Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another half-month had passed.
The battlefield remained eerily "calm"—until the arrival of the first wave of reinforcements from Konoha!
Indeed, after more than twenty days of logistical adjustments, the first batch of reinforcements drawn from the Ame-no-Kuni (Rain Country) battlefield finally reached this front. Along with them came new orders from the village.
At the Black Stone Outpost
Inside the meeting room, Sano Nobuhisa looked at everyone with a stern expression and said, "We've received new orders from headquarters."
Hearing this, everyone immediately sat upright, their ears pricked to listen attentively.
Sano Nobuhisa continued, "Effective immediately, all outposts are to switch from defense to offense. The objective is clear: drive the Mist Ninja out of the Land of Fire and reclaim our territory in the shortest time possible."
"A counterattack?"
The group was a mixture of excitement and apprehension upon hearing this.
The excitement stemmed from finally getting the chance to retaliate. Originally, their consolidation at this outpost had been aimed at recapturing Flying Fish Town. However, that plan had fallen apart when the Mist Village abruptly increased their troop numbers, forcing them into a defensive posture.
Now, they were finally able to strike back and regain their lost ground.
However, their apprehension was equally valid. Launching a counterattack meant breaking the current stalemate. Over the past weeks, the eerie calm on this battlefield was largely due to their lack of aggressive moves.
Attempting to reclaim Flying Fish Town was bound to provoke the Mist Ninja. How they might respond remained uncertain.
If the Mist forces continued in their current indecisive state, the situation could be gradually turned in Konoha's favor. But if the Mist ninja decided to fight back with all their might, casualties would be inevitable.
Despite this concern, most people were still optimistic.
After all, the end of the war was finally in sight.
Over the past two or three years, Konoha's main adversaries had been three villages—Sand, Stone, and Mist. With the first two already out of the picture, only Mist remained. Once the Mist Ninja were driven out of the Land of Fire, the war could effectively be declared over.
At that point, peace would naturally follow.
As for smaller skirmishes, such as the conflict with the Cloud Village, these were relatively minor in scale and had not encroached into the Land of Fire itself—so they were of little consequence.
Qingming quietly observed the reactions of the others, his expression unchanging as if this had nothing to do with him.
In fact, that was indeed the case.
The Qingming in the outpost was merely a shadow clone.
For quite some time now, his true body had rarely appeared at the outpost. He spent his days either training or heading toward new training grounds, with little attention to spare for the affairs here.
But now, things were different.
After the meeting concluded, the shadow clone relayed its content to Qingming, who immediately shifted to full alertness.
There was no doubt—this counterattack was something he would join, not only because of Sano Nobuhisa's orders but also because it aligned with his personal plans.
Five days ago, his "Water Release: Water Severing Wave" successfully reached level 7 (0/0), achieving perfection. The 30,000 units of chakra saved were allocated as planned—split equally between "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu" and "Chakra Cloak."
This change increased their daily proficiency gains from 200 and 300 to 300 and 450, respectively.
In the short term, this represented the maximum chakra he could allocate.
While such progress would have been commendable for other techniques, Qingming still found it insufficient.
The reasoning was simple: the "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu" was an A-rank technique with a maximum level of 9, demanding an immense amount of proficiency points. At a daily gain of 300 points, it would take far too long to master.
Meanwhile, the "Chakra Cloak," after continuous refinement—especially after his close encounter with Saiken, the Six-Tails—had been elevated to A-rank potential. This meant it, too, required an extensive amount of chakra to reach perfection.
In short, the daily expenditure of 90,000 units of chakra was proving inadequate.
At this point, the quickest way to supplement his progress was through "side income."
The upcoming counterattack presented a golden opportunity.
If Qingming could harvest enough chakra during the operation, the two techniques would improve significantly in a short time.
With this plan in mind, Qingming left a few shadow clones to continue training and set out toward the Black Stone Outpost to join the counterattack.
Five Days Later
South of the Black Stone Outpost, in a dense forest not far from Flying Fish Town, Qingming retracted his hand from the body of a Mist Ninja special jōnin.
Thud!
The lifeless body fell heavily to the ground, its chakra, spiritual energy, and physical energy completely drained by Qingming.
Nearby, several other Mist Ninjas lay in the same state.
Qingming raised his hand and performed a jutsu—"Fire Release: Scorching Cremation!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Flames erupted, quickly engulfing and incinerating the corpses until only ashes remained.
After ensuring the task was complete, Qingming turned toward a specific spot in the forest and spoke calmly, "Since you're here, you might as well come out."
Tap, tap, tap...
Soft footsteps echoed, and a figure stepped out from behind a tree. Cloaked in black and wearing a mask adorned with four wavy lines—the emblem of the Mist Village—the figure was unmistakably a Mist Village Anbu ninja.
Qingming carefully sensed the figure's aura, and a glint of recognition flashed in his eyes. "It's you?"
"Hmm?"
Hearing Qingming's words, Kisame Hoshigaki's expression shifted slightly under his mask. Nonetheless, he kept his composure and replied, "You know me?"
Indeed, this Mist Anbu was none other than the infamous "tailless tailed beast," Kisame Hoshigaki.
Clearly, Qingming's rampant chakra harvesting over the past few days had drawn the attention of the Mist Village, prompting them to send an elite Anbu member to investigate.
Kisame's attempt to draw out information by feigning ignorance didn't work on Qingming, however.
Gazing at the figure before him, Qingming shook his head with a disappointed expression.
He had initially hoped that the real Kisame had shown up, but it turned out to be just a shadow clone.
Yes, the Kisame before him wasn't the real body. Despite his formidable strength, Kisame was cautious by nature. Even after detecting Qingming's presence, he had chosen not to approach directly, instead sending a shadow clone to investigate.
If Qingming hadn't encountered Kisame before and noted his extraordinarily high chakra reserves, he might not have realized this.
As for why Qingming still harvested chakra from the Mist Ninjas despite Kisame's presence?
The answer was simple—he no longer cared.
With the war nearing its end, this was his last chance to harvest chakra. He intended to extract as much as he could.
Moreover, with his next physical transformation approaching and his "Constitution" attribute about to increase, Qingming's daily chakra recovery would rise significantly, further reducing his reliance on external chakra.
In short, even if he were exposed, it wouldn't matter. At worst, he'd stop harvesting altogether in the future.
plz support me if you can.
patreon.com/Mano99
all the fanfic is 30 chapter a had and you will get 1 chapter everyday.