"Hmm, now that you've gotten the hang of the breathing technique, you can indeed speed up some of the progress with the Eight Gates." Mokgetsu nodded and said.
Currently, Might Guy is still far from reaching the realm of constant state, so focusing on the Eight Gates for now can more effectively enhance his strength.
The breathing technique and the Eight Gates can complement each other; the breathing technique can make the body stronger, and the stronger the body, the more effective the Eight Gates become.
"I'm not calm enough in battles and tend to be impulsive," Obito thought for a moment and said.
With Mokgetsu's inquiry, he can face his shortcomings directly.
Obito himself knew about this shortcoming, which is why he wins less and loses more when fighting alongside Might Guy.
He easily gets overwhelmed, and when overwhelmed, battles lack strategy, leading to defeat.
"Since you know, be more careful in future battles," Mokgetsu gently patted Obito's hair and said.
Obito's performance is genuinely unstable, erratic, sometimes performing well enough to win battles despite being at a disadvantage, but mostly causing unnecessary losses.
"I didn't understand your strength, Teacher, and made a wrong judgment," Kakashi recalled once and said.
To be fair, he felt his performance in that encounter during the mission wasn't bad.
Being controlled was unavoidable; in that situation, it wasn't just him—Kakashi felt even a Konoha Jonin would face the same outcome. The opponent clearly wasn't an ordinary Jonin, and it was an ambush, so how could he block it with what?
Moreover, after breaking free, Kakashi quickly helped his teammates to eliminate the enemies, freeing up more force.
Kakashi thought his only mistake was underestimating Mokgetsu's strength; he didn't know Mokgetsu was so strong, being able to eliminate two enemy Jonin while still protecting him.
"After all, we've only just met; getting to know each other more from now on will be good." Mokgetsu said with a warm smile.
"Teacher Mokgetsu, did you use your full strength in the last battle?" Kakashi thought and asked.
Raised by Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi is different from Obito and Might Guy; he has a broader perspective and knows the strength of true experts.
Looking back on that battle raised several questions for him. The strength Mokgetsu displayed at the start and at the end was on completely different levels.
The early lightning and wind releases used to swiftly defeat a chunin were good, but they paled in comparison to the later fire and wind release combined ninjutsu.
Hence, Kakashi hypothesized that Mokgetsu might be even stronger than he appeared that night but held back from killing all enemies directly to train them instead.
Kakashi's question also piqued Might Guy and Obito's curiosity. After half a year with Mokgetsu, they still didn't know Mokgetsu's limits.
"Guess," Mokgetsu replied with a mischievous smile.
Kakashi: ...
"It definitely wasn't full strength, if he'd used that fire release at the start, all enemies would've been burned to death," Obito confidently said.
Even if Mokgetsu someday told Obito that he was the reincarnation of the Six Paths Sage, Obito wouldn't be surprised, for after all, it's the omnipotent Sage Mokgetsu.
"Correct, the reward is a piece of candy." Mokgetsu tossed Obito a candy.
"Hehe," Obito caught the candy with a silly grin, indeed, he understands Teacher Mokgetsu the best.
"Teacher Mokgetsu, you're a teacher at the Ninja Academy, right?" Receiving Mokgetsu's affirmative reply, Kakashi couldn't help but ask.
"Why do you ask such strange questions, Kakashi? If Teacher Mokgetsu isn't a teacher at the school, what else could he be?" Obito teased.
"Kakashi is wondering why, with such strength, I'm still a teacher at the Ninja Academy," Mokgetsu said with a smile.
Kakashi ignored Obito and nodded.
"Well, there are quite a few reasons, but mainly because I enjoy teaching. What makes me happiest is seeing the students I've taught improve their strength," Mokgetsu explained with a smile.
This answer somewhat surprised Kakashi; he thought the reason would be more elaborate and didn't expect it to be so simple.
"Alright, conclusion time, everyone start cultivating, we'll train this morning and do tasks in the afternoon," Mokgetsu announced.
Then Mokgetsu began assigning training to each disciple.
"You've almost mastered Pseudo-Darkness; I have a new, impressive ninjutsu to teach you," Mokgetsu said to Kakashi.
With that, Mokgetsu raised his hand, gathering chakra in it, rapidly completing both nature transformation and form transformation, a dazzling purple lightning enveloped Mokgetsu's palm.
"It looks a lot like that Chidori from that day," Kakashi felt this new ninjutsu seemed familiar.
"Yes, this jutsu is indeed derived and improved from Chidori." Mokgetsu nodded.
In the original story, Kakashi's Chidori first evolved into the Lightning Blade, then with the loss of the Sharingan, evolved into Purple Lighting. Here, he learns Purple Lighting directly, putting him thirty years ahead of the original world Kakashi.
"Compared to Chidori, Purple Lightning requires no hand signs, has greater power, and is more flexible to use, though it's slightly slower."
Mokgetsu then demonstrated the power of Purple Lightning; it could cut through boulders like tofu and emit wide-area electrical attacks around it.
"Is sacrificing speed for power and flexibility somewhat inappropriate?" Kakashi felt speed was still more important.
Ninjas with strong defense are rare, but most ninjas' speeds aren't slow.
Mokgetsu didn't explain, instead, he grabbed Kakashi and used the Breath of Thunder, letting Kakashi experience the sense of extreme speed.
"Was that fast enough just now? Could you react?" Mokgetsu asked after putting Kakashi down.
Kakashi immediately understood Mokgetsu's meaning, recalling the speed Mokgetsu had when using Chidori, and it was notably fast.
Kakashi felt an unspeakable feeling, wondering if Mokgetsu had specially improved the jutsu just for him.
Kakashi was genuinely a bit taken aback; he'd only been Mokgetsu's disciple for less than half a month, and Mokgetsu was already considering such details for him.
It wasn't that Kakashi was conceited, but the way Mokgetsu improved the ninjutsu did make things puzzling, as Mokgetsu could easily be considered a speed-type ninja, why reduce the speed of the ninjutsu to increase power?
After Kakashi finished training, Mokgetsu gifted him with a piece of calligraphy he wrote himself.
[You gifted the disciple with personally written calligraphy, and due to the disciple's gratitude, a critical reward activated, granting Earth Attribute Chakra Nature Change (proficient level)]
Getting more familiar with Mokgetsu, being rescued once, combined with the emotions elicited by being taught Purple Lightning, Kakashi got an excellent reward.
Watching Kakashi pondering the significance behind the calligraphy, Mokgetsu displayed the content smile of a farmer at harvest.
Getting a critical hit was good, and enhancing trust was merely a matter of time.
In the afternoon, Mokgetsu took his disciples to the Hokage Building; chakra still needed to be harnessed.