The Great Hero Uchiha

However, he wasn't the only one there. While rapidly forming hand seals, he asked a Jonin from the Hyuga clan next to him.

"Direction, depth".

The Hyuga clan Jonin immediately reported the enemy's location and depth.

"Tell me after you've gone fifty meters!"

"Yes."

In almost the time it takes to catch his breath, the Hyuga clan Jonin spoke up: "Depth 80, Distance 50, 45—"

[Illusion Technique: Dark Travel Technique]

Deprived of their sight, the Hidden Mist Village ninja only paused for a moment before calming down.

Vision in water is not as important as it is on land.

Uchiha Miyuki wasn't unaware of this, but blocking the enemy's hearing and sense of smell in the ocean was pointless, and the Tree Binding Barrier Technique was unlikely to be effective in this situation. He could only use the Dark Travel Technique to hold out for now, but as for what to do next, Uchiha Miyuki couldn't think of any solutions for the time being.

My brain started working at lightning speed at that moment.

Water Escape?

When using water-based techniques to attack underwater targets on the open sea, 99% of the power is neutralized.

Dive underwater?

Fighting a Mist Ninja underwater is practically suicide!

Before Uchiha Miyuki could come up with a solution, a Konoha water-style Jonin jumped off the boat, stood on the water, and raised his right hand towards the boat.

Water Release: Water Wave Hand

The sea began to churn, and huge waves propelled the ship rapidly into the distance.

Furthermore, the waves on the sea surface also interrupted the underwater ninja's technique.

The battle between Jonin in the ocean was like a clash of gods, every move astonishing, triggering incredible chain reactions. Furthermore, the concept of ninjutsu counters simply didn't exist; aside from Water Release and Wind Release, any other ninjutsu was at a significant disadvantage in this environment.

Unless they are beings who surpass the Kage level, like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.

Since the village's Jonin were able to handle it, Uchiha Miyuki began to ponder how he should fight on this side.

Illusion?

If the enemy is underwater, how can they perform the spell?

Water escape?

How to compete with the Mist Ninja, who specialize in Water Release techniques?

After thinking for a long time, I still couldn't come up with a suitable countermeasure. If the other side just wanted to plunder a wave and then run to the sea, I really could only take action while they were on land and infiltrate their camp to replicate the strategy of the Land of Grass. But... how could I find the location of the Hidden Mist Village camp in the vast ocean!?

Entering the homeland?

With the sea as a natural barrier, they could only blend into caravans.

Sending too few people is not very useful; even Uchiha Miyuki wouldn't dare to enter the Land of Water's mainland alone.

Those who have visited Kumogakure too many times aren't fools.

At this moment, Uchiha Miyuki once again understood the helplessness Uchiha Fugaku felt in the war against Kirigakure.

And the true intentions of the village's higher-ups!

Taking advantage of the situation in Kirigakure, he used the low profile to diminish the prestige he had built up.

What a clever scheme!

Uchiha Miyuki calmly watched the underwater battle between the Konoha ninja and the Mist ninja in the distance. It didn't look like a clash of ninjutsu, but rather a battle of magic between the two sides.

Anyone else would have switched to Water Release at this point. It might not be very effective, but it would still be a way to solve the problem. However, Uchiha Miyuki's idea remained the same: to find the solution by leveraging his own strengths. Clearly, that solution was the [Tenbu Horin], which directly blocked the opponent's five senses, even their chakra senses. As long as the opponent couldn't break through this blockade, even the most powerful Water Release technique would be meaningless.

Without the sense of touch and chakra sensing, one can't even be sure if they're forming hand seals, so how can they release ninjutsu?!

Thinking of this, Uchiha Miyuki frowned slightly.

It's easier said than done. If developing such ninjutsu were that simple, why didn't the Second Hokage continue researching it? He must have realized something, a problem he hasn't yet figured out, which is why he abandoned it.

Shouldn't we prepare for both possibilities?

P.S.: I'm so happy that the donations have exceeded 10,000!

It's decided. I'll continue writing after dinner. I'll update at least five chapters today, and if I have enough time, I'll write six or seven!

133. You won't be able to shock me this time.

Uchiha Miyuki and the others had been wanting to provide support but were at a loss.

The Sharingan cannot find underwater enemies through the deep blue sea. Even if it finds them through the Hyuga clan members around you, it is meaningless. Explosive tags and kunai can indeed explode underwater after some processing, but Kirigakure's underwater mobility is too strong. Like fish, the explosive tags and kunai will have their force neutralized by the sea. It is almost impossible to kill enemies below 80 meters.

Lightning Release?

This is the ocean!

Moreover, the enemy was at a depth of 80 meters or even 100 meters. How much power would it take to penetrate such a deep ocean and still hit the target?

Looking down at the swirling seawater.

The Hyuga clan Jonin immediately gave orders to the surrounding ninjas.

Abandon ship!

Everyone jumped off the boat, carrying whatever they had, and escaped the whirlpool.

Moments later, the entire ship was swallowed by the ocean.

After a while, the Konoha Water Release Jonin surfaced on the sea, panting heavily, and spoke after a moment.

"The enemy is gone. It's too dangerous to reach the Bear Country by wading through water. Let's return to the port."

Everyone nodded and returned to the port together.

Besides them, several other Konoha units also encountered attacks from Kirigakure ninja.

Is this a common occurrence?

"When Kirigakure is preparing to land and plunder, they usually use their ocean advantage to cut off our logistics and support troops."

The Hyuga clan Jonin looked somewhat dejected when he answered these questions.

Uchiha Miyuki pondered for a long time but still couldn't come up with a solution. Unless he could cede a portion of the Land of Bears' territory after resisting them, and allow Kirigakure to expand and set up camp there, there would be no way to fight a war. Otherwise, the Kirigakure ninjas would be like eels, able to move freely using the ocean's advantages.

Do we have any clues about the Hidden Mist Village camp right now?

"No, the ocean is so vast, it would be too difficult to track down the whereabouts of Kirigakure."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Miyuki sighed. The situation was too difficult. If they could find the location of the enemy camp, they could try to infiltrate it and use their advantages to defeat the enemy, or even steal some of Kirigakure's Water Release techniques.

"I'm not very familiar with the situation here. Do you have any solutions?"

"No, it all depends on luck. Kirigakure can't send too many troops to blockade the port. If we're lucky, we can get through."

Is this considered a countermeasure?

Although Uchiha Miyuki wanted to complain like that, he also understood that this was the only solution: to keep changing the flight path and hoping to find loopholes in the enemy's deployment.

Of course, this is without calculating how much it costs to build a ship or how long it takes.

The cost is too high.

Uchiha Miyuki thought for a moment.

"Then let's take a detour and go by ground."

"This is the only way."

The Land of Fire and the Land of Bears are connected, but traveling by water would save a lot of time and allow for the transport of more goods. Now that the land route has been cut off by the enemy, they have no choice but to travel by land.

Only when Kirigakure abandons the blockade can we travel by water again! This is Kirigakure's dominance over the ocean, and it is also the fundamental reason why the Land of Water, despite being ravaged by Obito Uchiha into the Village of Blood Mist in the original story, with most of the Blood Ninja dying and many Kirigakure ninja defecting, still managed to maintain its status as one of the Five Great Nations.

The group took a long detour, and with Chunin and those carrying heavy loads in the group, it took them nearly a month to reach the border of the Land of Bears.

Throughout the journey, Uchiha Miyuki studied the [Tenbu Horin].

In the end, they gave up.

It's not that I'm abandoning this technique, but rather that I'm abandoning the method of activating it using a barrier.

As the research progressed, more and more problems were exposed.

Firstly, because the number of senses blocked increases, the amount of chakra consumed during transmission increases, and the farther the distance, the higher the chakra consumption. At the same distance, the consumption is several times that of Dark Walk. This kind of consumption is simply unbearable for him. Moreover, once this technique exceeds a certain range, his control will be out of control, and he will be unable to distinguish between friend and foe.

The only feasible way is to perform the spell by touching it.

This necessitates completely overturning existing achievements and using Izanami as a model for research and development.

Illusionary techniques that create barriers are only suitable for situations like the Dark Travel Technique and the Tree Binding Barrier Technique. The effect must be singular to ensure that precise control can be maintained even when chakra is consumed.

This kind of redevelopment is not difficult.

Simply resorting to contact as a trigger is not suitable for dealing with this situation.

However, the research over the past six months has not been entirely useless. It has allowed him to discover the commonalities between illusion and barrier, which has greatly reduced the difficulty of developing illusion ninjutsu in the future.

They arrived at Konoha headquarters in the Land of Bears and met with Fugaku Uchiha again.

He was pondering which illusion technique to improve.

Fugaku Uchiha was drinking tea, looking quite relaxed.

"Your Majesty, come and sit down."

Uchiha Miyuki was a little surprised.

Fugaku Uchiha waved to an Uchiha clansman, and shortly after the man left, a three-year-old child walked in.

"This is Itachi, my son. This is the first time you've met, isn't it?"

"He's only three years old, isn't he?"

"I had him train by my side for two years, and then go on missions with genin to experience the scale of war in advance."

"..."

Uchiha Miyuki was somewhat unsure how to evaluate Uchiha Fugaku's behavior.