Looking at the corpse of Kakuzu, Qingming thought to himself, "No one will ever know that here, in this unknown corner, a ninja who ranks among the top in the entire ninja world has quietly died." He couldn't help but wonder, "Will there come a day when I too will meet the same fate, dying unnoticed in some obscure place?"
A sense of panic inexplicably surged within Qingming, but he quickly suppressed it. He still had to transcend this world; he sought immortality, so how could he die like this?
Collecting his thoughts, Qingming stopped dwelling on it and instead surveyed his surroundings.
Without Kakuzu's chakra supply, the inferno created by the combined ninjutsu, Composite Ninjutsu: Flame-Wind Turbulence, was rapidly diminishing.
However, the surrounding area was still dense with trees, many of which had been ignited during the chaos. So, it was unrealistic to expect all the flames to extinguish immediately.
Fortunately, being deep within the jungle meant high humidity, preventing the fire from spreading further. In fact, as it reached a certain point, it would even attract heavy rain, which would naturally put out the flames.
Thus, there was no need for him to worry.
Considering the commotion caused by the battle, Qingming didn't want to linger any longer.
He found the spot where the flames were strongest, tossed Kakuzu's corpse into the fire, and then left without a second thought.
The next evening arrived in the blink of an eye.
At this point, Qingming had returned to the coastline.
Now, he only needed to cross the strait in front of him to reach the Land of Waves and return to the forward base.
However, he wasn't in a hurry to depart; crossing this strait would require considerable physical effort, and after running for more than ten hours, it was time for a break.
Standing atop a treetop, gazing at the setting sun over the distant sea, Qingming's thoughts began to drift.
After killing Kakuzu, his luck seemed to have improved significantly.
Initially, he had expected to encounter further harassment from other bounty ninjas, given that a reward of seventeen million ryo was no small sum.
As the saying goes, "Men die for wealth, birds die for food." Such a high bounty was enough to make many ninjas overlook the associated risks.
Yet, surprisingly, his journey had been smooth sailing; he had not encountered a single bounty ninja or any unforeseen incidents along the way.
But it made sense—everyone who had seen him had already been silenced, so it was unlikely that other bounty ninjas would show up in the short term.
As for why it was a short term rather than permanent, there was no need to elaborate. His bounty would eventually attract attention, and sooner or later, someone would come looking for him.
Even if he had been discreet and silenced the right people, there was one thing that could never be hidden.
That was the Kusanagi sword he had taken from the leader of the Craft Ninja Village.
As long as he continued to wield that sword, he would inevitably draw attention as his fame grew.
At that point, the black market, which had been monitoring the leader of the Craft Ninja Village for some time, could easily connect the dots.
They certainly wouldn't hesitate to covertly push bounty ninjas toward him when the opportunity arose.
After all, he had made enemies with the black market this time.
They wouldn't let it slide easily.
Thus, many would likely come after him.
Of course, he could choose to hide the long knife in his possession.
Doing so would undoubtedly save him a lot of trouble.
But after going through so much effort to obtain such a powerful weapon, not using it would be a waste.
A mere black market and a few bounty ninjas were not enough to instill fear in him.
As the saying goes, "When the soldiers come, let the generals meet them; when the water comes, let the earth bury it."
As for the future, he would deal with it when the time came!
With this thought, Qingming jumped down from the treetop, settled onto a branch, placed the long knife across his lap, and began to meditate.
Time passed minute by minute.
Before long, the sun dipped below the horizon, and night fell.
At a certain moment, Qingming opened his eyes. Not wanting to linger any longer, he concealed his aura and swiftly made his way toward the coastline.
After evading several patrols from Konohagakure, he reached the sea. Once he confirmed his direction, he stepped onto the waves, heading toward the forward base in the Land of Waves.
However, unlike his journey to this point, the coastline of the Land of Fire was long, so he didn't need to pay too much attention to his direction. As long as he didn't stray too far, he would be able to land.
The territory of the Land of Waves was much smaller, so he needed to be vigilant about his course on the way back; otherwise, he might easily go off track.
What Qingming didn't know was that at that very moment, as he made his way to the forward base, several ships were also heading there across the ocean.
From the water markings on those ships, it was clear they were battle vessels from the Mist Village.
At that time, those ships were filled with Mist Village ninjas.
Clearly, after days of silence, the Mist Ninjas were once again on the move, and this time, they intended to make a significant impact—directly launching a surprise attack on Konohagakure's forward base in the Land of Waves.
A few hours later.
To the east of the Land of Waves, about ten kilometers from the forward base, a watchtower built on a rocky outcrop suddenly saw a Leaf ninja change his expression and hastily blow the whistle on his chest.
Instantly, the sharp sound of the whistle echoed throughout the watchtower.
Amid a flurry of footsteps, a special jōnin arrived at the top of the watchtower.
As soon as he appeared, he asked, "Shiyuan, what happened?"
Hearing the question, the jōnin who had just blown the whistle replied, "It's the Mist Village's battle ships; they're coming!"
"How many?"
The special jōnin remained relatively calm and quickly asked the key question.
"Four ships."
Shiyuan, the jōnin, answered.
Upon hearing this, the special jōnin breathed a sigh of relief.
According to previous experiences, four battle ships from the Mist Village could carry about two hundred to three hundred ninjas.
While this was a considerable number, it was roughly equivalent to the number of ninjas stationed at the forward base by Konohagakure.
If so many Mist ninjas launched a sudden attack, catching Konohagakure off guard, they could indeed suffer a significant setback.
But now that they had discovered the enemy in advance, there was nothing to fear.
With this thought, Kamida Akeru asked again, "What direction are they coming from?"
"This way!"
Shiyuan pointed toward the southeast.
Seeing this, Kamida Akeru took the monocular from Shiyuan's hands and looked in that direction.
With the moonlight aiding him, he indeed spotted four dark ships gliding over the surface of the sea.
Those ships were pitch black, moving across the water like ghost ships.
Kamida Akeru understood that they were not ghost ships; the Mist Village had deliberately extinguished the lights on their vessels to reduce the chances of being discovered.
Unfortunately for them, they were unlucky; this rocky watchtower had been established by Konohagakure not long ago during the Mist Village's period of inactivity, and it wasn't on the Mist Village's intelligence radar.
Thus, before they could get close, their movements had already been detected.
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