**Chapter 10: Ambush**

Linton was indeed quite familiar with the name Mount Kikyo, but familiarity was one thing—he didn't know the specifics of the place at all. 

He recalled that the original work mentioned a battle called the Battle of Mount Kikyo, said to be one of the major battles of the Third Ninja World War. However, the details of the battle were never mentioned, at least not according to Linton's memory. He could only rely on his memory, even though he couldn't recall how he knew these things.

According to his recollection, this battle was supposed to end in a victory for Konoha. He wasn't sure if the current situation would change the outcome, given his involvement in the storyline. However, judging by the current circumstances, his role seemed to be limited. Even if he wasn't there, Sarutobi Shinnosuke would have brought back the information, and Namikaze Minato's arrival would make Konoha resolute about launching a surprise attack.

In any case, as soon as the order was given, Konoha's troops immediately sprang into action. As mentioned earlier, once the Sand Ninja forces realized their base had been discovered, they would probably try to retreat immediately, prompting the need for immediate action. Konoha, looking to attack, had to move quickly. So, with a single command from the supreme commander, Orochimaru, everyone was ordered to launch a surprise attack, targeting Mount Kikyo.

Even though it was a surprise attack, there was still some strategy involved. Orochimaru's plan was for a large unit to attack from the east side head-on and engage the enemy's main force, while another unit would attack from the south, focusing on harassment and surprise attacks.

This surprise attack unit was led by Namikaze Minato. It was a small group, only eleven people, but they were all elites, including Minato, who was of Kage level, three Jonin, and seven Chunin. Orochimaru gave them the primary task of causing destruction and chaos, with the secondary task of assassinating key enemy figures.

Unfortunately, Linton was part of this surprise attack unit. Regarding this outcome, Linton didn't know whether to be happy or unhappy. The good part was that there were fewer people in this squad, so fewer people would recognize him, and none of these eleven or so people would directly accuse him of being a spy. That was indeed a good thing. The downside was that this unit was clearly much more dangerous than just slacking off in the main force.

Linton glanced at Namikaze Minato beside him. By this time, Minato's abilities and reputation had already spread, and everyone knew the famous "Yellow Flash of Konoha." Naturally, he would attract quite a few formidable opponents. Of course, in his current peak state, Minato probably feared no one—even if the Fourth Kazekage himself came, he wouldn't back down. However, Linton and the others didn't have that kind of level.

So, Linton could only take it one step at a time. If possible, he still wanted to return to Konoha Village. Considering exploration points, heading back would probably yield quite a few points. The second option was to die in battle. Based on past experiences, dying would mean returning, although with possibly fewer exploration points. But that wasn't too big of a deal. The worst-case scenario would be getting captured. If he were captured by the Sand Ninja Village, that would truly be a disaster. Not only would it be hard to die, but with his Sharingan, who knew what kind of experiments they might want to conduct on him? They definitely wouldn't let go of such a valuable bloodline limit.

"Stop!" At this moment, a ninja in the squad suddenly shouted, and everyone immediately stopped and took cover on the spot.

"What's going on?" asked a Jonin, whom Linton didn't recognize, addressing the ninja who had just spoken. Linton also glanced at that ninja, who was easy to recognize with his white eyes, clearly indicating he was from the Hyuga clan. If he remembered correctly from the brief introductions before setting off, this Hyuga clan member was named Hyuga Chūri, a Chunin.

"There's a large enemy force ahead—it's Sand Ninja," Hyuga Chūri reported. "There are over a hundred of them, moving westward. They're a retreating unit."

Linton immediately activated his Sharingan to look ahead, but he couldn't see anything. He had to admit that in terms of reconnaissance, the Byakugan was indeed overpowered. Linton's Sharingan was already at the level of a military-grade telescope, but the Byakugan was like a wall-hack. For the record, Linton's use of the Sharingan consumed his MP, which seemed to be an adjustment by the system; it didn't use chakra. It looked like all his abilities would automatically consume his MP bar.

Needless to say, everyone's attention immediately focused on Namikaze Minato. It was decision time. The enemy had over a hundred people, while they only had about a dozen. Generally speaking, they were outnumbered, but if it was just a retreating unit, it was highly likely to be a logistics team—exactly their target. Of course, it could also be a trap, which depended on Minato's judgment.

"Get in front of them and prepare an ambush," Minato decided after a moment's thought. The squad didn't raise any objections, and the dozen or so of them quickly moved to a position ahead of the enemy's route, setting up a simple ambush using mostly explosive tag traps. After a short while, Hyuga Chūri, who was in charge of reconnaissance, gave a hand signal, and everyone immediately hid nearby.

Linton hid on a nearby tree, keeping an eye on the situation below while also preparing to use more of his skills. He had more than 10,000 points left, so he decided not to hold back in the current situation and use them for now. After looking through the store, Linton decided to purchase a C-level chakra reserve, which essentially increased his MP cap. Previously, he had bought a D-level reserve, which added 1,000 MP to his cap, already quadrupling his original MP. Now, after purchasing the C-level chakra reserve, his MP increased by another 10,000 points, bringing him to a total of 11,300 MP—a huge improvement over his previous 300 points.

To make use of his increased MP, Linton also bought some skills, primarily ninjutsu. The jutsu available for purchase included some Fire Release techniques—likely obtained from defeating that Uchiha earlier, given the Uchiha clan's proficiency in Fire Release—as well as some Wind Release and Earth Release skills, probably provided by the Sand Ninja Jonin he encountered. Though he hadn't tested them yet, he could probably cast quite a few with his current 10,000 MP.

As soon as he finished enhancing his skills, the enemy appeared. A Sand Ninja unit quickly emerged in front of them, indeed numbering quite a few. Some were even pushing carts, which indeed looked like a retreating logistics unit. The Konoha ninjas held their breath, waiting for the enemy to enter the traps.

However, something unexpected happened. Just as the enemy was about to enter the traps, the leading Sand Ninja suddenly raised his hand, signaling the unit to stop. After surveying the situation ahead, he suddenly said, "There's an ambush!"

"Attack!" It was unfortunate the enemy didn't trigger the traps, but there was no choice now. With a shout from Namikaze Minato, the Konoha ninjas leaped out, and Linton naturally followed, immediately unleashing his ninjutsu.

"Fire Style: Great Flame Bomb." 

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough." 

"Lightning Style: Conductor Wave."

All the ambushing Konoha ninjas released their best ninjutsu, and in an instant, various jutsu erupted among the Sand Ninja unit, taking down quite a few of them. It became apparent that this Sand Ninja unit was not an elite force; Minato's judgment was indeed correct—this was a retreating logistics unit.

Linton felt that his Great Flame Bomb probably took down two or three people. This was his first time actively killing someone; previously, the system's auto-battle mode had handled it for him. To be honest, Linton didn't feel much emotional fluctuation over it.

"Counterattack!" shouted the leading Sand Ninja, who was trying to perform some jutsu to fight back. However, before he could complete the hand seals, a figure suddenly appeared behind him—Namikaze Minato.

Linton had been watching that side and witnessed Minato's ability firsthand. The Flying Thunder God technique was indeed a broken jutsu; Minato instantly teleported behind his opponent. This Sand Ninja was at least a Jonin, but he hadn't noticed Minato's movement at all. By the time he saw him, Minato was already behind him.

"It's you, Konoha's Yellow Flash..." Before he could finish speaking, he was hit by a Rasengan and sent flying, never getting back up.

Of course, Minato didn't stop there. He threw a few kunai, followed by a series of blinks. Each time he appeared, he took down a few ninjas, all of whom were experts. Seeing this, the Sand Ninja forces panicked. They hadn't expected their ambushers to include the infamous Yellow Flash. They lost their fighting spirit, and everyone became afraid.

"Retreat!"

Someone shouted, and the Sand Ninja unit immediately retreated in the direction they had come from. Of course, they abandoned their supplies, and a few even volunteered to stay behind and cover the retreat. Regardless of whether these people managed to escape or not, Kono

ha's objective was achieved.

However, at that moment, Linton encountered a problem. Just as the Sand Ninja main force was preparing to retreat, a few shuriken were suddenly thrown at Linton from among them. Linton hadn't noticed it until he heard a notification sound.

"Hostile target detected. Entering auto-battle mode."

"Huh?" Linton was stunned. Before he could turn his head, his body automatically dodged the incoming shuriken with a backward lean. He looked around but couldn't spot who had attacked him; it seemed that whoever threw the shuriken had already hidden among the retreating crowd.

Unexpectedly, Linton's body suddenly started moving on its own, charging toward the retreating group.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Linton realized something was wrong and quickly asked, but there was no response.

"Uchiha Linton, where are you going? Come back!" Suddenly, another shout came from the side. It was Sarutobi Shinnosuke, who noticed that Linton had suddenly broken formation and hurriedly called out. Since Linton had joined his squad earlier, he naturally had to take charge.

"No, I..." Linton was frustrated. He wanted to come back, but his body wasn't listening to him.

"Damn it, who's the jerk of a Sand Ninja who threw those shuriken? Show yourself!"

(End of this chapter)