“Intelligence?”
Shingen rolled those two words over in his mind.
Seeing this, Jiraiya didn’t keep him in suspense and continued directly:
“Exactly.
Intelligence.”
“When you launched your attack just now, exactly how much intelligence did you have on me?!”
“What are my most commonly used jutsu?
What is my combat style?
Do I have any fatal flaws or blind spots in battle?!”
“If you knew beforehand that I excelled at the Earth-Style Wall, and if you knew that the ‘me’ standing out here in the open was just a Shadow Clone…
would you have still employed that exact same suicidal, all-in tactic?!”
“No.
You absolutely wouldn’t have!”
Jiraiya shook his head.
Including this brief spar, Shingen had only fought twice in front of him.
Both times, he utilized incredibly insidious, underhanded tactics, hiding lethal traps within his jutsu.
This was a man who had tactical maneuvering carved straight into his basic instincts.
The moment he obtained a piece of intelligence, the very first thing his brain did was meticulously calculate exactly how to weaponize it against his enemy.
“Given your personality, if you knew my capabilities, you would have undoubtedly set up specific, lethal traps designed entirely to counter my Earth-Style Wall and my Shadow Clones.”
Shingen didn’t reply immediately.
He followed Jiraiya’s train of thought deeper, and quickly realized that the man was speaking the absolute truth.
If he had obtained solid intelligence beforehand, there was absolutely no way he would have risked a suicidal, all-or-nothing assault like he just did!
Recalling the scene from just moments ago, a wave of lingering fear washed over Shingen as well.
If his opponent hadn’t been Jiraiya holding back in a test, but a genuine enemy in a life-or-death battle, the exact moment he was pinned to the wall, he would have been a dead man.
While these all-in, high-risk tactics were incredibly efficient when they worked, the consequences of failure were instantly fatal.
However, as Shingen continued to ponder the issue, he also discovered a fundamental flaw in this line of reasoning.
These intense, brain-burning battles—battles that required endless psychological warfare, tactical gambits, and meticulous planning to win—almost exclusively occurred when both sides were relatively close in overall strength, or at least when one side didn’t possess an overwhelming, crushing advantage.
Once the disparity in raw power between the two sides reached a certain threshold, the space for tactical maneuvering would be compressed infinitely, until the balance was completely, hopelessly broken.
Since that was the case…
“Then why don’t I just firmly grasp the absolute initiative before the battle even begins?!”
“It’s incredibly difficult to preemptively weaken an opponent’s strength, but it is entirely within my control to proactively infinitely elevate my own advantages.”
“Why bother with complex tactical maneuvering when you can just use overwhelming artillery coverage?!”
“If my Great Fireball was ten times—no, a hundred times—larger, even if this old geezer hid completely underground, I could just melt the entire damn forest along with him!”
The words “old geezer” made Jiraiya’s eyelid twitch violently, but he forcefully restrained himself.
Listening to Shingen’s completely unhinged conclusion, he nodded, but then shook his head:
“The underlying logic isn’t wrong.”
“If your raw firepower output is overwhelmingly dominant enough, you can indeed violently compress the opponent’s tactical space until it approaches absolute zero.”
Both our physical stamina and our total chakra reserves have absolute limits.
Trying to infinitely spam massive ninjutsu without restraint is simply not viable in reality.”
“Analyzing the opponent’s moves, dismantling their tactics, and engaging in high-level jutsu combat…
that is the true path of a shinobi.”
Shingen nodded perfunctorily, but inwardly, he was absolutely ecstatic.
It was true that normal humans had an absolute upper limit, but unfortunately for the world…
he had a cheat code.
Currently, Shingen’s Chakra attribute was only at Level 4, roughly equivalent to the reserves of a Special Jonin.
Compared to his overall Jonin-level combat rating, it was actually holding him back slightly.
In this specific aspect, it could only be said that the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was simply far too overpowered.
But as long as he continued his uninterrupted check-in streak long enough, relying purely on Attribute Points, he could forcefully elevate his chakra reserves into the realm of the non-human.
When that day came, he wouldn’t care what brilliant tactics or bizarre special abilities his enemies had.
He would simply unleash complete artillery coverage, execute absolute saturation bombing, and blast absolutely everything within his line of sight straight into molecular dust!
Thinking of this.
Shingen made a firm decision in his heart: he would elevate the priority of leveling up his Chakra attribute to the absolute highest tier.
Following closely behind would be his Sharingan and his mastery over various Nature Transformations.
The former was the very foundation of the Uchiha, and according to Clan Head Fugaku, there was still the possibility of pushing it into an even higher realm in the future.
The latter would guarantee that, regardless of the situation or the battlefield, his ammunition would never run dry and his firepower would always be overwhelmingly abundant.
Once those two core pillars were absolutely secured, the next step would be stockpiling the right “bullets” to deal with any specific type of enemy—namely, mastering ninjutsu of various elemental natures.
However.
The immediate, number one priority right now…
was still mastering the Shadow Clone Technique!
After their brief exchange of blows, Jiraiya had gained a comprehensive, relatively accurate understanding of Shingen’s current combat level.
To be completely honest.
No matter which aspect he looked at, the kid was absolutely outstanding.
Even compared to Minato at that age, the gap wasn’t significant at all.
However, Minato’s true, terrifying brilliance lay in his inhuman, god-like neural reaction speed—a reflex time fast enough to perfectly master and weaponize the legendary Flying Thunder God Technique.
Coupled with the Rasengan he had personally developed, the synergy between the two created a combat style that was basically a dimensional strike against the vast majority of shinobi in the world.
Over the following few days.
Shingen’s daily life suddenly became incredibly busy.
During the day, he continued to clock in at the Police Force, expertly slack off, and passionately debate plotlines for the new book with Jiraiya.
The moment he clocked out, he would follow Jiraiya deep into the Forest of Death for brutal, secret special training.
When it came to a disciple he truly valued, Jiraiya held absolutely nothing back.
From advanced chakra manipulation techniques, to high-level Fire Release, to refined Taijutsu, to the priceless, blood-soaked combat experience he had accumulated over decades—he poured it all into Shingen without reservation.
Once Shingen finally got serious, he was like a dry sponge, greedily absorbing every single drop of knowledge and experience that could benefit him.
Originally, he had only barely managed to scrape into the Jonin tier of combat power purely by heavily relying on the overwhelming advantage of his Kekkei Genkai.
In almost every other fundamental aspect, he was noticeably weaker than a true, veteran Jonin.
Although the other abilities listed on his system panel didn’t show any immediate, massive level-ups, he did manage to successfully awaken and develop an entirely new chakra nature transformation.
Earth Release.
…
Several days later.
Deep within the vast forest outside Konoha.
Having just completed another brutal day of training, Shingen lay flat on his back on the grass, gasping violently for air.
He felt as if every single inch of his entire body was screaming in agonizing pain.
While the rapid progress of his training was undeniably gratifying, if there was a way to just skip the agonizing process and directly reap the rewards…
that would naturally be infinitely better.
“It’s time to finally test out that theory from before!”
Shingen forcefully propped his exhausted body up.
His hands rapidly blurred through a familiar sequence of seals, and he shouted softly:
“Shadow Clone Technique!”
Poof!
Poof!
Two crisp explosions of white smoke erupted beside him.
As the smoke cleared, two Shadow Clones identical to him in every way stood on his left and right.
As a standard Jonin-level ninjutsu, the fundamental principles behind the Shadow Clone Technique actually weren’t incredibly complex.
During this period, Shingen hadn’t had to expend too much mental effort to completely master it.
However, he had deliberately waited until his total chakra reserves grew enough to sustain the clones for a prolonged period before finally deciding to test whether his brilliant slacker theory was actually viable.
Shingen turned his head, looking at his two clones with immense satisfaction.
He nodded approvingly and issued his commands:
“You’re ‘Lefty.’ You are solely responsible for aggressively training our Taijutsu.”
“And you’re ‘Righty.’ You are entirely responsible for mastering the Halo Dance!”
“Understood~”
“Leave it completely to me!”
The two clones confidently patted their chests, turned around, and walked toward the clearing in the distance, immediately preparing to begin their grueling training regimens.
It actually works?!
Shingen’s eyes lit up brighter than a thousand suns.
He had originally only intended this as a preliminary test, but he never expected the clones to be this obedient!
Didn’t this mean that from tomorrow onward, he could fully return to his glorious, carefree days of clocking in, drinking tea, and absolutely slacking off at the Police Force?!
“Wait a damn minute!”
Clone ‘Lefty’ suddenly slammed his foot down, completely halting his steps.
He whipped his head around and glared viciously at the original Uchiha Shingen:
“Why the hell do we have to suffer through all the agonizing, blood-sweating training, while you get to lie back, relax, and happily slack off without a care in the world?!
I absolutely refuse to accept this blatant exploitation!”
“Yeah!
I refuse to accept this bullshit too!”