An hour had passed in the blink of an eye.
The moon, which had already been descending, now hung near the horizon.
At this time, one would expect the darkest hour just before dawn.
However, due to the ongoing battle, the sky above the Eagle's Beak Cliff was ablaze with fire, and there was no trace of darkness to be seen.
Flying above the battlefield, Qingming's Sharingan spun rapidly, seeking an opportunity. Once he found it, he flapped his wings and suddenly descended.
What followed were a series of ninjutsu attacks, striking at the Mist Ninjas from above.
The entire process lasted no more than thirty seconds, and once Qingming was done, he left, leaving no chance for the enemy to catch sight of him.
The Eagle's Beak Cliff was surrounded by the sea on three sides, making it extremely difficult to defend.
So even though the Mist Village had successfully launched a surprise attack tonight, they didn't give up their offensive advantage.
The battlefield had essentially been divided into three sections.
The Leaf Village forces were almost completely surrounded on three sides.
Ordinarily, this would have been a dire situation.
However, once Qingming gained access to flight ninjutsu, the disadvantage was instantly reversed into an advantage.
Using his flight ability, he rapidly moved across the battlefield from above, continuously striking at the Mist Ninjas.
During this time, while Terumi Mei and others desperately wanted to take action against him, they were unable to match his speed in crossing the battlefield.
As a result, they couldn't keep up with him.
This gave Qingming ample time to take advantage of the situation.
Thus, what had originally been an unfavorable situation for the Leaf Village became a perfect opportunity to tie down the Mist Ninjas.
But what Qingming could see, Terumi Mei and the others could naturally also see.
So, they attempted to regroup their forces.
Unfortunately for them, Uchiha Tetsuha and others, who had received Qingming's orders, kept them from regrouping, making it impossible for the Mist Ninja forces to unite.
Moreover, they deliberately divided the battlefield into even more parts.
By doing so, they were facing greater risks.
After all, there was a stark difference between thirty people being attacked by a hundred, and three people being attacked by ten.
Even though both situations involved a 1:3 ratio, the larger group had a higher chance of being rescued when danger struck compared to a smaller group.
But despite the higher risk, Uchiha Tetsuha and the others still tried to break up the battlefield as much as possible.
The reasoning was simple: this would give Qingming more room to maneuver.
If Qingming performed well, their own danger would be reduced.
It was a mutually beneficial process.
Of course, they weren't so extreme as to divide into three-person squads.
Typically, they split into groups of around ten, facing off against the Mist Ninjas' thirty-man teams.
In this way, Qingming only needed to find an opportunity to easily eliminate four or five enemies.
After doing this several times, the pressure on their team would be greatly reduced.
With more breathing room, they could better handle the Mist Ninjas.
However, Qingming's stamina was limited, and he couldn't be everywhere at once.
So, during this process, the Leaf Village still suffered considerable losses. Many ninjas were killed by the Mist Ninjas before Qingming could provide support.
This was especially true after Terumi Mei and the others realized they couldn't deal with him. They then spread out their forces across the battlefield.
Even though Qingming took this opportunity to eliminate two Mist Ninja Jounin who were relentlessly chasing him, it didn't change much.
There was nothing to be done. The Mist Village had deployed far too many forces.
Still, from an overall perspective, the Leaf Village was holding its own.
Now, it was a matter of which side would falter first.
...
Two more hours passed, and the first light of dawn began to appear on the horizon.
After nearly four hours of fighting, both the Leaf Village and the Mist Village had suffered heavy losses.
From above, one could see that around the Eagle's Beak Cliff stronghold, near the three directions leading to the sea, the ground was covered with bodies—both Leaf Ninjas and Mist Ninjas.
The surroundings were also devastated, with the once lush forest where Qingming usually trained now reduced to a field of scorched earth.
Boom!
The familiar sounds of exploding tags and ongoing combat reached his ears.
Qingming turned his gaze in the direction of the sound and saw more than a dozen Leaf Ninjas being surrounded and attacked by twice as many Mist Ninjas, fighting for their lives.
The battle was far from over.
Even though many of the Mist Village forces had been wiped out, and even though taking this stronghold wouldn't guarantee they could hold it, they hadn't given up.
As for the reason...
Qingming could probably guess.
More than an hour ago, Heize Chengshu had sent a message asking for an update and whether Qingming could spare some forces to support another stronghold.
However, knowing the situation on his end, Qingming immediately rejected the request. If he left, the Eagle's Beak Cliff stronghold would definitely fall, and he couldn't afford to abandon it.
But through the communication, he learned the overall situation.
It turned out that this stronghold wasn't the only one under attack tonight. The other two lines of defense, as well as the northern one where Qingming was stationed, had all been targeted.
Moreover, the Mist Village had been unusually well-informed, catching them off guard.
As of now, some strongholds had been breached, others were still holding out, and the battlefield commander, Nara Kiko, was organizing reinforcements.
From all this information, it wasn't hard for Qingming to infer that even though the Mist Village had suffered such heavy losses, they were still unwilling to retreat, likely because they wanted to keep him tied up here.
This wasn't arrogance on his part, but rather, his current significance in the grand scheme of things.
Over the past month, he had supported several missions and achieved great results every time.
It was only natural that the Mist Village would be wary of him.
Given this, it made sense that they were willing to sacrifice some of their forces to keep him occupied.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Qingming flapped his wings, drawing a graceful arc through the air, and flew toward the area where the Leaf Ninjas were surrounded.
Compared to before, his flying speed and agility had significantly improved.
This wasn't just an illusion; it was a reality.
The reason for this was simple. After several hours of flying and battling, his "Wind Style: Wind Wings" had progressed from level 2 (35/500) to level 3 (310/1000).
With the increase in proficiency, his control over the wind chakra wings had improved dramatically.
As a result, his maximum flying speed had increased by 50%, from the previous 20 meters per second to 30 meters per second, or 108 kilometers per hour.
Although this was still far from the speed of modern commercial aircraft, it was roughly comparable to driving at high speed on the highway.
The most important thing was that he no longer had to worry about traffic jams or terrain limitations.
Additionally, after reaching level 3, even at his top speed, his chakra consumption didn't increase much compared to level 2.
This showed that his control over the chakra wings had become more refined.
This was evident from the fact that his wings had shrunk to about 1.2 meters in length, even though logically, smaller wings would provide less lift, making him fly slower.
But in reality, he was flying faster.
There could only be one explanation: his control over the chakra wings had become more precise.
It was this improvement that made his flying posture far more flexible.
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