Chapter 161

My clone handled the last task excellently, subduing the suitable genins and any chunins who happened to cross his path. However, the other shinobi quickly finished off their enemies, so I ended up with only fourteen living prisoners. Since I was the only one among the remaining chunins who had any mastery over Earth Release, I had to deal with the damaged sections of the wall around the camp.

I invested a huge amount of chakra to raise the earth by at least three meters and to repair half of the thickness, not to mention the original dimensions. Then I had to reinforce this section with barrier seals for added reliability.

If I didn't know how to create clones, I would have been completely overwhelmed, trying to be everywhere and control everything, but even so, there was a lot of work. Relative order was only established a few hours later when the gray morning haze gave way to the midday sun, and patrol teams began to arrive to replace the ones on duty.

By around noon, the second group of five arrived, and I was relieved to hand over the remaining tasks to the only tokubetsu jōnin, who was in charge of the local contingent after the commanding officer went to the main camp. The remaining kage bunshin in the camp had almost exhausted all its allocated chakra, so I had to prepare to dismiss it.

Returning to my tent, I made myself comfortable and began to meditate. The clone seated opposite me performed the seal and dissipated, overwhelming me with all its memories from the past days, which triggered a mild migraine. However, I almost instantly got answers to all my numerous questions.

After most of the jōnins, tokubetsu jōnins, and the most experienced chunins were taken for preparation for the mass assault, as I had predicted to my partners, there were only about sixty shinobi and kunoichi left in the camp, not counting the genins. Given that the strongest fighters were unavailable, the patrol teams of four were turned into five, and every four hours one of them had to be replaced by those resting in the camp.

Considering the large area that needed to be patrolled around the clock, it was not surprising that only about twenty chunins and I were left for defense. No one really thought that Iwa would have the audacity to attack a well-fortified camp during our mass offensive. If I hadn't killed Goro, such a plan could have succeeded, allowing them to eliminate not only the entire contingent of this strategic point but also the returning patrol teams, simply overwhelming them with numbers one by one.

Entering behind the main forces or cutting off supply lines to the front would not have been particularly difficult. A rather unpleasant prospect when the bulk of our troops are on enemy territory and there's no way to reinforce them.

After massaging my aching temples with healing chakra, I thought about doing something productive but then shrugged it off and fell back to sleep. Considering that I had been pulled out of bed by this attack around five in the morning and had gone to bed after two at night, a little nap wouldn't hurt. And in case of any unforeseen circumstances, there's a kage bunshin currently patrolling the camp.

After all, despite everything that happened, I still have two days off before another four months of service, so I should make the most of this time and get some good rest, while everything else can wait. I don't think Iwa will be eager to launch another attack on our insignificant post anytime soon.

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