Soon, the four of them had run three kilometers, arriving at a river no more than thirty meters wide at the rear of Aoba’s defensive zone.
The four immediately distributed Chakra to the soles of their feet.
Stepping onto the water’s surface, they continued forward without losing speed.
*Patter, patter, patter…* Splashing up layers of spray, they rapidly crossed the river.
After crossing the river, however, they did not continue forward.
“Tekudo, you need to lose weight.” Sasuke Umino halted, turning back to check how the three youngsters behind him had performed while walking on water.
Both Inuzuka Ryo and Koshino had done quite well.
Only Tekudo, whose weight was truly immense and who was draped with a large number of ninja tools, showed slightly unstable Chakra control in his struggle to maintain balance.
“Tekudo, stop thinking about playing with those ninja tool girlfriends of yours all day.
You can’t neglect your Chakra control.
Otherwise, see if I don’t force you onto a strict diet.” Although Sasuke Umino scolded him, a wave of relief washed over his heart.
Back when they first started, only Inuzuka Ryo, who came from a ninja clan, knew how to perform simple tree-climbing with Chakra, and his Chakra control was barely passable.
Tekudo and Koshino were complete novices.
Forget walking on water; they couldn’t even manage simple tree-climbing using Chakra.
They were classic civilian ninjas—two bottom-tier cannon-fodder Genin who knew absolutely nothing.
Yet after his guidance, they had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.
It had not been in vain that he had carefully trained them back then.
The battlefield was ever-changing, requiring one to face all kinds of environments.
Tree-climbing and water-walking seemed like mere training methods for Chakra control, but on the battlefield, they were essential survival skills.
Since they were both essential survival skills and ways to improve Chakra control, his guidance to the three youngsters had naturally been extremely strict.
Strict teachers made brilliant disciples, after all.
Under his stern tutelage, the three youngsters’ performance in Chakra control was already no weaker than that of most Chunin.
Especially Koshino.
Perhaps due to a girl’s natural attention to detail, or perhaps because she had a genuine talent for it, her Chakra control was the strongest of the three.
Under his further nurturing, she had even begun to attempt waterfall-climbing training.
Although she hadn’t succeeded yet, she already possessed the foundation to become a medical ninja.
In the future, as long as she completed a few more missions and saved up enough merit points to exchange for medical Ninjutsu, unlocking her Yang Release potential, becoming a qualified medical ninja would not be difficult.
As for Inuzuka Ryo, who came from a ninja clan, he already had a foundation in Chakra control training.
After Sasuke’s intensive training, while he still couldn’t reach Koshino’s level of medical-ninja-tier control, simple water-walking was second nature to him.
Tekudo, on the other hand, had completed his water-walking training long ago and had even practiced waterfall-climbing with them for a while.
His Chakra control was already no weaker than Inuzuka Ryo’s.
However, unable to resist the temptation of delicious food, eating meat and feasting every day, Tekudo—who seemed to gain weight even from drinking water—saw his physique change by the day.
Coupled with the fact that he was covered from head to toe with his various ninja-tool “wives,” it was already quite a feat that he could cross this river safely on water.
“Captain, you’re the one who taught us that mastering one art is better than being a jack-of-all-trades.
Good-enough Chakra control is fine; ninja tool manipulation is my true calling.” Tekudo came to a halt, unconsciously stroking the various ninja-tool “wives” hanging on his body, his eyes filled with obsession and infatuation.
“Then why aren’t you setting up the traps?
Are you waiting to hand over your head on a platter?” Shivering in disgust, Sasuke Umino kicked Tekudo’s plump buttocks in irritation.
“On it, my dear Captain!” Tekudo grinned sycophantically and hurried to work.
Seeing Tekudo start setting up the traps, Sasuke Umino began imparting more battlefield experience of blood and fire, especially to the two combat novices, Inuzuka Ryo and Koshino.
“The innate Chakra natures of Sand ninjas are mostly Wind and Earth.
Innate Water natures are extremely rare, so they basically have no Water Style ninjas worth mentioning.” Next, Sasuke Umino pointed to the river behind them and continued to explain, “And this river behind us, though seemingly small, is a natural barrier to intercept the Sand ninjas.” Unlike the fertile Land of Fire, the Land of Wind consisted mostly of desert with only a few oases.
Most Sand ninjas utilized Wind Style, followed by Earth Style and puppetry, with very few possessing the Water nature.
If the battlefield were open ground, it would clearly favor the Sand ninjas.
But if it were a river or lake, the opposite would be true, putting them at a major disadvantage.
“Captain, then why did we come to this side of the river to intercept them?
Wouldn’t it be better to wait on the other side and strike them as they cross?” Inuzuka Ryo’s clear yet foolish eyes finally shone with a spark of wisdom.
It had to be said that the education of a ninja clan was quite decent.
The question he raised hit right at the tactical core.
In contrast, Koshino was still utterly clueless.
This showed that a clan’s heritage was not only reflected in Ninjutsu, but also in many other aspects where a significant gap existed.
However, while the clan education was good and Inuzuka Ryo possessed some wisdom, it was still quite limited.
Sasuke Umino curled his finger and flicked Inuzuka Ryo on the forehead with a sharp *thwack*.
“Idiot, can’t you think carefully before you ask?” Next, Sasuke Umino pointed at Tekudo, who was busy working in the bushes, and asked in succession, “What is Tekudo doing right now?
What is our tactical goal for this trip first, and what is it second?” Inuzuka Ryo rubbed his sore, red forehead, looking utterly bewildered, while the CPU in his brain ran at full speed.
Koshino, on the other hand, didn’t overthink things and only focused on the initial plan, so she blurted out first: “Our tactical objective is first to set up traps, striving to wipe out the Sand ninja puppeteer squad.
Second is to intercept the enemy, holding out until the mobile patrol unit arrives to support.” Sasuke Umino nodded with satisfaction at Koshino, then turned around to stare at Inuzuka Ryo as if looking at an idiot.
“Ryo, even Koshino knows such a simple tactic.
For a ‘super genius’ of the Inuzuka Clan, you actually didn’t realize it.
It seems you still have a lot to learn.” Sasuke Umino once again activated his secret manipulation technique, subjecting Inuzuka Ryo to a barrage of mental brainwashing.
In reality, however, arranging the tactics this way—aside from setting up the ambush—had absolutely nothing to do with stopping the Sand ninjas’ infiltration.
Rather, he was thinking that if the ambush didn’t yield ideal results, they could use this river as a natural barrier to buy themselves some buffer time to escape the Sand ninjas’ pursuit.
Though both were technically “intercepting the enemy,” the underlying tactical purposes were entirely different.
The former meant using the river at all costs to block the enemy from breaching the defensive zone while waiting for backup.
The latter was merely using the terrain advantage to slow the enemy down and secure a buffer window for their own escape.
Before planning for victory, plan for defeat.
Always securing a retreat beforehand was the true essence of the Survival Secret Technique.
After all, there were always variables in everything.
Preventing trouble before it occurred was never a bad move.