Chapter 475: Who Is the Strongest of Konoha's Younger Generation?
At noon, Minato Namikaze did as he always did. He packed food from Mugetsu's house and brought it to Kushina's Sealing Technique room.
That sense of long-lost routine returning made Minato feel noticeably more relaxed.
Even a shinobi like him would feel pressured after spending too long on the battlefield.
When Minato arrived, the ANBU assigned to Kushina's protection chose to ignore him. Given his relationship with Kushina, he had permission to come and go from this special place.
Minato still smiled faintly and greeted them when he noticed their presence.
Although Kushina disliked the ANBU, who claimed they were protecting her while clearly monitoring her, Minato understood the village's position.
The destructive power of a tailed beast was too terrifying. If anything went wrong, the Nine-Tails could plunge all of Konoha into crisis in an instant. These safeguards were necessary, even if they were unpleasant.
The two ANBU nodded back. After all, one did not strike a smiling person, and the one greeting them was the Yellow Flash, one of Konoha's strongest of the new era.
Before Minato could even knock, Kushina's complaints poured out from inside.
"What time is it? Why isn't it lunchtime yet? Who decided on three meals a day anyway? Why not six meals a day?"
Minato's lips curled into a helpless smile. He knocked on the door.
The door swung open.
"Has the food arrived? You're so slow. Can't you be faster next time" Kushina was already mid-complaint, clearly aiming her words at the ANBU.
Then she saw who it was.
Her eyes lit up, landing immediately on the food box in Minato's hands. "Minato, you're back! Perfect timing. I'm starving."
She snatched the box, pulled the lunch out, and set it on the table inside the room.
With her movement restricted and forced to live under watch every day, the thing Kushina looked forward to most was eating. It was one of the few things that still made her feel genuinely happy.
Of course, "eating" here only meant one thing.
Mugetsu's cooking.
Minato understood her perfectly. Otherwise, he would not have rushed overnight yesterday.
The two of them did not talk at first. They simply focused on finishing lunch, and only after the last bite did they finally look up at each other.
Kushina wiped the oil from the corners of her mouth with a tissue. Then she rested slender fingers under her fair chin and stared at Minato with intense seriousness, as if she were studying a new sealing formula.
Minato noticed her gaze. Thinking he had something on his face, he instinctively touched his cheek and forehead.
Nothing.
"Kushina, what are you looking at?" he asked, honestly confused.
"I'm looking at your face," Kushina replied as if that should have been obvious.
Minato froze.
He suddenly felt like he had wasted half a minute of his life.
"Actually," Kushina continued, gesturing around his eyes, "I was wondering if your cooking would improve if you wore black framed glasses."
Minato sighed. "Even if you think that, Kushina, my cooking still can't become like Mugetsu's."
Minato had considered learning Mugetsu's cooking. He had even acted on it, and Mugetsu had taught him.
With Mugetsu's guidance, Minato's cooking skills had improved a great deal.
But compared to Mugetsu, it still felt like staring up at a mountain peak that could never be reached.
"Hehe. I'm joking," Kushina laughed. "How could something like that happen?"
Then her expression shifted, curiosity igniting like a spark that refused to go out.
"Minato, do you know? Mugetsu's reputation is huge now. People gave him the title Raging Sun Mugetsu and everyone's arguing about something."
She leaned forward, eyes bright.
"Who do you think is the strongest shinobi of Konoha's younger generation?"
Minato nodded.
Konoha's propaganda about Orochimaru and Mugetsu's great victory on the East Bank Battlefield had been intense, meant to boost morale across the entire village. Even on a different front, Minato had heard plenty.
Then Kushina's gossip instincts fully caught fire.
"Minato, have you fought Mugetsu? Who's stronger between you?"
One was a close friend.
The other was her future husband.
They were similar in many ways.
Kushina could not help being curious about who would come out on top.
If it were before, Kushina would have assumed Minato.
It was not because of bias toward her boyfriend. Minato's strength truly was terrifying. He only became famous after fighting in the war for some time, but Kushina knew he had always been strong. War simply sharpened him further, and then he earned his reputation by stepping on the fame of other shinobi.
As for Mugetsu, before he went to the East Bank Battlefield, Kushina had never heard of him defeating powerful enemies, and she had never seen him truly fight. Naturally, she would have believed Minato was stronger.
But now things were different.
Many powerful figures had died at Mugetsu's hands. He had even joined forces with Orochimaru to kill a jinchuriki. That alone proved he was anything but ordinary.
Between true powerhouses, you could not determine strength without a fight.
Too many factors shaped a battle. You could not simply compare reputations, intelligence, or a list of techniques and declare a winner.
"I haven't fought Mugetsu," Minato said, shaking his head, "so I can't really say who's stronger."
If Minato had been present during the battle on the East Bank Battlefield, he could have inferred far more.
But he had only seen Mugetsu fight once, long ago, when they worked together against a jinchuriki on the Land of Grass battlefield.
That war had been nearly two years ago.
Mugetsu had clearly made rapid progress since then. The strength he showed back in the Land of Grass could not represent who he was now.
Minato thought for a moment, then added, "However, Mugetsu and I will spar soon. After it happens, I'll tell you the result."
Kushina's eyes sparkled. Excitement practically radiated off her. "Where are you going to fight? I want to watch!"
"Don't even think about it," Minato said, then flicked a subtle glance toward the door.
Kushina's maximum activity range was limited to the large barrier set up around the core area of the village.
Until she could completely block the Nine-Tails' chakra interference, she could not leave the barrier's coverage.
A fight between shinobi at Minato's level and Mugetsu's level could not happen inside the village's main district.
Either ANBU or the Uchiha would stop it before it even began.
And even if it somehow was not stopped, the damage alone would bankrupt both of them.
Minato's reminder landed.
Kushina realized it instantly, and her face fell in the next breath. She puffed out her cheeks and flopped onto the bed, clearly sulking.
"This isn't allowed, that isn't allowed. Every day is so annoying!"
"There's no helping it," Minato said softly. He walked over, gently stroking her beautiful red hair. "Lord Sandaime and the others are doing it for your own good."
Then he added, "When the time comes, I'll do my best to describe the battle to you in detail."
Kushina's mood improved, just a little.
After that, Minato shared a few amusing stories about his and Mugetsu's disciples.
Kushina laughed loudly, completely unrestrained. "Why does Obito only get stronger in raw power and not in anything else?"
Kushina had met Minato's three disciples before.
She could not leave the barrier, but Obito and Kakashi could enter.
Still, because of the inconvenience and restrictions, she did not see them often, and her impressions mostly came from Minato's stories.
After spending half an hour with Kushina, Minato finally said goodbye.
He would be very busy in the coming days. Otherwise, he would not have visited only at noon. He had already been occupied with all kinds of matters since morning.
…
In the afternoon, an ANBU shinobi approached Mugetsu.
"Captain Mugetsu," the ANBU said, wearing a cat-faced mask, "I will take you into ANBU to collect essential items for members."
Although Mugetsu's position was somewhat symbolic, he was still officially part of ANBU. The procedures had to be followed.
Mugetsu nodded and followed.
In truth, this Mugetsu was only a shadow clone.
But for something as small as collecting supplies, there was no need for his main body to appear.
When the two entered the ANBU base, the masked ANBU removed his cat-faced mask and greeted him again.
"Teacher Mugetsu, my apologies," Hiten said. "The trip here was part of a mission, so I couldn't remove my mask."
ANBU rules were strict. On missions, they were required to wear their masks.
So even though Hiten had previously been trained by Mugetsu and respected him deeply, he did not reveal his identity on his own. He waited until they reached the base before taking it off.
"I understand," Mugetsu replied with a faint smile. "You're ANBU, after all."
In truth, Mugetsu recognized him immediately.
A shadow clone could not use the Appraisal Technique, but Mugetsu remembered everyone he had taught. Just from build and posture, he could tell it was Hiten.
As they moved deeper into the base, many ANBU greeted Mugetsu.
Not all of them had been trained by him. Many had only heard about his deeds.
After all, Mugetsu had taught only fifteen ANBU last time, along with fifteen Root members.
Despite meeting so many ANBU, Mugetsu did not see any particularly notable figures he remembered from the original story.
Thinking about it, it made sense.
From what he recalled, the only original characters he clearly remembered with ANBU identities were Kakashi, Yamato, and Uchiha Itachi.
Kakashi had already changed quite a bit compared to the original story and might not even become ANBU.
Uchiha Itachi had only recently been born.
As for Yamato, Mugetsu did not know his current situation.
The ANBU members he recognized from the original story simply were not ANBU yet, so naturally he would not see familiar faces here.
After collecting the items, Hiten led Mugetsu to the ANBU captain's office.
"Captain Mugetsu, please have a seat," the ANBU captain said, looking at him with a kind gaze.
Mugetsu did not stand on ceremony. He sat in one of the only two chairs in the room.
Hiten took the initiative to leave, closing the door behind him.
"Let me introduce myself first," the ANBU captain said with an easy smile. "I don't carry the same reputation as you, Captain Mugetsu."
"I am Sarutobi Masanari, ANBU captain."
Between the surname and the face, Mugetsu could vaguely guess who this man was.
"Captain Mugetsu, I've admired you for a long time," Sarutobi Masanari continued, still smiling. "Today we finally have a chance to talk."
Even before Mugetsu became famous across the shinobi world, before he started cutting down enemies on the battlefield, Sarutobi Masanari had already heard plenty about him.
He heard praise from Hiruzen and from Asuma.
From Hiruzen, Mugetsu was a super genius, the shinobi most suitable to inherit his legacy.
From Asuma, Mugetsu was an unparalleled teacher, a near perfect person with no flaws.
Sarutobi Masanari could understand Asuma's feelings.
Hiruzen was strict, and then suddenly Asuma encountered a teacher like Mugetsu, someone strong and also easy to talk to. It would be hard not to admire him.
But the words coming from Hiruzen made Sarutobi Masanari feel uncomfortable at times.
Hiruzen often compared him to Mugetsu.
In Sarutobi Masanari's eyes, Mugetsu became that "other person's outstanding child."
At first, Sarutobi Masanari had been somewhat unconvinced. After all, he was an ANBU captain himself, a high ranking official within the organization.
Now, he had nothing left to say.
Mugetsu was a major contributor who had temporarily ended the East Bank Battlefield.
Sarutobi Masanari truly could not compare.
"This is the roster and related information for this training session," Sarutobi Masanari said, handing Mugetsu a set of documents. "Including Root, there are forty people in total. Twenty-five ANBU and fifteen Root."
Since Root was nominally under ANBU, Root's information was submitted to ANBU first, then passed on to Mugetsu.
Mugetsu took the documents and flipped through them.
Among the forty, half had received training last time.
Half had not.
Mugetsu guessed Lord Sandaime wanted a core group to become proficient in Darkness Breathing as quickly as possible, using them to speed up wider adoption later.
After all, accelerating the first group would naturally accelerate the second.
"Captain Mugetsu," Sarutobi Masanari asked curiously, "how is your training plan coming along? Can you reveal anything?"
The results of Mugetsu's previous ANBU training had shocked him.
In just two and a half months, Mugetsu had raised fifteen ANBU's overall strength significantly.
Sarutobi Masanari was not sure how much the Root members improved, but the fifteen ANBU trained by Mugetsu performed extremely well in later missions.
"At the moment, only new moves for the Darkness Breathing Technique are confirmed," Mugetsu replied after a moment of thought. "Other parts are still being considered."
This time, Mugetsu still intended to grind Breathing Technique and Nature Transformation proficiency.
He had two urgent needs.
One was developing Yang Release Breathing.
The other was raising his Wood Release proficiency.
Among them, developing Yang Release Breathing was the most important. He needed the Intermediate Class S-rank reward, Improved Understanding of Lecture Content.
"There are even new moves for Darkness Breathing?" Sarutobi Masanari said, half joking. "Now you're making me want to join too."
He had practiced Darkness Breathing using the method Mugetsu gave him and managed to succeed, but his proficiency was still not high.
Mugetsu only smiled and did not respond.
If Sarutobi Masanari truly joined, Mugetsu would teach him without hesitation.
As an ANBU captain, Sarutobi Masanari was undoubtedly elite jonin level, which made him an excellent student.
They did not talk for long. Sarutobi Masanari had other duties and left the office.
Mugetsu's shadow clone did not remain either. Not long after, it also departed from ANBU.
After walking some distance away from the base, the shadow clone dispersed, sending its memories back to the main body in the Southern Border Forest.
.....
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