Obito looked at the two with an appreciative expression. As expected of his future Shadow Guards, they really weren't ordinary ninja—even guarding a gate, they could talk with that much momentum.
"Honestly, we just noticed this mission pays pretty well, and all the other D-Class Missions are boring, so we come do this once in a while." Anko, leaning against the wooden gate, told the truth.
No matter how you put it, gate-guarding is still a B-Class Mission. The minimum pay for a B-Class is eighty thousand ryo. For a just-graduated squad like them, that's a pretty decent income and it makes their mission record look nicer.
"You guys know about the Youth Martial Arts Tournament, right? The one that gathers all the young talents and genius ninja from across the Ninja World." Obito coughed lightly as something occurred to him.
Obito wasn't the type who liked to "wear brocade and walk at night." If he took second place and nobody knew, then wouldn't that second place be wasted?
"Oh, oh, I've heard of that. Sounds like a pretty awesome tournament." Hagane Kotetsu said as he dredged up the relevant memories.
Obito nodded, a smug smile appearing on his face.
"Don't tell me, Big Brother Obito, you got first place?" Anko asked curiously.
Obito's manner made Anko suddenly think of top-score-on-theory-exams Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo, so she felt it was possible Obito had taken first.
"Uh…" Obito's expression froze.
He really hadn't expected Anko's opening line to be "first." This was a Ninja World–level tournament—first place isn't something you just say like it's nothing.
Shouldn't you start by asking if he made top eight? That way he could casually mention his top-two result.
"Heh." Kakashi actually laughed out loud, not giving him any face.
Obito glared at Kakashi, his mind spinning rapidly, and said, "Among all the Konoha competitors, I'm first!"
Add a qualifier and he really did count as first. After all, aside from him, the other one in the top two was Nagato, who was a ninja from the Ninja Sect of the Land of Rain.
"That still sounds really impressive." Kamizuki Izumo said, giving him plenty of face.
It wasn't buttering him up on purpose. Limited to Konoha, being ranked first was indeed pretty amazing.
"Oh oh, Big Brother Obito is Konoha's Number One!" Kotetsu shouted excitedly.
Kotetsu's voice drew the attention of the people coming and going near the gate.
Obito was dumbfounded. That is not how you shorten a sentence—people who don't know any better would think he'd become Konoha's Number One Ninja.
"Stop, stop, stop, it's 'first among all Konoha ninja competitors in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.' Don't randomly delete words." Noticing the curious looks from other ninja, Obito hurriedly corrected him.
He loved hearing Kotetsu say that, but for now it was still a bit premature.
"Obito, are you planning to guard the gate with them?" Kakashi reminded him.
Only then did Obito realize that besides himself, Mokgetsu and the other disciples had already walked into Konoha.
"I'll give you guys pointers when I have time."
Obito waved to the gate-guard trio and followed them into Konoha.
"Today and tomorrow, you can arrange your own schedules. The day after tomorrow, if you've got time, you can come cultivate in the Southern Border Forest. Obito, Shisui, you two must come and can't miss it—I have a new Ninjutsu to teach you." Mokgetsu said.
Even though this time didn't really count as a mission, it was still not easy, so Mokgetsu decided to give them two days off.
"A new Ninjutsu." Obito's eyes lit up, auto-locking onto the keyword.
Even though Mokgetsu hadn't said what Ninjutsu it was or how strong, Obito had a feeling this new Ninjutsu definitely wouldn't be simple.
With their current strength, learning regular Ninjutsu wouldn't improve them much, and Mokgetsu had even specially given advance notice, which made Obito even surer the new Ninjutsu would be strong.
"Is it Fire Release?" Shisui thought for a moment and asked.
Mokgetsu had mentioned the two of them together, and their most overlapping ability, without question, was Fire Release.
The light in Obito's eyes dimmed slightly.
If it was Fire Release, Obito really couldn't be sure about the power level. Fire Release, to him, felt like the "under–rank" element.
Even Konoha's Hokage didn't have any famously powerful Fire Release Ninjutsu that stuck in people's minds.
"That's right, it's Fire Release, and a very powerful Fire Release." Mokgetsu nodded in reply.
Mokgetsu's answer made hope rise in Obito's heart again. This was, after all, the all-purpose Sage Mokgetsu. Even an "under–rank" element like Fire Release could be turned from trash to miracle in Sage Mokgetsu's hands.
"Teacher Mokgetsu, compared to the Thoughtless Slash, how is it?" Obito asked directly.
He couldn't stand the days of being weaker than Kakashi. Whenever they argued, he felt like he was a bit flimsy compared to Kakashi, lacking confidence.
"Same grade." Mokgetsu continued answering.
Obito clenched his fists, face full of excitement. The days of being an underdog in the fire element were finally about to end. Once he mastered this new Fire Release Ninjutsu, he wanted to see how Kakashi could still act smug.
Hearing Mokgetsu's words, Kakashi glanced sideways. Same grade as the Thoughtless Slash—just from that description, Kakashi could feel the power rushing toward him.
That was the Thoughtless Slash, after all—an ultimate Lighting Release Blade Technique where even Kakashi himself would go down if he got hit by a single slash.
"Could Teacher Mokgetsu really be an Immortal reborn?" With all the abilities Mokgetsu had shown, Kakashi couldn't even find the right words to describe him.
For a ninja a bit over twenty like Mokgetsu, this was practically breaking common sense.
So many Breathing Secret Techniques, Armament Secret Techniques, and powerful moves like Golden Horizon and Thoughtless Slash, all created by Mokgetsu alone—and clearly Mokgetsu still had other unknown but powerful abilities.
Judging from the time frame, Kakashi totally couldn't understand how Mokgetsu had developed all these Secret Techniques, Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu.
Normally, developing strong Ninjutsu and Secret Techniques should be measured in years.
For someone Mokgetsu's age, even creating just Breath of Flame alone would already make him a super genius.
That was a Breathing Technique with multiple effects: not only could it effectively temper the body, it also came with the Breathing Chakra Mode and Transparent World, two powerful abilities.
"To kill a Teacher Mokgetsu like this, what kind of terrifying death trap would it have to be?" Kakashi connected this to another issue worth thinking about.
Kakashi felt Mokgetsu's strength should be on the same tier as the Sannin, but at the very top of that tier, because Mokgetsu had too many methods.
For someone like Mokgetsu who commanded so many techniques to actually die in battle, Kakashi found it hard to imagine.
No ninja could truly counter Mokgetsu in a fight, and Mokgetsu not only had Breath of Thunder at an extremely high Realm, he also had Space-Time Ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. If he couldn't win, he could easily escape.
Kakashi really couldn't think of a way to kill Mokgetsu.
Kakashi couldn't make sense of it. What, was it going to be undead versions of Uchiha Madara or Senju Hashirama, those departed super powerhouses, crawling out of their graves to beat Mokgetsu to death?
"The most important thing right now is cultivation." Kakashi suppressed all kinds of thoughts in his heart and walked straight toward the Southern Border Forest.
As long as they had strength, no matter what kind of predicament Mokgetsu ran into, they would be able to help. Conversely, if they had no strength, even if they knew about the death trap Mokgetsu might face, they might be powerless to change anything.
Obito and Shisui also openly headed in the direction of the Southern Border Forest.
As the relatively weaker ones among Mokgetsu's disciples at present, they had been working nonstop, wanting to catch up to Kakashi and Might Guy, and even surpass them.
"See you guys later, I'm going to visit Teacher Tsunade." Nohara Rin waved goodbye.
Although strength was very important to Nohara Rin, she felt her primary role was support, as a Medical Ninja.
That fight with Sasori had made Nohara Rin feel that her ability to handle poison still had shortcomings, so she wanted to go to Tsunade and learn more detoxification knowledge.
Might Guy also said farewell to everyone and went home. His injuries still weren't fully healed, so intense training wasn't appropriate; he could only do some recovery exercises.
PS:
The Third Ninja War is most of the content, not all of it, okay? Why do the comments from you guys feel like I'm going to end the story as soon as I finish the Third War?
Everything that should be in the story will be there; it's just that some parts won't take up that much space. Also, after the main story ends, Xiaoju will consider writing some side stories—maybe to fill in elements the main text didn't cover, or maybe some fun little branches.