Mizuki was under tremendous pressure. He would soon face the demon Zabuza.
He had to find a way to counter that Silent Killing technique, or this trip to the Land of Waves would be extremely dangerous. He couldn't rely on himself, so he could only count on the system.
Mizuki's thinking: whether it works or not, he might as well try a desperate measure.
"Human potential is limitless! People have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. In ninja combat, sight and hearing dominate. As a member of the Uchiha clan, vision is your advantage. But you can't see everything with your eyes alone. Sneak attacks from behind, ambushes hidden in the darkness — these will slip past you."
Done with the preamble, Mizuki began teaching the auditory training method he had just devised.
He took out a pile of bells, "I'll throw out bells, and you'll judge where they land based on sound, then throw shuriken at them. Now, blindfold yourself."
Sasuke used his headband to cover his eyes. His vision immediately plunged into darkness.
"It'll be uncomfortable at first. Take a deep breath and calm yourself. Focus on your ears and listen carefully to the sounds around you."
Mizuki tossed out a bell. It landed 10 meters in front of Sasuke. Sasuke immediately threw a shuriken, which landed 2 meters away from the bell.
Mizuki continued throwing bells, one at a time. Sasuke's shuriken flew one after another, but his aim was poor. He only occasionally got a lucky hit.
The training was monotonous, but gradually, the boy grasped some techniques. His accuracy improved, and he even hit the bells directly a few times.
'What a genius, progressing so fast.' Mizuki sighed, quite envious.
Night fell, but the training didn't stop. Mizuki had increased from throwing 1 bell at a time to 3. The difficulty was rising.
Sasuke had gone from indifferent to completely absorbed. This feeling of growing stronger was what he had always pursued.
'That's right, exactly like this! Doesn't he have the Mangekyō Sharingan? Doesn't he have the genjutsu Tsukuyomi? Next time I encounter him, I'll close my eyes, and Tsukuyomi won't affect me anymore!'
By the time the moon reached its zenith, Sasuke could hit the mark every time with 5 bells.
Sound-based positioning — he had begun to grasp the basics.
"Hahaha, I've mastered it!" Sasuke was incredibly excited.
He could now construct a three-dimensional spatial model in his mind, determine the precise location of the bells based on sound, and hit them in one strike.
Mizuki's mouth twitched. This second pillar — wasn't he getting too cocky? This was just the beginning. Merely hitting bells, and he already thought he'd made it?
"Don't celebrate too early. This is only the beginning. Bell sounds are very clear, so it's easy to tell where they are."
Hearing this, Sasuke's laughter stopped abruptly, "What? This is only the beginning?"
The second pillar felt deeply discouraged.
"Did you think this level was enough?" Mizuki was speechless, "The bell training is over. Next, we're switching to senbon."
When the first senbon landed, Sasuke's throw went wide, missing by a full three meters. Senbon were very thin, making extremely faint sounds as they flew. They only became slightly clearer at the moment they hit the ground.
This stumped Sasuke. He couldn't hear clearly at all and couldn't determine where the senbon had landed.
"Enemies won't carry bells. They'll approach you silently or ambush you from hiding, making sounds that are extremely faint. So there's still a long way to go."
Sasuke realized he had celebrated too early.
After an hour, he finally found the feel for it. Then he progressed rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, it was midnight. Sasuke was still enthusiastic, but Mizuki was hungry and tired. He had to call it quits. Most importantly, the system had been silent all along, making him feel that all this work had been in vain.
"Let's stop here for today. We have to get up early tomorrow to leave the village for the mission. Auditory training can't succeed in a short time. You know the method now, so just keep training every day from now on."
Leaving Training Ground No. 3, the two went their separate ways home.
After Sasuke left, the system's voice finally sounded.
[ Ding! ]
[ You have taught your disciple Sasuke Uchiha sound-based positioning, triggering a 2,222× Return! **]
"It actually worked." Mizuki was overjoyed.
The system had been silent all along, so he'd thought there wouldn't be a return this time.
[ Congratulations, you have obtained Echolocation! **]
"Echolocation?"
Anyone who studied middle school physics knows that sound travels in waves. When sound waves hit obstacles, they bounce back — this is an echo.
Nocturnal mammals like bats have poor vision but extremely strong hearing. They emit ultrasonic waves from their mouths that radiate in all directions. When these waves hit obstacles and bounce back as echoes, the bats' ears receive them.
Based on the echo information processed by their brains, bats know what's around them. Echoes tell them the position and size of nearby objects, as well as whether they're moving. It's incredibly precise, with extremely high resolution.
This remarkable ability gives bats exceptional nocturnal capabilities.
It's said that in California, there was a boy named Ben Underwood who went blind at age three but gained the ability of echolocation. At 14, he could run, rollerblade, and even play soccer and basketball freely — just like other kids his age.
Mizuki had gained this ability too. He felt his hearing sharpen and his brain transform in ways he couldn't put into words.
"Ahem!"
He coughed lightly. His ears caught the echoes — sound waves from his cough bouncing off objects and returning to him. His brain processed them instantly.
A clear three-dimensional image formed in his mind. Trees, buildings, stones, weeds, potholes — even the ANBU hidden in a nearby tree — all appeared with perfect clarity. There were no blind spots. Front, back, left, right, up, down — he could "see" everything within a 10-meter radius.
He felt like he'd opened the door to a new world.
He glanced toward the ANBU's hiding spot, annoyed. He'd long sensed someone monitoring him, but their concealment ability was so strong he couldn't see them.
This had forced him to be extremely careful in his daily activities, afraid the ANBU might see something they shouldn't.
Today, he'd finally "seen" them.
"Ahem!"
He coughed again, louder this time. The imaging range of his echolocation expanded to 30 meters.
'Haha, with echolocation, I don't need to fear Zabuza anymore. And Body Swap is no longer limited by my field of vision. Even in pitch-black darkness, I can still use it.'
❊❊❊❊❊
Early the next morning, Team 7 assembled at the Konoha gate to escort Tazuna to the Land of Waves.
Naruto was incredibly excited, shouting and yelling after leaving the village. This was his first time outside since birth.
Sasuke was the most peculiar. He had a black cloth covering his eyes, yet still maintained his cool demeanor.
Sakura was still fangirling.
"Sasuke-kun looks so cool even with his eyes covered!"
Seeing Sakura only had eyes for Sasuke, Naruto got upset, "Stuck-up Sasuke, are you covering your eyes to pretend you're blind? Be careful you don't trip over a rock. I won't help you up."
Sasuke replied, "You wouldn't understand. I'm training. Never mind — there's no point explaining to an idiot like you."
Naruto scoffed, his eyes rolling as if he was planning mischief.
Seeing his expression, Sakura raised her fist, "Naruto, if you dare mess with Sasuke-kun, I'll beat you to death."
Tazuna broke out in a cold sweat, "Hey, hey, hey, I want a refund. You three brats all look unreliable. Konoha sending you to protect me is disregarding my safety."
Mizuki said quickly, "Don't worry — you still have me, a Chūnin. Besides, C-rank missions never involve combat between ninja."
The group walked along a forest path as the sun climbed higher.
Up ahead, a small puddle stood out conspicuously on the road. Mizuki narrowed his eyes slightly but remained calm.
When the five passed the puddle, two ninja emerged from the water. Sharp chain-saws extended from their hands. In the next moment, Mizuki was wrapped in the chain-saw and cut into several pieces.
"Mizuki-sensei!" Sakura shouted in terror.
"Ah! What happened?" Naruto hadn't reacted yet.
Sasuke immediately removed his blindfold, then took out kunai and shuriken, ready to fight.
"The first one!"
The Demon Brothers said coldly.
"Next is the second one!"
The two instantly appeared behind Naruto, the chain-saw wrapping toward him.
"You killed Mizuki-sensei — unforgivable!" Naruto clapped his hands together, and hundreds of shadow clones appeared.
"How is this possible? This is clearly just a genin brat!"
The Demon Brothers expressed their confusion, but they didn't panic. The chain-saw danced, and Naruto's shadow clones dispersed one after another.
"Protect Tazuna-san!"
Sasuke shouted to Sakura, then leaped up and threw two shuriken in succession, pinning the chain-saw to a piece of wood.
The Demon Brothers made a quick decision, releasing the chain-saw and engaging with the iron claws on their hands.
"Kill the mission target first!"
There were too many of Naruto's shadow clones, and they couldn't tell which was the real body. The Demon Brothers shifted their target directly to Tazuna.
The two moved extremely fast, rushing toward the target. Sakura had already positioned herself in front of Tazuna, her hands rapidly forming seals.
Doton: Doryūheki ▻ Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall
Instantly, a high wall rose up. The Demon Brothers were blocked and couldn't reach Tazuna.
"Naruto, attack together and kill them!"
Sasuke showed no fear, raising his hands to form seals.
Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu ▻ Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Naruto cooperated seamlessly, clapping his hands and shouting:
Doton: Doryūheki ▻ Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall
Instantly, high walls rose on both sides of the Demon Brothers.
Combined with Sakura's earth wall, three barriers trapped them in a dead end. At its mouth, Sasuke's fireball blazed.
"No, don't!"
The Demon Brothers screamed as the fireball struck. When the flames died, they lay on the ground — charred and barely alive.
"Phew, we're safe!" Tazuna breathed a sigh of relief.
Sakura and Naruto looked distraught.
"What do we do? Mizuki-sensei was killed!"
But Sasuke said, "Don't worry — he's not that easy to kill. Look, there's no body at all."
Everyone turned to look. Where Mizuki had been killed, there was no body — only several pieces of cut wood.
"Ah, the Substitution Jutsu! Thank goodness!"
❊❊❊❊❊
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want to enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations: MrBlackWing (on that website with P)
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)