Ninja Will

"Captain, I will continue to work hard from now on."

After a baptism of PUA, Inuzuka Ryo quickly recognized the inadequacy of his own CPU, indicating that there was still much to learn from the captain.

"Woof woof woof!"

At this moment, the ninja hound Akitaru let out a series of barks, snapping the still-dazed Inuzuka Ryo back to reality.

Inuzuka Ryo hurriedly sniffed the air, analyzing the biological pheromones to perceive the enemy's situation ahead.

Umino Sasuke also formed a single Tiger Hand Seal, pressing one hand's fingers against his summoning beast, the Water Bat, activating a resonance amplification of his sonic radar to enhance his perception.

"Captain, the traps are set."

Tejudo, having busied himself for a while, just finished arranging the traps.

But at this moment, Inuzuka Ryo, as if encountering some monstrous threat, changed expression sharply and said sternly, "Not good! In the air, besides the three Puppet Masters, there are also the scents of six unfamiliar ninjas."

Inuzuka Ryo's heart sank like ash, filled with self-blame. It seemed that due to his intelligence error, his squad had fallen into a life-and-death crisis.

The Sand Ninja elites breaking through this time were not a three-man Puppet Master squad, but a full nine of them, exactly the size of a standard Sand Ninja elite unit.

These nine scents were all unfamiliar, carrying the unique wind-and-sand aura of the Land of Wind, along with a clear residual smell of blood and rust. There was no trace of the familiar scents of the Aoba Squad's four members, presumably wiped out by this Sand Ninja elite unit.

This was an entire Sand Ninja elite unit—nine Sand Ninjas, three full squads. Among them, the members were at least Chunin, and the three squad leaders were likely Jonin, or at minimum Special Jonin.

On their side, there was only one Chunin and three Genin. Forget about stopping the enemy; they would likely collapse at the first clash, without even a chance for a tactical retreat.

"What! Inuzuka Ryo, you're saying nine Sand Ninja elites came this time?"

Tejudo's eyes turned bloodshot as he glared at Inuzuka Ryo, the veins on his thick neck pulsing violently with each breath, his whole body taut like a drawn bowstring, ready to snap at any moment.

"Mm." Inuzuka Ryo's dangling right hand had unconsciously grabbed the fur of his ninja hound Akitaru, his knuckles turning white to the point that Akitaru let out a whimper.

The ambush site they were in now was a gap in the rear defense zone of the Aoba Squad, and also the upwind area of the entire defense zone.

The upwind zone provided a considerable boost to olfactory perception. There was no mistake—what was coming was an entire Sand Ninja elite unit.

"Heh." Umino Sasuke's face outwardly darkened terribly, but inwardly, he chuckled lightly.

Although the Inuzuka clan's olfactory perception was extremely impressive, it fell far short of the Hyuga clan's Byakugan in terms of intelligence perception accuracy.

The Byakugan had a 360-degree, no-blind-spot field of vision, could observe things up to a kilometer away, and possessed the ability to see through objects and perceive the flow of chakra.

It was essentially a walking X-ray machine.

In terms of perception, it was almost unrivaled in the ninja world, with only the Uzumaki clan's Mind's Eye of the Kagura able to compete, far beyond what the Inuzuka clan's olfactory perception could match.

However, his Ultrasonic Radar Technique was no slouch either. Though it couldn't reach Hyuga Hinata's high-purity Byakugan's terrifying observation range of five kilometers, it far exceeded the ordinary Byakugan's one kilometer.

It reached an astonishing three kilometers.

It also possessed a 360-degree, no-blind-spot field of vision and a certain degree of see-through capability. The only difference from the Byakugan was that it still lacked the ability to perceive chakra flow.

If it was just about intelligence perception, his Ultrasonic Radar Technique was almost equivalent to the Byakugan.

Also a walking X-ray machine.

This level of super perception, whether in range or accuracy, naturally far surpassed Inuzuka Ryo's olfactory perception.

According to Inuzuka Ryo's intelligence perception, the Aoba Squad had been wiped out by the Sand Ninjas. But this was hardly an entire Sand Ninja elite unit—it was clearly three Konoha intelligence ninjas fleeing for their lives from the Land of Wind, and six Sand Ninja pursuers.

However, judging by the situation, the Sand Ninjas who initially pursued were indeed a standard Sand Ninja elite unit. One of the Sand Ninja squads had likely been held back by the Konoha intelligence squad leader, or had already perished together with them.

As for these six Sand Ninjas, they still hadn't captured those three Konoha ninjas. It seemed those three Konoha ninjas were no pushovers, at least elite-level Chunin.

If they chose to continue blocking the enemy, with the addition of these three Konoha elites, even a direct confrontation wouldn't be as grim as Inuzuka Ryo imagined. At the very least, they could hold out until the Mobile Patrol Unit arrived for support.

If the trap ambush was well-executed, there might even be a chance to take down all these Sand Ninjas before the Mobile Patrol Unit's support arrived.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

Xiao Xiao grabbed Umino Sasuke's sleeve, her face pale, frightened to the point of losing her composure.

At this moment, Umino Sasuke seemed to be imbued with a strange Will of Fire, speaking with great righteousness: "You retreat first. I'll hold the rear!"

Engagements between Jonin carried considerable risk. Letting these three little ones stay far away would also keep them out of the way.

"How can that be!"

Inuzuka Ryo immediately objected loudly, his heart full of self-blame. This intelligence error was his fault. How could he abandon the captain and sneak away to live, leaving the captain to face such a crisis alone?

"I'll stay and hold the rear with the captain. Tejudo, take Xiao Xiao and retreat first!"

Inuzuka Ryo seemed to have made some kind of deathbed resolve, taking a deep look back at Xiao Xiao, silently imprinting her figure forever in his heart.

Then, Inuzuka Ryo stood beside Umino Sasuke, facing forward. Though his eyes were filled with a will to die, his body exuded a resolute spirit.

"Oh?" Umino Sasuke's eyes lit up.

This state in Inuzuka Ryo was all too familiar to him—wasn't this the Will of Fire?

No, more accurately, this was the Ninja Will.

It was a unique spiritual will that ninjas awakened within themselves when facing brutal battles. For now, let's call it the [Ninja Will].

The Third Hokage might not have been great in other areas, but his political achievements were absolutely remarkable.

He actually conflated the so-called Will of Fire with this Ninja Will, achieving a truly extraordinary feat.

The other nations soon followed suit, which shows there's something worth adopting in it.

In the shinobi world, the ones who do this well, aside from Konoha's Will of Fire, are Iwagakure's Will of Stone.

The reason Iwagakure can produce so many Jonin, besides its already large shinobi population, is likely not unrelated to this Will of Stone.

Although those who become Jonin through awakening the Will of Stone, rather than through their own bloodline talent, are a bit lacking in strength due to bloodline issues, they are still Jonin after all, and their combat power is decent.

Now, Inuzuka Ryo can actually awaken a Ninja Will, and becoming a Chunin in a short time is basically a sure thing.

As long as he doesn't die young and keeps it up, by the time he reaches adulthood, with his bloodline talent, becoming a Jonin is almost foreseeable.