“Sensei, I want to challenge the river sprint again!” Obito found Mokutsuki and expressed his desire to attempt the challenge once more.
It had been four days since his last failed attempt.
During these four days, he had been practicing Mokutsuki’s unique speed-increasing technique and had broken his speed limit in races with Guy. Obito felt he was now ready to pass the challenge.
Of course, the main reason was that Obito believed his constant losses to Guy were due to not learning Soru.
Additionally, the next week’s training included combat tests. Obito wanted to master Soru this week to be less disadvantaged in combat next week.
He wanted to win against Guy for once.
So far, in official sparring matches with Guy, Obito had never won, constantly losing by a narrow margin.
If Guy mastered Soru and he didn’t, Obito felt he would have no chance in the upcoming combat test.
Losing by a large margin was one thing, but losing by just a bit every time was frustrating for Obito.
“Alright, follow me.” Mokutsuki nodded and led Obito to the river.
The second challenge differed from the first; there was no need to set up traps in advance so they could start right away.
Mokutsuki created many shadow clones and then launched a large number of Water Dragon Bullets onto the river’s surface.
“Sensei, I’m ready.” Obito took a deep breath and gathered his chakra, preparing to sprint.
“Begin!”
Obito focused intently on the Water Dragon Bullets, trying to discern their patterns.
After his last failure, Mokutsuki had hinted that the Water Dragon Bullets weren’t randomly moving but had a pattern.
If it were just a normal 15-meter water run, Obito could sprint across instantly, but with the interference of the Water Dragon Bullets, recklessly charging ahead was impossible and would likely result in being knocked away.
After observing for two seconds, Obito finally figured out the secret.
There were twelve Water Dragons on the river, grouped into sets of three, with similar movements within each group. The twelve Water Dragons could be viewed as four large Water Dragons.
Moreover, there was a pattern among the four giant Water Dragons; approximately every second and a half, a brief safe zone appeared between two large Water Dragons, lasting almost the blink of an eye.
Understanding this, Obito dashed forward, knowing there was no time to delay.
Although the challenge allowed ten seconds, the actual time available for action was less than half a second. This test assessed observation skills and instantaneous reaction speed.
With the pattern understood, the challenge became easier. Obito paused after passing each set of four Water Dragons, waiting for the brief moment of safety.
Standing on the water, Obito kept his eyes fixed on the fierce Water Dragons, not daring to relax. He couldn’t afford any mistakes; the second challenge was much less forgiving than the first.
Watching Obito, Mokutsuki thought that if Obito could maintain this calm and cautious attitude, his combat power would significantly increase, possibly more than learning an advanced jutsu.
“I did it!” When he reached the shore, Obito couldn’t help but cheer.
“Sensei, I didn’t exceed the time, right?” Obito asked, somewhat worried.
Mokutsuki nodded and smiled, “No, you succeeded in completing the challenge.”
“Great! Can I start learning Soru now?” Obito jumped up excitedly, eager to practice the excellent teleportation technique he’d seen Guy and Shisui use.
“This is the training scroll for Soru. Remember to study it thoroughly.” Mokutsuki handed Obito a scroll.
“I’ll definitely memorize it.” Obito eagerly opened the scroll, finding some familiar content.
On closer inspection, Obito realized some of it was the speed-increasing chakra techniques Mokutsuki had taught him earlier.
Obito immediately understood everything.
Mokutsuki hadn’t been withholding Soru from him; from the start of the challenge, Mokutsuki had planned to teach him Soru.
The first challenge, the forest sprint, tested his physical abilities. The second challenge had already incorporated part of Soru’s techniques.
“Sensei, you’re the best teacher in the world!” Obito was deeply moved by Mokutsuki’s thoughtful teaching.
[You gifted your disciple the training scroll for Soru. Your disciple is immensely grateful. Critical reward triggered: Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation (Master Level)]
Today’s reward was better than Mokutsuki had expected, a critical hit resulting in a master-level jutsu, and it was the powerful Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.
“I almost forgot, here’s your entrance fee.” Mokutsuki smiled, handing Obito three test papers.
Obito’s smile froze. He knew something had felt off, and now he realized it was the test papers!
This was the one thing he wished Mokutsuki would forget.
“Since you forgot, can’t we just let it slide?” Obito started to feel dizzy at the sight of the papers.
Mokutsuki tapped Obito’s head with two fingers, “Nice try, but although you can’t skip them, I can let you pay them off in installments without interest.”
Hearing this, Obito brightened up again. Without interest, he would have fewer questions to answer.
Mokutsuki then began teaching Obito Soru.
Finally able to practice the cool teleportation technique, and after the arduous process of earning it, Obito trained with great dedication.
…
Anko found her two friends behaving strangely lately, constantly huddling together, laughing about something.
“Are you guys hiding something fun from me?” The straightforward Anko directly confronted Kotetsu and Izumo.
“There’s nothing fun. We’re preparing for next week’s combat test,” Kotetsu explained.
“Really?” Anko looked at Kotetsu skeptically.
“Don’t use that suspicious look to insult our honest character,” Izumo said, emphasizing their sincerity.
“So, how are you preparing?” Anko asked.
Kotetsu and Izumo exchanged glances before finally responding, “This preparation isn’t suitable to share with you.”
Though they were close friends, they were not blind to Anko’s gender.
“Fine, I’ll see what tricks you pull on Monday,” Anko pouted, determined to teach them a lesson if they crossed paths in the combat test.
As the combat test approached, everyone was preparing.
Some aimed to excel and advance to higher-level groups, while others wanted to impress someone they cared about.
On Saturday afternoon, Asuma asked Mokutsuki to increase his training load.
(End of Chapter)
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