Two hours later.
With all preparations complete, Sano Nobuhisa officially gave the order to counterattack.
East of the outpost.
On the battlefield.
The Konoha lower- and mid-ranked ninja began launching an assault on the Mist Ninja under the lead of their jonin.
After the fierce battle that had gone on for several hours, both the Konoha ninja and the Kirigakure ninja had suffered heavy losses.
Although Kirigakure had made ample preparations and brought plenty of reserve supplies, they were still fighting away from home, and in the end, the Leaf had managed to bog them down.
Now that the Leaf had launched a counterattack, Kirigakure's side, despite having more people, still felt the pressure.
Especially after Qian in the sky ignored the battlefield below and headed straight for the Kirigakure warships about two kilometers from the coastline, the Mist Ninja on the field grew even more anxious.
There was no other reason. Those dozen or so Kirigakure warships were their escape route.
If the battle had been going smoothly, that would have been one thing. At worst, after taking Black Stone Outpost, they could have made further plans.
But the crux of the problem was that the battle was not going smoothly at all.
Now that it looked as if Black Stone Outpost could not be taken, if their retreat was cut off as well, they would be in serious trouble.
Thus, the moment Qian made his move, a portion of the Mist Ninja immediately received orders and quickly rushed toward the Kirigakure warships.
In the sky.
Seeing this, Qian nodded in satisfaction.
Then he directly used the Telepathy Technique to contact Sano Nobuhisa and tell him Kirigakure's response.
After receiving the news, Sano Nobuhisa did not hesitate at all. He immediately pressed all his forces forward, intending to