"Withdraw everyone? You're sure that's Lord Feng's order?"
Inside the Rain Village border camp, Yahiko stared incredulously at the ANBU messenger.
"You didn't relay it wrong? Wouldn't that mean abandoning all those hired ninja?"
Nagato also looked completely confused.
As the core fighting force of Amegakure, the two of them had naturally been assigned as the frontline commanders.
They were responsible for holding the line against Kumogakure's shinobi on the Rain Village battlefield.
In terms of numbers, they were already at a disadvantage.
Over the past few days, the two had been exhausted from constant defense—sometimes even forced to personally enter the battlefield.
The ten thousand mercenary shinobi who arrived yesterday, while not especially motivated fighters, had still greatly eased their pressure.
At the very least, they had boosted morale tremendously.
With more people on their side, the allied force had far greater confidence.
"Th-this… these were Lord Feng's exact words."
The ANBU agent let out a deep breath.
Lord Feng had specifically ordered him to travel overnight to deliver the message personally.
That alone showed how serious the matter was.
"Nagato… looks like we'll have to call everyone back today."
Seeing that the ANBU clearly wasn't lying, Yahiko sighed and turned toward Nagato in confusion.
This wasn't the first—or second—time the Rain Shadow had done something completely unconventional.
With the mercenary shinobi joining them, Yahiko had been confident they could stabilize the battle within three days.
"I don't understand Lord Feng's intentions either…"
Nagato shook his head.
"Strange… withdrawing our forces now is basically throwing those mercenary ninja into a pit of fire!"
Yahiko paced back and forth, growing increasingly suspicious.
His thoughts began spiraling wildly.
If they abandoned the mercenary shinobi, what benefit would Amegakure gain?
None.
In fact, it would ruin the village's reputation.
Then what strategic advantage would it bring?
Only greater pressure on the Rain Village afterward.
The only "benefit" he could think of was that the hired shinobi would consume some enemy manpower—and Amegakure wouldn't need to pay them afterward.
But that was completely not worth the tradeoff.
Yahiko kept pacing while Nagato silently stared outside with his Rinnegan.
After a long silence, the two dismissed the ANBU messenger.
Then they immediately ordered their subordinates to relay Ning Feng's command.
Even though they had countless doubts about Lord Feng's order—
They still intended to execute it without hesitation.
Because they believed every strange command Ning Feng issued was ultimately correct.
—
"I can't believe Uchiha Feng-sama didn't set a limit on mercenary ninja!"
"As expected of the boss—he's filthy rich!"
"Do you think he's hacking?"
"Hah, like you can hack this game!"
…
The noisy players arrived at the battlefield.
Though most of them weren't particularly strong and had never experienced real war—
They had learned perfectly well how to slack off and farm points from previous events, so very few had actually died.
Yesterday, they'd spent the entire battle shamelessly coasting.
Unfortunately—
They hadn't gotten to see Uchiha Feng.
That was their biggest regret.
Amegakure was already beginning to show signs of decline, yet the players remained oddly optimistic.
Today, they had arrived especially early.
Players had analyzed the scoring system before.
Rewards weren't based solely on whether your faction won, your dungeon completion, or how much you altered the story.
Time spent inside the event also mattered significantly.
So most point-farmers preferred to join from the beginning and coast until the end.
"Why are the Rain Village ninja so late today?"
"No idea. The event already started anyway, so let's just sneak in and farm points first!"
Seeing that no Amegakure shinobi had arrived for a long time, the players whispered among themselves.
Even though neither side's forces had shown up yet, the moment the system declared the event active, entering the battlefield already started accumulating contribution points.
"Perfect. Today we'll plant some explosive tags first, then hide somewhere safe and occasionally toss long-range ninjutsu."
One of the most respected veteran leech-players among them—the supreme master of shameless point farming—began issuing instructions.
As someone who had milked absurd amounts of free points from the system, he naturally understood how to maximize rewards.
"Brother Wei's right! Everyone move!"
The players behind him quickly began organizing.
Brother Wei himself was a reasonably well-known jōnin-level player within Naruto Online.
He had formed a fairly respectable player guild.
While nowhere near the level of the Xuanyuan faction that once attacked Ning Feng, it was still a group many ordinary players admired.
Now, the members behind him immediately started directing others to follow orders.
If Uchiha Feng was an unreachable god-tier legend—
Then Brother Wei was at least a famous local celebrity.
"LOOK! WHO'S THAT?!"
Suddenly someone shouted, drawing everyone's attention.
In the distance—
A large group of Kumogakure shinobi had appeared.
Everyone's hearts instantly skipped a beat.
There wasn't a single Rain Village ninja anywhere nearby!
"Quick!"
Brother Wei abandoned all thoughts of setting explosive traps and hurriedly took the lead searching for cover.
"Spread out while they're still far away! Everyone find somewhere to hide!"
His face was pale with panic.
They had chosen a terrible location with almost no decent hiding spots.
Were all these players really about to die here?!
"Wait… someone's coming from the Rain Village side!"
"Only one person? What's one guy gonna do? The enemy has hundreds—thousands!"
Some sharp-eyed players noticed a lone figure approaching from the rear and shouted immediately.
But another player quickly poured cold water on them.
"Too late for that guy to run now. Guess he dies with us."
"No… that ninja… it's Uchiha Feng!"
A player skilled in sensory abilities had already identified the incoming figure.
It was the man they idolized like a god—
Uchiha Feng himself!
"It's Uchiha Feng-sama?!"
"No way—you sure?!"
"Bullshit I'd mistake him! I did the Nine-Tails event with him last time!"
"Was this all part of Uchiha Feng-sama's plan?!"
"Everyone calm down! Uchiha Feng-sama is here!"
…
The previously gloomy players instantly exploded into excited chatter.
As though Ning Feng's arrival alone had injected them all with absolute confidence.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed.
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