Kitsuchi Arrives

The outbreak of the Third Shinobi War had the greatest impact on Yichen's side, particularly on Konoha. In addition to gathering a large number of ninjas near the Land of Grass Konoha guard against the main force of the Iwa ninja on the Southern Front, Konoha also deployed a ninja force of about 600 people on the border of the Land of the Falls.

These 600 ninjas were specifically positioned to target Yichen's Eastern Army. Although Yichen guessed that the enemy was outnumbered and unlikely to launch an attack, he was prepared to remain neutral.

However, Yichen still took countermeasures. First, he increased patrols again, and then he focused the area of Anbu's activities on the direction of the Land of the Falls.

An army of six hundred men is not worth taking too seriously, but the commander of this force is what interests Yichen. This is because the information sent back by spies indicates that the commander of Konoha's forces on the border of Land of the Falls Minato Namikaze.

When Yichen heard that the ninja he was going to face was the future Yellow Flash, his heart skipped a beat.

As Jonin of the village, Yichen has access to many secrets, including those concerning important figures from various countries. The future Fourth Hokage is naturally a key target of Yichen's attention.

The Yellow Flash is three years older than me, currently 20 years old. He graduated from the Ninja Academy a year earlier than me, and for some reason, was taken in as a disciple by Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin.

However, based on the intelligence, Yichen deduced that Jiraiya taking on disciples on his own, and that the Squad Leader Jonin Minato Namikaze was not Jiraiya.

As Civilian Ninja, Minato Namikaze was very talented, but he was not one of the top performers in the Ninja Academy.

Minato Namikaze made a name for himself after becoming Jiraiya's disciple. Yichen checked the time; it had only been a little over a year when Minato Namikaze became Jonin under Jiraiya's guidance.

His fame grew, and to date, Ninja World notable achievements include Elite Jonin. One of them was Iwa ninja, and according to intelligence, he single-handedly killed this Elite Jonin Iwa ninja.

Yichen speculated that Minato Namikaze, like Ikura, had already completed the most crucial Wind Release: Breakthrough.

Yichen was unsure whether Minato Namikaze had learned the Flying Thunder God at this time. The intelligence reports didn't mention this; everyone only knew that Minato Namikaze Body Flicker Technique was powerful, and he also possessed a formidable Close Combat Ninjutsu.

Due to limited information, Yichen was unsure whether that Close Combat Ninjutsu was the Rasengan.

At this moment, Yichen's mindset was rather complicated. He wanted to confront the Yellow Flash, but he also wanted to avoid it if possible.

This contradictory mindset of being both afraid of death and wanting to experience excitement made Yichen extremely uncomfortable.

However, Yichen didn't hesitate for long before someone helped him make up his mind. That person was Kitsuchi. Because of the outbreak of war, the village finally sent Kitsuchi to the front line.

The village originally planned to send Xiao, but changed its mind at the last minute and instead sent the Team 18 of the Anbu, where Yichen had served.

Purple Lightning, the captain of the Team 18, is now Elite Jonin. Although he is not as good as Xiao, the village felt that sending Purple Lightning was just right, considering Yichen's growth.

Most importantly, Yichen suggested setting up Natural Energy Seal on the eastern front, so that Shironeko's Ninja Beast Dango could also be sent to the eastern front.

During wartime, the village couldn't afford to leave an Elite Jonin like Purple Lightning idle. And if Purple Lightning took Shironeko and Dango on missions, Dango's growth would be delayed.

The higher-ups were having a headache over this when Yichen offered a solution. He suggested having Purple Lightning stationed on the eastern front to free up Xiao. This way, the village wouldn't lose out, and Dango could continue absorbing Natural Energy —a win-win situation.

Therefore, the higher-ups readily agreed to Yichen's request. And taking advantage of Kitsuchi's visit to the front lines, they also brought the materials needed to set up the seal.

Kitsuchi's arrival made Yichen relax a lot. Although they were both Elite Jonin, Kitsuchi was much stronger than him, and in terms of actual combat, Purple Lightning's strength was also above his own.

With the help of the two, Yichen felt he could finally have a go at Minato Namikaze.

Yichen's request for help wasn't about a three-on-one fight; Yichen had his own helpers, and so did Minato Namikaze. Yichen hoped that Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning could help him analyze Minato Namikaze's intelligence and devise a suitable tactic for him.

However, before finding Minato Namikaze, Yichen had two things to do. The first was to set up a seal. Setting up a seal for Natural Energy was quite complicated, so although Yichen said he could do it by himself, the village still sent several assistants over.

With the cooperation of several members of the Barrier Team, Yichen completed the seal in less than half a day.

After several years of modifications, the latest version of the seal now only requires five Chakra sources of different attributes to maintain. In other words, it only requires assigning five ninjas of different attributes to be on duty, which is not a difficult task for the Eastern Army with thousands of ninjas.

After setting up the seal, the second thing to do was to find Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning to spar.

During this time, Yichen would occasionally spar with some Jonin in the camp, but there was a clear gap in strength between them and Yichen, so the sparring did not help Yichen much.

The arrival of Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning was indeed a good thing for Yichen, as two equally skilled sparring partners were a rare find. Yichen believed that Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning would not refuse, because finding suitable sparring partners at the Elite Jonin level was not easy.

Over the next few days, Yichen frequently sought out two pairs of sparring partners and also brought his three disciples along to broaden their horizons.

The battle against Kitsuchi was exciting to watch, but Yichen had virtually no chance of winning, being suppressed almost the entire time. It wasn't that the two were far apart in strength, but rather that, as Ninjutsu- type ninjas, Kitsuchi was far more skilled in using Ninjutsu than Yichen.

In a clash of Ninjutsu, Yichen's only advantage is his fast Hand Seals speed.

Since adjusting his schedule, Yichen has focused on practicing Hand Seals, but he has been Hand Seals One-handed Hand Seals One-handed Hand Seals, which are far more difficult Yichen imagined.

In fact, it is not difficult for Yichen to perform One-handed Hand Seals; he completed Yichen very easily.

However, Yichen had achieved this, embarrassingly discovered that the hand seals that could be performed with one hand were almost impossible to use in conjunction with other Ninjutsu.

Previously, Ninjutsu with simplified Hand Seals, using One-handed Hand Seals, couldn't be performed for some reason. However, the unsimplified Ninjutsu had too many Hand Seals, which allowed Yichen to use the single-hand seals.

But the results are hard to talk about. For example, the Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall has more than twenty seals. When Yichen performs them, most of the seals require both hands to complete, and only a few can be done with one hand.

What's the point of using Ninjutsu like that?

However, Yichen didn't come away empty-handed. Through practicing One-handed Hand Seals, Yichen became more adept at controlling his Chakra. This unintentionally improved his Hand Seals speed, and Yichen can now Hand Seals 5.2-5.7 seals per second.

Thanks to this speed of Hand Seals, Yichen was able to withstand the onslaught of Kitsuchi for a while.

Kitsuchi's advantage is straightforward: he specializes in Earth Release. With the help of his massive Chakra, Kitsuchi can easily unleash Ninjutsu with power far exceeding that of normal situations.

Yichen couldn't envy this. Throughout his ninja career, Yi Yichen had never had an abundance of Chakra, so the power of the Ninjutsu he used was always average. He generally wouldn't increase the power of his Ninjutsu by increasing his Chakra output.

This isn't just Yichen doesn't have enough Chakra; there's another reason: it's not worth it.

For example, Water Release: Water Style: Water Wave and Water Release: Water Style: Raging Waves. These two Ninjutsu are somewhat similar, one is C-rank and the other is B-rank. If the C-rank Water Style: Water Wave increases its Chakra output, its power will naturally increase as well.

However, even if the amount of Chakra output is increased to that of a B-rank Water Style: Raging Waves, the power of the Water Style: Water Wave still cannot reach that of the Water Style: Raging Waves.

The only advantage is that you can form fewer hand seals.

This isn't the best option for a ninja like Yichen Chakra but quick Hand Seals. Rather than wasting Chakra and failing to achieve the desired effect, I'd rather use a more advanced Ninjutsu.

If Kitsuchi only possessed superior Ninjutsu power, Yichen wouldn't have been suppressed from beginning to end. However, Kitsuchi had also experienced war, was highly experienced, and his ability to adapt to changing circumstances in battle far surpassed Yichen's.

His coordination Ninjutsu combinations far surpass those of a newcomer like Yichen.

Yichen rarely encounters unexpected situations in his battles, thanks to his Sensory Ninjutsu.

Yichen, who often gains the upper hand, usually plans the battle rhythm before the battle even begins.

This also severely limits Yichen's ability to adapt.

Having grasped this point, Kitsuchi, in order to train Yichen, used various methods to suppress Yichen. What should have been a five-minute victory, Kitsuchi dragged out the battle for an hour.

Although Kitsuchi used only C-rank and B-rank Ninjutsu throughout the entire process, Yichen was still beaten without any chance to fight back.

At this moment, Yichen realized the biggest difference between himself and the native ninjas of this world.

Yichen lacks the awareness to constantly put himself in dangerous situations. Therefore, Yichen's combat Hon are too poor.

Although Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning had both been Yichen's superiors, they hadn't noticed this before. It was only at this moment that they realized Yichen had such a significant flaw.

This is not their fault, because children who grow up in the Ninja World actually have a much more thorough understanding of ninjas than Yichen, an outsider.

They applied ninja skills to every aspect of their lives. Their vigilance was always present, so combat was an integral part of their existence.

Yichen couldn't do this, Kitsuchi, after understanding Yichen's mindset, also didn't have a good way to change it.

Yichen's reaction ability can only be honed through battles.

Purple Lightning's thoughts were similar to Kitsuchi Tu's. When fighting Yichen, he was first surprised by Yichen's improvement in swordsmanship. Purple Lightning never expected that Yichen could learn Sword Qi.

However, aside from his Sword Qi, Yichen's swordsmanship was far inferior to Purple Lightning's in every other aspect.

Purple Lightning, who also wields Sword Qi, is adept at dealing with it. Without even drawing his sword, Purple Lightning gained the upper hand in close combat with Yichen.

Yichen found this unbearable. Although he wasn't good at close combat, his strength had improved significantly, so why was he completely powerless to fight back?

Yichen found it strange because the highest level of swordsmanship collected by Iwagakure was B-rank, and the A-rank swordsmanship was incomplete. It consisted of speculations and descriptions from the predecessors, without any systematic training methods.

Yichen himself only practices B-rank Sword Technique, so theoretically, he shouldn't be that much worse off.

Upon hearing Yichen's question, Purple Lightning's explanation was simple. "You lack the heart of a swordsman. Although I don't know how you learned Sword Qi, your swordsmanship only has form, not intent. In short, it's all show and no substance."

Yichen's three disciples didn't understand what he was saying, but Yichen did. He had seen many similar descriptions in Wuxia novels in his previous life.

Understanding is one thing, but being able to change it is another.

Fortunately, I didn't choose the path of close combat, and although I haven't mastered the basics of swordsmanship, it's not a big problem.

However, considering that Minato Namikaze was also a master of close combat, Yichen felt it was necessary to practice more with Purple Lightning.