Chapter 488: A Bit of Inspiration from Breath of the Sun
After a full day of training, Shisui returned to the Uchiha clan compound with Zorua.
"Shisui, I'm starving," Zorua groaned, flopping onto the floor as if its bones had been pulled out, making its hunger known without shame.
To keep Zorua from having too much energy and running around pranking people, Shisui had put it through a strict workout.
Zorua did not have Riolu's stamina. Now it was both exhausted and ravenous.
"Let's start with some gourmet instant food," Shisui said.
He pulled out the special dog food he had bought from the Inuzuka clan, poured it into a small bowl, and set it in front of Zorua.
Zorua was smart. Shisui worried it would resist if he called it "dog food," so he used a different name.
To raise Zorua properly, Shisui had looked up a lot of information about foxes.
A fox's diet was actually simple. Foxes were omnivores. They could eat meat, vegetables, and fruit.
And because it was a nin beast, newborn Zorua was not as fragile as an ordinary fox. There were fewer precautions to worry about.
Shisui had already designed a diet for Zorua based on nutritional needs.
Zorua shoved its face into the bowl and ate with obvious delight.
While Zorua ate, Shisui started preparing dinner for both of them.
Even though he was technically only cooking for a nin beast, Shisui felt like his home had become livelier with an extra presence. There was more to do, but his mood was noticeably lighter too.
Knock, knock.
Not long after Shisui finished dinner, someone knocked on his door.
When Shisui opened it, he saw an elder from the Uchiha Dove faction, with two Dove faction Uchiha jonin standing behind him.
"Shisui, have you just finished eating?" Uchiha Keqiu greeted him with a warm smile.
"Yes, Elder Keqiu. Have you?" Shisui answered, stepping aside and guiding the three into the living room.
"I finished as well." Keqiu chuckled. "I happened to be strolling nearby, so I thought I'd come talk with you about recent clan matters."
Although Shisui was only nine, his performance at the last clan meeting had left a deep impression on Keqiu.
And with the inclination Shisui had shown, Keqiu wanted to train him as the next elder.
No, to be precise, Shisui did not need training anymore. What Shisui lacked was simply the opportunity to become an elder.
Shisui nodded. He looked interested, but he did not interrupt, listening carefully.
"Shisui, your strength is recognized by everyone," Keqiu said. "But even though our clan values strength, it won't easily let someone with no contribution hold a high position."
Because Shisui defeated Uchiha Shin, many clan members now regarded them as equals in strength. But that did not mean Shisui was qualified to be an elder.
"Now that you're a jonin, you can choose to join the Police Force," Keqiu continued, offering a clear path. "With your strength and rank, you'd be given important responsibilities right away. And by proving yourself there, you can earn recognition from the clan."
The Police Force was the Uchiha clan's exclusive department. In the eyes of many Uchiha, rising within the Police Force was the same as contributing directly to the clan.
Keqiu did not say one thing out loud, but it hung behind his words.
The Police Force was safer.
Police Force shinobi only needed to maintain order inside Konoha. War missions had nothing to do with them.
If Police Force shinobi were ever sent to the battlefield, it would only mean Konoha's manpower had become so desperate that even fresh genin might be forced to fight.
Hearing Keqiu's proposal, Shisui shook his head internally.
Maybe it was the blindness of those involved, or maybe it was the lure of power, but the entire Uchiha clan had a terrifying flaw.
Not a single shinobi seemed to recognize the danger hidden inside the Police Force.
Both the Hawk faction and the Dove faction actively poured people into it, as if the Police Force was the clan's true core.
"Elder Keqiu," Shisui asked instead of following the topic, "do you think the Uchiha clan's exclusive control of the Police Force is truly a good thing?"
Keqiu paused, thinking. He did not quite understand why Shisui asked something that seemed obvious.
"For our Uchiha clan, of course it's a good thing," Keqiu replied. "This way, even if Konoha's higher ups deliberately ostracize us, we still hold important power within the village."
The moment Shisui heard that, he knew there was no point pushing further right now.
In Shisui's view, if the Uchiha problem was ever going to be solved, the Police Force had to be reformed. It could not remain a family department owned by the Uchiha.
But Shisui also knew everything had to be done step by step.
If he proposed that idea now, he would become the public enemy of the entire Uchiha clan, unless he could make others see the harm the Police Force created.
And that would not be easy.
Reforming the Police Force was nothing like refuting Shin's proposal.
Shin's proposal was just an unreasonable plan. To counter it, all one had to do was point out that it was impractical.
The Police Force was different. It involved tangible power and wealth, real authority and real money. Making people give that up could never be done with a few documents.
"Teacher Mugetsu has other arrangements for me," Shisui said politely. "So I probably won't have time to join the Police Force this year."
Joining now would be a waste of time in Shisui's eyes, but the Dove faction was still part of the strength he needed. He could not afford to turn Keqiu into an enemy. He had to keep Keqiu on his side.
"Arrangements from Raging Sun Mugetsu, huh?" Keqiu nodded. "I almost forgot you're his disciple. Then you should follow his steps."
Mugetsu was currently a red hot rising star in Konoha. Following him would not be worse than joining the Police Force. If anything, Shisui's potential path might be even higher.
After that, they chatted about other, less important matters. Once the talk was done, Keqiu rose to leave.
…
Saturday afternoon.
At the Konoha training ground, Mugetsu was still teaching the Darkness Breathing Technique and the Darkness Burning Technique.
As the advanced form of Darkness Breathing, Darkness Burning was much harder to master than Darkness Breathing itself.
Even with Mugetsu's teaching boost, the ANBU were progressing slowly. Mugetsu estimated that even the fastest among them would need about four months to complete the training.
At three o'clock, Sarutobi Masanari suddenly arrived at the training ground.
"Squad Leader Mugetsu, keep teaching," Masanari said with a chuckle when he noticed Mugetsu looking over. "I'm just here to casually observe."
Mugetsu nodded, then quietly used the Appraisal Technique on Masanari. The last time they met, Mugetsu had been using a shadow clone, so he could not appraise him then.
Name: Sarutobi Masanari
Chakra: 38000
Skills: Fire Release Chakra Nature Transformation (Proficient: 2800/15000), Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation (Proficient)…
Even though he was Hiruzen's son, Masanari clearly had not inherited Hiruzen's talent for ninjutsu. He had only mastered three chakra nature transformations. All were at the proficient level, but only Fire Release and Wind Release had decent proficiency.
Of course, comparing Masanari to Hiruzen was unfair.
Compared to other jonin, Masanari was already considered elite.
Mugetsu estimated that if Masanari survived and kept training for another ten or twenty years, reaching ordinary Kage level should not be a problem.
At the moment, Mugetsu had his shadow clone and main body teaching separately.
The main body handled Darkness Breathing.
The clone handled Darkness Burning.
Masanari listened to the Darkness Burning lesson for a while. Because he joined in the middle, he could not understand much, so he went to the area where Mugetsu's main body was teaching Darkness Breathing.
This time, Masanari's eyes lit up.
Even though he had successfully trained Darkness Breathing, his application was clumsy. After only half an hour of listening, he realized he had solved a training problem that had been bothering him.
"No wonder Asuma worships him so much," Masanari thought, finally understanding Mugetsu's teaching ability in a concrete way.
If Mugetsu's status were not so different now, Masanari would have wanted to invite him to tutor his future children.
With Mugetsu's current momentum, by the time Masanari's children were old enough to train, it might even be difficult to have Mugetsu accept them as disciples.
[Completed a mid level lecture.]
[Evaluation: S]
[Reward: Breathing Technique understanding increased, Darkness Breathing Technique +35, Darkness Burning Technique +21, Basic Breathing +18, Thunder Breathing +9]
After taking the reward, new insights about breathing techniques surged into Mugetsu's mind again.
"Maybe I should try fusing Yang Release chakra with Fire Release first," Mugetsu thought. "Or develop a hybrid breathing that combines Flame Breathing and Yang Release Breathing."
Between the two flashes of inspiration, the second was simpler.
The first was hellishly difficult.
It was equivalent to developing a bloodline limit from scratch.
Even with Mugetsu's deep ninjutsu knowledge and his high proficiency in multiple nature transformations, trying to create a bloodline limit that had never appeared before was still unrealistic.
Even existing bloodline limits were hard to obtain. Otherwise, Hiruzen would have created them long ago.
Mugetsu believed bloodline limit development carried a strange, almost mystical element. If luck struck, even a bloodline trait might be born, not just a bloodline limit.
For now, Mugetsu suppressed those thoughts.
They were long term projects. Rushing them would only waste time.
After dinner, Mugetsu went to the training ground to instruct Yamato.
For the past two weeks, Mugetsu had focused on chakra control and Earth Release and Water Release ninjutsu.
"Today we won't practice ninjutsu," Mugetsu said. "Today, you'll learn the Basic Breathing Technique."
He was preparing to move Yamato into the next stage of trainin.
Under Mugetsu's repeated improvements, the current Basic Breathing Technique had become an excellent foundation. It improved training efficiency and also allowed seamless transitions into different elemental breathing techniques later.
Compared to the harder elemental breathing techniques, Basic Breathing was much simpler.
However, if there were no later breathing techniques to follow it, training Basic Breathing alone would be inferior to cultivating Darkness Breathing.
Darkness Breathing was not only relatively simple and quick to learn, it also provided greater benefits than Basic Breathing. Its only issue was a lower ceiling, even with Darkness Burning.
"When you master concentrated breathing to a certain level, you can apply it to your training," Mugetsu explained. "Ideally, you should integrate it into your daily breathing."
Yamato did not fully understand, but he memorized every word.
"The weather has warmed up recently, but don't forget to stay warm," Mugetsu reminded him as he prepared to leave. "It's easiest to catch a cold during seasonal changes."
In truth, Mugetsu suspected that with Hashirama cells, Yamato should not get sick easily.
Mugetsu mainly wanted to irritate Danzo.
With a teacher like Mugetsu in his life, when Danzo tried to PUA Yamato, Yamato would inevitably compare Danzo to Mugetsu. The result would be obvious, and Danzo's tactics would fail.
After returning home, Mugetsu first reviewed some Wood Release ninjutsu for a while.
He had Wood Release at the proficient level with over a thousand proficiency points. It would be ridiculous to not know a single Wood Release ninjutsu. At the very least, he should learn something like the Wood Clone.
After studying Wood Release, Mugetsu went next door to Minato's house and exchanged ideas on sealing techniques.
Minato's overall sealing technique level was not as high as Kushina's, but Minato had a unique understanding of it.
"Mugetsu, you came at the perfect time," Minato said. "I was just about to look for you."
Mugetsu thought for a moment. "Let me guess. You're going out on a mission?"
Minato nodded, looking helpless.
"I planned to rest another week," Minato explained, "but our intelligence shinobi discovered that Iwagakure sent many shinobi to hide in the Land of Grass. The Third is worried something will happen on the Land of Grass battlefield, so he asked me to go."
Unlike Jiraiya and Orochimaru, because of his ninjutsu, Minato was like a brick.
Wherever the village needed him, he went.
He often acted alone or led an elite squad on high difficulty missions.
"That's rough," Mugetsu sighed.
No wonder Minato could become the Fourth Hokage in the original story. On one hand, Jiraiya and Tsunade did not want the position. On the other, Minato himself was dedicated. With that kind of pace, who could rival his achievements?
"It's a good thing it's today," Minato said with a small smile, his tone turning gentler. "If the mission came any earlier, I wouldn't have had time to teach Kushina the Rasengan."
"Rasengan?" Mugetsu asked, feigning confusion.
He felt he needed to cook something extra good for Kushina as repayment. Otherwise, if Minato truly used that name in the future, Mugetsu would be nailed to the pillar of shame too.
"Isn't it a great name?" Minato's smile carried a hint of pride. "Kushina helped me name it."
Mugetsu nodded as if in sincere agreement.
All the shinobi in later generations who learned the Rasengan really did need to thank Kushina for stealing the naming rights. Otherwise, anyone who liked shouting ninjutsu names would have suffered.
"Mugetsu," Minato said as he prepared to leave, "please take care of Kushina while you're in Konoha. If you have time, it'd be best if you could teach her the Rasengan. If you teach her, Kushina should master it quickly."
"Alright," Mugetsu replied with a nod.
Whether it was cooking an extra meal or teaching a technique, it was all easy enough for him.
"Mugetsu, goodbye." Minato lifted a hand in farewell and headed toward Konoha's gate.
Mugetsu watched Minato leave.
.....
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