Dispersed Retreat

After seeing Aburame Shikuroo off, Tetsumaru returned to his tent in the camp and mulled over the information he had gained today.

As his first cheat as a transmigrator, Aburame Tetsumaru's memories of the plot were like a lighthouse. Using them to analyze the current intelligence gave him extremely high accuracy and reliability.

Shimura Danzō was a figure most Konoha Ninja could not avoid dealing with.

The Aburame Clan was deeply involved with him. Tetsumaru remembered that, before Danzo died, two guards had provided him with cover. One had come from the Aburame Clan, and the other from the Yamanaka Clan.

Hmm, that should have been in Year 63 or 64 of Konoha. At that time, the Aburame Clan had at least one other named Root Ninja. As for the rest, he did not know.

Judging by the timeline, those two Aburame Ninja had not yet been born. They should have been elites of the next generation.

From the fragments in his memory, the Aburame Ninja's entire body would turn purple, and touching him meant being poisoned. The Kikaichū he controlled were Nanotoxic Insects...

Wait, Nanotoxic Insects.

Within the clan, the mainstream branch—the Clan Head's line—raised versatile Kikaichū developed in every direction. Elder Zhixin's line raised Macrophage Kikaichū that had been bred toward greater size. Only Big Brother Shikuroo's line raised Nanotoxic Kikaichū bred toward smaller size.

That purple-skinned boy was Big Brother Shikuroo's child?

He probably was.

Big Brother Shikuroo's child, inheritor of the Nanotoxic Insects—he was a core elite of the Aburame Clan. Yet he had been casually discarded as cannon fodder just to buy a little meaningless time to undo a seal.

Damn it, he never changed.

Putting everything together, it was probably true that Danzo had chewed through all the Root Ninja.

In the future, he had gotten his wish and become Hokage—the acting Fifth-and-a-Half Hokage—then grown smug and arrogant, revealing his true nature. Right now, he was likely still young and hot-blooded, and had yet to learn how to hide it.

If that was true, then the Ninja Clans aligned with the Hokage collectively resisting Danzo was probably true as well.

With the Aburame Clan's losses reaching this point, the clan was not merely heartbroken over its members. It was even more distressed over its failed strategic investment.

Investing dozens of clan elites into one department was a major strategic investment for a clan, nearly thirty percent of its strength. They had intended to build Root into something powerful, then secure themselves a place within it.

Then, crack—the people were gone.

Danzo, you had run every member of our clan into the ground. Root had become an empty shell. What development was there left to talk about? What the hell were you trying to do?

Dozens of elites, not just a few people. Were you deliberately screwing our clan over?

Or had Root merely treated our children as cannon fodder during its pioneering phase, planning from the beginning to wipe out all of our kids?

The several clans making such a fuss together now actually wanted a statement from the higher-ups: Danzo, were you going to share Root's power with us or not?

Having analyzed it this far, Aburame Tetsumaru breathed a sigh of relief. Everything matched up.

None of this had anything to do with him.

An hour later, Captain Ueno came to get Tetsumaru, and the two headed to the center of the camp to pick team members.

Yes, picking team members on the spot. Such a mind-numbingly absurd operation.

Other than elite squads led by Jonin or direct descendants of major Ninja Clans, every ninja squad had its members selected at random.

Aside from ensuring every ninja squad was at full strength, there was no consideration whatsoever for team composition, member compatibility, or anything else. It was practically the ultimate strategy for reducing combat effectiveness.

Because "more than half the team becoming casualties" was one of the mission completion conditions, no captain dared carry out a mission while short-handed. The result was that lower-level squads were constantly broken apart, and the casualty rate rapidly climbed to an unbelievable sixty percent.

For this reason, Might Duy had never been able to return to his original squad after recovering from his injuries. He had been transferred to another team as cannon fodder. This simple-minded fellow always charged at the front in battle and covered the rear during retreats. Without support from teammates who knew him well, not only could he not achieve outstanding results, he was especially prone to getting hurt.

After recovering from his injuries three times, Might Duy had only carried out one mission each time before being severely injured again and sent back to the hospital. This was already his third hospitalization—fifty-five out of sixty days spent in the hospital.

And he had not even claimed a single kill. Rumor had it that Might Duy had been judged "useless" and was very likely to be sent back to the village to do hard labor like transport duty.

After casually picking two Genin he did not know, the Ueno Squad set off. This time, it was another long-range reconnaissance mission.

After leaving the camp and running ten kilometers, Aburame Tetsumaru deployed his insect formation. Every Scout Insect was sent out, arranged into five reconnaissance rings: Dragonflies formed the outermost ring, carrying Kikaichū and relying mainly on visual surveillance; Blood Flies formed the second ring, chiefly detecting the smell of blood and body odor; Fireflies formed the third ring, gathering scattered Chakra and emitting irritating light, specially used for nighttime reconnaissance; Big-Eyed Moths formed the fourth ring, using infrared vision; and Jumping Spiders formed the innermost ring, using vibrations to detect threats.

Of course, he also had the fourth-generation Eye of Truth he carried himself, simultaneously observing infrared, ultraviolet, and fluorescence. Only after the insect formation was fully deployed did Aburame Tetsumaru feel at ease enough to signal the captain that they could proceed.

Captain Ueno gave orders to the two bewildered newcomers, and the squad headed due north.

The greatest result of two months of continuous fighting had been driving the enemy away. The Ueno Squad traveled through the entire night, encountering only two Konoha squads and nothing else.

At dawn, the squad selected a campsite, planning to rest for half a day before continuing the mission.

The campsite Ueno selected had a water source. The two exhausted newcomers hurriedly drank water and ate dry rations, both gloomy and silent.

Aburame Tetsumaru glanced at them, but he was not in the mood to speak either.

The mission criterion of "retreat once casualties exceed half" was too disgusting. Veterans and newcomers within squads now had no way to trust each other.

The newcomers felt they were merely tools the older ninja used to complete missions, while the veterans could not honestly claim they did not think that way. Otherwise, why bring along two burdensome newcomers?

The Ueno Squad split into two groups and rested in silence.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, the two newcomers regained a little spirit. Since the two veterans had not assigned them sentry duty, they relaxed considerably.

They were not completely inexperienced newcomers either. They had served in other squads before.

When ordinary squads rested, newcomers stood watch. In battle, newcomers covered the rear. Once the newcomers became casualties, the squad retreated. It was pure cannon-fodder treatment.

They felt they might have gotten lucky this time and encountered a reliable squad, perhaps even one that would accept them.

What they did not know was that, in Ueno's and Aburame's hearts, as long as the mission format did not change, they had no intention of accepting newcomers.

Though the two would not exploit them or deliberately set them up, and would even look after them somewhat, the mission completion standard was unreasonable and missions were being carried out too frequently. Even with their full support, the newcomers were unlikely to last. That was reality.

After resting, they continued onward. Tetsumaru took the vanguard position and maintained a speed of eight kilometers per hour. That was far too slow for ninja, leaving the two newcomers walking in the middle completely confused.

That speed was determined by the speed of Tetsumaru's Scout Insects. Reconnaissance had to go first; he truly did not dare act recklessly.

Konoha Ninja were charging around blindly, but the Sunagakure Ninja were suffering just as much. With insufficient forces, they could not confront them head-on, so they could only set ambushes everywhere and organize large-scale counterattacks at critical moments. Otherwise, if the Konoha Ninja found their camps, they would be finished.

In short, Konoha was doing everything it could to clear the fog of war, while Sunagakure was doing everything it could to stop them.

Therefore, after entering the Land of Rain, they could encounter an ambush at any time, or even run headlong into a Sunagakure counterattack company. Then people would die.

After bypassing six ambush points and winding along for four hours, Aburame Tetsumaru suddenly raised his right hand in a signal to halt. The two newcomer ninja immediately took cover. Captain Ueno Hayato noticed that Tetsumaru had not concealed himself, understood that he had discovered distant enemy activity, and quickly stepped forward to learn the situation.

"One o'clock, three kilometers. Six ninja squads, with puppets."

"Ten-thirty, three and a half kilometers. Five ninja squads, with a large number of puppets."

"Twelve o'clock, four kilometers. Four ninja squads, also with a large number of puppets."

Ueno Hayato sucked in a cold breath. This was bad.

Sunagakure counterattacks were usually companies of forty-eight, launching assaults in two columns.

Occasionally, there would be larger counterattacks. Several squads would form a battle group, and seven or eight battle groups would form a horizontal line to sweep the area. Most dangerous of all, one or two larger battle groups would cut in from both flanks of the sweeping front, encircle their targets, cut off the Konoha Ninja's retreat, and form an encirclement.

This time, three battle groups had already been discovered directly ahead. It was a large-scale counterattack. The only question was whether there would be one flanking force behind them, or two forces crossing in from different directions.

"What's the situation behind us?"

"Wait a moment. I'll confirm." Aburame Tetsumaru closed his eyes and activated his secret technique with all his strength, sensing the Scout Insects he had left behind.

The two newcomers emerged from cover and nervously approached the captain. They had realized something was wrong too, but listening to the captain and their senior talk left them utterly lost.

What? He could detect the exact number of enemies three kilometers away? He could even judge the number of puppets?

Senior Aburame was actually such a powerful sensory ninja?

There were actually so many enemies?

Aburame Tetsumaru opened his eyes and said gravely, "About eight kilometers behind us, there are two groups of ninja. We won't make it through before they close the encirclement."

"There's no other way." Ueno Hayato said apologetically, "Everyone, we can only retreat now."

"I'll explain the retreat tactics."

"There are enough Suna Ninja behind us to establish two blocking lines. We have enough strength to break through one defensive line meant for warning."

"The problem is that after we break through the first line, the enemies at the second line will converge on the breach. At least three squads will gather there. In the worst case, we might attract Jonin."

"So after breaking through the first line, we'll circle around to both sides, then break out separately."

The rest would depend on each person's strength and luck. Ueno Hayato did not say it aloud, but everyone understood.

"Any questions?"

The three Genin shook their heads together.

"Then move."

This time, Captain Ueno took the lead, with Aburame Tetsumaru following and the two newcomers at the rear.

Following the captain's pace left Aburame Tetsumaru with enough energy to use his secret technique. He could also use Summoning Thread to direct the insects into action. He had left behind quite a bit of stock along the route they had taken.

Several Dragonflies moved ahead first, carrying pheromones that awakened every insect and summoned them to gather at the planned breakthrough point.

Once all the preparations were complete, Aburame Tetsumaru switched into the squad's spearhead position. Ueno Hayato followed behind him instead, preparing for battle.

The two newcomers fumbled helplessly, unable to decide what they should prepare. In the end, one took out several Explosive Tags, while the other rummaged through his ninja tool pouch and pulled out a Kunai to grip in his hand.

Ueno Hayato finished preparing and, upon seeing the newcomers' preparations, was left speechless.

There was still quite a distance to go. Would holding a Kunai not interfere with his running rhythm?

The one who had taken out Explosive Tags was a little better, but only a little.

He could not help giving the two newcomers some guidance, even though their chances of surviving the breakout were slim.

"Wrap all your Explosive Tags around Kunai handles. Set the detonation cords. At the start of the breakout, we'll need maximum firepower immediately."

"Don't hold them in your hands. Keep them in your pouches, as long as they're right on the outside."

"Remember not to throw all your Kunai. Keep one for when we split up and break out."

"If an enemy shows himself, throw Shuriken. Don't care whether they hit or not. Just run."

"If the enemy uses ninjutsu, use your last Kunai. Don't hesitate."

"If the enemy #@%&, then you ￥%...&*."

"..."

The more Ueno spoke, the more he fell silent. The two newcomers became even more at a loss.

Aburame Tetsumaru curled his lip. Too much, Captain.

The first three sentences were just right. Everything after that about adapting to circumstances was nonsense. People were creatures of suffering; if they had not experienced hardship themselves, they would never remember the lesson. No amount of experience and advice would help.

"Wrap the Explosive Tags around Kunai, set the detonation cords, and keep them at the very outside of your ninja tool pouches. Throw them all out as soon as the fight starts, but remember to save the last one." The captain emphasized it one final time.

"The rest depends on your luck."