After a few moments.
Having narrowly avoided four volleys of crossbow bolts, Qingming finally escaped the range of the crossbow carts' attacks.
At this point, looking further down, he saw that the Mist Hidden (Kiri) warships had closed in even more.
Some of the Mist ninjas detached from their squads and gathered around the Mist Hidden Jōnin in charge of the fleet's eastern flank, reinforcing that area and eliminating the previous gap in their defense.
As a result, combined with the several crossbow carts stationed at the southernmost point, Qingming could tell that the Mist's defense had become significantly stronger.
He glanced over the battlefield ahead. The Mist ninjas still showed no signs of retreating.
'No, the pressure is still insufficient.'
With this thought, Qingming wasted no time and immediately flew in from the northern side, the farthest point from the crossbows, and headed directly toward the fleet below.
Upon seeing this, Xueshan, who was responsible for defending the southern side, immediately ordered the Mist ninjas operating the crossbows, "Attack!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Five crossbow bolts shot toward him at high speed.
With his chakra wings flapping behind him, Qingming nimbly dodged the incoming bolts. He then skillfully used the explosive shockwaves created by the bolts' detonation to accelerate, reaching the Mist Hidden fleet in front of him.
The second wave of crossbow bolts arrived!
Without hesitation, Qingming raised his hand, formed seals, and unleashed a ninjutsu—Wind Style: Wind Blade!
Whoosh~
A wind blade, several meters long, shot out at incredible speed, cutting toward the incoming crossbow bolts.
As the distance rapidly closed, when the wind blade met the bolts, it sliced through them as easily as a hot knife through butter.
In an instant, three of the five bolts were severed.
With their back halves gone, the trajectories of these three bolts were disrupted, and they veered off in different directions, completely missing Qingming.
As for the remaining two bolts, Qingming simply tilted his body slightly to avoid them.
At this point, he was already very close to the Mist Hidden fleet.
"Attack!"
With the order from the Mist Hidden Jōnin in charge, the lower-ranking ninjas immediately threw prepared kunai and shuriken.
In an instant, a storm of kunai and shuriken rained down on Qingming.
But such attacks were clearly unable to harm him.
He activated his three-tomoe Sharingan to its maximum potential, using its powerful perception abilities to easily dodge the incoming projectiles.
Without hesitation, he then cast another ninjutsu—Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Jutsu, aiming directly at one of the warships behind them.
However, the expected eruption of flames did not occur.
Just as his fire dragon was about to reach the warship, the Mist Hidden Jōnin countered with a ninjutsu—Water Style: Water Formation Wall!
A massive water wall suddenly rose, blocking the fire dragon's path.
The enormous fire dragon collided with the wall, nearly breaking through it. The other side of the water wall bulged outward significantly, but ultimately, it still held strong.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle~
A large amount of mist rose up.
Qingming, seeing this, felt slightly disappointed.
If this had been on land, his attack would have undoubtedly broken through the opponent's defense.
Unfortunately, they were on the sea, and Water Style received a significant boost here.
In contrast, his Fire Style jutsu only had about 60% of its usual strength in this environment.
Thus, even though he expended more chakra, he couldn't break through their defense.
He had to admit that the Mist Hidden Jōnin's decision to defend rather than attack was indeed a good choice.
At this point, Qingming had no opportunity for a second attack.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
The familiar sound of projectiles slicing through the air came again.
The third wave of crossbow bolts shot toward him.
This time, the distance was much shorter, leaving Qingming with even less time to dodge. Moreover, he would need more time to escape the enemy's range afterward.
Fortunately, Qingming had already prepared for this.
He flapped his wings, spinning 180 degrees, and flew directly upward, higher into the air.
That's right—if one strike didn't succeed, he would simply retreat far away.
Qingming did not believe that the Mist Hidden's crossbows were endless.
As long as he kept a proper rhythm and repeated the process, even if he couldn't destroy their warships, he could exhaust their supply of crossbow bolts.
At that point, launching an attack on their warships would become much easier.
Qingming was confident that by continuously applying pressure, he would eventually draw the Mist ninjas forward to assist.
Once that happened, he could send a signal to Sano Nobuhisa to coordinate and force the enemy to retreat.
With that thought, as soon as Qingming left the range of the crossbows, he quickly changed direction and dove down toward the Mist Hidden fleet again.
The entire sequence unfolded just as before—he first dodged two volleys of crossbows, then, amidst the attacks of the Mist ninjas, launched an assault on the fleet.
Afterward, regardless of whether the attacks were blocked, Qingming quickly retreated.
Usually, by this point, the southernmost Mist ninjas would be launching their third volley of crossbow bolts.
Of course, if the enemy chose not to shoot, Qingming would remain flexible and continue his strikes on the fleet.
The goal was to exhaust the Mist's supply of crossbow bolts as much as possible.
At first, Ōzawa Yoshi hadn't noticed anything, but after Qingming made two rounds, he began to suspect Qingming's plan.
However, after some thought, he realized there was no effective way for his side to counter this.
Ultimately, in the world of ninjas, power was paramount. Without sufficient strength, even the most intricate tactics could only be used against weaker opponents, while the stronger side could dictate the flow of the battle.
At this moment, the Mist ninjas on the ground were in just such a situation.
Ōzawa Yoshi's expression shifted as he reviewed the situation and confirmed that they were unable to seize Blackstone Outpost. Reluctantly, he issued the order to retreat.
Although it wasn't yet the most desperate moment, it was the best time to pull back. If they fought until their last breath, retreat would be nearly impossible.
Besides, Blackstone Outpost wasn't the primary target of their village's attack. Strictly speaking, it was just a feint.
Thus, a temporary retreat was a reasonable decision.
With the order given, the Mist ninjas, who had been engaged in battle with the Konoha ninjas, began to retreat in an orderly fashion under the direction of several Jōnin.
Sano Nobuhisa, seeing this, briefly considered pursuing them but quickly abandoned the idea after assessing the situation of the surviving Konoha ninjas.
Just as the Blackstone Outpost wasn't the Mist Hidden's main offensive target, his own task wasn't to immediately recapture the Flying Fish Town outpost.
Konoha was engaged in a multi-front war, so it was important to prioritize. Flying Fish Town would
eventually be reclaimed, but not right now.
For now, he only needed to defend Blackstone Outpost and prevent the Mist ninjas from scattering inside Flying Fish Town.
After carefully weighing the situation, he resolutely decided against pursuit.
However, to guard against the possibility of the Mist ninjas turning back, he ordered Qingming to follow their fleet and ensure they truly retreated.
Qingming readily accepted this task.
In fact, he didn't even use his main body, opting to send a shadow clone to carry out the mission.
After all, it was only a matter of trailing the enemy, so he could fly high enough that even a shadow clone would suffice.
As for himself, he could focus on completing his training for the day.
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