The Strongest Genin

Umino Sasuke quickly formed a Tiger Hand Seal with one hand, pressed the fingers of his other hand against his Water Bat summoning beast, and closed his eyes to sense the surroundings.

Under the tree, Inuzuka Ryo sniffed fiercely at the air. Akitaru refused to fall behind and desperately began sensing as well.

"Damn it, it's a Sand ninja Puppet Master!"

Inuzuka Ryo quickly obtained some crucial intelligence, and his expression changed drastically. There was an nauseating smell of lubricant from Puppet joints in the air. There was no mistake—it had to be a Sand ninja Puppet Master.

Tejudo, his old subordinate, climbed up the tree and came to Umino Sasuke's side. Hesitating, he said, "Captain, should we go provide support? There's a Sand ninja Puppet Master this time. How about we—"

Umino Sasuke cut him off and said decisively, "Support them! We have to provide support this time!"

Tejudo: ???

What was going on? Had the Captain taken the wrong medicine today? This was completely unlike him.

He knew there was a Sand ninja Puppet Master, yet he still wanted to provide support? No matter how he looked at it, this wasn't the Captain's style.

Could it be that the Secret Art of the Survivalist Path he usually taught us was fake? Had the Captain been pretending all along, and now awakened the Will of Fire?

"Gasp—"

At the thought of the Will of Fire, Tejudo could not help but shudder.

I, Tejudo, am not some fluttering leaf. I am the hope of the Tejiku Family. Captain, don't screw me over, okay? You said it yourself: burning the seedlings to light yourself was the most shameful thing possible. You're not planning to burn the three of us little seedlings too, are you?

Hearing that Umino Sasuke planned to go provide support, even Inuzuka Ryo and Xiao Xiao were surprised. The Captain had actually changed his usual style. Why was he being so responsible this time?!

Even Xiao Xiao, who was pure-hearted, could clearly sense how abnormal the Captain was acting this time.

On the other hand, Inuzuka Ryo, who came from a ninja clan, actually began to believe it. He felt as though great minds thought alike. It seemed his efforts over this period had finally paid off, which greatly encouraged him. He instantly became full of fighting spirit, and even his eyes shone more brightly.

His body and mind seemed to undergo some sort of transformation as well, carrying an air of resolve, as if declaring: Wherever the leaves of Konoha danced, fire would burn without end.

"Do you not believe in my Will of Fire?"

Umino Sasuke glared angrily at Tejudo, though there was a trace of bluster in his tone. Clearly, he was not as confident as his words made him sound.

Naturally, he had not awakened any Will of Fire. Even if he had, it would have been an exceptionally flexible Will of Fire.

Burning seedlings to light himself was something so shameless that he definitely could not do it. But if there was an opportunity to coast along and pick up benefits, he would certainly be happy to take it.

Just moments ago, he had borrowed the chakra of his Water Bat summoning beast to use the Sonic Radar Sensory Technique, and he had already sensed more precise intelligence from Aoba Squad's sector.

It was not Sand ninja elites infiltrating their defensive sector. Rather, Sand ninja were pursuing a Konoha intelligence squad.

The Sand ninja had even dispatched a Puppet squad. It seemed the intelligence the Konoha Ninja had brought back this time was of no low rank.

If he could coast along and lend a hand to safely bring that intelligence back, even if he merely played a supporting role, the Mission Merit Points should at least reach B-rank, right?

If he got lucky and played a critical role, there was even a chance he could earn A-Rank Mission merit.

Those were A-Rank Mission merits. They definitely would not be enough to exchange for an A-Rank Ninjutsu, but they should be enough for knowledge related to chakra nature development.

With knowledge related to chakra nature development, given his mental strength and Chakra Control, he should have some confidence in developing a second chakra nature.

As long as he developed a second chakra nature, his chakra would surely surge, and becoming a jonin would naturally follow.

Such a huge reward made even taking some risks worthwhile.

Of course, he was not the sort of person who wanted ninjutsu but not his life. Naturally, he would keep the risks within a certain range.

Did they really think he had chosen this high-risk sector because of the Will of Fire?

If he had not known in advance that the mobile patrol force in this sector included the Eternal Genin Maruboshi Kosuke, no ghost would have come here.

He knew only too well how formidable Konoha's strongest genin truly was.

Maruboshi Kosuke, the strongest genin of the current era, possessed strength at least on the level of an Elite Jonin. Perhaps, at the height of his prime, he had even touched the threshold of Kage level. There was a very high chance he was a Quasi-Kage level powerhouse.

With such a hidden big shot in the sector, as long as they were not silently killed or defeated in a short time, there would basically be no great danger.

As long as they held out for the first few minutes, with their speed, he and the others would definitely be able to make it over.

And the intelligence sent by his Water Bat summoning beast just now said that Maruboshi Kosuke had not returned to the camp to renew his assignment. He was patrolling nearby.

With the flash and commotion caused by the Explosive Tags just now, Maruboshi Kosuke had surely already noticed the disturbance and was rushing over.

How could he possibly miss such a fine opportunity to coast along and leech Mission Merit Points?

Naturally, he could not explain this intelligence to his subordinates. If he did, how could he explain away possessing the Sonic Radar's powerful sensory technique?

Exposing one's own information was never a good thing for a ninja.

What was more, the Sonic Radar Sensory Technique carried the hidden danger of being suspected of stealing a Konoha Ninja Clan's secret technique.

Ninjutsu Monopoly and point exchanges were important methods by which ninja villages recruited and controlled the ninjas within them.

Ninja villages explicitly prohibited the secret study of ninjutsu, and stealing the secret techniques of Konoha Ninja Clans was an even greater taboo. Once exposed, even if the Third Hokage personally tried to protect him, he might not be able to save his life.

And why would the Third Hokage possibly offend the Ino-Shika-Cho and so many other secret technique ninja clans for an unrelated little Chunin?

However, the Sonic Radar Sensory Technique he had developed could not entirely be considered theft of a Konoha clan secret technique. At most, it was a small bit of borrowing.

Back then, because of the Ninjutsu Monopoly, he had no way to obtain new ninjutsu. He could only accumulate Mission Merit Points while working hard to train the few ninjutsu he already possessed.

Because he had transmigrated, his mental strength had surged, and his Chakra Control was also quite good. He quickly trained the Three Basic Jutsu and his sole C-rank Water Release: Water Prison Technique to the proficient level, making them no weaker than those of an Elite Jonin.

Later, when he was still unable to obtain new ninjutsu, he could only continue grinding away at those four minor ninjutsu and his hand seal speed.

As he continued grinding, he discovered the extraordinary aspects of the Three Basic Jutsu, especially the Transformation Jutsu, which progressed relatively quickly.

As he trained and trained, he could not help but think of the Konoha Crush of later generations, when Uzumaki Naruto fought Gaara.

Uzumaki Naruto borrowed the Nine-Tails' chakra and worked together with Gamabunta, actually transforming into the Nine-Tails and fighting the tailed-beast-transformed Gaara on equal terms.

After Inuzuka Ryo joined the squad, and he witnessed Inuzuka Ryo and Akitaru repeatedly fight in their Human-Beast Transformation form, he had an epiphany. So by borrowing a ninja beast's chakra, one could transform into the corresponding ninja beast and even use some of its abilities.

Of course, this required extremely high mastery of the Transformation Jutsu.

The Inuzuka Clan's Beast Mimicry Secret Jutsu had yet to be deciphered or imitated even now, which showed just how difficult it was to cultivate.

Difficulty was not frightening. What was frightening was having no ninjutsu to learn. Since he had no channels to obtain ninjutsu but had plenty of time and energy, he might as well use them to continue grinding the Transformation Jutsu.

Perhaps it was due to his greatly increased mental strength and improved Chakra Control, or perhaps his transmigrated body had undergone some unknown change. He truly seemed to possess some talent for the Transformation Jutsu. Combined with his constant study of Inuzuka Ryo's Beast Mimicry Secret Jutsu and his rigorous scientific thinking from his previous life to break it down, he soon trained the Transformation Jutsu to the point where he could transform into inanimate objects.

During that time, he even managed to develop the Sexy Jutsu.

Transforming into a Kunai like Uzumaki Naruto was even easier, though transforming into a living being was quite difficult.

Especially when transforming into a summoning beast, he could only do so after borrowing the summoning beast's chakra.

Thus, obtaining a powerful summoning beast was placed on the agenda.

After much meticulous consideration and careful selection among summoning beasts, he ultimately chose the Water Bat, the most common summoning animal in the Land of Rivers.

It was not because Water Bats were common and easy to catch, but because of one special ability they possessed: Ultrasonic Echo Location.