When Resources Are Scarce, Use Tactical Maneuvers; When They're Plentiful, Saturate the Battlefield with Firepower!

"Intelligence?"

Uchiha Shingen turned the word over in his mind.

Seeing this, Jiraiya didn't keep him in suspense and continued:

"Exactly. Intelligence."

"When you attacked just now, how much did you know about me?"

"What techniques do I usually use? What's my fighting style like? What fatal flaws do I have in battle?"

"If you'd known I could use Earth Style: Earth Wall, and that the one outside was my Shadow Clone, would you still have used the same tactics?"

"You wouldn't!"

Jiraiya shook his head.

Counting this time, Uchiha Shingen had attacked twice, and both times he'd used the same insidious trick: hiding a move inside another technique.

He was someone who had tactics carved into his instincts.

The moment he got his hands on intelligence, his first thought was undoubtedly how to turn it against his opponent.

"With your personality, you'd probably set a trap targeting Earth Style: Earth Wall and Shadow Clones."

Uchiha Shingen didn't respond. He followed Jiraiya's line of reasoning and thought it through. Before long, he realized Jiraiya was right.

If he'd known the details in advance, he would never have used the same reckless tactic he'd just tried!

Looking back on what had happened, Uchiha Shingen felt a lingering fear as well.

If his opponent hadn't been Jiraiya, and this hadn't been a test but a real fight, he would've been dead the moment he was subdued.

This reckless tactic was effective, but if it failed, the consequences were fatal.

But the deeper Uchiha Shingen thought about it, the more he realized something didn't add up.

Fights that required careful thought and extensive strategic maneuvering to win usually happened when the two sides were evenly matched—or at least when neither could completely overpower the other.

Once the difference in strength between the two sides reached a certain point, there was less and less room for strategy, until the balance was completely broken.

In that case...

"Then why not take complete control of the initiative before the fight even begins?"

"It's hard to weaken the opponent in advance, but I can absolutely take the initiative to improve my own advantages."

"Why bother with tactical maneuvers when a firepower barrage gets the job done?"

"If my Great Fireball were ten or a hundred times bigger, I could melt that old geezer Jiraiya right along with the ground he was hiding under."

The words "old geezer" made Jiraiya's eyelid twitch violently, but he managed to hold back.

Listening to Uchiha Shingen, he nodded, then shook his head.

"That's not wrong."

"If your firepower is strong enough, a straightforward barrage can indeed reduce your opponent's room to maneuver to practically zero."

"But humans aren't Tailed Beasts. Our bodies and Chakra reserves both have limits. Unleashing Ninjutsu without limit simply isn't possible."

"Countering your opponent's moves and matching Ninjutsu against Ninjutsu—that's the right path."

Uchiha Shingen nodded perfunctorily, but inside, he was overjoyed.

It was true that normal people had their limits, but sorry, this guy had cheats.

At the moment, Uchiha Shingen's Chakra was only at level four, roughly equivalent to that of a Special Jonin.

Compared with an elite Jonin's overall combat strength, it was a bit of a weakness.

As for that, well, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was just a little too overpowered.

But as long as he kept signing in for long enough, he could raise his Chakra to superhuman levels using attribute points alone.

When that day came, whatever your tactics or special abilities, I'll just saturate the battlefield with firepower and overwhelm you with attacks, blasting everything in sight to smithereens!

With that thought,

Uchiha Shingen had already made up his mind. He would raise Chakra's priority by one level.

After that came the Sharingan and proficiency in various Release techniques.

The former was the foundation of the Uchiha clan. According to Patriarch Fugaku, it might even evolve further in the future.

The latter would ensure that no matter the circumstances, he'd never run out of ammunition and would always have plenty of firepower.

Once those two were taken care of, he'd work on the bullets needed to deal with all kinds of opponents—in other words, Release techniques of every nature.

But for now, his top priority was still the Shadow Clone Technique!

After their brief fight, Jiraiya had a general idea of Uchiha Shingen's level.

Honestly,

He was outstanding in every area.

Even compared to Minato, he wasn't far behind.

But what really made Minato exceptional was his superhuman reflexes, which let him wield the Flying Thunder God to perfection.

Add the Rasengan he'd developed himself, and the two together were already enough to give most shinobi in the Shinobi World an overwhelming advantage.

Over the next few days,

Uchiha Shingen's life suddenly became busy.

During the day, he kept up his usual routine of clocking in and slacking off, discussing ideas for his new book with Jiraiya. As soon as work ended, he followed Jiraiya to the Forest of Death for secret training.

For a student he valued, Jiraiya held nothing back.

From Chakra control and Fire Release to Taijutsu, even decades' worth of accumulated combat experience—he taught him everything he knew.

Once Uchiha Shingen got serious, he was like a sponge, greedily soaking up everything that could help him.

Originally, he'd relied solely on his Kekkei Genkai to barely reach Jonin-level strength, while his skills in every other area were weaker than those of an ordinary Jonin.

But after Jiraiya's intensive lessons over the past few days, those weak points began to improve at a visible rate.

Although the other abilities on his status panel hadn't changed much yet, he'd developed a new Chakra Nature Transformation.

That was Earth Release.

Several days later,

In the forest outside Konoha,

Uchiha Shingen finished his day's training and lay flat on the ground, gasping for breath. There wasn't a single part of his body that didn't hurt.

The results of his training were gratifying, but it would've been even better if he could've skipped the process and gone straight to the results.

"I can try out that idea I had earlier!"

Uchiha Shingen forced his exhausted body upright and swiftly formed hand seals. He gave a quiet shout:

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof!

Poof!

Two puffs of white smoke burst beside Uchiha Shingen, and two identical Shadow Clones appeared on either side of him.

As a standard Jonin technique, the Shadow Clone Technique wasn't complicated.

Uchiha Shingen had mastered it completely without spending much effort on it.

But he'd waited until he could keep his Shadow Clones around for a long time before testing whether his idea would work.

Uchiha Shingen turned to look at his two clones and nodded in satisfaction before giving them their orders:

"You're Little Left. You'll train in Taijutsu. And you, Little Right, will train in Sword Leap Flame!"

"Got it~"

"Leave it to me!"

The two clones thumped their chests, then walked over to a clearing in the distance and immediately got ready to start training.

It actually worked?

Uchiha Shingen's eyes lit up. He'd meant it as a simple test, but he hadn't expected the clones to be so obedient!

Wouldn't this mean he could go back to his carefree days of clocking in and slacking off?

"Wait a second!"

Shadow Clone Little Left stopped and turned to look at Uchiha Shingen:

"Why do we have to suffer through training while you get to lounge around and enjoy yourself? I object to this arrangement!"

"I object too!"