After a week of constant state training, three questions often appeared in Obito's mind, "Where do I come from?" "Who am I?" "Where am I going?"
It's not that Obito wants to forsake being a ninja and become a philosopher, it's just that pondering these three questions is easier than doing the tests by Teacher Mokgetsu.
Obito's current limit is completing ten problems a day. Any more than that, and he can only scribble nonsense.
Though his breathing technique has been continuously improving, even on his best day yesterday, he still only managed fifteen problems. This means that even if he diligently worked every day, he couldn't clear the day's debt, and the extra problems would keep accumulating.
"So this is the life Chunin have to face, is there any Genin exam? I want to take the Genin exam again." Obito felt being a Genin seemed pretty good.
"There's no such exam, Obito what are you thinking." Nohara Rin was amused by Obito's words and couldn't help but say.
Exams have always been for upgrading, there's no such thing as a downgrade exam.
Obito looked at Nohara Rin with a gloomy face, Nohara Rin was the only one among Teacher Mokgetsu's disciples who didn't need to do the problem training.
Because she's Nohara Rin, if it were someone else, Obito would definitely drag the person into the water.
"Anyway, Teacher Mokgetsu hasn't limited your completion time, you can take your time doing them." Nohara Rin gently comforted.
"Little Rin, you wouldn't understand this kind of pain." Obito sighed and said.
Though there's no time constraint, just thinking about the nearly hundred problems debt on him gives Obito a headache.
Obito now couldn't even bother comparing himself to Kakashi, his sole goal was to master the constant state and completely end this painful test training.
It's not just Obito; Might Guy is also exhausted. He and Obito are indeed theoretical brothers in distress; this training is but a double blow to their physical and spiritual state.
His body fatigued from constantly maintaining the breathing technique, and going back still needing to do problems makes the spirit suffer heavily.
The double torment brings about incredibly focused cultivation; at this moment, they solely long for progress, to escape this sea of suffering soon.
Another week, Obito successfully became the first to maintain the breathing technique throughout the entire cultivation period, and other disciples quickly met the standard too.
"Is this painful period finally coming to an end!" Obito clenched his fist, full of excitement, even happier than when he became a Chunin.
"Having successfully completed such arduous training, youth is going to be more exuberant!" Might Guy gave himself a thumbs up.
"Just a bit short." Kakashi gently exhaled, feeling a thin paper separating him from that transparent world, yet it was a bit tough, hard to pierce through.
"Can't relax yet, more time needs to be devoted to cultivation." Ever since the Chunin Examination, Shisui's sense of urgency has been fully heightened.
Mokgetsu lifted his glasses slightly with his hand, revealing an incredibly gentle smile and started speaking, "End? No, the second phase of training has just begun."
Since it's hellish training for the disciples, it wouldn't end so simply. This time, he wanted to bring his disciples' breathing technique to a proficient level, enhancing their self-protection ability.
The breathing technique represents a qualitative leap at each level, once reaching proficient level mastery of constant state, Obito and the others gain a forever-existing enhancement buff, and it can also enhance their training efficiency.
"The goal of the second phase is to maintain the breathing technique even while sleeping."
Hearing Mokgetsu's words, Obito was stunned, thinking he had misheard, but seeing others also with a confused face, Obito knew he hadn't misheard.
"When sleeping, there's no consciousness, how can one maintain the breathing technique?" Obito asked puzzledly.
To Obito, the breathing technique was actually a kind ninjutsu, albeit a very special one; how could this technique be usable during sleep.
"Can you breathe while sleeping?" Mokgetsu didn't directly answer Obito's question but asked back.
"Of course, not breathing would lead to death!" Obito immediately answered.
Though his knowledge level is low, he does know this kind of common sense.
"Since you can breathe, why can't you use the breathing technique." Mokgetsu spoke softly.
Thinking along this line, Obito found no fault in it.
"You can use shadow clones to oversee yourselves. Once you only sleep and don't use the breathing technique, the shadow clone will immediately deliver a blow and wake the body up."
"To prevent going easy, you can exchange shadow clones, letting the other's shadow clone supervise you, and also wake up once for four extra problems." Mokgetsu stated the specific rules.
After Mokgetsu finished speaking, Obito sweated on his forehead. Despite Mokgetsu's gentle smile and warm weather, Obito experienced a feeling of coldness.
He seemed to already foresee the tough days to come; while both the training and problem solving in the previous phase were exhausting, lying in bed at that moment still felt very comfortable. The second phase was different, having to cultivate even during sleep or else not sleep well.
"Could it be that Teacher Mokgetsu is too disappointed in our breathing technique progress?" The harshness level of this training made even Kakashi self-reflect.
The few disciples could all feel that the training intensity was maxed out this time, but no one voiced objections, and they quickly completed the Shadow Clone assignments as Mokgetsu requested.
Kakashi and Obito swapped Shadow Clone supervisors. Might Guy couldn't do Shadow Clones, so Shisui's Shadow Clone went to supervise Might Guy, while Mokgetsu's Shadow Clone went to supervise Shisui.
On the first night of the second phase, Obito comfortably lay in bed, just about to sleep, when he noticed Kakashi's Shadow Clone sitting in the room, which immediately reminded him about the Breathing Technique.
"I absolutely cannot give Kakashi any chance. This guy might go hard on me," Obito immediately became vigilant, constantly reminding himself to maintain the Breathing Technique.
But the first time always involves some hardship. Even though Obito had given himself plenty of psychological hints before sleeping, he forgot about maintaining his breathing when he dreamed about a date with Nohara Rin in a sea of flowers out of excitement.
"Rin, I..." In the dream, looking at the shy Nohara Rin, Obito's eyes were incredibly bright.
Just as Obito was about to hold Nohara Rin's delicate hand, a sharp chop struck Obito's chest. In an instant, the sea of flowers vanished, and what met Obito's eyes was a pitch-black room. The shy Nohara Rin was gone, replaced by the expressionless Kakashi, wearing a mask and staying in a striking pose.
"Damn it, so close!" Obito angrily glared at Kakashi, wishing he could hit Kakashi in front with a flaming Iron Mountain Lean.
"Four questions," the Shadow Clone Kakashi said flatly.
Upon hearing the word questions, Obito instantly calmed down, realizing he was in the midst of cultivation.
"Breathing Technique, Breathing Technique, must keep up," Obito continuously repeated to himself as an encouragement.
Before falling asleep again, Obito mentally cheered on his Shadow Clone.
"Come on, the other me, don't let Kakashi have it easy!"
His own suffering wasn't pleasant, but his brother's smooth progress was even more unbearable.
For Obito at this moment, the worst news might be that everything went smoothly for Kakashi without being woken up.
However, Obito clearly overestimated Kakashi. Even Kakashi couldn't perfectly complete such a maxed-out training the first time; otherwise, the punishments set by Mokgetsu would be meaningless.
"Ninja Academy should completely abolish theoretical exams, they do more harm than good!" An adult Obito, wearing ceremonial robes and a bamboo hat, presented his reform proposal for the Ninja Academy in the meeting room.
Sitting next to him, an adult Kakashi sighed, lamenting the exhausting work of a Hokage Assistant, not only having to handle major events but also finding ways to prevent the Hokage from engaging in brainless actions.
Bam!
Seeing that Kakashi's breathing technique rhythm was starting to become erratic, Shadow Clone Obito's eyes lit up, and he immediately punched Kakashi.
"Thank me, real me, for I helped you get your revenge," Shadow Clone Obito said with a smug smile.
Though he didn't know what happened with the real Obito, he knew himself well enough to suspect the real Obito was undoubtedly getting beaten by Kakashi's Shadow Clone.
"Kakashi, how about it? If not, I'll let you off a bit later, give you more rest?" Obito's Shadow Clone chuckled teasingly.
"No need." Kakashi exhaled deeply before answering.
Though the training was tough, it wasn't pointless; he could gain the power to protect his comrades through this training.
Besides, Kakashi knew Obito wouldn't truly go easy; his words were just teasing to provoke. If he actually agreed, Obito would have further taunts.
Kakashi quickly adjusted his breathing and fell asleep, but before drifting off he couldn't help reminiscing about the strange dream just now.
"If that guy became Hokage, it might really be like this," thinking of how silly Obito looked in the dream, the corners of Kakashi's mouth slightly lifted.
For Obito to do such things wouldn't be surprising to Kakashi, given that this was the Uchiha Obito who could score in the single digits in theory and make himself dizzy with blabber.
Kakashi then shook his head in his heart; given Obito's current state, becoming Hokage was an impossible feat.
In Konoha's popular opinion, the Fourth Hokage would come from among the Sannin, be it Orochimaru, Jiraiya, or Tsunade, each having many supporters.
The Fourth isn't possible, and the Fifth is even less likely. For the Fifth, Kakashi thought it should be Minato or Mokgetsu.
Even for the Sixth, Kakashi didn't see Obito becoming Hokage. Compared to Obito, Shisui was more suitable to be Hokage. Although Obito had the strength, becoming Hokage required more than just strength; there couldn't be weaknesses in other areas.
Frankly, Kakashi felt that if he worked harder, he had more chances than Obito, but he had no aspirations for the Hokage position.
While contemplating Obito becoming Hokage and maintaining the Breathing Technique, Kakashi once again drifted into dreamland.
That night, none of Mokgetsu's four disciples had a complete dream.
PS: 8,000 words today, kindly ask for a monthly vote.