"Such great luck, encountering a one in a thousand chance," the surrounding ninjas said enviously to Hanzo.
Hanzo was speechless; he only felt his luck was terribly bad.
With an emotionless face, Hanzo walked towards Mokgetsu, thinking that this was probably a coincidence. His disguise ability was strong, and he hadn't communicated with Mokgetsu before, so he shouldn't be recognized.
With so many people watching now, refusing would seem abnormal and could reveal his true identity to Mokgetsu.
To avoid being on the Ninja World headlines tomorrow, Hanzo didn't want to be exposed.
"May I know your name?" Mokgetsu asked Hanzo with a smile.
"Hattori," Hanzo replied dismissively.
"If Hattori has mastered Water Release, you can try extinguishing the fire with it. If not, we have water pipes available for you to use," Mokgetsu explained the interaction rules.
Hanzo nodded and looked at the high-temperature flame.
There was something unusual about this flame; as Hanzo walked closer, he could distinctly feel the temperature rising.
"Water Release: Water Turbulence!"
After some thought, Hanzo used hand seals to perform a basic Water Release against the flames.
Though he very much wanted to use Water Release with full force to douse the fire, this could likely expose him.
Hiss, hiss!
The water stream rushing towards the flame evaporated rapidly, but Mokgetsu's compressed flame didn't subside in the slightest.
"Please use a stronger Water Release," Mokgetsu instructed further.
Hanzo exerted a little more effort, feigned exhaustion, and spouted a large stream of water towards the flame. Yet, the result was unchanged.
"Who else wants to try next?" Mokgetsu temporarily let Hanzo off and asked the crowd.
"Me, me!"
"Pick me, I'm very good at Water Release!"
The ninjas volunteered, eager to try and extinguish Mokgetsu's Fire Release.
Mokgetsu used Identification Jutsu to pick out a few ninjas with decent proficiency to have a go.
In every case, the Water Release evaporated, and Mokgetsu's flame continued to burn.
The ninjas attending the lecture all wore astonished expressions, feeling that Mokgetsu's Fire Release had reached a superhuman level.
Indeed, it was true. With perfect-level Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes, coupled with the enhancement of the Breath of Flame Chakra Mode, Mokgetsu also employed compression techniques.
Though this flame couldn't compare to the inextinguishable Amaterasu, it was not something an ordinary Water Release ninja could handle.
"Interesting," Pakura showed an intrigued expression, thinking this pure Fire Release seemed even stronger than her Scorch Release.
Mokgetsu canceled the Ninjutsu, returned to the podium, and resumed the lecture, thoroughly explaining the key points of Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes and Water Attribute Chakra Nature Changes.
"Could Sosuke's Water Release also be this strong?" Hanzo listened and had a terrifying thought.
While listening to Mokgetsu explain Water Release, he actually felt a sense of enlightenment, realizing he had indeed missed some aspects.
"It might also be due to his solid foundation or rich theoretical knowledge," Hanzo guessed inwardly.
Unknowingly, time quickly reached one in the afternoon, and when Mokgetsu announced a break, many ninjas realized that four hours had already passed.
Even ninjas who weren't practicing Water and Fire Chakra Nature Changes were captivated, partly because Mokgetsu's teaching was excellent, and partly because Mokgetsu would occasionally cover other nature transformation content.
"I'm glad I came; I didn't expect Sosuke to have such a deep understanding of Water Release," a Rain Ninja marveled.
Although some advanced content was beyond his level of understanding, his foundation was strengthened, and his future path was clarified, far exceeding his expectations.
"Indeed, I don't understand how things developed to this point. It feels like Lord Sosuke is a very approachable strong figure," another Rain Ninja said with puzzlement.
Faced with their former enemies and many ninjas unrelated to the Ninja Sect, Mokgetsu still maintained such an attitude for serious teaching. He couldn't believe Mokgetsu was as Hanzo portrayed him.
"Shh, don't speak out of turn,"
the Rain Ninja hurriedly covered his friend's mouth, looking around worriedly, whether any Rain Village's Anbu was present, then relaxed upon seeing only the wandering ninja who had just interacted with the Ninja Master.
"Just attend the class and learn genuinely, don't think about whether Lord Sosuke is good or Lord Hanzo is not,"
Even though he felt Mokgetsu was good, they were Rain Ninja after all. A private discussion was fine, but being overheard by others in public could get them labeled as spies.
"Getting such results from one lesson, the Ninja Master title is indeed well-deserved," Hanzo thought as he looked at the Rain Ninjas.
Because he once wanted to annihilate the Ninja Sect, Hanzo conducted a series of negative propaganda against Mokgetsu and the Ninja Sect in Rain Village.
Now it seems to be counterproductive, possibly even damaging his reputation.
After a one-hour break, the class continued, with no ninja leaving.
In the afternoon, Mokgetsu chose to cover lightning and earth Chakra Nature Changes; there were too few Wind Attribute ninjas, which Mokgetsu planned to address together with Yin-Yang Chakra transformation the following morning.
With the afternoon course concluded, Mokgetsu's panel flashed with lines of black text.
[Completed an advanced lecture, starting evaluation]
[Evaluation: S]
[Reward obtained: Insight into Chakra Nature Transformation, Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes +10, Water Attribute Chakra Nature Changes +122, Earth Attribute Chakra Nature Changes +96, Lightning Attribute...]
[First completion of advanced teaching, skill acquired—Resolution]
With Mokgetsu's thorough preparation, the breakthrough was ultimately successful.
The S-level advanced course rewards seemed similar to the intermediate course, but replaced comprehension with insight, significantly enhancing skill progress related to nature changes. Mokgetsu sensed that its effect went beyond mere proficiency on the panel, but understanding its full effect was hard upon first acquisition.
Mokgetsu focused his attention on the newly acquired skill.
PS: This chapter is 5k, there will be another chapter later, but the time is unsure. You can check it out tomorrow morning.
Had writer's block today, writing slowly, and need to stay up a bit. Recently, I got a recommendation, so I feel I should update more frequently.