Chapter 269: Progress of Life Tasks

Although most of the disciples have graduated, Mutsuki's daily life hasn't changed much—he's just gone from teaching five people to teaching one person.

Of course, teaching one person is definitely much easier than teaching five, so Mutsuki has more time to practice his skills.

On the first afternoon after the disciples were assigned to their classes, Mutsuki practiced Great Waterfall Jutsu for a while and then sat down to rest. He opened the system's mentor-disciple section to check the progress of the disciples' life tasks.

He would check the task progress whenever he had some free time. The last time he checked, Guy had the most progress, reaching 0.5%, while Shisui and Obito had shown no movement yet.

"To think it increased so much all of a sudden," Mutsuki pondered as he looked at Obito's 3% progress.

"Is it because Minato is Jiraiya's disciple?" Mutsuki immediately thought of the core issue.

Of course, not just anyone can become Hokage. The first Hokage was chosen by all the Konoha ninjas, and the subsequent Hokages are generally related to the previous ones in some way. For example, Hiruzen was a disciple of Senju Tobirama, Minato is Hiruzen's grand-disciple, the Fifth Hokage Tsunade is Hiruzen's disciple, and the Sixth Hokage Kakashi is Minato's disciple.

However, just looking at status without considering ability is misleading. Becoming Hokage isn't solely based on status; ability is the major factor. For instance, Minato's two teammates were also trained by Jiraiya from a young age, but due to their lack of ability, no one thought they could become Hokage.

Mutsuki felt that the Hokage lineage status acts like a buff that increases with one's strength. If you have both the Hokage lineage status and strong abilities, your chances of becoming Hokage are higher. Having strength without status, or status without strength, won't be sufficient.

He estimated that once Minato becomes Hokage, this part of the bonus will increase. At that point, Obito will be both the grand-disciple of the previous Hokage and the disciple of the current Hokage, stacking the buffs together.

Aside from Obito's sudden increase, Shisui and Guy's progress remained unchanged.

After finishing dinner, Mutsuki went to Hiruzen's home. Some time had passed since he last consulted on Shuriken Shadow Clone, and now he wanted to ask Hiruzen about Great Waterfall Jutsu to further solidify his reputation as a Ninjutsu genius and lay the groundwork for improving his strength.

"Third-sama, do you have time now? I've encountered some problems while practicing Great Waterfall Jutsu recently," Mutsuki asked after greeting Hiruzen.

"I happen to be free," Hiruzen nodded in agreement, ready to digest his meal.

"However, we can't practice Great Waterfall Jutsu in the courtyard. Let's go to the nearby small river," Hiruzen suggested, not wanting to flood his own home, unlike the last time when he gave instructions in the backyard.

"I'll go too!" Asuma wanted to join in.

"Why would you go? You're not learning Water Release," Hiruzen said, not very keen on letting Asuma come along.

Because he knew Asuma would likely end up criticizing him, his own father.

"I'm not going over there to learn Water Release from you. What can you really teach me by demonstrating it a few times? I just want to see if Yumi-sensei's Ninjutsu has become stronger," Asuma retorted directly.

"That's because what I teach is the essence and the key points," Hiruzen tried to show that his teaching ability was not inferior to Mutsuki's.

He had mastered countless Ninjutsu, was proficient in all seven Chakra Nature Transformations, and had trained the famous Sannin. He couldn't understand why, in Asuma's view, he was less effective than Mutsuki.

"I don't know about the essence or key points, but I know that I learn things much faster when studying with Yumi-sensei," Asuma stated, sticking to the facts.

He knew his father had three very strong disciples, but despite having been taught by Hiruzen, Asuma admitted that he was indeed not as good as Mutsuki.

Asuma would rank his teachers as follows: first is Mutsuki, second is Hiruzen, and third is his Jonin sensei.

While Hiruzen was speechless, Mutsuki stepped in to smooth things over. He first acknowledged that Hiruzen's guidance was indeed useful and then spoke up for Asuma.

"Let Asuma come along. I've recently made significant progress with Wind Release Nature Transformation and can teach him a few things," Mutsuki said with a smile.

At this moment, simply observing wasn't enough; the best choice was to ease the tension while helping both sides. After all, Asuma was Hiruzen's son, so Hiruzen wouldn't be truly angry. Speaking up for Asuma could even earn some favor from Hiruzen.

"Since Mutsuki has something to teach, let him go along," Hiruzen thought it over and eventually agreed with Mutsuki's suggestion.

Mutsuki was indeed skilled, so it would be beneficial for Asuma to learn from him.

"Since you say you learn things quickly from Mutsuki, you should take it seriously. The Chunin Exams are coming up soon. If your skills are sufficient, your sensei will recommend you for the Chunin Exams," Hiruzen reminded Asuma.

"You don't need to tell me; I'll definitely study hard." Although Asuma knew his father was concerned, he still couldn't communicate with Hiruzen in a gentle manner.

On the way to the small river, Asuma's interaction with Hiruzen was similar. Although their words were sharp, the overall atmosphere was decent, reflecting a somewhat typical family dynamic where there was mutual annoyance but a good relationship.

Upon arriving at the location, Hiruzen immediately had Mutsuki demonstrate Great Waterfall Jutsu before asking Mutsuki questions, providing answers and demonstrations.

Asuma quietly watched the two converse without interrupting. After observing Mutsuki's noticeable improvement during practice, he cheered loudly.

"Yumi-sensei, you still say you're not a genius, yet you can learn so quickly from the old man," Asuma exclaimed with surprise and excitement.

The surprise was due to Mutsuki's outstanding performance, and the excitement was for the upcoming lesson on Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation.

Since even the humble Mutsuki mentioned significant progress, Asuma felt that Mutsuki must have made substantial improvements.

"Thanks to Third-sama's guidance," Mutsuki smiled and credited Hiruzen for the achievement.

"It's mainly because Mutsuki, your Ninjutsu skills are outstanding. My teaching only plays a guiding role," Hiruzen said, stroking his small beard and shaking his head.

Although he believed his teaching abilities were not lacking, teaching Mutsuki was different from teaching his disciples; he could only offer a bit of guidance. Mutsuki's ability to master these two A-rank Ninjutsu in a short time was entirely due to his strong learning capability.

Hiruzen entertained the thought of accepting Mutsuki as a disciple. Although he had three renowned disciples, unfortunately, none of them had inherited his Ninjutsu or the powerful Combination Jutsu.

Mutsuki's performance was like a diluted version of his own skills. If he were to personally train Mutsuki, it was possible that Mutsuki could become the next Ninjutsu Professor.

"Let's see after the war ends," Hiruzen thought and decided to temporarily abandon the idea of taking Mutsuki as a disciple.

With the current chaotic situation in the ninja world, he was very busy and didn't have much time to teach Mutsuki. It would be meaningless to take on a disciple without being able to provide proper guidance.

After finishing his guidance, Hiruzen went home, reminding Asuma to return home after finishing his studies and not to run around.

"Seriously, I'm already a Ninja, not a child. Do you really have to say such things?" Asuma couldn't help but complain.

"It doesn't matter whether you're a Ninja or not. You're only ten years old; Third-sama is just concerned about you," Mutsuki said with a smile, tapping Asuma on the head.

"Let's not talk about that. Yumi-sensei, hurry up and teach me Nature Transformation," Asuma said with anticipation.

Mutsuki nodded and began teaching Asuma Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation.

With about ten days left before the Academy starts, he planned to take some time to teach Asuma and improve his skills.

...

"Rin-chan, don't be afraid when you encounter enemies. Just stay close to me, and I will protect you," Obito said, passing on mission experience to Rin as they headed to the Hokage Building.

Since they performed very well in their training yesterday, Minato decided to take them on a mission.

"Well, you probably won't encounter enemies on today's mission," Minato decided to give Obito a heads-up to prevent disappointment.

"Generally, newly graduated Genin can only take on D-Rank Missions. Obito, you should know the specifics of D-Rank Missions from your internship," Minato said.

"I know. D-Rank Missions involve doing odd jobs like picking up trash or helping with farm work," Obito nodded. He had done quite a few D-Rank Missions.

"But during our internship, we were granted permission for C-Rank Missions. It wouldn't make sense to downgrade after becoming a formal Ninja," Obito thought there shouldn't be any issue with taking on C-Rank Missions.

He had even completed S-Rank Missions before, so being limited to D-Rank seemed unreasonable.

Minato considered that Obito was being too optimistic. The special privileges Hiruzen granted were for Mutsuki's team, but now they were Minato's team, and the rules for Ninjas were quite strict.

Obito saw a familiar face among the registered Ninjas in the hall, Kazuya Sawada, and immediately brightened up, greeting him warmly, "Good morning, Uncle Sawada!"

"Good morning, and congratulations on becoming a formal Ninja," Kazuya Sawada said with a smile, looking at the forehead protector on Obito's head.

"Could you assign us a better C-Rank Mission?" Obito asked with a grin.

"No," Kazuya Sawada replied directly.

"Oh, then we won't trouble you, Uncle Sawada. We'll choose ourselves."

"Your team can only take on D-Rank Missions, not C-Rank Missions," Kazuya Sawada explained seriously, then took out the D-Rank Mission scroll.

"Huh?" Obito was taken aback, not expecting it to be so outrageous and having to start with D-Rank Missions again.

Kakashi, on the other hand, wore an expression of 'as expected.' He had suspected this would be the case. After all, even as a Chunin, he had to diligently perform odd jobs when joining a new team. Obito's experience was impressive among students, but clearly not enough to break the rules.

"Uncle Sawada, weren't we granted permission by Third to undertake C-Rank Missions before? And we have even completed S-Rank Missions. Isn't it a bit unreasonable that we can only take on D-Rank Missions now?" Obito asked in confusion.

He had also explained to Rin on the way how to handle dangerous missions, so he was obviously reluctant to take on menial tasks now.

"That was during your internship with Mutsuki's team. Now the team and the rules are different, so you can only follow the standard rules for new Genin," Kazuya Sawada explained. He said it was impossible to inherit privileges unless the Third Hokage intervened.

"Even if you have the ability to handle C-Rank Missions, you also need to consider whether your teammates have the same ability."

Obito recalled Rin using Enhanced Strength and thought that C-Rank Missions should be manageable.

The situation was as Minato had anticipated. He began reviewing the D-Rank Missions. Although he knew the team's abilities were sufficient, he couldn't force Kazuya Sawada to give them higher-ranked missions; that would be unethical.

Obito had a good idea as he looked at the D-Rank Mission scroll. When they first started their internship, they could only take on D-Rank Missions. It was only after completing those that Hiruzen allowed them to attempt C-Rank Missions.

"Minato-san, just take ten of these missions for us. We'll finish them quickly and help Rin-chan get familiar with the tasks," Obito suggested. He decided to go all out to complete the D-Rank Missions.

"Alright, we'll take all the tasks on this scroll," Minato said to Kazuya Sawada.

"That's fine," Kazuya Sawada agreed, knowing Obito and Kakashi's efficiency. Ten D-Rank Missions wouldn't take long to complete.

"Kakashi, let's use Shadow Clones to increase our efficiency and finish the tasks quickly," Obito said to Kakashi after leaving the Hokage Building. He planned to involve Kakashi as well.

Obito could create two Shadow Clones to help, and Kakashi could do the same, making it effectively seven people working on the tasks.

"Why use Shadow Clones? It'll be tiring," Kakashi wondered why Obito suddenly became so enthusiastic.

"Don't you remember? We got the chance to do C-Rank Missions after finishing the D-Rank Missions last time. Maybe it'll work again this time," Obito revealed his brilliant plan.

"Not necessarily," Kakashi thought it was hard to say, with no specific standards.

"Then let's compete to see who completes more D-Rank Missions. You, a Chunin, won't be afraid of me, a Genin, will you?" Obito provoked.

Kakashi: …

Although it was a low-level taunt, Obito's words did annoy Kakashi, so he agreed to the challenge.

The speed at which they completed the tasks motivated Rin, making her movements faster and more efficient.

Through their hard work, the team completed thirty D-Rank Missions in one day. After dismissing the Shadow Clones, Obito was exhausted, but to complete the C-Rank Missions as soon as possible, he decided to continue this mode the next day until there were no more D-Rank Missions left.

While Obito was busy with tasks, Mutsuki received rewards from the system.

[Disciple Kakashi and Uchiha Obito worked hard to complete commission tasks, gaining growth reward: Chakra +5]

[Disciple Kakashi and Uchiha Obito worked hard to complete commission tasks, gaining growth reward: Chakra +4]

Perhaps because of their stronger abilities, Obito and his team received pitifully small rewards for completing D-Rank Missions. By the end, the two of them combined only received two or three points at most. Fortunately, the number of missions was high, so the total amount was actually quite good, even more than a day's worth of Chakra from classes.

Since he wasn't leading the team himself, Mutsuki felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction from gaining Chakra effortlessly while at home.

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