As the squad just rounded the patrol range of the Iwagakure stragglers, a "CRACK!" sound suddenly came from the forest to the left—it was a trap previously laid by Lei that had been triggered!
"Ambush!" Tanaka shouted sharply, forming hand seals instantly, "Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!" A waist-high earth wall rose in front of the squad, perfectly blocking three incoming kunai. Lin Yue reacted extremely fast, pulling the injured person beside him behind him, while shouting to Sui, "Use Ninjutsu! Control the one closest to us!"
Sui immediately focused, forming hand seals instantly, "Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!" An invisible Chakra wave spread towards the forest on the left, and two Iwagakure Genin who had just rushed out instantly became dazed, frozen in place. But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, more figures darted out from the forest—this time not stragglers, but a complete Iwagakure squad, with a total of 9 people, including Chunin!
"It's the Iwagakure pursuit squad!" Tanaka's face darkened, his left arm throbbing, "Rin, Xiao Yue, you two use Ninjutsu to stop the frontal assault; I'll keep an eye on that Chunin; the rest of you protect the injured, don't let them get close!"
Rin immediately formed hand seals and an earth wall rose, but the Iwagakure Chunin gave no other chances. His short blade, imbued with earth-yellow Chakra, savagely slashed towards the earth wall: "Earth Release: Earth Release Slash!" The blade sliced through the earth wall, instantly creating a crack. As shattered rocks flew, several Iwagakure Genin took the opportunity to rush through.
"Ying, did you sense any other ambushes?" Lin Yue shouted while dodging kunai. Ying closed his eyes, cold sweat beading on his forehead: "No other Chakra fluctuations, just these 9 people! But that Chunin's Chakra is very strong, at least a veteran Chunin!"
Lin Yue's heart tightened—currently, only 5 people in the squad could fight (Tanaka, Rin, Ying, Lei, Sui). Sato and Takahashi still had to protect the injured, completely unable to spare a hand. The opponent had 1 veteran Chunin and 8 Genin; a direct confrontation would definitely be disadvantageous. More importantly, if the battle dragged on and nearby Iwagakure stragglers heard the commotion and rushed over, they would be completely trapped.
"I must summon 1 more Genin!" Lin Yue quickly calculated in his mind. He currently had 100 summon points, just enough to summon 1 Ninjutsu-specialized Genin. He immediately ordered in his mind: "System, consume 100 summon points to summon 1 Ninjutsu-specialized Uchiha Genin to assist Ying in containing the enemy!"
[Ding—Summon successful! Obtained Uchiha Genin: Uchiha Dian (14 years old, Ninjutsu specialist), Loyalty 100%. Current number of summoners: 5 people.]
[World Travel Function Detected: Population scale increased, cooldown halved]
The system prompt made Lin Yue's eyes light up—the cooldown really was shortened! It proved that "population scale" and travel cooldown were indeed related! It seemed his conjecture was correct; as long as he continued to expand the number of summoners, he could trigger the special condition for cooldown completion early.
Just then, a light blue glow lit up beside Ying, and Uchiha Dian appeared instantly, a basketball-sized lightning ball condensed in his hand: "Uchiha Dian, greetings, Master! Please give your orders!"
"Assist Ying in dealing with the 3 Genin on the right! Use Lightning Release to interfere with their movements!" Lin Yue immediately ordered. Dian nodded in response, and a bolt of electricity exploded towards the Genin on the right with a "boom." As the electricity spread, the 3 Genin felt their bodies go numb, and their movements instantly slowed. Ying seized the opportunity to pull out a kunai, accurately stabbing two of them in the throat. The remaining 1 was entangled by Dian's Lightning Shadow Clone and quickly dealt with.
Tanaka charged towards the Iwagakure Chunin. The Chunin sneered, his short blade coming to meet him: "You, injured, think you can fight me?" The two instantly became locked in combat, the crisp clash of short blades particularly piercing in the night.
Tanaka noticed that before each slash, the Chunin would first concentrate Chakra in his right arm, and his shoulder would slightly drop—this was his weakness!
He immediately adjusted his tactics, deliberately creating an opening, allowing the Chunin's short blade to slash towards his left shoulder. The moment the Chunin's right arm exerted force, Tanaka suddenly sidestepped, thrusting his short blade towards the Chunin's right waist and abdomen. "Puchi!" The short blade pierced in, and the Chunin screamed, his Chakra instantly becoming chaotic.
"Now! Rin!" Lin Yue shouted. Rin immediately formed hand seals, "Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Several small fireballs flew towards the Chunin, accurately hitting him in the back. The Iwagakure Chunin was instantly engulfed in flames. He tried to extinguish the fire, but Tanaka delivered a finishing blow, and he fell to the ground, lifeless.
The remaining 4 Genin, seeing their Chunin killed, immediately panicked and tried to flee. Lei immediately triggered the traps he had previously set. "Boom!" The previously buried explosive tags detonated. Amidst the dense smoke, Sui's Genjutsu was activated again, and all 4 Genin collapsed to the ground. Dian and Ying rushed forward, quickly finishing them off, eliminating all enemies.
After the battle, everyone sighed in relief, leaning against tree trunks and panting heavily. Tanaka looked at the suddenly appearing Dian and asked in confusion, "Xiao Yue, is this another one of your clansmen?"
Lin Yue quickly explained, "He's another one of my clansmen. He rushed over after receiving the message and just caught the battle." Tanaka was silent for a moment, then just nodded: "It's a good thing he helped, otherwise we would have been in big trouble this time."
Lin Yue smiled in response, but in his heart, he was calculating: now there were 5 summoners, and the cooldown was directly halved. If he summoned 5 more people, he might be able to directly trigger the special condition. He had to complete the mission as soon as possible to accumulate more points.
"Everyone rest for 10 minutes, replenish some Chakra, then continue on our way," Tanaka said. "The battle just now might attract other Iwagakure squads, so we need to leave here quickly."
Everyone nodded in agreement and began to rest. Lin Yue walked over to Dian and brought up his panel:
[Summoner Panel: Uchiha Dian (14 years old)]
Level: Genin (Veteran)
Chakra: 320
Ninjutsu: Lightning Release: Lightning Ball (Proficient), Lightning Release: Shadow Clone (Beginner)... Genjutsu: Sharingan Hypnosis
Taijutsu: Basic Taijutsu (Proficient)
Bloodline Limit: One-Tomoe Sharingan
"Lightning Release just happens to make up for our attack shortcomings." Lin Yue nodded with satisfaction. Now the squad had reconnaissance (Ying), traps (Lei), medical (Sui), Ninjutsu (Rin), (Dian), and their combat power configuration was becoming more and more complete.
10 minutes later, the squad set off again. Under the moonlight, everyone's steps were firmer than before—after this surprise attack, not only was their combat power improved, but Lin Yue also found the direction for travel. He looked at the 5 summoners behind him, his heart full of anticipation.
The plan for cross-world settlement was one step closer to realization. And this battlefield of the Third Great Ninja War would become his first stage to accumulate power and achieve the rise of the Uchiha.