…A fierce wind howled past their ears, and Ninja flashed through the trees like shadows, swiftly moving from branch to branch.
Ninja are inherently fast, and even leaping through branches is equivalent to an ordinary person sprinting at full speed.
The seven-person squad had been traveling for a day and a night, already crossing the second front line. Perhaps after another day of travel, they could reach the central area of the battle.
Because here, they could occasionally see scattered blood and Kunai in the forest, indicating that the real battlefield was very close.
Samui, who was leading the team, waved her hand, and the six Ninja in the squad all leaped, then squatted and landed steadily on the ground.
"Disperse!"
The six members of the squad immediately fanned out, moving through the surrounding tree branches, either preparing defenses or scouting into the distance.
Fifteen minutes later, the squad reassembled, and the reports to Samui were quite consistent.
There were traces of combat in the vicinity, but they were several days old. Currently, no enemies had been found.
Hearing this, Samui's cool and aloof face nodded.
"Rest in place for half an hour, then continue along the original route."
The scarce rest time was especially precious on the way to the battlefield.
All the Ninja sat on the ground, looking exhausted.
Some took out dry rations to quickly fill their stomachs, some leaned against trees with their weapons, and others, utterly exhausted, simply lay sprawled on the ground to soothe their weary nerves.
At this moment, a pair of fair hands appeared before Kirito. "These are military rations. Fill your stomach. Once we reach the battlefield, there might not be such leisurely time."
Samui's words still sounded cool and aloof, without any emotional fluctuation.
Kirito smiled and took the military rations from Samui's hand.
Since he was already in the team and couldn't avoid it for now, Kirito chose to make the best of it. So, in the past day or so, besides traveling, he also started to get to know his six teammates.
They were all teenagers, mostly Genin among the seven. Even on the battlefield, they would probably be mainly for training and odd jobs.
However, there were also two Chunin in this team: one was Troy, the black-faced, sword-wielding youth from before.
Troy was serious and rarely smiled. His Ninjutsu level was unknown, but his hands were covered in thick calluses, and he carried two Katana on his back, clearly indicating he was a Taijutsu Ninja.
The other Chunin was their squad leader, Samui.
As a Chunin, Samui could hold the position of captain. According to Kumogakure's consistent selection method of respecting the strong, Samui's combat power was likely stronger than Troy's.
Furthermore, as Kirito knew, Samui also seemed to understand a bit of Medical Ninjutsu. In the original story, Medical Ninjutsu seemed to be a very common Ninjutsu, but that was only relative to Konoha.
For Kumogakure, where everyone practiced Lightning Release, there were indeed few who understood other elemental Ninjutsu. Being able to understand a bit of Medical Ninjutsu to pull those on the verge of death back to severe injury, and severe injury to minor injury on the battlefield, was truly commendable.
Kirito chewed on his food while carefully observing his teammates. He had a general understanding of their identities, information, and the Ninjutsu they possessed.
More than ten minutes later.
Everyone's rest time was not yet over.
Chirp!
A sharp bird cry echoed in the clear blue sky. A dark-bodied Eagle soared straight across the sky, but if you thought it was just an ordinary animal, you would be greatly mistaken.
Samui pushed off with her slender white leg, appearing on a tree trunk the next moment.
She formed hand signs as if performing some secret technique, and the Eagle in the sky actually reacted at that moment, lowering its head slightly to look at Samui and the others.
The Eagle's speed slowly decreased, descending little by little from high in the sky.
Samui placed a wrist guard on her left hand, and the Eagle's sharp talons landed on the wrist guard.
Her fair hand stroked the Eagle's smooth feathers, and the Eagle immediately calmed down.
Samui looked at the Eagle's ankle, where a message cylinder was tied. She took out the letter from it and opened it. A chill appeared on Samui's cold and beautiful face.
Turning, she jumped off the tree trunk with the Eagle on her arm. The moment she landed, all six members of the squad stood up simultaneously.
Because that Eagle was an important tool for Kumogakure to transmit intelligence. Information was transmitted openly, allowing any Cloud Ninja to view it, which meant the intelligence being transmitted must concern a major event.
Samui took out a map from her bag, and all the members gathered around. Samui pointed to the nearby border terrain while relaying the intelligence she had received.
"Iwagakure has air-dropped ten thousand Ninja to surround the Treading Cloud Bridge, and Lord Third Raikage, among others, is trapped within."
Samui's tone was uncharacteristically heavy as she said this.
In terms of military strength, Iwagakure might not be as good as Kumogakure, but it was certainly not far off. Moreover, Iwagakure was known as having the most mobile Ninja forces among the Five Great Ninja Villages, with their mobile Ninja forces reportedly numbering as many as twenty thousand.
Perhaps the Third Raikage, who was engaged in close combat with the Iwa Ninja at the front, never imagined that Iwagakure would go to such great lengths this time, sending a full ten thousand Ninja to surround him.
If the situation continued to develop like this, the Iwa Ninja wouldn't even need to attack. They would just need to surround the Third Raikage and his forces for several days and nights. Without any material resupply, the Cloud Ninja would likely starve to death even if they weren't killed in battle.
Clang!
The sound of a sword being drawn rang out, and the black-faced youth's expression became extremely fervent.
"No! We absolutely cannot let these Iwa Ninja do anything to Lord Raikage. We must immediately rush to the front line, join the outer forces, and even if it means fighting to the death, break through the Iwa Ninja's encirclement and rescue Lord Raikage!"
Troy was clearly a staunch supporter of the Raikage, and he became very agitated upon hearing that the Third Raikage was in trouble.
His impassioned words also infected his teammates around him, and everyone nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with determination.
In their view, the Raikage was the head of the Village; no one in the Village could be spared more than the Raikage. Even if they had to risk their lives, they had to rescue the Raikage.
They would join the front-line assault force without hesitation this time.
As the captain, Samui calmly scanned each of her team members. Everyone's emotions were the same as Troy's; they didn't want Lord Raikage to be harmed. However, there was one exception.
Her gaze fell on Kirito. He wasn't as agitated as Troy.
Kirito squatted on the ground, his eyes fixed on the map, his fingers tracing back and forth across it, his brow slowly furrowing.
"No, don't you think something's wrong—"
End of the chapter.
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