Night Raid (Part One)

In the blink of an eye.

Time reached the latter half of the night.

Boom—

Suddenly, an explosion rang out in the distance, startling Qian awake from his sleep.

In just an instant, his eyes went from dazed to sharp.

Almost without hesitation, Qian grabbed the Ninja Tool Pouch and forehead protector beside him, then sat up with a roll. By the time he left the tent, he was already fully armed.

Several others came out with him, including their team leader—Furukawa.

He reached Furukawa's side in a few quick steps and looked into the distance in the direction of his gaze. Faint sounds of fighting could be heard from over there.

Clearly, something had happened.

The patrol and defense duties for this area were handled by two divisions. One division was responsible for the daytime, and the other for the night.

The First Division, where their Class 17 belonged, patrolled during the day, while the Second Division that relieved them handled the night.

Without question, the ones currently fighting the unknown enemy were the Second Division.

The Second Division had four teams under it. Two of the teams had the same setup as their class: one Jonin leading three Genin.

The remaining two teams were each composed of one Special Jonin and three Chunin.

Counting the Jonin-level Squad Captain, that meant the Second Division had a total of seventeen people: three Jonin, two Special Jonin, and six Chunin and six Genin each.

This was almost no different from their First Division.

Right now, Qian only hoped that the enemy had accidentally exposed their trail and had been caught by one of the Second Division's teams, forcing a fight to break out.

Otherwise, things would get troublesome.

Because that would mean the enemy's overall combat strength was not lower than theirs, and their mission was no longer the usual lurking and infiltration, but a raid.

In that case, the two sides were bound to fight to the death.

While Qian was deep in thought, the First Division finished assembling.

At the same time, sounds of fighting came from two other directions in the forest one after another.

Well, no need to guess.

This definitely was not lurking and infiltration.

Who organized multiple forces at the same time for lurking and infiltration? If they were discovered like that, even withdrawing would be difficult.

Judging by how little they cared about their movements being exposed, they were clearly prepared to launch a raid.

Only...

Qian could not understand what the point of this enemy raid was.

This was only a Temporary Garrison, with no important facilities at all. Even if they captured it, it did not seem to hold any value.

Not to mention, this place was not very far from Konoha's Main Camp. As long as they sent the intelligence back in time, the Main Camp could provide support at any moment.

In other words, the enemy had no chance of holding it.

They even risked being surrounded and wiped out.

Why would the enemy do something where the risks and rewards were so completely unequal?

To eliminate Konoha's living forces?

Please!

How many people were even here? There were no especially famous ninja either. Even if they killed them all, how much impact could it have on Konoha?

To borrow the route?

But if they were borrowing the route, they should cause even less of a commotion.

With the information unequal, Qian could not figure out the enemy's thoughts for the moment, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

At this moment, the Squad Captain of their First Division—Nakajima Hiroshi—stepped forward.

He was a middle-aged Jonin, and the moment he opened his mouth, it was with an order.

"Everyone!"

Everyone immediately straightened their bodies and waited for his next command.

"First Team."

"Here!"

A thin Jonin stepped forward with three Genin.

Qian knew this man was named Okura Seiya. He looked as if a gust of wind could knock him over, but in truth, his combat power was extremely strong, not at all inferior to their team leader—Furukawa.

"Seiya, your team will stay behind to guard the Camp," Nakajima Hiroshi ordered.

"Yes, Captain."

Okura Seiya had no objection. After acknowledging the order, he stepped back.

Nakajima Hiroshi looked at the others and said, "Second, Third, Fourth Teams!"

"Here!"

The team captains of the three teams answered at the same time.

"You will set out with me immediately to support the Second Division."

"Yes, Captain!"

Furukawa and the others answered again.

Qian did not really understand this arrangement.

As he saw it, Okura Seiya was so strong that he should be going with the team as support. Leaving him here on guard duty was a complete waste of his talents.

Fortunately, Nakajima Hiroshi soon let him understand the point of arranging things this way.

He said, "Seiya, summon your Summoning Beast now."

"Mm."

Okura Seiya nodded without the slightest surprise, then bit into the pad of his thumb. Blood ran down his palm.

As though he could not feel the pain at all, Okura Seiya rapidly formed the five seals—Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram—using his blood as the medium to perform the Summoning Technique, and summoned a night owl.

Then, no one knew what ninjutsu he used, but he linked the night owl's vision with his own.

That way, whatever the night owl saw, he would see at the same time.

Although there was a limit to the distance of this connection, it was undoubtedly an excellent method of reconnaissance.

At this point, Qian finally understood what Nakajima Hiroshi meant.

The other man was clearly planning to have this night owl move with them, then use the connection between it and Okura Seiya to transmit intelligence back in real time.

After that, Okura Seiya could contact the Main Camp, allowing the Main Camp to understand the situation here.

When the time came, whether they sent support or launched a counter-encirclement, they would be able to act with a clear target.

Sure enough, Nakajima Hiroshi's next words confirmed his guess.

"Seiya, from here on, you'll control Owl and have it secretly follow our movements, relaying intelligence to the Main Camp at any time."

Hearing this, Okura Seiya nodded, indicating there was no problem.

Flap—

The sound of wings beating rang out.

The night owl Okura Seiya had summoned shot into the sky and disappeared into the night in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, Nakajima Hiroshi nodded, then said to Qian and the others, "Let's go!"

With that, he took the lead and rushed into the forest.

Qian and the others did not dare delay and hurried after him.

What reassured Qian was that Nakajima Hiroshi did not blindly split their forces. Instead, he led all of them together toward the nearest battlefield.

Clearly, he intended to figure out the situation first, then act as circumstances dictated.

Qian approved of this with both hands and feet.

With the current situation unclear, rashly splitting their forces would undoubtedly be extremely dangerous. If they were picked off one by one, things would get very ugly.

Thankfully, since Nakajima Hiroshi had been able to become Squad Captain, he was not an idiot and did not make such a basic mistake.

That eased Qian's uneasy heart a little.

Swish, swish, swish—

In the Dense Forest.

Qian and the others moved swiftly. Just as they were about to approach the battlefield, Nakajima Hiroshi, who was up ahead, suddenly raised his right arm, signaling everyone to stop.

Everyone immediately halted and warily scanned their surroundings.

At some point, the chirping of insects and birdsong in the forest had already stopped. Under the silent night, only the rustle of the night wind sweeping through the leaves remained.

The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet!

Everyone held their breath and focused, observing their surroundings as if some vicious insects or fierce beasts were lurking nearby, making them afraid to breathe too loudly.