Late at night.
The bright moon hung high in the sky.
On the side of Eagle's Beak Cliff facing the sea, four Konoha ninjas were casually chatting.
Suddenly, one of them seemed to have seen something and pointed towards the distant sea, urgently saying, "Captain, look, what's that?"
Hearing this, the captain of this four-man squad immediately looked in the direction he was pointing.
On the vast ocean, several black dots were rapidly approaching.
He widened his eyes, trying to make out what they were.
In the next moment, his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly said, "Quickly send a signal! It's an enemy attack!"
However, no one responded to him.
A faint smell of blood drifted into his nostrils.
Sensing something amiss, he instinctively turned his head to look.
He saw two ninjas, clad in black robes and wearing masks, standing behind him.
His three teammates had already had their throats slit.
"Kiri Anbu?"
Looking at the four curved lines on their masks, resembling flowing water or clouds, Ikeda Takeshi exclaimed in surprise.
As he spoke, he tried to retreat.
However, it was too late.
*Pierce~*
The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out.
A Kiri Anbu plunged his kunai into Ikeda Takeshi's heart.
*Puff~*
A mouthful of blood spurted from Ikeda Takeshi's mouth.
He endured the pain, trying to shout a warning.
However, before he could make a sound, another kunai slashed across, directly cutting his throat, preventing him from uttering a single word.
With that, all four members of Ikeda Takeshi's squad were wiped out, unable to send any signal before their deaths.
After completing this, the two Kiri Anbu looked at each other and nodded.
Then, they ignored the four corpses on the ground and headed straight deeper into Eagle's Beak Cliff, towards the direction of the stronghold.
After walking for about a few dozen meters, two figures suddenly dashed out from behind a nearby boulder.
They were also clad in black robes and wore masks, clearly two more Kiri Anbu.
Seeing the two and smelling the faint scent of blood on them, the Kiri Anbu who had killed Ikeda Takeshi spoke, "How did it go?"
His voice was hoarse, and it sounded even more muffled through the mask.
Hearing this, one of the newly arrived figures replied, "Everything went smoothly. We've taken care of the sentries."
The sentries Konoha had placed here naturally couldn't be just those four on the surface.
In fact, besides Ikeda Takeshi and the others, there was another squad hidden in the shadows, responsible for monitoring all movements in the surroundings.
This configuration of one overt and one covert squad, in the past, would have been enough for them to send out a warning signal even if someone launched a sneak attack.
However, Kirigakure was determined to succeed in tonight's operation and directly sent Anbu elites whose strength far surpassed that of the two squads. They had no time to react at all.
Moreover, Kirigakure had been relatively quiet these days, and the Konoha ninjas unconsciously relaxed their vigilance.
Thus, the combination of these two factors led to the current outcome.
After confirming that both the overt and covert sentries had been eliminated, this Kiri Anbu squad didn't venture further. Instead, they concealed themselves and quietly waited for the arrival of the main force.
Their mission was to ensure that Konoha wouldn't discover the main force's movements immediately. Now that the mission was complete, they naturally wouldn't do anything unnecessary.
It had to be said that their approach was correct.
Indeed, they had easily eliminated Ikeda Takeshi and the others, but that didn't mean they could move freely here.
Because the closer they got to the stronghold, the tighter Konoha's defenses became. If they dared to continue forward, their tracks would be exposed soon.
At that time, Konoha would naturally become aware.
Unfortunately, these people were all elite Kiri Anbu with rich mission experience. They didn't do anything superfluous.
This led to Konoha being completely unaware of Kirigakure's arrival.
And this was destined to catch Konoha off guard.
...
Inside the room.
Seimei was sound asleep.
At a certain moment, a sharp whistle suddenly pierced the air.
In the next moment, Seimei's eyes snapped open, his three-tomoe Sharingan instantly activated.
He grabbed the scabbard beside him and sprang up from the bed.
Boom~
The loud sound of an explosion reached his ears.
Seimei could tell it was the explosion of an explosive tag.
Then came the chaotic shouts of battle and the fierce sounds of fighting.
"Kirigakure?"
Seimei murmured.
In the next moment, his figure appeared outside the house.
Seimei released his perception and immediately detected a large number of unfamiliar auras.
With a few leaps, he reached the highest point of the stronghold and saw countless Kirigakure ninjas on the outskirts.
This number... was more than any previous attack, approximately five to six hundred.
Seeing the outer patrol teams retreating steadily, Seimei didn't hesitate at all. He quickly formed hand seals and performed the jutsu - Wind Release: Wind Wings!
In the next moment, his feet left the ground, and he flew towards the battlefield.
Passing over the two sides engaged in fierce combat, Seimei went straight to the rear of the Mist forces.
Looking at the still-gathering Kiri-nin, he formed hand seals and instantly performed the jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
A fist-sized fireball shot out from his mouth, then rapidly expanded, finally transforming into a massive fireball with a diameter of four to five meters, crashing down on the Mist ninja troops.
Feeling the intense heatwave from above, a Mist Genin looked up.
In the next moment, his expression turned blank, and he couldn't help but murmur, "What is this?"
Boom~
The giant fireball landed and exploded, instantly turning the surrounding area into a sea of flames, engulfing over a dozen Mist ninjas.
In the next moment, painful screams echoed as those Mist ninjas struggled in the flames, looking like demons.
This hellish scene immediately shocked the surrounding Mist ninjas.
However, Seimei didn't care about their reactions.
Right now, he had only one thing to do: delay Kirigakure's attack as much as possible.
Only in this way could he buy enough time for the Konoha ninjas in the stronghold to organize their defense.
Otherwise, the entire stronghold was at risk of falling.
Seimei changed direction, faced the densely packed area below, formed hand seals again, and performed the jutsu - Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!
A stream of flames erupted from his mouth, transforming into a fire dragon and charging straight into the crowd.
In the next moment, screams echoed once more.
Seimei paid no attention to this. With a flap of his chakra wings, he had already moved to another location.
'Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique~'
Another fire dragon plunged into the crowd.
Seimei didn't care about the outcome. After performing the jutsu, he flew to other areas, continuing to attack with ninjutsu.
Just like that, he hit and ran, never staying in one place for long. The Mist ninjas couldn't do anything about him for a while.
And he was causing chaos in the rear of the Mist forces, affecting their advance.
(End of Chapter)