Half an hour later, the team set off again.
By nightfall, they finally reached Konoha's main camp.
Inside a tent, Yechen sat cross-legged, calmly cultivating to restore himself to peak condition.
For a while, newly promoted Genin like them would not be assigned any dangerous missions. Their main task was to adjust to the battlefield environment and get into the right mindset.
Without a doubt, this was good news for Yechen.
He could use this time to raise his combat power another notch.
Half a month later...
Yechen cut back on outings, leaving only when necessary, and spent most of his time cultivating in his tent.
He worked on his skills and used up all the evolution points he had earned.
After all, he had gained quite a few evolution points this time. He could not turn them all into combat power at once. Without giving his body time to adapt, he would cause excessive damage.
For half a month, his Shadow Clones trained his skills while his original body worked on strengthening his physique.
As a result, Yechen made a major breakthrough in combat power in just half a month.
Character panel: Host: Uchiha Ye Chen Realm: Chunin Cultivation method: Primordial Chaos Devouring Heaven Technique Combat power: 21.6 Strength: 70 Constitution: 71 Spirit: 75 Energy: 750 Bloodline: Sharingan (one-tomoe), Byakugan (first stage) Talents: Energy Conversion, Amaterasu (level 1), Space Compression (level 1) Skills: Advanced Three Body Technique (level 5), Fire Release: Wildfire • Flame Waves Soaring to the Heavens (level 12), Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique (level 4) Evolution points: 0
Half a month of cultivation had doubled his base combat power, but his actual fighting strength had grown far beyond that.
With his evolution points exhausted, Yechen began considering other options. Training in isolation still raised his combat power too slowly. Taking missions and earning evolution points was a more reliable approach.
Completing missions was not his purpose. Killing people to earn evolution points was his real goal.
On the battlefield, Yechen did not care who won or lost. Only his own interests mattered.
Over the next few days, at Yechen's suggestion, Nakagawa Ichirō chose patrol missions.
These missions were not too dangerous and would help the three of them adjust to the atmosphere of the battlefield as quickly as possible.
For the first few days, there was little worth noting. They patrolled the surrounding area, checking concealed traps and markers.
As time passed, the areas they patrolled became increasingly important, raising the difficulty of their missions.
Still, there was no denying that this environment was excellent training.
After this period of patrolling and reconnaissance, Yechen, Ito Miyuki, and Abe Rō all lost some of their awkward stiffness and became more capable and efficient.
Just as they did now, when the four of them stopped, the three students knew what to do without waiting for Nakagawa Ichirō's instructions.
Yechen kept watch while Ito Miyuki and Abe Rō checked whether anyone had tampered with the nearby traps and markers.
Everything proceeded in an orderly manner.
A moment later, Ito Miyuki reported.
"Teacher Nakagawa, everything is normal."
"Good..." Nakagawa Ichirō nodded.
"Once we check the last patrol point, today's mission will be complete."
"Yes, Teacher Nakagawa."
The four set off again. Along the way, no one made a sound unless necessary, and they kept a vigilant watch on their surroundings.
They were outside Konoha's territory. Enemy ninja could ambush them at any moment.
Although things had been quiet lately and Yechen hoped something would happen, deep down he still hoped they would not encounter an enemy team that was too strong.
This was no game of make-believe. It was a fight to the death!
Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened even after they finished inspecting the final patrol point.
Yechen was still somewhat disappointed. Without combat, he had to rely on grueling training to improve his strength, and his progress would be much slower.
A few points added to his basic attributes were merely a drop in the bucket compared to his current combat power.
He did not want to find himself standing still when a real crisis arrived.
Three days passed in a flash. That night, Yechen was still training his physique. Space Compression allowed him to keep his body under spatial pressure at all times.
He was not worried about running out of energy, either. Two Shadow Clones were cultivating the Primordial Chaos Devouring Heaven Technique, and his energy was ten times denser than chakra. An energy shortage was simply not a concern.
If he had not feared that his body would be unable to withstand it and his mental strength would falter, he would have loved to cultivate twenty-four hours a day.
Suddenly, an explosion erupted inside the camp. Yechen immediately recalled his Shadow Clones, and the corners of his mouth slowly rose. The battle he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
He knew it was an enemy attack because practicing ninjutsu with a large area of effect was forbidden inside the camp.
A disturbance this large meant enemy ninja had infiltrated the camp.
"Ding! A new mission has been generated. Rock Ninja forces have surrounded Branch 16. Their objective is to destroy this outpost. Mission: Protect the outpost and kill ten ninja. Reward: Evolution points +300, A-rank ninjutsu: Rasengan."
"Rasengan..." Yechen was astonished. This ninjutsu had appeared throughout the entire Naruto story.
It was a ninjutsu created by Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya, but the person who truly put it to use and developed it to its utmost potential was Naruto Uzumaki.
He combined his own wind-nature chakra with the Rasengan to create ninjutsu of his own.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken and Sage Art: Tailed Beast Rasenshuriken-these two ninjutsu surpassed S-rank and astonished the world.
The more Yechen thought about it, the more excited he became. The Rasengan was a ninjutsu without an elemental nature, so energy of any nature could be infused into it. The more natures it contained, the greater its power, though the difficulty would naturally increase as well.
But Yechen was not worried about that. With skill evolution, he believed the Rasengan would surely work another miracle.
Rasengan, let's look forward to it!
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