Although a single sensory ninja—this "radar"—couldn't operate "24/7" indefinitely.
And without the assistance of precise detection techniques and barriers, a lone sensory ninja's sensing range couldn't possibly achieve complete area coverage.
But Yamanaka Eiya's arrival undoubtedly brought tremendous help to the Fireflies organization.
To make a simple analogy: before, the organization seemed to be in pitch-black darkness where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Yamanaka Eiya certainly couldn't simply turn night into day, but now the organization at least had a flashlight in hand.
When strange sounds came from somewhere in the darkness, they could directly point the flashlight there—ordinary petty criminals would have nowhere to hide.
Moreover, Yamanaka Eiya's help wasn't limited to defense. In fact, relying on his long-range sensing ability, when the Fireflies organization launched offensive operations next, they could completely establish intelligence superiority, using his abilities to find the most suitable attack direction.
On the first day back to Kikyō Castle, while Yamanaka Eiya was trying to gather surrounding intelligence, he immediately discovered traces of external invasion.
Why was he so certain the discovered presence was an enemy?
Because with the Fireflies organization's current scale, if Yūshin hadn't issued direct orders, the organization simply couldn't dispatch a team of ten or more people for external missions... How many people did they have in total?
Dispatching over ten people indicated a major, urgent mission. But facing such situations, rather than sending ninja on large-scale operations, it would be better for Yūshin to act personally—he would be obviously more efficient and basically wouldn't encounter dangerous situations.
So as long as they discovered medium-to-large scale "chakra sources" grouped together within the Land of the River Source's territorial range, they could only be enemies executing invasion plans.
The series of battles that occurred previously, although the surrounding hostile forces hadn't achieved any major victories, at least they discovered the Land of the River Source's weakness of lacking wide-area detection capabilities.
Though the results were poor, the infiltration phase usually had no problems. Since that was the case, as long as they kept executing infiltration missions, there would always be a day when they achieved major gains.
Heaven doesn't starve blind sparrows, and even blind cats occasionally catch dead mice, right?
Although Yūshin's retaliation caused considerable losses to the surrounding enemies, passive defense was just sitting and waiting for death—this situation even forced them to attack more frantically.
So the surrounding enemies' battle rhythm had become this kind of cycle:
Active attack → unfortunate annihilation → infiltration and retaliation → licking wounds, accumulating strength → active attack
Undoubtedly, the surrounding ninja forces definitely grew weaker with each cycle, yet they had no choice but to continue cycling. After all, they started the war—could they retreat just because they wanted to now?
Ridiculous—that would be taking war too lightly.
After detecting external enemy invasion, Yūshin immediately led a team to attack. He was so hurried that he appeared somewhat flustered... Well, since he got a new toy, he had to find somewhere to test it properly.
So, including Yūshin himself, he formed a standard four-person squad and began rushing to the battlefield.
Among the squad members, besides Yūshin, the other three were Yamanaka Eiya, Nara Hideyuki, and Akimichi Kizuki.
With the "radar's" guidance, this squad headed straight for the enemy cluster. Yūshin neither attempted concealment nor tried any backstabbing—both sides collided head-on like this.
"It's the Hōjō Clan from the west."
After dealing with many surrounding forces, Yūshin could naturally recognize these enemies' origins at a glance.
Similarly, the enemies also recognized Yūshin's identity, because he had a rather distinctive item on his body—the full-coverage armor on his right arm and the "Demon's Double Horns" on the armor.
"It's that 'Flame Shadow'—what do we do? The infiltration operation failed..."
Yūshin's reputation locally had reached the "rising fame" stage. For country ninja, he still had considerable deterrent power, so after seeing him, the enemies instantly appeared very hesitant—truly caught between advance and retreat.
After all, they came for infiltration, not frontal assault.
However, Yūshin couldn't possibly be polite with them. He stood with arms at his sides, merely turning his head to give one instruction: "Begin."
Yamanaka Eiya was first to form hand seals and cast his technique. He encompassed most enemies within his attack range and directly launched a mental assault on them: Ninja Art: Mind Confusion Technique.
This wasn't mind control. In fact, even the most elite Yamanaka Clan experts couldn't control so many enemies simultaneously.
But Yamanaka Eiya only needed to interfere with the enemy's minds for an instant. After all, on the battlefield, one moment of distraction was the difference between life and death.
The opposition was just country ninja after all—they hadn't undergone urban refinement, so they inevitably suffered mental interference. Perhaps escaping this wide-area, low-intensity interference wasn't difficult, but it still required a bit of time.
Almost simultaneously, Akimichi Kizuki's body rapidly expanded, then curled into a ball—Expansion Technique + Human Bullet Tank. He began charging and ramming like a wild boar descending the mountain.
He only focused on death-rolling; the remaining directional control could be completely left to Nara Hideyuki... The Nara Clan's Shadow Binding Technique had already connected to Akimichi Kizuki.
Thus, a medium-scale encounter directly became target practice.
Well, calling it target practice might be somewhat exaggerated—this was more like bowling.
Akimichi Kizuki rolled back and forth among the dazed enemies. After stirring several circles, no one could stand on the battlefield... One or two unlucky ones were crushed to death by his steamroller-style attack, while the rest at most had missing limbs, broken ribs and spines—not dead, but having lost combat ability.
Watching this scene, Yūshin felt somewhat teary-eyed. As an organization's controller, he finally seemed more like a leader than a fighter. Standing motionless while enemies fell—what a wonderful thing.
What was more joyful and fulfilling than mowing down enemies on the battlefield? Watching your subordinates mow them down.
Ino-Shika-Chō—truly 1+1+1 > 3. Capable leaders indeed need reliable subordinates.
Although two of them were merely temporary workers dispatched here, could they really refuse permanent positions?
When initially negotiating to borrow people, the Yamanaka and Nara clan leaders hadn't paid attention to details, but now Yūshin had made his decision...
Raise their salaries—and max them out.
Thirty minutes preparation, three minutes work—never had there been such a wonderful feeling. These enemies didn't come to fight—they came to support Kikyō Castle's scientific research endeavors.
"Mission complete... Take the prisoners away," Yūshin said, suppressing his smile.
...
Speaking of different matters, everyone continuously grows.
Just as Yūshin felt his leadership dignity constantly increasing, someone else accidentally discovered a new direction for strength growth.
"Ahem, may I ask how long I was unconscious?"
Tobirama Senju looked at Hagūgen Chihori's smile, somehow feeling embarrassed.
"This is Kikyō Castle. Today is the first day Yūshin brought you back, so... you probably weren't unconscious for long?" Chihori said.
She only knew when Tobirama Senju woke up, not when he had fainted.
One day, or two days?
Based on what the person before him said, plus the fatigue and discomfort from various parts of his body, Tobirama Senju felt he had been unconscious too long.
Something wasn't right—why had he lost consciousness for so long? Tobirama Senju thought there might be a problem somewhere.
Seeing his serious expression, Chihori seemed to understand something, so she continued:
"Your injuries were very severe and didn't receive timely, proper treatment, resulting in excessive blood loss that left you in a weakened state. Your chakra quality seems to have fallen to rock bottom..."
"Don't blame yourself too much. Everyone has moments of weakness. Perhaps you're usually too exhausted, especially psychologically."
This comforting wasn't baseless. On one hand, Chihori saw Yūshin's shadow in Tobirama Senju—they were both the type of ninja with many thoughts. On the other hand, if Tobirama Senju didn't have much psychological pressure, why would he scream while unconscious?
He must be too rational normally, with emotions finding no outlet for release, only having opportunities to vent when fainting.
"Hm? Is... is that so?" Tobirama Senju was somewhat nervous.
Although Chihori was just a stranger, her words were sincere. For some reason, Tobirama Senju suddenly felt somewhat aggrieved.
Often, concern from chance-met strangers can more easily break through one's defenses.
Because he truly was a heavy-minded person. Within the Senju Clan, from ethical and strength perspectives, he was big brother's second brother, but from thought, consciousness, and even management ability perspectives, he was big brother's big brother.
Sometimes, he was even father's big brother.
Father only knew fighting and killing; big brother was wise but foolish, never caring about details. So often Tobirama Senju had to consider clan survival issues. Under these circumstances, how could his psychological pressure not be great?
Add to this his recent encounter with the Hagoromo Clan's siege, where his prized speed suffered complete suppression—various factors combined meant even an iron man would show vulnerable sides.
"Don't overthink. You can temporarily empty your mind and get a good sleep first."
Saying this, Chihori saw Tobirama Senju had no major problems, so she turned and left the hospital room.
Although Tobirama Senju could understand Chihori's reasoning and knew her words made sense, having him honestly rest was impossible... As everyone knew, he was the ninja world's famous paranoia patient.
After slightly calming his emotions, his sensing range suddenly encompassed all of Kikyō Castle.
Then he detected an incredibly familiar chakra.
"Uchiha..."
That chakra belonged to the Uchiha ninja he had once pursued. After realizing an enemy was present here, Tobirama Senju instinctively wanted to do a carp jump, immediately standing up to enter combat mode.
Fortunately, although his head was dizzy, his rationality still insisted on staying on duty... This was Yūshin's territory. Yūshin had extended helping hands to him multiple times, so as long as he still had some conscience and gratitude, he shouldn't cause trouble here.
Tobirama suppressed his restless emotions while again confirming that Yūshin was indeed a cunning character... Someone who could fool him, Tobirama Senju, completely—wasn't that cunning enough?
He remembered clearly: when first meeting Yūshin, Yūshin had clearly stated he had never encountered any Uchiha ninja.
Yet that Uchiha was still staying here... What was really going on was self-evident.
Well, Yūshin was quite wronged in this regard.
Tobirama Senju's thinking became increasingly chaotic. While lying there lost in wild thoughts, he unknowingly fell asleep again.
Having been continuously drained of chakra while severely injured, even with the Senju Clan's resilience, his body had suffered some deficiency that needed rest to compensate.
About an hour later, after completing his battle plan and returning to Kikyō Castle, Yūshin immediately came to visit upon hearing Tobirama Senju had awakened.
Well, actually visiting was false—Yūshin just came to remind Tobirama Senju not to act rashly. He knew Tobirama's sensing ability was strong and understood that Shichimi Uchiha's presence here was exposed, but he didn't want both sides to have any conflict.
After all, Shichimi was now an organization member—Yūshin could clearly see who was closer and who was more distant in terms of position.
Unlike the previous unconscious state, this time although Tobirama Senju was asleep, he maintained vigilance throughout. So the moment Yūshin entered the hospital room, Tobirama immediately opened his eyes.
"You're awake? Looks like you're in decent condition?"
Yūshin spoke while approaching Tobirama Senju's bedside, then reached out to push the other's shoulder, continuing:
"Move over a bit."
"Hm?"
Tobirama Senju didn't understand but still moved to the other side of the bed, making space on this half.
Next, Yūshin took out a scroll, formed hand seals, and in the next moment, a corpse appeared beside Tobirama—lying shoulder to shoulder with him.
"A Senju clansman's corpse—returning it to you."
Yūshin hadn't touched this corpse. Although Senju corpses were excellent experimental materials, no single corpse's importance could compare to Yūshin's relationship with Tobirama.
"Kimaru..."
His comrade's corpse made Tobirama Senju show a pained expression, but this scene was somewhat strange—even Tobirama himself felt it.
As someone who had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Tobirama didn't avoid corpses, especially his own clansmen's corpses. However...
One dead person and one living person lying shoulder to shoulder like this—wasn't it somewhat incongruous?
But the next moment, Tobirama Senju seemed to realize something, staring blankly at the scroll in Yūshin's hand...
Using scrolls to store corpses was no different from storing other items—both were applications of space-time ninjutsu. For major ninja clans, this was very practical, widespread technology, so Tobirama Senju had never paid attention before.
This was exactly what "hidden in plain sight" meant.
However, Yūshin's act of unsealing just now brought Tobirama Senju tremendous inspiration.
Why could Tobirama Senju develop such heaven-defying ninjutsu as "Flying Thunder God"?
Because he was one of the most powerful sensory ninja in all ninja world history.
His sensing ability was not only wide-ranging, far-reaching, and highly discriminating, but also extremely acute and sensitive.
Within his sensing range, even slight spatial fluctuations had nowhere to hide.
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