82. The Situation Is Stable

Uchiha Kyosuke and his team were completely outmatched.

Surrounded by seven Cloud Shinobi, they had no room to escape, and their enemies were steadily closing in.

The Special Jōnin of the Kumogakure team smirked. "These four are Uchiha. Kill them, but don't damage their eyes!"

Just as Uchiha Kyosuke and the others were convinced that Sora had abandoned them, his voice rang out from behind them.

"You four are truly weak. Chūnin, huh? And Uchiha Chūnin at that. Yet all you managed was to take out three Genin and a single Chūnin? What a disappointment."

Hearing Sora's voice, the four of them were startled.

But after registering his words, they couldn't help but grumble internally.

They were up against four Chūnin, two Genin, and a Special Jōnin. The fact that they weren't seriously injured was already an achievement—expecting them to do more was too much!

Meanwhile, Sora had already assessed the strength of the Kumogakure team from his perch in the trees.

To him, they were hardly impressive.

In an instant, he activated the Body Flicker Technique, appearing before the two remaining Cloud Genin.

His speed was so overwhelming that the Cloud Shinobi were left in shock.

The two Genin panicked, scrambling to attack, but before they could react, Sora had already thrown two kunai—each one embedding directly into their throats.

They collapsed, lifeless.

The four remaining Cloud Chūnin wasted no time, charging toward Sora at once.

"Thunder Breath: Second Form – Rice Soul!"

The moment Sora launched his attack, five lightning-fast slashes cut through the air.

The Cloud Shinobi didn't even register what had happened.

Before they could react, they collapsed to the ground, massive wounds carved into their bodies. Their ragged breathing signalled that they wouldn't last much longer.

The Kumogakure shinobi had been unable to track Sora's attack at all.

But Uchiha Kyosuke and his team saw everything.

The four of them stared at Sora, eyes wide in disbelief.

Is this the true power of Thunder Breath?

Uchiha Kyosuke had learned Thunder Breath before.

However, his mastery had been far from ideal—his Thunder Breath techniques were weak and consumed far too much chakra, making them inefficient in battle.

Because of this, Kyosuke had all but abandoned the style.

But now, witnessing Sora's Thunder Breath in action completely shattered his understanding.

Why is it so powerful?

It's like I never learned the same technique at all…

Sora turned his attention to the only remaining enemy—the Special Jōnin.

Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the Special Jōnin snapped back to his senses and immediately turned to flee.

Sora didn't give chase. Instead, he looked back at Uchiha Kyosuke and the others.

"Now, do you understand how useless you are? From now on, when you're in my presence, be obedient and follow my orders. I won't make things too difficult for you, but if you try anything reckless, there will be no place for you to run."

With that, he turned his gaze back toward the fleeing Special Jōnin.

"Thunder Breath: Fifth Form – Heat Lightning!"

Sora's ninja sword erupted with an intense, lightning-charged slash.

The attack cut through the air in an instant—striking the Cloud Special Jōnin directly in the chest.

The fleeing shinobi collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.

Sora calmly slid his sword back into its sheath and turned to face Uchiha Kyosuke and the others.

"Do you understand now?" he asked.

The four Uchiha trembled and immediately responded, "We understand!"

"Good. Now, clean up the battlefield. Cut off all their heads and bring them back. The sensory unit will analyze them."

Sora leaned against a tree trunk, waiting as Uchiha Kyosuke and the others cleaned up the battlefield.

Once the mission was complete, Sora led the four of them back to camp to report their success.

—

With Konoha's reinforcement of shinobi, the situation in the Land of Hot Water gradually stabilized.

Orochimaru organized teams to dismantle Kumogakure's strongholds, and the process progressed smoothly.

Previously, Cloud Shinobi had been highly successful in the Land of Hot Water, establishing numerous smaller bases across the region. Now, they were struggling to defend them all.

Each time a Konoha squad overran a stronghold, another would come under attack.

Realizing their overstretched position, Kumogakure began consolidating its forces, abandoning smaller outposts to focus on more defensible positions.

Meanwhile, on the battlefronts in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass, Sunagakure and Iwagakure found themselves at a standstill. Neither had gained significant ground against Konoha, leading to an uneasy stalemate where both sides merely observed each other.

Kirigakure, despite stationing shinobi in the Land of Waves, refrained from making any direct moves against Konoha.

As a result, the Land of Hot Water remained the most intense battlefield.

The Raikage did not want to expend too many shinobi before the war fully erupted.

After all, the Konoha shinobi currently stationed in the Land of Hot Water were all elite forces.

Kumogakure was unwilling to commit its own elites just yet, leading to a period of tactical manoeuvring rather than outright warfare.

With all four major battlefields stabilizing, Konoha finally had some breathing room.

The village began deploying Genin to the front lines for battlefield training—after all, there was no faster way to improve one's strength than real combat.

—

Three Years Later

On the Land of Hot Water battlefield, two names stood above the rest—Sora and Namikaze Minato.

In that time, Namikaze Minato had successfully mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique.

His mission completion rate stood at 100%, and through his natural charisma, he had earned the admiration and trust of Konoha's stationed shinobi.

Sora, on the other hand, had also maintained a 100% mission success rate, never failing a single assignment.

However, unlike Minato, the only ones who followed him were Uchiha Kyosuke, Uchiha Ryuhei, Uchiha Keiichi, and Uchiha Jinno.

While Minato won people over with his personality, Sora remained distant—viewed as cold and inhuman.

Few wanted to get close to him.

Over the past three years, Namikaze Minato had never sought to challenge Sora again.

Instead, he seemed to focus entirely on missions, as if competing with Sora through sheer performance.

Sora, however, cared little for mission records—his true purpose was to witness history.

Because much of the recognition Minato should have received was now going to him, Sora had accumulated nearly 6,000 witness points.

However, with the war reaching a temporary standstill, the flow of witness points had slowed.

Both Sora and Namikaze Minato had since been promoted to Jōnin.

During this period, Sora had frequently corresponded with Uzumaki Kushina and had even returned to Konoha several times to visit her.

Due to Kushina's special status, Konoha had forbidden her from joining the war effort, keeping her within the village for protection.

Despite her complaints, there was little she could do about it.

Meanwhile, a new prodigy had emerged in Konoha—Hatake Kakashi.

After graduating from the Ninja Academy at the age of five, Kakashi was immediately deployed to the Land of Grass, where he fought alongside his father, Hatake Sakumo.

By this year, Kakashi had already achieved the rank of Chūnin.

And in Sora's memory, a major event was approaching next year—Hatake Sakumo's suicide.

If his calculations were correct, that tragedy would likely earn him more witness points.

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