Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

However, the education he received at the Ninja Academy and the border guard force enabled him to suppress his fear at this moment. In this critical situation, he chose to obey orders, and even if the captain ordered him to stay behind to cover the rear, he would resolutely carry it out to the end.

This is a patrol squad belonging to the border guard force.

The original four-man patrol team is now down to two and a half. Besides the captain and his young subordinate, there is a teammate who is seriously injured and unconscious, lying on the young subordinate's back. As for the other person... he was killed when he encountered the three squads of Mist Ninja chasing them!

Their survival until now, despite being surrounded and annihilated by three Mist Ninja squads, is entirely thanks to that 'half' teammate.

Although his teammate, who carried the Flame Fan, always acted arrogantly and looked down on people, the young subordinate had to admit that this annoying guy was a reliable teammate. He single-handedly held off the attacks of three Mist Ninja squads, giving them a chance to escape.

If it weren't for the other teammate being incredibly unlucky and being blown up by the Mist Ninja with explosive tags in the first round of attacks!

Who knows, we might even have a chance to escape together!

“I’ll cover the rear. Shadow Palace, you take Akifusa and continue the escape.”

The middle-aged man, who was the team leader, gritted his teeth, touched the few remaining explosive tags, and finally made a difficult decision. He had to make a decision no matter what; dragging it out would only lead to the destruction of their entire team.

"team leader?"

The subordinate named Shadow Palace stared wide-eyed.

"This is an order. Take Akifusa and leave quickly! I may not be able to buy you much time. If things go badly, even if you have to abandon Akifusa, you must continue to try to escape. You must get back the news that the Mist Ninja has broken through the Okawasaki defense line."

After making up his mind to die, the captain was no longer so nervous.

As a veteran Special Jonin, his talent is obviously not top-notch, otherwise he wouldn't be stuck at the Special Jonin level for so long and unable to be promoted to Jonin. However, at least time has not worn down his courage.

Rather than leaving your subordinates to cover your retreat, it's better to stay behind and help the young people shine, illuminating their path forward as much as possible.

"Trying to escape? I'd like to see where you can run to!"

The sound coming from the trees ahead was like the sleeve of death falling from above, looming over their heads and dispelling the last glimmer of hope for escape in the hearts of the captain and the two Konoha ninja, Kagemiya. It turned out that a fourth Mist Ninja squad had outflanked them.

The situation had turned into a desperate situation, with the captain looking grim. He gripped the kunai in his hand tightly, secretly resolving that he would rather commit suicide than fall into the hands of the Mist Ninja alive. Right, before that, he had to help his unconscious teammates find relief, and he also had to destroy those 'double tomoe' Sharingan!

"I was lucky this time; I didn't expect to get a pair of Sharingan eyes."

The Mist Ninjas standing on the tree gazed greedily at the unconscious Uchiha Akifusa, pondering how to obtain such a pair of Sharingan eyes intact.

now,

Whether it's the Mist Ninja or the Konoha Ninja,

Concentrating on each other, they didn't notice the tiny black rats darting through the grass. These small, jet-black rats returned at lightning speed to their starting point, a small clearing in the forest, where they neatly and orderly returned to the snow-white scroll spread out on the ground.

The mice, now back on paper, reverted to their original form as ink and recorded the information they had gleaned on scrolls in written form.

"Sixteen Mist Ninja?"

Zongxian bent down and picked up the scroll on the ground, quickly reading through the intelligence gathered on it.

"Is there another Uchiha? I didn't expect to encounter a clansman in distress here. Now that I know, I, as the clan leader, cannot turn a blind eye."

then,

Zongxian picked up his brush and began to paint in the blank spaces on the scroll.

With just a few strokes, a majestic eagle appeared on the scroll. Zong Xian put away his brush, gently shook the scroll in his hand, and the eagle on the paper suddenly broke free from its constraints, its flat body expanding and growing larger as if inflated.

In the blink of an eye, a jet-black eagle, large enough to carry three or five people soaring through the sky, obediently perched in front of Zongxian.

This is the [Secret Technique: Super Beast Imitation Painting].

After obtaining this Yang Release technique from a member of Root, Zongxian immediately began to study it. He extracted a great deal of cultivation insights about this technique from the mind of that Root member. In addition, with the abundant physical energy replenished by Samehada, he was able to master this technique in less than half a month through extensive practice.

It seems ridiculously fast.

In reality, the time and effort Zongxian invested in this was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Sogen began his training in Yin Release and Yang Release shortly after obtaining Samehada. Because Yin Release and the Sharingan are inextricably linked, his training in Yin Release was smooth sailing until he awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan and was almost able to grasp the essence of Yin Release.

In contrast,

His Yang Escape Technique training, however, showed little progress.

However, that doesn't mean that Zongxian lacks talent in this area. He just lacks a key to unlock the door. Unfortunately, the Uchiha clan doesn't have any collections of Yang Release techniques that satisfy him. Although the village has a lot of research materials on Yang Release techniques, those things are not something an Uchiha like him can get his hands on.

Until he obtained the secret technique, Super Beast Imitation Painting.

He finally opened the door to the hidden secrets of Yang Escape Technique. His profound accumulation was transformed into results in one day. He was no longer just using this power superficially as before, but had learned to use more ingenious and profound methods to leverage this power.

Of course,

The profoundness of Yang Release is not something that can be fully understood simply by learning a secret technique. At best, it can only be said to have given him a good start and allowed him to gain more insights into the use of Yang Release chakra.

"Fujika, Yakumo, both of you come here."

Zongxian stepped onto the back of the black eagle and beckoned his sister and disciple to join him. He planned to take the two little ones to broaden their horizons. Sixteen Mist Ninjas would be a pretty good appetizer!

"Zongxian, I want to ride too!"

Uchiha Chihaya looked over expectantly.

She also wanted to ride an eagle and fly in the air. There were very few ninjas in the ninja world who had mastered the means of flight. For more than 90% of ninjas, flying was a distant dream that could only be looked at but not reached. Even the Uchiha were no exception.

The complete Susanoo can soar through the clouds.

The problem is, how many members of the Uchiha clan can master the Complete Body Susanoo? Many clan members don't even have the concept of the Mangekyou Sharingan or Susanoo!

Therefore,

Flight also held immense appeal for the Uchiha clan.

After seeing Sogen use the secret technique of Super Beast Imitation Painting to fly into the sky, Uchiha Chihaya also tried to learn this secret technique. Sogen did not keep it to himself, but instead tried his best to teach Uchiha Chihaya how to do it. However, he still failed in the end.

Without knowledge and experience of Yang Escape Technique, let alone mastering this secret technique as quickly as Zongxian, even if she had ten or eight years, she might not have been able to get the basics down.

The difficulty of passing on secret techniques is, strictly speaking, even greater than that of bloodline limits.

The bloodline limit is hidden within every member of the clan who has inherited the bloodline. As long as a person is alive, they will eventually have the opportunity to awaken their bloodline limit. However, secret techniques are different. The inheritance of secret techniques requires cultivation from childhood, outstanding talent and good adaptability, and a long enough time to carefully refine them.

These stringent conditions eliminated almost 99% of the cultivators. Otherwise, among the talented 'Root', there would have been more than one person who mastered the Super Beast Imitation Painting technique. Back then, Danzo selected fifty children to teach the Super Beast Imitation Painting technique, but in the end, only one person successfully mastered it.

This illustrates the difficulty of mastering secret techniques.

As for the families like the Ino-Shika-Cho clans that have inherited secret techniques... over those long years, generations of them have tirelessly devoted themselves to the study of these techniques, trying every possible way to improve their own adaptability to them. Today, the secret techniques passed down in their clans are truly on the verge of evolving into bloodline limits!

The Nara clan members are naturally intelligent and quick-witted; the Akimichi clan children are born much heavier than ordinary children; and the Yamanaka clan members are born with extremely active and powerful spiritual energy... These are all the results of the efforts of their ancestors.

To be honest, given time, the Yamanaka clan might very well become a bloodline limit family like the Kurama clan in its heyday.

"Didn't it fly around once this morning?"

Zongxian sighed, feeling a bit of a headache, but finally nodded in agreement. After all, the eagle's back was spacious enough and not already full. Once Uchiha Chihaya excitedly squeezed on, Zongxian turned his gaze to the only one left on the ground, Uchiha Akitarou.

"Akitaro, if anyone catches up with us, tell them I'll be back soon."

The ninja army of nearly four thousand men did not march in a long, single-file line like the armies of ordinary samurai in the Daimyo's mansion.

In fact,

The wars between ninjas have their own set of rules.

With movement speed faster than a galloping horse, wide-range offensive ninjutsu, and combat methods that are difficult to coordinate, these characteristics determine that unless dealing with large monsters like tailed beasts or attacking defensive strongholds with barriers, it is rare for more than a hundred ninjas to act together.

Even war cannot change the style of small-team combat.

The ninja army under Zongxian's command, numbering nearly four thousand, was also divided into many small teams. They marched in different teams, and Zongxian, as the supreme commander, took the lead without hesitation, leaving his troops behind to closely follow his footsteps.

"I understand, Chieftain!"

Uchiha Akitarou nodded in agreement.

next moment,

The jet-black giant eagle spread its wings, vibrated its twin halberds, and soared into the sky, flying at high speed towards its target direction, following Zongxian's guidance.

"Amazing!"

Uchiha Fujika stood on the eagle's back, her eyes shining as she looked down at the mountains and forests that seemed so small. Feeling the howling wind blowing in her face, she felt no fear at all; on the contrary, she was so excited that she almost shouted.

Even though this wasn't her first time flying, her high spirits never subsided.

Chihaya Uchiha was in a similar situation.

She drew her long sword from its sheath, gently stroking its gleaming blade. Tiny wind blades spun and rubbed against her fingertips as she became completely absorbed in mastering the Wind Release technique.

In comparison, Kurama Yakumo, with his pale face and trembling legs, was probably the most normal one.

"Uchiha bloodline?"

Looking at the unusual reactions of his childhood friend and sister, and then at Yakumo's normal state.

Zongxian could only attribute all of this to the arrogant and belligerent bloodline of the Uchiha clan. The special nature of chakra can indeed affect a person's temperament, and it was not prejudice that the Sharingan chakra of the Uchiha clan gave people a bad feeling.

This is only natural.

The power born from extreme emotions is naturally not peaceful and tranquil!

It's normal to have a violent temper!

He didn't dwell on these trivial details. He lowered his head and looked down at the forest below. The exploding talisman saved Zongxian time in locating the target. He lightly stomped his foot, and the giant black eagle immediately began to descend at an extremely fast speed.

When they were almost at the treetop, Zongxian reached out and grabbed the two little ones on the left and right, and leaped up like cannonballs, falling to the ground below. As for Uchiha Chihaya, his childhood friend was a bit strange, but she was still one of the geniuses of their generation and not so fragile that he needed to worry about everything.

[Chapter 89. It's been forgotten!]

"boom!!!"

The dark shadow that fell from the sky broke off a thick tree branch and crashed to the ground like a meteorite.

The sudden noise interrupted the battle between the Mist Ninja and the Konoha Ninja.

"who?"

The Mist Ninja halted their advance, turned their blades, and warily watched the billowing dust.

"—Clang!—Clang!"

The sound of armor clashing echoed through the mountains and forests.

Zongxian waved his hand to disperse the dust in front of him, and appeared in the sight of the Mist Ninja.

The black combat suit and crimson layered armor... this retro style of clothing puzzled the Mist Ninja, and there were no Konoha headbands in sight. Where did this guy come from? Is he a Konoha ninja? Or is he some strange fellow?

At this time,