Establishing His Persona

Tap, tap, tap...

A group of Konoha Ninja ran across the river's surface, converging on this side.

Seeing people approaching, Gekko Yoru finally realized how childish he had been. He quickly let go of Umino Sasuke and, caring greatly about his image, resumed his aloof demeanor. He seemed like a completely different person at once.

If not for the embarrassment visible through the eyeholes of the Cat Mask, one might have thought what had just happened was only an illusion.

Umino Sasuke swept his gaze across the group and found that, aside from Akimichi Toribo's Mobile Patrol Unit, Sarutobi Kagejiro had returned with them as well.

He had obviously encountered the Mobile Patrol Unit after fleeing midway. Compared to the danger of delivering the intelligence back alone, Sarutobi Kagejiro clearly felt safer following his young master, Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

Seeing the five of them arrive—especially Sarutobi Shinnosuke—Umino Sasuke could not help feeling a pang of bitterness and envy.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke truly had a fortunate life. Even on the front lines, he had Elite Jonin Akimichi Toribo watching over him, while his Temporary Teammates were Eternal Genin Maruboshi Kosuke and Aburame Clan heir Aburame Shibi. Unlike them, who had nothing and were merely cannon fodder.

With such a terrifying lineup, they were practically invincible below the Kage level.

Leaving aside the peak combat strength of Maruboshi Kosuke, the strongest Genin, Akimichi Toribo alone could swallow a Three-Colored Pill in an emergency. Even if he encountered a Kage-Level Expert, he could likely hold them off for a while.

"Good kid. You did well."

Akimichi Toribo held the Hedgehog-Haired Jonin in one hand and patted Umino Sasuke's shoulder with the other. He was clearly extremely satisfied with Umino Sasuke, his nominal subordinate.

Not only did he highly approve of Umino Sasuke's Will of Fire, he was also very satisfied with the combat strength Umino Sasuke had displayed.

As the captain of the Mobile Patrol Unit, Akimichi Toribo was responsible for the defense of this area. Nominally, the nine Sentry Patrol Units in this region were all his subordinates.

Now, one of those cannon fodder Sentry Patrol Units had produced such a capable subordinate. As his superior, it reflected well on him, did it not? Not to mention that he had gained a fairly strong subordinate for free. How could that not make him happy?

Through the sensory abilities of Aburame Shibi's Kikaichū, Akimichi Toribo had already learned the general situation here while rushing over to provide support.

Although Aburame Shibi had relayed it, and he did not yet know the specific details, the overall picture could not have been wrong—especially Umino Sasuke's astonishing performance.

In Tool Manipulation alone, Umino Sasuke was already infinitely close to jonin-level combat strength. He also possessed the Will of Fire. The village should have focused on nurturing such a high-quality talent; assigning him to a Sentry Patrol Unit was truly a waste.

Yet now he had fallen into the hands of their Mobile Patrol Unit, allowing Akimichi Toribo to pick up a capable officer for nothing. He absolutely had to win over such talent.

"Thank you, Lord Toribo, for your timely support. Otherwise, we would surely have been wiped out."

Umino Sasuke hurriedly offered his leader a friendly expression of gratitude, his words brimming with praise.

It made Akimichi Toribo laugh heartily. He felt that this subordinate knew how to handle people and was a most agreeable subordinate indeed.

"Senior, you're amazing too. You actually held out against two Hidden Sand pursuit teams for so long, and even killed so many Sand Ninja."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke was delighted to be thanked and praised, though he was somewhat embarrassed as well. He admired Umino Sasuke's combat strength and Will of Fire even more.

Clearly, Hiruzen Sarutobi had protected and educated his eldest son very well. He had not grown crooked at all, possessing none of the arrogance or prejudice of a great ninja clan's heir.

No matter how disappointing the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi might become in the future, there was truly nothing to criticize about his family education.

"Where Konoha's leaves dance, fire endures without end."

Umino Sasuke gave Sarutobi Shinnosuke a [Might Guy's Youth] gesture and loudly encouraged him. "You are Konoha's hope. I believe that once you grow up, you will definitely be even stronger than us seniors!"

Umino Sasuke's declaration of encouragement highlighted his profound understanding of the Will of Fire.

"Yes!" Sarutobi Shinnosuke nodded rapidly like a pecking chick. Clearly influenced deeply by the Will of Fire, he was greatly encouraged.

"Hmph!" A cold snort sounded from nearby. It came from Sarutobi Kagejiro.

Sarutobi Kagejiro wore a look of disdain as he quietly mocked, "You're nothing more than a cannon fodder chunin whose potential has been exhausted. Of course we'll be stronger than you in the future."

"Huh? Kagejiro, didn't you have us cover the rear while you withdrew first to deliver the intelligence? Why did you come back?"

Umino Sasuke feigned confusion, yet he was perfectly reminding everyone present that someone had used the mission as an excuse to flee before the battle. Now, not only had he failed to continue delivering the intelligence, he had run back instead, practically treating the mission's intelligence as a joke.

"Kagejiro, do you still have the intelligence on you? You didn't lose it, did you?"

As Umino Sasuke spoke, he walked over as though he wanted to inspect the intelligence.

"Don't come any closer!"

Sarutobi Kagejiro was so frightened that he backed away repeatedly, shouting, "You idiot, get away from me! Are you trying to blow me up?"

Sarutobi Kagejiro hurriedly fled, pointing at the Explosive Tags covering Umino Sasuke's body, his eyes filled with fear.

Clearly.

Sarutobi Kagejiro was not afraid of Umino Sasuke himself. He was afraid of the Explosive Tags on Umino Sasuke's body, afraid that if they accidentally went off, the blast would catch him in it.

"Ah? I completely forgot to take these Explosive Tags off. Just now, I was only thinking of perishing together with that Sand Ninja, so I forgot I still had Explosive Tags on me. I'll remove them right now, right now."

Umino Sasuke finally stopped, looking as though he had only just realized that he was covered in Explosive Tags.

Umino Sasuke sincerely kept apologizing to everyone, as though he had absolutely no intention of reminding them how brave he had been just now, nor any intention of implying how someone had fled before the battle.

Amid his sincere apologies, the Konoha Ninja could not help recalling the scene of Umino Sasuke resolutely preparing to die together with the enemy. His display of the Will of Fire was beyond doubt.

At the same time, they realized that Umino Sasuke, who had covered his entire body in Explosive Tags, was a ruthless man.

"Senior, I'll help you remove them."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke volunteered without the slightest fear and ran over.

"No, no, I'll do it myself. I'll do it myself."

Umino Sasuke hurriedly moved farther away from Konoha's young prince. If the Third Hokage learned that he had made the Hokage's beloved son help dismantle Explosive Tags, would he not make life difficult for him?

Although these Explosive Tags had not been activated and were almost impossible to explode for no reason, putting Konoha's young prince in even the slightest danger would still be an extraordinary offense.

In no time, Umino Sasuke swiftly removed all the Explosive Tags from his body and put them back into his tool pouch.

"Hmph! Why didn't they blow you to death?"

Once he saw that they had been safely removed, Sarutobi Kagejiro could not help muttering a curse. But everyone here was a ninja with exceptionally sharp hearing, so who could have failed to hear it?

Sarutobi Shinnosuke immediately became displeased. He glared at Sarutobi Kagejiro and rebuked him, "Kagejiro, you've gone too far. Apologize right now."