At three in the afternoon, while Mokgetsu was training with his disciples, a memory suddenly appeared in his mind. It was from the Shadow Clone he left at home.
Mokgetsu instructed the Shadow Clone to continue training the disciples, while he himself headed to the Hokage Building to meet with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Just now, a ninja dispatched by Sarutobi Hiruzen found the Shadow Clone at his house, saying there was a task for Mokgetsu and that he should go to the Hokage Office to learn the details.
Knock, knock.
After arriving at the doorstep of the Hokage Office, Mokgetsu quickly knocked on the wooden door.
"Come in."
Upon receiving Sarutobi Hiruzen's approval, Mokgetsu pushed the door open and entered the Hokage Office, greeting, "Lord Third."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded with a smile in response.
"The task is to train both the Anbu and Root members, and the number of trainees this time will be higher than last." Sarutobi Hiruzen explained.
Last time, Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't sure what level of skill Mokgetsu could maintain with teaching upper-level ninjas, so he only sent a few newcomers. This time, Sarutobi Hiruzen plans to assign as many Anbu as possible to Mokgetsu for special training.
The Breath of Darkness developed by Mokgetsu is indeed effective, with some novice Anbu showcasing better performance in tasks than some veteran members.
Sarutobi Hiruzen plans to spread the Breath of Darkness throughout the entire Anbu. Not only current members, but future Anbu members will also need to learn it.
However, none of the current Anbu members are proficient enough in the Breath of Darkness to teach others, so Sarutobi Hiruzen has no choice but to ask Mokgetsu to teach more people.
"Understood, I will do my best to instruct them." Mokgetsu nodded in agreement.
Shimura Danzo had actually already informed him of this matter, though Danzo's explanation was rather vague and not specific.
"I have complete confidence in your teaching ability, Mokgetsu. Whether it's your classes or your disciples, each one is more exceptional than the last." Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled as he stroked his goatee.
He hopes for the end of the war soon and for peace, so that talents like Mokgetsu can be of even greater use in peaceful times.
If it weren't for the war, Sarutobi Hiruzen would have gladly entrusted eighty percent of the Anbu to Mokgetsu for training.
Sarutobi Hiruzen also has the idea of having Mokgetsu teach others to be teachers, to see if he can elevate the overall teaching level of Ninja Academy instructors and team leaders.
He doesn't expect others to reach Mokgetsu's teaching level. Even if they achieve half, no, even a third of Mokgetsu's level, if Konoha invests time developing for a decade or so, the village's overall strength might reach an unprecedented peak.
Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were powerful individually, but Mokgetsu has the ability to make others strong along with him.
"To facilitate teaching, I've set up a unique training squad for you in the Anbu. This squad is higher than an ordinary squad but still below an Anbu Squad Captain." Sarutobi Hiruzen briefly introduced Mokgetsu to the Anbu structure.
In the Anbu hierarchy, the lowest rank is a regular member, above which is a leader with three subordinates. Above the leader is a squad leader with four subordinates, and above that is a captain with four squads under them, followed by deputy commanders and commanders.
Sarutobi Hiruzen felt that immediately appointing Mokgetsu as an Anbu Squad Captain would be inappropriate, but since Mokgetsu had notable achievements and was excellent in various aspects, only giving him the nominal title of squad leader seemed inadequate. Therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen created a special training squad, neither too high nor too low.
"Currently, this training squad only has you, the squad leader. If you find talented individuals in teaching, you can bring them in."
"Thank you, Lord Third." Mokgetsu displayed a look of shock and gratitude.
Though not as expressive as his outward emotions, Mokgetsu internally felt slightly surprised as Shimura Danzo hadn't mentioned anything about this.
"I don't deserve your thanks, I only gave you the title of squad leader." Sarutobi Hiruzen waved his hand dismissively.
In truth, he felt he was already being quite generous, though he wouldn't express that aloud, as it would diminish any goodwill earned.
Once Sarutobi Hiruzen finished explaining, Mokgetsu quickly left the Hokage Building and returned to the Southern Border Forest.
"The training squad doesn't actually have any practical use for me." Mokgetsu thought on his way back to the Southern Border Forest.
As a squad leader in the Anbu, you are considered middle to high tier. Mokgetsu's special squad leader status puts him a half tier above still, but these are just superficial titles, as Mokgetsu doesn't even have subordinates to command.
In Mokgetsu's view, even a Ninja School teacher would have more practical benefits, as a teacher can at least teach classes to gain Ninjutsu.
A squad leader can only have subordinates from four teams, which combined are not enough for Mokgetsu to trigger the class reward.
Compared to the squad leader title, the teaching tasks given by Sarutobi Hiruzen to Mokgetsu are quite good; Anbu ninja all have a certain level of strength, which can trigger intermediate class rewards. Achieving S-level evaluations daily would yield significant gains, such as teaching nature transformation or advancing proficiency in bloodline limits like Ice Release.
"I wonder when I'll be able to trigger the advanced class reward." Mokgetsu believed there must be a higher tier of class reward, though the trigger conditions are tough, with strict requirements on student strength.
After returning to the Southern Border Forest, Mokgetsu temporarily put aside these miscellaneous thoughts and focused on instructing his disciples. It was only upon returning home that he began preparing a training plan.
The training wouldn't start immediately, as it required considerable adjustments and changes to fixed schedules to extract enough Anbu. Mokgetsu had ample time to prepare the Anbu training plan.