In the Land of Rivers, low-level summoned beasts like the Water Bat were not difficult to capture.
Rather, the simple hurdle of obtaining a summoning scroll had nearly stumped him.
Fortunately, he had accumulated quite a few mission merit points to exchange for Ninjutsu, which came in handy just in time.
Spending more than half of his hard-earned points, he exchanged them for a basic summoning scroll and a book titled *On the Care and Breeding of Summoned Beasts*.
As expected of a summoning scroll capable of passing down a legacy, it was truly expensive.
And this was merely a basic summoning scroll supplied to Konoha by the Uzumaki Clan, capable only of contracting Genin-level ninja beasts.
Anything of a higher grade would have bankrupted him instantly.
Fortunately, *On the Care and Breeding of Summoned Beasts* was included as a free bonus gift.
You get what you pay for; Uzumaki products were highly reliable.
Contracting the summoned beast, the Water Bat, went smoothly without any major scares.
As he continuously trained in coordination with the Water Bat and analyzed and reconstructed the Transformation Jutsu, he finally realized just how high the difficulty of this transformation actually was.
Even with his exquisite mastery of the Transformation Jutsu, coupled with occasionally drawing inspiration from Inuzuka Ryo’s Beast Mimicry Secret Technique, it actually took him several months.
Only then, by borrowing the Water Bat’s Chakra, did he achieve a partial mimicry transformation, allowing him to use the Water Bat’s ultrasonic echolocation ability.
It was precisely by relying on this ultrasonic sensory ability that he had dragged his three Genin deadweights back from the brink of death time and again during the Second Great Ninja War, managing to survive.
Since then, their squad had not suffered a single casualty.
Not even a single injury or crippling blow had occurred.
Through his frequent use of ultrasonic echolocation, he also constantly applied the scientific sonar principles from his past life to deconstruct the Water Bat’s echolocation ability.
He repeatedly used his own Chakra to substitute for the Water Bat’s organs, simulating the Water Bat’s ultrasonic vibration frequency.
He was reverse-engineering the underlying principles.
Hard work paid off.
After tens of thousands of continuous trials, deconstructions, and insights, he finally succeeded in reverse-engineering it.
Without relying on the summoned Water Bat, he used the unique properties of Chakra to simulate the vibration frequency, executing the Water Bat’s ultrasonic echolocation on his own.
Although it had a coverage range of less than a hundred meters—far inferior to the three-kilometer detection range when they worked together—it was still enough to be astonishing.
This was almost equivalent to creating an entirely new Ninjutsu—and an extremely rare sensory Ninjutsu at that.
Given the physical properties of acoustic radar, its sensory potential might very well develop into a super-sensory “Earth Hearing” technique on par with the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju.
He couldn’t help but marvel at how wondrous fate was.
Back then, he could barely find a channel to acquire even a single C-rank Ninjutsu, yet now he had unexpectedly pioneered a sensory Ninjutsu with such limitless potential.
And this was accomplished without any systematic experience in Ninjutsu development.
Driven solely by a passionate spirit of scientific exploration, he had forcibly reverse-engineered it bit by bit from the Water Bat, utilizing the unique properties of Chakra.
Through this Ninjutsu development, he truly realized the magical properties of Chakra and began to understand the Sage of Six Paths’ original intention of using Chakra as a spiritual bond.
Indeed, hidden within Chakra were its unique properties of connectivity, transmissibility, heredity, and even manifestation.
Especially its manifestation; though it fell far short of the Uchiha’s Mangekyo, which could manifest all kinds of obsessions, it showed astonishing potential in terms of assimilation and learning, reminding one of the Sharingan’s superb copying ability.
Even the extraordinary olfactory sensory ability of the Inuzuka Clan’s ninja was likely related to Chakra.
It was highly probable that they had slowly assimilated and learned it from their own Ninja Dogs through these properties of Chakra.
The Inuzuka family’s olfactory perception was quite excellent, especially in gathering battlefield intelligence.
“Captain, at least one squad of Sand ninja puppeteers is coming.” At this moment, Inuzuka Ryo acquired more concrete intelligence.
Looking as though he were facing a formidable enemy, he delivered the intel and couldn’t help but steal a glance at Koshino beside him.
It seemed his internal Will of Fire was finally wavering slightly.
“Ryo, you’re not scared, are you?” Tekudo was also anxious in his heart, but his mouth remained incredibly stubborn.
Then, he began to flatter Sasuke: “With Captain here, those mere Sand ninja puppeteers are nothing but complete pushovers, right, my dear Captain?” Tekudo looked at Sasuke Umino with a sycophantic expression.
“Alright, you guys continue patrolling the defensive zone.
I will go support them alone.” Sasuke Umino rolled his eyes at Tekudo.
How could he not know the petty, calculating thoughts of his old subordinate?
*This time, it’s not that your captain won’t take you along or give you a chance to slack off and earn merit points; it’s that you guys are simply useless.* “Captain, how can you do that?!” Inuzuka Ryo immediately objected.
Faced with the glory of his ninja clan, the Will of Fire instantly took the moral high ground in his mind, and he insisted on going along no matter what.
Although Tekudo had many petty thoughts, he was ultimately a sentimental and loyal person.
How could he let his captain venture into danger alone?
Seeing that Tekudo insisted on going, Koshino raised no objections either.
Sasuke Umino nodded, feeling deeply comforted: *It wasn’t in vain that I carefully nurtured them for half a year.
None of them are ungrateful wolves.* *Since they all know how to show gratitude, I’ll take them along to make a small fortune this time.* “Let’s go!” Sasuke Umino immediately shot forward.
To achieve the fastest possible speed, his body leaned forward at about thirty degrees, arms extending backward as he executed the classic “ninja run.” This posture might seem to defy human ergonomics, but if Chakra was channeled to the soles of the feet, it was the most scientific and explosive way for a ninja to run.
While reducing air resistance, it also made it more convenient to use ninja tools.
In just four or five seconds, they had already covered nearly a hundred meters.
“Captain, the direction we are heading to support them seems a bit off, doesn’t it?” Following behind Sasuke Umino, Inuzuka Ryo noticed the squad had deviated from the direction of the support request and raised a question.
On the other hand, Tekudo, who was bringing up the rear, had his eyes light up as if he had realized something.
*Now that’s our captain.* Tekudo couldn’t help but complain inwardly: *I was wondering why the captain was so eager to provide support this time, showing no fear even against an entire squad of Sand ninja puppeteers.
So he’s doing a strategic support.* *Going back to the camp to call for backup is also a form of support, isn’t it?* Sasuke Umino did not know what Tekudo was thinking.
Even if he did, he had no time to deal with the fat kid’s scheming mind.
Taking advantage of the fact that they had not yet engaged the enemy, Sasuke Umino continued to run while imparting battlefield experience.
“In conventional ninja warfare, the core lies in intelligence and tactical maneuvering.
Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit.
Using information asymmetry to catch the enemy off guard is the best strategy for support.” This was battlefield experience bought with blood and tears.
Unless one’s strength completely overwhelmed the opponent, allowing for a direct frontal assault, the standard approach was to utilize information asymmetry to stage ambushes and hunts.
This was the most classic and effective tactic for a ninja.
Ninjas were generally glass cannons with high attack power but low defense; once their intelligence was compromised and they were ambushed, even Kage-level powerhouses could fall.
“Captain, do you mean we should set up an ambush in advance along the Sand ninjas’ breakthrough path?” Inuzuka Ryo had a sudden realization.
Once he understood his captain’s tactics, he felt he had benefited immensely.
The ones infiltrating this time were elite Sand ninjas—at least a squad of puppeteers.
Aoba’s squad was just a dead-last patrol squad; they had surely been completely crushed by these Sand ninja puppeteers by now.
Heading straight to support them now would be futile.
At worst, it would just be delivering their own heads on a platter, making a pointless sacrifice.
But if they set up an ambush along the Sand ninjas’ breakthrough path beforehand and caught them off guard, wouldn’t they not only block the Sand ninjas’ advance but also have a slight chance of wiping out this entire puppeteer squad?
Inuzuka Ryo came from the Inuzuka Clan, so he understood the importance of intelligence all too well.
If they ambushed them in advance and set up traps, even against an entire puppeteer squad, they would stand a good chance of taking them all down.
Besides, this was Konoha’s defensive zone.
Even if they couldn’t wipe out the puppeteer squad, as long as they held out for a few minutes, the mobile patrol unit would surely arrive quickly to reinforce them.
“As expected of the captain, your combat experience is so rich!” Inuzuka Ryo felt he had just received a masterclass, his eyes shining with pure admiration.
Hearing Sasuke Umino’s battle plan, even Tekudo, who was always deeply versed in the Way of Survival, felt a massive boost in confidence.
He even began to envision the mission rating for this blocking operation, calculating how many merit points he could earn.
He was also pondering whether to use these merit points to exchange for Ninjutsu, or to get a few more Explosive Tag 2D paper waifus.