Chapter 428: Mugetsu, Who Is Never Late
When Guy first began learning the Breathing Technique, Mugetsu explained its three major stages to him.
The first stage was Total Concentration Breathing. By focusing the breath to an extreme, the body's physical abilities could be enhanced. Reaching that level meant stepping into the beginning of the Breathing Technique.
The second stage was Total Concentration Breathing: Constant State. It meant maintaining a concentrated breathing rhythm twenty four hours a day without interruption. Once this was mastered, the body's foundation would rise sharply, and the Breathing Technique's true enhancement would gradually reveal itself. Completing Constant State training meant a practitioner had become proficient.
The third stage was the Breathing Technique's corresponding Chakra Mode. Each Breathing style produced a different Chakra Mode with different effects. The Rock Breathing Chakra Mode that Guy trained strengthened the body in every aspect, turning raw power into something overwhelming. Only at this stage could someone truly grasp the Breathing Technique's real might.
Guy could still remember it clearly.
Back when he was still a student at the Ninja Academy, Mugetsu had entered Rock Breathing Chakra Mode and used a Finger Gun, nothing more than a light tap of his finger.
Dozens of meters away, the river surface exploded. Water surged into the air in towering sprays over ten meters high.
That scene left a mark on Guy's heart. From that day on, he trained Rock Breathing with even more stubborn determination, dreaming of reaching strength like Mugetsu's.
The Breathing Technique was brutally difficult, and Rock Breathing was one of the hardest among them. Forget entering Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, Guy had spent a long time stuck, lagging behind in his training.
Yet in the earliest days, his progress had actually been ahead.
He was the first disciple to apply the Breathing Technique in real combat.
The reason was simple.
Guy had once understood Rock Breathing's meaning in battle, when he fought to protect his father's dignity.
Now, he felt that state returning.
No, it was stronger than that day.
Because this time, what he needed to protect was far more important, and far more numerous.
The way of the rock's power lies in protection.
Guy repeated the words in his heart.
He had never entered Rock Breathing Chakra Mode before, but at this moment, he was certain he could.
It was not empty confidence.
His breath itself was telling him.
He could do it.
"Rock Breathing Chakra Mode!"
Guy clenched his fists. His eyes were wide, fierce with urgency, and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. His breathing reached a peak he had never touched before.
Power surged up like a flood.
With every breath, strength spread through his entire body. It was a sensation he had never experienced.
But it came with a cost.
The chakra inside him began burning away at a frightening speed.
Shisui noticed first.
He practiced the Breathing Technique too, and the instant Guy's breathing changed, Shisui felt it.
Then Guy's opponents noticed.
The moment Guy stepped into Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, the assassins facing him sensed it immediately. Their target had changed.
"What is wrong with this kid?" Mangetsu muttered, frustration flickering across his face. "He can still get stronger?"
The battle felt suffocating.
They were the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Yet they were fighting a handful of ten year old Konoha kids and had nearly lost one of their own, and now their opponent was climbing again.
It was not an exaggeration to say the Guy in front of them could easily defeat the Guy they had first engaged.
Mangetsu sprang backward to widen the gap. He poured chakra into Hiramekarei, raising the twin blades and aiming at Guy.
Kushimaru pulled his steel wires tight, sealing off the routes Guy could take.
Juzo formed hand seals and unleashed a massive Water Dragon Bullet, sending it surging forward to bind and crush.
The three of them moved with clear division of labor, each taking a role, each covering the others.
"Morning Peacock!"
Guy's fists exploded into motion.
Shisui could not even count how many punches Guy threw in that instant. The speed was beyond sight.
Air screamed.
Friction ignited.
Flames burst into existence, and because the punches were so dense and so fast, the fire gathered into a blazing sphere almost instantly.
The fireball rode the shockwave of Guy's fists and slammed into the oncoming water dragon.
Boom!
Flames swallowed the water dragon, evaporating it in a blink. The lingering heat forced Kushimaru to abandon his wire control and retreat to avoid being scorched.
Juzo stared as if he had seen a ghost.
He had never encountered anything like this.
His Water Release had been erased by fire created from someone's taijutsu.
Juzo touched his own sturdy chest with a grim realization. If that storm of punches landed on him, his fate would not be much better than the water dragon's.
Whoosh!
Mangetsu finished charging chakra. He lifted his blade and fired a chakra orb straight at Guy.
"Leaf Hand Blade!"
Guy poured chakra into his palm and cleaved forward. A transparent air current tore outward, meeting the incoming orb.
Rumble!
The collision detonated. The ground buckled, leaving craters of different depths, and gray yellow dust surged up, swallowing Guy's figure.
Kushimaru caught something wrong inside the dust.
Elite Mist shinobi like him had undergone special training. Dust like this could not blind his senses, and even in thick chakra fog from the Hidden Mist Technique, he could move freely.
Kushimaru's mind reacted.
His body did not.
Bang!
Guy burst out of the dust and drove a punch into Kushimaru's chest.
Kushimaru flew backward ten meters, blood spraying as he coughed violently.
Guy had not used any special technique in that punch.
No trick.
No flourish.
Only pure, brutal strength.
That simplicity was what made it terrifying.
Pain rolled through Kushimaru's body so sharply his face twisted.
Mangetsu's expression changed immediately.
Guy was different again.
Not only had he cut apart the chakra orb with a cleaving palm, his burst speed had also caught Kushimaru completely off guard.
Fuguki's face darkened as he watched Guy grow more and more ferocious.
Humiliation burned in his chest.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, famed across the ninja world, were being forced into this state by a few ten year old Konoha brats.
If word of this spread, they would become a joke in the Hidden Mist, while these children would gain fame by stepping on the swordsmen's reputation.
"What is going on with this green brat?" Jinpachi's sinister smile vanished, replaced by a serious stare. "He can injure Kushimaru while fighting three at once?"
They were not ordinary Mist jonin.
They were the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, blades directly under the Mizukage.
How could a kid have this kind of strength?
"Go help them," Fuguki said in a low voice. "I will kill the brats over here."
The Konoha group on Fuguki's side were all injured and drained. Fuguki was confident he could finish them alone.
Jinpachi nodded and moved at once, charging toward Guy's side.
Kakashi watched and felt a heavy admiration rise in him.
Guy really was someone they could always rely on.
Whenever they fell into a desperate corner, Guy stepped forward and took the weight.
But Kakashi's worry deepened immediately after.
Can Guy's body withstand Rock Breathing Chakra Mode stacked on top of the Sixth Gate?
Kakashi did not practice the Eight Gates, and he did not train Rock Breathing, but he understood both. Some of it he learned through sparring with Guy, and some he learned directly from Mugetsu.
Mugetsu knew both the Eight Gates and Rock Breathing, and when Kakashi asked, Mugetsu did not hide the truth.
After the Third Gate, every Gate inflicted damage on the body.
If the body was strong enough, the damage could be minimal, sometimes nearly nothing.
If the body was not strong enough, the backlash could be severe.
And now Guy had not only forced open the Sixth Gate, he had also entered Rock Breathing Chakra Mode to push his strength even higher.
Kakashi's fingers tightened around his short blade.
I have to end this quickly.
The longer it lasted, the more Guy's body would be destroyed.
The sooner it ended, the less damage there would be.
Kakashi looked at Obito.
Obito was injured. His chakra was dangerously low. To keep Flame Breathing Chakra Mode active, he had even shut off his Sharingan.
Their condition was awful.
That was their disadvantage.
But it was also an opportunity.
Because the enemy would underestimate them.
Obito met Kakashi's gaze and understood immediately.
He gathered the last of his chakra, forcing it into his core.
"It has to work," Kakashi breathed out.
He was not worried about Obito executing the plan.
He was worried about himself.
Could he seize the opening Obito created?
Kakashi truly did not have much chakra left. He did not know if what remained was enough to unleash a strike capable of killing Fuguki, or at least crippling him.
But they had no choice.
In their state, they could not afford to drag the fight out.
Kakashi was the only one with a chance to take Fuguki down.
This was their final gamble.
If he failed, then they could only pray Guy could break through the encirclement and reach them in time.
Fuguki advanced with Samehada raised.
Obito burned his remaining chakra and flames erupted across his body until he looked like a living ember.
"Fire Release: Blazing Collision!"
It was one of the strongest Fire Release techniques he had mastered, and the strongest he could still use.
Fuguki intended to split the weakened Obito in one blow, but the moment Samehada felt the terrifying heat, it resisted immediately.
Fuguki hesitated only for a moment, then abandoned the idea of using Samehada to strike a man who had turned into a walking furnace.
"Water Release: Water Whip!"
Chakra condensed into his palm. A water whip snapped forward.
The whip struck Obito at the same moment Obito lunged.
The flames around Obito suddenly erupted outward.
They exploded.
Boom!
The blast thundered across the clearing.
Obito was thrown back by the impact and crashed to the ground, rolling through ash and dust.
Fuguki was also hit by the shockwave, forced to steady himself.
Fuguki's eyes widened in disbelief.
He had not expected Obito to make a suicidal attack like this. The Mist did not even train shinobi specifically for suicide tactics, and Obito did not look like a fanatic.
Still, Fuguki felt fortunate.
Most of the Konoha side were already half broken. Even with such an unexpected move, it would only slow him down, nothing more.
That was the moment Kakashi moved.
"Thunderclap Flash: Godspeed!"
Kakashi pushed his breathing to the extreme.
Even though his chakra was nearly empty, he gathered a terrifying force anyway.
There was no time to question why.
This was the last chance Obito could buy him.
Kakashi could not afford to think about where the power came from, nor did he notice how violently his heart was pounding.
Swish!
A yellow streak of lightning tore across the field.
Fuguki felt a sudden dizziness.
Then he saw it.
A massive corpse collapsed, headless, onto the ground.
So fast…
The thought barely formed before Fuguki's consciousness vanished forever.
"Hoo… hoo…"
Kakashi half knelt, clutching his chest as pain and discomfort spread through his body. He gasped for air, vision trembling at the edges.
But joy surged up inside him anyway.
He succeeded.
He protected his comrades with his own power.
It was only one death.
Yet it changed everything.
Guy's side already held the advantage. The swordsmen facing him could not spare the attention to intervene, and the ones surrounding him were all fully engaged.
Now Kakashi's group only needed time to recover, and they would become the force that broke the stalemate.
Then Kakashi saw it.
And realized he still underestimated what Rock Breathing Chakra Mode stacked with the Eight Gates could do.
"Golden Skyline!"
Guy extended his index and middle fingers again and unleashed the strongest taijutsu he currently possessed. His fingers moved like a blade being drawn, and a dazzling golden line bloomed across the battlefield.
A water wall was split in two.
Kushimaru's steel wire snapped instantly.
Juzo raised Kubikiribocho horizontally to block.
Clang!
Under Juzo's shocked gaze, the massive blade shattered.
The giant sword broke apart into a ruined, broken weapon.
Boom!
The remaining force slammed into Juzo and sent him flying seventeen meters away. He crashed heavily into the ground.
"How can this be…" Juzo's eyes were wide, as if his world had cracked. "Kubikiribocho was broken by taijutsu?"
His sword could block ninjutsu.
Yet even with layers of defense, it had been shattered by a child's taijutsu.
Mangetsu, Jinpachi, and Kushimaru all froze in alarm.
If they had another chance, they would never engage Kakashi's group so casually again. At minimum, they would bring five more Mist jonin to help surround them.
"This is bad."
Jinin's eyes narrowed, and retreat rose in his mind.
Fuguki was dead.
Juzo was heavily injured and effectively out of the fight.
Kushimaru was seriously wounded.
Nearly half of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had already suffered losses.
If they kept fighting, they might all die here.
Raiga glanced toward Jinin. His thoughts matched.
They needed to run.
Guy's performance was too terrifying.
Is this a genius?
No, this was someone who already felt fully grown, a powerhouse forced into a child's body.
At this rate, Kakashi's group would not even need to move again. Guy plus Dai would grind them down until nothing was left.
"Leaf Dragon God!"
After the Golden Skyline, Guy kicked again, and a thick green dragon surged outward. The strike smashed into Jinpachi, heavily injuring him.
That single blow crushed what remained of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen's will to fight.
Juzo, already battered, quietly retreated backward.
Mangetsu fired a chakra orb toward Guy and fled without looking back.
Kushimaru used Body Flicker among the trees and began withdrawing as well.
Jinpachi cursed under his breath, threw out several explosive tags to cover himself, and forced his body into retreat.
Raiga and Jinin coordinated to briefly repel Dai, then withdrew swiftly.
Whatever else could be said about them, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen understood each other well when it came to escaping.
Guy made a chasing motion at first, then only delivered a distant air chop.
He did nothing more.
His body was nearing its limit. Protecting his comrades was enough. There was no need to hunt them down until everyone fell apart.
Kakashi finally let the tension in his chest loosen.
They had survived another dead end, again, through sheer effort and will.
But Kakashi still did not fully lower his guard.
This was a battlefield. Until they returned to camp, new enemies could appear at any moment.
In their current condition, even an ordinary jonin squad would be dangerous. Once Guy ended the Eight Gates and Rock Breathing states, the only one still able to fight would be Dai.
Then, a blue white ray suddenly struck the retreating Jinpachi.
Ice spread in an instant.
Jinpachi froze mid motion.
The moment they saw that familiar technique, Mugetsu's disciples lit up with joy.
That was Mugetsu's Ice Release.
Kakashi fully relaxed.
With Mugetsu here, even if a powerhouse like Yagura appeared, they would be fine.
Obito, covered in black ash, managed a smile as well.
With Mugetsu present, every crisis ended. That was the confidence Mugetsu gave him.
"You should be thanking yourselves even more," Mugetsu said calmly. He reached out and tapped Obito's forehead, then shook his head. "Thank your perseverance and your effort. Otherwise, you would not have held on until I arrived."
In truth, Mugetsu had arrived much earlier.
The moment his disciples became involved in a battle like this, he had already rushed over using Flying Thunder God.
More than once, Mugetsu had been ready to intervene. He would never allow Dai to open the Gate of Death, and he would never allow his disciples to die.
But his disciples were capable.
So Mugetsu held back, choosing to step in only after the battle ended, when he could capture enemies cleanly.
If my experiences were written into a novel, people would probably curse me for letting my disciples hover at the edge of death, Mugetsu sighed inwardly.
And he could not even deny it.
If Mugetsu himself had a teacher like that, he suspected he would dislike that teacher too.
Even if death could be avoided, pain was still pain. Why make them suffer when the enemy could be erased immediately?
Yet even knowing it was extreme, Mugetsu had no better method.
If there were another way, he would not want his disciples killing on a battlefield. How old were they?
But this world devoured the weak.
And Uchiha Madara was watching his disciples from the shadows.
Mugetsu could only do everything he could to make them stronger, so they would not fall into Madara's schemes.
In the end, it was because Mugetsu was not strong enough.
If he possessed power on the level of the Sage of Six Paths, none of this would be so troublesome.
"No matter how much we persevere," Obito chuckled weakly, "it still depends on whether you can make it here, Teacher Mugetsu."
Guy raised a thumb, approval clear on his face, and the other disciples agreed just as deeply.
"Thank you for your trust," Mugetsu said, giving them a gentle smile. "I will take it from here."
Then he turned, eyes settling on the approaching Mist shinobi.
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