Chapter 226: New Challenge

"After dinner, practice Breathing Technique for another four hours to improve the concentration of your breathing as soon as possible," Kakashi continued to think about training on the way home.

Currently, Kakashi's main focus is Thunder Breathing, with Color of Arms and Lightning Release Nature Transformation as his minor studies.

He believes that mastering Breathing Technique Proficiently is paramount. Color of Arms and Nature Transformation can be put on hold for now.

Because Breathing Technique can enhance training efficiency and strengthen the body, Kakashi's Thunderclap and Flash also require Breathing Technique to reach the Constant stage to address their shortcomings.

While Color of Arms and Nature Transformation are powerful, they currently do not provide Kakashi with significant improvements. Even if Nature Transformation is formidable, Kakashi does not have enough Chakra to utilize it extensively.

Color of Arms works similarly. Basically, he uses Purple Electricity once in battle, and using Color of Arms to reinforce Purple Electricity means that after using one Chakra attack, he's mostly out of Chakra.

"Lately, there have been many war missions, and they're all in the Land of Grass. I wonder how the situation is on the front lines."

"I heard Jiraiya-sama of the Three Sannin led a team to the front lines. With a strong person like him, there shouldn't be any problems."

"It seems sensei has been thinking of going to the battlefield recently. Maybe the next mission will be a wartime mission, and then we might get to see Jiraiya-sama in action."

"War, it's much more dangerous than regular missions. We must take care of each other when the time comes."

"Of course, we're comrades."

On the street, Kakashi heard a somewhat familiar voice. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw his two former teammates.

Kakashi thought for a moment and walked forward.

Kakashi's undisguised approach caught the attention of his two former teammates.

"Could it be that he heard about it last time, and now he's planning revenge?" The former teammates couldn't help but speculate why Kakashi was approaching them.

With this thought, the former teammates couldn't help but tense their muscles, cautiously watching Kakashi.

Although they thought Kakashi was cold-hearted, they had to admit he was indeed a genius. Despite being much younger, his strength was undeniable.

"I'm sorry about what happened before," Kakashi apologized.

During their time as a team, Kakashi had acted recklessly several times to complete missions, regardless of his teammates' condition.

Back then, he believed a ninja's duty was to complete missions. Sacrificing teammates was justified as long as the mission was completed. Failing to complete a mission, even if teammates were protected, would lead to criticism.

Although his relationship with the two former teammates wasn't as close as with Guy, Obito and the others, the enlightened Kakashi had now affirmed his own beliefs. He wouldn't evade responsibility; he would acknowledge his mistakes.

"Huh?" Kakashi's apology caught the two off guard. They had thought Kakashi came looking for trouble and were momentarily stunned in place.

After speaking, seeing the two somewhat at a loss, Kakashi continued walking towards home.

Just now, he not only apologized to his former teammates but also bid a formal farewell to his past self. Going forward, he would diligently train to uphold his beliefs and protect the companions he wanted to safeguard.

"Suddenly saying all that, what does he me by this?" After Kakashi left, the two teammates still couldn't figure out what had happened.

"It's strange. Could it be an apology for past missions? This change is too significant."

...

In Obito's eager anticipation, the time finally arrived on February 10th, his birthday.

However, even on his birthday, there was no holiday from regular training; celebrating would have to wait until the evening.

In the morning, for the first two hours, Obito practiced Armament Haki. Currently, apart from Rin and Guy, the other three disciples had already begun their training in Armament Haki.

Rin currently doesn't need to practice, while Guy is progressing slowly in Yin Release Nature Transformation and hasn't reached the level to practice Color of Arms yet.

After two hours of Armament Haki practice, they continued with Constant Breathing Technique training until the end of today's session. There would be breaks in between, but the focus would remain on the same training regimen.

"You must find all these basic exercises quite boring every day," Mutsuki said with a smile, not rushing them to begin their training.

"Yeah, it's pretty dull, just like the initial physical conditioning, but now with the added requirement of maintaining Total Concentration Breathing," Obito agreed.

"After all, it's training," Shisui replied.

Training itself is certainly not enjoyable. What motivates him to consistently and effectively complete various exercises is the improvement after completing the training and Mutsuki's commendations.

"Let's do something fun and challenging today," Mutsuki said with a grin.

Seeing Mutsuki's smile, Obito had a bad feeling and quickly said:

"Actually, I think Shisui makes a lot of sense. There's no such thing as boring training."

"I'm fine with it. I believe Sensei Yumi's training arrangements are definitely the best for us." After hearing Mutsuki's words, Shisui expressed a new perspective.

Obito: ... 

This made him appear quite foolish.

"Please don't tell me you're going to use that terrifying training method." Remembering the dark times he had endured before, Obito couldn't help but shiver.

Given a choice, Obito would rather face a Jonin in battle again than return to those days.

Punishment training through solving problems was what Obito considered the most terrifying. It had once made him lose his sense of time, feeling like every day was a Friday, with endless hours of problem-solving ahead.

This wasn't just Obito's opinion; even Guy, who believed he had a will as strong as iron and rock, had once said he would rather spend a day in training than do problem-solving exercises.

"The training is simple: evade my attacks. You can use any means, whether it's the Sharingan or Ninjutsu to attack me."

"If I hit you once, you'll need to solve two problems. Evading successfully cancels out two problems. If by the end you haven't evaded once, the number of problems you need to solve will increase by ten percent." Mutsuki grinned as he explained the rules of the training.

"Yumi-sensei, how much of your strength will you use? If you go all out, how can we possibly dodge your attacks?" Obito interjected.

The gap between them and Mutsuki was immense. If Mutsuki unleashed his full speed, they wouldn't even be able to see his shadow, let alone evade him.

"I'll be using Shadow Clones for this training. I won't give them much Chakra, so they'll be around your level. As long as your Breathing Technique improves a bit, you'll be able to evade." Mutsuki nodded with a smile.

"Also, the training will last for six minutes. During that time, my Shadow Clones will attack at any moment." Mutsuki added the time limit.

His training aimed not only to enhance their explosiveness but also to increase their endurance. The essence of the Constant Breathing Technique training was exactly that: to concentrate their breathing further while extending the duration of the Breathing Technique to achieve a state of full-day, full-concentration.

"Six minutes straight!" Obito couldn't help but exclaim. He felt as if he were facing an ocean of endless questions and problems.

"I must successfully evade at least once, no matter what, or I'll be at a big loss," Obito silently resolved.

Obito had experience with such matters. Even though it was just ten percent added each time, if he ended up with a hundred questions piled up, that would mean an additional ten, seemingly out of nowhere. If he couldn't complete them in time, he'd face even more added questions.

Shisui didn't feel much pressure. "Just solving problems, right? I always ace exams anyway."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Mutsuki swiftly formed seals, creating two Shadow Clones.

"You can enter the Total Concentration Breathing state now. Training will commence in five seconds. Five, four..."

"Flame Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!" Obito and Shisui both entered the Breathing Technique state simultaneously. Obito even activated his Sharingan, turning his eyes blood-red with two spinning black tomoe in them.

"Two, one, training begins!"

Mutsuki's two Shadow Clones dashed out swiftly, attacking Obito and Shisui respectively.

Obito could observe Mutsuki's controlled speed through his Sharingan, without encountering any overwhelming swiftness.

While running, Obito reached into his ninja pouch and threw a large number of shuriken towards Mutsuki, aiming to disrupt him even if just a bit.

Despite being Shadow Clones, Mutsuki easily countered Obito's small trickery by using Wind Release to blow the shuriken back, temporarily slowing Obito down as he dodged them.

Tap!

The finger of Mutsuki' Shadow Clone precisely tapped Obito's forehead.

"Two questions," chuckled Shadow Clone Mutsuki.

"Made a mistake, should have focused on running." Obito felt he had made a wrong decision.

"Since I have Sharingan anyway, why not try to see if I can dodge head-on?" Obito decided to trust in the power of Sharingan.

Obito concentrated his breathing, focusing all his attention on Mutsuki's two hands.

"I can see it, maybe I can do it!" Realizing he could observe Mutsuki's attack trajectory, Obito felt a bit of joy in his heart.

Tap!

A crisp tapping sound rang out as Mutsuki's finger once again tapped Obito's head, this time from the side, leaving Obito frozen mid-dodge.

"Darn it, I almost dodged it!" Obito was somewhat unwilling to accept it.

Obito, felt he undeterred and wanted to continue trying.

Tap!

"Six question." Shadow Clone Mutsuki said leisurely.

Swoosh!

Obito decided to run away directly. Although he really wanted to try again in his heart, one mistake meant two questions, and Obito didn't want to bear that painful cost.

"What a strange technique, I can't feel the aura of his attacks at all." On the other side, Shisui couldn't break through due to dense trees and was caught up to by Mutsuki, who also tapped him lightly.

Although Shisui doesn't resist doing questions, fewer questions mean better training results. Shisui certainly wanted fewer questions, so he also activated the Sharingan, turning his eyes crimson.

Tap!

Shisui watched helplessly as Mutsuki's fingers tapped his head again.

"I couldn't dodge at all. This attack speed just slightly exceeds my evasion speed," Shisui immediately concluded that under normal circumstances, he couldn't evade Mutsuki's attacks.

"Yumi-sensei must be intentionally maintaining this speed," Shisui guessed inwardly.

There aren't so many coincidences where the attack is just slightly faster. It's probably to pressure them into breaking through.

After understanding this point, Shisui quickly moved away, creating distance from Mutsuki.

When the six-minute training session ended, Mutsuki announced the results:

"Obito was hit a total of twenty-five times with zero evasions. With the punishment for not evading, that's a total of fifty-five questions."

When Obito heard the number fifty-five, he almost blacked out. In just six minutes of training, it brought him endless pain and suffering.

"Shisui was hit a total of twenty-one times with zero evasions. He needs to do forty-six questions," Mutsuki continued with Shisui's results.

Shisui also did not achieve a breakthrough in Breathing Technique, but he was more cautious, so he had slightly fewer questions.

"Phew, still didn't dodge the attacks," Shisui sighed with some regret.

Mutsuki smiled but didn't say anything. He had even used Transparent World. As long as there was no breakthrough, there was no chance of successfully dodging.

Actually, he was holding back. He didn't attack much at the beginning because Shisui and Obito couldn't sustain it for long. After five minutes, their stamina dropped significantly, and most of the questions came in the last minute.

If he didn't slow down so much and still didn't attack, it would be too obvious that he was holding back. Training couldn't be done that way.

"Rest for a while and resume normal training. The day after tomorrow, there will be another training session like this. Keep up the good work," Mutsuki said with a gentle smile.

"The day after tomorrow too!" Obito felt overwhelmed, as if countless exam papers had already been piled onto his shoulders.

"Breathing Technique, please get stronger quickly." After his stamina recovered somewhat, Obito swiftly resumed training while praying inwardly.

Throughout the day, Obito devoted himself entirely to practicing Flame Breathing. He tried his best to maintain the state of Total Concentration Breathing, despite his limited stamina, continuously using Breathing Technique until he was completely exhausted.

Shisui was equally diligent. He hadn't successfully dodged once, which left him very dissatisfied with himself. As Mutsuki's first and strongest disciple, and undefeated in internal competitions among Mutsuki's disciples, Shisui believed his progress should be leading.

"I must at least successfully dodge once!" Shisui silently vowed.

By the end of the training session, both Obito and Shisui were so exhausted they could barely stand. They repeatedly pushed themselves to the brink with Breathing Technique, rested, and then resumed until they were completely spent.

"Obito, are you okay? Today is your birthday. Are you sure it's alright to train so hard?" Rin looked worriedly at Obito, who was slumped against a large tree.

"Right, today is my birthday." It finally dawned on Obito that today was his birthday. He had been consumed by the fear of the exercises all day and completely forgot about it.

"It's alright, I just need a rest." Obito assured them that he was fine. After all, it wasn't his first day practicing Constant Breathing.

During dinner time, Mutsuki gathered all the disciples at Obito's home to celebrate his birthday.

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