Chapter 284: Jiraiya's Visit

"This time it's still a targeted training exercise. Go all out to attack the Shadow Clones to achieve victory," Mutsuki said after creating three Shadow Clones.

Since this is Kakashi's first time participating, Mutsuki explained the punishment mechanism of the training again.

"Then it's a race against time. Hit the Shadow Clones as quickly as possible," Kakashi thought to himself after hearing the rules.

Since it's a performance-based training, Kakashi naturally hoped to achieve a good result, and he didn't want to deal with too many problems.

If it were problems of Academy level, it wouldn't matter, but Mutsuki's problems aren't simple. Kakashi felt it was quite good to solve a few of them occasionally, but dealing with too many was a bit overwhelming.

Kakashi could handle around thirty problems in a single training session. With that amount, he would need to solve an average of four to five problems a day to complete them in a week, which would allow him to finish quickly during his training and rest periods.

"Start!"

"Thunder Breathing, Total Concentration Breathing!"

Kakashi silently adjusted his breathing rhythm to concentrate it to the utmost limit.

As soon as Mutsuki shouted "Start," Kakashi immediately drew his White Fang short blade and charged at the Shadow Clone.

Training exercises are different from real combat. In real combat, one must be prepared for various emergencies and conserve stamina and Chakra, but the ten-minute time limit for this training clearly doesn't require that.

Kakashi used a large amount of Chakra for Lightning Release Nature Transformation and then burst with it in his lower body, suddenly increasing his speed and arriving in front of the Shadow Clone in the blink of an eye.

A flash of white light passed, cutting down a tree beside the Shadow Clone, but the Shadow Clone, which had quickly retreated and dodged, remained unharmed.

"Can they even react at such a speed? It seems that using my full strength in the usual way won't end the training quickly," Kakashi thought.

Because this was training, the Shadow Clones wouldn't attack him, so Kakashi had pushed his speed to the limit. Even so, he was still slightly short of hitting the Shadow Clone, leading him to conclude that normal full effort would not complete the training early.

Training was difficult, but it was within Kakashi's expectations. After all, even Obito, who progressed rapidly, found this training grueling, indicating its difficulty.

Kakashi then tried several more times and found that no matter how much he pushed his limits, he was always just short.

After three minutes of testing, Kakashi changed tactics. He threw a smoke bomb to conceal his position, then used a Shadow Clone to attract attention while his real self moved underground.

After engaging in close combat with the Shadow Clone for a while, Kakashi decisively revealed himself and used Purple Electricity. To ensure he hit Mutsuki, Kakashi caused the Purple Electricity to split into dozens of lightning bolts charging toward Mutsuki.

Mutsuki calmly dodged and created some distance from Kakashi's Shadow Clone, then joined his hands and expelled a large amount of lightning to block all of Kakashi's Purple Electricity.

"Ordinary tactics won't work either," Kakashi paused his attack, quickly reviewing the situation in his mind to gather more information.

Based on Mutsuki's performance, Kakashi judged that Mutsuki had definitely been aware of his real self hiding in the dark all along, as the series of actions was too smooth.

When the time reached nine minutes, Kakashi still hadn't hit a single Shadow Clone.

"This time it looks like completing it early is not possible. However, with this experience, I can come up with a targeted strategy after returning," Kakashi thought to himself. One minute was clearly not enough for him to organize an attack sufficient to hit the Shadow Clone.

During these nine minutes, Kakashi didn't just charge at the Shadow Clone aimlessly. He was trying to gather information.

From what Kakashi had gathered, the Shadow Clone was slightly faster than him and had much stronger Ninjutsu, making it impossible to win through Ninjutsu combat. Additionally, if he didn't use Ninjutsu, the Shadow Clone wouldn't use it either.

The second and third points supported each other. With such strong Ninjutsu from the Shadow Clone, if it were used freely, even doubling their strength wouldn't allow him to touch the Shadow Clone.

After ten minutes, Mutsuki reported the results.

"No one hit the Shadow Clone before ten minutes; all three of you get fifty questions."

"Ah, fifty again." The thought of facing that terror in the evening made Obito's eyes lose their luster.

Shisui took a few deep breaths. He also made a battle plan this time but was unsuccessful. Moreover, Shisui noticed that the Shadow Clones this time were faster than the previous ones.

"Everyone, work hard to complete the questions. This time there is no time limit. You can come to me for explanations in the evening," Mutsuki said with a smile.

This time, he reset the Shadow Clone's strength. As long as the students didn't break through or come up with a good combat strategy during the training, it would basically end automatically after ten minutes.

However, since most of the students had already graduated, Mutsuki removed the time limit, allowing the students to complete the questions at their own pace. The main purpose of doing the questions was not the questions themselves, but the thinking process generated and the knowledge Mutsuki would explain afterward.

"Great." Obito's dull eyes immediately regained some sparkle. No time limit meant no more of those annoying installment phases. Although installments had made things easier for him at times, the extra questions that appeared out of nowhere always felt like an incredibly evil existence.

After the afternoon training, considering it was the last day of rest for Obito and the others, Mutsuki decided to prepare a big meal for them, and he bought a lot of ingredients.

Coincidentally, an unexpected guest arrived in the evening.

"Haha, it's quite lively here. Looks like we arrived just in time," Jiraiya laughed heartily as he and Minato walked into Mutsuki's home.

With the war with Hidden Rock coming to a pause—though not a complete ceasefire, and without large-scale battles breaking out—Jiraiya had returned to Konoha for some rest.

"Minato-sensei, Uncle Toad, what brings you here?" Obito greeted Jiraiya.

"Uncle Frog? I'm the Toad Sage!" Jiraiya corrected him.

"Ahem, Toad Sage is a name for the reclusive world. A more widely known title is Sannin. I am the most handsome white-haired gentleman among the Three Sannin, Jiraiya!" Jiraiya made a grand self-introduction, noticing there were two unfamiliar kids present.

"Are you the Jiraiya-sama who is renowned alongside Tsunade-sama?" Rin asked with a surprised expression.

The Sannin are well-known in Konoha, and even newly graduated students like Rin know their names.

"Yes, the legendary Jiraiya-sama is indeed me!" Jiraiya puffed out his chest and spoke with pride.

Minato looked at Jiraiya, who was proudly introducing himself in front of the kids, and couldn't help but rub his forehead.

Shisui had a somewhat strange expression; this Sannin seemed a bit unreliable.

"You chose the perfect time. I was just about to prepare a sumptuous feast," Mutsuki said with a smile.

Jiraiya's visit was indeed timely. It had been a while since Mutsuki selected Mystical Palm Jutsu as a reward, and he could now use a perfectly normal reason to have Jiraiya connect him with Tsunade for consultation.

"A feast!" Jiraiya's eyes lit up. He declared it was the most wonderful thing he had heard in days. After all, it was Mutsuki's feast, which meant there would be plenty of delicious dishes.

Upon hearing Mutsuki's words, Minato immediately went to the kitchen to help.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was in the living room recounting his experiences of traveling across the ninja world to the kids.

"Uncle Toad, do you really have that much time? You've been traveling to so many countries," Obito expressed interest upon hearing Jiraiya talk about his travels.

Obito had only visited a few nearby small countries, and only briefly.

"I wasn't traveling the ninja world just for fun; there were very important matters involved, concerning the fate of the entire ninja world," Jiraiya raised his eyebrows and said.

Jiraiya had been searching for the prophesied child mentioned in the Great Toad Sage's predictions, and he would continue his journey after the war was completely over.

"What could be so important that it concerns the fate of the entire ninja world?" Obito looked at Jiraiya with suspicion. Although he knew Jiraiya was very powerful, it seemed exaggerated to say it involved the whole ninja world.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Besides, an idiot who can't even pronounce names properly could never be the prophesied child," Jiraiya said, laughing heartily.

If Jiraiya had to choose among his disciples who most resembled the prophesied child, his first choice would be Nagato, because Nagato had the legendary Six Paths Sage's Rinnegan. The second choice would be Minato, due to his exceptional ninja abilities.

"I'm not an idiot. The Elders of our Uchiha Clan say I'm a genius," Obito retorted.

Rin was right there, and Obito didn't want to be labeled as an idiot.

"They say only an idiot would get flustered when called an idiot and try to explain," Jiraiya added.

"I…" Obito had a conflicted expression, wanting to explain but holding back because of Jiraiya's comments.

"Hahaha, you're quite interesting, not like those Uchiha at all," Jiraiya said, enjoying how Obito looked like he wanted to speak but dared not. He had never met an Uchiha as innocent as Obito before and couldn't help but want to tease him.

Kakashi: …

What could he say? He could only think that Jiraiya's image in his mind continued to crumble.

Kakashi silently noted down Jiraiya's tactics to use against Obito in the future.

"Jiraiya-sama, can you tell me some things about Tsunade-sama?" Rin looked at Jiraiya with hopeful eyes.

Jiraiya thought for a moment and immediately recalled Tsunade's gambling addiction and tendency to skip out on bills. However, seeing Rin's hopeful face, he decided to mention some of Tsunade's positive traits instead.

"Here comes the chicken soup." Mutsuki brought a large pot of chicken soup to the dining table.

Next came various dishes, most of which were from Mutsuki's past life's major cuisines, with a few being local to the world of Naruto.

When dish after dish, each emitting an enticing aroma, was brought to the table, no one chatted anymore. They all swallowed and gazed longingly at the food on the table.

When Mutsuki brought out the final dish, a war without gunpowder broke out.

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