The correct way for the Uchiha to rise

Aside from satisfying some vanity, it offers no benefit whatsoever and will only attract the covetousness of others. Isn't this just asking for trouble?

Over the course of two years, the situation in the ninja world became increasingly dire, the power of the demigod Hanzo grew stronger, and the Land of Rain began to show signs of aggression.

Half a year ago, Uchiha Kiyoshi also sensed a cold and violent chakra. It was only fleeting, but Uchiha Kiyoshi remembered it very clearly. Even Uchiha Kiyoshi, who had a high opinion of the Nine-Tails, felt fear at that cold and violent feeling.

That was also the first time he felt the power of the Tailed Beasts and truly realized his own insignificance. No wonder so many people in the original work were so wary of the Tailed Beasts and so strict in controlling the Jinchūriki.

Uchiha Kiyoshi guessed that it must have been when the Nine-Tails changed its jinchūriki that it slightly revealed its power, but even that little bit made Uchiha Kiyoshi feel a chill from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, Konoha wouldn't allow the replacement of the Jinchuriki to become public knowledge so easily. Uchiha Kiyoshi was able to sense it thanks to his powerful soul and his self-developed mental perception technique—a sensory ninjutsu.

Chapter 57 The Situation

Konoha, Mission Department.

The third team members left the mission department and headed towards the village entrance.

Just now, the third squad received a B-level mission.

The situation in the ninja world has recently become truly tense. Even Orochimaru and his fellow Jonin instructors have been recalled to various missions and haven't had time to lead teams. Teams like Uchiha Kiyoshi's generation, and even those from previous and earlier generations, have been handling missions independently for the past few months.

The focus of missions has shifted from diversification to intelligence gathering and assassination. Uchiha Kiyoshi and his group just took on an intelligence gathering mission. Since they need to enter the Land of Rain, they may encounter Rain Ninja squads, and the difficulty is set at B-rank.

"Given the current situation, war will break out very soon. In Konoha Year 35, the Second Shinobi World War could very well break out around that time."

Because of some chronological inconsistencies in the Naruto series, Kiyoya Uchiha was also unsure of the exact timing of the Second Shinobi World War. He couldn't accurately determine many of the timelines and could only speculate based on the information he had.

That's how it is now. Even a small genin team can feel the impending storm. Even the usually carefree Nawaki is unusually tense. However, besides the tension, there's also excitement and frustration. Excitement because he can earn merit in the war, his path to Hokage hinges on this; frustration stems from the worry that Tsunade won't let him go to the battlefield. Even with the current missions, Tsunade has intervened many times. If it weren't for the fact that the three of them are indeed strong enough to return safely even in case of unforeseen circumstances, Team 3 would probably be stuck training in the village for the foreseeable future.

That's right, a genin team. The current members of Team 3 are all still genin. This is due to the current state of the ninja world; the Chunin Exams haven't been held for many years, so Uchiha Kiyoshi and his classmates haven't been promoted in rank and remain genin.

Uchiha Kiyoshi and Sarutobi Saku didn't care much; titles weren't that important, strength was the key. But Nawaki was furious. Three years after graduation, he was still a genin, and his elders had teased him endlessly. They didn't care about Nawaki's strength; they just focused on the fact that he was still a genin, and Nawaki was helpless about it.

In terms of strength, Team 3 is arguably the strongest group among all graduates in recent years. Uchiha Kiyoshi, needless to say, is a top-tier elite Chunin, even approaching the level of a Special Jonin. Sarutobi Saku, after his physical development began, finally no longer had a weakness in chakra, barely enough for him to fight. With the foundation laid in previous years, his strength has also improved by leaps and bounds, making him a barely acceptable elite Chunin. While Nawaki's mastery of ninjutsu isn't as good as the other two, his abundant chakra and disregard for ninjutsu mean that a barrage of attacks from him also qualifies him as an elite Chunin.

In other words, the entire Team 3 is composed of elite Chunin!

The village naturally wouldn't waste such valuable combat power, and spared no effort in assigning them tasks. Although, due to Tsunade's influence, the Third Hokage didn't assign them any extremely difficult A-rank missions, he still took good care of Team 3 in terms of the workload. Uchiha Kiyoshi and his team basically had no rest for the past three months, carrying out one mission after another. They completed about fifteen or sixteen missions in those three months, eight of which were B-rank, and the rest were high-difficulty C-rank missions.

Uchiha Kiyoshi and the others only complained a few times verbally, but they understood the village's arrangements. Moreover, to be honest, although the three of them were progressing quickly by training on their own, it was thanks to the benefits of their physical development; the actual effect of their own training was minimal.

Through battles and life-or-death experiences during missions, Kiyoshi Uchiha and his companions were able to progress faster, better master their abilities, and maximize the benefits of their physical development.

After registering to leave the village, the third team headed towards the Land of Rain.

This mission is a joint operation to investigate the deployment of Amegakure in the eastern part of the Land of Rain, near Konoha. The area is divided into five regions, centered around five cities. Team 3 is responsible for the southernmost region, Nagumo Town.

That's right, it's called Nanyun Town. Although it's called a city, it's only slightly larger than a town, not even qualifying as a small city, so it's called a town.

The Land of Rain is not a large country, and these larger towns function as cities in other larger countries.

The three elite Chunin traveled at a fast pace and reached the border of the Land of Rain in a single day.

The members of Team 3 also slowed down and disguised themselves to enter the Land of Rain.

"Our mission this time is to scout the area surrounding Nanyun Town. Our main objective is to gather intelligence and know their distribution. There's no need for a deadly fight. If possible, it's best to avoid conflict altogether. We'll be at a great disadvantage if a battle breaks out on their territory."

"Qing, you're being too cautious. It's not like we haven't fought against enemies outnumbered before. Last time, we faced a team of one elite Jonin and four Chunin, and we still managed to kill them, didn't we?"

Uchiha Kiyoshi glared at Nawaki, his tone becoming slightly stern.

"Get serious, how can these be the same?"

We were only able to do that last time in the Land of Fire, when our reinforcements were almost there. Even after killing them, didn't we lose our fighting ability? If reinforcements hadn't arrived, we would have been dead long ago.

In the Land of Rain, who knows if the enemy has reinforcements? We kill one batch, but then our stamina and chakra are depleted. What do we do when another batch comes?

Remember, when encountering enemies, if they have more than three Chunin-level strength, our primary objective should be escape. Don't be foolish enough to engage them in a direct confrontation.

Uchiha Kiyoshi was afraid that Nawaki wouldn't listen, so he said these words specifically to him.

Even Rope Tree was annoyed. "Fine, I'll listen to you, okay? What's with that look? Why are you glaring at me like that? Do you think I'm that stubborn?"

Although Nawaki was carefree, his upbringing had made him a bit more mature. The elders in his clan often instilled in him a sense of caution, and coupled with the subtle influence of Uchiha Kiyoshi over the past few years, Nawaki still valued his life. He took these matters concerning his own life to heart and remembered them firmly.

"Qing has a lot of experience in this area. If he says so, then there must be some truth to it."

Uchiha Kiyoshi looked at the silent Nawaki. Although he could tell that the guy had listened, he still felt that something was wrong with him.

The Land of Rain experiences frequent rainfall and has low incomes, resulting in a large impoverished population and a constant presence of refugees and disaster victims. This is the reason the Land of Rain waged wars; lacking resources, they could only acquire them through conquest. Only with larger territories could they better support their people.

This is not without reason. The Land of Fire and the surrounding Lands of Earth and Wind have virtually no inhabitants near their borders. These areas are mostly left undeveloped, making small countries like the Land of Rain naturally envious of their territory.

Unfortunately, these places are buffer zones for major powers, serving as buffer zones in times of war. They cannot be given to the Land of Rain.

The role of these zones is also obvious. In any war, refugees and disaster victims mainly appeared in small countries. Large countries like the Land of Fire rarely did. Their battlefields were in these buffer zones and rarely spread to people's residential areas. Apart from some economic impact, the real impact was still very small.

Uchiha Kiyoshi and his group blended in with a group of refugees and successfully arrived at their destination, Nan'gumo Town.

After arriving in Nan'un Town, Uchiha Kiyoshi and his two companions did not rush to complete their mission, but first found a place to settle down.

Chapter Fifty-Eight Encounter with Rain Ninjas

Outside Nanyun Town, there is a remote little mountain.

Inside a dilapidated cave, Uchiha Kiyoshi and his two companions were resting and recuperating.

A campfire used for cooking, and a large, relatively flat boulder covered with a layer of dry grass, presumably for sleeping.

Judging from the layout of the cave, it must have been inhabited. Uchiha Kiyoshi guessed that it was some homeless people or beggars who had nowhere else to go.

However, the things inside the cave show that no one has touched it for a long time, and it must have been abandoned for some time. It is unknown whether the people who lived here before died or were scattered to other places.

Uchiha Kiyoshi and his companions were exhausted from the journey. After arriving at the cave, they quickly tidied up and sat down to recuperate.

As ninjas, quickly entering a resting state is an essential skill. The members of Team 3, who have experienced over sixty missions, have all mastered this skill. Moreover, with Orochimaru absent for the past six months, they have had to rely on themselves and have gradually developed the habit of maintaining sufficient vigilance while resting.

Especially Uchiha Kiyoshi, since mastering the new secret technique, his mental perception and sensory abilities have improved significantly. Even while resting, he is basically not afraid of being touched within ten meters of him.

Mental perception, though described as a new secret technique, was actually a sensory ninjutsu developed by Uchiha Kiyoshi to complement his Substitution Technique and better adapt to spatial changes.

The principle of spiritual perception is not difficult. It is simply to modify the body-cultivation technique to restore chakra outside the body and use the spiritual energy that has dissipated in the surroundings to perceive the surrounding environment.

Spiritual energy is unique; it's related to the soul, yet it's not soul power. Uchiha Kiyoshi still hasn't figured out how this energy is generated. He discovered it by chance; spiritual energy can reflect the situation in the area it's in into his mind. Within the body, it's the ability of internal vision; outside the body, it's the ability of perception.

Just like physical energy, spiritual energy cannot exist outside the body. Even if someone is exceptionally gifted and manages to move either of these two energies outside the body, they cannot stray too far from the body due to the dissipation of the two energies, and therefore cannot be perceived using spiritual energy.

However, Uchiha Kiyoshi possessed a health cultivation technique, and after discovering the characteristic of spiritual energy, he was naturally not limited by the inability to spread spiritual energy.

By dispersing chakra into the air and then reverting it to spiritual energy, Uchiha Kiyoshi was able to perceive his surroundings. As long as he continuously released chakra and maintained a balance between the rate of spiritual energy dissipation and generation, he could stably perceive his surroundings.

Having cultivated his body-nourishing techniques for seven years, Uchiha Kiyoshi was extremely skilled at restoring chakra. He could even control the chakra located 500 meters away from his body and restore it as spiritual energy.

The range of mental perception is also determined by this. Currently, Uchiha Kiyoshi can maintain his perception of a 300-meter radius around him relatively easily while fighting. Within this range, Uchiha Kiyoshi essentially possesses a kind of mental scanning ability.

Because the perception of spiritual energy is the perception of surrounding objects, after Uchiha Kiyoshi became proficient in the shape of objects, he was able to transform it into a visual effect, directly presenting the environment of the area where his spiritual energy was located in his mind.

With Uchiha Kiyoshi's improvements, utilizing his spiritual energy to perceive light, the images presented in Uchiha Kiyoshi's mind became increasingly realistic.

I can't perceive chakra as a form of energy.

Even so, this is essentially a weakened version of the Byakugan, and it was of great help to Uchiha Kiyoshi.

……

After recovering his condition, Uchiha Kiyoshi began assigning tasks.

"Nawaki will be in charge of scouting the southern area of ​​Nagumo Town, Sarutobi Saku will be in charge of the north, and I'll be in charge of the west. We'll meet here at 3 PM every day to exchange information. Once all three of us have finished our scouting, we'll conduct scouting in the east on our way back."

Nawaki and Sarutobi Saku both had no objections and nodded in agreement with Uchiha Kiyoshi's arrangement.

Uchiha Kiyoshi was the strongest and was in charge of the most dangerous eastern region, near the direction of Amegakure, where the probability of encountering Amegakure ninja was also the highest.

"Be careful and stay hidden. As long as there's no conflict, there shouldn't be any problems."

This was also what Uchiha Kiyoshi was thinking.

After assigning their respective tasks, the three of them didn't say much and headed towards their assigned areas.

Before leaving, Uchiha Kiyoshi gave one last reminder.

"If an emergency occurs and a conflict breaks out with the Rain Ninja, as mentioned before, do not fight to the death. Prioritize survival and notify the other two at the same time."

As Orochimaru's students, Uchiha Kiyoshi and his two companions, although not granted the Ryuchi Cave summoning contract by Orochimaru, signed a slightly lesser contract that allowed them to summon small snakes to exchange information.

For the next two days, the three members of the third team carried out their respective exploration missions.

The location of Amegakure Village near Nan'un Town is becoming increasingly clear.

The number of Rain Ninja they discovered wasn't large, mainly because they couldn't thoroughly investigate places like bases.

Around the entire Nan'un Town, as many as thirteen small bases suspected to be gathering places for Amegakure ninjas have been discovered.

The ninjas in these bases are those who can be deployed immediately after the outbreak of war. Only by knowing the location and number of these bases can Konoha roughly estimate the enemy's strength and avoid being caught off guard.

That day, Uchiha Kiyoka had just finished surveying the distribution of Rain Ninja in his assigned area and was planning to return to Nawaki Town to meet up with Nawaki.

Suddenly, a small snake appeared beneath Uchiha Kiyoshi's feet and spoke in human language.

"Qing, Saku Sarutobi has encountered Amegakure and is surrounded by them."

"what?"

Upon hearing the information brought by the little snake, Uchiha Kiyoshi was greatly alarmed.

"Damn it, the enemy must have discovered our intelligence gathering these past two days and set up an ambush."

No longer caring about concealing their whereabouts, Uchiha Kiyoshi, guided by the little snake, rushed towards Sarutobi Saku's location with all his might.

Saku Sarutobi was surrounded by the enemy.

Since it's described as an encirclement, there must be at least two small teams involved. Uchiha Kiyoshi needs to get there as quickly as possible, otherwise Sarutobi Saku might not be able to hold out by himself.

On the other side, Nawaki also received the news and rushed towards Sarutobi Saku's location with all his might.

……

"Hehe, Konoha ninjas, looks like they're here to gather information about us."

Unfortunately, we still managed to catch you red-handed. Where are your companions? Shouldn't you Konoha ninjas always go on missions in three-person teams?

Did you summon the snakes just to notify them?

Hehe, we're waiting for them to come.