Naruto: Strength Through Teaching

"Damn it, how could he win like this?" Originally, when Guy used the Konoha Dragon God, Obito was already ready to pop champagne for him. But in the final moments, Kakashi surprisingly managed to unleash an even stronger slash.

Kakashi fell just a moment after Guy, clearly at his limit as well.

Listening to Hiruko announce the battle results, Obito felt quite unsettled, and his mood worsened when he saw Rin looking both happy and worried as she watched Kakashi below.

In his expectations, the person standing down there should have been him.

"I must quickly master the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode. When that time comes, let's see if he can withstand my Fire Release!" At this moment, Obito was highly motivated to train, wishing he could stay up all night to enhance his power, and then defeat Kakashi right in front of Rin.

"They're really strong," Asuma sighed. The two of them displayed strength that shouldn't have appeared in the Chunin Exam.

Those who had trained with Guy before were even more shocked. Many of them were Guy's classmates, witnessing how he had gone from being at the bottom of the rankings to first place and now to second place in the Chunin Exam.

During their special training, they could still see the gap between themselves and Guy, but now that gap had grown so large that they had no idea how many years of training it would take to reach Guy's current level.

"Guy, your youth has reached its peak today! I'm proud of you!" Duy gave Guy a thumbs up, tears of emotion streaming down his face.

Although Guy lost the final match, Duy did not think his efforts were in vain. On the contrary, in this Chunin Exam, Guy had made a name for himself, letting many Konoha ninjas know that there was a Taijutsu ninja who could defeat numerous geniuses using only Taijutsu.

Even in defeat, Guy only lost in the final second; after the last move, everyone was at their limit.

As a father, Duy sincerely hoped his child would be first, but he didn't find second place shameful. After all, second place had already surpassed countless ninjas, and as long as Guy continued to work hard to surpass the first, that was enough.

In fact, Guy's rapid growth had far exceeded Duy's expectations—he had the opportunity to participate in the Chunin Exam at nine years old and ended up in second place.

"Guy, at this rate, you will definitely achieve your goals!" Duy decided he must prepare a big meal today to celebrate properly.

The audience in the arena continued to discuss the recently concluded battle, with both participants' final performances being unexpectedly impressive.

"Letting Kakashi follow Minato was indeed the right decision," Hiruzen said with a smile to Minato behind him.

Today, Kakashi was truly dazzling, even more so than during his time at the Academy.

In the Academy, he only suppressed Konoha's students, but the Chunin Exam had outstanding ninjas from other major ninja villages participating, making the first place particularly valuable.

Kakashi's performance truly exceeded Hiruzen's expectations. He had only wanted to help Kakashi step out of the shadows, but he never anticipated that Kakashi would not only emerge from the darkness but also undergo a transformation, blossoming like a butterfly.

Through these exams, Hiruzen felt as if he could see the next Konoha's White Fang.

"I didn't do anything. Kakashi's excellence is mainly due to Mutsuki's efforts. When I became his guiding sensei, Mutsuki had already healed most of Kakashi's inner shadows. Everything related to core training was taught by Mutsuki," Minato explained, shaking his head.

Minato wouldn't take credit for something that wasn't his own merit; Kakashi's current abilities were not significantly related to him. In the beginning, Minato was worried about how to guide Kakashi, but once he took over, he realized that Kakashi had already been well taught by Mutsuki. Aside from speaking less, he was quite normal in every other aspect.

In terms of ninja training, Kakashi focused on Breathing Technique and Lightning Release, as well as Earth Release. Minato definitely didn't understand the Breathing Technique, and while he had a basic grasp of Lightning Release, it wasn't his specialty. He outright didn't know Earth Release at all.

For new ninjas like Obito and Rin, Minato could teach them various knowledge about being a ninja and how to handle different situations during missions, but Kakashi was different; he had already been a ninja for several years, so there wasn't much that Minato could teach him.

Of course, it wouldn't be accurate to say there was no connection at all. Minato just felt that Mutsuki played a primary role compared to him.

"I see. But Minato, you shouldn't underestimate yourself. I can see that they like you quite a bit. If you were really that far behind Mutsuki, Obito would have come to me to complain long ago," Hiruzen said with a thoughtful expression, then smiled.

Since Minato had said it like that, it was clear that Mutsuki played a key role. After all, Minato was humble, but he wouldn't be so modest as to push all the credit onto someone else.

"Mutsuki truly has unique skills in education, and it's not only reflected in the large classes he teaches," Hiruzen nodded in agreement internally.

This was also one of the reasons why Hiruzen had previously refused Danzo's requests. With someone like Minato, who could quickly kill enemies on the battlefield, still in the village, how could they possibly send out a special talent like Mutsuki?

"What do you think about having a final where your own students compete against each other? Did you guess that Kakashi would win?" Jiraiya asked Mutsuki curiously.

Obito and the others' outstanding performances made Jiraiya recognize Mutsuki's teaching abilities.

"If there's any thought about it, it's just happiness for them. As for who would win, I never really thought about it since they are all my disciples," Mutsuki replied after thinking for a moment.

He hadn't made any guesses about who would come in first because Kakashi and the others were all fairly equal in strength; anyone could win, and it all depended on their performance. In such a situation, Mutsuki found it hard to predict. After all, they were all his disciples, and he couldn't favor one over another.

In the recent battle between Guy and Kakashi, as soon as Guy used the Konoha Dragon God, Mutsuki immediately activated his Byakugan and confirmed that Guy had indeed pushed himself to the Fourth Gate.

In fact, if it were a normal Fourth Gate plus Konoha Dragon God, Kakashi wouldn't have been able to win, because the Transparent World technique also reflects the user's own strength; the stronger the user, the more effective the Transparent World.

However, Guy forcibly broke through the Fourth Gate, causing significant damage to his body, which is why he ultimately collapsed first. This wasn't a matter of willpower; his body simply couldn't handle it, and being able to say something at that point was already an extraordinary performance.

"Since they're all your disciples, does it really matter who wins? It's over now, so hurry up and go buy some groceries," Tsunade said, expressing her anticipation for dinner.

"Tsunade-sama, my disciples are injured like this. Do you think it's appropriate for me to go buy groceries now?" Mutsuki subtly hinted to Tsunade.

Without Tsunade's healing, Mutsuki felt that Guy would need at least a month in bed to recover.

Kakashi wasn't in much better shape; while Guy was injured from pushing himself to the Fourth Gate, Kakashi was heavily wounded after being hit by the Konoha Dragon God, and he also overexerted himself while in that injured state.

"I can see they're really hurt. Tsunade, could you help treat them first?" Jiraiya suggested.

At that moment, both Kakashi and Guy looked extremely miserable, clearly suffering from serious injuries.

"I'll help them heal first, but you need to prepare some delicious food for dinner," Tsunade insisted.

"Hehe, what's the point of just eating? I'll bring a bottle of good wine to enjoy with the food," Jiraiya chuckled.

"You just want to mooch off my meal!" Tsunade crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, instantly seeing through Jiraiya's true intention.

"Ha ha, sharing good things is what makes it enjoyable," Jiraiya continued shamelessly after being called out.

Tsunade made it clear that the wine had better be good; if Jiraiya dared to bring ordinary wine to mooch off her meal, he would definitely get a taste of her fist. After all, this feast was earned through her work.

Jiraiya chuckled in agreement and then the group headed to Konoha Hospital together.

After a while, Shisui said goodbye to Mutsuki. After watching their battle, Shisui couldn't sit still for a moment.

Forget about being the first in the team; he felt he could only reliably defeat Rin. He wasn't confident about winning against any of the other three, including Obito.

Shisui couldn't understand the speed of their progress, but he was greatly shocked. He knew he had to train harder to catch up.

"Yumi-sensei, I'm heading back too," Obito said as he prepared to slip away after Shisui left.

What, was he supposed to wait around for Kakashi to wake up and mock him? Obito certainly didn't want to be on the receiving end of Kakashi's taunts.

Facing Kakashi, who had come in first, he felt completely powerless to retort. If he won, anything he said would be fine, but if he lost, even his breathing could be criticized.

At that moment, Obito had only one thought: to focus on training. He wanted to take advantage of Kakashi's recovery time to surpass him, and then defeat Kakashi so he could continue to mock him.

Obito had already prepared his excuse: on the day of the Chunin Exam, he hadn't eaten breakfast from his usual place, which affected his performance, allowing Kakashi to win by chance. In reality, he had always been stronger.

Mutsuki nodded; the hospital had people to take care of them, and with Guy and Kakashi in the same ward, Kakashi wouldn't be lonely.

Once he had some free time, Mutsuki took a glance at the system panel.

[Disciple Uchiha Obito has diligently trained under your guidance and achieved certain growth in strength, granting the reward—Fire Dragon Flame Bullet (Mastery level)]

[Disciple Guy has diligently trained under your guidance and achieved certain growth in strength, granting the reward—Reverse Lotus (Mastery level)]

Both Obito and Guy had received improvement rewards.

The rewards were indeed quite good, but they didn't hold much significance for Mutsuki at the moment. The Mastery-level Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was very powerful, but Mutsuki wasn't currently lacking in offensive Fire Release techniques; the Mastery-level Great Fire Destruction was equally formidable.

The Reverse Lotus was somewhat more useful because, while it was of no benefit to Mutsuki, it was a good Taijutsu for the current Guy. He could teach the Reverse Lotus to Guy.

Mutsuki didn't see any rewards related to the Chunin Exam and guessed that the system would settle those once the results were announced.

He was a bit excited about this; after all, all three of his disciples performed quite well, and even the one with the worst ranking, Obito, made it to the top four.

…

After the third exam concluded, Genji gathered the Hidden Mist candidates who had participated in the third exam.

Terumi Mei felt a bit anxious, thinking that Genji was likely going to criticize them, especially since none of them made it to the finals. She, who aimed for first place, had fallen in the top eight.

Facing someone as high-ranking as Genji, even Kurosawa, who was usually arrogant in front of Kakashi and the others, appeared like a humble child as he lowered his head and walked to the designated room.

Zabuza, on the other hand, looked completely indifferent, fully embracing his rebellious persona.

Hoshigaki Kisame maintained a blank expression; he was already the best performer from the Hidden Mist, so even if there were penalties, they would be the lightest.

However, to Terumi Mei's surprise, Genji did not criticize them. Instead, he smiled and said, "Everyone worked hard this time, and the village will remember your contributions."

"Although the final results were somewhat lower than Konoha's, this was a battle held in Konoha, where they had the advantage."

Genji's actions caught the Hidden Mist ninjas off guard. He did not blame them for not finishing first but instead comforted them by saying that Konoha had the home field advantage and that they shouldn't be sad about their defeat.

This instantly left some of the Hidden Mist ninjas feeling flabbergasted; after all, Genji was an Elder of the Hidden Mist Village, second only to one person.

In fact, if Genji had scolded them, no one would have objected, as they all knew they had indeed messed up this time, especially in the latter stages when they were overwhelmingly defeated by the Konoha ninjas.

"However, you must not forget this failure. Remember vividly how you lost, and use that as motivation to train and improve your strength," Genji continued.

With his keen insight, he could see that it wasn't the Hidden Mist ninjas who were lacking; rather, the Konoha ninjas participating in the Chunin Exam were extraordinarily strong.

Thus, he had no intention of blaming the Hidden Mist candidates; he merely wanted to promote a few talents while boosting his favorability.

The Hidden Mist ninjas all nodded, feeling that Genji truly deserved his reputation as a respected Elder.

After a round of encouragement and some motivational words, Genji's image grew kinder and more imposing in the hearts of many Hidden Mist ninjas.

After all, such approachable Elders were rare in the blood mist; if you didn't complete your mission well, you were lucky not to be killed.

Terumi Mei felt a sense of relief; not being criticized should not affect her future path to becoming Mizukage.

However, Genji's next words made Terumi Mei a bit nervous again.

"Kisame, Terumi Mei, Zabuza, you three stay behind; the others can leave now," Genji said after considering that it was enough.

Soon, only Genji and the three of them remained in the room.

"You three are all geniuses of the Hidden Mist," Genji said with a smile.

Obito was already so strong, yet during the battle against Terumi Mei in the top eight, he was suppressed for a while, which clearly showcased Terumi Mei's strength. As for Kisame, he almost defeated Guy in the top four.

Although Zabuza's performance was quite inferior compared to Terumi Mei and Kisame, he was still the youngest and performed the best among the remaining candidates.

Kurosawa had a performance similar to Zabuza's, but he was older than Zabuza.

"Kisame, your abilities are impressive. I think you should train in ANBU for a while. Additionally, if you two have any questions regarding Water Release that you find difficult to understand, feel free to come to me for guidance," Genji said in conclusion.

Terumi Mei immediately showed a delighted expression and nodded repeatedly, as the opportunity to follow Genji and increase her chances of becoming Mizukage had greatly improved.

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