The Essence of a Ninja

Sarutobi Saku was fine after the surgery. After spending more than half a month in the hospital, he had finally recovered.

Over those two-plus weeks, Uchiha Kiyoshi and Nawaki visited him every day. After three months of training together, along with this mission, the three of them had grown closer, and their bond had begun to take shape. This was also what the Third Hokage wanted to see. With his nephew serving as the link between them, and with Orochimaru's guidance, once Uchiha Kiyoshi matured, he would become a bridge between the village and the Uchiha Clan.

Having only just recovered from his injuries and having lost more than half a month of time, Sarutobi Saku was subjected to Orochimaru's brutal training after leaving the hospital.

For the past two days, Uchiha Kiyoshi and Nawaki had been spared Orochimaru's "care," so they had relaxed quite a bit.

Phew... Sarutobi Saku was finally better. Although this incident was over, it also sounded an alarm for me.

Because of my arrival, some things have already changed. That means many things will differ somewhat from what I know, though the overall direction probably won't change too much. At least, not yet.

Speaking of the plot, there's something else I need to watch out for. I still need to keep a low profile. That old ancestor Uchiha Madara isn't dead yet. He isn't even as old as he was when he saved Obito in the original story, which means he still has fighting strength. Even worse, the Rinnegan is still with him!

Keep a low profile, keep a low profile. I absolutely can't let Madara discover me. The Uchiha Clan's Mangekyo is far too uncontrollable, and Uchiha Madara would definitely be wary of it. It's just that, now that he's hidden behind the scenes, it isn't convenient for him to act. But if someone showed talent in that area, he definitely wouldn't mind snuffing them out ahead of time.

Madara can still hold on for another fifteen or sixteen years. It isn't time for him to seek a successor yet, much less choose an Uchiha as 'mature-minded' as me.

Mm, keep a low profile.

Having roughly set his future course of action, Uchiha Kiyoshi turned his attention back to training.

My training still isn't enough.

In short, during that little C-rank Mission, uh... B-rank Mission, I nearly died. If the Substitution Technique hadn't improved, I really would've been done for. My strength still isn't enough. Otherwise, if I'd dealt with the enemy earlier, how could there have been any Explosive Tag explosion?

Uchiha Kiyoshi did not know how Orochimaru had reported it, but when their records were updated, the mission had been raised to B-rank. Still, that was a good thing. Strictly speaking, the difficulty of their mission had not reached B-rank. It was probably done out of consideration for Orochimaru's standing. Sure enough, having connections was great.

Mm, it really was nice.

This incident showed that survival skills are extremely important. Look at Sarutobi Saku. Wasn't it because he lacked those skills that he suffered so much?

Mm, I need to hurry up and practice defensive Ninjutsu. Earth Style Wall is pretty good, but its rank is too high and it consumes a bit too much Chakra, so I can't use it frequently. I need to learn another defensive Ninjutsu, preferably one that requires fewer hand seals.

Also, I'm already familiar with the Chakra circulation for Earth Style Wall, so I can begin training to reduce the number of hand seals.

*...*

Uchiha Kiyoshi continuously made training plans for the coming period, striving to raise his survival ability by another level!

As for the Substitution Technique, ten meters is enough for now, but I also need to modify the part about using a wooden log as the substitute. Otherwise, it'll be inconvenient to perform.

Something like Minato's Flying Thunder God kunai would work well.

Mm, the Substitution Technique should develop in that direction next.

Thinking about the scene where he threw a kunai in the future, his enemy easily dodged it, and then he suddenly appeared behind them, Uchiha Kiyoshi became incredibly excited.

Wahahaha! By then, I should have enough ability to protect myself. I can consider attack tactics like that.

Who did not have dreams of being a hero? Uchiha Kiyoshi also dreamed of one day moving mountains and overturning seas with a wave of his hand, destroying heaven and earth. But reality would not allow it. Madara was still watching from the shadows.

So, he should obediently focus on training his survival skills first.

What? Playing it safe? No such thing! You're slandering me! This was called being prudent, just prudent! Put another way, it was called endurance!

A ninja had to understand endurance.

Isn't endurance the essence of a ninja? I understand it so thoroughly, and you still say I'm playing it safe?

After pushing himself to the limit that time, Uchiha Kiyoshi's body had been depleted for a long time. He had only recovered through this past half month, thanks to his Body Nourishment Technique.

Uchiha Kiyoshi was quite satisfied with the Body Nourishment Technique. He felt that this Secret Jutsu had laid an exceptionally perfect foundation for him.

As he nourished his body every day, Uchiha Kiyoshi could feel his physical qualities improving. It was not the sort of improvement that came from exercise, but a feeling that came from deep within. Uchiha Kiyoshi felt that it was evolution—the evolution of life, the evolution of one's very level of life!

Ahem... That made it sound grand, but the scale of the evolution was not that great. It was simply a very slow evolution. But it was still evolution, wasn't it? Leaving aside everything else, the most obvious benefits were the improvements to his physical qualities and Chakra.

Compared to Uchiha Kiyoshi, other children his age were far behind in physical ability. No matter how rich their techniques were, they still could not catch up to Uchiha Kiyoshi's Taijutsu level.

Uchiha Kiyoshi now judged that his strength should be at the Chunin level. Originally, he might have only been a newly advanced Chunin, but after experiencing that C... no, B-rank Mission, killing someone, and maturing mentally, he had broken through some kind of limitation. Over the past half month, his Taijutsu had improved considerably, and his combat techniques combining Ninjutsu had become increasingly refined. He had now reached the peak of veteran Chunin and was approaching the level of an Elite Chunin.

According to Uchiha Kiyoshi's estimates, he would need to reach five hundred units of Chakra while maintaining proportional progress in all other areas before he could truly reach the level of an Elite Chunin.

After this incident, my Chakra has increased quite a bit too. I was probably stimulated, which caused my Spiritual Energy to increase considerably. It has now reached over two hundred and forty units. Five hundred isn't that far away... right?

Uchiha Kiyoshi greatly longed to become an Elite Chunin. That would mean a tremendous increase in his strength.

Elite Chunin were already the backbone of every ninja village, beings who had escaped the fate of cannon fodder. Furthermore, in theory, Uchiha Kiyoshi would then be confident in controlling a One Tomoe Sharingan. He might not be able to control the level of his first awakening very well, but it would still be a trump card. If he were really pushed into a corner, he could directly awaken it, raise his strength, and perhaps kill his opponent in return.

As for whether he could awaken it, Uchiha Kiyoshi was not worried. As the saying went, there were no Jonin in the Uchiha Clan who had not awakened the Sharingan. As long as his strength reached the required level, the difficulty of awakening the Sharingan would decrease as well.

What was more, Uchiha Kiyoshi had actually sensed it during that mission. At the instant the Explosive Tag detonated, his emotions had fluctuated intensely, and he had felt something stir in his eyes. That should have been a sign of awakening. Since he was unprepared, Uchiha Kiyoshi had naturally suppressed it.

Enough thinking. Time to train.

Casting away the various thoughts in his mind, Uchiha Kiyoshi began that day's training.

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