The garrison mission was indeed very leisurely.
It was even extremely boring.
The Uchiha temperament belonged to fire. They were naturally restless, loved adventure, and were not very suited to garrison work.
Even though the Tiger Unit's Uchiha had been changed a great deal by Uchiha Yoru, the influence of their nature was still difficult to eliminate.
All kinds of complaints naturally appeared.
Of course, Yoru knew this perfectly well.
Aside from cultivation, he began training the little brothers of the Tiger Unit.
Formation training, physical training, and swimming training were all doubled.
They had to make up for the training volume delayed during wartime.
The Uchiha were drilled until they cried bitterly every day.
Each day, they were exhausted and collapsed into sleep, no longer having the energy to complain that there was nothing to do.
But teenage boys had infinite energy.
Only two days later, the Uchiha little brothers adapted to the high-intensity training and started complaining about boredom again.
Could Yoru tolerate this?
He finally took out the final arrangement.
He commanded the little brothers to build houses, defensive works, and traps.
They also had to dig ditches and reservoirs, as well as reclaim vegetable fields and plant vegetables.
Growing vegetables—
This was what the Uchiha could least understand, and also the work Yoru insisted on the most.
Loosening soil, fertilizing, raising seedlings, removing insects, topdressing, pinching tips—
All of it was unknown to the Uchiha.
Everywhere was filled with scalp-numbing details.
A palm-sized vegetable patch seemed to contain endless work.
Added to the foul smell of composting and manure piles, growing vegetables became a nightmare for the Uchiha little brothers.
Even the most honest Uchiha Tadamichi could not help finding Yoru to complain.
"Big Brother Yoru, why do we have to grow vegetables?"
His question made Yoru freeze.
Subconsciously, he answered,
"We're going to live here for a month. Of course we have to grow vegetables."
Hearing this matter-of-course answer, then seeing his leader currently tending a vegetable field, with the small vegetables inside fresh, watery, lush, and arranged neatly—
Uchiha Tadamichi was instantly speechless.
The Uchiha clan produced many perverts.
But a pervert who loved farming like this—
Uchiha Yoru was the first in the entire history of the Uchiha clan.
But Uchiha Tadamichi unexpectedly discovered that he did not dislike Big Brother Yoru's strange hobby.
He and his companions only hated being forced to grow vegetables themselves.
It felt like something shinobi shouldn't do.
Even less did it match the style of Uchiha clan shinobi.
Yoru naturally sensed his little brother's thoughts.
He smiled and tapped Tadamichi's forehead, leaving several muddy marks there.
He smiled and said,
"Tadamichi, our Uchiha profession is shinobi."
"Killing is the basic behavior of the shinobi profession, so our hands are covered in blood."
"But I hope you won't have your minds twisted by killing."
"First, you must treat yourselves as humans, not killing machines."
"So I lead you through eating, drinking, sleeping, and relieving yourselves. I encourage you to have full joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. I force you to live the lives of normal people."
Uchiha Tadamichi was dumbfounded.
He stammered,
"But… but what does that have to do with growing vegetables?"
Yoru counted on his fingers.
"Plowing, sowing, watering, fertilizing."
"Watching the seeds you planted sprout, then caring for them as they grow."
"In the end, what you harvest is definitely not only a few stalks of small greens, but also the joy and hope of harvest."
Uchiha Tadamichi still did not understand.
In truth, aside from the descendants of Yan and Huang being able to feel joy from those words, every other civilization could not.
Including bananas with swapped cores.
Uchiha Tadamichi was an honest person.
He directly admitted,
"Big Brother Yoru, I… don't understand."
Yoru also knew he was forcing too much.
He sighed regretfully and said,
"It's normal that you don't understand. This kind of thing is purely emotional experience. There's no way to make people understand it through explanation."
"Only by personally experiencing it can you truly understand what it is."
"Sigh. And that's only possible."
Then he wiped his face and forcefully issued an order.
"Don't give me opinions now. Work properly according to my order. Understood?"
Uchiha Tadamichi instantly found a familiar feeling.
He stood straight and answered respectfully,
"Yes!"
"When you return, tell all the little brothers my words."
"Work honestly. After ten more days, perhaps you will understand."
"Yes!"
After sending Uchiha Tadamichi away, Yoru sighed.
"It seems there's no candidate among the little brothers who can be naturalized."
Miwa Masayo quietly appeared on Yoru's shoulder and laughed softly.
"Yoru, you're just fantasizing. They're all teenage boys already. From the start, they had shinobi thinking. Being able to change into this state is already amazing, nya."
"They're not this meow. I was kidnapped to your side when I didn't understand anything and was taught values completely incompatible with the shinobi world, nya!"
Yoru was overjoyed.
"Rika-chan, you broke through?"
Miwa Masayo's lingering anger had not faded.
She huffed,
"I did break through, nya. But the moment I broke through, I discovered traces of your suggestion. I'm furious, nya!"
"Uchiha Yoru! If you don't give me—mmph, mmph… delicious, nya…"
Yoru stuffed the fried mini-twist snack he had long prepared into the tabby cat's mouth.
In an instant, the angry cat's eyes curved into crescents, and she happily made a purring sound.
Only after eating three crispy mini-twists in a row did Miwa Masayo stop in satisfaction.
Her intelligence also returned as her appetite faded.
She asked warily,
"What did you feed me, nya?"
Yoru smiled.
"Fried mini-twists. The ingredients are flour, eggs, a little salt, and…"
"Mature second-generation bone dandelion seed powder."
"Doesn't it taste especially good?"
Miwa Masayo nodded, but asked in confusion,
"Yes, nya. But it shouldn't, nya."
Yoru said,
"Mm. Originally, it shouldn't taste better than dried small fish."
"But this thing contains a strange vitality, as well as nutrients I can't figure out. It has great benefits for strengthening bones."
"Because our bodies greatly lack this nutrient, we find it especially delicious."
"What's strange is that this nutrient's influence on taste is extremely extreme."
Yoru took out another mini-twist and handed it to Miwa Masayo, continuing,
"When the body needs it, it feels very delicious. But after enough has been taken in, it no longer tastes good."
Miwa Masayo held the mini-twist with both front paws.
Sure enough, she discovered she no longer had the slightest desire to eat it.
She even felt a considerable degree of disgust.
The tabby's watery eyes looked toward Yoru as she asked curiously,
"I really don't want to eat it anymore, nya. What does this show, nya?"
Yoru shrugged.
"I'm not sure either. But it might be that this component is very important, yet also very dangerous. If too much is taken, it could be fatal."
"So magical, nya?"
"Mm. Our bodies are this magical. Actually, ordinary people's bodies are also very magical."
"Many people like drinking alcohol. But no matter how delicious they think alcohol is, once they drink a certain amount, they'll feel dizzy, have headaches, become nauseous, and vomit. That's the body shouting: If you drink more, you'll die."
Aside from being surprised, Miwa Masayo couldn't help saying proudly,
"Human bodies are truly sensitive. But humans are also truly foolish, nya. Something obviously harmful, yet they can still drink it…"
Under her servant's half-smiling gaze, the tabby cat's voice gradually grew lower.
Finally, she hesitantly asked,
"Is something wrong, nya?"
"Silly Rika-chan. Before saying that, you should think about cat grass."
"…"
After spacing out for a while, the tabby cat pretended nothing had happened and admitted,
"Fine. Ninja cats also have weaknesses, nya."
"Haha."
"Right, Yoru."
Miwa Masayo interrupted Yoru's laughter and said,
"The meat we brought is almost finished. The fish, shrimp, and crabs around here have also been caught clean. We need to solve this problem, nya."
Yoru immediately stopped laughing.
He frowned and thought for a moment.
Then his eyes turned, and he thought of something.
He slowly said,
"Alright. Konoha Village's logistics transport really is unreliable."
"However, counting the time, it's about right."
"We can go harvest octopus legs."
Miwa Masayo asked in surprise,
"Really, nya?"
Yoru nodded in confirmation.
"Really. It has already been thirty-six days. Among the newly grown eight legs, at least two should already be firm."
The tabby cat immediately cheered with joy.
"Wonderful, nya! We're going to cut octopus legs, nya!"
Yoru smiled.
"This time, we won't personally make a move."
"It's just right for training the Uchiha little brothers and letting them gain some real combat experience against giant chakra creatures."
Miwa Masayo had no objection to this.
She only wanted to eat fresh octopus legs.
As for who cut them down, that did not matter.
If the Tiger Unit's Uchiha did the work, she could eat delicious octopus meat without expending effort.
This was a great thing.
"Nya?"
Miwa Masayo suddenly gave a startled meow.
Then she looked at Yoru with a complicated expression and murmured,
"So it feels like this. No wonder Yoru is now working so hard to lead the Uchiha little brothers."
"They can already do such big work now. In the future, once all of them become jonin, the two of us will be rich, nya."
Yoru chuckled.
"Exactly. That's the feeling."
"The shinobi world is so large. The uninhabited sea has treasures. The uninhabited valleys of the Land of Rivers have treasures. Then what about the uninhabited great desert of the Land of Wind? What about the vast hundred thousand mountains of the Land of Earth?"
"I heard Kumogakure hides a living island in the sea. An island that moves at every moment. These are all good things."
"Rika-chan, the shinobi world is so large. How could the two of us possibly take care of everything?"
"If we were busy collecting resources every day, that would be too tiring."
"So someone must collect these resources for us."
"We even have to consider sustainable development. What should be planted must be planted. What should be farmed must be farmed. We can't blindly practice extinction-style gathering."
"Oh~oh~. No wonder you forced the Uchiha little brothers to grow vegetables, nya. So it was all planned, nya. Yoru, you're so sinister, nya."
"Nonsense. How can this be considered sinister?"
"This is advance skill training required for future work. A leader must have enough foresight. He can't always wait until things are urgent before becoming anxious and handling problems."
"Nya nya nya. I don't believe it, nya."
Yoru naturally heard that Miwa Masayo was joking.
So he stopped explaining and pounced over, wanting to catch the tabby cat and tickle her.
One person and one cat began playing in the vegetable field.
They went from rolling and jumping to constantly flashing everywhere.
Their movements raised bursts of strong wind.
Laughter came from all directions.
The power level used in their play gradually rose.
Later, even Wind Release and Fire Release appeared, with wind blades and fire arrows shuttling between leaves and vines.
But no matter how intense their play became, not a single vegetable leaf was damaged.
The bean and cucumber vines were also completely unharmed.
In the end, Yoru was still slightly superior.
He flashed behind Miwa Masayo, grabbed the back of her neck of fate, and scratched her belly to his heart's content, ending this playful contest.
Miwa Masayo, laughing until her whole body went weak, lay on Yoru's chest and said in disbelief,
"Yoru, you actually finished developing the Flying Thunder God Technique. That's too fast, nya!"
Yoru was also exhausted.
Weakly, he said,
"How can this count as fast? I had a foundation."
"Senju Tobirama proved that the Flying Thunder God Technique is feasible. Through you, I experienced reverse summoning so many times. I also mastered the full set of Uzumaki sealing techniques."
"The development conditions were all gathered. Succeeding in two months was only natural."
He looked at Miwa Masayo and praised,
"Rika-chan is the amazing one. I only made a few suggestions, and you managed to complete using fire to control qi, manipulating temperature to precisely control air density, and bending light through refraction to make yourself invisible."
"Invisibility is too powerful. It counters my Sharingan completely."
"Even though I was mentally prepared, I was still almost counterattacked successfully by you. And several times in a row."
Miwa Masayo said irritably,
"Nonsense, nya. You still haven't activated your Mind's Eye divine ability. Once you do, what use is simple visual invisibility, nya?"
Yoru smiled.
"Let's stop flattering each other. Rest a little. Then prepare to lead the team out."
"Okay, nya. I'll sleep for a little while. When I wake up, we'll leave…"
"Octopus legs…"
"Takoyaki…"
"Teppanyaki…"
Slowly, Miwa Masayo's paws tucked beneath her chin, and her soft tail wrapped around her.
She made a purring vibration and fell asleep.
Yoru stroked her a few times with his hand.
The tabby cat did not react.
Feeling the damp soil beneath his back, he smiled helplessly and indulgently.
He covered the little cat's belly with his hand.
Natural energy inside his body drove chakra to circulate.
First, he changed the shape of the soil behind him so that it matched his body structure.
Then he released high heat, dispelling the discomfort brought by dampness.
Feeling the support conforming to his back, head, and neck, as well as the warmth and dryness, Yoru twisted his body in satisfaction.
Listening to the little cat's purring, he sank deeply into sleep.
As his cultivation improved day by day, he gradually sensed the barrier of the final Foundation Establishment breakthrough.
But at the same time, he also noticed changes in his body.
Yoru's body was stronger.
His cells were more energetic.
His reactions were sharper.
His mind was more flexible.
His energy was more abundant.
At the same time, his need for sleep had also decreased.
This might be a good thing.
But Yoru treasured sleep.
Especially the refreshed feeling after one dark and sweet sleep.
It was as if the entire person had gone through a reboot.
Indescribably nostalgic.
So he no longer slept according to schedule.
As long as sleepiness came, and as long as conditions allowed, he would sleep directly.
If he missed this chance, the next time sleepiness came might be the second day, or even the third day.
According to this trend, one day in about ten years, Yoru would be like a child growing into an adult, never again experiencing the joy of playing with mud and urine.
He would forever lose sleepiness and the function of sleeping.
The price of life ascension.
…
Yoru's sleep was very deep.
The dreamless sleep lasted only fifty-seven minutes before he woke full of energy.
He gathered the Tiger Unit on the island.
In front of all the little brothers, he took out the drawing tubes for the five divisions.
The Uchiha immediately burst into noise.
"There's an operation!"
Yoru said loudly,
"Tonight, I will take three divisions away to carry out an interesting hunt."
"We're going to hunt a big fellow."
"So pray, little brothers!"
Yoru shook the drawing tube in his hand until it rattled.
Below, eighty-three Uchiha exploded like a boiling pot as they prayed.
"God, please, you must draw us!"
"It's mine. It has to be mine."
"Let us go. I don't want to grow vegetables anymore."
As the lots jumped out, eighty-three pairs of Sharingan saw them clearly in midair.
The ones drawn were the divisions of Uchiha Hiroto and Uchiha Shigenobu.
Instantly, cheers and sighs rang out together.
The hunting divisions brought all equipment and weapons.
Under the still-strong afternoon sunlight, they set out.
Led by Yoru, they advanced straight northeast.
After four hours of mad sprinting across the sea surface, they arrived at a pitch-black sea region.
At this moment, the sun had already half-sunk into the sea.
The red sun dyed the sea surface with glittering golden light.
The sea was calm and windless.
Heaven and earth were silent.
Yoru and Miwa Masayo calmly admired the afterglow of the sunset.
The Uchiha little brothers did not have such leisure.
Their red Sharingan spun everywhere, yet they could not find any large prey that needed hunting.
Yoru suddenly discovered that, for some unknown reason, he could sense the gazes of the Sharingan.
The eager gazes of the Uchiha little brothers were like sixty-eight searchlights.
They seriously disturbed Yoru's mood, projecting their anxious emotions into his heart.
Yoru tried several methods, but he could neither cut off his perception of the Sharingan nor calm himself again.
In the end, he could only helplessly order,
"Everyone close your eyes. Stay quiet. Try sensing whether there are any changes in the surrounding environment."
"Yes!"
When all the Uchiha closed their eyes, Yoru finally felt peace return.
That strange sensitivity also gradually faded.
[Uncontrolled abnormalities in my body have begun appearing. The final breakthrough is getting closer and closer.]
After everyone quieted down, the sun also sank below the horizon.
The sky darkened at an extremely fast speed.
The sea turned into absolute darkness ahead of time.
Yoru also spoke at the right moment.
"Alright. You can open your eyes."
The Uchiha who opened their eyes were all stunned.
On the sea beneath their feet, countless purple points of light sparkled.
The calm ocean had actually become as dazzling as the starry sky.
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