Chapter 180 172 Thousand Bird Blade

"While the current Chakra conductivity of this sword doesn't compare to weapons crafted entirely from Chakra metal, it is already sufficient to provide a positive boost to swordsmanship."

Uchiha Gen shifted the Chakra attribute he was channeling into the blade, watching as the flames upon it quickly transformed into flickering lightning. Since that's the case—

After a moment of contemplation, Uchiha Gen began to actively increase his Chakra output and attempted to control the Shape Transformation of the Chakra.

In the original work, Sasuke during the Shippuden era developed a series of derivative Ninjutsu based on Chidori, including Chidori Current, Chidori Senbon, Chidori Sharp Spear, and even the forbidden-level Kirin, among others.

These required a high level of mastery over the Shape Transformation of Lightning Style to achieve, but there was one among them that had relatively lower requirements in this regard.

That technique is called Chidori Blade. It involves injecting the Lightning Style Chakra released by Chidori into the blade, enhancing the sharpness of the edge while also causing a paralyzing effect.

Chidori itself is an A-rank Ninjutsu, and other derivative Ninjutsu in the Chidori series are at least A-rank or higher; only Chidori Blade is an exception, being only B-rank.

This is because the technical difficulty of this technique is not that high. As long as one knows Chidori, one only needs to slightly change the release method and channel it into the weapon.

With the weapon bearing the Chakra and fixing the form of the Lightning Style, the requirement for Shape Transformation is not that high. As long as the weapon itself has sufficiently high Chakra conductivity and the material can withstand the impact of the Lightning Style, it can be executed quite easily.

Sasuke achieved this by relying on the Kusanagi Sword he obtained from Orochimaru.

The Sengoku Ninja Sword of the past had no trouble withstanding the Lightning Style of this technique in terms of material, but it fell short in Chakra conductivity, making it impossible to successfully release Chidori Blade. However, that might not be the case now.

After a brief attempt and a little experimentation, Uchiha Gen quickly made the Sengoku Ninja Sword in his hand light up with brilliant electrical light, making the straight blade look like a blue glow stick.

"It really is feasible. However, while this matches the Hatake swordsmanship and can unleash strong combat power relying on the insight of the Sharingan, it conflicts somewhat with Uchiha Style Swordsmanship."

The Ninja Blade traced a brilliant blue trail of light in mid-air, with sparks scattering from the tip.

Looking at this scene, Uchiha Gen frowned slightly.

His Uchiha Style Swordsmanship had already reached a considerable level of proficiency; if he were to give it up now to focus on Lightning Style-based swordsmanship, it would be a pity.

Could he integrate the two styles of swordsmanship, possessing both Lightning and Fire attributes simultaneously, to further unleash their power?

In the original work, Sasuke was also proficient in both Lightning Style and Fire Style, but his swordsmanship focused primarily on Lightning Style. In this regard, he could not provide a reference for Uchiha Gen; he would have to rely on himself.

However, this was destined to be a difficult task. It would not be easy to achieve and would require a significant amount of time; it could not be completed overnight, so he had to set it aside for now.

After returning to the camp following some testing, Uchiha Gen, in a rather jubilant mood, began assisting the Nara Clan Head in handling the matters left behind by Orochimaru. He would occasionally ask for advice, and at the same time, he was making markings on the map based on the situation of recent missions.

This scene happened to be observed by the Nara Clan Head.

"These places—you were asking me about those things earlier to scout out locations where hidden sentries might be lurking near the camp?"

Beside the flickering candlelight, the Nara Clan Head looked with great interest at the points Uchiha Gen had marked on the map.

Given his intelligence, he understood the meaning of these marked points on the map at a single glance.

These were all places where the latter had sensed Chakra fluctuations via Kagura Mind's Eye, but which were not within the scouting range of the Konoha Shinobi.

However, to be honest, wise men like Orochimaru and the Nara Clan Head would clearly not leave any loopholes in their military deployment; the area within thirty kilometers around the camp was entirely within the alert range of the Konoha Shinobi.

Coordinating with the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan, the sensory capabilities of the Yamanaka Clan, and Ninja from other clans skilled in reconnaissance like the Aburame and Inuzuka, the alert range could achieve near all-weather, omnidirectional coverage. There was simply no possibility of anyone sneaking up to the vicinity of the camp.

The locations marked by Uchiha Gen were all outside the thirty-kilometer radius.

For Konoha, this distance was sufficient to ensure the stability of the camp. Scouting any further out would cause the area to expand exponentially, and conducting such intensive scouting would require too many reconnaissance Ninja, making the cost outweigh the benefits.

And for the Hidden Cloud ninja, as long as no large troop movements occurred at this distance, it would not be enough to trigger Konoha's sensitive nerves.

Although they could not directly investigate the situation at the Konoha camp, it was enough for them to know when a major commotion occurred here.

At the very least, if Konoha assembled a large force to move out, they would be able to know, relay the message back to their side, and make defensive preparations in advance.

However, by that time, Konoha would certainly have taken other measures in advance, dispatching large numbers of sensory squads to sweep the vicinity of the camp.

The deciding factor in this would depend on the strategic maneuvering between the two sides at the command level, as well as the quantity and quality of their sensory Ninja.

"Yes, Elder Luping, I was just struck by a whim and tried to put myself in the perspective of the enemy to look at the surrounding terrain, to see if there were any places our troops might have missed during the scouting process."

The Nara Clan Head's name was Luping; his hair and beard were slightly gray, his face was lean, and he appeared unremarkable, save for a pair of eyes that were calm and tranquil, revealing his extraordinary nature.

"Your markings actually make some sense. At the very least, in terms of terrain, these places are indeed positions conducive to hiding and spying. The reconnaissance squad in the camp currently has two spare teams acting as a reserve force; you can take one out to scout and use the opportunity to test it."

"Alright, then let's count this trip as a normal patrol mission. If we encounter enemies, we'll calculate it according to standard mission difficulty classifications."

Uchiha Gen stood up from his chair, full of energy.

As everyone knew, he loved doing missions the most.

Now that Orochimaru had delegated some authority to him, he could, within a certain scope, use this power to arrange missions for himself that could be completed in a short time to grind his mission count.

Even though his level had already passed forty, in a normal battle, if no Jonin appeared among the enemies, it would be at most a B-rank mission. The experience points were not much for him now, but every bit helps; over a long period, the accumulation would be quite substantial.