Chapter 62: Elite Troops

Mizutani Shizuko, who was standing beside them, wasn't stupid either. Hearing Haruki Sei asking them to rush to E3 area immediately, she understood that something had probably happened, so she said worriedly: "Seimei?" Hearing this, Seimei gave her a reassuring look and said: "Let's go." After saying that, he tidied up the equipment on his body a little, and then ran towards the E3 area. Seeing this, Mizutani Shizuko didn't delay either, and quickly followed. Several Konoha Chunin who had just received the order also acted with them. The so-called E3 area was actually a section of another mountain path leading from the Iwa-nin headquarters to the logistics base. It was not too far from this river valley corridor, with a straight-line distance of no more than one kilometer. Seimei and the others directly crossed from the mountainside, which only took a few minutes in total. When they arrived, there were already no less than fifty Konoha ninjas gathered here. Among them, most of them were Chunin and Jonin, and there were only a few Genin. As for those as young as Seimei and Mizutani Shizuko, there were even fewer. Therefore, their arrival still attracted the attention of some people. However, Seimei was already used to this. As he continued to participate in wars and survived them time and time again, such gazes became more and more frequent. At first, he was still a little uncomfortable, but after seeing it a lot, he gradually got used to it. Ignoring these people, Seimei took Mizutani Shizuko directly to an open space, and then sat down on his own. Seeing him close his eyes, everyone stopped paying attention. Time passed by, and the leading Jonin didn't speak, so no one spoke. They just rested silently, recovering their physical strength consumed in the previous battle. And as time went by, more and more people gathered here. Five minutes later. The number of people in the field officially exceeded one hundred. Seimei opened his eyes, looked at the ninjas who were seriously injured, frowned, and felt that the situation might be more troublesome than he expected. Otherwise, they wouldn't have transferred these ninjas whose combat power had been greatly reduced. "I'm afraid there's no one left to use, right?" Seimei thought to himself. Before the war started, they had three hundred people on their side. Although the battle in the river valley corridor had fewer casualties than the Iwa-nin due to their numerical advantage, there were still dozens of people killed after a major battle. Now, the battle there was not over yet, and people had to be left to continue fighting. The number of people who could be transferred was estimated to be around one hundred. And now, there were more than a hundred people in the field. Obviously, Konoha had transferred all the manpower that could be mobilized. From this, it could be seen that the enemy was definitely not simple either. 'Sigh, I hope the assault over there can end soon, otherwise...' With a sigh, Seimei stopped thinking about it and turned his gaze to the second squad captain. Others, like him, focused their attention on the other party. The second squad captain stood up, clapped his hands, and after attracting everyone's attention, he said directly: "Okay, it's almost time. I believe you have guessed it too. That's right, soon, a team of Iwa-nin reinforcements will pass by here. And our task is to stop them and buy as much time as possible for the third squad to remove the target base." Speaking of this, he paused for a moment and continued: "Next, I will divide you into six teams, each responsible for a defense zone, to ensure that the Iwa-nin reinforcements cannot pass through." After saying that, regardless of everyone's reaction, he started grouping on his own. Seimei and Mizutani Shizuko were assigned to the fourth team, and the defense zone they were responsible for was in the middle section. They were unlikely to be the first to engage the enemy. However, there was no need to expect the enemy to bypass them. In order to prevent being defeated one by one, the six defense zones were almost next to each other, so it was likely that one would affect the others. The reason why the second squad captain arranged this was just to lengthen the battle line so as to delay the enemy's advance. After the grouping was completed, everyone started to move. Hiding in the dense forest, Seimei felt a sense of oppression. All signs indicated that the enemies this time were unusual, otherwise the second squad captain would not have used such delaying tactics. And this also made him feel very insecure. In this oppressive atmosphere, ten minutes passed quietly. At this time, it had been almost forty-five minutes since the blocking battle started. And if calculated from the start of the plan, more than three hours had already passed. According to the instructions they received at the beginning, if they hadn't succeeded four hours after the plan started, then the plan would be aborted, and all troops must evacuate immediately. In other words, they could evacuate in a few dozen minutes at most. If possible, Seimei hoped that the enemy would come later, because the longer the time dragged on, the greater the possibility of them retreating safely. Of course, it would be even better if the enemy didn't come at all. But Seimei knew that this was impossible. Since the leading Jonin transferred them here in such a hurry, it meant that they had received definite information, otherwise they would definitely not miss the opportunity to eliminate the previous batch of Iwa-nin. Transferring them halfway would only allow more Iwa-nin in the river valley to survive, while their losses would increase accordingly. The gains and losses here were not just a little bit. Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary, the leading Jonin would not make such an arrangement. But once such an arrangement was made, it meant that the situation was very urgent, so urgent that someone had to make sacrifices for it. That's why Seimei was so uneasy. And just as Seimei was thinking wildly, there was a sudden commotion in the forest ahead. Before Seimei could figure out what was going on, he saw a long river composed of yellow sand surging from the front. The earth along the way was quickly assimilated by it, and the trees on it were also swaying, being pushed by the sand river, and rushing forward rapidly. Seimei quickly jumped to avoid it, climbed a big tree in a few steps, and looked ahead. He saw a sand river running across the dense forest where they were hiding, clearing a large area and forcing the Konoha ninjas inside to reveal themselves. And at the source of the sand river, a burly young Iwa-nin was slowly getting up. He was wearing a red ninja hat, had a big nose and a full beard. He was Kitsuchi, the son of the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki. As a well-known figure in the ninja world, his portrait was widely circulated, and Seimei recognized him at a glance. At this time, Kitsuchi might not be as strong as he was in the Fourth Ninja World War, but he was already over twenty years old, and his strength had almost reached the level of an elite Jonin. This could be seen from the ninjutsu he just released. A simple 'Earth Release: Earth Flow River' was performed by him, and it had already reached the level of changing the terrain. Looking at the Iwa-nin behind him, although the number was less than one hundred, the lowest level was Chunin. Obviously, this was a team of elite ninjas. Seeing these people, Seimei's heart sank to the bottom. It was conceivable that the next battle would definitely be very difficult.