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Evening.
Caw~~
A burst of eagle chirping sounded from high above.
Akira Tsubaki raised his head and vaguely saw a Ninja Hawk high in the sky.
"It should be Cloud Shinobi's Ninja."
Kakashi watched for a while, visually checking the flight direction of the Ninja Hawk.
"It may be a message to the vanguard."
"Remove the possibility!" Akira Tsubaki retracted his gaze, absolutely certain.
He knew without thinking that this must be the Cloud Shinobi army passing the news to the vanguard.
"It seems that tonight or tomorrow, Cloud Shinobi's main force will arrive."
Akira Tsubaki made an inference.
He didn't know that his deduction this time was wrong—and ridiculously so.
The Ninja Hawk flew high into the sky, circled the border river, and finally landed in the fortifications built by Cloud Shinobi.
"Master Raikage's order has finally come."
Terada Taro breathed a sigh of relief and took down the message.
As the Captain of the Cloud Shinobi vanguard, Terada Taro had been under a lot of pressure these two days.
Not only was the supply station bombed, but what was even more frustrating was that Namikaze Minato across the river came to harass them from time to time, wearing down the hundreds of Cloud Shinobi men.
This was despite their great geographical advantage in fortification construction.
"Fortunately, the main force should be here soon."
With his mind relaxed, he opened the scroll.
But after seeing the content, Terada Taro was stunned.
"This, this tells us to retreat?"
After reading it carefully again, Terada Taro wondered if it was a fake order.
But the unique Cloud Shinobi logo on the scroll was unmistakable, and the handwriting of Master Raikage was unmistakable.
"Retreat to the main force at night, and bypass the supply station?"
Frowning and thinking for a moment, Terada Taro still couldn't figure out why he had to bypass the supply station.
"Could it be that the Konoha team that destroyed the supply station is very strong?"
But no matter how strong they are, can they surpass Lord Raikage?
However, Lord Third Raikage had issued an order, and he must abide by it. As long as he returned to the main force, everything would be clear.
"Come on, assemble."
Moments later, two hundred Cloud Shinobi gathered together.
"Master Raikage ordered that we evacuate here tonight, bypass the supply station, and return to the main force."
After Terada Taro's words fell, many subordinates were astonished.
"Captain Terada Taro, Namikaze Minato has killed so many of our comrades. Should we just leave like this?"
"Yeah, didn't our comrades die in vain?"
"Otherwise, let's take advantage of the night to attack the hillside on the other side of the river and kill all the Konoha Genin!"
Listening to the radical remarks of his subordinates, Terada Taro waved his hands to signal silence.
"We can indeed raid the hillside, but have you thought about the result?"
Looking around at everyone, Terada Taro continued.
"Those Konoha Genin will die, but at the same time, we will lose many comrades! Exchange the lives of those Genin for yours? I don't agree!"
Eventually, at Terada Taro's insistence, the raid was called off.
However, before retreating, he still ordered his subordinates to arrange a large number of Detonating Tag traps inside and outside the fortifications.
In this way, once Namikaze Minato came to investigate again, he might suffer a big loss.
Across the river.
Namikaze Minato looked solemn, watching the Ninja Hawk land in the fortification on the other side.
Several teams also watched, their spirits tense.
"It's over, the Cloud Shinobi army is coming," someone whispered.
"What are you afraid of? Coward!" Obito glanced at him and recognized it was Ebisu.
He really has no guts.
After several experiences with Akira Tsubaki, Obito's courage was obviously much greater. He had seen big things now.
"Every team should be more vigilant tonight," Namikaze Minato ordered seriously.
It was already dark. No matter how confident Namikaze Minato was, he didn't dare cross the river to investigate rashly.
This night, several teams were destined to lose sleep.
Early the next morning.
Namikaze Minato dived across the boundary river and appeared near the Cloud Shinobi fortification.
Carefully bypassing several traps, he began to investigate.
"No one?"
Namikaze Minato was lost in thought when he saw that there were only scattered Detonating Tag traps inside the abandoned building.
On a tree trunk by the roadside.
"Akira!"
Kakashi pushed Akira Tsubaki with an anxious face.
"Huh? Is it dawn?"
Rolling over from the tree trunk, Akira Tsubaki almost pushed Kakashi down.
"I found a lot of Ninjas passing by."
"Oh?"
Hearing this news, Akira Tsubaki sat up immediately.
"Lead the way!"
The two walked through the woods and came to the foot of the mountain where they had rested before.
"Look here!"
Leaping onto a tree, Kakashi pointed to the trunk covered in muddy footprints.
Akira Tsubaki observed for a while, then moved his eyes to another tree.
There, too, were a lot of muddy footprints.
After observing more than a dozen trees in a row, Akira Tsubaki squatted on the trunk, deep in thought.
"These footprints extend from the direction of the border to the direction of the Daimyō's Manor."
"First of all, these can't be Konoha Ninjas; it can only be Cloud Shinobi!"
"So many footprints—was it the Cloud Shinobi vanguard?"
Damn it!
Akira Tsubaki couldn't help but curse.
This was obviously the Cloud Shinobi vanguard withdrawing, and they deliberately bypassed the ruined supply station.
"I even made a mistake?"
Akira Tsubaki felt a little remorseful.
He had thought no one would pass the mountainside, so he squatted on a tree by the roadside last night. But the result—
He didn't intercept Cloud Shinobi's support troops, and now these frontline Cloud Shinobi had retreated right past the foot of the mountain.
"If I was still on the mountainside last night, I would definitely have found these people."
This Cloud Shinobi routine is truly deep; it's hard to guard against.
Seeing Akira Tsubaki cursing to himself, Kakashi didn't bother him.
He had also experienced the feeling of being tricked by the enemy.
After a while.
Seeing that Akira Tsubaki's mood had calmed down a bit, Kakashi came over.
"What do we do next?"
"Go back! Cloud Shinobi has even withdrawn the vanguard, so the large army will definitely not follow this route."
Akira Tsubaki knew very well that there wasn't only one route to enter the Land of Fire.
This line was just the fastest way.
Kumogakure could completely bypass the Land of Rivers or the Land of Hot Water.
In that case, it would be extremely difficult to find Cloud Shinobi's supply stations, as the scope of the search would be too wide.