Chapter 158: Unstoppable Momentum

"Hmm?"

Just as Qing Ming was immersing himself in honing his swordsmanship, he suddenly sensed something was off.

With a thought, the three tomoe in his Sharingan spun rapidly, instantly discerning Toyama Daito's intentions.

"Trying to take me down with you? Naive!"

Qing Ming muttered to himself as he forcefully retracted his short sword before it even got close to Toyama Daito. Then, with a swift movement, he deftly dodged Daito's desperate, all-out attack.

"Damn!"

Toyama Daito's heart sank as he realized his strike had missed. But before he could think any further, the sound of the air being sliced open reached his ears.

"Danger!"

Daito's instincts screamed at him, and he tried to evade, but it was already too late.

Slash!

The sound of a blade cutting through flesh echoed. Qing Ming's short sword grazed Toyama Daito's chest, tearing through his clothing and leaving a deep, bone-revealing gash across his torso.

"Ugh!"

The searing pain made Daito grunt in agony. Instinctively, he pressed his hand against the wound on his chest. Yet, despite his efforts, blood continued to gush out, leaving him dizzy and weak.

Daito knew that if he didn't take immediate action, the blood loss alone would claim his life.

But...

He quickly scanned his surroundings for any sign of Qing Ming, but there was none. How could he dare treat his wound under such circumstances?

However, his concerns were quickly rendered meaningless.

In the next moment, a short sword pierced through Daito's back, straight through his heart, and emerged from the front.

Gush!

A mouthful of blood spewed from Toyama Daito's lips. He looked down to see a bloodstained sword tip poking through his chest.

"Is it over?"

As he felt his strength drain away, Toyama Daito murmured. In his final moments, his thoughts turned to his family, and he silently lamented, "If only there were no war..."

Shhk!

Qing Ming pulled out his sword, taking with it the last remnants of Daito's life.

His keen senses had allowed him to clearly detect the shift in Daito's emotions moments earlier, but Qing Ming didn't dwell on it. After all, they were enemies. Qing Ming had no time to feel sympathy for his foe.

Stowing away his short sword, Qing Ming cast his gaze over the battlefield.

By now, the fighting was almost over, with only a few scattered Iwa-nin still resisting. From the sounds of battle coming from other directions, the other skirmishes were also nearing their conclusion.

Seeing this, Qing Ming chose not to waste time seeking out new targets. Instead, he joined the squad's medical-nin in treating the wounded.

After all, his healing technique needed more practice to build proficiency, and these injured comrades were the perfect subjects.

Of course, this was just Qing Ming's personal view.

To the other Konoha shinobi, his actions painted him as the perfect model ninja. During battle, he took on the most dangerous opponents, and now, in the aftermath, he tirelessly worked to help his allies.

What more could they ask for in a comrade?

Unsurprisingly, many began to look at Qing Ming with newfound respect and admiration.

Though Qing Ming didn't particularly care about his reputation, he also knew that having a good name could serve as a protective shield. Therefore, he didn't concern himself with the chatter and speculations of others.

...

Time ticked by, second by second.

Half an hour later, the battle had completely ended.

After taking stock, they found that the enemy had lost 105 men, while their side had suffered 75 casualties. After treatment, it was confirmed that 22 of their comrades had died.

The casualty ratio was close to 5:1.

Without a doubt, this was an impressive result.

The reason for such a significant disparity wasn't that Iwa-nin were vastly inferior to Konoha-nin, but rather due to the sheer difference in numbers. Konoha had sent nearly 500 shinobi, most of them mid to high-level ninja, with only a few genin.

Iwa-nin, on the other hand, had just over a hundred in total, with the majority being lower-level ninja.

The difference was stark, not only in individual capabilities but also in sheer numbers. On average, each Iwa-nin faced four or five Konoha-nin at once.

Given that, it's no surprise the casualty ratio was so lopsided. In fact, if not for some desperate final counterattacks from Iwa-nin, Konoha's losses would have been even smaller, and the ratio even more extreme.

Of course, not every Iwa-nin had been captured or killed. Since they hadn't fully surrounded the Iwa encampment from the beginning, it was normal for some to escape.

Even if they had surrounded the base from the start, it wouldn't have been possible to capture everyone. With so many ninja techniques available in the shinobi world, who knows what kind of methods people might use to escape?

So, stopping them all was impossible.

As soon as the battle began, information was bound to leak. Now, it was a matter of who was better prepared and who could capitalize on the situation.

After about an hour of rest, Qing Ming and his team set out again.

According to their plan, their next target was another Iwa-nin secondary camp. Just like Konoha, Iwa's defense was layered, and their task was to keep pushing forward, breaking through each layer and forcing Iwa to divert reinforcements from other positions.

This would allow the Konoha forces, who were staging a feint, to launch a real attack and apply pressure across the entire Iwa front.

The entire strategy was straightforward!

In a world like the ninja world, where power is so transparent, schemes and tricks are only auxiliary tools. In the end, everything still comes down to a village's overall strength.

For that reason, Orochimaru hadn't devised any overly complex tactics, focusing instead on ensuring that their initial strike had an overwhelming advantage.

From here on, it would be up to them to maintain that momentum.

An hour and a half later.

Qing Ming and the others arrived at their destination.

As Qing Ming had expected, word of their attack had already leaked. The Iwa-nin in this camp were fully prepared.

But it was pointless.

There was no way they could've summoned reinforcements in such a short time, and with only about a hundred defenders, they were in no position to stop Konoha's advance.

Within just half an hour, the battle was over.

This time, Qing Ming only managed to kill one tokubetsu jonin. It wasn't that he didn't want to take down more enemies, but this secondary camp didn't have many high-level shinobi to begin with.

With too many people vying for too few targets, he was lucky to have gotten even one, and that was mostly because his role in the assault group required him to handle high-risk enemies.

Moreover, the Iwa jonin seemed to have planned their retreat in advance. As soon as the situation turned bad, they led their forces and fled.

Though they didn't manage to take many people with them.

Still, from their actions and the shinobi they took, it was clear that Iwa was intentionally preserving its elite forces.

It was easy to foresee that soon they would face a tough battle. When that time came, the forces that had been saved would be among the main combatants.

With this in mind, Qing Ming thought to himself, "It looks like I'll need to take down as many enemies as I can in the upcoming battles."

He tucked that thought away and once again began assisting the medical-nin in treating the injured.

As for the issue of chakra depletion affecting his combat readiness, that wasn't a concern.

With a level 5 Chakra Absorption Technique, Qing Ming could absorb 1,000 units of chakra in a second, converting 90% of it into his own. He only needed to touch an enemy for a few seconds before they died to replenish a significant amount of chakra.

So, there was no need to worry about running out of chakra.

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