasn't their home or Minato's, it was common for them to run into each other here, so there was nothing unexpected.
After a brief greeting with his disciples, Minato went to the kitchen to help.
A few minutes after Minato arrived, Guy also showed up. Seeing Kakashi and the others, he looked pleasantly surprised and greeted them with a bright smile:
"My friend, even though we're no longer on the same team, our bond is stronger than ever. How about a friendly Taijutsu match?"
"Not interested, let's eat," Kakashi firmly declined.
"That's a pity," Guy said regretfully. He had recently felt that his Taijutsu had improved a bit and wanted to test it against Kakashi.
"Guy, who are your teammates after the team reorganization?" Obito asked curiously.
"Genma and Ebisu," Guy glanced at Mutsuki, who was busy in the kitchen, and replied as he sat down.
Since he was already there, Guy decided to ask Mutsuki after dinner if he would be willing to meet Chen-sensei.
"Oh, they're pretty good. Their strength is among the top in the fourth grade, and they're nice people too," Obito said after thinking for a moment.
"Yeah, they're very reliable as teammates," Guy said, giving a thumbs-up and laughing.
If it hadn't been for Ebisu using Confusion Jutsu to distract Chen-sensei at a critical moment and Shiranui Genma timely throwing Senbon, he probably wouldn't have been able to grab that bell.
After reminiscing with Guy for a while, Obito suddenly thought of the Uchiha clan exchange meeting his grandma mentioned and turned to Shisui to ask:
"Shisui, did you receive an invitation to the Youth Ninja Exchange Meeting?"
Shisui nodded.
"Youth Ninja Exchange Meeting? What kind of event is that? I haven't heard of it before, and isn't Shisui still attending the Academy?" Kakashi asked, puzzled.
Kakashi found it hard to connect the terms "youth" and "Ninja" with Shisui.
"It's an event within our Uchiha clan. In theory, only those who have become Ninjas would receive an invitation, but the Clan Head thought it would be good for Uchiha to interact more, so I received an invitation as well," Shisui explained briefly.
Hearing that it was an internal Uchiha event, Kakashi instantly lost interest. Such events were typically not open to outsiders.
"I heard that there might be rewards at this exchange meeting. Shisui, do you know what kind of rewards are available?" Obito asked curiously. If there were rewards, he might consider going, as it would otherwise waste some training time.
Shisui recalled what Fugaku had told him and answered, "If you perform well, there seems to be a chance to obtain advanced Fire Release techniques, as well as ninja tools and secret medicines."
Hearing about advanced Fire Release techniques, Obito instantly became excited. Although he had just learned a powerful Fire Release from Mutsuki, there's never too much Ninjutsu, and if it turns out that Mutsuki doesn't know it, he could practice it with him as a way to give back.
"Shisui, are you going? If you are, let's go together. I was also invited," Obito said, deciding to check out the exchange meeting for the sake of the advanced Fire Release.
"Yeah, we can go together then," Shisui agreed with a nod.
He had been planning to go ever since Fugaku's invitation, but not for the advanced Ninjutsu; he wanted to get to know the younger generation of Uchiha Ninjas.
After doing a lot of historical research about Konoha and listening to Mutsuki talk about it, he realized that the current state of the Uchiha clan was significantly influenced by many Uchiha members.
Not long after the village was established, the Clan Head betrayed Konoha, later returning to cause a commotion and ultimately clashing with the First Hokage, resulting in the famous Land of Fire landmark, the Valley of the End.
That's not the end of it. After Senju Hashirama's death and Senju Tobirama becoming the Second Hokage, the Uchiha clan had another issue. Regardless of the nature of the damage, this incident was even worse than Uchiha Madara's, as the hawkish faction within the Uchiha clan attempted a coup to seize the position of Hokage.
Therefore, Shisui wanted to observe whether the younger generation of Uchiha was more inclined towards the dovish or hawkish faction. If the hawkish faction was predominant, he was concerned that the Second Hokage's period coup might repeat itself.
When the meal was nearly ready, Mutsuki called his disciples to the table to prepare for dinner.
Minato, carrying his lunchbox, said his goodbyes to Mutsuki, Obito, and the others.
"Minato-sensei, why don't you just eat here? Aren't you not on a mission for the next few days?" Obito asked, puzzled by Minato's habit of taking his meals to go.
He found it odd that Minato came to help with the cooking daily but always took his food away.
Minato looked thoughtful, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for his actions.
Smack!
Mutsuki shot a burst of air, accurately hitting Obito's forehead with a crisp sound, and said:
"The world isn't only busy with missions, and Minato can eat the food in his box anytime. If you don't hurry, someone else might finish the good food before you get a chance."
Mutsuki's reminder made Obito realize that Kakashi, Guy, and Shisui had already started eating in silence.
Obito quickly activated his Sharingan to enhance his insight and began eating intensively, no longer concerned about Minato's meal.
Minato smiled, exchanged a glance with Mutsuki, and then took the food to find Kushina.
After the meal, the disciples helped Mutsuki clean up, and then it was time for casual conversation. Guy mentioned Chen-sensei.
"Yumi-sensei, do you have some free time recently? My instructor, Chen-sensei, wants to discuss training issues with you."
"Chen-sensei? No problem. Just let him know tomorrow. I'm free all week, and he can choose the time to meet," Mutsuki replied after a moment of thought.
In his previous life, whether in the anime or manga, there was no information about Guy's instructor, so after the team assignments were announced, Mutsuki used his Academy access to check the details.
He was surprised to find that Guy's instructor was actually Chen-sensei, the one who developed Konoha's Dragon God.
However, Mutsuki quickly realized that this was a result of his butterfly effect. In the anime, Guy's interaction with Chen-sensei didn't resemble a typical teacher-student relationship.
He speculated that Guy's exceptional Taijutsu talent led to this change in team assignments. Such a Taijutsu genius definitely couldn't be taught by just any Jonin.
"This is a good opportunity to showcase some Taijutsu skills," Mutsuki thought to himself.
If Taijutsu Ninjas discuss training, it's also reasonable to have a spar. If Chen-sensei uses Konoha's Dragon God, it could serve as a foundation for Mutsuki to use it in the future.
"Okay, I understand," Guy nodded.
"So, Guy, your instructor is Chen-sensei. His expertise is indeed well-suited to be your mentor," Kakashi said, recalling some information about Chen-sensei.
Chen-sensei was renowned as Konoha's strongest Taijutsu Ninja, mastering various Taijutsu techniques.
"Who is Chen-sensei? Is he very strong? I've never heard of him," Obito asked curiously, having no impression of the name.
"How many powerful Ninjas do you know? Besides Yumi-sensei and Minato-sensei," Kakashi said, glancing at Obito with a hint of disdain.
Kakashi felt that while Obito was strong in one-on-one combat, his knowledge in other areas was lacking.
Feeling challenged by Kakashi's dismissive attitude, Obito thought for a moment and said, "Third Hokage, the Toad Sage, and..."
After mentioning the second name, Obito stalled, unable to come up with a third name despite racking his brain.
Kakashi sighed, lightly rubbing his forehead, and said, "You don't really know any, do you? The Third Hokage's name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Jiraiya-sama is not called the Toad Sage."
"Tsunade!" Obito suddenly remembered a name. Tsunade was a Ninja admired by Nohara Rin and was also one of the Sannin, like Jiraiya.
"At least you know one. What about others?" Kakashi asked indifferently.
Obito scratched his head, unable to think of any more noteworthy strong Ninjas, and said stubbornly, "Then tell me a few names, but don't mention the ones I said."
"Shimura Danzo, the village's Hokage advisor, is a disciple of the Second Hokage and is very powerful."
"Orochimaru, the Third Hokage's disciple, is also one of the Three Sannin, just like Jiraiya-sama..." Kakashi listed many powerful Konoha Jonin with ease.
"As expected of a true friend, you really know a lot," Guy gave Kakashi a thumbs up. In this area, he was about on par with Obito.
"So, how strong is that Chen-sensei?" Noticing that he was on the back foot, Obito shifted the topic back to Chen-sensei's strength.
"I heard from Ebisu that he is the strongest Taijutsu Ninja in Konoha. However, I feel that Yumi-sensei's Taijutsu might not be any weaker than Chen-sensei's," Guy said honestly.
As someone with a fair amount of experience, he had witnessed the battle between Duy with the Sixth Gate and Mutsuki. In that fight, neither side used their full strength—Might Duy did not use the Seventh Gate, and Mutsuki only used two Gates combined with Total Concentration Breathing. Nonetheless, it had left a profound impression on Guy.
"Yumi-sensei, do you think you can beat Chen-sensei using only Taijutsu?" The straightforward Obito decided to ask Mutsuki directly.
"Chen-sensei's Taijutsu is very strong, but I shouldn't lose," Mutsuki replied with a smile.
"So that means you'll definitely win," Obito interpreted Mutsuki's words in his own way.
Smack!
Mutsuki tapped Obito lightly on the head.
Obito grinned, feeling that he had said nothing wrong. The other disciples also believed that Mutsuki had the capability to achieve that.
Especially Guy, who practiced both Eight Inner Gates and Stone Breathing. He knew how terrifying the power could be when these two forbidden techniques were used together. With just one year of training, Guy had achieved such strength, so Mutsuki, who had been training for an unknown amount of time, must be even stronger.
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