Turn Your Head This Way

However, before the remaining less than two thousand Konoha Ninja in Hidden Hot Water Village could even get nervous, the main force of the Leaf Village ninja army arrived.

Slightly fewer in number than the Cloud Ninja, but still exceeding ten thousand ninjas, they marched straight in and reached the Hidden Hot Water Village.

The commander of this unit was Jiraiya. When this man learned that war had broken out, he couldn't care less about finding the Chosen One and immediately ran back to the village to support his apprentice.

After not seeing him for several days, this last remaining member of the Legendary Sannin looked to be in good health.

Before the outbreak of this war, the first issue of his "Icha Icha Paradise" had already been officially published.

Uchiha Shingen was a man of his word. He immediately went and bought a copy that day and gave it to Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi initially tried to act cool, but Shingen forced it on him.

When he got home, he found that his father had also bought one, but worse, his wife found out.

However, seeing Hatake Kakashi with dark circles under his eyes the next day, he felt it was all worth it.

The first showdown between tea drinkers and erotic novel enthusiasts ended in victory for the tea drinkers.

Hey, you Hatake, you already have dark circles under your eyes in just the first episode! You're just trying to look good!

The Leaf Village ninja who entered Hidden Hot Water Village improved the Hidden Hot Water Village's defenses with even greater force than the Cloud Ninja.

Jiraiya then gathered all the Jonin together for a strategy meeting.

The meeting's theme was simple and clear: how to crush the Cloud Ninja on the battlefield.

Fighting the Cloud Ninja is different from fighting any other opponent.

It's too close to Leaf Village, and from the Land of Frost to the Land of Hot Water to the Land of Fire, there's really no good terrain to stop the Cloud Ninja Army's advance.

Unlike the battles between Leaf Village and Rock Ninja and Sand Ninja, where Rock Ninja attacked the Land of Fire far from their homeland and had long supply lines.

While the Sand Ninja is nearby, its size is limited. They rely on puppeteers to supplement their manpower and use poison attacks to compensate for the deficiencies in their Ninjutsu system.

Once the poison's formula is cracked, its attack power is halved.

The Cloud Ninja do not have any of the aforementioned defects.

The Cloud Ninja doesn't have such long supply lines, and Kumogakure's also a wealthy village. They would organize multiple supply lines like the Leaf Village.

Its offensive capabilities are also abundant.

Most importantly, the Cloud Ninja produced two Perfect Jinchuriki in this generation, and given the Raikage's tradition of personally leading troops into battle, at least one Jinchūriki would accompany the army, ensuring their offensive capabilities.

The only way to fight the Cloud Ninja is through brute force.

Based on the discussion between Jiraiya and the Jonin, the Konoha Ninja and the Cloud Village will first engage in a tough battle on the narrow land of the Land of Hot Water, where the brave will prevail, to test the waters.

The main force advanced slowly, while hundreds of small squads served as scouts, searching for and hunting down the enemy.

Uchiha Shingen really liked this fighting style.

The Uchiha Clan ninjas all liked it.

Next, we need to determine the staffing arrangements.

That's easy to do. Form a squad of four, with one Chunin leading three Genin. Once the combat area is assigned, just send these squads out.

Some of the Jonin followed Jiraiya to the central command, preventing the Cloud Ninja from tearing out their hearts while also keeping the opposing Jonin in check, while others formed their own teams and joined the scouts to hunt down the Cloud Ninja.

Whoever is forced to retreat in this kind of small-scale battle becomes blind and loses the initiative.

As expected, Uchiha Shingen was on the same team as Pakura.

There's no suspense here; there's no set rule for Jonin team formations, it's all about chemistry.

The Jonin of the former Vanguard Army were very clear about the "relationship" between Uchiha Shingen and Pakura.

No one caused any trouble.

Both Uchiha Shingen and Pakura thought it was acceptable.

The two were very familiar with each other, so they worked well together.

"Well then, it's decided then. Everyone, set off as soon as possible." Jiraiya summarized the meeting. "Take care of yourselves. If you encounter a strong enemy or the situation becomes untenable, retreat is permitted."

He had already made up his mind. If the Fourth Raikage, who had lost to his student, were to appear, he would step in to take his place.

It's a pity that Minato became Hokage. According to Leaf Village's tradition, the Hokage has to guard the village. Otherwise, a mixed doubles fight between master and student would be quite exciting.

Regardless of Jiraiya's inner thoughts, the meeting was over, and everyone went out to work in a large group.

Uchiha Shingen and Pakura had no other preparations to make, so they left the village and began to roam freely.

The two ninja armies acted in sync, with over a thousand squads from each side launching searches and battles ahead of the main force.

The competition was fierce from the very beginning.

Chapter Sixteen: Lie Down with Your Head Lifted

Uchiha Shingen pulled his sword from a Cloud Ninja and wiped it on the man.

He's already a seasoned Jonin, and he knows how to save money.

Around them, three other Cloud Ninja lay dead in a pitiful state.

Pakura stood beside a desiccated corpse, having just dissipated her Scorch Release fireball.

As a hero of Sand Village, Pakura is truly skilled. Although her Scorch Release is only one move, she uses it with remarkable agility.

For example, the fireballs created by the Scorch Release can split, expand, and explode, with highly flexible trajectories, and can also accelerate or decelerate, making them difficult to defend against.

This thing uses the Scorch Release nature transformation as its core. The outer layer looks like flames, but it is actually wrapped in Chakra that has undergone shape transformation. Therefore, for the attacked party, unless they can release their own Chakra to form a defense, they will be doomed if they come into contact with it.

Uchiha Shingen's approach involved directly incorporating the Scorch Release nature transformation into the Uchiha Clan's Fire Release system.

Use Fire Release the same way you would use Scorch Release.

Both methods of use have their advantages.

This is the sixteenth Cloud Ninja squad that Uchiha Shingen and Pakura have encountered.

This Cloud Ninja squad also Jonin, clearly indicating they share the same ambitions as Leaf Village.

He was just unlucky to run into Uchiha Shingen and Pakura.

As a Jonin the opposing Jonin faction, Uchiha Shingen remarked that this Jonin's fundamental skills were quite solid.

But...

Uchiha Shingen is his Thanos father.

I am destiny!

Thanos's lines were so cool!

Unfortunately, Uchiha Shingen felt that his actions and expressions when he said those words to the Cloud Jonin Cloud Village were still not quite right, and his acting skills needed improvement.

"Shingen, what did you mean by what you just said?"

Pakura walked over and asked.

They were fighting just fine when Uchiha Shingen suddenly said, "I am destiny," and the expression on his face was just so incredibly smug.

It's crazy and eccentric.

Pakura thought that he might have been electrocuted while practicing Lightning Release.

No, we absolutely cannot allow such a risk when we're going out to fight!

"Oh, I was just quoting a famous saying by a powerful figure." Uchiha Shingen waved his hand dismissively.

However, in Pakura's eyes, this was precisely a symptom of "illness".

Obsessed with cultivation, people become stronger while simultaneously wasting their brains. In the end, they do become stronger, but their IQ drops to negative numbers. Pakura has seen plenty of examples like this.

She's not a novice; she's a veteran in the industry. How come she doesn't know which expert has such a famous saying?

However, knowing that one cannot reason with a patient, Pakura said nothing, but simply asked, "Where to next?"

"Let me think about it..." Uchiha Shingen began to consider it seriously.

The previous route was from southeast to northwest.

However, by now, the number of Cloud Ninja has begun to decrease, and more than half of Cloud Ninja were encountered along the way.

Uchiha Shingen felt that he was approaching the maximum distribution range of the Cloud Ninja Team.

Further out, even if you encounter them, they'll only be chunin or genin, and won't have the ability to detect them.

They've reached a pretty good position.

"Let's go into the mountains and then head north," said Uchiha Shingen.

He explained his thoughts to Pakura.

Pakura nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

Good, the condition isn't serious yet, there's still hope.

I have no objection.

The two then changed direction and headed northwest.

The Land of Hot Water is oriented from northwest to southeast on the map. Its elevation increases continuously from southeast to northwest. The mountains in the northwest region are high and dense, and the mountain ranges of the Land of Frost and the Land of Lightning are actually a whole.

The Land of Frost is largely composed of mountain ranges, and its population is mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal region.

The army of the Land of Lightning entered the Land of Hot Water from this coastal region.

Just like on Blue Star, in this world with Chakra, lower elevations offer better living conditions. Higher elevations mean less arable land. Of course, there are exceptions, but this is true for most areas.

From a military perspective, low-latitude regions are also more convenient for large-scale troop movements and logistical support.

Even when the Cloud Ninja invaded the Land of Hot Water, they followed the laws of nature.

Uchiha Shingen's target was not the headquarters of the Cloud Ninja Army.

Are you kidding? He's not Uchiha Madara.

His target was the "corridor" behind the Cloud Ninja Army.

Due to the dense mountains within its borders, the coastal region of the Land of Frost is a narrow "corridor" with mountains behind it and the sea in front, characterized by rolling hills and a treacherous terrain. This "corridor" became the main marching route for the Land of Lightning when it invaded the Land of Hot Water. At the border between the two countries, there is a fortified city, which is an important transit point for the Cloud Ninja army to resupply their supplies.

He died here during his first playthrough, and at that time, he left a "warehouse" in the Yamanaka Clan nearby.

I didn't use it on my first playthrough, but as long as it hasn't been discovered yet...

Well, I'm sorry, but he absolutely has to top the list of merits this time!

The top ten receive an additional bonus.

The prize for first place is 50 million taels of silver.

You can't reach this number without at least a dozen S-rank missions.

Before Hokage, Namikaze Minato's annual pre-tax income was roughly at this level.

He's determined to get that bonus!

With anticipation, Uchiha Shingen, leading Pakura, proceeded stealthily until they finally saw the outline of a continuous mountain range in the distance.

Under the cover of the jungle, the two successfully entered the nearest mountainous area and then moved north along the mountain range.

During this time, they encountered several groups of Cloud Ninja, but Uchiha Shingen, who was using his Chakra perception, spotted them from afar and avoided them in time.

The opponent wasn't of a high rank either, and there were no Jonin, so the two of them easily avoided them.

Uchiha Shingen, familiar with the area, found a safe "path" that would allow him to easily avoid the largest search zone of the Cloud Ninja.

As the two continued walking, time passed, and the sun began to set.

The red hue was absorbed into the mountains by the glow of the setting sun, and the surrounding Mizuki also put on their evening attire, creating a scene of dusk in the deep twilight.

As the light completely disappeared, the air became heavy, and muffled thunder rumbled.

The two slowed their pace and decided to find a place to rest.

Since leaving Hidden Hot Water Village, I haven't had a chance to rest.

After searching by Uchiha Shingen, they found a suitable cave.

It's safe here. After all, not many people probably know this path now. Uchiha Shingen was also following the marks he left behind.

After checking, he determined that no one had set foot here for many years.

They lit a campfire, spread dry grass on the ground, and sat down.