Radar Jutsu

In the Land of Rivers, low-level Summoning Beasts like Water Bats were not difficult to catch.

The simple summoning scroll, on the other hand, had nearly stumped him.

Fortunately, he had accumulated quite a few Mission Merit Points earlier and had planned to use them to exchange for Ninjutsu. They finally came in handy.

He spent more than half of the points he had painstakingly saved to exchange for a beginner summoning scroll, along with a copy of On the Care and Training of Summoning Beasts.

A summoning scroll meant for inheritance truly was expensive.

And this was only a beginner summoning scroll supplied to Konoha by the Uzumaki Clan. It could only contract Ninja Beasts at the genin level.

If it had been a higher-level one, he would have gone bankrupt on the spot. Thankfully, On the Care and Training of Summoning Beasts had been included as a free bonus.

You got what you paid for. Uzumaki-made products were trustworthy. Contracting the Water Bat Summoning Beast had gone smoothly, with no real danger.

As he continued training in coordination with the Water Bat and analyzing and reconstructing the Transformation Jutsu, he finally realized just how difficult the transformation was.

Even with his mastery of the Transformation Jutsu, and with occasional reference to Inuzuka Ryo's Beast Mimicry Secret Jutsu, it had still taken several months.

Only then had he managed, by borrowing the Water Bat's chakra, to achieve a partial mimic transformation and use the Water Bat's Ultrasonic Echolocation Ability.

Later, it was precisely this ultrasonic sensory ability that allowed him to lead three genin burdens and repeatedly survive on the brink of death during the Second Shinobi World War.

From then on, the squad had never lost another member.

Not even a single serious injury had occurred.

Through his frequent use of Ultrasonic Echolocation Ability, he had continuously applied the scientific sonar principles from his previous life to deconstruct the Water Bat's Ultrasonic Echolocation Ability. He also kept using his own chakra to replace the Water Bat's organs, simulating the vibration frequency of the Water Bat's ultrasound.

He reverse-engineered its underlying principles.

Hard work did not disappoint those who put in the effort.

After tens of thousands of attempts, deconstructions, and insights, he finally succeeded in reverse-engineering it. Without relying on the Water Bat Summoning Beast, he used the unique properties of chakra to simulate the vibration frequency and perform the Water Bat's Ultrasonic Echolocation.

Although its coverage was less than a hundred meters, far inferior to the three-kilometer detection range they achieved together, it was already astonishing.

It was practically equivalent to creating an entirely new Ninjutsu.

And it was an exceptionally rare Sensory Ninjutsu.

Given the physical properties of Sonic Radar, its sensory range had the potential to develop into an ultra-powerful Earth Listening sensory technique on the level of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

He could not help marveling at how wondrous fate was.

Back then, even obtaining a C-rank Ninjutsu had been difficult. Now, he had unexpectedly created a Sensory Ninjutsu with such limitless potential.

And he had done so without any systematic experience in Ninjutsu development, relying solely on his burning passion for scientific exploration. Bit by bit, he had forcibly reverse-engineered it from the Water Bat by taking advantage of chakra's unique properties.

Only through this Ninjutsu development had he truly realized chakra's wondrous qualities. He had also begun to understand why the Sage of Six Paths had originally intended chakra to serve as a spiritual bond.

Chakra indeed possessed unique properties of connection, transmission, inheritance, and even manifestation.

Its manifestation, in particular, could not compare to the Uchiha Mangekyo's ability to manifest countless obsessions.

Yet in terms of assimilating and learning, it displayed astonishing potential, inevitably bringing to mind the Sharingan's formidable copying ability.

Even the Inuzuka Clan ninja's extraordinary sense of smell was likely related to chakra. Most likely, they had gradually assimilated and learned it from their Ninja Hounds through these properties of chakra.

The Inuzuka Family's olfactory sensory ability was quite impressive, especially when it came to gathering battlefield intelligence.

"Captain, at least one squad of Sand ninja Puppet Masters is coming."

At that moment, Inuzuka Ryo obtained more specific intelligence. Immediately facing a formidable threat, he provided the report, then could not help sneaking a glance at Xiao Xiao beside him. It seemed the Will of Fire in his heart had finally wavered a little.

"Ryo, don't tell me you're scared?"

Tejudo was uneasy as well, but his mouth was as tough as ever.

Then he began piling on the praise. "With the Captain here, a few Sand ninja Puppet Masters are nothing but rabble, right, my dear Captain?"

Tejudo looked at Umino Sasuke with an ingratiating expression.

"Enough. Keep patrolling the defense zone. I'll go provide support alone."

Umino Sasuke shot Tejudo a look. How could he not know what his old subordinate was thinking?

This time, it wasn't that the Captain refused to take you along and give you a chance to coast while earning merit. You were just too useless yourselves.

"Captain, how can we allow that?"

Inuzuka Ryo immediately objected. With the honor of his ninja clan at stake, the Will of Fire instantly seized the moral high ground in his mind. No matter what, he had to go along.

Though Tejudo had plenty of ulterior motives, he was still someone who valued loyalty. How could he let his Captain venture into danger alone?

Seeing that even Tejudo insisted on going, Xiao Xiao naturally had no objections.

Umino Sasuke nodded, deeply gratified. I didn't painstakingly train them for half a year for nothing. None of them are ungrateful bastards.

Since they all knew how to repay kindness, he would take them along to make a small fortune this time.

"Move!"

Umino Sasuke shot forward at once. To pursue the fastest possible speed in reaching support, he immediately leaned his body forward at roughly thirty degrees, stretched both arms behind him, and assumed the classic Ninja Run.

The posture looked somewhat unergonomic, but once chakra was attached to the feet, it became the most scientific and explosive running method for ninja.

It reduced air resistance while also making it easier to use ninja tools.

In just four or five seconds, he had already covered nearly a hundred meters.

"Captain, isn't the direction we're heading a little off from the support route?"

Following behind Umino Sasuke, Inuzuka Ryo noticed that the group had veered away from the support direction and voiced his doubts.

Tejudo, who was following behind them, had his eyes light up as though he had thought of something.

Now that's the Captain I know.

Tejudo inwardly muttered, I was wondering why the Captain was so eager to provide support this time, even unafraid of an entire squad of Sand ninja Puppet Masters. So he was providing strategic support.

Going back to the base to call for reinforcements was also a form of support, wasn't it?

Umino Sasuke had no idea what Tejudo was thinking. Even if he did, he had no time to care about those convoluted thoughts.

Before the battle began, Umino Sasuke continued sprinting while imparting battlefield experience.

"In a conventional ninja battle, the core lies in intelligence and tactical gamesmanship. Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength. Exploiting unequal intelligence to catch the enemy off guard is the best support strategy."

This was battlefield experience earned through blood and tears. Unless their strength completely overwhelmed the enemy and they could simply crush them head-on, they generally relied on unequal intelligence to launch ambushes and encirclements. That was the most classic and effective ninja tactic.

Ninja were generally glass cannons with high attack and low defense. Once their intelligence was compromised and they were ambushed—

Even a Kage-Level Expert could fall.

"Captain, you mean we should set an ambush along the Sand ninja's breakthrough route?"

Inuzuka Ryo suddenly understood. Once he grasped his Captain's tactics, he felt immensely enlightened.

The Sand ninja infiltrating and advancing this time were elites, at least a squad of Puppet Masters.

Aoba Squad was merely a bottom-tier patrol squad. They had surely already been completely defeated by those Sand ninja Puppet Masters.

Going straight to provide support now would accomplish nothing.

They might even be walking into their deaths and making meaningless sacrifices.

But if they set an ambush along the Sand ninja's breakthrough route and caught them off guard, would they not only be able to stop the Sand ninja's advance, but perhaps even have a chance of wiping out this Puppet Master squad?

Inuzuka Ryo came from the Inuzuka Clan, so he understood all too well how important intelligence was.

If they prepared an ambush and laid traps in advance—

Even against an entire Puppet Master squad, they had a fair chance of taking them all down.

Besides, this was the Konoha Defense Zone. Even if they could not wipe out the Puppet Master squad, as long as they held on for a few minutes, the Mobile Patrol Unit should be able to rush over quickly.

"As expected of the Captain. His combat experience is truly extensive!"

Inuzuka Ryo felt as though he had learned too much, his eyes filled with admiration.

After hearing Umino Sasuke's battle plan, even Tejudo, who had always been deeply versed in the art of survival, felt his confidence soar.

He had even begun imagining the mission rating for stopping the enemy this time and calculating how many Mission Merit Points they could earn.

He was already wondering whether to exchange those Mission Merit Points for Ninjutsu, or get himself a few more Paper Figure wives made from Explosive Tags.