Chapter 264: Pyrrhic Victory and Orders

"Retreat~~~"

Upon hearing the desperate cry of Kurokawa Ichiro in his dying moments, the Iwagakure genin and chūnin on the battlefield froze for a moment before beginning to withdraw en masse.

Seeing this, the surviving Konoha ninjas sprang into action, either to obstruct the retreat or to pursue the fleeing enemy.

In an instant, the battlefield became even more chaotic than before.

However, since Konoha had the initiative, it was Iwagakure that ultimately found itself in a more disastrous state, suffering heavier casualties.

In this final wave alone, Iwagakure lost at least thirty to forty ninjas, and those who managed to evade the chase and return to the Iwagakure headquarters would surely not exceed a hundred.

In other words, in this raid, Iwagakure not only lost all of its jōnin but also suffered a reduction of over two-thirds of its forces.

Such losses cannot be considered insignificant.

On the other hand, Konoha also suffered considerable losses. Out of one hundred and fifty ninjas, the number of survivors was estimated to be no more than fifty.

Even this was a result of Qingming having previously killed many Iwagakure genin and chūnin; had he not eliminated dozens of them initially, Konoha's losses would have been even greater.

After all, Iwagakure was intent on annihilating the Kotohira outpost, and they had come well-prepared. That so many Konoha ninjas survived and managed to win was nearly a miracle.

No, it would be more accurate to say that it all relied on Qingming's "extraordinary" performance.

Without his decimation of the opposing jōnin squad, even if Konoha had struggled, it would have ended in failure—there would have been no other outcome.

Though it was still a pyrrhic victory, it was certainly better than a complete rout, wasn't it?

Thus, after the battle, the Konoha ninjas, regardless of their rank—jōnin, chūnin, or genin—looked at Qingming with eyes filled with awe and gratitude.

The awe was due to his strength.

The gratitude stemmed from his ability to save them with that strength.

However, Qingming did not take their gratitude or awe to heart. Everything he had done was simply in accordance with his own desires.

If one day someone provoked him, he wouldn't mind killing them on a whim, regardless of their identity.

A mere hidden village like Konoha could not possibly bind him.

Moreover, as his strength continued to grow, those bindings would only weaken.

It was still true that his goal was the stars and the sea.

To him, the ninja world was ultimately just a tiny place, and its ninja civilization developed merely because an extraterrestrial being planted a tree.

Sitting on the rooftop, Qingming gazed at the myriad stars in the night sky, his thoughts drifting far away.

He didn't know how long had passed when suddenly, a figure appeared beside him.

The newcomer was one of the few surviving Konoha ninjas from earlier that day, specifically a special jōnin.

He stood quietly beside Qingming, observing him as he gazed up at the night sky, not wanting to interrupt.

After a long while, when Qingming finally came to his senses, the special jōnin stepped forward and said, "Captain, here is today's battle report."

As he spoke, he handed a document to Qingming.

Qingming took the document, quickly skimmed through it, confirmed there were no issues, and then signed his name.

Afterward, he returned the document to the Konoha jōnin and said, "There's nothing wrong; just report it as is."

"Yes, Captain!"

The Konoha jōnin responded and prepared to leave.

At that moment, Qingming suddenly called out to him.

"Wait!"

The Konoha jōnin halted, turning back to ask, "Captain, is there anything else?"

Qingming thought for a moment and then directly stated, "When you submit the battle report, tell them that the Kotohira outpost can no longer be held and that we should withdraw immediately."

Hearing this, the Konoha jōnin looked momentarily stunned, hesitating for a while before saying, "Captain, do you really want to say it like that?"

"Yeah." Qingming nodded, saying, "Just say it was my decision."

The Konoha jōnin fell silent for a moment before responding, "Understood, Captain!"

With that, he performed a Body Flicker Technique and disappeared.

Qingming knew that making such a statement would likely lower the higher-ups' evaluation of him. However, he didn't care about that at all; even if their opinion of him dropped, it didn't matter. Given his identity as a member of the Uchiha clan, it was already clear that he would not have a favorable development under this current Konoha leadership.

Since that was the case, he might as well be a bit more free-spirited.

Qingming did not want to end up alone defending the Kotohira outpost.

Uh... to put it exaggeratively, that was the implication.

If those people saw his strength and tried to exploit him to the fullest, that would be quite troublesome.

Though this might accelerate his "swordsmanship" improvement, it wasn't worth the time and energy wasted.

Thus, it was better to speak frankly beforehand.

He believed that they would understand his meaning upon hearing his words.

······

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

Qingming received a reply from Ōmura Yuuma, or rather, an order, requesting him to hold the position for another week.

The letter vaguely mentioned that there seemed to be preparations for an operation at Kazeryū Town, which would require some time.

To this end, Ōmura Yuuma sent an additional hundred ninjas to support him.

Qingming pondered for a moment, feeling that after Iwagakure's devastating defeat, they probably wouldn't launch another attack in the short term.

After all, jōnin weren't like leeks that could be continuously harvested.

It was one thing for a special jōnin with only a single specialization, but from so many chūnin, they could certainly select some excellent candidates.

However, replenishing comprehensive jōnin was not so easy.

Based on the strength he had demonstrated so far, if Iwagakure wanted to capture the Kotohira outpost, they would have to either use a large number of genin and chūnin lives or mobilize more jōnin.

For the former, Qingming could also apply for support.

Ultimately, a small skirmish might evolve into a large-scale battle, which wouldn't align with Iwagakure's overall strategic decision to conduct a dispersed assault on the outer posts of Kazeryū Town.

Therefore, it was highly unlikely they would proceed with that option.

What remained was a clash of soldiers against soldiers and generals against generals.

To deal with Qingming, at least four Iwagakure jōnin would need to be mobilized, along with other Konoha jōnin from the Kotohira outpost. To capture this place, Iwagakure would need at least seven or eight jōnin.

Gathering that many jōnin at once would not be possible.

At least not within a week.

Thus, the task of holding out for a week didn't seem so dangerous anymore.

So, Qingming decided to accept the mission.

Of course, if Iwagakure displayed any unusual behavior within that week, such as trying to eliminate him at all costs, Qingming would not hesitate to abandon his defense.

Compared to his life, what was a mere Kotohira outpost? Even if it led to some criticism, he wouldn't care.

However, he couldn't help but be curious about what operation was being prepared at Kazeryū Town.

"Could it be another assassination operation?" Qingming murmured quietly.

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