Step, step, step.
The heavy footsteps reached the ears of Konoha's Gojira. Dragging his injured right leg, he strained to look up and saw Qingming walking toward him, step by step.
A strong sense of fear surged within Konoha Gojira, and he instinctively moved backward. He tightly gripped a kunai in his right hand, as if it could offer him some sense of safety.
Qingming noticed the small gesture, but he didn't have the time to waste talking to this discarded pawn. In an instant, he appeared right in front of Gojira.
Before Gojira could use the kunai for a final counterattack, Qingming activated his "Genjutsu: Sharingan" and controlled him as they locked eyes.
With a kick, Qingming sent the kunai flying from Gojira's hand and immediately used the genjutsu to probe his memories, retrieving the information he needed.
After a moment, Qingming's brow furrowed slightly.
After a brief pause, he raised his hand to form a series of hand seals and performed the "Chakra Absorption Technique," draining the chakra from the man in front of him with each breath.
Once Gojira's life force was entirely drained, Qingming moved on to another of the Mist Ninjas, repeating the process of "Genjutsu: Sharingan" to control them and delve into their memories.
Indeed, the discarded pawns left by the Mist Village weren't limited to Konoha Gojira alone.
In the battle just now, Qingming had severely injured or crippled several Mist Ninjas. A few of them were taken away when the retreat order was given by Tanabe Tomohiko, but the rest were left behind.
Qingming had plenty of opportunities to gather information—and to replenish his chakra.
In terms of information, these ninjas were all from the same team, so their intel was similar. However, when it came to chakra, with the combined reserves of these ninjas, it was a bit much for Qingming's body to handle.
Reluctantly, Qingming summoned a few shadow clones to stand guard on the outskirts. At the same time, he used some techniques that wouldn't cause too much of a disturbance, to deplete the excess chakra.
Once he had drained all the chakra from the surviving Mist Ninjas, Qingming started to sort through the information he had gathered from their memories.
Originally, he had thought their presence here was merely a coincidence, part of a routine mission. However, from Konoha Gojira and others' memories, he learned that it wasn't just a coincidence.
At least, it wasn't a simple one.
The reason they were here was partially to intercept the reinforcements from Konoha.
Yes, the Mist Village was aware of their support plan.
According to Konoha Gojira's recollection, earlier that day, he received an order from his superiors to join Tanabe Tomohiko and other elite ninjas to set up an ambush here.
Several other teams received the same orders, although they were deployed in different locations. This indicated that there were spies within Konoha's front-line camps.
The only fortunate thing for Qingming was that the specific movement routes of their reinforcements hadn't been exposed to the Mist Ninjas.
In other words, their encounter with him and Uchiha Shisui had been purely accidental.
This aligned with his earlier assumptions—that the Mist Ninjas weren't targeting him and Uchiha Shisui on purpose. If they were, they would have sent far more forces.
And now, their plan had failed.
"Indeed, at any time, personal strength is the most important thing!" Qingming muttered, shaking off his thoughts, and settled back to wait for Uchiha Shisui.
From Konoha Gojira and the others' memories, Qingming was aware of the overall strength of this Mist Village team, and from there, it was easy to calculate the forces opposing Uchiha Shisui. Their strength would likely be similar to the ones that faced him.
Based on what he knew of Uchiha Shisui's abilities, he believed that Shisui might not be as quick and efficient as Qingming, but he wouldn't face any real danger. It would just take him a little longer to deal with things.
Therefore, Qingming saw no need to rush and provide support. He just continued waiting.
Sure enough, about ten minutes later, Uchiha Shisui returned.
Qingming observed him—his breathing was steady, and he had no visible injuries, indicating he had won fairly easily.
On the other hand, Qingming, having used "Doton: Hardening Technique" to resist attacks earlier, appeared a bit more disheveled. His Konoha uniform had several large holes, but fortunately, there was no blood.
This allowed Uchiha Shisui to breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking at Qingming, he asked, "Qingming, did you uncover anything extra?"
The reason he asked about any "extra discoveries" was because Uchiha Shisui, having also learned "Genjutsu: Sharingan," could read memories from the Mist Ninjas as well.
After reaching level 4 proficiency with the technique, Shisui could precisely control the genjutsu, guiding his target into specific memories, which allowed him to access information in a similar way to memory retrieval.
Given Shisui's natural talent, his proficiency in "Genjutsu: Sharingan" must have surpassed level 4, even without the assistance of a proficiency panel. This meant he was also able to extract information, though Qingming's Sharingan was still superior, offering deeper insight and more detailed information.
Thus, he asked Qingming the question.
Qingming, however, did not hide anything and immediately shared all the information and speculations he had gathered.
Upon hearing Qingming's account, Uchiha Shisui's expression darkened.
Clearly, he understood that it didn't matter whether the Mist Ninjas were targeting them specifically or not.
What mattered was that their presence here spoke volumes about how dire the situation was at the front.
Noticing Shisui deep in thought, Qingming interrupted, "Alright, no need to dwell on it. Let's go."
As he spoke, he dispelled the shadow clones and began absorbing the training experience and memories they had gathered.
Shisui glanced at the vanishing clones but didn't give it much thought. He simply acknowledged Qingming's words and, together, they continued toward their rendezvous point.
After the ambush earlier, both of them remained cautious during the rest of the journey.
Indeed, with their strength, it was unlikely that the Mist Ninja team could present a lethal threat to them based on the information they had. But they couldn't afford to let their guard down.
After all, these Mist Ninjas were low-ranking, with limited knowledge. Who could say whether the Mist Village had set a trap, using these ninjas as decoys to lure them into a counterattack?
In matters of life and death, no precaution was too much.
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't come to pass.
The rest of their journey went smoothly, and they encountered no further danger.
An hour later, they left the dense forest.
Not long after, they met a Konoha patrol team.
After an identity check, they were allowed to pass into Konoha's defense area.
After going through several more checkpoints, they finally reached their destination—the forward camp of the southern front.
Beyond this point was the battlefield.
As they stood in the camp, Qingming could sense the distant sounds of battle.
Clearly, things were not calm at the front.
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