Chapter 438: War Ninjutsu

The Land of Water.

Kirigakure, Mizukage Building Conference Room.

The Third Mizukage's usual faint smile was gone, replaced by a slightly cold solemnity.

"Five of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen plus a Hozuki Haku, we lost that much power, and yet we couldn't even kill a single Konoha genius. Have I been too lenient with Yagura to allow such a massive operational failure?"

The Third Mizukage slammed the delivered documents onto the conference table with a slap, his face cold as he spoke.

The conference room was silent; no one spoke up or made a sound.

The Mist forces on the east coast had indeed suffered considerable losses, and no one wanted to speak up for Yagura against the Third Mizukage's wrath at this moment.

After about a minute and a half, the Third Mizukage swept his gaze across all the Mist higher-ups.

Then, the Elder seated to the Third Mizukage's right spoke up, "Yagura indeed made a mistake, but the loss on the battlefield cannot be entirely blamed on him. After all, no one expected Konoha to still have a master of the Flying Thunder God Technique hidden away."

"Both Konoha and Habu Muzuki himself hid it too deeply," the Elder sighed.

Normally, ninja with Kekkei Genkai are the hardest to hide, since those with Kekkei Genkai are extremely rare in the ninja world—a bit of strength is usually enough to earn some fame.

That's exactly where Muzuki was off the charts: he had both the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai and mastered the Flying Thunder God, a rare space-time secret technique, yet he had never been famous.

By the level Muzuki had shown, either of those two abilities alone should have been enough to make him a notable target.

Yet in the end, the Mist had to go to great lengths to get information about Muzuki's Flying Thunder God; the battle where Hozuki Haku died hadn't even exposed it, because Muzuki not only took the important bodies but also destroyed the other ninja corpses, leaving the Mist unable to investigate at the start.

"Actually, Yagura tried hard to salvage the situation. If he hadn't adjusted in time, our forces would probably have suffered even greater losses." After speaking about Muzuki's cunning, the Elder pointed out Yagura's efforts.

It wasn't that the Mist ninja were incompetent, but that the Konoha ninja were simply too crafty.

"That's what he should have done as a unit commander." The Third Mizukage's expression softened a little but still carried coldness.

Seeing this, the Elder nodded inwardly—the charade of reprimanding Yagura was temporarily finished, playing along with the Third Mizukage.

Although the Third Mizukage appeared very angry, the Elder knew he was just putting on a show. After all, the Mist really did suffer heavy losses this time; if the Third Mizukage hadn't scolded, the other higher-ups would have started discussing how to punish Yagura.

Now that the Third Mizukage had finished his scolding and seemed to have calmed down for the moment, it would be hard for the other higher-ups to keep harping on Yagura's mistakes.

If the Third Mizukage had truly been disappointed in Yagura, he wouldn't have stopped at just a few scoldings.

It was precisely because he saw this that the Elder stepped up to speak for Yagura. The Elder had a favorable view of Yagura, but he wouldn't risk conflict with the Third Mizukage for his sake.

It wasn't that the Elder feared the Third Mizukage; with his status, there was no need for that. The Elder had already been an elder of Kirigakure before the Third Mizukage became Mizukage.

The Elder was worried that this might give the Third Mizukage a wrong signal—that he was trying to interfere with the selection of the Fourth Mizukage.

If something like this led to internal strife in the Mist, that was a situation the Elder did not want to see.

"Now Yagura wants the village to send reinforcements and continue to match the Konoha forces. What are your thoughts on this?" The Third Mizukage looked at the Mist higher-ups as he spoke.

The Third Mizukage leaned toward Yagura's idea—to keep wearing down Konoha's strength and drag things out. However, since Yagura had just lost a battle, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to make a direct decision, as that would seem too dictatorial.

"I think it's feasible. The stronger Konoha appears, the more the other ninja villages will fear it. With such a powerful Konoha, even if other villages go to war among themselves, they'll be more cautious and wary of the strong Konoha." The captain of the Mist jonin squad pondered and said.

The three great ninja villages weren't united in ganging up on Konoha; for example, Cloud was currently at war with Konoha, Rock, and Sand all at once.

So the captain of the Mist jonin squad approved of Yagura's overall plan, believing it was a good opportunity for the Mist to gain fame. Defeating Konoha could bring the Mist to an unprecedented peak and earn great fame and profit.

"Continuing the fight is fine, but given the current situation, it seems we'll have to send the jinchuriki to the battlefield as a trump card to defeat the Konoha ninja forces," a Mist higher-up with bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face said in a deep voice.

In reality, sending the Third Mizukage to the battlefield would be more effective, but as the village leader, the Third Mizukage couldn't just go to the front lines casually.

Moreover, an advisor actively suggesting that the Mizukage go to the battlefield would be somewhat of a role reversal.

"Jinchuriki..." The Third Mizukage fell into thought.

Their Mist Village had two tailed beasts—the Three-Tails and the Six-Tails. At present, both jinchuriki were not in good condition, especially the Three-Tails jinchuriki.

【Disciple Uchiha Obito's strength increased, reputation rose, seniority grew, probability of becoming Hokage slightly increased, progress reward obtained: Chakra +1500, Fire Attribute Skill Extraction Scroll·S (Proficient Level), Fire Attribute Ninjutsu Mastery Scroll】

【Fire Attribute Ninjutsu Mastery Scroll: Can raise any already mastered Fire Release ninjutsu to the Proficient level. If the ninjutsu is already at Proficient level, the effect converts to increasing proficiency by 3000 points.】

After some time had passed, Obito's life mission progress increased again slightly, successfully refreshing the progress reward once more.

Muzuki opened the panel and took a look at Obito's total progress.

【Name: Uchiha Obito】

【Life Mission: It's not that those who become Hokage are recognized by everyone, but that those recognized by everyone can become Hokage】

【Main Objective: Become the Hokage of Konohagakure】

【Mission Progress: 31%】

Apart from Kakashi's somewhat special life mission, Obito's life mission progress was still the highest after this skirmish, two percentage points higher than Might Guy's, making him the only disciple who had triggered the life mission progress reward three times so far.

After checking on Obito, Mu Yue glanced at Shisui. Shisui was the disciple who had not triggered a single life mission reward so far.

【Name: Uchiha Shisui】

【Life Mission: Uchiha and Konoha】

【Main Objective: Resolve the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha, allowing the Uchiha to integrate into Konoha】

【Mission Progress: 3%】

Mu Yue understood the reason for this. Obito and the others' life missions didn't really require them to do anything specific; normal growth would generate progress.

For example, Obito's life mission of becoming Hokage. Given Obito's Hokage faction background, the more he showed genius and the more missions he completed on the battlefield, the more his life mission would increase. But training and carrying out missions were already things every ninja should do anyway.

In fact, Obito's mission could even be completed passively. If Minato Namikaze became the Fourth Hokage as in the original story, Mu Yue estimated Obito's life mission progress would jump by more than eight percentage points. There was still a difference between a Hokage's disciple and a Hokage's grand-disciple; the combination of both was even more significant.

Shisui's life mission was different. Shisui had to intervene in the various decisions of the Uchiha clan to generate significant progress. But a child less than ten years old obviously couldn't do that, so his progress had been slow all along.

"It should get better once Shisui makes a name for himself on the battlefield," Mu Yue thought to himself.

After all, the world of Hokage was one with supernatural power. Here, the strong were honored. Although there was a saying that juniors should respect their seniors, if one had enough strength, that wasn't necessary.

If Shisui carved out a reputation for himself on the battlefield, then no matter how young he was, those Uchiha jonin wouldn't look down on him. The Uchiha clan valued a ninja's strength even more than ordinary ninjas did.

Closing Shisui's life mission panel, Mu Yue began to examine the reward for Obito's progress settlement.

As for chakra, there was nothing to say—you could never have too much.

The scroll draw was more targeted than the twenty-percent progress settlement, becoming a Fire-element skill draw, guaranteeing a Fire-element-related skill.

The proficiency-level Fire Release ninjutsu turned into a ninjutsu proficiency scroll limited to Fire Release, making it more flexible to use. Mu Yue quite liked this aspect; acquiring more could even create a perfect-level skill.

Since he didn't have any Fire Release ninjutsu he wanted to improve, Mu Yue skipped the Fire-element ninjutsu proficiency scroll, washed his hands, and prepared to enter the intense and exciting lottery session.

【Fire-element Skill Draw Scroll·S consumed — Skill acquired: Sunny Day】

As the drawing ended, a large amount of related training memories flooded into Mu Yue's mind, and he instantly became extremely familiar with the Fire Release ninjutsu named Sunny Day.

"It's actually a Pokémon weather skill," Mu Yue quickly recalled the skill's related introduction in the Pokémon games.

After using Sunny Day, the weather on the field became sunny for five turns. Sunny Day increased Fire-type moves' damage by 1.5 times, while Water-type moves only dealt 0.5 times damage.

Mu Yue used Flying Thunder God to leave the Konoha camp and go to an uninhabited place to test the skill.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Mu Yue first gathered chakra in his throat and spat out a large amount of flame.

The blazing flames formed a huge fireball that smashed into the ground in front of Mu Yue, leaving a charred crater.

"Sunny Day!"

Next, Mu Yue gathered chakra in his palm, and a very bright ball of light gradually formed. When he tossed the light ball into the sky, the area within fifty meters of Mu Yue immediately became intensely sunny.

After using Sunny Day, Mu Yue could clearly feel the surroundings becoming hotter. He again gathered chakra in his throat, precisely matching the exact same amount of chakra as the previous Great Fireball, and spat out another huge fireball.

Boom!!

The huge fireball hit the ground, blasting out a charred crater slightly larger than the previous one.

Next, Mu Yue used the Body Flicker Technique to move out of Sunny Day's range. He found that the area did not change because of his departure; it still maintained the Sunny Day state.

"Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Outside the Sunny Day range, Mu Yue performed hand seals and used Water Release. A large amount of water swirled around him, eventually forming a water dragon that repeatedly knocked down many trees.

When Mu Yue entered the Sunny Day range and used Water Release again, he could feel that, even before releasing it, using Water Release within Sunny Day's range required more chakra to maintain its power.

"The basic effect of the ninjutsu is quite similar to the game skill's effect, but it's not as rigidly fixed as in the game." After testing both Fire and Water ninjutsu once, Mu Yue came to this conclusion.

In the game, no matter what level or which Pokémon uses Sunny Day, the final effect is always the same: Fire-type moves get 1.5x power, Water-type moves get 0.5x power, even if it's Groudon using it.

But in reality, ninjutsu definitely wouldn't be as rigidly fixed as in the game, otherwise mastering it would be meaningless.

The localized ninjutsu version of Sunny Day in this world determines its effect based on the user's proficiency and the amount of chakra used.

The higher the proficiency and the more chakra used, the larger the area covered by Sunny Day, the stronger the boost to Fire Release, and the stronger the suppression of Water Release.

Muyue tried walking further away and used more chakra to cast Sunny Day. After comparison, he found that the ratio of chakra consumption to the increase in Fire Release power was not as good as the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

"If it's a one-on-one fight, and the enemy is not a Water Release user, then directly using Flame Breathing to enhance Fire Release is the best choice. If the enemy is a Water Release user, then using Sunny Day is better." Muyue calculated the cost-performance of the two.

Overall, the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode is more versatile and can handle various situations, but Sunny Day is more targeted.

However, children make choices; adults take both. These two are completely non-conflicting. Muyue can first use Sunny Day, then enter Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, and then use Fire Release.

Of course, under normal circumstances, Muyue wouldn't do that now, because it really consumes a lot of chakra. Both Sunny Day and Flame Breathing Chakra Mode are big consumers of chakra.

Just now, Muyue consumed 40,000 points of chakra and only managed to cast Sunny Day covering an area of two hundred meters, and it only lasted for five minutes.

"But it's really fitting that this skill was drawn out now." Muyue quickly realized that this skill is more suitable for use in war.

If only one ninja could get the buff, consuming that much chakra would be somewhat uneconomical. But if a hundred Fire Release ninjas all got the Sunny Day buff, the combined improvement would far surpass Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

Muyue could only say it was a coincidence, just in the Mist's battlefield, where most of the enemies use Water Release ninjutsu.

If he cast Sunny Day to cover the battlefield, it would likely turn a stalemate into a one-sided situation.

Muyue once again recognized the true value of the S-rank Drawing Scroll; there really are no trash skills.

If the effect of Sunny Day were to spread, the Mist Village would probably go crazy sending ninjas to hunt him down, while Konoha might specifically form a Fire Release ninja unit for him, after all, this is a direct group buff.