Taking Another Mission

Time always passed quickly during training. In the blink of an eye, Uchiha Kiyoshi had already spent half a year training in Konoha.

With no classes to attend, he devoted every day to training. Coupled with Orochimaru's guidance, Uchiha Kiyoshi had made considerable progress over those six months.

Uchiha Kiyoshi rather enjoyed this peaceful period of training. Compared with carrying out dangerous missions every day and seeking breakthroughs amid life-and-death struggles, he preferred this kind of calm cultivation.

Unfortunately, some people simply did not know how to appreciate such a safe way of training.

Having been effectively "grounded" for half a year, Nawaki had long since reached his limit and kept clamoring to leave the village and carry out missions.

To him, days spent unable to take missions were unbearably boring. Besides, if he never took missions, how was he supposed to build up a mission record? Did he still want to become Hokage or not?

"Orochimaru-sensei, let us take a mission already! I'm practically suffocating after half a year! I'm going to become Hokage, you know, so don't hold me back."

Perhaps Nawaki's plea had won approval, or perhaps Orochimaru truly felt that the three members of Team 3 needed tempering. He agreed to find them a C-rank Mission soon and let them return to normal mission life.

Uchiha Kiyoshi had no choice but to put his research into Replacement Shunshin on hold.

Although Uchiha Kiyoshi preferred quiet training and disliked fighting and killing—it was somewhat dangerous—there was no denying that progress came fastest in battle, especially battles between life and death.

Here, life and death could mean facing death itself, but it could also mean that both sides fought with the intention of killing each other. One did not necessarily have to experience the threat of death.

The former was simply more effective, though also more dangerous. One mistake could mean death.

Uchiha Kiyoshi's means of survival had now improved dramatically. Setting aside his defensive Ninjutsu, the preliminary completion of Replacement Shunshin had also given him a great deal of confidence. So long as the gap in strength was not too great, his current Replacement Shunshin was enough to preserve his life.

As for using this Secret Jutsu in battle, Uchiha Kiyoshi still could not manage it.

After initially perfecting Replacement Shunshin, he had wanted to try Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God tactics from the original story. Only then did he realize where the true difficulty of that tactic lay.

Although instant positional shifts did not cause the same stiffness as Body Flicker Jutsu, such sudden changes were still difficult to adapt to immediately.

This was especially true on a rapidly changing battlefield. After teleporting, it was not only one's position that changed, but also one's perspective and other factors.

To truly use such tactics in battle, he had to ensure that after every substitution, he could react at once and attack at the fastest possible speed.

The most fatal issue was that substitution did not merely change his position; it also changed his state of motion. After switching over, Uchiha Kiyoshi would inherit the Kunai's trajectory and speed from before the swap. Going from stillness directly into high-speed movement was even more troublesome to adapt to.

That was why it was said that Minato Namikaze had made Flying Thunder God what it was. His peerless reaction speed was the key to using Flying Thunder God with such mastery.

After realizing this, Uchiha Kiyoshi gave up on developing in that direction. At the very least, he could not use that method to attack.

Uchiha Kiyoshi could only think of other methods himself. Having read all sorts of novels, he was not short on wild ideas, so he was not too worried.

They were both Space-Time Ninjutsu, but they did not have to be used the same way. Uchiha Kiyoshi could combine Replacement Shunshin with physical Clones. That way, he could "shift forms and swap shadows." As long as he replenished his Clones in time, his enemies would never be able to hit him.

It was quite a shameless tactic.

Another option was to raise his proficiency with the Sealing Formula to the maximum, allowing him to inscribe formulas in an instant—the level Minato Namikaze had once reached in the original story.

Once Uchiha Kiyoshi maxed out his proficiency, mastered using his feet to deploy this Sealing Formula, and trained the hand seals for the Substitution Technique until he could omit them entirely, then wherever I stepped, there would be something for me to switch with.

Combined with movement techniques and the Clone Technique, it could be considered the embryonic form of a unique skill.

Uchiha Kiyoshi had no other choice. His body's talent for spatial perception was truly mediocre. To use the Substitution Technique, he had to rely entirely on mutual Chakra resonance with the Chakra inside the replacement object to pinpoint its location. Otherwise, Uchiha Kiyoshi would definitely have come up with far more tricks for Space-Time Ninjutsu.

Minato Namikaze was an example. His exceptional spatial talent greatly expanded the range of Flying Thunder God while reducing its Chakra consumption considerably. At only twenty-five, he had not only learned the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God, but also developed his own tactical system, earned the title Yellow Flash, and further developed the second and third stages of Flying Thunder God.

Combined with a Sealing Barrier, Minato Namikaze could even transfer a Tailed Beast Ball.

Who could guarantee that, if he continued living, he would not research other uses? With his decent spatial talent, if he truly continued studying and understanding Space-Time Ninjutsu, it was entirely possible that he could develop other spatial methods. How about Space Cutting?

Aside from Replacement Shunshin, Uchiha Kiyoshi had spent the last month asking Orochimaru about training in the Body Flicker Technique.

His physical condition was already sufficient to support using the Body Flicker Technique. (From now on, it would be called Body Flicker.)

Unlike Ninjutsu-based Body Flicker Jutsu, which used Chakra to propel the body at extreme speed and instantly reach a certain distance, Body Flicker circulated Chakra into the feet and used an instantaneous burst to move rapidly.

It counted as a type of taijutsu.

The principle itself was easy to understand. The hardest part was whether the body could withstand it. Even Jonin rarely used it this way. Though both techniques allowed one to instantly cross a certain distance, Ninjutsu-type Body Flicker Jutsu distributed the pressure across the entire body, making it manageable. Taijutsu-type Body Flicker was different—the pressure was concentrated almost entirely in the feet. Unless one was highly proficient in taijutsu and possessed an extraordinarily strong body, using it too often would leave their feet unable to bear the strain.

But was Uchiha Kiyoshi an ordinary person?

Obviously not.

Although his physical condition had not yet reached the point where he could use Body Flicker freely, he could still use it once or twice. With his Medical Ninjutsu, he could continue using it after treatment. He could even use the Body Nourishment Technique after battle to nurture his body and prevent hidden injuries.

To a certain extent, that made up for this weakness.

This time, Orochimaru did not accompany them to accept the mission. Last time, he had only taken them along so they could observe the full process of accepting a mission once.

Of course, there was another main reason: Nawaki was annoying. He even shouted and made a scene, which was embarrassing. Extremely embarrassing.

Uchiha Kiyoshi had faith in Orochimaru's judgment. He probably would not choose a mission that was too difficult. The mission would surely suit the level of the three of them, since only then would it serve its purpose as training.

Nawaki was extremely excited at the moment.

"Wahahaha! We can finally go out again! I was practically suffocating these past six months!"

"Why are you so excited? There wasn't anything particularly good outside last time, was there?"

Faced with Uchiha Kiyoshi's jab, Nawaki froze for a moment before forcing out an explanation.

"What do you mean? Didn't you say last time that special cities and special places had lots of fun things? We didn't go anywhere like that last time, so of course it was boring.

"Besides, I'm a man who's going to become Hokage! How can I keep going without taking missions? If this keeps up, I won't even earn enough merit to advance to Chunin. How am I supposed to become Hokage then?"

Uchiha Kiyoshi thought about it. It actually made sense. He could not even refute it.

But hadn't he told him many times already? Stop constantly shouting about becoming Hokage. It was too conspicuous. Keep a low profile, a low profile, understand?

Uchiha Kiyoshi held his forehead and sighed. This kid was beyond saving.