When his right hand was fully opened, there was only a bit of black ash, and no green leaf as before. Once the wind blew away the ash, there was nothing left.
Obito laughed smugly and said, "Kakashi, looks like you guessed wrong."
Kakashi squinted and grabbed Obito's left hand, opening it, and as he expected, it was empty. After a moment's thought, he pieced everything together.
"Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Changes." Kakashi looked at Obito with some surprise. He didn't expect Obito not only to have a basic grasp of nature transformation but also the brains to set him up.
The former was already quite strange, but it wasn't impossible. The latter, however, genuinely surprised Kakashi.
"Hahaha, Kakashi, you didn't see this coming, did you?" The grin on Obito's face grew more arrogant.
"It was a bit surprising, seems I've been slacking lately." Kakashi's expression returned to calm.
Though he felt Obito had grown a lot, Kakashi, looking at Obito's arrogant face, was in no mood to praise him.
"Damn you, Kakashi, what do you mean by that?" Obito was a bit unhappy.
If losing to him meant slacking off, wasn't that calling him weak?
Kakashi said blandly, "I meant what I said."
"You..." Obito initially wanted to spar a bit more with Kakashi, but then thought it was better to get back to training since he had already achieved his goal.
He may have beaten Kakashi this time, but there won't be such easy tricks to rely on in a real competition; it's a contest of raw strength.
"Whatever, I'm in a good mood today, so I won't argue with you. Remember to sign up for the competition. You won't chicken out after losing, right?" Obito said.
"A bet's a bet." Kakashi replied.
Originally, he thought the competition would be uninteresting, but seeing Obito's significant growth, Kakashi felt it might be worth a little anticipation.
Having achieved their objective, Nohara Rin and Obito quickly bid farewell and left Kakashi.
"Obito, how did you do that just now? That seemed really amazing."
On their way back, Nohara Rin discussed the recent bet with Obito.
Receiving a compliment from Nohara Rin, Obito swelled with pride and laughed loudly, "Hahaha, it was just Chakra Nature Changes, nothing too special..."
But overly proud and oblivious to his surroundings, Obito crashed into an electric pole beside Kakashi's house.
"Damn you, Kakashi!" Obito blamed the pole's placement next to Kakashi's house for his misfortune.
As Kakashi watched them leave: ...
He withdrew that little bit of expectation in his heart, realizing there was no change at all—still just as naive as before.
...
In ninjutsu class, after Mokgetsu completed his lecture and demonstration, he let the students practice on their own, telling them to ask him directly if they had any questions.
Mokgetsu understood the gap between theory and practice very well.
Most of the time, your brain tells you it understands, but your body tells you you understood nothing.
"I'm used to splitting clones that look like myself; it feels weird to transform into something else," Hagane Kotetsu said, scratching his head.
"Why not ask Teacher Habu if there are any special tricks?" Kamizuki Izumo suggested.
Anko nodded her head, adding, "If you have questions, Teacher Habu is the one to ask."
The three were collaborating in developing a new jutsu, trying to combine clones and transformation to surprise the entire school in the upcoming finals for better grades.
They agreed and approached Mokgetsu to ask their question.
Mokgetsu thought for a moment and said, "You can try starting with simple objects to get accustomed to the feeling, then gradually move to more complex forms."
"Simple objects..." Hagane Kotetsu pondered deeply.
While Anko pointed at a chair on the podium and said, "Let's start with chairs; they're simple enough, right?"
Kotetsu glanced over and nodded. The structure of a chair was indeed simple enough, just some wooden sticks and a wooden board pieced together.
Thus the three began practicing according to Mokgetsu's suggestion, and the scene in the classroom started to turn odd.
Soon, there were chairs with three legs, two legs, even one leg scattered around the classroom.
"Turns out chairs aren't as simple as we thought," Kamizuki Izumo admitted, scratching his head in embarrassment, looking at the one-legged chair he created.
"Are you trying to kill me with laughter, Izumo?" Hagane Kotetsu immediately pointed at Izumo's one-legged chair and mocked loudly.
Kotetsu's antics drew the whole class over, and they couldn't help but laugh at the magical chair.
"And your two-legged chair isn't weird?" Kamizuki Izumo retaliated, blushing.
Everyone turned to look at Kotetsu's chair; it had a leg in the front and another on the same side at the back, eliciting more laughter.
"You two can't compare to me, the second in the class," Anko said, crossing her arms. Her chair not only had three legs but it was walking around her.
The strange scene made it even harder for the students to hold back their laughter, and as it was near the end of school, even students from other classes came to watch.
Amidst the joyous laughter, the bell rang, and Mokgetsu announced the end of class.
[Lecture complete]
[Evaluation: A]
[Reward: Mystical Palm Jutsu]
A series of memories about training and using the Mystical Palm Jutsu entered Mokgetsu's mind.
"Not a bad day," Mokgetsu nodded to himself upon seeing that the reward was the Mystical Palm Jutsu.
It's not an ordinary medical jutsu but a rather advanced one. Not many medical ninjas in Konoha have mastered the Mystical Palm Jutsu.
The Mystical Palm Jutsu can treat injuries, and it can even cure internal diseases, making it quite powerful in the field of treatment.
With the Mystical Palm Jutsu, Obito's training in nature transformation becomes safer, as injuries can be immediately healed.
"Now, I've finally gathered the seven attributes," Mokgetsu thought.
The Mystical Palm Jutsu pertains to Yang Attribute Chakra Nature Changes. Since he hadn't mastered this attribute, the system generously gave him a bit of training memory for the nature change.
Including the genjutsu from Yin Release he learned earlier, he had grasped the nature changes of seven attributes.
After school, Mokgetsu routinely took his disciples for training, and after practice, he didn't return to the main city but stayed at his residence in the Southern Border Forest.
Today was the day he was to report to the Root Organization.
Since Shisui's personality was naturally different from the average Uchiha, Mokgetsu reported this truthfully, while he used a bit of artistic license in other areas.
For instance, in the grade-level combat exam, Hyuga Kamon defeating opponents was described as effortlessly showing genius, whereas Obito and Guy's victories were largely due to luck.
Regarding Asuma's mission, Mokgetsu mentioned that Asuma had already accepted him as a teacher and asked if he should try recruiting Asuma into the Root Organization.
As long as Danzo hasn't gone senile, Mokgetsu believed he wouldn't receive a positive response from Danzo.
The reason for reporting this way was simply to make Danzo aware of his successful mission, showing that he had gained Asuma's recognition, and to subtly express his loyalty to the Root.