Terrifying Theory

By the time everyone reached the front-line camp, it was already the third night. It wasn't that Bing San hadn't wanted to hurry; it was just that every couple of hours on the road, they ran into a small-scale battle.

The Land of Water front was completely different from the Land of Wind front. The latter was a vast plain backed by mountains, with open terrain that was convenient for large-scale battles.

The Land of Water front, on the other hand, was a vast primeval forest. Beyond the forest lay the sea. The terrain here was unusual and the environment complex, so battles were mostly chaotic skirmishes between small teams.

Traveling in a group of six or seven hundred, like Bing San and his companions, was a waste of their combat strength. They couldn't maneuver freely, and they made an obvious target, so they were constantly ambushed.

Bing San and the others fought as they went. Although they rescued quite a few Konoha ninja along the way, their numbers kept dwindling overall. When they counted heads at the main camp, they found that six jonin, more than twenty chunin, and over ninety genin had been killed.

After Shikaku's careful analysis, the main reason was their lack of experience fighting the Mist ninja. On the Sand ninja front, the Sand ninja favored poison and puppets, but their battles were mostly direct assaults and frontal clashes. The Mist ninja, by contrast, excelled at ambushes and disguises.

The experienced jonin were fine, but the chunin and genin lacked experience and were often killed in ambushes. The attackers never stuck around to fight; whatever the outcome, they struck and ran. Bing San and the others were furious, but with no way to catch them, there wasn't much they could do.

When Bing San saw Uchiha Fugaku, he spat out a mouthful of water. The man looked so ridiculous. Was this really the aloof Uchiha? Why did he look like he belonged in a completely different story?

Uchiha Fugaku's face was bruised purple and blue, and a large patch of his hair was missing. A scar ran from his ear to the corner of his eye, giving him a rather menacing look.

Bing San remembered Uchiha Fugaku looking quite good in the anime. It seemed the butterfly effect had caused trouble again.

"Captain Uchiha, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. What happened to you?" Bing San quickly wiped his mouth and apologized.

Uchiha Fugaku snorted. "Damn it. Some lunatic hugged me and blew himself up." With that, he walked off without looking back.

Bing San rubbed his chin. It looked like Fierce-Eyed Fugaku had taken quite a beating.

That night, Bing San had just gone to bed when he heard a commotion outside. Too lazy to go out himself, he formed hand seals and sent out his Agile Clone to investigate.

The moment the clone left camp, he was startled. A large group of Mist ninja were attacking the camp at night, led by that lunatic from the Kaguya clan.

The guy was drooling, his face twisted into a perverted grin as he traded blows with Uchiha Fugaku.

Uchiha Fugaku's swordsmanship was genuinely good—or perhaps everyone in the Uchiha family was good with a blade. After all, other people's eyes topped out at 720p, while theirs were 4K high definition, complete with slow-motion playback.

The Sharingan was a truly excellent Kekkei Genkai, aside from the considerable strain it put on the body.

At One-Tomoe, it enhanced dynamic vision. At Two-Tomoe, it could improve one's Genjutsu. At Three-Tomoe, it could record and copy other people's jutsu.

Of course, special secret techniques couldn't be copied. They might require a specific bloodline or specialized skills.

And Mangekyo was even more incredible. It greatly enhanced all three basic abilities, granted two unique ocular techniques, and allowed the user to manifest Susanoo.

If Bing San hadn't been afraid of upsetting his body's balance and turning into a ball of muscle, he would definitely have plucked out a pair of eyes to try them himself.

How awesome would it be to cut people down while piloting a giant mecha? Thinking that, Bing San looked back outside.

The two exchanged blow after blow, and the perverted man was the one taking the worst of it. But the longer Bing San watched, the stranger it seemed. Every so often, something like red armor appeared over Uchiha Fugaku's body. The pervert's bone blade couldn't cut through it. Could Uchiha Fugaku have already awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?

About twenty minutes later, a signal came from the rear of the Mist Ninja force, and they began to retreat slowly.

The perverted man licked his bone blade and left, still wanting more. This time, he didn't even bother to complain.

As soon as Uchiha Fugaku returned, Bing San's clone went up to him and asked, "Captain Uchiha, do these night attacks happen often? Everyone seems used to them."

Uchiha Fugaku adjusted the patch of hair that had been shaved off and said, "The Mist ninja attack three times a day: once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once at night.

"At least, that's how it's been so far. Each attack stays within what we can handle, but the pressure keeps increasing.

"It's almost as if they're training their troops—or trying to push both sides to their limits. It doesn't feel like a war at all."

Uchiha Fugaku shook his head and walked away. He seemed to feel a faint resistance toward Bing San. Perhaps it was because their statuses were unequal.

That night, Bing San's clone found Shikaku and told him what had happened.

Shikaku chewed on his lip and mulled it over for a long time, but couldn't come up with anything. The Mist ninja had come on strong at first, almost as if they'd thrown their entire force into the attack. So why had they switched to a piecemeal strategy once the Uchiha started defending?

Could the Uchiha have some kind of understanding with the other side?

Shikaku merely shook his head and said he couldn't figure it out. He said nothing more to Bing San and went to bed.

Early the next morning, the Mist Ninja attacked again. They had a few more people than the night before, but not by much.

Bing San rubbed his chin, wondering if the Third Mizukage was an idiot. That didn't seem likely. Were they trying to draw out reinforcements? That was possible, but why did the intensity feel so carefully calculated?

Since the fighting began, the Uchiha had lost a total of eleven Jonin and twenty-three or twenty-four Chunin. They hadn't brought any Genin.

Meanwhile, among the Commoner Ninja and members of the other clans, more than a thousand Ninja had died on the Land of Water front. The Sand Ninja front had taken over a year to reach a thousand casualties.

Bing San decided he needed to keep his head down and avoid taking risks. There was something deeply strange about this front.

Bing San suddenly remembered that the old man who loved to dance probably hadn't died yet. Could he be testing candidates?

That old man wasn't like Bing San. He hadn't absorbed someone else's memories, so he wouldn't know that Obito was going to become the next big villain. Could the Mizukage already be under control at this point?

Uchiha Madara was a legendary ninja, as famous as the First Hokage. His strength was considered the pinnacle of the Shinobi World.

In pursuit of eternal peace, he had decided to carry out the Moon Eye Plan.

In simple terms, everyone would be strung up and fed nutrients through tubes, so they could all live out their dreams.

Think about it—didn't that sound like a scene from a movie? (What do you think, Neo?)

But even a powerful ninja like Uchiha Madara couldn't overcome the passage of time. So he planned to find someone to act in his stead, revive him at a crucial moment, and carry out his plan.

In Bing San's memories, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had been under control the whole time. He just didn't know when it had happened. The Third Mizukage was still alive, but given how strange the war was, there was a ninety percent chance Uchiha Madara was behind it.

Bing San decided to lie low. What if Uchiha Madara really had stepped in and disrupted his plans, and he ended up getting killed? He was only a ten-year-old baby, after all.

*** If you enjoyed this book, add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time.