Chapter Nineteen: Research and Assignment

After half a day's journey, the group arrived smoothly at the outpost they were assigned to defend.

Upon taking up their posts, Nara Shikuhisa, as commander, delegated areas of responsibility to each team, and after that, nothing of note occurred.

Thus, after receiving his specific orders, Uchiha Li settled into the monotonous routine of patrolling the front lines day in and day out.

With the arrival of their reinforcements, the advance of the Cloud Hidden was abruptly halted, and the situation appeared to ease somewhat.

This uneasy peace stretched on for nearly three months in the blink of an eye.

Uchiha Li was not certain what plans the Cloud Hidden Village was hatching, but he was content with the lull.

Outwardly, he maintained the cycle of patrolling, standing guard, and resting; in secret, he quietly familiarized himself with the special abilities of his Mangekyō Sharingan.

He first mastered the “Amaterasu” of his right eye, having practiced its covert use several times without difficulty.

Then, turning his attention to the left eye’s “Terra,” he conducted deeper research and gained much useful information.

“Terra” itself did not possess any direct combat capabilities; its true power originated from the Apostle within. As successor to the Zeroth Apostle, Karlosso, Uchiha Li’s first granted ability was “Absorption.”

By using the Absorption bestowed by Karlosso, he could devour chakra. As before, this would accelerate Terra’s revival and in turn feed back into the Sharingan, promoting its evolution.

In other words, Uchiha Li need not worry about his Mangekyō being unable to evolve to the Eternal Mangekyō; so long as he succeeded before exhausting his ocular power, it would be possible.

But until then, he must ensure he never fully depleted his ocular energy. Otherwise, not even “Terra” could restore him.

Therefore, Uchiha Li resolved he still needed to acquire the transplantation technique for First Hokage cells from Orochimaru, as an added safeguard for his eyes.

Secondly, over this period of familiarization, he discovered Karlosso’s second ability.

This ability, however, was unique—it was not granted directly to Uchiha Li himself, but manifested elsewhere. Uchiha Li had yet to test it and thus could not judge its utility.

“When conflict intensifies, there should be an opportunity to experiment with this ability,” he thought.

During this time, Uchiha Li was always aware of being watched, and so he was careful and showed no unusual behavior.

He guessed that such surveillance would not last long. Even the vast resources of the Leaf could not be devoted entirely to this front, especially given the uncertainty of the Cloud Hidden’s intentions.

As expected, after three months of uneasy peace, the Cloud Hidden could restrain themselves no longer and dispatched troops to assault the Leaf’s outposts once more.

This time, the Cloud Hidden seemed poised for all-out war; nearly every outpost along the front was attacked to some degree.

The pressure from the Cloud Hidden’s offensive left those monitoring Uchiha Li too occupied to continue their surveillance.

That day, Uchiha Li returned from a routine patrol around the outpost with his team, only to see a member of the Nara clan hurrying over with a message: “Uchiha Li, this is your assigned combat mission. Please execute it with your squad as soon as possible!”

“Understood,” Uchiha Li replied, taking the mission scroll and studying it intently.

According to its contents, Cloud ninja had launched large-scale operations, causing several of the Leaf’s outposts to fall.

To demonstrate the village’s unwavering resolve, Nara Shikuhisa decided to strike back hard at the Cloud ninja, hoping to check the Cloud Hidden’s aggressive momentum.

Thanks to intelligence gathered by the Hyūga and Aburame clans, they had uncovered the defensive arrangements of several Cloud Hidden outposts.

Since the Cloud Hidden’s assault had left their rear vulnerable, this was the Leaf’s best chance for a counterattack.

Shikuhisa decided that the main force would engage the bulk of the Cloud ninja while several raiding squads would be formed to destroy outposts in the enemy’s rear.

At the same time, they would disrupt the Cloud Hidden’s supply lines as much as possible, forcing the enemy to commit more resources and manpower to support the front.

It was a straightforward battle plan—akin to the mission to destroy the Kannabi Bridge during the Third Great War.

Most of the Uchiha were assigned to the front lines. Uchiha Li, however, was placed in one of the raiding squads, tasked with sabotage and occupation.

The mission orders were as binding as a military edict, and, since there was nothing unusual about this assignment, Uchiha Li had no reason to refuse.

He quickly relayed the orders to his clanmates in his team, then left alone to join his assigned raiding squad.

As expected, he was not the captain; that role belonged to a Jōnin from the Nara clan, Nara Suzaku.

The Nara excelled at shadow imitation techniques, and Suzaku’s proficiency was among the best of his clan. He also had extensive solo combat experience.

Other members of the team were all skilled elites, such as the deputy captain, Akimichi Sidong, also a Jōnin.

It was well known that members of the Akimichi clan could consume special pills to enter the “Butterfly Mode” in critical moments.

Once in this state, their strength increased dramatically—perhaps not quite at the Kage level, but certainly able to overwhelm typical elite Jōnin.

Notably, the Akimichi’s “Expansion Jutsu” was a rare Yang Release technique.

The remaining squad members numbered nearly twenty, drawn from various clans, all at least of Chūnin rank.

Given such a composition, Uchiha Li was certain that their raiding squad’s mission would not be easy.

They would likely need to act as a rear-guard main force as well; otherwise, this configuration would be unnecessary.

“It’s bound to be a tough battle. Let’s hope I won’t need to use the Mangekyō,” Uchiha Li thought as he hurried along with the squad.

Though by now he was not especially concerned about the trouble exposure might bring, any delay in revealing the Mangekyō was still beneficial.

If he used it only at a critical moment, he might reap greater rewards.

The squad moved swiftly and efficiently, drawing ever closer to their target area.

“Enemy ahead!”

Suddenly, a member of the Hyūga branch in the middle of the formation—eyes already activated—came to an abrupt halt and spoke in a low, urgent voice.

Uchiha Li and the others stopped at once; the Byakugan’s perception was always trustworthy.

“There are thirty enemies advancing rapidly toward us. Judging by their chakra signatures, their leaders include at least two—no, more than three Jōnin!”

Before Captain Nara Suzaku could even inquire, the Hyūga had already delivered a concise report, detailing the intelligence he had gathered—his experience was clearly extensive.

Uchiha Li stroked his chin thoughtfully, analyzing the situation.

Their route had been a closely guarded secret; discounting the possibility of a leak, these enemies must have run into them by chance.

Given that there were only three Jōnin among them, launching a surprise attack would not be difficult.

Eliminating such an elite patrol unit would certainly make their subsequent operations much easier.

But he was not the captain, so Uchiha Li kept his thoughts to himself and said nothing.