War never truly disappears—it only changes its form.
After the establishment of the shinobi villages, ordinary people's armies lost their eligibility to participate in war. Shinobi, who during the Warring States period had fought as family-based units, were reorganized into new, unified military forces.
This evolution toward organized and militarized shinobi forces made warfare and killing far more efficient.
In order to adapt to the wars of this new era, the major shinobi villages have also been gradually updating their military doctrines, enriching their tactical strategies for both offense and defense.
Taking the southeastern defense line as an example: to counter the high speed, high mobility, and high concealment characteristics of shinobi, the defending side—Konohagakure—constructed a defensive network consisting of squad-based fixed-point garrisons, two interlocking defensive lines positioned front and rear, and mobile patrol units roaming to provide support.
The defensive tactics of the other major shinobi villages are basically all based on this same model.
The fact that Might Guy's squad was attacked by two Kirigakure squads, and that the joint-defense squads on both the left and right flanks arrived to provide support within an extremely short time and eliminated the enemy, was precisely the result of this system.
If the number of enemies were too great to oppose, they would not fight to the death. Instead, they would immediately withdraw to the second defensive line while rapidly transmitting intelligence back to the command headquarters.
This is the daily routine of Konohagakure's frontline shinobi after the eastern front war entered a stalemate phase.
When the mobile patrol units arrived to provide support and discovered that the battle had already ended, their task was simply to take away the enemy corpses and prisoners, while leaving behind a squad to replace Guy's team.
All three members of Guy's squad were injured. Although they had already been treated by Higashino Makoto, according to regulations they were entitled to several days of leave for recuperation.
The length of the leave depends on the severity of the injuries. For cases like the three from Guy's squad, they would generally receive two days of rest.
In fact, every squad has leave time. The rotation cycle is said to be one week, but it actually consists of six days on duty, with the remaining one day as rest.
After the rest period, missions are reassigned—either to a position on one of the two defensive lines, or to joining a mobile patrol unit. In any case, they will not be idle.
...
Time quietly slipped by, and in the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.
After Kumomi's squad of four finished their mission, they rested for one day, and then were reassigned to the second defensive line, positioned closer to the command headquarters.
It was even more idle here. Unlike when carrying out mobile patrol missions where they had to run all over the place, the squad had more time to train.
Kumomi's fighting style was the same as Hayate's and Yūgao's, so on a daily basis he trained and taught the two of them to improve their strength.
As for Makoto, Kumomi, the jōnin, said he could not teach him. He even believed that in the entirety of Konohagakure, there was no one who could teach this overly talented disciple of his.
The combat methods of the Gekkō and Uzuki families are primarily swordsmanship-based, fused with genjutsu guided by various movements, forming an eerie and hard-to-guard-against Konohagakure secret-transmission swordsmanship system.
The entire system is composed of three key components: swordsmanship, genjutsu, and Shadow Clone Technique. The offensive characteristic is that before the enemy can even figure out the pattern, they get cut down in a daze.
Representative techniques include Dance of the Crescent Moon, Moon Shadow, Oboro Moonlit Night, and so on.
In any case, the system is very distinctive, but Higashino Makoto's evaluation of it was: it's quite effective against fodder, but when facing a slightly more formidable expert, it's useless.
Both families tend to produce shinobi with fairly solid strength, but it is very difficult for them to produce top-tier experts. This is the current situation of most of Konoha's smaller clans.
Therefore, as friends who had grown up together with Makoto since childhood, and because both possessed Wind-attribute chakra, he had started very early on to have the two of them undergo high-difficulty chakra nature transformation training.
The shinobi of both families are not the type with large chakra reserves. They cannot function as ninjutsu artillery platforms, but they can instead follow the path of Konoha's future elite jōnin, Shirakumo Hayama.
Hayate and Yūgao, unlike Makoto, do not have a "cheat." They cannot achieve his level of extreme chakra control. Their nature transformation training can only rely on piling up time through sheer effort, and they are currently enduring that grind.
As for Kumomi, as an adult jōnin, his foundation in Wind-attribute chakra nature transformation is very solid. After several months of training, he has already preliminarily developed a technique similar to Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, and has successfully integrated it into his own combat system.
The concealment, speed, and power of "Vacuum Blade" are all one tier inferior to Shadowless Sword, but this already represents the utmost limit of what Kumomi can achieve.
This is precisely why ordinary shinobi have limits. Some boundaries, with a mortal body and without great wisdom, great perseverance, and great fortune, can never be crossed.
Compared to Makoto, who has already gone deep into a realm they cannot comprehend, Kumomi is, at present, the best teacher for Hayate and Yūgao.
Using Shadowless Sword as a reference, the Vacuum Sword technique that Kumomi developed set an excellent example for the two of them. Coupled with the swordsmanship insights and experience obtained from the old senior Kosuke, it was more than enough for the two to train for many years.
It was believed that as long as they mastered these things, reaching elite jōnin–level strength in the future would not be much of a problem. They would be far stronger than the two in Makoto's memories—at the very least, they would not be instantly killed by Baki in a single exchange.
As for whether it would be embarrassing for a teacher to learn from his own disciple—
Kumomi said: embarrassing? What embarrassment? Do you have any idea how happy it is, at my age, to be able to raise my strength by a large margin?
You can't even imagine my happiness. Please give me another dozen disciples like this—thank you very much!
...
At the treetops, Makoto sat cross-legged, his hands forming no seals. His body seemed weightless, unified with the tree, swaying with the wind.
Within his chakra pathways, Wind-attribute chakra and Water-attribute chakra coexisted at the same time, colliding with each other as they searched for an opportunity to fuse.
In nature, what substance undergoes phase transitions most easily?
It is water.
Under normal pressure, water can easily switch among the three phases. Below zero degrees Celsius it freezes into a solid; when the temperature rises to a critical point, water molecules gain energy and escape to become a gas; in between lies the common liquid state.
Kirigakure's ninjutsu encompass all three of these phases: Ice Release, Water Release, and the Hiding in Mist Technique.
But this is only water in the natural world. Water-attribute chakra is different. It is merely a mimicry of this natural phenomenon—it is not real water molecules.
Chakra is energy. It is distinct from matter, can interfere with matter, and can also mimic matter.
Therefore, trying to synthesize Ice Release by using the conditions under which ice forms in nature is unrealistic. Those conditions can only serve as a reference for phase transitions.
What truly matters is the fluctuation of Ice Release chakra. Why did Higashino Makoto spend time fighting the Kirigakure cross-dressing shinobi, and even allow him to use Ice Release on his own body twice? It was to use his unique perception to understand that kind of fluctuation, and then restore it through fusion using extreme chakra control.
Over these ten days, this was mainly what he had been doing.
Higashino Makoto focused intently. On one hand, he forcefully suppressed the fluctuation frequency of Water-attribute chakra, making it tend toward stability. On the other hand, he controlled the light, flowing nature of Wind-attribute chakra, allowing it to sweep past the Water-attribute chakra at high speed.
He conducted collision experiments through this blowing motion, searching for an opportunity to fuse.
Today was his lucky day. Finally, in a collision at a certain point, a trace of cold appeared. Then, like a chain reaction, centered on that point, the cold rapidly spread, until all of the refined chakra of the two attributes fused into a single whole.
When the fusion was complete, a surge of cold air suddenly erupted. Centered on Makoto, it enveloped several nearby trees.
It was already August, and the Land of Fire was in the height of its hot season. Not far away, Hayate and Yūgao were jointly launching a fierce attack on their own teacher, and all three were drenched in sweat.
Suddenly, a cold wind swept over. The three of them all shuddered at once, stopped their movements, and turned their heads—only to behold a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
In the forest, the trees swayed with the wind. Yet centered on Makoto, several nearby trees stood completely still, all of them turned into ice sculptures. A biting cold swept along with the wind, as if they had instantly been transported into the Land of Snow in the depths of winter.
Yūgao could not believe the scene before her eyes. "How is this possible—Ice Release? Could it be that Makoto-nii is from Kirigakure?"
Kumomi shook his head. "That's impossible. Jirō and Megumi are both native-born people of the Land of Fire. When Megumi gave birth to Makoto, your mother was outside the delivery room.
"She watched Makoto being born. Oh, right—you were there too, back then, still inside your mother's belly."
"But this is clearly Ice Release."
Kumomi thought for a moment and said, "Do you remember the battle ten days ago? Makoto fought against a shinobi of the Yuki Clan who had awakened Ice Release. I think he must have started learning it from that day onward."
Hayate murmured, "But, Father… is this really something a shinobi can do? Learning a Kekkei Genkai in just ten days?"
This time, Kumomi did not mind Hayate calling him father by mistake during the mission. He even felt a trace of pity for him. Sometimes, having friends around you who are simply too outstanding truly is an unparalleled pressure.
But as a shinobi, this is a reality you have to accept.
"Hayate, just because we can't do it doesn't mean Makoto can't. He is different from us. In the shinobi world, there will never be a lack of people younger than you, yet stronger than me. Makoto is exactly that kind of person."
Hearing this, Hayate lowered his head and quietly clenched his fists. As both a friend and a target he sought to surpass, he knew all too well that Makoto's talent was beyond imagination.
For him, this was pressure—but also motivation for training.
Huh? Wait, isn't my chakra also wind and water? Should I give it a try?
Hayate fell into deep thought.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---