Besieged

As Qi Shuang and the others were rapidly advancing towards the Konoha main camp, the Konoha ninjas left behind had already engaged a small group of Mist Ninja.

Initially, the remaining Konoha ninjas didn't take these few invading Mist Ninja seriously, thinking they were just ordinary harassment troops. But as more and more Mist Ninja appeared around them, they sensed something was wrong.

"Byakugan!"

A member of the Hyuga clan, who had stayed behind, activated their Byakugan, expanding their search range to investigate.

"This is..."

After scanning a one-kilometer radius around the Konoha main camp, he broke out in a cold sweat, too terrified to speak.

"What's wrong?" a companion nearby asked loudly while throwing explosive kunai outwards.

Boom!

The sound of explosions quickly followed, only to be immediately drowned out by the other explosions around them.

More and more Mist Ninja joined the fray, and the companions holding the fort inside the camp were starting to falter.

"I... we... are surrounded!" the Hyuga clan member replied, his voice almost trembling.

"How is that possible!"

His companion immediately expressed disbelief, unleashing a flurry of attacks to block the rain of ninja tools.

"I'm not lying! There are countless Mist Ninja squads pouring in from all directions! They've formed a large encirclement, completely surrounding our camp!" the Hyuga clan member replied mournfully.

"Then what are you still standing here for!"

His companion, angered, kicked him to the ground and yelled, "Hurry up and report the situation to command! Get them to send reinforcements quickly!"

"Huh? Oh! Oh, okay!"

After that harsh kick, the Hyuga clan member snapped back to reality. It wasn't a completely hopeless situation yet. He immediately scrambled towards the command post.

When he rushed to the entrance of the command tent, he bumped into another clan member.

"You discovered it too?" the other person asked him in fear.

"Mm!"

He nodded and, without further words, lifted the tent flap and led the way into the command tent.

Seeing the two Hyuga clan members enter, someone inside frowned and asked, "Weren't you assigned to constantly monitor the situation around the camp? What are you two doing here?"

The two Hyuga clan members exchanged glances; neither spoke first.

This was because they, as sensory-type ninjas, bore an undeniable responsibility for the main camp being surrounded.

Seemingly realizing they couldn't avoid it, the one who entered first spoke after a brief silence, "Report, Lord, we... our camp has been surrounded by Mist Ninja!"

"What?"

Hearing this, the others in the tent were also stunned and took a while to recover.

One of them immediately swept the documents off the table and yelled at the two, "What have you two been eating! Were those eyes just for show!"

"You only realize something's wrong after you've been surrounded! You damn fools!"

If these two hadn't reported, he would have assumed the outside was just the Mist Ninja's usual routine of probing harassment.

"Alright, alright! It's happened now, getting angry won't help!"

From behind the desk, another person patted his shoulder and then looked at the two Hyuga clan members, asking, "You're constantly monitoring the surrounding situation, aren't you? How could this happen, where you only realize something's wrong after being surrounded?"

One Hyuga clan member lowered his head and said, "Earlier, we didn't see any signs of large Mist Ninja forces moving this way. We only sporadically found a few small squads bypassing our defenses."

"I suspect they used this method of dispersion and flanking to evade our surveillance, then formed a large encirclement and closed in. By the time we discovered it, it was already too late!"

The other person asked, "How many enemies are there?"

The Hyuga clan member replied in a low voice, "Not many, but still around five hundred!"

"I understand. You may go," the person waved them away.

Upon hearing this, the two Hyuga clan members felt as if a great pardon had been granted and fled the command tent like rabbits.

Listening to the roaring explosions outside, one person frowned and said, "Five hundred enemies, while not enough to wipe us all out, our current forces in the camp definitely can't hold them off!"

"Furthermore, there are many wounded in the camp. If they charge in and cause havoc, the losses could be very heavy!"

"I propose we dispatch some troops to reinforce!"

Another person nearby shook his head and sighed, "One step behind, and you're behind every step!"

"The Mist Ninja went to such great lengths to draw away our main forces, and then sent troops to flank and surprise us. They must have anticipated us sending troops back for reinforcements!"

"So, the question now isn't whether we decide to send troops back, but whether our troops can still be recalled!"

"If what you're saying is true, then we shouldn't recall our troops?" the first person raised an eyebrow.

"I never said that!"

He shot his companion a look and continued, "What I mean is, we can't place all our hopes on recalling troops and just focus on resisting the Mist Ninja's surprise attack."

"Instead, we should consider what the Mist Ninja's objective is with this move. Obstructing their objective this time is our most crucial task!"

The other person pondered for a moment, tapping his chin, and tentatively asked, "They... they wouldn't be trying to pull off some kind of decapitation tactic, would they?"

It's impossible for Kirigakure to completely destroy their main camp with only 500 troops. To achieve any significant results with such limited forces, the only thing he could currently think of was a decapitation strike!

The other two nodded slightly upon hearing this.

One said, "A decapitation strike isn't impossible!"

"If they can use these 500 troops to kill the three of us commanders, disrupt our command system, and cause chaos on the battlefield, breaking through our defenses in one fell swoop would also be a successful tactic!"

At this, the other two fell silent.

After three breaths, one said in a low voice, "Although recalling troops will definitely be difficult, we should still send out the transfer orders as soon as possible!"

"The sooner the reinforcements return, the sooner Kirigakure's surprise attack force will retreat, and the safer we will be!"

With that, he snapped his fingers, and three Konoha Ninja wearing white tanuki masks appeared in the command tent.

They were Anbu members responsible for guarding the three supreme commanders.

"You three, hurry to the Uchiha camp and allocate a thousand troops from the main force to come back for support!" he solemnly instructed the three, quickly writing out three transfer orders and handing them over.

The outside was already surrounded by Mist Ninja, and even with the Anbu's skills, it would be difficult to break through the encirclement.

Three transfer orders and three people were meant to increase the probability of breaking through.

If all three died during the breakout, there would be nothing that could be done. However, the probability of this was likely not high.

Taking another step back, even if all three died.

The reinforcements would still return, but without their active request for help from this side, it would take longer for the main force to discover the anomaly and turn back.

The possibility of an accident would also be higher.

No one wished to entrust their fate to the unknown.