Naruto's civilian cannon fodder starts with the three-body technique

Chapter 296 Dual Cultivation of External Elixir
"Sasuke, you've finally arrived."

Hatake Sagumi couldn't help but look at Unno Sasuke's waist, swallowing hard. When they were working together before, they never lacked supplies. Now he realized how comfortable life could be with Unno Sasuke's help.

"Then, the rations for the ninjas on the front lines of the Land of Rivers when they go out on missions should be enough to meet your needs for a week."

Sasuke Unno untied a small sealing scroll and tossed it over.

"Hmm." Hatake Sakumo took the scroll with a haughty air, but did not unwrap it immediately. Instead, he discussed official business first.

"It seems the fish has taken the bait."

Sasuke Umino's lips curled into a cold smile. According to the latest intelligence obtained by Sakumo Hatake, Chiyo reacted extremely quickly. After confirming that Sakumo Hatake's whereabouts had been "leaked," she immediately led her most elite puppet troops in hot pursuit like sharks that had smelled blood.

Based on their speed and distance, they should be able to catch up by tomorrow night at the latest, in the desert border region where the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers meet.

"Tsk, this old lady is really eager for revenge, she's quick on her feet." Umino Sasuke clicked his tongue.

However, there was still a day to go, so there was no rush. He looked up at the blazing sun overhead, which seemed to be melting the desert, and felt the scorching heat wave hitting him. His eyes lit up.

"Senior Zuoyun, you continue to follow the plan and lure them to the designated battlefield. As for me... well, I need to communicate with those Free Sand Bandit leaders and adjust the subsequent strategy so that they can continue to wreak havoc on the Wind Kingdom. I'll have to trouble you to bear with this task of luring the enemy deep into our territory and launching a long-distance raid for a little longer."

Upon hearing this, Hatake Sakumo rolled his eyes, and said with a hint of helplessness but still calmly, "I know, hurry up and don't keep me waiting too long."

Clearly, he understood that Umino Sasuke's contact with the leader of the free bandits was just an excuse; he was most likely trying to slack off and avoid the hardship of traveling under the scorching sun.

"Don't worry, it will be quick!"

Umino Sasuke chuckled, used the Flying Thunder God Technique, and disappeared, leaving Hatake Sagumo alone, bewildered in the wind.

Looking at the endless desert, he couldn't help but marvel at the convenience of the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Unfortunately, this forbidden technique is not only difficult to master, but also requires spatial ninjutsu talent, making it not so easy to learn. Otherwise, he also planned to learn it, not for defense, but for travel.

Umino Sasuke used the Flying Thunder God Technique and appeared directly next to Sha Chongba, startling him greatly.

He had no idea how his master had appeared, and his fear grew. He quickly knelt down and began to fawn over his master, boasting about his hard work and achievements during this period, and how his loyalty was as clear as day. He also took the opportunity to put down An Lujing and Xin Xie to elevate his own abilities, hoping to gain more favor from his master.

"Sha Chongba, convey my orders: Daming Prefecture is about to lift its policy of retreat, and the campaign to liberate the oases by the free sand people will be temporarily slowed down. From this moment on, we will switch to guerrilla warfare, break up into smaller groups, and send small elite forces to infiltrate the heart of the Wind Kingdom, focusing on attacking small outposts, patrols, and caravans in the major oases!"
Remember, we must sustain this war through war. Mobilize the lower-class sand people of the Wind Kingdom to establish our own intelligence network and hidden outposts. Our goal is singular: to use small outposts to encircle the Great Oasis, continuously bleeding it dry so that the Wind Kingdom will never have peace. Only then can we secure more living space for the free sand people!

"Yes! Master!"

Sha Chongba knelt down and pressed his face against the scorching yellow sand. He was overjoyed, for conveying his master's order was direct proof of his master's trust and high regard.

He suppressed his excitement, lowered his head even further, and said in a voice filled with barely suppressed joy: "Yes, Master! Your will will spread like the wind and sand to every corner of the Free Sand People!"

Umino Sasuke nodded slightly, said no more, and his figure was instantly swallowed up by the spatial ripples, disappearing without a trace.

Only then did Sha Chongba dare to raise his head, his awe of his master's unfathomable methods growing ever stronger. A smug smile appeared on his face, and he quickly summoned his confidants to relay his master's orders word for word, emphasizing the key points of "guerrilla warfare," "using war to sustain war," "mobilizing the sand people," and "encircling the large oasis from small strongholds."

However, he did not take the initiative to convey the order. Instead, he deliberately dawdled, waiting for An Lujing and Xin Xie to receive the message and come to him on their own. He did this so that An Lujing and Xin Xie would know who their master valued most now, and that they should show more respect in the future.

Sure enough, not long after, An Lujing and Xin Xie appeared outside Sha Chongba's temporary camp.

"Sha Chongba, what new orders does the master have?" An Lujing spoke first, his voice low. Xin Xie stood silently to the side, his eyes sharp, like a venomous scorpion ready to devour its prey.

Sha Chongba sneered inwardly, but his face was plastered with a warm smile, as if he were his master's most trusted spokesperson: "Brother An Lujing, Brother Xin Xie, you've come at the right time. The master just came by and expressed a certain degree of affirmation for our recent performance, especially for the efficiency of liberating the oasis."

He paused deliberately, savoring the fleeting tension in their eyes.

"However," he changed the subject, adopting a tone that conveyed his master's profound meaning, and said in a deep voice, "Our master has great foresight and believes that now that Daming Prefecture is about to lift its policy of retreat, the garrisons in the major oases will inevitably be strengthened. In the future, it would be better to change our approach. Our master has personally issued a new strategic policy—guerrilla warfare!"

He stood up, transforming into Umino Sasuke's most loyal henchman, and began to explain in detail the essence of guerrilla warfare: breaking up into smaller units, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, striking weak points, relying on the Sand People to establish a foothold, and continuously bleeding them dry... Of course, there were elements of his own understanding combined with embellishment, but Umino Sasuke had no mood to explain so much to them.

Sha Chongba spoke with great enthusiasm, as if this ingenious strategy was entirely the result of his painstaking efforts in devising plans for his master.

"The master specifically pointed out that the strategy of 'encircling the large oasis with small outposts' should be given special emphasis!"

Sha Chongba waved his hand forcefully one last time, and said in a condescending tone, conveying his master's command, "You must carefully understand the profound meaning behind this. This time, the master has placed high hopes on us, which means that we will be spread throughout the Wind Kingdom, becoming countless sharp knives entrenched in the heart of the Wind Kingdom. This mission is much more difficult than simply attacking the oasis before, but it will also better demonstrate our value!"

As An Lujing and Xin Xie listened to Sha Chongba's retelling and analysis, their eyes kept changing. They could feel the undisguised smugness and sense of superiority in Sha Chongba's words, which made the flames of jealousy in their hearts burn even brighter.

However, the concept of guerrilla warfare also caught their eye. It was indeed more flexible and harder to wipe out than a frontal assault. Moreover, plundering caravans and attacking small strongholds could be just as profitable as attacking oases, and it could also build prestige among the sand people. The key point was that it was safer. Even if a large number of sand ninja came to wipe them out, they would have a mass base and could deal with it calmly and avoid the sand ninja's counter-encirclement and suppression.

"Master is indeed farsighted!"

An Lujing suppressed the bitterness in his heart and said firmly, "Guerrilla warfare is indeed more suitable for our current strength. Sha Chongba, thank you for conveying the master's will." He deliberately emphasized the word "conveyed" to remind Sha Chongba not to take himself too seriously. Everyone is now at the same level, and Sha Chongba's status is not higher than anyone else's.

Xin Xie also spoke hoarsely: "Understood. I will make my venomous scorpions the nightmare of those patrol teams and caravans."

A cruel glint flashed in his eyes as he began to devise how to use his scorpion-like abilities to make a name for himself in guerrilla warfare.

Seeing that the two were unhappy but had no choice but to accept reality and start thinking about how to implement the new strategy, Sha Chongba felt extremely pleased.

He patted the two men on the shoulder with feigned concern: "Work hard! As long as we brothers are of one mind and make great contributions to our master, he will definitely not treat us unfairly. This guerrilla warfare has great potential!"

A venomous scorpion beast crawled out from Xin Xie's shoulder. Sha Chongba quickly stopped patting Xin Xie's shoulder, quite dissatisfied with Xin Xie's unruly behavior.

"Hmph!" Shinsei snorted coldly, lifted the tent flap, and left in a huff. An Lujing also gave Sha Chongba a cold look and followed Shinsei's footsteps.

An Lujing had already made up his mind. He was determined to prove that he was no less capable than Sha Chongba in this guerrilla warfare plan.

New Scorpion shares the same idea, and by working even harder, he can obtain more resources to feed his Poisonous Scorpion Ninja Beast. He is determined to execute this strategy of "surrounding the large oasis from a small stronghold" even more frantically and thoroughly.

……

Sasuke Umino gave a simple order to Shigeaki Sa and then used the Flying Thunder God Technique to appear directly in the underground Laboratory Zero in the Land of Waves.

The cold, clean, and technologically advanced environment inside the underground Zero Laboratory, along with the constant temperature air, directly dispelled the lingering heat of the desert.

Upon arriving at the main experimental area, one sees four regenerating nuclei of Hashirama cells, radiating a soft emerald green light and exuding immense vitality and extremely pure chakra fluctuations, lying quietly in a specially prepared culture medium.

"Not bad, four regeneration cores are barely enough."

Sasuke Umino nodded in satisfaction, then instructed his shadow clones to get to work. "The four of you are responsible for installing these regeneration cores onto the mecha puppets, performing the final energy circuit adaptation and debugging to ensure they can output stably, especially the chakra shield function, which cannot have the slightest flaw."

"Understood!" The four shadow clones immediately sprang into action, operating like the most sophisticated machines, carefully embedding the regeneration cores into the chest cavities of the four mecha puppets.

A pale green energy stream began to slowly illuminate the chakra circuits inside the puppet, and it would soon be ready for the debugging phase.

After arranging the work, Sasuke Umino did not linger. He walked through the busy laboratory area and headed straight for the deepest isolation laboratory, where the air was colder and the light was dimmer.

In the center of the laboratory, inside an independent cylindrical culture tank shrouded by multiple sealing barriers, a unique regeneration nucleus is suspended in an indigo nutrient solution.

This regeneration core is slightly smaller than the Hashirama cell regeneration core, but it exhibits an even more unsettling fluctuation. Its main body is a deep, icy blue, like the core of a glacier frozen for millennia; its interior is interwoven with vibrant emerald green veins, undoubtedly the power of the Hashirama cells; deeper still, there are wisps of scarlet, violent energy, like imprisoned monsters, surging and churning unwillingly under the suppression of the icy blue and emerald green.

Three forces of vastly different natures and extremely high energy levels achieved an extremely delicate balance under the harmonization and anchoring of the blue ice.

It floated silently, emanating a complex aura that was cold, powerful, and yet carried a hint of destructive rage.

This was exactly what he had envisioned, and he had invested a great deal of resources to create the prototype of the chakra outer core by fusing Hashirama's cells, Nine-Tails' chakra, and his own high-purity ice release chakra!
Looking at this chakra core that he had finally succeeded in creating after more than ten failures, he could clearly feel the terrifying energy contained within it that far exceeded that of an ordinary Hashirama cell regeneration core, as well as the familiar feeling that resonated faintly with his own Ice Release chakra.

"It's time to begin the refining process."

Sasuke Umino released the sealing barrier and carefully took out the fusion regeneration core. It was cold to the touch, yet it pulsated slightly in his palm, as if it were alive.

He sat cross-legged, placed the regeneration core between his hands, took a deep breath, and began to continuously pour the pure Ice Release bloodline chakra into it.

hum~
The regenerating nucleus shuddered violently.

The icy blue light on its surface suddenly intensified, emanating a cold aura, and began to suppress and guide the restless emerald life force and the raging scarlet Nine-Tails chakra within.

These Ice Release bloodline chakra, like the toughest chains of ice, seeped into these two unruly energies, attempting to assimilate them.

However, these two energies are of extremely high levels, far exceeding Ice Release Kekkei Chakra. Although they are imprisoned by sealing techniques, assimilating them is extremely difficult.

The ferocity of the Nine-Tails' chakra far exceeded imagination, and the immense vitality of Hashirama's cells also carried a wildness.

"Difficulty doesn't matter, as long as the refining is effective."

Sasuke Umino was not disappointed and continued to inject Ice Release bloodline chakra. This assimilation process was extremely difficult and slow, and the consumption rate of Ice Release bloodline chakra was also quite astonishing. In just a short while, the chakra in his body was reduced by nearly one-tenth or one-twelfth.

"It's really not that simple."

Sasuke Umino's eyes narrowed, indicating that he was already prepared.

With a thought, Samehada, which had been lurking nearby, sensed its master's emotions and immediately approached, opening its large mouth full of sharp teeth. However, instead of devouring the regeneration core itself, Samehada covered the surface of the regeneration core, greedily absorbing the mixed energy that had dissipated due to the refining conflict.

(End of this chapter)