Uchiha's personal opinion

In the forest, the two voices echoed. As the ninja army withdrew, a black pitcher plant-shaped life form emerged from the ground, staring blankly in the direction where Uchiha Tokumitsu had left.

Chapter 51 The Evolutionary Path of the Uchiha

Upon returning to the garrison camp in the Land of Grass from the Land of Waterfall, Uchiha Tokumitsu's first action was to issue a gag order to all the ninjas who had participated in the battle, in order to prevent any leaks of information.

After all, killing two high-ranking ninja from a major country—the Tsuchikage's assistant and the Raikage's secretary—in a single battle, along with a Jinchuriki, was a glorious achievement, but it was also absolutely deadly.

Especially after killing the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, one can imagine how crazy the already tyrannical and rude Kumogakure would go after discovering that their leaders and Jinchuriki had both "disappeared".

After resting overnight at the camp, Hatake Sakumo and his men hurriedly returned to Konoha despite Uchiha Tokumitsu's attempts to persuade them to stay.

"Sakumo Jonin is truly an exemplary Konoha ninja. He deserves to be recognized by the entire village as the successor to the Will of Fire." After seeing him off, Uchiha Tokumitsu said to Uchiha Himon, who had come to see him off as well.

"It is precisely because of people like them that the village has been able to prosper and endure." Uchiha Himon also gave a very high evaluation.

"Is that so?" Uchiha Tokumitsu raised an eyebrow, somewhat unconvinced. "It's a pity. In reality, the despicable revel in their debauchery, the worldly eke out a living, while the noble die without a proper place."

“Sakumo Hatake…” Tokumitsu Uchiha gazed at the figure that had long since disappeared into the distance, “He was too noble…”

Uchiha Himon was stunned.

……

With nothing to worry about, Uchiha Tokumitsu continued to leave all the mundane affairs to his unfortunate advisor, Nara Yukihira, while he found a quiet place to take stock of the gains from the battle in Shimotaki Country.

The greatest gain was naturally the chakra signature obtained by refining the power of the Two-Tails with the Flame Release aura.

Sticky and burns continuously.

The so-called stickiness is easy to understand. It means that as Uchiha Tokumitsu's chakra becomes more solid, when a target is hit by Uchiha Tokumitsu's ninjutsu, the ninjutsu's attribute characteristics, such as the burning and high temperature of fire release, will continuously adhere to the target. In other words, Uchiha Tokumitsu's ninjutsu attack is not only a single attack, but also has a continuous damage effect.

The continuous burning effect is an even more disgusting attribute, because it burns the chakra of the target. In other words, if the damage caused by Uchiha Tokumitsu's ninjutsu is not healed or the damage to the body caused by chakra is not removed in time, the target will die from the pain and exhaustion of chakra due to the continuous burning damage.

Moreover, through his experiments with Fire Release ninjutsu, Uchiha Tokumitsu discovered that as chakra became more solidified, his control over chakra also improved. Now, the ninjutsu he casts also has a kind of tracking function that is not quite right but wrong. Even if the opponent can dodge the straight-line attack of the ninjutsu for a moment, he can still make the ninjutsu explode the instant the opponent just dodged it under the control of his mind.

"What is this?" Uchiha Tokumitsu wondered to himself. "A wireless guided Fire Release ninjutsu with a timed strike? And it even has the effect of white phosphorus bombs?"

With the combination of several attributes, Uchiha Tokumitsu's Fire Release technique becomes particularly vicious. The ninjutsu not only kills the victim, but also inflicts continuous burning damage on anyone nearby. This is simply the best battlefield ninjutsu feature.

Uchiha Tokumitsu, feeling quite pleased with himself, recklessly unleashed various Fire Release ninjutsu across the surrounding open space. Clearly, after absorbing the Two-Tails' chakra, he not only gained a new chakra attribute, but his chakra reserves also became significantly larger. While not as inexhaustible as a tailed beast, his chakra reserves had at least doubled compared to before. This larger base chakra reserves also meant that the Fire Release chakra that Uchiha Tokumitsu could fuse after the attribute change was even more abundant.

"Tailed beasts are truly a perfect tonic." Uchiha Tokumitsu, panting heavily, looked at the devastating fire-style attack before him and felt extremely satisfied.

The Uchiha guards and ninjas on guard around the area watched from afar as Uchiha Tokumitsu's ninjutsu was awe-inspiring.

After using several Water Release techniques to extinguish the remaining flames of the Fire Release ninjutsu, Uchiha Tokumitsu jumped back onto the tree and sat down to re-refine his chakra.

Regarding his current personal strength, Uchiha Tokumitsu is generally very satisfied. Although in terms of power, he has not yet surpassed the traditional Uchiha clan's ninja level, he is at least considered excellent within the contemporary Uchiha clan.

In particular, his three-tomoe Sharingan, perhaps due to the effect of his extremely large spiritual power, makes his eye power stronger than that of other Jonin in the clan. This, along with his chakra manipulation ability, can be considered one of the benefits or cheat codes of being reborn into this life.

Although he didn't have those inexplicable system assistance, Uchiha Tokumitsu was still very satisfied with the strength he had achieved in this life.

The only problem is how to transcend the inherent power template of the Uchiha clan and reach the level of Uchiha Madara, or even surpass Uchiha Madara.

Throughout the long history of the Uchiha clan, there have been powerful figures like Madara Uchiha, but in terms of the ability to cause trouble, Madara Uchiha far surpassed his predecessors.

In particular, his ability to remain upright after death and to be reborn after death surpassed that of his Uchiha predecessors.

However, the reason why Madara Uchiha's power was so great was not only because of his extraordinary talent, but also because Madara Uchiha was the reincarnation of Indra.

Indra and Asura, these two brothers with a karmic entanglement spanning thousands of years, have been constantly fighting each other in their reincarnations during the thousands of years of the Six Paths Sage's reign, orchestrating one bloody storm after another. Until this life, this karmic entanglement has finally reached the point where it can no longer continue and is about to come to an end.

But where does the path to transcendence lie for ordinary Uchiha clan members?

Uchiha Tokumitsu's current answer is 'Fire Release'.

However, the so-called 'Flame Release' only laid the foundation for a ninja way. The branches and various applications that follow still require the participation of the Uchiha clan members to jointly develop and perfect it.

Uchiha Tokumitsu closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his mind, and he began to silently activate his eye power.

The common explanation for the Sharingan is that it was created by Uchiha clan ninjas after experiencing immense pain. The intense grief caused abnormal chakra flow through their brains, which in turn forced their optic nerves to mutate, resulting in eyes that could reflect their inner thoughts.

However, this explanation is not entirely accurate, because a few members of the Uchiha clan, including Uchiha Tokumitsu, awakened the Sharingan without being stimulated by negative emotions such as grief. Therefore, Uchiha Tokumitsu understood the Sharingan as a kind of atavistic trait, and high-intensity emotional stimulation may just be one of the keys to activating the latent trait.

Therefore, Uchiha Tokumitsu tried various methods to connect with eye power without activating the Sharingan. Currently, the most effective method is to use Yin Release chakra to nourish the eyes.

The ophthalmic nerve is a branch of the trigeminal nerve and is a sensory nerve. It mainly controls the sensation of the eyeball, lacrimal gland, conjunctiva, nasal mucosa, and the skin of the forehead and nose. It is the thinnest of the trigeminal nerve, and even a slight touch can produce a certain degree of pain. The pain produced by injecting chakra into this area would naturally be enormous.

But there was no other way; this was the only method among the techniques that Uchiha Tokumitsu had explored that could effectively nurture his eye power at the three-tomoe stage.

The cold Yin Release chakra flowed through his eyes like ice water, causing a stinging sensation while simultaneously strengthening the nerves in his eyes.

At the same time, Uchiha Tokumitsu clearly sensed that the power of his eyes, nourished by Yin Release chakra, was becoming more refined and concentrated, just like the impurities in a piece of steel gradually being removed through constant forging, a process of eliminating the dross and retaining the essence.

Although the process was extremely slow, Uchiha Tokumitsu persisted in what he believed to be the correct path of evolution.

Author's Note on the Launch of Chapter 52

When I received the notification from the editor, I was somewhat incredulous.

I never expected that what was originally just a spur-of-the-moment hobby would be released so quickly.

I never expected this book to receive so many readers' attention and votes.

The reason I wrote this book is simply because I was experiencing a reading slump.

I love reading novels, and I've been doing so for over a decade, since elementary school. I've read all sorts of books, and I've read countless titles. The reason I'm writing this book is because I also enjoy reading fan fiction, especially Naruto fan fiction. However, there are very few truly good Naruto fan fictions; the few that exist are often incredibly mediocre. So, in a fit of pique, guided by the central principle of "I'll do it if I can," I painstakingly registered an author account, came up with a title, and began writing my first book.

The author's personal name, "Mountain Ape and Valley Bird," comes from Bai Juyi's "Letter to Yuan Weizhi," which reads, "Again I hear the mountain apes and valley birds, chirping mournfully." Perhaps this name was chosen in response to the times.

And so, I kept writing for almost fifty days.

What gave me the most satisfaction during this process was the various comments from readers. Every time I opened the author's assistant and saw everyone's messages, I was especially happy. I read almost everyone's comments, and even carefully considered how to reply to some. Moreover, the ideas everyone suggested were quite interesting, and if all goes well, we should be able to see corresponding plot points in later chapters.

However, due to my limited writing skills, although I have written an outline, there are always unsatisfactory aspects in the actual writing process. I experience writer's block and other troubles, and the plot development is not as smooth as I initially imagined.

In short, I've basically fallen into all the pitfalls that newcomers encounter.

However, the most important thing about writing is still "writing".

Write on your phone, write on your computer, write in every moment of inspiration…

Make the most of every spare moment to write, and try to write as well as possible.

Actually, I'm quite embarrassed. Due to work, I can only manage one update a day, and frankly, the quality is sometimes just so-so...

Fortunately, the release date coincides with the New Year's Day holiday, so I can try to challenge myself and see if I can update more than 10,000 words a day.

The road ahead is long and arduous, but I will persevere in my pursuit.

As an online novelist, my only hope is that through this book, you, the reader, can find a moment to relax after work, study, or labor, and perhaps even receive a thumbs up or a dislike. If you like it, feel free to praise it; if you find it poorly written, criticism is welcome. Ultimately, I hope this book can bring some emotional value to its readers. If that's achieved, I will be completely satisfied.

Today is also the last day of 2022. Here, I sincerely wish every reader a happy new year, with all your wishes fulfilled, great progress made, and every day being the protagonist of your own story.

Finally, thank you to every reader who has given rewards, voted, commented, and followed this book. I am truly grateful. Since there are quite a few people, I won't name them all here; I'll compile a separate chapter about it another time.

Thank you for your support. Let's encourage each other.

Chapter 53 Special Report

Uchiha Tokumitsu's training lasted for five days, and he did not return to the camp until nightfall.

Before they could even settle in at the camp, staff officer Nara Yukihira came looking for them.

"Commander Tokumitsu." Nara Yukihira said breathlessly, "The village's messenger ANBU arrived yesterday. It is said that the Hokage has a new decree for you."

"Yesterday?" Uchiha Tokumitsu raised an eyebrow, somewhat puzzled. "Why didn't you send someone to look for me? What if this delay causes an urgent matter to be missed?"

Nara Yukihira chuckled awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Even if he wanted to go, he would have to be able to find it and get through all those layers of blockades.

"What is the Hokage's decree? Do you know?" Uchiha Tokumitsu put down his luggage, didn't bother to pack, and walked out of the tent.

"This... I don't know..." Nara Yukihira replied with a bitter face. The edict that the Hokage's direct subordinate ANBU sent to the deputy commander of the border troops was something that he, a staff officer who was only responsible for doing odd jobs, could not possibly be involved in.

"Where is Lord Fire Gate?" Uchiha Tokumitsu strolled leisurely toward the central military tent where official business was conducted. "Has he received an imperial edict?"

"Lord Hime received a commendation order from the Hokage," Nara Yukihira replied quickly.

“Oh…” Uchiha Tokumitsu seemed to be deep in thought.

Once back in the central command tent and settled in, Uchiha Tokumitsu sent Nara Yukihira to summon the ANBU (Anbu) to deliver the orders, while he himself began to read the intelligence documents.

During the few days he was away, Takigakure went on a rampage across the country, with many crossing the border into the Land of Grass. In response, Nara Yukihira advised in his document to "remain vigilant and increase the number of border patrol personnel".

Uchiha Tokumitsu readily agreed to the suggestion.

Picking up a few more intelligence documents, they revealed recent developments in the Land of Rain.

The Amegakure army, led by Hanzo the Salamander, clashed with the Sunagakure army that had entered their territory in several small-scale battles. The two sides had their share of victories and defeats, but Hanzo was unable to gain the upper hand against Chiyo, the veteran advisor who led the Sunagakure army. The local battles ended with the Amegakure army retreating on its own initiative, and Sunagakure gained a foothold on the border of the Land of Rain.

From then on, the foreign ninja villages within the Land of Rain were Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure, and each of them established military camps within its borders. The fact that three major ninja villages served a small Land of Rain was truly a blessing.

Opening another intelligence report, the contents were about Iwagakure in the Land of Earth. It stated that Iwagakure's elite demolition unit had been frequently mobilized recently, and the Iwagakure camp, located on the northern border of the Land of Grass, had also shown unusual activity, seemingly planning to cross the border.

After reviewing the intelligence and finding nothing of significant value, Uchiha Tokumitsu put away the stack of documents on the table. At that moment, Nara Yukihira entered with three ANBU members.

"Commander Tokumitsu." Nara Yukihira bowed to Uchiha Tokumitsu, "The Hokage's order has arrived from the Anbu."

The three ANBU messengers also bowed to Uchiha Tokumitsu.

Uchiha Tokumitsu was somewhat surprised to encounter such a polite member of the Anbu.

"Commander Tokumitsu, I have come on the orders of the Hokage to deliver a special decree to you." The leading ANBU member took out a scroll and stepped forward to hand it to Uchiha Tokumitsu.

Upon opening it, it turned out to be about the previous battle in Takigakure, where he and Hatake Sakumo surrounded and killed the Tsuchikage's assistant, the Kumogakure secretary, and the Two-Tails Jinchuriki. The Hokage praised him highly in the scroll, but also demanded that the matter be kept secret due to its great importance. The village also only rewarded him and did not publicize it.

Uchiha Tokumitsu also expressed his understanding of this.

He didn't want to make a big fuss and let everyone know, otherwise, if the Tsuchikage and Raikage, who had lost face, came looking for him regardless of their status, he wouldn't be able to handle it.

Especially since the Jinchuriki of Kumogakure had died in battle, and the Tailed Beasts would need several years to regenerate, if Kumogakure failed to receive news of the Jinchuriki's death in time, they would inevitably go through all sorts of trouble and searching. If the barbaric Kumogakure were to become preoccupied with this, the Uchiha ninja army of the Land of Grass would also be in deep trouble.

"Just because of this?" Uchiha Tokumitsu waved the scroll in his hand, somewhat puzzled.

"If that's all there is to it, why would the Dark Guard have to stay here for several days waiting for me? Tell me, what else is there?"

The three ANBU members exchanged glances. “There is indeed another special matter, but it involves confidential information…” The ANBU member glanced at Nara Yukihira standing to the side.

It's all so mystical and superstitious.

Uchiha Tokumitsu inwardly grumbled, but still waved for Nara Yukihira to leave first.