Happy moments are always fleeting; this thought crossed Obito's mind the morning after his birthday.
"Considering yesterday was your birthday, I didn't bring out the training topics, but today you have to start solving them." Mokgetsu cheerfully handed two exam papers to Obito as he spoke.
Yesterday, he had just made Obito and Shisui go through some training, and he hadn't handed them any exam papers afterwards.
"Actually, I made a mistake when I registered my birthday; today is my real birthday." Seeing the pristine white papers and the clear black questions, Obito felt dizzy and said something without knowing what he was saying.
Slap!
Mokgetsu's fingers accurately tapped Obito's forehead and said:
"Even if it's your birthday for the next 365 days, you still have to solve these papers; in ten days, you'll be returning to school for exams, and you wouldn't want to go back to scoring just a few tens, right?"
"Ugh, clearly we don't have classes this semester, so why do we still have exams?" Obito couldn't help but complain.
Mokgetsu's words reminded him that trainees have to return to school to take exams.
"It's probably to assess your internship results." Mokgetsu replied with a smile.
"When the school announces the exam results, they'll also publish the internship outcomes of all the interns, listing the number of tasks completed in the grade section."
"Then Guy and I will definitely be first!" Obito couldn't help but show a proud smile.
According to the testimony of the ninja registering tasks in the mission hall, other intern teams could only take D-Class Missions, and D-Class Missions would never have unexpected situations leading to a task level-up, so others couldn't even have a C-Class Mission.
He and Might Guy, however, have records of two A-Class Missions and one B-Class Mission, which immediately made them several versions ahead of their peers.
"There'll be no problem getting first place in task quality, but task quality won't add points in theory." Mokgetsu nods, stating that Obito's resume is definitely dominating among the interns.
Upon hearing the words "theory," Obito worriedly scratched his head, realizing that others would be observing his task scores, finding his theoretical scores only in the tens or twenties, which indeed wouldn't look good.
"The deadline is three days to complete these topics; after finishing, come to me for explanations." Mokgetsu allotted the time for solving.
After finishing with Obito, Mokgetsu handed the papers to Shisui as well.
He prepared different topics for each; Obito's questions mainly involved the knowledge learned in the Ninja Academy, while Shisui's were about history and politics.
Not those of what happened in those years, but more along the lines of "Read the following materials and discuss the changes and causes in the Ninja World during the Ninja Village era," or "Describe the conflicts between the Uchiha and Konoha, combining the history within the Uchiha clan and Konoha history."
As an outsider, trying to resolve Konoha's conflict with the Uchiha by himself isn't realistic; it requires cooperation from the Uchiha Clan.
The best candidates are naturally his two disciples, Obito and Shisui; Mokgetsu doesn't only aim to make them stronger than the original work but also to teach them more knowledge to broaden their minds.
The fundamental reason Mokgetsu had them solve papers wasn't to raise theoretical exam scores nor to punish them, but to enhance their knowledge level and critical thinking abilities.
At first, Shisui didn't pay much attention; it's just two exam papers, he could have a Shadow Clone spend some time and finish them, until he inadvertently saw one question on the paper.
Staring at that question with deep significance, Shisui's face turned serious as he looked over the questions on both exam papers, realizing that each question could provoke deep thought and wasn't easy to answer.
Gazing at the papers, a heavy look crossed Shisui's face; he felt he had wrongly accused Obito and the others; no wonder Obito and Might Guy were always afraid of question training—if there were a hundred such questions at once, even he couldn't finish them.
Mokgetsu also gave Shisui three days to finish the questions and then seek him for further explanation.
If he felt he couldn't finish them, he could apply to solve them in installments, thus extending the time but slightly increasing the number of questions.
The duo kept their papers secure and began cultivating in a Constant Concentration Breathing within various basic exercises.
Even when sweat streamed down, soaking their clothes, and obscuring their eyes with blurred vision from the sweat, Obito persisted until he couldn't stand anymore before he stopped.
"Tomorrow there's another question training, I have to dodge it this time, take a few less questions, or else I'll have to do installments again." This was the motivation behind Obito's hard work.
Fifty-five questions, he gritted his teeth and could finish them in three days, but if fifty-five questions were added the next day, it would be different.
Moreover, an experienced Obito knows very well that once questions start piling up in installments, they just keep increasing; if Mokgetsu didn't stop the question training, he would never finish them.
"This guy, is he working so hard to prevent me from catching up?" Kakashi noticed Obito working so diligently, showing a surprised expression during his resting time.
Seeing Obito working hard, Kakashi couldn't sit still and, despite not being fully rested, started cultivating Breath of Thunder.
"I'll add two and a half hours more to the training tonight!" Kakashi silently decided in his heart.
No one with Mokgetsu is lazy; everyone trains with utmost seriousness, so in his ambition to surpass, Kakashi decided to add extra training time.
"Today's youthful vigor is truly intense for everyone." Might Guy observed his friends training with such zeal, thus being even more motivated.
"Opening Gate, open! Healing Gate, open!"
In his excitement, Might Guy suddenly realized he finally completed his cultivation in the Second Gate, successfully opening the Eight Gates' Second Gate under normal circumstances, rather than forcefully opening with the Breathing Technique by stepping on his left foot with his right foot.
"Breath of Rock, Full Concentration Breathing!"
Might Guy quickly adjusted his breathing to a highly focused state, continuously enhancing his body's strength.
"This is the power." Might Guy clenched his fist, excitement evident on his face. After the mission ended, he wanted to refine his Gohyo, but found it slightly lacking without opening the Second Gate.
"Gohyo!"
Might Guy started sprinting at top speed, the enormous Chakra unleashed by the Eight Gates used to enhance his physical abilities, making him faster and faster. At the peak of his speed, Might Guy kicked fiercely at a giant rock, like a leopard pouncing on its prey.
BOOM!!
With a loud crash, the giant rock was shattered by this immense power, with stone dust filling the air and small fragments shooting in all directions.
After the kick, Might Guy felt an incredible sense of relief.
The commotion on Might Guy's side caught everyone's attention.
"You can use that move normally now?" Kakashi felt that Might Guy had gotten significantly stronger again.
Before, he had to force his body to the point of damage to achieve this kind of power, but now he could do it in a constant state.
"Such speed and strength!" The power Might Guy displayed left Shisui a bit surprised.
It was his first time seeing Might Guy use both Full Concentration Breathing and the Second Gate of the Eight Gates simultaneously, and it felt very powerful.
"Isn't that the move used in the last battle? If hit by it, one would either die or suffer severe injuries." Obito, seeing the power Might Guy displayed, remembered that Might Guy had previously said he wanted to fight him, causing his eyelid to twitch involuntarily.
After a day of training, Obito dragged his tired body home, noticing the dango shop where he had previously eaten with Nohara Rin, deciding to buy some dango to replenish his energy.
"Obito, what's wrong? You look so tired." A somewhat familiar voice reached Obito's ears.
Obito turned his head to see someone with a senbon in their mouth greeting him, sitting next to someone wearing sunglasses.
"Nothing, just a bit tired from training." Obito bought three skewers of dango, carrying the plate to sit at the same table as Shiranui Genma and the others.
Though in different classes, they knew each other somewhat, especially after that summer training session.
"Who's your internship teacher? Trains you so hard?" Shiranui Genma asked curiously.
"It's Teacher Mokgetsu. It's not that he trains hard; it's that I train myself. You can't get stronger without exercising." Obito explained, stuffing a skewer of dango into his mouth.
"Wow, your internship teacher is Teacher Mokgetsu? You're really lucky." Shiranui Genma showed an envious expression.
Anyone taught by Mokgetsu knew that the difference between Mokgetsu and ordinary teachers was significant, incomparable even.
"After training with Teacher Mokgetsu for so long, your strength must have increased a lot. Now I bet you're sure to win the practical battle first place, Guy can't beat you." Shiranui Genma said with a smile, thinking Obito could pop the champagne early.
"Uh, Guy is in the same class as me and is interning with Teacher Mokgetsu too." Obito said after a brief silence.
He wasn't sure if he could beat Might Guy, because Mokgetsu wouldn't let him use the Sharingan freely. If he couldn't use the Sharingan and Guy could use both the Eight Gates and the Breathing Technique, he'd definitely lose.
"Oh, Guy is interning with you too." Shiranui Genma showed a somewhat awkward smile.
"That would be quite the fierce battle. I'm really looking forward to your fight."
"It's okay. How's your internship going?" Obito asked as he finished another skewer of dango.
"It's just like that. It feels like class time turned into doing odd jobs." Shiranui Genma complained.
"Yeah, I thought we could take on some missions, but it's either catching cats, finding dogs, or picking up trash and doing farm work, worse than sitting in class." Ebisu chimed in with a complaint as well.
Clearly, they were not too satisfied with their internship life.
Obito couldn't help but straighten his back and lift his head a bit, saying:
"I feel it's okay, not as boring as you say."
Compared with the two, Obito instantly felt his internship life was much more exciting, having encountered the Candidate for the Raikage with Mokgetsu and defeating enemy Jonin with his comrades.
"No wonder your strength can improve so quickly, Obito. Not only do you train more seriously than us, but you also show a more ninja-like demeanor on missions." Shiranui Genma sighed.
To be honest, he didn't want to do odd job missions. His thoughts were the same as Ebisu's, preferring to attend theory classes instead.
"Heh, not that impressive, really." Obito couldn't help but chuckle when Shiranui Genma mentioned his ninja demeanor.
In fact, he was eager for Shiranui Genma and Ebisu to ask him about mission-related things so he could talk about having completed two A-Class Missions, but until he finished his dango, they never asked, leaving him with a hint of regret.