The Attacked Camp

The newly activated heat vision was turned off as quickly as it was opened. As a result, the leaf, which was the target, now had an extremely tiny hole on its surface in that instant. What is this!

"What's going on?" Junpei's words interrupted Xing Ran's thoughts. Following his companion's gaze, Xing Ran quickly saw the chaotic outpost. It had been attacked.

As the team's sensor ninja, Xing Ran should have been the first to know about the situation here. Unfortunately, he had been distracted while rushing, and only noticed that the Konoha outpost here had been attacked when Yamaki Atsushi walked up to him.

According to the plan of the three of them, they would meet up with their companions at the border outpost here, then after a short rest, they would travel together with their patrolling companions to the next outpost. After that, they would soon enter Konohagakure's territory, which would have been a safe and easy journey.

But now that the outpost here had been attacked, the journey back was also cast under a shadow. Thinking of the six-person team they encountered on the way, Xing Ran and the other two felt a bit down for a moment.

"Who's there?" At this moment, the remaining Konoha ninja in the outpost also discovered the three of them. While shouting a warning, they also became vigilant.

"It's us, we just returned from our mission to Iwagakure. What happened here?" Yamaki Atsushi clearly knew someone here. He announced his identity as he walked towards a Konoha ninja with a bandaged shoulder and asked.

"So it's Mr. Yamaki. Alas, as you can see, we were ambushed. The enemy attacked while our patrol team was out. We were outnumbered, but we managed to send out a signal in time, and the enemy didn't gain much before retreating. This is the second time they've attacked us this week, so they're practically old acquaintances," the Konoha ninja with the bandaged shoulder said in a deep voice. It seemed that the place was only superficially damaged, and there were no casualties.

"How many of them were there?" Junpei asked, which was also what Xing Ran wanted to know. If it was a six-person team led by a Jonin, then it was likely the same group from before.

"There were six of them, with at least one Jonin. Although they were dressed as Stone Ninja, many of them were skilled in Water Release ninjutsu, and their Earth Style abilities were also decent, but most of them used combined Earth Style ninjutsu," the ninja with the injured shoulder gritted his teeth as he accidentally moved his wound while speaking. It was unclear whether it was from pain or hatred.

Could it really be that group?

With such specific characteristics, not only Xing Ran, but Yamaki Atsushi and Junpei also had the same thought.

"How long have the patrol members been out? When will they be back?" Xing Ran suddenly had a bad feeling, hoping he was overthinking it.

"They've been out for a while, and the distress signal was sent out a while ago. They should be arriving soon." Just as the ninja with the injured shoulder finished speaking, a team of four Konoha ninja suddenly appeared in the camp.

The four stood or half-crouched, no one spoke, but they occupied several vantage points of the outpost. These were well-trained elite ninja.

Seeing this, Xing Ran felt a slight sense of relief.

After the explanation from the newcomers, it turned out that there were not six, but eight enemies. The patrol team was lured away by two "rogue Stone Ninja." This time, the enemy was a bit too ambitious and wanted to use a feint to directly destroy this Konoha outpost. However, they must have had some early warning measures. Xing Ran and his group, who had finished their mission early and were returning to the village, were discovered. Under the outpost's original trap and defense mechanisms, the enemy could not achieve their goals in a short period, so they decisively retreated.

This was just a greedy guerrilla tactic by the "rogue Stone Ninja," not the prelude to a large-scale battle that Xing Ran had imagined. This could be inferred from the fact that the enemy did not lay an ambush to cut off reinforcements.

They probably lacked manpower. If Xing Ran had designed this battle and had sufficient manpower, he would have first surrounded the outgoing patrol team, using them as a trap to lure out the remaining mobile forces in the outpost. After splitting them up and dealing with them, he would have used the attack on the sparsely populated outpost as bait to attract more Konoha reinforcements, and finally withdrawn before the large-scale Konoha reinforcements arrived, after causing heavy casualties.

"These detestable rats! We let them have an opportunity by carelessness. I must request Lord Hokage to organize a special encirclement and suppression operation," the ninja with the injured shoulder said indignantly.

Previously, Konoha had judged these people to be from the Land of Earth. No country, not even rogue ninja, would allow another country to easily intervene in their capture operations. The peace that the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth had just achieved needed to be maintained. Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage, was once again in a dilemma.

To prevent the situation from escalating further, he did not immediately arrange for people to eliminate this group. Instead, he wanted to understand the "truth" first. The original plan was to communicate with the Land of Earth and eliminate these people after the matter was clarified.

This could prevent Iwagakure from playing a game of "truth veiled in falsehood, falsehood veiled in truth" with Konoha. As long as the other party officially announced that these people had nothing to do with them, then whether these people were Cloud Ninja or Stone Ninja, Konoha would have the confidence to act as they pleased.

The advantage of this approach was prudence and meticulousness, which could resolve all external concerns without any loopholes. The disadvantage was that, as it was now, too many procedures were involved, and a delayed reaction could easily allow the enemy to exploit the time difference.

Xing Ran did not want any more trouble. Although his companions had been attacked, he just wanted to return to the village as soon as possible. As for the matter of eliminating this group, that was the Hokage's problem to consider.

After learning that there were eight enemies, two of whom were killed as bait to lure away the patrol team, and that the six who attacked the camp had all suffered injuries to varying degrees, the three decided to hurry back to Konoha while the enemy was in a weakened state.

The plan for rest was canceled, and the three set off again towards Konohagakure. This time, Xing Ran did not experiment with new combat techniques and conducted thorough early warning work throughout the entire journey.

Xing Ran's seriousness soon paid off. After traveling less than a hundred miles, Xing Ran discovered the enemy in front of the team on the flank.

It was a duo, both wearing Stone Ninja attire, but their forehead protectors had a clear scratch on them, a characteristic similar to the "rogue Stone Ninja" who had been unusually active between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth recently.

"11 o'clock direction, two individuals, suspected to be the rogue Stone Ninja who attacked us. Should we engage?" Xing Ran discovered the enemy about 1000 meters away, giving them ample time to prepare.

"Are you sure there are only two of them?" Yamaki Atsushi had more experience. If they could confirm there were only two, then they would have a numerical advantage. They could sneak up and attack, and the possibility of capturing the enemy was very high.

"...No, the distance is too far, and my perception isn't clear enough."