"How boring. I won't come again next time." After leaving the shrine, Obito decided not to waste any more time attending the clan meeting. He felt that the clan meeting was a place where a group of self-important people entertained themselves, directly dismissing anything unpleasant said.
"It's fine to come, but there's no need for the main body to be present; you can just come with a Shadow Clone to listen," Shisui suggested.
"Most of the Uchiha ninjas will attend the clan meeting, and you can understand the family's situation through the discussions held there."
Although he had just been dismissed by many Uchiha, Shisui still wanted to participate if given the chance. After all, history is ultimately a thing of the past; to truly resolve the current issues facing the Uchiha, one must better understand the present Uchiha.
However, this clan meeting made Shisui realize a truth: within the Uchiha Clan, the weak have no voice, even if they are geniuses.
Geniuses do enjoy privileges, but that privilege does not include participating in major decisions for the Uchiha.
So when Shisui suggested using a Shadow Clone to listen, he meant that as long as they don't become strong, their opinions would not be recognized anyway.
"If I use a Shadow Clone, I'm afraid it'll end up fighting with me; they won't bother with receiving useless information," Obito said, fully aware of his Shadow Clone's personality.
He had discovered that if there was something he didn't want to do, the Shadow Clone probably wouldn't want to do it either.
"Your Shadow Clone really has a personality," Shisui said, trying hard to say something nice.
Obito scratched his head and chuckled, grateful that his Shadow Clone wouldn't mess things up at crucial moments; otherwise, he would really consider practicing a different Clone Ninjutsu.
After chatting for a while, the two parted ways at the intersection.
After returning home, Shisui began to train. He felt an urgent need to improve his strength; he was no longer the best among Mutsuki's disciples and had no say in the clan meeting.
"After the internship, I should just graduate directly; staying at school is too slow," Shisui thought to himself.
He had previously told Mutsuki that he wanted to participate in an internship during his second year, but at that time, Shisui was unsure about whether he wanted to graduate.
Now, seeing Kakashi and Guy rapidly increasing their strength, and knowing that solving the issues within the clan required greater power, Shisui felt he could no longer remain in school.
After parting ways with Shisui, Obito didn't head home right away. Since he had gone out early, it wasn't yet time for him to sleep, and practicing at home would disturb his grandmother's rest. So, Obito found a secluded grove to begin his training.
Regarding the clan meeting, Obito had no strong feelings. Although he was a member of the Uchiha Clan, the only ones he was close to were his grandmother and Shisui; he wasn't familiar with the others. Obito thought those people's behavior was a bit excessive, dismissing Shisui before he could even finish speaking.
The next day, Obito went to the southern forest to train as usual. Today, he didn't start training right away; instead, he shared his grandmother's situation.
"How can I get my grandmother to agree to go to the hospital?" Obito looked at Mutsuki with a pleading expression.
"Just tell her the hospital is having an event where they offer free medical check-ups, and there's no need to spend any money," Mutsuki suggested after thinking for a moment.
Elderly people usually have a few reasons for not wanting to go to the hospital: either they believe their health is fine or they don't want to spend the money. However, if it's free, they're generally more willing to go.
"You could also add that the first fifty people can receive free eggs," Mutsuki added.
"Will saying that make my grandmother go?" Obito scratched his head, not fully understanding the reasoning. After all, in his eyes, a check-up shouldn't cost much, and eggs are quite cheap.
"Just give it a try. If that doesn't work, I'll help you think of another way," Mutsuki nodded in response.
If even the prospect of free services couldn't attract her, Mutsuki would have to ask Tsunade for help. Having resources nearby means he should utilize them.
"Okay." Obito noted what Mutsuki said and then ran home to try it out.
As Obito rushed home, he happened to run into Shizune, but since they weren't very familiar and he was a bit anxious, he didn't greet her.
"That was fast; is that Obito?" Shizune barely recognized him based on his features.
"Why is Obito here, and the place where Yumi-sensei trains is so remote..." Shizune remarked, looking around at the towering trees.
After wandering around for a while, Shizune was eventually spotted by a Shadow Clone and led to Mutsuki's main body.
Shizune thought she would only find Mutsuki here, but not only were there several Mutsuki clones, she also saw Kakashi and Shisui.
Shizune was somewhat familiar with both Kakashi and Shisui. Kakashi had started school with her but graduated before finishing his first year, while she graduated after reaching the fourth year. As for Shisui, Shizune was in Class A with him during the first special training session.
This level of acquaintance was basically just knowing each other's names, so Shizune didn't want to intrude and simply watched Mutsuki.
"What is your Chakra nature?" Mutsuki asked.
Now that his strength was already considerable on the surface, the need for caution and disguise was no longer necessary, so he directly brought Shizune over to train together.
"Chakra nature? I don't think I've been tested yet. Tsunade-sama said that in the end, I'd be learning Medical Ninjutsu from her anyway," Shizune recalled.
Due to Tsunade, her situation was a bit special. She wasn't placed in a normal class and went straight to study under Tsunade after graduating, so she didn't have any teammates.
Although Tsunade knew other Ninjutsu, nothing compared to her Medical Ninjutsu, and she certainly aimed to teach her disciples her strongest skills. Since the Yin-Yang release couldn't be tested with Chakra paper, Shizune hadn't used it yet.
"Let's test it now." Anticipating this, Mutsuki took out a piece of Chakra paper and handed it to Shizune.
After all, Tsunade was in a somewhat lazy state, which made her a bit unreliable. Mutsuki had assessed Shizune and found that she had primarily learned Medical Ninjutsu, so this was within his expectations.
"Thank you," Shizune said as she took the test paper from Mutsuki and then focused her Chakra into it.
After injecting her Chakra, the paper quickly wrinkled.
"Lightning Release..." Mutsuki showed a thoughtful expression.
It seemed a bit inappropriate for Shizune to learn Thunder Breathing, because while Thunder Breathing could enhance Lightning Release, that was just one of its effects. To fully realize this effect, one would need to reach the Mastery level, and before that, the enhancement to Lightning Release was only moderate. Mastering Breathing Techniques was extremely difficult, and most people simply couldn't achieve it.
The characteristic of Thunder Breathing was its powerful explosiveness, and in the original story, Shizune did not demonstrate any talent in that area.
"Adjust your breathing according to my posture," Mutsuki ultimately decided to teach Shizune the basic breathing techniques first.
Basic breathing could also enhance training effectiveness, although it lacked the special effects of other Breathing Techniques. Mastering basic breathing would make it easier for her to learn other breathing styles later on.
Although Shizune was learning things she had never heard of before, she was studying seriously out of trust in Mutsuki.
Mutsuki roughly outlined Shizune's upcoming study plan: she would start with basic breathing at the Beginner level, then move on to refining Mystical Palm Jutsu, and learning Enhanced Strength and Chakra Scalpel.
Since she had been learning with Tsunade for so long, Shizune's knowledge of Medical Ninjutsu was very solid, so Mutsuki only needed to teach her specific Medical Ninjutsu techniques.
When Shisui finished his training and took a break, he found Mutsuki and told him about what had happened at the clan meeting yesterday, as well as his desire to graduate early.
"Yumi-sensei, do you think there's a problem with that?" Shisui asked Mutsuki.
He believed that Mutsuki could make better and more accurate choices, so even though he had decided to graduate early yesterday, he still wanted to ask Mutsuki for his opinion.
"Graduating early does carry risks; life always presents various unexpected situations. However, given your current strength, I think graduating wouldn't be a problem," Mutsuki affirmed Shisui's thoughts.
Shisui's current strength had already surpassed a large number of Chunin. Although unexpected events could still occur after graduation, it was relatively safe.
As for absolute safety, even Mutsuki didn't dare to guarantee his own, let alone that of his disciples.
A smile appeared on Shisui's face; Mutsuki's affirmation reassured him.
"By the way, Yumi-sensei, it seems like I've made some progress with my Armament Haki," Shisui then mentioned his recent training results.
Shisui concentrated his Chakra in his fist, envisioning an invisible armor protecting it, and then he struck the ground with a punch. He tried several punches in succession, and two of them were noticeably more powerful than the rest.
"I still can't use it consistently, but I've gotten a feel for it," Shisui said as he pulled back his fist.
Mutsuki assessed Shisui and noted that his Armament Haki Proficiency level had already reached seventy points.
He calculated the time; Shisui had been learning Armament Haki for more than half a year now, so this progress was about right.
"There's no need to rush; you're not far from mastering it. If all goes well, you should be able to grasp it after graduation," Mutsuki estimated.
Compared to Shisui, the progress of the other students lagged significantly. On one hand, Armament Haki itself was quite difficult, and on the other hand, the other disciples hadn't spent much time practicing it.
For instance, Kakashi was currently refining his Breathing Technique and familiarizing himself with Transparent World, while Obito was improving his Flame Breathing Chakra Mode. Guy was training the eight gates and his Breathing Technique, and Rin hadn't learned it at all.
It wasn't that Armament Haki wasn't important; rather, at the current level of strength that Obito and the others were at, Haki wasn't as beneficial as what they were learning now. Their Chakra was even a bit lacking.
Of course, learning it would still be useful, as it would help them deal with more situations, but at this stage, it wasn't worth investing a lot of time into Armament Haki.
"Just as expected of Yumi-sensei!" After a morning had passed and Obito returned to the southern forest, he gave Mutsuki a thumbs up.
Mutsuki could roughly guess the outcome from Obito's expression.
"Grandma is indeed sick, but luckily we went early, and it's not a serious illness," Obito said with relief.
"Older people have weaker immune systems, so make sure to pay more attention to her health," Mutsuki reminded him, then showed a contemplative expression.
He was thinking about whether Uchiha Madara would use Obito's grandmother to provoke his dark transformation.
If Obito could display his trust levels with others, Mutsuki believed that both his grandmother and Rin would be at trust level four, while Kakashi's level was a bit harder to assess; it could be, but it wasn't certain.
If Obito's grandmother were to be tragically killed in front of him, Mutsuki believed he would activate his Mangekyo Sharingan right away. However, as long as he and Rin remained safe, Mutsuki felt that Obito probably wouldn't darken, although his personality might change.
But if Rin and Obito's grandmother were to die together tragically, Mutsuki couldn't say for sure what would happen.
"Let's arrange for a Shadow Clone to keep an eye on her."
Mutsuki decided to send out a Shadow Clone to protect Obito's grandmother.
"Sure! If Grandma's health worsens, I'll take her to the hospital using your method, Yumi-sensei." After saying this, Obito immediately ran off to train.
Just thinking about how Kakashi trained for an extra half a morning made Obito feel uncomfortable all over.
Seeing his disciples diligently training, Mutsuki also began to focus on studying the Flying Thunder God technique.
While the Flying Thunder God wouldn't bring about a qualitative change in Mutsuki's strength, it was incredibly convenient in many ways.
To master the Flying Thunder God, Mutsuki even employed Shadow Clones to learn the technique, putting in all his effort to study it.
However, the results were still unsatisfactory; two days had passed, and he hadn't gained a single point in Proficiency level.
"Everyone is working so hard; no wonder their strength is so impressive," Shizune said, panting for breath after practicing her Breathing Technique. She noticed that Obito and the others were training at such a high intensity that they couldn't stop.
This training environment was somewhat novel for Shizune, as she usually trained alone with Tsunade, without any peers around her.
Now, seeing people around her who were about her age or even younger working so hard, Shizune felt that if she stopped, she would feel a sense of guilt.
Shizune practiced her Breathing Technique and Taijutsu for most of the day, and the next period was dedicated to studying Medical Ninjutsu.
In fact, by the time she started learning Medical Ninjutsu, Shizune was already exhausted from her earlier training, and she worried that she wouldn't be able to focus. However, to her surprise, the results were quite good, and Shizune felt she had gained a lot.
"Yumi-sensei really teaches better than Tsunade-sama," Shizune compared the two based on her memories.
Although Shizune respected and liked Tsunade very much, she had to admit that Mutsuki was indeed stronger when it came to teaching, even in Medical Ninjutsu.
Shizune even had the illusion that she felt a bit smarter while learning from Mutsuki, finding it easier to remember and understand the material.
"Tsunade-sama is definitely going to be shocked in six months," Shizune thought, looking forward to Tsunade's expression when she checked the results.
After all, Tsunade often bullied her, so it was okay for her to enjoy a little victory now and then.
On the other side, Rin, who was studying with Tsunade, also experienced the weight of Tsunade's reputation as the strongest Medical Ninja.
It seemed as if there was no medical knowledge she didn't know; no matter what questions Rin had, she could immediately respond with ease.
However, Rin also recognized another side of Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama, it's time to get up," Rin said, looking helplessly at the hungover Tsunade lying on the bed.
As a renowned Sannin in the ninja world, Tsunade actually couldn't get up in the morning!
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