Dealing with the Tailed Beasts
When they heard about this mission, everyone directed sympathetic glances toward Qingming.
They hadn't seen it all, but they knew what the Tailed Beasts were.
What are the Tailed Beasts?
They are embodiments of disaster!
As ninjas, and among the elite, although they weren't as afraid of these creatures as regular people might be, they were still acutely aware of the vast difference in combat strength between themselves and the Tailed Beasts.
For them, dealing with a Tailed Beast was undoubtedly an extremely dangerous task.
However,
"Why Qingming?"
At the same time, this thought arose in their minds.
They had heard of Qingming's reputation, and some had even seen him in action. Although strong, he didn't seem much stronger than them.
Given this level of strength, fighting against a Tailed Beast seemed, logically, a bit insufficient.
But Nara Keiko would not deliberately send Qingming to his death. There had to be a reason behind this decision.
So, Qingming must have some extraordinary qualities.
"Could it be because he can fly?"
Several Konoha Jonin thought to themselves.
Indeed, if Qingming could fly, it would make the task much safer, and he could attract the Tailed Beast's attention, making him ideal for a support role.
"Yeah, that must be it,"
the Konoha Jonin silently nodded, believing they had grasped Nara Keiko's reasoning.
However, Uchiha Shisui didn't think so.
He believed there was more to it.
For some reason, every time he saw Qingming, he felt a faint pressure, even though his own strength had significantly increased. He still didn't feel confident enough to defeat Qingming in battle.
Qingming always gave him the sense of being unpredictable and unfathomable.
This naturally made him feel more confident in Qingming than in others.
Thus, he thought Nara Keiko's decision to have Qingming provide support wasn't solely based on his ability to fly.
In fact, it wasn't.
Ever since Qingming told him about the ambush he had encountered, Nara Keiko had secretly investigated, and he was now certain that Qingming's true strength far exceeded what he had initially thought.
Although Nara Keiko had suspected this before, he hadn't fully recognized it until after his investigation. Qingming's true power was likely even greater than Nara Keiko had anticipated.
That's why he had assigned Qingming to assist Minato Namikaze in this mission.
It was to ensure a double safety net.
As a member of the peace faction, Nara Keiko truly didn't want the war to continue any longer.
So, he was willing to go to great lengths to complete the mission assigned by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
What the others thought, Qingming didn't know, nor did he care. After receiving the mission, he was actually quite pleased.
Upon hearing that the Six-Tails had appeared at the Red Tree Outpost, he immediately decided to engage.
This wasn't to say he wanted to capture it.
If possible, yes, he would want to do that.
But unfortunately, his current abilities were still insufficient.
Indeed, if he used his Mangekyō Sharingan, he could probably control the Six-Tails with ease.
But then what?
His current eyes weren't the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan; they couldn't be used for prolonged periods. Even the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan would eventually wear down from such strain.
In the end, he would have to rely on sealing techniques.
But right now, other than "Guardian Sealing" and "Sealing Array," he didn't know any other sealing techniques and thus wouldn't be able to fully subdue a Tailed Beast.
So, capturing a Tailed Beast wasn't possible for him.
So why did he still want to engage it?
The reason was simple: he just wanted to test whether his Lv6 "Chakra Absorption Technique" would work on the Tailed Beasts—whether it could absorb their chakra.
After all, his goal wasn't to capture the Tailed Beast for its battle strength but to harvest its endless chakra.
So, whether or not he could absorb its chakra was crucial.
After all, if he caught the Tailed Beast but couldn't absorb its chakra, it would be quite the joke.
Thus, testing beforehand was very necessary.
Originally, he planned to use Shadow Clone Technique and Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself and approach the target.
Now, with Nara Keiko's order, he could approach the Six-Tails without anyone suspecting him.
How could Qingming not be pleased with that?
As for the danger…
To be honest, Qingming wasn't worried.
Not to mention how the Uchiha clan's Sharingan naturally counters the Tailed Beasts, his incredibly fast flight alone would allow him to avoid most of the danger.
Additionally, he had "Ten no Mi" as his final trump card.
If something still went wrong under these circumstances, then there would be no one in the ninja world capable of defeating the Tailed Beasts.
So, safety wasn't a big concern for him.
Soon, the meeting concluded.
Qingming didn't waste any time. After briefly parting with his teammates, he immediately activated "Wind Style: Wind Wings" and flew high into the sky, heading toward the Red Tree Outpost.
A few minutes later,
Qingming arrived at the destination.
Below, he saw a sea of red trees.
In the middle of the red woods was a relatively wide road, and a small town stood along the road with two large gates on either side, leading to different paths.
This was the so-called Red Tree Outpost.
However, it was now reduced to ruins, with faint flames still flickering.
Clearly, the Six-Tails hadn't left long ago.
Qingming closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings.
Sure enough, he could detect a faint oppressive feeling in the air—this was the aura naturally emitted by the Tailed Beast's chakra.
Chakra, a fusion of spiritual and physical energy, inherently possessed qualities of being 'alive.'
Just like how different people's chakras could be sensed differently depending on their mental states, the Tailed Beasts' chakra followed the same principle.
Perhaps in the past, the Tailed Beasts' chakra wasn't so violent and evil, but as they were imprisoned and began to harbor hatred for humanity, their chakra changed accordingly.
Moreover, the Tailed Beasts' chakra was naturally heavier than human chakra, which made Qingming immediately detect the anomaly.
Without hesitation, Qingming opened his eyes, followed his senses, and flew forward.
As he flew, he suddenly heard a faint explosion from his right front.
Having fought in battle for so long, Qingming immediately recognized the sound—this was the sound of an exploding tag going off.
Without any hesitation, Qingming raised his hand, formed a seal, and解除 (解除 'Guardian Seal') on his forehead. Then he activated his Byakugan.
In an instant, everything within a one-kilometer radius was visible to him.
Qingming focused, immediately looking in the direction of the sound.
The next moment, he saw a battlefield.
Around a hundred Konoha ninjas were desperately fighting against a similar number of Mist ninjas.
Without a doubt, Qingming deduced that these were the Konoha ninjas mentioned by Nara Keiko—those who had survived the Tailed Beast's attack at the Red Tree Outpost.
However,
"This number doesn't seem to match up."
Qingming felt confused.
He expanded his search range.
Soon, he found another battlefield a few hundred meters further ahead.
But here, the Konoha ninjas were even fewer, with less than 150 in total.
This number was much fewer than what Nara Keiko had told them.
At first, Qingming was puzzled, but after carefully observing the situation on the ground, he understood.
Compared to Konoha's forces, while the Mist's forces were fewer in number, they were clearly stronger. There were hardly any Genin in their ranks; the weakest among them was a Chunin.
In contrast, the Konoha side, despite the political importance of the Red Tree Outpost, had a weaker ninja force stationed here because of its location.
A third of their forces were Genin.
This was after the Tailed Beast's initial attack had already killed a portion of them.
Under such conditions, expecting them to achieve a high kill-to-death ratio was impossible.
This could be seen from the number of bodies on the battlefield, as the Konoha side had clearly suffered more casualties.
To be honest, the fact that they hadn't collapsed yet was already enough to impress Qingming.
After observing for a while and confirming that they could still hold on for some time, Qingming retracted his gaze and sealed his Byakugan again with the "Guardian Seal" on his forehead.
In this mission, there were also ninjas from the Hyuga clan on both sides, so Qingming didn't plan on using his Byakugan recklessly.
It was safer this way.
Having done all that, he immediately turned back and flew back to his teammates.
After a few minutes, he stopped at a safe distance, activating "Mind-Link Technique" to connect with his team, quickly informing them of the situation and ensuring they were prepared.
Then, he turned back around and headed to the battlefield.
Now, he needed to hold out for a while and wait for his teammates to arrive.
As for the Six-Tails,
Qingming glanced up. He could sense its presence over there.
But so what?
His mission was to provide support, not to take the lead in attacking. So why rush? He'd deal with it after resolving the immediate issues here.
With that thought, Qingming flapped his wings, accelerated, and sped toward the battlefield.
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