Umino Squad

Though Tejudo came from a background similar to his own, both being immigrants from ninja clan retainers.

The Tejiku Family had been retainers of the Senju Clan. Their ancestors repaired blades and tools for Senju ninja, and after moving to Konoha, they had opened a blade shop.

The Umino Clan, retainers of the Sarutobi Clan, could only sell fish.

Ninja were a high-income group, and the profits from ninja tools were naturally considerable. Back then, the Senju Clan had been Konoha's foremost great clan. Unlike the Sarutobi Clan, which treated its retainers like discarded shoes and did not even provide settlement money, the Senju Clan had been remarkably generous.

The Tejiku Family had prospered alongside the Senju Clan. Not only had their family flourished, they had also amassed great wealth.

Unfortunately, as the Senju Clan gradually declined and their backer weakened, the hidden dangers in the Tejiku Family's business began to surface.

Thus, many Tejiku Family descendants gave up their pampered young-master lifestyles and chose to become ninja.

Other people became ninja to risk their lives for money.

The Tejiku Family became ninja to spend money buying their lives.

Take Tejudo, his capable subordinate, for example. Three Sealing Scrolls were strapped around his waist, filled with all kinds of ninja tools. Though there were no Chakra Metal Tools, there were simply too many of them.

The Ninja Tool Bag on his other side was stuffed with several dozen Explosive Tags.

Others had to scrimp and save just to gather one or two Explosive Tags. Tejudo counted them by the dozen.

That was what real extravagance looked like.

In ordinary low- and mid-level ninja battles, there were not that many flashy ninjutsu. Usually, both sides first exchanged a volley of kunai and shuriken, then closed in and hacked at each other. It came down to who had better equipment, better condition, and a stronger taijutsu foundation.

Then, during the battle, they had to seize the rhythm and gather intelligence. At a critical moment, they would unleash a ninjutsu to evade a fatal attack or end the fight.

Of course, if they could not win and had no mission to complete, a tactical retreat was standard procedure. Flexibility was key.

If they had a mission and could not retreat, then there was no choice. They would swallow several Soldier Pills and Blood-Stopping Pills, then gamble their lives, trading injury for injury and life for life, seeing who could hold out until the end. It was brutally simple.

People said the battlefield was the best place to train, where strength could improve rapidly. How could such brutal combat fail to temper people? Those who could not adapt were basically Physically Eliminated.

On the battlefield, genin were expendable, cut down like leeks, crop after crop. Even Ninja Academy early graduates had been replaced several times over. That showed just how high the death rate was among low-level ninja.

The average ninja did not even live past their teens. That was no joke.

As his old subordinate, Tejudo had survived until now partly because his Captain looked after him. But the greater reason was that he himself was capable. His passable Money Release Secret Technique was still highly lethal against other low-level ninja.

If he unsealed the scrolls at his waist and unleashed his strongest Money Release Secret Technique, Tool Manipulation: Heavenly Blade Chaos, even an elite level chunin could be turned into a hornet's nest if caught off guard.

Perhaps some Bloodline Memory really had been passed down through his ancestors. Coupled with the boost of Money Release, Tejudo's talent for controlling ninja tools was truly impressive.

It naturally brought to mind Tenten, one of The Twelve Strong of later generations, as well as Tejyuya from Shippuden. Both had great talent for controlling ninja tools and had mastered respectable Money Release.

Tenten was easy enough to remember. Tejyuya was a bit more obscure, but he came to mind because they shared the Tejyu surname and were both rather large in build.

More importantly, Tejyuya's Temporary Teammates in Shippuden had been Konoha Jonin Shirakumo Hayama, Eternal Genin Maruboshi Kosuke, and the Child of Destiny, Uzumaki Naruto. Once remembered, they were hard to forget.

Shirakumo Hayama's Vacuum Sword, Maruboshi Kosuke's Inherited Ninjutsu from the Second Hokage, and Tejyuya's ninja tool manipulation and heavenly net traps had all been incredibly cool.

Inspired by this, he had guided Tejudo in Tejyuya's direction. And sure enough, Tejudo displayed remarkable talent in setting traps. He was practically a little genius.

It was just that Tejudo constantly complained that setting traps was too much of a burden on his wife.

Tejudo had a little quirk. He cherished his ninja tools dearly, even giving every one of them an affectionate pet name and caring for them as meticulously as girlfriends.

It was precisely because he had so many ninja tool girlfriends that Xiao Xiao, such a cute and kind good girl, had never managed to enter Tejudo's heart.

Xiao Xiao was a remarkable girl who could easily win over even the Inuzuka Young Master, yet before Tejudo, she had suffered defeat after defeat, repeatedly coming away empty-handed.

In Tejudo's words, how could Xiao Xiao possibly be as cute as his girlfriends? She was not even as good as his little wife, the Explosive Tag Paper Figure, much less his big wife, the Fuma Shuriken.

Even Xiao Bi, his Cooking Pot wife who had already been unfaithful many times, was cuter than Xiao Xiao, all right?

However, whenever he thought of his Cooking Pot wife's infidelity, Tejudo became downcast. He often mourned the fact that his relationship with wife Xiao Bi was no longer pure.

If not for the Captain's overwhelming tyranny and the enormous temptation of delicious food, Tejudo would never have let wife Xiao Bi cook and stew soup. Every time everyone enjoyed the food from the pot, it felt as though they were sharing his wife Xiao Bi, causing him endless pain.

Xiao Bi's wife's infidelity had not even been deliberate cheating. He himself had failed to protect her and had shared her with others. Thinking of that made him feel even worse, while also giving him an inexplicable, slightly exciting thrill deep down.

Therefore, after every meal, Tejudo would voluntarily handle the squad's washing up. He held wife Xiao Bi and washed her again and again.

Every careful scrub felt as though it could wash away wife Xiao Bi's infidelity and the guilt in his own heart.

Only when wife Xiao Bi was shiny as new would he finally feel relieved, believing once more that she had forgiven him and was still willing to protect him.

Only then would Tejudo carry wife Xiao Bi on his back again, full of confidence that any attack from behind would be blocked by wife Xiao Bi clinging to his back.

And surprisingly, Tejudo's survival ability really did Greatly Increase as a result.

The fact that wife Xiao Bi had blocked Fatal Ambushes from behind for him multiple times was clear proof. It showed that she remained steadfastly faithful to him.

"Tejudo, let us girls handle these chores, okay?"

After the meal, Xiao Xiao once again volunteered to take charge of the post-meal clean-up work. When she mentioned the word "home," even the strong-willed Xiao Xiao could not help blushing.

How could Tejudo allow anyone else to touch wife Xiao Bi again? Not even a woman. So he busied himself even more diligently, leaving Xiao Xiao no chance to interfere.

Seeing Tejudo so unappreciative, the simping Inuzuka Ryo was both secretly pleased and unable to suppress his anger. Tejudo actually dared to reject his goddess yet again. Inuzuka Ryo immediately fixed Tejudo with a fierce gaze, as though he wanted to glare him to death.

Looking at the chaotic relationships between men and women, no better than Kakashi's Team 7, Umino Sasuke suddenly had the urge to kick Inuzuka Ryo hard in the ass and make him take Tejudo's first kiss.

But before he could act, a flying shadow glided in from far away at high altitude.

The flying shadow landed directly on his shoulder. It was his Summoning Beast, the Water Bat.

The Water Bat gave a faint chirping buzz, transmitting a string of Ultrasonic Notes.

"Something's happening?"

Umino Sasuke's heart tightened.

Abandoning his usual relaxed and carefree demeanor, he restrained his presence and focused his mind, cold killing intent shining in his eyes.

He sprang up, spread chakra across the soles of his feet, and rapidly climbed a giant tree to its crown. Then he took out a Monocular Telescope, painstakingly ground by hand.

The moment he looked into the distance, he saw a burst of firelight and sound coming from less than three kilometers upstream, on the outskirts of the Aoba Squad's defensive zone.

By the look of it, Explosive Tags had already been used in the battle in the distance.