Chapter 207: Delay

Azure sky, no clouds for thousands of miles.

Cry!

A clear, pleasant eagle cry pierced the boundless sky!

"Don't look, Hei Ze! It's just a hunting gray hawk—quite ordinary, nothing to make a fuss about!"

"Yes, Captain!"

He drew his gaze back from the gray hawk he had spotted in the sky and resumed watching every move around him.

Indeed, he was just being overly nervous; it was truly an utterly ordinary old eagle, the only thing special about it being that its claws were gripping its prey.

Just a black snake!

"Well! When you first hit the battlefield, there are bound to be some nerves; once you get past this stretch, you'll be fine!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Seeing his comrade acting jumpy, as He Ze's superior, a rock ninja about twenty years old, offered a few words of reassurance.

He's still too young; after he's undertaken a few battlefield missions, he should be fine.

"Don't be so tense, Hei Ze; here you need to learn to relax a bit, or you'll end up all jittery~"

Seeing his comrade so green, the rock ninja captain began to pass on some of his mission experience to Hei Ze.

He soon began to chatter on and on!

The two of them were mainly tasked with keeping watch, observing any stirring around the outpost.

It's a terribly dull task; if his comrade gets all jittery again, it'll be disastrous~

Meanwhile, out of their sight, a group of Leaf Village ninjas had gathered, waiting for something.

Not long after, the gray hawk swooped low and dropped its prey.

Then, as if startled, it frantically flapped its wings a few times, picked a random direction, and flew away.

Utterly panicked!

Meanwhile, the prey it had previously gripped in its talons slowly crawled onto an unfurled scroll.

It then collapsed, forming a crude map—exactly the layout of the outpost's interior.

"Phew! This reconnaissance seems to have gone unnoticed by the enemy!"

Beside him, Ryūka Uchiha let out a sigh of relief and said.

"This is already the fourth aerial reconnaissance! With Dong Shilang's preparations, going unnoticed is only natural, right?"

"Not just Ryūka; the older squad leaders gathered here, though there are exceptions—for instance, Shisui Uchiha among them."

Dong Shilang especially brought along this genius!

"Seniors really know a lot, and they're skilled in everything—truly impressive~"

"Even Shisui can talk~"

"You don't need to envy them yet; when you're older, I'm sure you'll be able to learn these things easily!"

"To avoid tipping off the enemy prematurely, Dong Shilang had to be extremely careful, fearing to alert them. Just now he didn't merely perform the Super Beast Imitation Painting; he also controlled an ordinary gray hawk as cover."

"Even so, he felt it wasn't enough, worried that sensory ninjas might detect the chakra fluctuations in his ninjutsu."

"On the small snake posing as prey, he applied some chakra shielding; combined with the gray hawk's cover, layer upon layer, this managed to evade the rock ninja's scouting."

"He just didn't know whether his other movements had aroused the enemy's suspicion~"

"Yan! Zhe! How are the retreat plans coming? Know that if this mission goes wrong even a little, we could very well be wiped out!"

"No problem—counting your preparations, we have three contingency plans in total; this is the limit of what we can manage!"

"Hmm!"

"Asaka! Ryūka! How's your side? How are they doing? No problems, right?"

"No problems! After three days of rest, everyone has fully recovered to peak condition!"

"It turned out that this was the third day Dong Shilang had been in this place. To gather more intel and minimize casualties, his group hadn't rushed the attack."

"Instead, they had secretly spent three days observing and preparing!"

"They haven't given anything away, right?"

"No, no, no, no."

"Regarding his teammates' answers, Dong Shilang was fairly satisfied; after years of battlefield tempering, his comrades were no longer the unreliable brats they used to be."

"Each had become a ninja capable of standing alone!"

"Since they set foot on the battlefield, one brutal war after another not only caused these few to awaken their Sharingan, but also, seeing many companions fall before their eyes, drove them to strive ever harder for power."

"Especially during such long-term infiltration posts lacking logistical support, this eradicated the last vestiges of their flaws completely."

"Captain, I have a question!"

"Hmm! Is it about our delaying the mission timeline?"

"Before the other could finish voicing the question, Dong Shilang cut them off."

"Yes! The mission orders didn't say we had to destroy this rock ninja outpost three days ago, did they? Is there really no problem with delaying our attack like this?"

"Then what do you think the result would be if we attacked this outpost directly three days ago, given our situation?"

"Leaving aside our own casualties, do you think that, lacking sufficient intel, we could still succeed in the mission by rashly assaulting this outpost?"

"Dong Shilang's approach still seems incomprehensible to him now; given his education at the ninja academy, he would have thought such a thing absolutely impossible."

"He merely didn't voice opposition; feeling that if he didn't ask now, he might lose the chance to do so, he spoke up."

"Instead of answering the other's question, Dong Shilang turned and asked them."

"This… probably can't be done… but aren't ninjas supposed to treat the mission as an absolute creed?"

"You're still young; when you grow a bit older, I'm sure you'll come to understand these things on your own without me having to explain."

"Regarding Shisui's question, he didn't elaborate further; it was completely unnecessary."

Because he discovered a problem that gave him a headache, the family's ninjas—especially those who had opened their eyes among the clansmen—mostly had their own set of thinking patterns.

Once they had made up their minds about something, it was truly impossible to pull them back even with nine oxen. One could only slowly exert a kind of slow 'influence' on them.

But at this time, he didn't have the time to trade barbs with the other party. Letting the other party slowly understand these things on their own wasn't bad either.

He had never been a 'lecturer', nor did he have the talent to make others go around in circles. Being able to ensure he himself wasn't misled was thanks to the blessings of his previous life's world.