Chapter 509: The Power of the Dancing Fire Dragon
[Skill: Enlightenment: You are good at resolving students' doubts, and your thinking becomes more agile when contemplating their questions.]
Mugetsu fell into thought. The system's description was far too brief.
What exactly counted as a "student" for Enlightenment? Someone who had merely listened to his lecture? Someone who truly acknowledged him as their teacher? Or someone Mugetsu recognized as a student in his own heart?
And "good at resolving students' doubts" sounded like Enlightenment might function similarly to Professor, except it only triggered when a student asked a question.
The second part was easy to grasp. It was clearly an acceleration effect, but only when dealing with students' doubts.
Mugetsu considered it carefully and felt Enlightenment was like Professor and Insight stitched together. The first half was a limited Professor, and the second half was a limited Insight.
After thinking it through, Mugetsu felt all three skills were strong in their own ways, and it was hard to rank them.
"Tomorrow morning's class will still focus on chakra nature transformation," Mugetsu said, setting aside his thoughts as he announced the schedule for day two. "We'll cover Wind Release, Yang Release, and Yin Release."
The achievement reward had already been delivered, but the S rank settlement reward for the advanced class was excellent. Mugetsu intended to teach these seven days as well as he possibly could.
"He even excels in Yin Release and Yang Release?" Hanzo was genuinely baffled when he heard the plan. "How did he train that far?"
If Mugetsu were the same age as Hanzo, it would be one thing. But Mugetsu did not look old at all. Where did he find the time to refine so many abilities?
Hanzo had originally planned to leave, because if his identity was exposed, it would be unbearably awkward.
But he also desperately wanted to hear Mugetsu's explanation of Yin and Yang chakra nature transformation. In the end, Hanzo decided to stay one more day.
"If Sosuke were an Iwagakure shinobi, that would be perfect," Kitsuchi said, unable to hide his regret.
After listening to Mugetsu's lecture, Kitsuchi believed Mugetsu alone could rival a force of fifteen hundred shinobi.
Mugetsu's strength could match five hundred shinobi, and Mugetsu's teaching ability could match a thousand.
Unfortunately, there was no such possibility. The Shinobi Sect in the Land of Rain was now similar to Amegakure in the past. Mugetsu was essentially another Hanzo.
Iwagakure could not invite Hanzo, and Hanzo would never agree. The same applied to Mugetsu.
"Would he agree if we commissioned Sosuke to assist with training?" Kitsuchi's mind turned, and he came up with a method.
Even if Mugetsu could not join Iwagakure, Iwagakure could still use commissioned missions to request help.
Kitsuchi stored the idea away, planning to report it to Onoki when he submitted his mission report.
Iwagakure had a broader plan to use the Shinobi Sect to wear down Konoha's strength. It was tied to their overall war strategy, so Kitsuchi could not decide anything alone.
"Ninja Master Sosuke," Pakura stepped forward and addressed Mugetsu. "Could you use Fire Release and spar with me?"
She had only attended one day, and she was a famous figure herself. Pakura did not call him Teacher. She only used the title Ninja Master.
"I've mastered a bloodline limit called Scorch Release. It produces extremely high temperature flames," Pakura continued. "Since I'm already here, I want to witness the Fire Release that defeated the demigod."
The crowd that had been dispersing stopped at once, turning back toward Mugetsu.
Hanzo's face darkened. Would she die if she did not mention him? Did Sosuke's Fire Release never win against anyone else?
Mugetsu thought for a moment, then nodded. "All right."
For the Shinobi Sect, which was about to make a major impact in the Land of Rain, the more battle feats and fame their leader possessed, the better.
And with Mugetsu's current strength, facing Pakura was an easy task.
Excitement spread through the crowd. It was not often that anyone could witness a powerhouse like Ninja Master Sosuke in action.
Shinobi of this level handled the most secretive missions and rarely appeared. Seeing them in wartime usually meant disaster, because it often meant they had become your enemy.
The onlookers retreated, clearing a wide space.
"I wonder how long this Hidden Sand hero can last."
"It shouldn't be less than three minutes, right? She's famous, after all."
No one believed Pakura could defeat Mugetsu. They only debated how quickly she would lose.
Even the other Sunagakure shinobi did not favor their own powerhouse. Ninja Master Sosuke's reputation was too heavy, especially with the story of him defeating a demigod despite an elemental disadvantage.
"Make your move," Mugetsu said.
Pakura nodded, without the slightest hesitation. She concentrated her chakra and fully activated her bloodline limit.
"Scorch Release: Incinerating Steam Murder!"
Seven dark fireballs, each about the size of a head, formed in an instant. They circled Pakura like satellites, then shot forward under her control, streaking straight toward Mugetsu.
Mugetsu focused his breathing and entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode in a blink, amplifying his Fire Release to the limit.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Dance!"
A vast amount of chakra gathered in Mugetsu's throat. Under Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, it was immediately converted into ferocious Fire Release chakra.
Mugetsu formed the Tiger hand seal, then exhaled a flood of terrifying, high temperature flames.
Normally, Mugetsu did not need hand seals while in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, but after taking on his Sosuke identity, he was used to putting on the act.
The flames poured out continuously. The intensity and heat were so extreme that the surrounding temperature skyrocketed, and the observing shinobi were drenched in sweat within seconds.
"That jutsu," Hanzo muttered, eyes locked on Mugetsu.
That was the technique Mugetsu had used to defeat him cleanly back then.
Hanzo still could not forget that day.
It had been raining, the sky heavy and dim. Then Mugetsu's Fire Release erupted, carrying blinding light and scorching heat, dazzling enough to make the whole battlefield feel unreal.
As the strongest Water Release user in the shinobi world, Hanzo had believed he would not lose, not with the weather and elemental advantage on his side.
Then his Water Release was swallowed whole by Fire Dragon Dance.
"Overestimating herself. Someone at that level wants to challenge Fire Dragon Dance?" Kakuzu scoffed with open disdain.
When Kakuzu fought Mugetsu, Mugetsu had once used a single Fire Dragon Dance to instantly erase four of Kakuzu's lives.
Later, the more Kakuzu understood Mugetsu, the more he realized Mugetsu had held back at the time. If Mugetsu had truly intended to kill, all five lives would have been wiped out.
"Is this what a real powerhouse looks like?" the onlookers thought, trembling inside.
They were already sweating just from standing at a distance. The pressure on Pakura, who had to face Fire Dragon Dance head on, was unimaginable.
It was overwhelming in every sense.
A sea of flames surged toward Pakura. She controlled her Scorch Release flames to resist, but the gap was simply too large. Before long, her flames were swallowed and dispersed inside the inferno.
Mugetsu's perfect level Fire Release, amplified by Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, was far beyond what Pakura could withstand.
The sea of fire split, forming six massive fire dragons that sealed every escape route.
In that instant, Pakura saw only one ending. Ash.
But just as the fire dragons rushed to strike, Mugetsu canceled the jutsu.
The sky filling flames vanished.
An instant kill. An undeniable instant kill.
Aside from Hanzo, Kakuzu, and Kitsuchi, who had already witnessed the terror of Fire Dragon Dance, the rest of the shinobi were stunned into silence.
Everyone knew Ninja Master Sosuke's Fire Release was strong, but hearing stories and seeing it with their own eyes were completely different things.
Watching a well known powerhouse like Sunagakure's hero get erased in an instant was on another level.
"With Fire Release like that, defeating Hanzo, the demigod most skilled in Water Release, actually makes perfect sense," one shinobi whispered, as if he could already picture the battle.
"Yeah. In Fire Release mastery, no one can be stronger than Lord Sosuke," others agreed.
Hearing that Mugetsu defeated Hanzo with Fire Release sounded absurd on paper. But after seeing this, it would be absurd to think ordinary Water Release could easily extinguish flames like these.
"Ninja Master Sosuke, thank you for holding back," Pakura said after steadying herself.
She was the one who initiated the fight. Even if Mugetsu had injured her, she would have had no excuse to complain.
"There's no need," Mugetsu replied with a faint smile.
After returning to the Shinobi Sect base, Mugetsu began testing the effect of his new skill, Enlightenment.
His method was simple.
He randomly wrote several large number multiplication and division problems and gave them to Nagato. He told Nagato to ask if he did not understand, and Mugetsu would solve and explain each one.
Then Mugetsu did a separate set of problems himself, ones he had not given to Nagato, and compared the feeling to determine whether Nagato counted as a student under Enlightenment.
The result was clear. Enlightenment triggered.
Mugetsu could distinctly perceive that his thinking speed increased significantly when he solved the problems Nagato had questioned.
"In that case, does this mean all disciples fall within Enlightenment's definition of student?" Mugetsu speculated.
The possibility was extremely high.
The system was clearly biased toward disciples. It would not reward a teaching type skill that his own disciples could not benefit from.
However, since Obito and the others were all in Konoha, Mugetsu could not test it on them for now.
Next, Mugetsu tested non disciples.
He first found Konan and Yahiko. Enlightenment triggered successfully again. They were also recognized as students.
Then Mugetsu tested several newly joined Shinobi Sect members.
This time, Enlightenment did not trigger.
"It seems someone must study with me for at least a period of time before the system judges them as a student under Enlightenment," Mugetsu concluded.
The judgment was fairly lenient, and Mugetsu immediately thought of many ways to develop it.
For example, he was currently perfecting the Yang Seal. If Tsunade, who was helping him, was deemed a student, then his development speed would accelerate.
Another example was the breathing techniques he wanted to expand. If he assigned his disciples tasks to ponder during lectures, their questions could become "doubts," which would then accelerate Mugetsu's own research.
But as Mugetsu continued testing, he discovered a limitation.
If a previous student's doubt was not fully resolved, the boost from Enlightenment on the next doubt would diminish. After about five unresolved doubts, the effect became almost negligible.
Fortunately, Enlightenment also had strict conditions to trigger.
The student had to communicate with Mugetsu. The student had to truly have a doubt. And Mugetsu had to genuinely intend to resolve it.
Only then would Enlightenment activate.
Otherwise, if a student could blurt out random questions to force triggers, the skill would be meaningless.
There was also a technique to resolving doubts.
For example, if a student asked, "How do I become the strongest in the shinobi world?" Mugetsu only needed to design a training plan for that student. That would count as resolving the doubt, even if the student had not yet actually become the strongest.
.....
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