Makoto looked at the three sudden notifications and fell into deep thought.
He hadn't expected that the Master–Disciple System would also have a feature like training missions.
Then why hadn't anything appeared before when he personally arranged training plans?
Was it something that could only be triggered by disciples?
Even if that were the case, it should have triggered earlier—like when Obito wanted to get first place in the combat practice rankings.
Makoto guessed that this kind of training mission probably required several conditions to activate. It might also be related to things like trust level.
Since this was the first time it had appeared, he couldn't determine all the conditions yet.
But one thing was certain—
The disciple who triggered the mission had to possess a strong desire for the goal.
Looking at the hopeful and eager expression in Obito's eyes, Makoto was absolutely certain of that.
"Teacher Makoto, please agree just this once! If I win first place, I'll definitely complete your training assignments twice as diligently. From now on, I'll follow whatever training plan you give me," Obito pleaded.
He still couldn't forget that day of the competition—when he lost miserably to Kakashi Hatake right in front of Nohara Rin.
"Alright," Makoto nodded with a helpless expression.
"Teacher Makoto, you really are the best teacher in the world!" Obito said excitedly after hearing the answer.
"Save the compliments until after you actually win first place."
Makoto raised two fingers and lightly knocked Obito on the head.
"Hehe, I'm just telling the truth," Obito said with a grin.
He had attended the Academy for several years—of course he knew what a good teacher looked like.
Makoto had a good temper, his lectures were engaging and easy to understand, and he treated students well.
If that wasn't a good teacher, what was?
"So, Teacher Makoto, what ninjutsu are you going to teach me?" Obito asked curiously.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique," Makoto replied.
"But I already know the Great Fireball! That's what I used in the last competition—and it only got me twenty points," Obito said helplessly while scratching his head.
During that competition, his Great Fireball Technique had earned him twenty points and temporarily placed him first.
Then Kakashi stepped up and used Earth Release to manipulate the entire ground of the arena, raising and lowering the terrain.
He scored a perfect thirty points.
"You said you wanted something with overwhelming presence. Among the Fire Release techniques you can currently learn, the Great Fireball Technique already has the most visual impact," Makoto explained.
He then walked toward the river and quickly formed hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Makoto condensed a massive amount of chakra, converting it all into flames through Chakra Nature Transformation the moment he exhaled.
A torrent of blazing fire burst out.
The enormous flames formed a gigantic fireball nearly ten meters tall.
In front of such a colossal fireball, even the 1.8-meter-tall Makoto looked small—let alone Obito and the others. The sight was absolutely shocking.
"Even stronger than the one I saw before… just how powerful is Teacher Makoto?" Shisui Uchiha thought as he recalled the first time he had visited Makoto's home.
Back then he had accidentally seen Makoto practicing the Great Fireball Technique, and it had already been astonishing.
But this one was even more terrifying.
At that moment, Shisui felt that Makoto's strength was truly unfathomable. He might not even be using his full power.
"Th-this… is the Great Fireball?" Obito stared blankly at the gigantic flaming sphere that was taller than his house.
Compared to Shisui's Great Fireball, his own could barely count as a small fireball.
But compared to Makoto's…
His was nothing more than a tiny spark.
Obito found it hard to believe they had just used the same technique.
"That's huge. If I ever face a technique like that, I'd have to be faster and stronger," Might Guy said while gazing up at the massive fireball.
The enormous fireball crashed into the river, instantly evaporating a large amount of water.
Dense white mist erupted and covered the surroundings.
After Makoto used Wind Release to disperse it, the mist quickly vanished.
Makoto let out a light breath and looked at Obito with a smile.
"Well? Is the Great Fireball impressive enough?"
"More than enough! It looks unbelievably powerful!" Obito nodded rapidly like a pecking chicken.
If his own Great Fireball could reach even one-quarter of that size, he felt he could definitely win the competition.
Makoto thought to himself that the attack really was impressive.
But it was also extremely chakra-consuming.
That single Great Fireball had burned through 1,000 chakra points.
In real combat, a technique of that scale would rarely be used.
Against an opponent of equal level, it was actually quite difficult to hit anyone with something that big.
Makoto remembered that in his previous life, someone had once compiled statistics and discovered something astonishing—
Across more than 700 episodes, whenever the Great Fireball Technique was used…
It had never directly hit a single humanoid target.
With such an absurd record, it was no wonder people jokingly called it the "Never-Hits Technique."
"Alright, you try it," Makoto said to Obito.
"Okay!"
Obito nodded, walked to the riverbank, quickly formed hand seals, and exhaled a burst of flames.
However, the awkward thing was—
Obito's Great Fireball was only about the size of two human heads.
Compared to Makoto's earlier technique, the difference was like heaven and earth.
"Obito, it's okay. Even a small one—"
"Guy, please spare me," Obito interrupted immediately.
He clearly did not want that strange form of encouragement.
"Do you know why your Great Fireball is so different from mine?" Makoto asked.
"Because I haven't mastered it well enough?" Obito answered uncertainly.
"There are three reasons."
"First, your chakra control is too poor. You can't properly use the limited chakra you already have."
"Second, your Chakra Nature Transformation training is too weak, so you can't convert a large amount of chakra into flames at once."
"Third—and only third—is that your mastery of the Great Fireball Technique itself isn't high enough."
After finishing his explanation, Makoto took out a small booklet and handed it to Obito.
"This contains some of my training experience with Fire Release Chakra Nature Transformation. Study it carefully and practice according to it. That should solve your nature transformation problem."
Compared to Shisui, Obito's fundamentals were far weaker.
During the first month, Makoto had mostly focused on rebuilding Obito's basics, only teaching him the Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique along the way.
That was why he hadn't given Obito the manual earlier.
If not for this sudden training mission, Makoto originally planned to give it to him next semester.
After all, Obito simply couldn't handle learning too many things at once.
[You have gifted your disciple a Fire Release Chakra Nature Transformation Training Manual]
[Because the disciple is extremely grateful, reward critical hit!]
[Obtained: Fire Release: Searing Migraine — Mastery Level]
Makoto was pleasantly surprised.
Obito had really delivered this time—he directly triggered a Mastery-level Fire Release technique.
Fire Release: Searing Migraine wasn't an ordinary Fire Release ninjutsu.
It was the B-rank Fire Release technique used by Kakuzu's fire mask, possessing tremendous destructive power.
It could also combine with the Wind Release: Pressure Damage Makoto had obtained earlier, instantly creating a sea of flames capable of burning an entire forest.
A huge amount of training memories flooded Makoto's mind.
For a brief moment, he had the strange illusion that he had spent thirty years in isolation, obsessively training only this single technique.
Thirty years spent perfecting one jutsu until it could be used as naturally as moving a limb.
"I'll definitely read it every day!" Obito said excitedly, clutching the booklet like a treasure.
"There's one more thing," Makoto said with a smile.
"We'll start by improving your chakra control."
Once Obito finished the basic tree-climbing and water-walking training, Makoto's enhanced water-walking training method—which he had previously invented for Asuma Sarutobi—would finally come into play.
Obito didn't know exactly what Makoto was planning.
But remembering the painful training sessions from the weekend…
He could already guess it would be some extremely torturous yet highly effective training method.
Still, he straightened his chest and prepared himself.
After all—
This time, it was his own request.
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