* * *
Boom! Boom!
Two consecutive loud crashes echoed as the water and fire dragons slammed into the earthen wall, killing Nogawa Kei and shattering the wall.
Thanks to Nogawa Kei's early warning, most of the lower-ranking Iwa ninja escaped the blast, with only a few unlucky ones suffering minor injuries.
"Attack!"
A low shout erupted from the Konoha ranks.
In the next moment, hundreds of Konoha ninja charged towards the remaining Iwa ninja.
The lake that had formed behind the earthen wall was rapidly expanding as the wall crumbled. The water level dropped quickly, making the surface unstable.
However, the Konoha ninja stepped on the water as if it were solid ground, showing no signs of wavering.
They quickly caught up to the Iwa ninja.
The Iwa ninja were already outnumbered, and with their leading Jonin dead, they had no intention of staying.
As soon as Seimei and the others moved, the Iwa ninja scattered and fled.
In the end, the vast difference in numbers and strength resulted in the deaths of most of the Iwa ninja.
Seimei and the others didn't pursue the few who managed to escape. Instead, they led the team forward at high speed.
They had to put enough distance between themselves and the Iwa ninja before they could react and reestablish their encirclement.
This would give them more time to rest and better contain Iwagakure's reinforcements.
As long as they could break through again before the second encirclement was formed, they would gain another period of rest.
After doing this two or three times, they could basically complete their mission.
By then, the offensive and defensive battle at the front-line stronghold should have a result.
"I just don't know if the plan will go as smoothly as expected..."
While on the move, Seimei multitasked, keeping a close eye on his surroundings while speculating on various future possibilities and formulating countermeasures.
Time passed by.
In the blink of an eye, it was mid-afternoon.
After confirming they had broken through the encirclement, Nara Shikaku ordered everyone to rest.
The Konoha ninja immediately sat down and took out soldier pills from their ninja pouches, chewing them.
For a while, the only sound was the crunching of the pills.
After resting for about an hour, they set off again, heading towards Iwagakure's second line of defense according to the plan.
This time, Nara Shikaku didn't have them march at full speed.
There were two reasons for this. First, the continuous battles, killings, and rushing had left everyone exhausted, and their physical strength had declined significantly. To maintain their combat effectiveness, they had to slow down.
Second, they needed to make sure the Iwa ninja could catch up.
Their primary goal was not to escape but to contain Iwagakure's reinforcements.
If they ran too fast and the Iwa ninja gave up hope of catching up, their mission would be considered a failure.
Therefore, they had to give Iwagakure enough time to pursue them, to let them see hope, so they wouldn't give up.
At the same time, to ensure their own safety, they couldn't get too close.
Nara Shikaku, as the commander, needed to grasp this balance.
As a Jonin from the Nara clan, known for their high intelligence in Konoha and even the entire ninja world, Seimei trusted Nara Shikaku's abilities.
Therefore, he didn't interfere with his decisions.
Facts proved that Nara Shikaku was indeed capable.
Over the next day or so, he led the team, sometimes stopping, sometimes taking detours to avoid Iwagakure's search, and sometimes directly breaking through their checkpoints.
In short, they were neither caught nor did they let Iwagakure give up the pursuit. The mission was going smoothly.
...
Time flew by, and it was the evening of the next day.
By now, they had broken through three of Iwagakure's blockades and arrived at a camp they had captured the night before yesterday.
It was a sizable town that had been emptied of civilians due to the war, and the buildings were in ruins.
Even so, it was still better than the wilderness, at least there were places to shelter from the wind and rain.
They would rest here for the night.
According to the news from headquarters, the counter-offensive plan was progressing very smoothly, and several strongholds on the front line had made significant progress.
Some strongholds had even broken through the camps on Iwagakure's second line of defense.
Their mission tomorrow was to rendezvous with a team not far away that had already penetrated Iwagakure's second line of defense.
It could be said that their task of containing Iwagakure's reinforcements was basically complete.
After meeting up with their allies tomorrow, their safety would be greatly improved.
According to the latest intelligence, it would take Iwagakure at least until noon tomorrow to block their path again.
As long as they set off before then, they wouldn't encounter any danger.
According to their plan, they would leave here early tomorrow morning and quickly head to their allies' location.
So, theoretically, they were safe.
But for some reason, Seimei had a bad feeling that the rendezvous wouldn't go so smoothly.
Combined with the occasional feeling of being watched these days, this bad feeling became even stronger.
Unfortunately, he had no evidence and couldn't ask Nara Shikaku to change the plan just because of a feeling.
"Sigh! Looks like I'll have to be extra careful tomorrow..."
With a sigh, Seimei reminded himself and then entered a cultivation state, holding his short sword.
Seimei had developed the habit of cultivating whenever he had time, no matter how tired he was.
Now, his daily chakra recovery was 21,000 points. If he didn't use it, it would be a waste, so Seimei cherished every minute and second.
Nowadays, he couldn't practice the 'Heart Reflection Technique' anymore, so he would practice the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' whenever he had the chance.
Practicing it required less chakra and time than the 'Heart Reflection Technique', so his proficiency increased rapidly, and the progress bar was almost halfway there.
Once it reached the perfect state of lv7 (0/0), he could start developing the '幻剑术' (Illusion Sword Technique).
There was also the 'Healing Technique'...
Because of the many opportunities to practice it in recent days, its proficiency had also increased rapidly.
Currently, the progress bar had exceeded 80%. He only needed to experience one or two more battles to reach the perfect state of lv5 (0/0).
By then, he could start learning the 'Palm Immortal Technique' and 'Chakra Scalpel'.
After that, once he had leveled them up, he could try to strengthen his body.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Seimei quickly calmed down and began cultivating according to his plan.
(End of Chapter)