As the sun set and rose again, a week quickly passed.
Just as Qingming had predicted, the Mist Village was not going to sit idly by and let things unfold in a way that would be detrimental to them.
Since the news of the Leaf Village and the Stone Village's negotiations spread, the Mist Village began mobilizing troops, continuously sending soldiers from their homeland through the forward bases in the Land of Waves to enter the Land of Fire.
Furthermore, they didn't concentrate all their forces at the four breakthrough points, but instead, they distributed them broadly along the eastern border of the Land of Fire.
This caused immense pressure on the Leaf Village's outposts along that stretch.
Especially two days ago, when news broke that the second round of negotiations between the Leaf Village and the Stone Village had gone relatively smoothly, the Mist Village grew even more anxious and restless.
At times, Qingming wondered whether the Stone Village had deliberately leaked this news to provoke the Mist Village, hoping to create trouble for the Leaf Village, thereby gaining more leverage in the negotiations.
Or perhaps it was the more radical factions within the Stone Village and some elements within the Leaf Village who didn't want the war to end, trying to stir up chaos to disrupt the situation.
However, regardless of the truth, as one of the four breakthrough points closest to the Mist Village, the Black Stone Outpost had to prepare for war.
As a result, Qingming had to shorten his training time.
Fortunately, his 'Shadow Clone Technique' had already reached LV6, allowing him to create up to thirty shadow clones at once.
Otherwise, there would not have been enough time.
However, with many shadow clones working on the same skill simultaneously, even though Qingming increased the frequency of refreshing the clones' status, efficiency still decreased unavoidably.
It was an unavoidable reality.
Now, with the war approaching, Qingming couldn't afford to act independently.
He hoped that in the upcoming battles, he could extract more chakra to make up for the losses from the past period.
Indeed, Qingming believed that the war was now inevitable.
Regardless of who was behind the scenes, or what the truth was, since the Mist Village had prepared so thoroughly, it was impossible for them to back down now.
This was merely the calm before the storm.
Qingming could almost predict that in three days, when the results of the third round of negotiations between the Leaf Village and the Stone Village were announced, if they went smoothly again, the great battle would likely break out immediately.
At that point, the entire front line would inevitably be engulfed in flames of war.
Shaking his head, Qingming stopped overthinking. He led a squad from his unit and continued patrolling the forest southwest of the Black Stone Outpost.
Three days later, midday.
At the Black Stone Outpost, in the command center's conference room, Qingming and several of the elite ninjas were quietly waiting for the latest news.
After a short while, Sano Nobuyuki entered.
He sat down at the head of the table without any small talk and directly spoke: "The third round of negotiations went smoothly, and in ten days, our village will hold the final round of talks with the Stone Village. If it goes well, both sides will sign a peace agreement by the end of the month."
Undoubtedly, this was good news.
However, unlike ten days ago, when smiles filled the room, now everyone's face was serious.
It was clear that the actions of the Mist Village in the past ten days had put tremendous pressure on them, making it impossible to smile.
The room was silent as a pin dropped.
After a long pause, someone finally spoke up: "Captain, what does the command center say?"
Hearing this, all eyes turned to Sano Nobuyuki.
After a few seconds of silence, Sano replied, "The command center has no extra manpower to send. There are too many outposts to defend. The command center has asked us to hold out for the next ten days."
Clearly, these ten days were critical, and they would have to endure alone. The Stone Village would not provide reinforcements from the battlefield and would instead send troops that had withdrawn from the Sand Village frontlines to reinforce the area.
After all, just because the negotiations had gone smoothly didn't mean the war would end.
Furthermore, the negotiations themselves had a testing element from the Stone Village's side.
Otherwise, the final round wouldn't have been set for ten days later.
The reason behind this was to see whether the Mist Village could make significant progress in the next ten days.
If the Mist Village managed to completely break through the eastern defense lines of the Leaf Village, the Stone Village would likely overturn the previous negotiations and seize the opportunity to invade the Land of Fire.
In such a case, the Leaf Village couldn't afford to relax its vigilance.
Thus, the pressure from the Mist Village had to be borne by them alone.
Without a doubt, Qingming knew that this battle would be brutal, unless the Mist Village decided to retreat voluntarily, which seemed almost impossible.
In the past ten days, the Mist Village had almost laid bare their intent to attack, so how could they easily back off?
This battle was inevitable.
While Qingming was lost in thought, Sano Nobuyuki spoke again: "Everyone, the dawn of victory is right before us. Let's all strive for it!"
With those words, without waiting for anyone's response, he immediately began assigning tasks.
As expected, Qingming's flying abilities were once again put to use.
This time, his task was no longer to lead a patrol but to monitor the Mist ninjas in the Flying Fish Town and to patrol a 30-kilometer radius around the Black Stone Outpost to provide intelligence support for the entire team.
Upon hearing his assignment, Qingming thought for a moment before agreeing.
Although this task would consume quite a bit of his energy, it was relatively safe and also gave him some degree of freedom.
Afterward, he just had to send out some shadow clones to carry out the tasks, allowing him to continue his own training.
Soon, the meeting concluded.
Qingming handed over his unit and replenished his supplies before using 'Wind Style: Wind Wings' to fly into the sky, heading outside the outpost.
Once out of everyone's sight, he immediately cast 'Shadow Clone Technique' and created five shadow clones.
He sent one clone to Flying Fish Town to monitor the Mist ninjas there.
The other four clones were dispatched to patrol the four directions—north, south, east, and west—covering a 30-kilometer radius.
As for himself...
The world was vast, but nothing was greater than his training.
With the existence of 'Mind Link Technique', he didn't need to worry about delayed information transmission. He could continue his training and send the intelligence to Sano Nobuyuki when needed.
Additionally, it was worth mentioning that after ten days of intense training, his proficiency with 'Wind Style: Wind Wings' was now nearing the LV6 limit, just one step away from reaching the LV7 perfect level.
Qingming estimated that with such high-intensity patrols throughout the day, his proficiency would likely max out.
By then, he would gain an additional 20,000 chakra points daily, which would be quite enjoyable!
With that thought in mind, Qingming shook off his distractions, chose a direction, and flapped his wings, flying off.
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