Cooperation and Support

What was the Konoha Style Body Technique?

Vidal certainly didn't know the authentic Konoha Style Body Technique. After all, he had never traveled to the ninja world, much less entered the Hidden Leaf Village to study it.

So what he needed to do was create his own version, a so-called self-taught Konoha Style Body Technique.

He recalled some of the classic Konoha Style Body Technique moves from the manga, then simulated them one by one in his room.

First were the two most basic moves, Konoha Whirlwind and Konoha Gale. They were essentially a spinning high kick and a spinning low kick.

Next was Konoha Rising Wind. Similar to Uchiha Sasuke's Lion Combo, it involved kicking the target in the jaw or stomach to send them flying, then delivering a spinning kick in midair to knock them back down.

To kick someone into the air with this move, however, he first had to use the so-called Shadow of the Dancing Leaf to approach the target at high speed. That meant he needed to work out a way to increase speed.

Of course, there was already a ready-made solution. Soru was naturally the best option, but without it, this could also be practiced as a preliminary skill for Soru.

If Soru required at least twenty steps against the ground in one second to use the powerful recoil for a high-speed instantaneous movement,

then taking five or ten steps in one second could be called Shadow of the Dancing Leaf, a lower-level version of Soru. Its speed naturally couldn't match the real thing, but it was still a good way for rank-and-file marines to improve their explosive power.

What he needed to do was develop a refined technique that reduced the difficulty as much as possible while still providing a degree of explosive speed.

Next was Might Guy's most frequently used move, Konoha Great Whirlwind, an all-around spinning kick with a wider range of motion.

Last was Front Lotus. Before mastering the Six Powers, this was probably the strongest move marines below the rank of captain could perform.

Of course, that assumed they had mastered the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf he had just described, and that their opponent's strength was within a reasonable range.

For this simulation, Vidal used slender branches in place of bandages and made a lifelike wooden figure his target.

It went smoothly. With his strength, there was naturally no problem, but it might be a little too difficult for rank-and-file marines, though it wasn't as demanding as the Six Powers.

These were the basic moves of the Konoha Style Body Technique. Higher-level moves like Konoha Strong Whirlwind and Konoha Diamond Strong Whirlwind clearly had to be combined with techniques from the Six Powers.

At most, those could be called extended applications of the Six Powers with Konoha Style characteristics. They were completely unsuitable for widespread teaching among rank-and-file marines, though they could be prepared as advanced moves.

Just like the future CP9 members' Shigan: Yellow Lotus, Soru: Razor, Tekkai: Jade, and Rankyaku: Leopard Tail.

He had finished simulating these Konoha Style Body Technique moves from the manga. What next?

A complete body technique couldn't consist of nothing but these bare moves. It also needed theory, training methods, and even ways to attack in combination.

For this, Vidal spent nearly half a day meditating and recalling memories buried deep in his mind, bringing to mind the key points of Spring Leg, one of the Han Chinese martial arts from his previous life.

He had watched a video about it on Bilibili back then. However, he had no foundation at all and couldn't understand it; he had simply thought it was impressive without knowing why.

But now, looking back on those key points and essentials, he had his own insights and understanding.

The key was that Spring Leg had characteristics compatible with the Konoha Style Body Technique: strength and power, a brisk rhythm, unity of intent and energy, crisp movements, coordinated cooperation, swift offense and defense, and strong explosive power.

As for coordinated cooperation, Might Guy and Rock Lee often used joint moves, such as Konoha Double Whirlwind. That was very useful for rank-and-file marines, who often fought in groups.

Of course, Vidal wouldn't copy everything about Spring Leg from his previous life. People's physiques differed, after all, and some things were meaningless to people in this world.

He only incorporated the parts suited to the Konoha Style Body Technique, filling in the various details the complete body technique lacked.

Over the next half day, he repeatedly practiced every body technique movement. In the process, he combined them with his own combat experience, constantly removing unnecessary elements and adapting them for actual combat.

To do this, he also created three Wood Clones to spar with him. For a time, the entire plant room was filled with the sounds of his legs whipping through the air at high speed and striking their targets.

This continued from the first afternoon until early the next morning, but he still had no intention of resting, nor did he need to.

While practicing the body techniques, he had thought of what seemed like a very good idea: could he incorporate the Three-Three System Tactics used by the military in his previous life?

The Three-Three System Tactics were the "squad assault tactics" in his previous life's infantry training syllabus. They emphasized one point and two flanks, with close coordination and alternating cover during an attack.

Each squad was divided into three combat teams, with three people per team, and each team attacked in a triangular formation.

Each soldier had a clearly defined role, responsible for attack, cover, or support, with those duties changing flexibly according to the situation.

These theories and tactics could be used directly. The rank-and-file marines here could use them in both gunfights and close-quarters combat!

So, for the time that followed, Vidal had his Wood Clones spar with him using the Three-Three System Tactics, suppressing his own strength as a matter of course.

His goal wasn't to defeat them, but to use continuous combat to refine the Three-Three System Tactics combined with the Konoha Style Body Technique.

Finally, he called Bullet over. The boy's years of battlefield experience would come in handy, and of course Enel, who always followed his older brother, came too.

"Your job is to fight these three Wood Clones and find as many flaws in their coordination as you can." Vidal patted his eldest son on the shoulder.

"Okay."

Bullet was very obedient this time. He put Enel, whom he had been holding, in a hammock to the side, then walked up to the three Wood Clones.

"Go, big brother!!" Enel cheered him on loudly, his face full of anticipation.

There was no referee to announce the start. When the three Wood Clones moved, two in front and one behind, Bullet went straight to meet them.

But after a little over five minutes of fighting, he noticed something peculiar about the three clones.

The Wood Clones were considerably slower and weaker than he was, but not so much that he could completely overwhelm them.

Yet whenever he fought one clone, another would always kick at him from the side, while the last clone kept a constant watch on his back.

Not only that, the three Wood Clones were extremely nimble on their feet. They moved with him, constantly staying to his left, right, and rear.

Their coordination was noticeably rough. Their cooperation, covering, and cross attacks were all somewhat unsmooth.

But their overall offense and defense were well organized, their advances and retreats purposeful. Bursts of wind from their kicks trapped him firmly in the center of the three.

Then Vidal suddenly realized he shouldn't place too much emphasis on combining the Konoha Style with the Three-Three System Tactics.

After all, on an actual battlefield among ordinary troops, most people couldn't possibly fight barehanded. More often, they fought and killed with the blades in their hands.

So, after the battle had gone on for about an hour, the two sides temporarily disengaged. Bullet saw a standard wooden long blade slowly emerge from each of the three Wood Clones' palms.

Vidal indeed wasn't particularly skilled with a sword, but that was compared with his own body techniques and Devil Fruit ability. It didn't mean he was completely incapable, and he was certainly much better than most privates first class and noncommissioned officers.

That was actually enough.

It's an honor that, thanks to everyone's tremendous support, this book's results have continued to climb. It's now ranked eleventh overall on the public authors' new book rankings and fifth in the light novel category! Even my editor said those results were good. My heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support. Thank you!