Chapter 6: The Strongest Genin
Sasuke quickly formed a Tiger seal with one hand. With the other, he placed his fingertips on the summoned water bat, closing his eyes to sense what it sensed. Below the tree, Ryo sniffed the air fiercely, and his hound, Akimaru, did the same.
"Dammit, it's a Sand Village puppet master!" Ryo's face changed, a look of dread washing over him. The disgusting, cloying smell of joint oil used on puppets hung in the air. There was no mistaking it.
Tekudō, his old subordinate, scrambled up the tree. "Captain," he whispered, "should we call for support? It's a puppet master this time, if we don't—"
"Support!" Sasuke cut him off, his voice firm. "We are the support! We have to move out this time!"
Tekudō was stunned. What's wrong with the Captain? This is completely out of character. A puppet master was a specialist, a high-level threat. The Sasuke he knew, the one who preached the pragmatic Way of the Survivor, would never willingly charge into a fight like this. Has he awakened the Will of Fire?
The thought sent a shiver down Tekudō's spine. Captain, please don't pull me into this. I'm not a leaf dancing in the wind; I'm the hope of the Teku family. You always said that burning seedlings to light your own path is the most shameful thing a person can do. You wouldn't burn us three little saplings, would you?
Ryo and Chōmi were equally surprised. The captain's sudden sense of responsibility was a complete departure from his usual cautious style. Even the pure-minded Chōmi could sense something was off.
Conversely, Ryo, born into a ninja clan, began to believe it. He felt that great heroes thought alike. It seemed his own efforts to instill a sense of duty in the squad had finally paid off. His fighting spirit surged.
"You don't believe in my Will of Fire?" Sasuke asked, staring down Tekudō.
He certainly hadn't awakened any such thing. He wasn't about to burn himself, let alone his subordinates, for some abstract ideal. But if there was a high-value mission to be had with minimal risk, he would gladly seize the opportunity.
Just now, by borrowing the chakra from his water bat, he had used his sonar radar technique and perceived a more accurate picture of the situation. It wasn't an infiltration. It was a Sand Village team pursuing a Konoha intelligence squad. The fact that Suna had dispatched a puppet team meant the intelligence was extremely valuable.
If he could assist and bring that intelligence back, even as support, he'd earn at least a B-rank mission merit. If he was lucky and played a key role, he might even get an A-rank. An A-rank merit could be exchanged for the knowledge on how to develop a second chakra nature. With his mental power and chakra control, he was confident he could succeed. And with a second nature, his own chakra would increase dramatically, putting the rank of jōnin within reach.
For a reward that great, it was worth taking a calculated risk.
And he had calculated the risk. He hadn't chosen this patrol zone by chance. He knew that the mobile patrol force covering this area included Konoha's Strongest Genin: Hoshikō Maru.
The current "Strongest Genin" was, in reality, at least an elite jōnin. At this point in the timeline, he was in his prime, a quasi-Kage level warrior. With such a hidden boss in the area, the danger was minimal as long as they weren't wiped out instantly. The sounds of the explosions from the Aoba Squad's zone would have already alerted him.
Of course, he couldn't explain this to his subordinates without revealing his sonar radar—a technique that bordered on stealing clan secrets. Konoha's ninjutsu monopoly was a key tool for control. Stealing a secret technique was a taboo punishable by death. Even the Third Hokage wouldn't be able to save him.
His sonar radar wasn't a direct theft, but a "reference," developed through his own unique circumstances. With his transmigrated mental power, his proficiency with the Transformation Technique had reached an incredible level. Inspired by the Inuzuka clan's Man-Beast transformations, he had deconstructed the jutsu with the scientific thinking from his past life. He had perfected it to the point where, by borrowing a summon's chakra, he could transform into that summon and use some of its abilities.
And the ability he had chosen to replicate was the ultrasonic echolocation of the most common summon in the Land of Rivers: the water bat.