"Watch out!"
Just as Uchiha Haruki flew in, one of the Mist Ninja attacking a group of over ten Konoha shinobi suddenly shouted out.
The very next moment, the Mist shinobi skillfully dispersed and broke formation.
Seeing this, Haruki smirked and muttered to himself, "Tch, bad luck."
By now, the Mist Nin had learned through bitter experience that his aerial advantage gave him overwhelming power. So the moment they spotted him, they instinctively spread out their positions.
Because of this, it became much harder for him to attack multiple targets at once.
Even techniques like Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, which could target several enemies simultaneously, became less effective as the enemies widened their spacing.
One could only say — ninjas have a terrifying ability to adapt.
The only reason Haruki could still operate so freely in the air was that they hadn't prepared countermeasures for aerial assaults. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to be flying around so boldly.
Still, even without his intervention, the Konoha ninjas who had been under siege finally got a moment to breathe.
Not only that, they could even use Haruki's arrival as an opportunity to counterattack.
Just like now — as the Konoha shinobi saw him approaching, they exchanged glances and immediately began to chase the scattered Mist Nin.
And those Mist Nin, wary of Haruki's presence, didn't dare to go all out in battle.
As a result, the tide of the battle began to shift in Konoha's favor.
Haruki, seeing this, was happy to keep circling above the battlefield, constantly applying pressure on the Mist Nin.
Of course, whenever he spotted a good opportunity, he didn't hesitate to strike.
In a short time, he managed to kill one enemy and injure three more.
However, that was as far as he could go.
Because the elite Mist jonin who had been chasing him earlier had finally caught up.
Haruki saw their figures in the distance and, with a flap of his chakra wings, soared toward another part of the battlefield.
Those Mist jonin glanced at the corpse on the ground and, out of frustration, hurled several shuriken at the nearby Konoha shinobi.
Then, they quickly chased after Haruki again.
It wasn't that they didn't want to stay and finish off the Konoha shinobi — but they knew if they did, Haruki would remain on another battlefield and launch devastating attacks on the Mist forces there.
Even though they were hurting each other, Haruki's ability to dominate the battlefield from above made him far more dangerous than their ground forces — even though he was just one person.
In the end, the damage he could do was greater than what the Konoha ninjas could manage.
So, they had no choice but to chase him relentlessly.
Even if they couldn't kill him, they couldn't allow him to stay in one place for too long.
As for the Konoha shinobi left behind?
Well, Mist still had the numbers advantage. Let the rest handle them.
It was a decision made out of necessity.
Time continued to pass.
In the blink of an eye, another hour had gone by.
On the horizon, the sun rose over the sea, painting the sky with vibrant shades of dawn.
As the first rays of sunlight hit the Eagle Cliff battlefield, the heavy, murderous atmosphere seemed to lighten just a bit.
Unknowingly, more than five hours had passed since the battle began.
By now, both sides were completely exhausted, but without orders from above, no one dared to retreat.
And so, the battle dragged on.
Thanks to his Chakra Absorption Technique, Haruki's chakra reserves remained high. In contrast, the Mist jonin were clearly weakening — their presence waning, chakra nearly depleted.
This made Haruki's delay tactics even easier.
In fact, he even used the opportunity to kill one Mist jonin and one special jonin, dealing yet another blow to the enemy's elite forces.
If Haruki truly wanted to provoke the Mist Village, he might have already gone on a full-blown killing spree.
Make no mistake about his strength.
Over the past few hours, he had been holding back, mostly flying and skirmishing — trying to keep the overall situation in balance.
If he really went all out, even against multiple elite enemies, he could easily turn the tide and kill several.
But such an approach wouldn't help the larger strategy — and wouldn't benefit him either. So he had no interest in doing it.
Still, if the enemy weakened even further, he might really make a move next time.
However... fate seemed to have different plans.
Another fifteen minutes passed.
Just as Haruki was preparing to strike again, a sharp hawk's cry echoed from the distance.
Haruki focused his gaze — it was a messenger hawk from the Mist Village.
Screee!
Another cry followed.
Below.
Mei Terumi and the other Mist jonin listened closely.
Moments later, their expressions changed subtly.
They exchanged glances, and one of them — a jonin skilled in mental techniques — activated a jutsu to communicate the new command to all Mist Nin:
Retreat.
That's right — retreat!
The hawk's cries had carried the upper command's orders: all forces were to withdraw immediately and return to the forward base.
High above the battlefield.
Thanks to his position in the sky, Haruki immediately noticed the Mist Village's intent — but he didn't move to stop them.
Why?
First, he simply couldn't stop them.
The Mist forces were clearly prepared. As soon as the order came, they split into more than ten squads and retreated toward the sea in multiple directions.
There was no way he could intercept them all.
Second, the surviving Konoha shinobi at the base were few in number and in terrible condition. Even if Haruki stopped a squad or two, there was no one left to eliminate them.
And finally — most importantly — Mei Terumi and the others were watching his every move.
If he made a move to interfere, it could trigger another massive battle.
Though he didn't fear them, he had no interest in wasting energy unnecessarily.
After weighing all this, Haruki chose to let them go.
Seeing him remain still, Mei Terumi and the other jonin visibly relaxed.
Before the battle began, they were full of confidence. But after hours of grinding conflict, all that bravado had vanished.
At this point, avoiding combat was clearly the best option.
Time ticked by.
The two sides maintained an unspoken truce, allowing their own forces to pull back and separate before quietly leaving the battlefield.
Soon enough, the Mist shinobi had fully retreated, while the Konoha forces regrouped.
With a flap of his chakra wings, Haruki descended to the edge of Eagle Cliff.
Facing the morning sun, he looked out over the ocean.
There, several Mist Village warships were retreating rapidly.
In the distance, he could even see some familiar faces standing at the stern — the very same jonin who had tangled with him the night before.
Strangely, he had a feeling... they would meet again soon.
It wasn't just a hunch.
The Mist Village had gone to great lengths to launch this large-scale assault. They had stubbornly held their ground until the very end — there was no way they had walked away with nothing.
Haruki could already envision it:
Some forward outposts along the border must have fallen. Maybe more than one.
In the coming days, both sides would surely fight for control over those positions.
When that happened, he would likely be deployed again — and those Mist jonin would probably show up too.
That's why Haruki said it wasn't just intuition.
But it wasn't something to look forward to.
While his strength — especially his flying ability — made such wars less dangerous to his life, if he had a choice, he'd rather not waste time and energy on such conflicts.
Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough yet to ignore the rules.
"Sigh…"
Letting out a soft sigh, Uchiha Haruki stopped thinking about it and turned to fly back toward the base.