Silent Killing Technique

Basically, once someone entered a three-kilometer range, he could use the Ultrasonic Radar Technique to accurately identify them, achieving perception and insight comparable to the Byakugan.

Within two hundred meters, it became his absolute perception domain—full control over the rhythm of the battlefield at all times, with no blind spots across 360 degrees. Its tactical power had already been demonstrated when he intercepted those two Sunagakure pursuit squads some time ago.

Conventional ninja battles were often contests of intelligence, fighting will, and the quality of one's weapons and supplies—especially intelligence.

Ninjas were generally glass cannons with high offense and low defense. Once they were at a complete intelligence disadvantage, unless there was an overwhelming gap in strength, they could only wait to die.

The fact that the Hidden Cloud Village and Kirigakure had gone to such lengths to obtain a pair of Byakugan showed just how important intelligence gathering and perception were.

"This fighting style is good, but it costs far too much money. It isn't sustainable. I need to master Water Release: Mist Technique as soon as possible."

Umino Sasuke shook his head, ultimately rejecting the idea of making this combat style his standard approach.

By sensing enemies in advance and using traps and Tool Manipulation against them, his combat strength was nearly equivalent to that of a Tool Manipulation jonin. Yet while this fighting style seemed effective, it had a fatal flaw.

It consumed an enormous amount of weapons and supplies.

After a major battle, the cost could be tens of thousands of ryo at minimum, or hundreds of thousands—even over a million ryo.

He was not some rich second-generation kid like Tenten. How could he afford to keep burning money like this?

Compared to the pitiful income from missions, every major battle was practically him subsidizing Konoha.

Over the past half year of Patrol Missions, he had only clashed with Sunagakure ninjas a few times. If Tejudo had not supported him, he would probably already have been buried in debt. If Water Bat No. 7 caught Sunagakure's attention in the future and they developed an Antidote Serum, cutting off his cash flow, his financial troubles would only worsen.

Continuing to use this combat style was simply too expensive, and constantly relying on Tejudo's weapons and supplies was not a solution either.

It was understandable to use them in a crisis, but if he kept doing so under normal circumstances, even if Tejudo had no objections, his family might still have complaints.

The Tejiku Family had many descendants. To protect the family business, quite a few of them had given up the lives of young masters and gone to the front lines as ninjas.

The concern was not scarcity, but unequal distribution.

The Tejiku Family had already invested heavily in Tejudo, a descendant striving away from home. Iron Prison Gates, specially made Fuma Shuriken from the Land of Artisans, and Explosive Tags sold by the bundle had been sent to Tejudo nonstop from the rear.

Those Double Iron Prison Gates alone cost several million ryo, equivalent to the rewards for several S-Rank Missions.

The Tejiku Family was wealthy, but Tejudo was not the only one fighting on the battlefield. Favoritism had its limits.

Although the Tejiku Family had boldly declared that the Multiple Iron Prison Gate defensive ninjutsu he taught them was worth an A-Rank Ninjutsu, and that they owed him nearly ten million ryo, so he could use whatever weapons and supplies he wanted.

But Tejudo was originally his subordinate, and could even be considered half his disciple. What reason was there to charge a disciple for teaching him ninjutsu?

Of course, compared to pride and survival, pride was worth nothing.

When a real crisis came, who would care about pride? He would still use Tejudo's weapons and supplies whenever necessary.

The reason he did not want to continue with this combat style was simply because he did not want to limit himself within the framework of Tool Manipulation.

Tool Manipulation ultimately had a low ceiling, unless he could grasp Orochimaru's core technology or Nagato's Asura Path Puppet.

"Use Tool Manipulation in emergencies. For ordinary battles, I'll still have to rely on the Silent Killing Technique."

The tactical style formed by combining Water Release: Mist Technique and the Ultrasonic Radar Technique was almost identical in principle to Momochi Zabuza's Silent Killing Technique.

And with Water Release: Mist Body Flicker added in, it would be like giving wings to a tiger.

The Silent Killing Technique was far more cost-effective than Tool Manipulation, with virtually zero expense.

Previously, he had been risking his life for Konoha while even paying out of pocket. He had been forced into that.

Who had ever heard of risking their life for someone else while having to spend their own money?

With that, the more cost-effective tactical approach naturally shifted toward Water Release: Mist Technique and Water Release: Mist Body Flicker.

He had just developed the Infrasonic Radar Technique, expanding his sensing range to five kilometers. He no longer had to fear sneak attacks from Sunagakure ninjas, and with the safety issue of patrolling his assigned area resolved, he could finally train without worry.

Water Release: Mist Technique and Water Release: Mist Body Flicker were both D-Rank Water Release techniques. They were not difficult to learn, and he picked them up quickly.

After all, they were only two D-Rank Water Release techniques. With his experience practicing the C-Rank Water Release: Water Prison Technique, he soon learned both D-Rank techniques with ease.

"A thirty-meter radius is still too small. One Body Flicker Technique is enough to leave the range affected by the Mist Technique."

Umino Sasuke shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with the range of Water Release: Mist Technique.

Although a thirty-meter radius was already considerable—even many elite Kirigakure chunin might not achieve such a range—it needed to reach one hundred meters to be truly useful in actual combat.

After all, the absolute perception domain of his Ultrasonic Radar Technique had already reached two hundred meters.

Ideally, Water Release: Mist Technique should cover the same distance, allowing him to maximize his perception advantage.

"Water Release: Mist Technique can be slowly ground up. It should improve substantially later on, but Water Release: Mist Body Flicker is a bit troublesome."

The only restrictions on Water Release: Mist Technique were proficiency and chakra capacity. Through constant practice and increasing the amount of chakra used, he could steadily expand the technique's range.

However, aside from requiring talent in Water Release, Water Release: Mist Body Flicker also placed extremely high demands on taijutsu.

His taijutsu foundation was not weak. It was actually much stronger than that of an ordinary chunin. Especially with his relatively strong Chakra Control, he could suppress most elite Konoha chunin in taijutsu combat.

Unfortunately, this body had come from an ordinary commoner family and was already an adult. Its bodily functions would be difficult to improve significantly. Moreover, after consuming large quantities of Soldier Pills before, he had nearly exhausted this body's potential.

Of course, that did not mean this body was finished in terms of taijutsu. The human body was a treasure trove with limitless potential. As long as he continued training diligently and digging deeper, he could still improve gradually—but that required a great deal of time, energy, and strong recovery ability.

With his current taijutsu foundation, the Water Release: Mist Body Flicker he used was only eighty percent faster than the basic Body Flicker Technique.

It might seem extremely fast, but compared with the Water Release: Mist Body Flicker used by Momochi Zabuza, it was more than an entire level behind.

At this speed, he could easily slit the throats of chunin. Even against Special Jonin, he could effectively keep up in terms of speed.

But against jonin, it was still somewhat lacking.