Boom! Boom!
Two loud crashes echoed through the air as the water and fire dragons struck the wall, killing Nochikawa while shattering the earth wall in the process.
Although the lower-ranked Iwa ninjas had mostly evaded thanks to Nochikawa's prior warning, a few unlucky ones were caught in the chaos and suffered injuries of varying degrees.
"Charge!"
A low shout came from the Konoha ranks.
In an instant, hundreds of Konoha ninjas charged towards the remaining Iwa ninjas.
The wall that had been blocking the area had formed a temporary lake, but as the wall collapsed, the water spread out quickly, and the water level began to drop, making the surface unstable.
Yet, the Konoha ninjas moved across the surface effortlessly, without showing the slightest hint of imbalance.
Before long, they caught up to the fleeing Iwa ninjas.
Yes, caught up.
The Iwa ninjas were already outnumbered, and with their lead jonin dead, they had no courage to stand and fight. The moment they saw Konoha ninjas charging, they scattered in retreat.
However, the overwhelming difference in numbers and strength meant that most of them were killed. Only a few stragglers managed to escape, but Qingming and the others didn't pursue them. Instead, they led the team forward swiftly.
They had to gain as much distance as possible before the Iwa ninjas regrouped and adjusted their formation. Only by doing so could they force the Iwa forces to reconstruct their encirclement.
This would buy them more time to rest and better fulfill their mission of delaying Iwa's reinforcements.
If they could break through the encirclement a few more times, the mission would be complete.
By then, the Konoha front line should have had a decisive result in their defense against Iwa's forces.
"Still... I wonder if everything will go as smoothly as planned..."
As they advanced, Qingming stayed alert, watching the surroundings closely while contemplating the possible outcomes and preparing countermeasures.
Time ticked by as they marched.
By mid-afternoon, after confirming they had broken free of the encirclement, Nara Sishui ordered the group to rest.
Upon hearing this, the Konoha ninjas quickly sat down and pulled out their ration pills from their pouches, chewing them in silence.
For a moment, the only sound in the camp was the crunching of food.
After resting for about an hour, they set out again, heading toward Iwagakure's second line of defense, as planned.
This time, Sishui didn't push for a rapid march.
There were two reasons for this: first, the continuous fighting and marching had left everyone exhausted, and pushing them too hard would severely reduce their combat effectiveness. Second, they needed to ensure that the Iwa ninjas would continue chasing them.
Their primary objective wasn't just to escape, but to delay Iwa's reinforcements.
If they moved too fast and made the Iwa ninjas lose hope of catching up, the enemy might give up on the pursuit altogether. That would mean mission failure.
So, they had to leave Iwagakure's forces just enough time to catch up. They needed to make the enemy believe they had a chance, so they wouldn't stop their pursuit.
At the same time, they couldn't allow the distance between them and their pursuers to get too close.
This delicate balance had to be managed by Nara Sishui, their strategist.
As a jonin from one of Konoha's most renowned clans for intelligence, Qingming trusted Sishui's judgment.
And his confidence was well-placed.
Over the next day or so, under Sishui's command, the group skillfully avoided direct confrontations. Sometimes they would take longer routes to avoid detection, and at other times, they would break through Iwa's checkpoints.
In the end, they neither got caught nor allowed Iwa to give up the chase, steadily fulfilling their mission.
Time flew by, and before they knew it, the next evening had arrived.
By this point, they had broken through three lines of Iwa's defense and found themselves back at the outpost they had raided two nights ago.
This town, which had once been bustling, was now desolate due to the war. The buildings were mostly in ruins, but it still offered more shelter than the wilderness.
Tonight, they would rest here.
According to reports from their headquarters, the counteroffensive had gone very well, and several of Konoha's front-line outposts had made significant progress.
In fact, some had already broken through Iwa's second line of defense.
Their next mission would be to rendezvous with a nearby Konoha force that had already breached Iwa's second line.
In other words, their task of delaying Iwa's reinforcements was almost complete.
By tomorrow, once they had linked up with their allies, their safety would be much more assured.
Based on the latest intelligence, Iwa wouldn't be able to block their path again until midday tomorrow at the earliest.
As long as they left here early in the morning, they wouldn't face any serious danger.
In theory, they were already safe.
Yet for some reason, Qingming couldn't shake a growing sense of unease, as though the upcoming rendezvous wouldn't go as smoothly as they expected.
He also recalled the occasional feeling of being watched over the past few days, which only deepened his apprehension.
Unfortunately, he had no evidence to back up his suspicions, and there was no way he could ask Nara Sishui to change their plans based solely on a gut feeling.
Sigh!
"Looks like I'll just have to be extra cautious tomorrow."
With a quiet sigh, Qingming warned himself to stay vigilant. Then, he gripped his short sword tightly and entered his training state.
Qingming had long since developed the habit of training whenever he had the chance, no matter how tired he was.
Currently, his chakra recovery rate was around 21,000 points a day. If he didn't use it, it would go to waste, so he cherished every moment to train.
Since he could no longer grind experience points with his Reflecting Heart Technique, he had been practicing his Genjutsu: Sharingan whenever he had spare time.
Unlike the Reflecting Heart Technique, this required less chakra and time, so the progress bar for it had been steadily increasing, and he was close to the halfway mark.
Once it advanced to lv6 (0/0) and reached its peak, he could begin developing the Illusion Sword Technique.
Then there was his Healing Jutsu. Thanks to the numerous practical opportunities he'd had recently, its proficiency had risen rapidly.
Currently, its progress bar had already exceeded 80%. After one or two more battles, it would reach lv5 (0/0), its peak.
At that point, he could begin learning both the Mystical Palm Technique and the Chakra Scalpel.
After that, once he leveled those up, he could start focusing on enhancing his body.
With these thoughts swirling briefly in his mind, Qingming quickly cleared his head and settled into his planned training routine.
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