The Theoretical Concept of Replacement Shunshin

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall

A two-meter-tall Earth Wall rose from the ground and stood before Uchiha Kiyoshi.

Looking at the miniature Earth Style Wall, two meters high but only one meter wide, Uchiha Kiyoshi felt completely secure.

Though it was inferior to the original Earth Style Wall, after constant practice, he had made this simplified version extremely sturdy. Its defensive power was already sufficient against Chunin-level ninja.

"Unfortunately, this jutsu still consumes a bit too much Chakra. With my Chakra reserves, I can only use it three times."

Uchiha Kiyoshi shook his head and withdrew the Earth Style Wall, restoring everything before him to how it had been.

His hands formed seals again.

Earth Release: Earth Shield

This time, the hand seals took little time—only three seals, less than a second.

A shield appeared before Uchiha Kiyoshi, made of earth. Then, earthen shields appeared behind him, to his left, and to his right as well.

Not only that, after the shields appeared, Uchiha Kiyoshi tried controlling them. The shields rotated around him in a full three hundred and sixty degrees, leaving no blind spots.

This was the result of Uchiha Kiyoshi's recent training.

More than three months had passed since his last C-rank... uh, B-rank Mission.

Uchiha Kiyoshi had originally planned to obtain some defensive Ninjutsu from Orochimaru, preferably ones with low Chakra consumption. Unfortunately, there were none. Orochimaru's defensive Ninjutsu were all B-rank or A-rank and consumed plenty of Chakra.

Unable to do anything else, Uchiha Kiyoshi could only try developing a Ninjutsu himself.

Namely, the Earth Shield Technique he had just used.

Based on the principles of the Earth Style Wall, he omitted much of the Chakra circulation. Combined with the effects of the minor circulation patterns marked out while learning the Earth Spike Jutsu, he had created a C-rank-level Ninjutsu.

It might not even count as C-rank Ninjutsu. Its defensive power was not particularly high, only barely capable of blocking a single attack from the weakest C-rank Ninjutsu.

But even so, it held great significance for Uchiha Kiyoshi.

First, limited by his Chakra reserves, what Uchiha Kiyoshi needed at this stage was not a highly powerful defensive Ninjutsu, but one he could use frequently.

It did not matter if the Earth Shield's defense was weak. Can't I just stack two of them? Also, much like the way the Fireball Jutsu was used, he did not necessarily need to fight to the death. By angling it properly, he could offset part of the damage. As long as the remaining attack did not hit Uchiha Kiyoshi himself, that was enough.

Besides that, the most important thing was that this was a Ninjutsu created by Uchiha Kiyoshi himself. Though its rank was low, it proved that his theory was correct.

With only the minor circulation patterns from two Earth Release Ninjutsu, Uchiha Kiyoshi had already initially developed such a Ninjutsu. As he improved his records of the minor circulation patterns' functions in the future, he would sooner or later be able to develop advanced Ninjutsu of his own.

Wasn't the Uchiha Clan famous for Fire Release? Didn't they lack Fire Release Ninjutsu above A-rank? What if I develop one myself? In the future, this will be my signature in the Ninja World!

What about the Buddha's Wrath Fire Lotus from A Certain Firmament? Though he did not have any Heavenly Flames, different flames could still explode when combined, right?

"Not bad, not bad. I'll write it down first and study it when I'm capable enough."

Uchiha Kiyoshi was fairly satisfied with this Earth Shield Technique. At the very least, it did not consume much Chakra.

Aside from Earth Release Ninjutsu, Uchiha Kiyoshi had also made considerable progress in other areas over the past three months.

Name: Uchiha Kiyoshi

Chakra: 340 Ka/340 Ka (370 Ka)

Nature Transformation: Fire Release (Burning), Earth Release (Hardening)

Ninjutsu: Omitted

Secret Jutsu: Body Nourishment Technique, Substitution Body Flicker Technique

Other: Basic Sealing Jutsu, Fire Sealing Method

Leaving Chakra aside, Uchiha Kiyoshi's greatest improvement had been in his Nature Transformation training.

Back at the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Kiyoshi had already begun training in the Nature Transformation of Fire Release. However, because the Burning Nature Transformation he cultivated leaned toward offense, he had not focused much attention on it. Even by graduation, he had only barely gotten started and could not incorporate it into his normal attacks.

Now, Uchiha Kiyoshi had mastered this Nature Transformation. After all, when launching a sneak attack, his first strike still had to be offensive. If his attack power increased, the battle that followed would also become easier.

Uchiha Kiyoshi's Fire Release had now greatly increased in power. For a moment, he had even entertained the thought that he could return to being a normal ninja, balancing offense and defense.

Unfortunately, Uchiha Kiyoshi ultimately had no choice but to painfully extinguish that fantasy.

Want to become an offensive ninja? Learn how to stay alive first. You're only a Chunin, and you're already getting carried away? Where's the essence of your ninja way?

For his Earth Release Nature Transformation, Uchiha Kiyoshi had chosen hardening, greatly increasing the toughness of Earth Style Walls, Earth Spikes, and similar constructs created through Earth Release.

Still, three months was too short. He had only barely entered the field of this Nature Transformation and could not yet use it in battle.

"The defensive Ninjutsu and Ninjutsu training are all progressing as expected. Now, all that's left is the life-saving Substitution Body Flicker Technique."

Uchiha Kiyoshi called the Ninjutsu he intended to refine from the Substitution Technique the Substitution Body Flicker Technique. Naturally, it was still only in the theoretical stage.

Both were Space-Time Ninjutsu. The Substitution Body Flicker Technique involved a spatial exchange with a replacement object, while the Flying Thunder God used reverse summoning to achieve a Space-Time Ninjutsu with summoning-like properties.

At the level of fundamental principles, the two were different.

However, space was elusive and difficult to study. If Uchiha Kiyoshi wanted to refine his Secret Jutsu, he could only center his efforts on the basic principle of spatial exchange within the Substitution Technique and continue improving it.

One aspect was increasing the exchange distance. On one hand, Uchiha Kiyoshi increased the Chakra left on the replacement object for sensing purposes, strengthening his perception. On the other hand, he further improved the method of activating Chakra during the exchange between himself and the replacement object. By tackling both fronts at once, he had significantly improved the Substitution Technique's efficiency.

The other direction was improving the replacement object itself.

The Substitution Technique was a Ninjutsu that left Chakra endowed with a specific function upon a replacement object, then activated it to exchange the object with the user's body. This required the replacement object to be able to contain Chakra, or at least hold it temporarily.

The best replacement material was Chakra Metal, but that stuff was too expensive. Thus, he could only use specially treated wooden stakes that retained a trace of vitality.

However, wooden stakes were still too conspicuous, and they had to be planted in advance. It demanded too much mental effort and did not meet Uchiha Kiyoshi's expectations.

What Uchiha Kiyoshi wanted was the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God model, using Ninja tools such as Kunai as replacement objects.

And this was actually achievable.

The Flying Thunder God used a great deal of Sealing Jutsu knowledge, even advanced Sealing Jutsu knowledge. Uchiha Kiyoshi also intended to solve the replacement object problem through Sealing Jutsu.

Chakra would corrode ordinary metal or fail to adhere to it. Then I'll seal that Chakra inside the Kunai. That should work, right?

With an idea in mind, Uchiha Kiyoshi naturally had to take action.

Over the past three months, he had obtained some Basic Sealing Jutsu from Orochimaru. Like the Basic Barrier Uchiha Kiyoshi had learned before, it was not especially useful, but it was the most fundamental application of Sealing Jutsu.

With this knowledge, Uchiha Kiyoshi began researching how to seal Chakra into Kunai.

Fortunately, Team 3 was rather special. Nawaki was the young master of the Senju Clan, Sarutobi Saku was the Hokage's nephew, and then there was an Uchiha—also Orochimaru's disciple. They received quite a bit of preferential treatment.

They rarely went on missions, and even when they did, the risks were low. Even that C-rank Mission that had turned into a B-rank Mission had involved relatively little overall danger. They had it far better than civilian ninja.

But even so, the danger from the previous mission had worried Tsunade. She directly forbade Nawaki from leaving the village for missions. At least for the next half year, it was out of the question.

What else could they do? They agreed! The Hokage and Orochimaru both gave Tsunade face and stopped Team 3 from taking missions outside the village. For the next half year, they would train in the village.