Chapter 51: The Operation Begins and the Unexpected

It was night. A light rain fell from the sky. The surroundings were pitch black.

Seimei and the others followed Kogawa, sneaking all the way around to a position about a hundred meters west of a village. This village was the stronghold of the Iwa ninja. In the distance, a few scattered lights could be seen there.

Arriving in front of a low slope, Kogawa raised his right fist, signaling everyone to stop. Immediately, everyone stopped, the whole process highlighting their discipline. It had to be said that the battlefield was a place to train people, and those who had survived the past month of fighting with the Iwa ninja were not fools. At least, no one was maverick, doing anything out of line.

Kogawa checked the time, confirming that there were still more than ten minutes before the attack, so he gestured for everyone to take the time to rest. Seeing this, everyone silently adjusted their breathing, preparing for the upcoming battle.

Time passed by, and the surroundings were quiet, except for the subtle breathing of the crowd, only the sound of raindrops falling on the ground. As if anticipating the imminent outbreak of the war, the rain in the sky quietly grew heavier.

Seimei stretched out his hand, felt it, and frowned slightly, thinking to himself, "This kind of environment is not suitable for the use of fire!" However, when he touched the short blade at his waist, he felt relieved. Nothing to say, the lv3 (430/1000) 'Konoha Flow Sword Technique' gave him enough confidence.

Boom~

Suddenly, an explosion came from afar. Seimei immediately looked in the direction of the sound and saw a crimson flame rising from the south of the village ahead, the scene of the explosion of the detonating symbol. Then, there came the clanging sound of metal colliding. There was no need to think about it, there must have been a fight there.

'Someone exposed?'

The first time, this idea popped into Seimei's mind. In this mission, they were divided into four teams, planning to launch an attack from four directions of the village at the same time. Their team was led by Kogawa, responsible for launching an attack from the west of the village, and the other three sides were responsible for the other three teams. Looking at the current situation, it was likely that the team in the south was exposed. Otherwise, they would not launch an attack casually without reaching the agreed time.

What Seimei could think of, Kogawa could naturally think of too. Therefore, after only a few seconds of thinking, he decisively ordered: "The plan has changed, everyone, follow me!"

After saying that, he took the lead and ran towards the Iwa ninja stronghold. Seeing this, Seimei and the others immediately followed. Obviously, Kogawa was going to launch an attack in advance, and he was not the only one who had similar thoughts. Just as they were rapidly approaching the Iwa ninja stronghold, an explosion also came from the north.

'This is also good, as long as it's not a one-on-one fight'

Thinking this in his heart, Seimei quickly scanned his surroundings, always alert to the possible dangers lurking in the dark.

Crack~

A subtle cracking sound came. Seimei looked down at his feet sharply. Vaguely, he could feel a slight vibration there, like a first or second-level earthquake, the touch was not strong. But it was this slight vibration that gave Seimei a feeling of impending doom.

Without any hesitation, Seimei grabbed Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko on his left and right sides and ran to the side like flying. At the same time, he did not forget to remind his teammates, shouting loudly: "Be careful of the ground!"

"What?"

Hearing his warning, some people were confused and reacted a little slower, while others reacted quickly and ran to both sides like him at the first moment.

The next moment, the earth cracked, and more than ten cracks of varying sizes suddenly appeared on the road ahead of Seimei and the others, accompanied by a strong earthquake. The few Konoha ninjas who had reacted a little slower were almost instantly swallowed by the cracks.

It was also at this time that Kogawa and several Jonin in front of the team noticed the anomaly. This was not to say that Seimei's perception was more acute than these Jonin, but that the enemy was specifically targeting their Chunin and Genin, deliberately avoiding Kogawa and the others. Otherwise, with the vigilance of Kogawa and the others, it would be impossible for them not to notice the movement underground.

Before everyone could stand firm, dense rock thorns emerged from the ground, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, continuous. Several Konoha ninjas were unable to dodge and were scratched by the rock thorns.

Fortunately, no one died because of this. It should be known that their team had a total of just over twenty people, and four or five had already died in the first wave of attacks. If a few more people were lost, what else would they fight for?

All of this was due to Seimei's shout. It was that reminder that gave everyone psychological preparation and prevented them from being completely stunned by the first wave of attacks, otherwise, a few more people would have died in this second wave of attacks.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~

Several kunai shot out from the hands of Kogawa and several other Jonin. Immediately afterward, several crisp metal collision sounds came from the darkness. Obviously, their attacks were blocked by someone.

However, the attacks targeting Seimei and other Chunin and Genin also stopped.

Tap tap tap~

A burst of dull footsteps came. An Iwa Jonin walked out of the darkness.

Seeing the newcomer, Kogawa didn't waste any words and immediately let a Jonin beside him step out to confront him, while he led the others towards the Iwa ninja stronghold.

Before setting off, Seimei and the others had been informed of the objectives of this mission - one was to eliminate the enemy's living forces as much as possible, and the other was to destroy the enemy's reserve supplies.

It seemed that Kogawa intended to accomplish the second objective.

Seimei also didn't want to fight to the death with the Iwa ninja, so if they could achieve this, it would be the best outcome. With that done, they could retreat.

But would the Iwa ninja let them complete the mission so easily?

The answer was obviously no.

As soon as Seimei and the others approached the village, they were immediately forced back by hundreds of kunai shot at them.

During the day, they had just repelled the Iwa ninja with the advantage of their home ground. Unexpectedly, retribution came so quickly, and at night they had to face the enemy's home field作战.

This kind of arrogant attitude of not treating kunai as money and throwing them casually was not a tactic they could use when fighting away from home. Unless one was proficient in space-time ninjutsu and could use sealing scrolls to carry extra equipment and tools, the things a ninja could carry when going out were very limited.

Under such circumstances, it was naturally impossible to engage in a battle of attrition with the opponent.

Moreover, such a defense was not so difficult to break through.

They saw a Konoha Jonin quietly step out from beside Kogawa, raise his hands, and quickly complete the hand seals.

The next moment, a large amount of chakra surged out of his body, mixing with the surrounding rainwater, forming a giant water dragon more than ten meters long.

The water dragon roared towards the sky and then lunged forward, attacking the not-so-sturdy wall ahead.

If this hit landed, the wall would collapse instantly, and even the Iwa ninja hiding behind it would not fare well. At that time, even if they didn't die, they would be injured.

Under these circumstances, the power of the Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique was unquestionable.

The Iwa ninja side obviously understood this as well, so before the water dragon could touch the wall, an angry roar came from behind the wall.

"Don't even think about it!"

Along with the voice, a tall earth wall rose from the ground.

Seimei recognized this technique, it was the B-rank ninjutsu known for its defensive power - Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall.

Originally, Earth Release was relatively effective against Water Release, and this technique was also performed by a Jonin, so the 'Water Dragon Bullet' couldn't break through the opponent's defense at all.

Seimei only heard a dull撞击声.

Feeling the ground beneath his feet tremble, the water dragon turned into splashing water, failing to cause any harm to the Iwa ninja behind it.

Fortunately, the Jonin on their side hadn't just prepared this one move.

　Sorry, only one update today, I'm still stuck on the road, this chapter was written on my phone in my spare time

  (End of this chapter)