How to Survive as an Uchiha 58 – The Calm Before Thunder

Perched high in the mountains, Kumo was as close to the clouds as one could imagine.

Puffs of silvery-white clouds drifted and flickered, floating with the wind. Looking down, thick mists rose like splashes of water in a lake, surging from all directions and swaying mid-mountain.

The news of Orochimaru's defection, Tsunade's departure, and Jiraiya's injury, leading to the breakup of the Legendary Sannin, had already reached Kumo.

The ninjas of this highland village had begun to set their sights southward.

Rumors suggested that the Fourth Raikage had convened multiple high-level etings to discuss strategies for moving south.

Whenever the Kumo ninjas moved south, they had to guard against the Iwa ninjas. Those sneaky ninjas had ambushed them more than once, and the Third Raikage had sacrificed his life because of them.

The Kumo ninjas craved the fertile lands of the Land of Fire. Though they had suffered losses over it, they didn't harbor much hatred.

But when it ca to Iwa, the entire village brimd with animosity.

All the great ninja nations coveted the Land of Fire, but Kumo had always been singularly focused—it wanted the Land of Fire alone. Iwa, however, coveted both the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.

Among the Five Great Nations, the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Water had the richest and most livable natural resources, with the Land of Fire being the most ideal: four distinct seasons, favorable weather, and minimal geological disasters.

The other two countries ca next but were still gems of the shinobi world.

The Land of Lightning, situated in the northeast of the continent, boasted scenery akin to paradise. The sky was a perfect bright blue, like soone had cleaned it until it shone. The highlands were thick with greenery, while adows spread across the lowlands.

The residents could farm in the mountains or establish pastures in the grasslands. With access to the strait, their fishing industry was also thriving.

The downside, however, was the deadly plateau winds, snowstorms, and thunderclaps that could shatter the tranquility and claim lives.

"Thunder doesn't scare us! It's our lullaby!" a local rchant laughed at a visitor's concerned face as thunder cracked overhead.

"How do you sleep through such noise?"

"Hahaha! In Kumo, if you can't sleep through thunder, you don't sleep at all!"

Residents of the Land of Lightning were accustod to hearing deafening thunder from the sky as they walked the streets. They were a people defined by resilience and a refusal to bow to fate.

Obito erged from a bar in Kumo, his face expressionless.

He hadn't co to this village under a concealed identity for pleasure. Yet, for so inexplicable reason, he found himself entering this bar the mont he laid eyes on it.

Masashi, whom Obito deed a potentially useful pawn, was still an annoying person in his eyes.

But there was no denying one fact: he was incredibly strong.

Obito sought to uncover the secrets behind his strength. Based on all his observations, Masashi's life and training habits seed to revolve around one place: bars.

"Sothing about finding three-tomoe in tea" or other nonsense like that was a phrase Obito had heard countless tis.

And so, he went in—with his usual deadpan expression.

When he finally left, he felt… nothing. Enhancent drugs would explain the rapid progress, but sothing didn't add up...

The guy's words had been as cryptic as ever. Despite drinking for a long ti, he gained no insights.

Could it be that Konoha's alcohol was brewed differently? Or… had Masashi been doping all along?

He leaned toward the latter theory. Doping among ninja wasn't uncommon. It was rare within the Uchiha clan, but not unheard of.

Such ninja often made rapid progress early on but ultimately paid the price as their bodies deteriorated.

Obito concluded that Masashi must have been using enhancents.

Acting all mysterious—he's just a fraud... Feeling a bit better, he turned to leave.

"Wait, sir! Don't leave yet!"

A dancer ran out and grabbed him by the arm, her face glowing with playful charm.

Obito almost flung her off but restrained himself. He couldn't blow his cover. Right now, his disguise was that of a foreign rchant, his face wrapped in bandages with a backstory of disfigurent.

The Kumo ninjas weren't concerned about whether rchants were disfigured or not, as long as their goods were top-notch. This allowed him to enter the village smoothly.

But the dancer saw sothing different in him.

In the Land of Lightning, most n were either burly or pale-skinned—there wasn't much in between. The darker n were usually rugged and crude, and the paler ones often overcompensated by acting overly masculine.

As for the won, they were fiery in both temperant and physique. And, as the saying went, people yearned for what they lacked.

Having grown accustod to brash, rough n, this dancer was instantly captivated by the aura Obito exuded.

Though he wore bandages, his hands were smooth and delicate—not sothing you'd see in a highlander. His polite deanor and restrained gaze also set him apart.

Here was a man with class. Compared to the coarse villagers, this gentleman was leagues ahead. Such a high-quality man—how could she not seize this opportunity to make him hers?

In the Land of Lightning, won were bold and direct about love, unlike the reserved won of the Land of Fire.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

"???" What the heck?

Why was this woman, wearing so little, fawning over him now?

He barely kept his irritation in check.

"I'm sorry, miss. I have work to do," he replied.

The dancer was montarily stunned.

She decided she had to make him understand—she wasn't just any dancer. She was a good girl, one who perford for art, not… other services.

"Alright…" she finally said, releasing him reluctantly. For the first ti, she felt her profession wasn't as wonderful as it seed.

Obito didn't notice the emotional rollercoaster she went through. But her tact pleased him, so he softened his tone.

"I apologize if I was rude earlier. This is just the way I am," he said politely before striding away.

---

In the training hall within the Uchiha clan's compound, Masashi was hard at work honing his skills.

Blinding flashes of electricity revealed he was training in lightning chakra transformation. However, judging by the results on the target, it was not going well.

He retracted the sparks from his hand and closely examined the target, looking disappointed. The scorch marks were scattered and unfocused, nothing like the precise strikes he needed.

As expected, proficiency wasn't sothing that could be built up easily.

Among the seven chakra nature transformations, the unique aspects of Yin and Yang aside, the Five Elents transformations were sothing every ninja could potentially master. These were considered the standard chakra nature transformations.

Mastery could be achieved in two ways: either one had an innate talent, starting with a baseline proficiency that required no beginner training—only steady improvent; or one started with zero innate ability, relying solely on rigorous training to brute-force progress, which was far more challenging.

Most people naturally excelled in only one chakra nature, which was the norm. However, due to the strategic importance of elental interactions in ninja battles, a ninja needed proficiency in at least two natures by the ti they reached the rank of jonin.

If they were naturally skilled in only one, the other had to be trained up the hard way.

Take Hiruzen, for example—innately gifted in all five natures, a true anomaly.

Masashi wasn't so fortunate. He was naturally adept in three natures, which still put him far ahead of most. Yet, by his own high standards, he considered his elental compatibility incomplete. Having maxed out his proficiency in fire, water, and wind, he had long decided to focus on a fourth nature—lightning.

For soone like him, who favored highly mobile combat, the offensive nature of lightning took precedence over the defensive potential of earth. With sage techniques in his arsenal, his current environnt didn't demand much focus on defense.

Still, starting from scratch with a new nature transformation was anything but easy.

Since returning from Ryūchi Cave, he had been working on lightning. By now, it had been over half a year.

Following Orochimaru's defection, Tsunade formally left the village, and Jiraiya also departed after a brief stay in the village for recovery. Since then, Konoha had entered a period of calm, with no major incidents.

The Hokage's office showed little urgency in reestablishing contact with Kiri, and progress on that front was slow. This afforded Masashi plenty of ti to devote to mastering lightning release.

At first, he could only produce a few faint sparks. Now, he could at least unleash an attack, though it paled in comparison to his fire, water, and wind techniques.

Despite the slow progress, he was advancing at a remarkable pace, thanks to employing a strategy inspired by Naruto from the original tiline—using multiple shadow clones to accelerate training.

However, unlike Naruto, Masashi dared not go overboard. He capped his shadow clones at ten, well aware of the risks associated with overusing the technique, which had been classified as forbidden for good reason.

In the past, so had pushed themselves too far and died from chakra depletion or suffered severe ntal trauma from the mory feedback.

He had learned this lesson the hard way in his previous life.

After training for a whole day, he had released two shadow clones simultaneously, the sudden rush of mories and experiences had overwheld his mind, leaving him unconscious for days. Though he had been lucky it was only two clones, the experience had taught him to be more cautious.

Now, he only released one or two clones at a ti, letting his mind properly process each wave of information before moving on to the next.

Naruto, with his massive innate chakra reserves as a reincarnation of Asura and the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, could afford such reckless training. By the late stages of his developnt, he had reached a monstrous level, capable of kicking away Truth-Seeking Orbs with raw chakra power alone.

Truth-Seeking Orbs, composed of chakra condensed to its ultimate form, transcended the Five Elents and Yin-Yang transformations, embodying the pinnacle known as Yin-Yang Release.

This was the realm Masashi aspired to reach.

For an Uchiha, Yin-Yang Release held special significance—it was the sole pathway to awakening the Rinnegan. Given the choice, who would only settle for the Mangekyō Sharingan?

Unfortunately, he had no examples to guide him on this path. He was left to experint and forge his own way forward.

In this life, however, he had managed to analyze both Asura and Indra's chakra. Based on his observations of these ancient powers, he had devised a thodical plan.

His chosen approach? Master every possible chakra nature transformation.

Even if he never reached Yin-Yang Release, being proficient in all chakra natures would still be a worthwhile accomplishnt.

After all, being a "man of all elents" was undeniably useful.

Masashi was ambitious. He wanted to be strong—stronger than anyone—and still savor life's pleasures.

For a ninja, he was insatiably greedy. Yet, he was also pragmatic, knowing that not every good thing in life would co his way.

His ultimate goal was simple: when the final battle ca, he refused to be a helpless pawn tied to a tree as soone's battery. He'd rather die at the hands of Madara in a great fight.

If there was a second chance, there'd surely be a third. Those with multiple chances had the luxury of being willful.

Sensing his chakra reserves nearing safe limits, Masashi stopped his Lightning Release training. With caution, he began dispelling his shadow clones one at a ti, carefully processing each set of mories and experiences.

In the training room, the ten clones vanished in sequence, each puff of smoke separated by a few monts of ntal integration.

He punched forward, unleashing a brilliant burst of lightning that obliterated the target before him.

Still, this was the best he could manage for now.

The Uchiha clan library contained plenty of lightning techniques, but he had no intention of learning them all. Despite his ambitions, he wasn't indiscriminate about training, especially since he had a better-suited ntor in mind for Lightning Release. It just depended on whether they'd show up.

After tidying up, Masashi left the training room and went ho to shower. With plenty of daylight left, he decided to take a leisurely stroll outside.

Dressed casually, he left the clan compound. It had been a long ti since he'd wandered around purely for enjoynt. The last ti was when he'd been curious enough to explore every corner of Konoha, just to see how big it really was.

As he strolled through the comrcial district, stopping occasionally to browse shops, he found the relaxed atmosphere refreshing.

Although he had suggested to Fugaku that they prepare an escape plan, leaving the village was a last resort. Who would willingly abandon Konoha?

Rescuing Minato's family had its downsides. But the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.

Along the way, Masashi encountered so familiar faces from the police force. They said their hellos before each went on their way—so to work, others to relax.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion behind him.

With a grilled squid skewer in his mouth, Masashi turned to look.

A ninja pushed through the crowd, running down the street in a hurry. Judging by his appearance, he had just returned from outside the village. His expression was one of urgency.

What's going on?