The Tiger Unit Uchiha's attitude toward Uchiha Yoru had changed.
In the past, everyone had felt closer to him.
Today, however, there was far more fear mixed in.
Respect and fear together.
That was Uchiha Yoru's current position within the Tiger Unit.
This status came from his identity. He was the founder of the Uchiha Ninjutsu and Tactics Study Group, and also the creator of the Tiger Unit. This naturally made the Uchiha feel one level lower than him.
Yoru had earnestly taught the younger brothers and helped them awaken their Sharingan. That kindness made the Uchiha deeply grateful.
Most importantly, Yoru had led them to defeat the Kirigakure ninja army and achieved an unbelievable, glorious battle record. This made the Uchiha worship him almost fanatically.
The final link was the side effect of his ruthless handling of Uchiha Goro, making the Uchiha fear him like a tiger.
Today, Uchiha Yoru's control over these Uchiha had reached perfection.
Even if he left the Tiger Unit, no matter who took over, as long as he gave a single order, the Tiger Unit would immediately abandon their commander and carry out his command instead.
Uchiha Yoru formally followed the procedure, received command authority from Uchiha Shigenobu, and only then sat down and asked, "Detailed enemy intelligence?"
The intelligence officer, Uchiha Kazushi, stood up and introduced the specific information.
When Yoru saw the chain of encounter coordinates Kazushi had marked, he immediately judged that these shinobi had set out directly from Kirigakure Village.
They were coming for the Tiger Unit.
But one problem made Yoru unable to understand.
"This ninja unit's scale is a bit too small. Even if they are Yuki clan shinobi, what can a mere five hundred people do?"
Yoru's question left everyone else a little confused as well.
The recent battles had proven that the Tiger Unit Uchiha were very strong. As long as one full squadron was dispatched, they could easily wipe out five hundred Kirigakure shinobi.
As long as the Tiger Unit Uchiha were not careless, as long as the members could effectively carry out the established tactics, and as long as the division leaders could properly restrain the enemy's jonin, victory was certain.
There would absolutely be no accident.
Everyone thought and thought, but could not understand. Someone laughed and joked, "Surely they aren't here to be eaten by us, right?"
When Uchiha Takayuki heard this, he said, "Being sent here for us to eat… might not be impossible."
Uchiha Tadamichi could not believe it and asked, "How could that be? If we eat these five hundred Kirigakure shinobi, there's no benefit to Kirigakure Village."
Middle-aged Takayuki chuckled. "There definitely isn't any benefit to Kirigakure Village, but for certain people inside Kirigakure Village, that may not be true. For an individual, it might even bring enormous benefits."
The eighteen-year-old youth found it even harder to understand and cried out in shock, "Huh?"
Uchiha Yoru, who was also eighteen in this life, waved his hand and said, "No. If this is a conspiracy targeting the Yuki clan, then five hundred shinobi is too many."
"And the intelligence shows that among this group of Kirigakure shinobi, there are even more commoner-born Kirigakure shinobi. This ratio matches Kirigakure Village's strength composition. Clearly, it was carefully arranged. This is not a unit sent to die."
Unable to figure it out, Yoru shook his head, trying to clear his mind and change his line of thought.
Unexpectedly, his next thought was of Miwa Masayo.
Only then did he realize how clever the tabby cat was. From the very beginning, she had avoided this meeting. Otherwise, her head would be overheating like a boiling pot right now.
After being distracted for a moment, Yoru decided to give up on this problem he could not understand.
Instead, he asked, "Before I came in, I heard you arguing intensely. What were you arguing about?"
Uchiha Shigenobu answered, "Big Brother Yoru, we were arguing about how to fight the Yuki clan."
Yoru did not understand why the younger brothers had been arguing about that.
He asked, "I know the Yuki clan are those ice-playing sissies, but their Ice Release is heavily suppressed by our Uchiha clan's Fire Release. They should be easy to fight. Is there something special this time?"
Uchiha Kazushi smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Big Brother Yoru, you guessed right. This time, the Yuki clan is completely different from during the last major battle. They are fighting in coordination."
"Oh?" Yoru's interest was hooked. He asked curiously, "Explain it to me in detail."
Uchiha Kazushi replied, "This time, there are only around two hundred and thirty Yuki clan shinobi, but they did not adopt small-unit combat. Instead, they gathered together and jointly used an ultra-large-scale ninjutsu."
Uchiha Shigenobu continued, "It was a gigantic blizzard pillar we had never seen before. The violent wind was filled with countless snowflakes, ice shards, and ice spears."
"That giant blizzard changed the local weather over the sea. It was not only lowering the temperature and causing snowfall, even the ocean froze."
"When our First Squadron fought in that environment, we were at too much of a disadvantage. Even the Great Fireball Technique was blown out by the blizzard not long after flying out."
When Yoru heard this, he could not help sucking in a cold breath.
Wasn't this the so-called combined ninjutsu that Iwagakure shinobi were best at?
This was Iwagakure Village's number one trump card among their four great foundations.
It was precisely by relying on this technique that Iwagakure, a village most skilled in Earth Release, could oppose Kumogakure, which was especially skilled in Lightning Release, and even beat the Kumogakure shinobi into fleeing with their heads in their hands during a decisive battle.
All Iwagakure shinobi could master combined ninjutsu. Compared to Explosion Release shinobi, who appeared one in a hundred, jinchuriki, who appeared one in a thousand, and Dust Release, the kekkei tota that was one in ten thousand, its reliability and stability were beyond question.
Konoha Village, Sunagakure Village, and Kumogakure Village all wanted to copy this ninjutsu, but so far, all attempts had ended in failure.
The reason was that every village's shinobi had strong personalities. Their discipline and obedience were not up to standard. They could not coordinate their chakra with each other.
Yoru had also been planning to realize combined ninjutsu inside the Tiger Unit. After many attempts, he could be considered to have obtained some results.
For example—
But that ninjutsu was not mature enough. The Tiger Unit's coordination was also not good enough. Its casting speed was not fast enough, and its power could not reach the level of Iwagakure's combined ninjutsu that Yoru knew about.
Now this was great.
Kirigakure's Yuki clan had actually applied it in real combat first.
Goodness.
Four months ago, Kirigakure Village had still been a loose pile of sand. Now they had actually started playing with combined ninjutsu first.
And the moment they started, it was the highest stage Yoru had imagined, a weather-weapon-grade combined ninjutsu.
This shinobi world was too magical.
Yoru knew Blue Star's history.
The Seven Warring States powers, before becoming dominant, had all experienced a disastrous defeat that brought them close to national destruction.
Qin had been beaten by Chu all the way to Lantian, less than one hundred and fifty li from Xianyang.
Chu had its capital broken by Wu.
Wei's internal chaos forced its ruler to flee.
Zhao was split by Wei through the creation of Zhongshan.
Han experienced several capital defense battles.
Yan was nearly destroyed by Qi, then turned around and beat Qi until only two cities remained.
Only after coming close to destruction did the Seven Powers grow strong enough to dominate. This absolutely was not coincidence.
The cause of a state's weakness was that nobles occupied too many resources and all authority. The state could not save itself and could only slowly weaken.
At the same time that a national crisis occurred, the nobles would also be wiped clean by foreign military force. There would no longer be any force obstructing national development.
As long as the country survived the crisis of destruction, a completely renewed state would naturally become strong.
The previous campaign had shattered Kirigakure Village's three great clans. Yoru had already predicted that this would allow Kirigakure Village's potential to erupt.
But this eruption was far too fast.
Yoru could not help starting to consider a question.
Was Kirigakure Village, on the eve of its rise, really suitable to serve as the Tiger Unit's whetstone?
Wouldn't the Tiger Unit's blade snap halfway through being sharpened?
This was another big problem. Yoru felt his head buzzing, and his CPU was starting to overheat.
"Forget it."
Yoru quickly stopped this meaningless thinking.
The enemy had already come charging over. It was impossible not to fight and test the enemy's depth before immediately running away.
Yoru deeply understood that the most important thing on the battlefield was seizing the initiative. He absolutely could not be led by the nose by the enemy.
Since the enemy had placed five hundred Yuki clan shinobi on the board, then he would eat them.
Even if the enemy had some conspiracy, it did not matter.
He would fight his way. I would fight mine.
As long as the Tiger Unit wiped out the enemy as quickly as possible, then ended the battle quickly, whatever scheme the enemy had prepared would be useless.
After thinking this through, Yoru made his decision to fight.
He said, "No matter what the enemy wants to do, since we have not sensed any direct threat, we will fight according to our own thinking."
"Not only will we fight, we will fight fast and fight hard."
Yoru looked at Uchiha Shigenobu and said, "Although First Squadron is missing one division, it is still our strongest squadron overall. So this time, First Squadron will still take the lead. Shigenobu will command."
Uchiha Shigenobu suddenly stood up and accepted the mission gratefully.
"Yes! Thank you, Big Brother Yoru, for giving me and First Squadron a chance to wash away our shame!"
Yoru nodded. "If you fail to fight well this time, it will prove you are not suited to being a commander. Shigenobu, I will revoke your captain position. From then on, you will obediently serve as a deputy and be responsible for the Tiger Unit's daily administrative affairs."
Then he continued, "Second Squadron will serve as the reserve force. They will follow behind Shigenobu together with me and provide support or response at any time according to the specific situation."
"No matter whether the enemy has prepared a trap, you will be responsible for handling all accidents."
Uchiha Hiroto stood up and shouted loudly, "Yes!"
"Third Squadron will strengthen island defenses as usual and be responsible for support after the battle ends."
"Yes."
The Third Squadron commander was Uchiha Tadamichi, a man who would smash through a southern wall once he hit it. Letting Tadamichi shoulder defensive and support missions made everyone feel reassured.
"All others, make your own battle preparations. If our battle situation turns unfavorable, retreat immediately."
"Everyone must remember: this island is not important at all. Your own life is the only important thing."
"Yes!"
Seeing that these captains were not in a good mood, Yoru could only explain a few more words.
"Do you still remember the tactical principle I taught you after the Tiger Unit was established?"
Yoru's voice was very low, and his words revealed intense displeasure.
The captains noticed Yoru's emotions, and everyone's heart tightened. They stood straight with a swish, like students being questioned by a teacher, and answered, "We remember!"
Then they recited in unison, "Preserve land and lose people, and both people and land are lost. Preserve people and lose land, and both people and land are gained!"
"You remember it very clearly, don't you?" Yoru said coldly. "Then remember it well. If we abandon this island, it is only temporary. We are throwing it to the enemy as a defensive burden."
"As long as we destroy the enemy in mobile warfare, this island will automatically return to our hands."
"Other than the houses we built, the flowers and plants we planted, and the jars and pots we shaped by hand, we will lose nothing."
Hearing words like houses, flowers and plants, jars and pots, the Uchiha could not help grinning.
In four months, although only a small number had started growing vegetables out of boredom, quite a few had planted flowers out of interest. Even more had made all kinds of things.
Most importantly, everyone had built their own house. After several months, after experiencing wind and rain, repairing leaky roofs, and replacing crooked beams, the Uchiha had put no small amount of effort into those houses.
More or less, they had feelings for them. Naturally, abandoning them just like that would be painful.
But Yoru was right.
Everything was less important than their lives.
Thus, the Tiger Unit began moving according to orders.
…
On the sea, a gigantic storm was rapidly advancing.
The storm was filled with countless snowflakes, hailstones, and ice spears. Beneath the storm, the sea had completely frozen. At the storm's center, ice and snow had piled together, forming a true iceberg.
The Kirigakure shinobi gathered on the iceberg, forming a stable defense. But these shinobi's feelings were very different.
The Yuki clan shinobi felt comfortable. They liked cold environments very much. In such an environment, the power of their ninjutsu could increase by one full level out of nowhere.
Because the iceberg existed, the cost of maintaining the ultra-large-scale blizzard ninjutsu had also dropped considerably. They could completely maintain it until they reached the target island.
Most importantly, even wearing only thin clothing, the Yuki clan shinobi did not feel cold.
The Yuki clan's new clan leader, Hotaru, sat at the highest point of the iceberg. Surrounded by countless snowflakes, he smiled as he received chakra from his clan members, then transformed the massive chakra into an ultra-large-scale ninjutsu through rapid hand seals.
Ice Release: Combined Ninjutsu: Blizzard.
A dazzling blue radiance erupted from Hotaru's body and shot straight into the core wind pillar of the blizzard, driving the enormous blizzard forward faster and naturally expanding its range.
Maintaining the blizzard was not too difficult for Hotaru right now.
It was like an enormous spinning top rotating at extremely high speed. Relying on inertia alone, it could maintain itself for a long time.
He even felt that if he took a short nap, the blizzard would not weaken due to insufficient energy.
Behind Hotaru, ten Yuki clan jonin stood neatly in an arc. Their long black hair floated in the air, and their faces were full of smug smiles.
They marveled at the terrifying blizzard and sighed with emotion.
"Clan leader-sama, I never imagined our Yuki clan's ninjutsu could become such a power of heaven and earth."
"Hahaha, we are certain to win. With such a terrifying ninjutsu, what can Konoha shinobi use to resist?"
"After this battle, our Yuki clan will become the strongest ninja clan."
Hotaru raised his head and looked around. "To be honest, I did not expect this either…"
No one knew that this Yuki clan leader, who was gathering the whole clan's chakra, easily controlling the giant blizzard storm, and appearing as steady as Mount Tai in unlimited glory, was feeling terrified inside.
He had never imagined that the combined ninjutsu Blizzard would reach such a terrifying scale.
No one knew that this ninjutsu had already exceeded the Yuki clan's control. At this moment, it was like a monster with independent will, greedily devouring the ocean's water vapor, continuously growing without any limit.
This storm created by the blizzard was still somewhat inferior to a storm bred by nature, but it could already be considered a true storm. It was absolutely not something a jonin-level shinobi could control.
Hotaru continuously used the Blizzard ninjutsu, but he could only maintain the storm's low-temperature attribute and slightly control the direction of the storm's advance.
Roughly zero point three degrees per hour.
Even this slight control was becoming more and more difficult. It would not be long before the storm truly grew and then completely lost control.
Hotaru could only be grateful now that he only needed to control this monster for one more day.
Once they reached the island where the Konoha shinobi were, he would let the storm and this iceberg crash into them together. Then he would no longer need to endure this feeling of riding a tiger and finding it hard to dismount.
The Yuki clan shinobi found the iceberg environment comfortable, but the other Kirigakure shinobi were different.
Without Ice Release and unable to use Fire Release, they were truly frozen miserably.
More than one shinobi asked how much longer it would take to arrive.
After receiving the answer that it would still take one more day, countless shinobi felt despair. Then they accepted the riskiest vanguard mission.
Even if it meant facing possible enemy attacks, they did not want to keep suffering on the iceberg.
But by that afternoon, their nightmare of extreme cold ended.
…
Uchiha Yoru had originally been moving together with Second Squadron, but when they approached the sea area where the Kirigakure shinobi were located, he saw that gigantic blue-white storm rising several thousand meters high.
First Squadron, which had originally advanced nearly five kilometers ahead, retreated in sorry shape under the storm's pressure.
But Yoru harshly praised Uchiha Shigenobu and all the members leading the unit.
"Shigenobu's decision to retreat was very good. You three divisions retreating immediately was also very good."
Uchiha Shigenobu pointed at the storm with slight fear and asked, "Big Brother Yoru, how do we deal with that thing?"
"Deal with a storm?" Yoru glanced at him and said irritably, "How stupid would I have to be to think about dealing with that damn thing?"
"And why would I need to deal with that giant storm?"
"Then how should we respond to the enemy's attack?"
Yoru looked at that massive, irresistible storm.
He thought of the legendary steel torrent and the unstoppable big mushroom.
Naturally, he thought of the great man's genius response strategy.
A confident smile appeared naturally on his face. He even said happily,
"We go back, open all the traps, and then gather everyone in the Tiger Unit."
"We will go and trade homes with the enemy."
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