Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 563 Emergencies
In a blink of an eye, another three days passed.

As the final negotiations between Konoha and Iwagakure Village approached, the attacks of Kirigakure Village became more and more frenzied, and almost all of Konoha's strongholds on the eastern border of the Land of Fire were caught in the war.

In fact, some of these strongholds have already been captured.

As a last resort, Nara Keiko had to take down the east wall to repair the west wall, and constantly transferred troops from other strongholds to stop the advancement of the Hidden Mist Village.

In the past, these had nothing to do with Qingming.

After all, the Black Stone Stronghold where he was located was adjacent to Feiyu Town, one of the four breakthrough points of the Hidden Mist Village. The location was very important, and even if troops were dispatched, they could not reach him.

However, this time is different.

That morning, Qingming was still outside on the battlefield carrying out patrol and intelligence gathering tasks when he suddenly received an order from Nobuhisa Sano, asking him to return to the base immediately.

Although Qingming was confused, he still followed the order and flew towards the Black Stone stronghold.

But when he came back, he found out that the person who was looking for him was not Sano Nobuhisa, but Nara Keimitsu. The other party had just sent an emergency order, asking him to rush to the headquarters in the south immediately, saying that there was a mission for him.

As for what the specific task is, it did not provide any details.

In view of the urgency of the matter, Qing Ming did not delay too much. After replenishing various equipment and supplies in the base, he performed "Wind Escape: Wind Wings" and flew high into the sky, flying towards the direction of the headquarters.

Originally, it would take half a day to travel between the Black Stone Stronghold and the General Command, but with Qingming flying at full speed, it only took less than ten minutes to arrive there.

After verifying his identity, Qing Ming entered the headquarters meeting room.

Only then did he realize that he was not the only one here. There were also several other senior ninjas, one of whom was an acquaintance of his, and it was none other than Uchiha Shisui.

Unlike the Black Stone stronghold where he was sent before, the other party has never left since arriving at Yujin Port and has been working under Nara Kiyomitsu.

This also allowed him to avoid Danzo's last plot.

But then again, if the other party had traveled with him last time and combined the strength of the two of them, would Danzo still dare to do that?

Maybe they don't dare, but they may also send a stronger force to catch them all in one fell swoop.

Qingming thought about it in his mind, but soon he shook his head and put it all behind him. Now that the matter has passed, there is no point in thinking about it any more.

Qing Ming walked forward and nodded to Uchiha Shisui as a greeting, then sat down on the chair next to him.

Afterwards, he didn't care about everyone's reactions and just used the "Palm Immortal Technique" to strengthen his body.

In fact, if possible, he would like to seize the time to practice the "Art of Reflecting the Heart".

Because according to the progress, the evolution degree of his Sharingan will break through the (20000/50000) mark today.

Unfortunately, the "Art of Reflecting the Heart" cannot be shown openly to others, and this place is not very quiet, so it is not suitable for practicing this art.

So, he could only give up for the time being.

······
Time passes minute by minute.

About a quarter of an hour later.

Nara Keiko walked into the meeting room.

It was obvious that the other party was very tired, but he still pulled himself together and said, "Everyone!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone focused their attention on the past.

Then he continued, "Everyone, I have urgently summoned you here because I have a very important mission for you."

After hearing this, everyone waited seriously for his next words.

However, he did not directly explain the content of the mission. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, "Everyone, not long ago, the Red Tree Stronghold fell."

"what?"

When everyone heard the news, the serious expressions on their faces could no longer be maintained. One by one, they showed a look of surprise, even Qingming was no exception.

Having been on this battlefield for such a long time, he knew the location and importance of each stronghold very well.

If we only talk about military value, the Mangrove Stronghold is actually nothing. It is at most on the second line of the entire eastern defense line, but its political significance is extraordinary - this stronghold is a gateway to Daming Prefecture.

If it is breached, it means that the Mist Ninja can march straight into the heart of the Fire Country, and even if they are ruthless enough, they can directly take the daimyo.

Admittedly, the Daimyo's status in the eyes of the Konoha high-ranking officials is just that, but he still has to be respected overtly.

However, precisely because of its special political significance, Konoha has been stationing hundreds of ninjas there for the past two to three years, and its defensive force is stronger than some of the previous strongholds on the front line.

Now, Nara Keiko suddenly said that the place had fallen. How could this not shock everyone?
After a long while, someone asked, "Captain, how did the Red Tree Stronghold fall? As far as I know, the Hidden Mist Village doesn't seem to have that many troops sent there, right?"

Upon hearing this, the others nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, there was a lot of discussion in the conference room.

"Cough~cough~"

Nara Qiguang clenched his fist and coughed twice, then stretched out his hand to suppress the discussion of the crowd. After the meeting room returned to silence, he said with a serious expression: "This is also the reason why I summoned you here. According to the latest intelligence, the Hidden Mist Village has deployed the Vulpix over there."

"what?"

This time, everyone was even more shocked. Before Nara Kiyoshi could finish his words, they interrupted and asked, "What is the Hidden Mist Village planning to do? Start the Fourth Ninja World War?"

It’s no wonder that everyone was shocked. The actions of the Hidden Mist Village were simply too crazy.

Now anyone with a discerning eye can see that this Ninja World War is almost over. In the next period of time, all parties will just be vying for the final bargaining chips.

But what about the Hidden Mist Village?
This is the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb on someone's house before the war is over.

At this point, if Konoha did not fight back, not only would it be unable to explain to its own people, but even the subsequent negotiations would probably be difficult to carry out.

However, if Konoha retaliates in kind, the war will most likely continue or even intensify.

By then, all of Konoha's previous efforts for peace would be in vain.

Therefore, the Konoha high-level officials are now divided into two factions.

One of the factions is the pro-war faction headed by Danzo. They advocate using the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to give equal revenge to the Hidden Mist Village in order to strike a blow against their arrogance.

The other faction is the peace faction headed by Sarutobi Hiruzen, who hopes to make big things small and small things disappear, and end the war as soon as possible.

It was obvious that Nara Keiko belonged to the peace faction, and most of the people present also belonged to this faction.

Even Qing Ming was classified into this faction because of his laissez-faire attitude during the war, although he did not consider himself a pacifist.

Nara Qiguang glanced at everyone and said, "Your mission this time is very important. The Third-sama wants you to organize people immediately and retake the Red Tree Stronghold."

"Reorganize the manpower? Could it be that the ninjas in the Red Tree Stronghold are still alive?"

"And what about Vulpix?"

As soon as Nara Qiguang finished speaking, two questions were thrown out by everyone present.

Nara Qiguang asked everyone to be quiet. He answered the first question first, saying, "The attack of Kirigakure was indeed sudden, but because of the indiscriminate attack of the Vulpix, the Kirigakure ninjas did not dare to get close. So even though the Red Tree stronghold was captured, there are still many surviving ninjas on our side. Now they are trying their best to resist the advance of the Kirigakure ninjas."

After hearing what the other party said, Qingming thought for a while and secretly said that it was true. According to his age, the current Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugao, is just a little kid. It is naturally impossible for him to master the power of the tailed beasts.

Therefore, the most likely approach that the Hidden Mist Village will take is to throw it out as a weapon and let the tailed beast destroy it.

In this situation, as long as the Konoha ninjas in the red tree stronghold are smart enough, the chances of survival are high.

While Qingming was still thinking, Nara Qiangguang had already answered the second question.

Then he said confidently: "Don't worry, someone will take care of Vulpix. You don't need to ask who it is. Keep it a secret now. You will know when you arrive."

When everyone heard this, they began to think about possible candidates, but Qingming guessed who it was without even having to think about it. He couldn't think of anyone else except Minato Namikaze.

This is not only because the opponent is strong enough to deal with the Six-Tails, but also because his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Now, the war faction wants the village to use the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to retaliate against the Hidden Mist Village. If he doesn't want Uzumaki Kushina to take risks, he must take action to solve this trouble.

Moreover, it must be resolved before it causes too much damage.

Only in this way can we shut up Danzo and others to a certain extent, thus giving Sarutobi Hiruzen more room to maneuver.

Otherwise, Uzumaki Kushina would have to make a trip to the Hidden Mist Village.

Qingming didn’t know whether this incident happened in another timeline. If it happened, then Minato Namikaze should have completed the task perfectly in the end.

If not, it's no big deal.

The Hidden Mist Village completely freed the Vulpix from its restraints, allowing it to carry out indiscriminate destruction. This would certainly maximize the power of the tailed beasts, but it also gave Minato Namikaze a great opportunity.

Without the involvement of human intelligence, the tailed beasts, which have been imprisoned for decades and whose entire bodies and minds are occupied by hatred and tyrannical will, are no match for the wise and brave Minato Namikaze.

Not to mention that Minato Namikaze is quite good at sealing techniques.

In this way, accidents are even less likely to occur.

So, although this matter seems urgent, it is actually not a big deal at all.

After thinking this through, Qing Ming immediately felt relieved, and the expression on his face relaxed.

At this moment, Nara Keiko called his name and began to assign tasks to him.

The mission Qingming received was very simple, which was to use the advantage of flying to rush to the battlefield over there first, collect intelligence there, and pass it on to several senior ninjas who were traveling with him.

Then, they will develop more targeted plans based on the intelligence.

In addition, he has a special mission, which is to help deal with Vulpix when necessary.

(End of this chapter)