Departure

Clap, clap, clap~

A burst of applause rang out.

Qian looked toward the sound and saw a figure appear not far away. Then, with a flicker, he arrived in front of him.

"Uncle!"

Seeing who had come, Qian bowed slightly in greeting.

The newcomer was named Uchiha Fei Huo. He was eighteen this year, had opened his Sharingan to Three Tomoe, and was a rising genius of the Uchiha clan.

Unfortunately, Qian had never heard this name in his previous life.

Who knew whether he had died in this Great Ninja War, died on some mission, or been cut down by Itachi and turned into an nameless corpse.

Unaware that Qian was silently grumbling about him, Uchiha Fei Huo nodded, swept his gaze around the surroundings, and said casually, "Your Great Fireball Technique is coming along nicely!"

With that, without waiting for Qian to say anything, he took a scroll from his robes and tossed it to Qian, saying at the same time, "Here. This is the Shadow Clone Technique you applied for. Remember, don't pass it on."

That was right. Besides "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique," "Fire Release: Fire Dragon Technique," "Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique," and "Body Flicker Technique," he also planned to learn the "Shadow Clone Technique."

Any ninja of the Uchiha clan, as long as they graduated from the Ninja School and became a Genin, could apply to the clan for one ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu technique.

This was a benefit of the Uchiha clan.

Since graduating, Qian had yet to claim this benefit.

Now that he was about to head to the battlefield, and had no idea when he would return next, he naturally had to get this benefit first.

Besides, he really did want to learn this ninjutsu.

Because as his skill levels rose, the Proficiency required for each skill would increase more and more. Relying on himself alone, he truly could not keep up with everything.

As a physical clone, the Shadow Clone could perfectly transmit experience and memories back to the main body, so there was no need to worry that it would be unable to help grind Proficiency.

It was just that he still did not know how efficient it would be.

After taking the scroll, Qian gave it a rough look. Once he confirmed there were no problems, he thanked Uchiha Fei Huo.

Uchiha Fei Huo waved a hand and did not linger. With a few flickers, he left the area.

Qian sat on the ground and carefully read through the scroll in his hands. Only after a long while, once he confirmed the other party really had left, did he put the scroll away.

It was not that Qian was being overly cautious. It was simply that he had too many secrets on him, and exposing any one of them would bring him endless trouble.

Qian only wanted to quietly grind progress. He did not want to get dragged into any trouble.

So he had to be cautious, then even more cautious.

Otherwise, after sensing someone approaching, he would not have immediately used "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique" to destroy all traces around him.

One had to understand that whether or not one had the Sharingan's assistance made a difference in the effects produced when casting ninjutsu.

Take "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique," for example. Uchiha ninja who had not opened their eyes could indeed use it as well, but there was no way they could control it as precisely as he did.

An ordinary person might not notice anything from such a subtle difference, but an experienced Uchiha ninja—especially one who had opened their eyes—would basically be able to spot the trick with a single glance.

At that point, the secret of him having awakened the Sharingan might be exposed.

Qian did not want to gamble on whether the person coming was an Uchiha ninja, nor did he want to gamble on whether the other party could see through it, so it was better to burn everything away with one fire.

And it was not only traces of training. Even when he went out on ordinary days, Qian would not let his own Chakra Amount exceed two thousand points.

One had to know that whether it was the Sharingan, the Byakugan, or certain sensory-type ninja, they could all judge the amount of chakra within a ninja's body to a certain extent.

Then, based on that, they would determine the ninja's strength.

Two thousand points was a safety line. Below that value, if he encountered an emergency, he might not be able to handle it.

But above that value, it might draw prying eyes from others.

Although Qian did not think anyone would specifically pay attention to a small fry like him, just in case, he still did not let his chakra recover to over two thousand points.

In any case, grinding Proficiency required a large amount of chakra, so he could easily control the Chakra Amount within his body.

Now, the only thing he needed to consider was whether he should maintain this state as well when he set off with the team for Rain Country a few days later.

It was easy to imagine that the journey would certainly not be peaceful.

Perhaps within the Land of Fire Territory, the enemy would not dare to attack recklessly, but once they left the Land of Fire and entered Rain Country, that might not be the case.

At that time, if he fell into a trap because he lacked chakra, that joke would be far too costly.

Standing in place and thinking for a while, Qian suddenly sighed faintly and muttered to himself, "Sigh! Right now, I can only hope there are more people when we set off. Otherwise, this really will be a bit difficult..."

With that, he stopped thinking too much and began seizing the time to practice the "Body Flicker Technique."

As his planned means of escape, Qian had to grind it to an even higher level.

In the blink of an eye.

Three days passed.

That morning.

Qian got dressed, tied on his Ninja Tool Pouch, fastened his forehead protector, shouldered his backpack, and walked out of his room.

Passing through streets and alleys, Qian hurried toward the gathering point.

Along the way, he could see one or two ninja dressed similarly to him from time to time, carrying large and small bags as they headed in the direction of the Leaf Village Gate.

That was right—today was the day they set out.

They would first gather at Konoha's entrance, then take a headcount, and after confirming everything was correct, they would head together for the Rain Country Battlefield.

A few minutes later.

Qian arrived at Konoha's entrance.

By now, quite a few people had already gathered there.

In addition, dozens of carts were lined up together, some loaded with grain, others with ninja tools. In short, every one of them was packed full.

These were all supplies they had to escort to the front line.

Whether in his previous life or this one, when war dragged on to the end, what it tested was always logistics. If logistics could not keep up, a war could not be won.

So on this trip, aside from rookies like them, quite a few jonin were coming along as well—and they were all jonin from clans.

That made Qian breathe a slight sigh of relief.

After all, the Chakra inside him amounted to only two thousand points, so he could not bring out his full strength at all.

That was right. In the end, Qian had still decided to maintain his usual state.

He refused to believe he was so unlucky that he would just happen to run into an enemy even two thousand points of Chakra could not deal with. If he really did, then worst came to worst, he would run first and ask questions later.

"Qian, over here!"

Just as Qian was looking around, Ryosuke's voice came from within the crowd.

Qian looked toward the sound and saw him standing with Furukawa in front of a cart, waving at him, so he quickly walked over.

Seeing Qian come over, Ryosuke had yet to speak when Furukawa cut in first, "How is your Body Flicker Technique practice going?"

That was right. Qian had learned the Body Flicker Technique from Furukawa.

Among the ninjutsu left behind by his predecessor's parents, this technique was not included, and he also did not want to obtain it from the clan and waste a precious opportunity on a mere D-Rank Ninjutsu.

So he had set his sights on Furukawa.

A team-leading jonin had a duty to teach ninjutsu to the students under him in the first place, so after hearing Qian's request, Furukawa had not thought too much about it before teaching him the technique.

Strictly speaking, Furukawa should have waited until Qian was promoted to Chunin before teaching it.

But Furukawa had seen Qian perform a Rank C Ninjutsu—Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique—and knew that a mere D-Rank Ninjutsu was nothing to him.

So he had not held it back.

Now, several days had passed, and he heard Furukawa ask about it again.

Qian quietly opened his Status Panel and glanced over it. The "Body Flicker Technique" on it had already changed from lv1 (10/200) to lv2 (15/500)!

With this level of Proficiency, he could cast it in less than a second.

However, in keeping with his usual low-key style, Qian merely replied, "I've learned it."

"Is that so?"

Hearing Qian's answer, Furukawa neither confirmed nor denied it.