In the blink of an eye, a week had passed.
After resting and focusing on steady cultivation for two days, Qingming's break had come to an end, and he began leading his team to carry out missions.
However, due to the aftermath of the previous battle, the situation at Youjin Port remained relatively quiet.
As a result, Qingming's tasks were not too heavy, and he still had enough time for his training each day.
But such peaceful days did not last long.
A week was enough time for the ninjas with lighter injuries to recover and regain their mobility.
As a result, both Konoha and the Hidden Mist became active again.
On the battlefield outside Youjin Port, both sides' patrol squads began to engage in sporadic skirmishes once more.
And this was only the beginning.
It was easy to predict that, before long, with both sides preparing, a final large-scale battle would inevitably break out.
At that time, the outcome would determine the victor and the fate of negotiations.
But even these small skirmishes were impacting Qingming's training.
The increasing number of missions greatly compressed the time he had for cultivation.
Fortunately, Qingming could take advantage of these minor battles to gather chakra, using more shadow clones to make up for the lost training time.
The only price he paid was the significant mental strain he had to endure every day.
Fortunately, with his Mangekyō Sharingan's high evolution level and his strong mental power, he could withstand this pressure.
If it had been anyone else, with the same schedule, they would have likely collapsed long ago.
While Qingming was lost in thought, someone in the front of the team suddenly stopped in their tracks.
Seeing this, Qingming immediately snapped back to attention, activating his blood-red Sharingan to scan his surroundings, not allowing any abnormalities to go unnoticed.
At the same time, he kept his ears alert, listening carefully to any sounds from the forest.
Soon, a faint explosion reached his ears, originating from what seemed like the right front.
Qingming subtly turned his head to look in that direction.
At that moment, the ninja who had stopped in the front of the team came over to him.
He spoke, "Captain, about 500 meters to the right, our people are engaged in battle with the Mist ninjas."
Upon hearing this, Qingming glanced at the ninja, his eyes scanning his white eyes, and asked calmly, "How many of our people are involved?"
Having grown used to Qingming's concise style, the Hyūga clan ninja immediately answered without further hesitation, "We have two squads involved. One has already lost a member and another is seriously injured. There are six remaining, while the enemy has…"
He paused for a moment, focused his attention, and peered in the direction of the battlefield.
After a few seconds, he continued, "The enemy has four squads, sixteen members in total, all alive. Two more squads are on their way, currently about three hundred meters from the battlefield."
"Six squads, three hundred meters away?" Qingming murmured to himself as he surveyed the sixteen members in his own four squads, then asked, "How strong is the enemy?"
He was leading one squad, so if the Mist ninjas were not too powerful, even with the difference in numbers, they could still launch an attack.
The Hyūga ninja concentrated again and scanned the battlefield with his Byakugan.
This time, it took a little longer, nearly ten seconds, before he finally spoke, "From the chakra levels, the fighting Mist ninjas consist of three standard ninja squads and one elite middle ninja squad, while the two squads arriving as reinforcements are led by two Jonin-level ninjas."
A standard ninja squad was composed of one middle ninja as the leader and three lower ninjas as the team members.
An elite middle ninja squad was made up of three middle ninjas, including the leader.
As for the standard Jonin squads, they were similar to the standard middle ninja squads, but with one Jonin or special Jonin as the leader, and all the other members were middle ninjas.
In total, the Mist side had two Jonin or special Jonin, thirteen middle ninjas, and nine lower ninjas.
Based on the order in which the squads appeared and their composition, it seemed that the three standard middle ninja squads had encountered Qingming's two squads first and engaged in battle. Afterward, the elite middle ninja squad, consisting of four middle ninjas, had come to reinforce them.
As for the last two Jonin squads…
This had to do with the current battlefield situation.
Because of the approaching large-scale war, both Konoha and the Mist did not dare to show even the slightest weakness.
So, whenever a battle broke out, regardless of the enemy's strength, at the very least, a Jonin squad would be dispatched for support.
If there were no unexpected developments, the Jonin squad would be the last line of defense.
At the same time, the Jonin squad would have the responsibility of swiftly ending the battle.
After all, both sides could call for reinforcements, and no one knew when the enemy's Jonin squad would arrive.
Therefore, no matter what, the current battlefield could not afford to drag on for too long.
Because of this, even though this was just a prelude to the upcoming battle, the skirmishes were already extremely intense.
After all, with Jonin reinforcements possibly arriving at any time, the intensity of the battles would naturally be high.
"Captain?"
Just as Qingming was lost in thought, a voice pulled him back to reality.
"Hm?" Qingming responded.
The Hyūga ninja in front of him quickly asked, "Captain, should we head over immediately?"
Qingming thought for a moment before nodding and saying, "You lead the way. Squads One and Two, come with me. We'll intercept the two Jonin squads."
"Yes, Captain!"
Squads One and Two, eight ninjas in total, immediately responded, without any hesitation.
"Alright," Qingming nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the remaining two squads, "You heard what Yamabuki said, right?"
"Mm!" The ninjas from Squads Three and Four quickly nodded.
"Good!" Qingming replied, then gave his orders, "From here, head straight to the battlefield to the right front, and support our people as quickly as possible."
Without waiting for them to respond, he continued, "Remember, you don't need to kill the Mist ninjas, just hold out until I return."
Although Qingming's words were calm, they carried an unmistakable confidence, as if the two Mist Jonin posed no threat to him whatsoever.
His words left no doubt about his intention to handle the situation on his own, and it was clear to everyone present.
However, despite his somewhat arrogant tone, the Konoha ninjas were unfazed.
After all, over the past few days, they had witnessed Qingming's strength.
Not to mention two Mist Jonin—even if two more were added, they believed Qingming would return safely.
After all, such feats had been achieved in the past.
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