Naruto: Strength Through Teaching

After the Chunin exam, the candidates returned to their daily routines.

Special training resumed as usual the following day.

Perhaps influenced by Obito and others' results, many students in the special training became exceptionally diligent.

Talent is not uncommon, as Konoha has always had its share of geniuses.

However, Obito and Guy were different. It was as if they had all struggled together before, and Obito and Guy had a bit more wealth. As a result, after a year, Guy and Obito transformed into millionaires.

Since they had risen step by step alongside them, the others felt that even if they couldn't become as strong as Guy, they shouldn't be in their current state.

Asuma, who had a good relationship with Obito, was even more motivated, as their experiences resonated deeply with him.

Mutsuki felt very pleased with this, as it was precisely the purpose of his specially arranged time off—to let these students see the strength of the best individuals at their age.

According to Mutsuki's observations, the S-rank rewards depended on the students' progress; the more they learned, the more he got rewarded.

The rest depended on skill levels. For example, raising the proficiency level of a Perfect-level Fire Release was quite difficult, while a Proficient-level Lightning or Earth Release could increase quickly.

Due to Mutsuki's demonstrated teaching abilities, Genin like Nara Ensui diligently continued their special training.

Nara Ensui was surprised to find that Mutsuki was not only strong in the five main elemental attributes but also quite capable in the special nature transformation of Yin Release. Although he couldn't teach the Shadow Secret Technique, he could clarify some issues related to Yin Release.

Five days after the Chunin exam, the list of those promoted to Chunin was finalized.

At this time, the Mist ninjas also left Konoha; after all, Konoha wouldn't provide them with headbands, and the Mist ninjas had to return to promote their own ninjas.

Mutsuki guessed that there might not be any strawberry ice cream back in the Mist Village because he saw Terumi Mei frantically stocking up on strawberry ice cream before they left Konoha.

She even generously gave him three servings of strawberry ice cream as a return gift for his earlier treat.

"You treated me to two servings before, so as Terumi Mei, I repay kindness with kindness and will treat you to three servings!" Terumi Mei said proudly.

She originally didn't have much money, but since they were leaving, Genji gave them some funds to buy local specialties from Konoha, such as souvenirs from the Land of Fire.

So, Terumi Mei spent all of that money on ice cream. She thought it was great, as it was something the Mist Village didn't have, and it was delicious.

Terumi Mei was very satisfied with this trip to Konoha; she got to enjoy tasty strawberry ice cream and gained Genji's recognition, and aside from being eliminated in the top eight, she had no regrets.

"Well, I won't be polite and will gladly accept it," Mutsuki said with a faint smile as he accepted it and then left.

Although he wasn't particularly interested in such sweets, he could give them to the students.

Terumi Mei watched Mutsuki's back, revealing a thoughtful expression.

She always found Mutsuki to be quite strange—not the silly kind of strange like Obito, but rather giving her an odd feeling.

Just now, Terumi Mei finally understood what that odd feeling was, as Mutsuki didn't treat her as an outsider from another village when they interacted.

Due to wearing the Mist Village headband, even someone as silly as Obito radiated a noticeable sense of distance.

Mutsuki wasn't exactly close to her, but when Terumi Mei communicated with him, it felt like talking to a stranger from her own village.

If it weren't for Terumi Mei spending some time in Konoha, she might not have noticed the difference.

"What a strange guy…" Terumi Mei muttered to herself, then decided not to think about it any further, figuring she might be overthinking.

...

"Going to the Hokage's office? Could it be that there's a challenging mission for us to complete?" Obito asked excitedly after hearing Minato's words.

"Is it to rescue a kidnapped princess or to repel invading enemy forces?"

Minato smiled and shook his head, saying, "Such missions aren't something you can take on, and besides, Kakashi hasn't fully recovered yet, so it's impossible to assign you a mission."

Although Kakashi and Guy were discharged on the fourth day due to Tsunade's treatment, their bodies hadn't completely healed, and they still needed some time to recuperate.

Obito looked at Kakashi with an exasperated expression, feeling that ninja novels were misleading—there weren't that many princesses getting kidnapped.

"What is it then?" Obito asked, somewhat disappointed, thinking it might be that his performance in the Chunin exam had impressed Hiruzen.

"You'll find out when you get there," Minato said with a mysterious smile, not directly telling Obito and the others.

Kakashi, observing Minato's expression, guessed what it was about—likely a promotion to Chunin.

Thinking about this, Kakashi's expression became somewhat subtle as he considered whether he should accept another Chunin vest if the village issued one to him.

Kakashi figured that if they really offered it, he would accept it, after all, he had earned it, and vests were essentially consumable items.

On their way to the Hokage Building, Obito and the others encountered a few familiar faces from the Chunin exam.

"Hey, Kakashi, how's the recovery going?" Guy asked with a bright smile, his rows of white teeth sparkling in the sunlight.

"We've only been discharged for a day, how much can we recover?" Kakashi replied with a deadpan expression.

"Ahahaha!" Guy didn't find it embarrassing at all and laughed loudly.

"Of course, it's because I'm eagerly looking forward to our next battle, my dear friend!" Guy said, his eyes shining as he looked at Kakashi.

For Guy, losing wasn't terrifying; after all, he had lost the vast majority of the battles in his life, with victories being the rare exception.

What he sought was not invincibility, but to gain experience from failures and forge future victories, thereby striving to become the strongest.

Since Kakashi had already transformed from a pursuer to a leader, he naturally wanted to surpass Kakashi as soon as possible.

"Let's talk about it once I've fully recovered," Kakashi replied, shaking his head.

It was only because his body hadn't fully healed that he hadn't challenged Shisui to redeem himself yet.

After his previous losses to Guy, Obito, and Shisui, Kakashi had been determined to defeat them all once his strength caught up. Now that he had finally reached that level, he wasn't going to miss this opportunity.

After all, Mutsuki's disciples were incredibly competitive, and Kakashi didn't think he could maintain his lead indefinitely.

If Guy could stabilize the Eight Gates and could refine his Konoha's Dragon God further, then Kakashi's still not fully mastered Transparent World might not be enough to win.

Kakashi planned to focus on mastering the free activation of Transparent World since he couldn't engage in any intense training recently; he would use all his time to study Transparent World.

"Hey, you guys are here too," Asuma greeted as he spotted Kakashi and the others.

"Guy, Asuma, were you also notified to go to the Hokage's office?" Obito asked after responding.

Guy and Asuma both nodded.

Seeing this, Obito immediately started to work his little brain, guessing the reason.

"Could it be that our performance has been so impressive that the Third Hokage wants to recruit us into some secret division?" Obito said with a look of sudden realization.

Kakashi's mouth twitched; he had to admit that Obito's thought process was quite unusual.

If it were just Obito, him, and Guy, it might be possible, but with Rin and Asuma included, that seemed unlikely.

"It's probably about the Chunin promotions," Kakashi said directly to prevent Obito from coming up with more strange ideas.

"Yeah, that should be it; otherwise, there wouldn't be a need to call me to the Hokage Building," Asuma nodded in agreement.

"But Kakashi, aren't you already a Chunin?" Obito looked at Kakashi with a puzzled expression.

"I participated in the Chunin exam as well, so when we get to the Hokage Building, you'll naturally see whose guess was correct," Kakashi said, not wanting to argue too much with Obito on this matter, especially since it was a bit odd for a Chunin to participate in the Chunin exam.

Upon arriving at the Hokage Building, Kakashi became even more certain of his guess, as he also saw Nara Ensui and Yamashiro Aoba, who were fellow candidates in the Chunin exam.

Everyone entered the Hokage's office together. Since it was Obito's first time there, he looked around with curiosity, only to find that the Hokage's office was completely different from what he had imagined.

Obito had expected the Hokage's office to be filled with extremely dangerous scrolls containing classified information, with powerful ninja tools hanging on the walls.

In reality, the Hokage's office had a large desk, many windows, and not much else—not even extra chairs.

"You all performed excellently in the Chunin exam. Not only did the scoring ninjas acknowledge your performance, but the officials and clients who came to observe also recognized it. Therefore, I have decided to promote you all to Chunin!" Hiruzen said directly, cutting through any unnecessary chatter.

Nara Ensui, Yamashiro Aoba, and Asuma were all eliminated in the first round, but they all showcased their levels, and based on their overall performance, they were included in the promotion list.

As for Kakashi and the others, it goes without saying—they truly demonstrated Konoha's strength, with a level of ability that was beyond that of an ordinary Chunin.

Kakashi remained extremely calm, automatically ignoring Hiruzen's words, treating it as simply accompanying Obito and the others since he was already a Chunin and didn't need another promotion.

Asuma looked relieved; it really wasn't that he wasn't strong enough, but rather that Obito, Kakashi, and the others were too exceptional.

Nara Ensui displayed a smile, feeling that all his hard work in battle was worth it. Although he fell slightly short of Nohara Rin, he still managed to complete his promotion.

Yamashiro Aoba also smiled; he had been confident in his abilities, but unfortunately, he faced Kisame in the first match, leaving him worried about his promotion in the days that followed.

"Now I'm at the same level as my father; I'll strive to be promoted to Jonin together with him soon!" Guy said excitedly.

Since his father had been ridiculed as a perpetual Genin, Guy was somewhat concerned about the Ninja ranking.

"We all passed together," Rin thought to herself, smiling gently.

Before the exam, she was worried that she might hold everyone back, but after finishing, Rin felt no pressure, as she had fought with all her strength in the third match and could accept any outcome.

"So it really is a promotion to Chunin," Obito remarked, thinking that Kakashi had good luck today, which also confirmed his guess.

"What's wrong? Are you not satisfied with being promoted to Chunin? If you want to be promoted to Jonin, you still have a long way to go. Keep striving like Mutsuki and Minato," Hiruzen said with a smile.

"Hehe, it's not that, but now our entire team has become Chunin. Does that mean we can take on high-rank missions?" Obito replied with a grin.

Obito was naturally very happy about the promotion to Chunin, especially since Kakashi had often used his Chunin status to pressure him. Now that everyone was a Chunin, Kakashi no longer had that upper hand.

"In theory, if it's below A-Rank, there shouldn't be any problem. But for A-Rank missions, it depends on Minato's arrangements," Hiruzen said as he stroked his beard.

Now that Obito and the others were all Chunin, they didn't need Minato's approval to take on missions themselves; they could independently accept B-Rank missions without any issue.

However, for A-Rank missions, that was a different story. At least one Special Jonin was required for A-Rank, and for S-Rank, it had to be led by an experienced regular Jonin.

"A-Rank is still pretty good," Obito said with an excited smile, selectively ignoring Hiruzen's latter words.

Although Obito had A-Rank and S-Rank missions on his record, those had all been modified later; he had not officially accepted an A-Rank mission yet.

"These are your promotion certificates and Chunin vests. From now on, you will be Konoha Chunin, which means you will need to take on more responsibilities and will be assigned more dangerous missions!" Hiruzen said seriously. He then stood up and handed the corresponding promotion certificates to each of them, while they could take the vests themselves since they were all the same.

Becoming a Chunin not only grants more rights but also requires taking on more responsibilities. Generally, Jonin are not fully dispatched unless it's an extremely important mission; the main force consists of Chunin.

"As long as we can protect Konoha, it doesn't matter how dangerous the mission is," Obito declared, expressing his fearlessness towards danger.

Seeing Obito make such passionate remarks, Hiruzen nodded, thinking that Obito might become the next Uchiha Kagami.

Indeed, Hiruzen didn't have any tasks for them, so aside from Asuma, the others quickly left the Hokage office.

"Rin-chan, I told you we'd all be fine, didn't I?" Obito said to Rin, flipping his Chunin vest back and forth.

"Mm-hmm, you're right, Obito," Rin responded with a gentle smile.

As the voices of his companions faded away, Asuma directly asked Hiruzen, "Is there anything else? If not, I'm going to go train."

He was about to leave when Hiruzen called him back.

"Your Vacuum Sphere breath is too scattered; otherwise, you could penetrate the Phoenix Sage Fire. There are also issues with your Great Flame Jutsu training—the temperature of the flames is too low," Hiruzen said, picking up his pipe and discussing Asuma's Chunin exam performance.

"Tch, as if you know everything," Asuma replied with a dark expression as he turned to leave.

Just as Asuma opened the door to the Hokage office, Hiruzen spoke again.

"However, that last Combination Jutsu was acceptable; your overall performance was decent."

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