In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed.
The moon, already hanging low in the sky, was now close to the horizon.
According to common wisdom, this should have been the darkest moment before dawn.
However, due to the fierce battle, Eagle Cliff was ablaze with fire, leaving no trace of darkness.
Seimei flew above the battlefield, his Sharingan spinning rapidly. Spotting an opportunity, he flapped his wings and sharply lowered his altitude.
What followed was a flurry of ninja techniques raining down on the Mist ninjas from above.
The entire process took less than 30 seconds before he withdrew, not giving his opponents any chance to retaliate.
Eagle Cliff, surrounded by the sea on three sides, was difficult to defend.
So, even though the Hidden Mist Village's surprise attack succeeded tonight, they did not abandon the advantage of being the attacking force.
The battlefield was broadly divided into three sections.
The Konoha side was nearly encircled on three sides.
At first, this seemed like a terrible situation.
But once Seimei mastered flight techniques, the disadvantage quickly turned into an advantage.
Using his ability to fly, he rapidly darted across different battlefields from above, continuously attacking the Mist ninjas.
During this time, Terumi Mei and the others wanted to target him but found it difficult to cross the battlefield as he did.
Thus, they couldn't keep up with his speed.
And this gave him plenty of time.
As a result, what initially seemed like a terrible situation for Konoha turned into an opportunity to pin down the Mist ninjas.
However, what Seimei could see, Terumi Mei and the others—who were on the receiving end—could also observe.
So, they attempted to regroup.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Tetsuka and his men, under Seimei's orders, relentlessly harassed the Mist ninjas, preventing them from regrouping.
Not only that, they intentionally split the battlefield into even smaller sections.
By doing this, they indeed faced greater danger.
After all, thirty people fighting off one hundred is much less risky than three people fighting off ten. The danger is entirely different.
Although both situations are in a 1-to-3 ratio, the more people involved, the greater the chance of rescue when encountering danger compared to smaller groups.
Even though they were exposed to more risk, Uchiha Tetsuka and the others continued dividing the battlefield as much as possible.
Why? Because this gave Seimei more room to operate.
And the better Seimei performed, the less danger they faced.
You could say it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Of course, they weren't so extreme as to divide into groups of three.
Usually, they fought in groups of around ten, against thirty Mist ninjas.
With this, Seimei could easily find openings to kill four or five people.
After a few such rounds, their pressure eased considerably.
With less pressure, they could handle the Mist ninjas even better.
However, Seimei's energy was limited, and he couldn't assist everyone.
As a result, Konoha also suffered significant losses. Many ninjas perished at the hands of Mist ninjas before Seimei could assist.
Especially after Terumi Mei and the others realized they couldn't do anything to him and spread most of their forces across different battlefields.
Even though he took this opportunity to kill two high-ranking Mist ninjas who had been relentlessly pursuing him, it didn't change much.
The truth was, Hidden Mist Village had simply committed too many forces.
Overall, however, Konoha was still holding up.
Now it was just a matter of which side would collapse first.
······
Another two hours passed in a flash.
The horizon started to lighten with the first signs of dawn.
After nearly four hours of fierce fighting, both Konoha and Hidden Mist suffered heavy losses.
From a bird's-eye view, corpses from both sides—Konoha and Mist—covered the ground near Eagle Cliff's stronghold, especially in the three directions close to the sea.
As for the surrounding environment, it had been utterly destroyed. Even the forest where Seimei usually trained had turned into scorched earth.
Boom~
Clang clang~
The familiar sounds of explosion tags and clashing weapons rang out.
Seimei looked toward the noise and saw a dozen Konoha ninjas surrounded by twice as many Mist ninjas, fighting for their lives.
Yes, the battle still wasn't over.
Even though the Hidden Mist Village had already lost many people and, even if they took this stronghold, wouldn't be able to hold it afterward, they still hadn't given up.
As for the reason, Seimei could roughly guess.
A little over an hour ago, Kurose Jōki had sent a message asking about his situation and hoping that if he had the energy, he could provide support to another stronghold.
However, Seimei knew his own limits. If he left, the Eagle Cliff stronghold would surely fall, so he decisively refused.
Still, from that message, he learned about the overall situation.
It turned out that tonight, not only was their stronghold attacked, but two other defensive lines, as well as the northern front where he was stationed, were also under siege.
Moreover, the Mist Village's intelligence was unusually accurate, catching them off guard.
Some strongholds had already fallen, while others were still holding out. Nara Keiko, the battlefield commander, was continuously deploying reinforcements.
From this information, Seimei easily deduced that the Mist Village had sacrificed so many soldiers just to keep him pinned here.
It wasn't arrogance—he was now worth that much.
Over the past month, he had frequently provided support and had always achieved good results.
So, it made sense that the Mist Village feared him.
Given that, it was understandable why they would be willing to lose soldiers to keep him here.
These thoughts flashed through his mind as Seimei flapped his wings and drew a graceful arc in the sky.
He flew toward the spot where the dozen Konoha ninjas were being surrounded.
Compared to before, his flying speed and agility had noticeably improved.
This wasn't just an illusion but a reality.
The reason was simple—after several hours of flying and battling, his "Wind Release: Wind Wings" had leveled up from lv2 (35/500) to lv3 (310/1000)!
With this increased mastery came greater control over the "Wind Release: Wind Wings."
At lv3, his top speed increased by 50%, from 20 meters per second to 30 meters per second, or 108 kilometers per hour.
Though this speed still didn't compare to commercial airplanes in his previous life, it was similar to driving a car on the highway.
The best part? He didn't have to worry about traffic or terrain restrictions.
Additionally, reaching lv3 didn't significantly increase his chakra consumption, even at maximum speed.
This showed how much more precise his control over the chakra wings had become.
This was also evident in the size of the wings, which had shrunk to around 1.2 meters.
After all, logic dictates that smaller wings provide less thrust, making it harder for someone of his size and weight to fly fast.
But in reality, he was flying faster.
There was only one explanation—his control over the chakra wings had improved.
And because of this, his flight had become more agile.
(End of chapter)