Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 548 The calm before the storm

Sunset and sunrise.

In the blink of an eye, a week passed.

Just as Qingming predicted, the Hidden Mist Village did not intend to sit idly by and allow things to develop in a direction that was unfavorable to them.

Ever since the news of the negotiations between Konoha and Iwagakure Village spread, the Kirigakure Village began to mobilize troops, continuously transferring troops from the mainland through the forward base of the Wave Country and into the territory of the Fire Country.

Moreover, they were not concentrated in those four breakthrough points, but were widely distributed along the eastern part of the Fire Country.

This put tremendous pressure on the Konoha strongholds along the route.

Especially two days ago, after the news came out that the second round of negotiations between Konoha and Iwagakure Village was going relatively smoothly, the Kirigakure Village seemed even more restless.

Sometimes, Qingming wondered whether this news was leaked deliberately by the Iwagakure Village in order to stimulate the Mist Village and let them create trouble for Konoha, thereby increasing their bargaining chips.

Or perhaps, it was an effort by the radical faction of the Iwagakure Village and some people within Konoha who did not want the war to end to disrupt the situation.

However, no matter what the truth is, the Black Stone Stronghold, as one of the four breakthrough points adjacent to the Hidden Mist Village, must be fully prepared for war.

This forced Qingming to shorten his practice time.

That is, his 'Shadow Clone Technique' has been upgraded to level 6, and can create up to thirty shadow clones at a time.

Otherwise, there simply isn’t enough time.

However, multiple shadow clones were at the same starting line, practicing the same skill. Even though he increased the frequency of refreshing the shadow clone's status, it still inevitably led to a decrease in efficiency.

There is no way around it.

Now that the war is approaching, Qingming cannot act independently.

Now, Qingming hopes that in the next battle, he can extract more chakra to make up for his losses in the past period of time.

That’s right, in Qingming’s opinion, this battle is inevitable.

No matter who is behind this incident and what the truth is, since the Hidden Mist Village has made so many preparations, it is impossible for it to stop.

Now, it's just the calm before the storm.

Qingming could almost foresee that when the results of the third round of negotiations between Konoha and the Iwagakure Village came out in three days, if everything continued to go smoothly, then this war would most likely break out directly.

At that time, the entire front will inevitably fall into war.

Shaking his head secretly, Qing Ming didn't think any more about it. He led a team of his men to continue patrolling the forest southwest of the Black Stone Stronghold.

······
In a flash, it was three days later.

It’s noon this day.

Blackrock Stronghold.

Command.

In the conference room.

Qingming and a group of senior ninjas sat here, quietly waiting for the latest news.

After a while.

Nobuhisa Sano walked in.

He sat down on the first seat without any nonsense and said directly: "The third round of negotiations has gone smoothly. In ten days, the village will have the final round of negotiations with the Iwagakure Village. If it goes well, the two sides will sign a peace agreement by the end of the month."

This is undoubtedly good news.

However, no one in the conference room had a smile on their face like they did ten days ago, and almost everyone had a serious look on their face.

Obviously, the various actions of the Hidden Mist Village in the past ten days have put a lot of pressure on them, making it impossible for them to laugh. In the meeting room, you can hear a pin drop.

After a long while, someone finally spoke up: "Captain, what does the headquarters mean?"

Hearing this, everyone turned their eyes to Sano Nobuhisa.

Sano Nobuhisa was silent for a few seconds before he said, "The headquarters doesn't have any extra manpower to support us right now. There are too many strongholds to defend. The headquarters requires us to hold on for ten days."

Obviously, these ten days are a critical period and they need to bear it alone. Not only will the Iwagakure battlefield not provide support, but they will also draw some troops retreating from the Sunagakure battlefield to rush over.

After all, successful negotiations do not mean a ceasefire will eventually occur.

What's more, this negotiation itself is a test by the Iwagakure Village.

Otherwise, the other party would not set the final negotiation date ten days later.

The other party did this because they wanted to see whether the Hidden Mist Village could make greater progress within these ten days.

It can be predicted that once the Hidden Mist Village completely tears open Konoha's eastern defense line within ten days, the Hidden Iwagakure Village will inevitably overturn the previous negotiation results and take advantage of the situation to invade Konoha.

Under such circumstances, Konoha naturally could not let down its guard.

In this way, they will have to bear the pressure from the Hidden Mist Village on their own.

Qingming knew without even thinking about it that this battle would be extremely brutal, unless the Hidden Mist Village took the initiative to retreat.
But this is almost impossible.

In the past ten days, the other party has almost made its intention to attack clear to Konoha. How could they retreat easily?

This battle is simply impossible to avoid.

Just when Qingming was daydreaming, Sano Nobuhisa spoke again: "Everyone, the dawn of victory is just around the corner, let us all work hard for it!"

After saying this, he immediately arranged tasks for everyone without caring about their reactions.

As expected, Qingming's flying ability was used again.

This time, his mission was no longer to lead a patrol, but to monitor the Mist Ninjas in Feiyu Town and patrol the area within a radius of 30 kilometers of the entire Black Stone stronghold to provide intelligence support for the entire team.

After hearing his mission, Qing Ming thought about it for a moment and agreed.

Although this task requires a lot of his energy, it is safe and also gives him a certain degree of freedom.

After that, he only needs to send out some shadow clones to carry out tasks, and he can move freely.

Soon, the meeting is over.

Qing Ming transferred his troops, replenished various supplies, and then performed "Wind Style: Wind Wings", flew high into the sky, and flew outside the stronghold.

After leaving everyone's sight, he did not hesitate at all and immediately performed the "Shadow Clone Technique" to create five shadow clones.

Qing Ming directly sent one of his shadow clones to fly towards Feiyu Town, specifically responsible for monitoring the Mist Ninjas there.

Then, he ordered another four shadow clones to fly in the four directions of southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, and ordered them to patrol the area within a radius of 30 kilometers.

As for himself.
The sky is big and the earth is big, but they are not bigger than his cultivation.

With the "art of telepathy", he doesn't have to worry about the problem of untimely information transmission. He can naturally continue his own practice, and then pass the information to Sano Nobuhisa when necessary.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that after the past ten days of practice, his proficiency in "Wind Style: Wind Wings" has approached the upper limit of lv6, and he is only one step away from reaching the perfect state of lv7.

Qing Ming estimated that after a day of such high-intensity patrols, his proficiency should be fully accumulated.

By then, he will have an extra 20,000 available chakra points every day, so great!

Qing Ming collected his thoughts and stopped thinking about it. After choosing a direction, he immediately flapped his wings and flew over.

(End of this chapter)