“Woof, woof, woof!” Just then, a series of barks from his Ninja Dog, Akutamaru, jolted Inuzuka Ryo out of his daze.
Inuzuka Ryo quickly sniffed the air aggressively, analyzing the biological pheromones in the breeze to sense information about the enemies ahead.
Sasuke Umino also formed the Tiger hand seal with one hand, pressing his fingers against his summoned beast, the Water Bat, to activate and amplify his acoustic radar resonance, enhancing his perception.
“Captain, the traps are set.” Tekudo, after a flurry of activity, had just finished setting up the traps.
But at that moment, Inuzuka Ryo’s face paled drastically, as if he had encountered a terrifying beast.
He hissed, “Oh no!
In the air, besides the three puppeteers, there are the scents of six other unfamiliar shinobi.” Despair washed over Inuzuka Ryo, and he was consumed by self-reproach.
It seemed that due to his intelligence error, his squad had been plunged into a life-and-death crisis.
The elite Sand ninja infiltrating their lines were not just a three-man puppeteer squad; there were nine of them in total—exactly the size of a standard elite Sunagakure battalion.
All nine scents were unfamiliar, carrying the distinct desert grit of the Land of Wind and a lingering, metallic stench of fresh blood.
However, there was no sign of the familiar scents of the four members of the Aoba Squad.
They had likely been easily wiped out by this elite Sand battalion.
This was an entire elite Sand battalion—nine Sand ninja across three full squads.
Every single member was at least a Chunin, and their three captains were highly likely to be Jonin, or at the very least, Special Jonin.
On their side, they had only one Chunin and three Genin.
Never mind holding back the enemy—they would likely crumble at the first clash, without even a chance for a tactical retreat.
“What?!
Inuzuka Ryo, are you saying nine elite Sand ninja are coming this way?” Tekudo’s eyes turned bloodshot as he glared at Inuzuka Ryo.
The veins on his thick neck pulsed violently with his heavy breathing, and his entire body was coiled like a taut bowstring, ready to snap at any moment.
“Yes!” Inuzuka Ryo’s hanging right hand had unconsciously gripped the mane of his Ninja Dog, Akutamaru.
He gripped so hard that his knuckles turned white, causing Akutamaru to let out a low whimper.
Their current ambush spot was a gap at the rear of the Aoba Squad’s defensive zone, which also happened to be the upwind area of the entire sector.
An upwind zone provided a significant boost to olfactory perception.
There was no mistake; an entire elite Sand battalion was heading their way.
“Heh.” On the surface, Sasuke Umino’s expression was terrifyingly dark, but he was secretly chuckling inside.
While the olfactory perception of the Inuzuka Clan was indeed remarkable, its accuracy in intelligence gathering fell far short of the Hyuga Clan’s Byakugan.
The Byakugan possessed a 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots, allowing the user to observe things up to a kilometer away, along with the ability to see through solid objects and perceive the flow of Chakra.
It was practically a walking X-ray machine.
In terms of sensory perception, it was nearly unmatched in the Ninja World.
Only the Uzumaki Clan’s Mind’s Eye of the Kagura could compete with it, leaving the Inuzuka Clan’s scent-tracking far behind.
However, his own Radar Jutsu was not bad either.
Though it couldn’t match the terrifying five-kilometer range of Hinata Hyuga’s high-purity Byakugan, it far exceeded the one-kilometer range of an ordinary Byakugan.
It reached an astonishing three kilometers.
It also boasted a 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots and a certain degree of X-ray vision.
Its only difference from the Byakugan was that it lacked the ability to perceive the flow of Chakra.
If it were purely a matter of sensory intelligence gathering, his Radar Jutsu was virtually identical to the Byakugan.
It, too, was a walking X-ray machine.
This level of super-perception, whether in terms of range or accuracy, naturally far surpassed Inuzuka Ryo’s sense of smell.
According to Inuzuka Ryo’s sensory information, the Aoba Squad had indeed been wiped out by the Sand ninja.
However, this was no elite Sand battalion.
It was clearly three Konoha intelligence shinobi fleeing for their lives from the Land of Wind, pursued by six elite Sand ninja.
Looking at the situation, the pursuing force had indeed started as a standard elite Sand battalion.
One of the Sand squads had likely been held back by the Konoha intelligence captain, or they had already taken each other down.
The remaining six Sand ninja still hadn’t captured the three Konoha shinobi, which meant those three must be quite strong—at least elite-level Chunin.
If they chose to hold their ground, adding these three elite Konoha shinobi into the mix meant a head-on clash wouldn’t be as hopeless as Inuzuka Ryo feared.
At the very least, they could hold out until the mobile patrol arrived to reinforce them.
With properly set traps, there was even a chance they could take down all these Sand ninja before the mobile patrol even arrived.
“Captain, what do we do now?” Koshino grabbed Sasuke Umino’s sleeve, her face deathly pale, completely losing her composure from fear.
At that moment, Sasuke Umino seemed to radiate a sudden, inexplicable surge of the Will of Fire.
He declared righteously, “You guys retreat first.
I’ll watch the rear!” A clash involving Jonin carried plenty of risk; sending these three kids far away would keep them from getting in his way.
“How can we do that?!” Inuzuka Ryo immediately objected loudly.
Consumed by guilt, he knew this intelligence blunder was his fault.
In such a dire situation, how could he abandon his captain to save his own skin, leaving the captain to face the danger alone?
“I’ll stay behind to cover the retreat with the captain!
Tekudo, take Koshino and fall back!” As if having resolved himself to die, Inuzuka Ryo stole a deep glance back at Koshino, silently carving her image into the depths of his heart.
Then, Inuzuka Ryo stepped up to Sasuke Umino’s side, facing forward.
Though his eyes were filled with a grim acceptance of death, his body radiated an unyielding determination.
“Oh?” Sasuke Umino’s eyes lit up.
He was all too familiar with what was happening to Inuzuka Ryo.
Wasn’t this the Will of Fire?
No, more accurately, this was the Shinobi Will.
It was a unique spiritual will that a shinobi awakened within themselves when facing brutal combat.
For now, it could be called the [Shinobi Will].
The Third Hokage might not have been very capable in other areas, but his political achievements were absolutely stellar.
To conflate the so-called Will of Fire with this Shinobi Will was truly a remarkable, pioneering stroke of genius.
The other nations had followed suit afterward, which proved how effective the concept was.
In this regard, those who did it best in the Ninja World, besides Konoha’s Will of Fire, were undoubtedly Iwagakure’s Will of Stone.
That Iwagakure could produce so many Jonin, aside from their naturally larger shinobi population, was likely closely related to this Will of Stone.
Although those who became Jonin by awakening the Will of Stone rather than through their own bloodline talent were somewhat subpar due to their natural limitations, they were still Jonin.
Their fighting power was decent enough.
Now that Inuzuka Ryo had actually awakened his Shinobi Will, becoming a Chunin in the near future was practically guaranteed.
As long as he didn’t die young and maintained this state, it was almost certain he would become a Jonin by the time he reached adulthood, given his bloodline talent.