After a quick tidy-up, Ren spread his wings and flew out of the forest.
After all, even if he had taken leave, it was time to go back. The purpose of his outing had been completely achieved anyway.
"Hmm, flying is indeed comfortable," Ren thought, a look of excitement clear on his face as he watched the forest blur past on either side.
After all, what boy doesn't dream of flying?
"Oh, right," Ren suddenly remembered something, looked left and right, then slowed down and landed on a tree branch.
"I forgot to check the map," Ren muttered, pulling out a map of the Land of Fire from his clothes, which detailed the locations of towns and cities within the Land of Fire.
To prevent himself from getting lost, Ren had specifically requested a copy from Minato.
"Hmm, it looks like this is the right way."
After roughly confirming his location, Ren quickly put away the map, spread his wings, and flew in a different direction.
Fifteen minutes later, Ren had flown out of the forest. To avoid being seen by pedestrians, he had specifically flown dozens of meters higher, so even if someone saw Ren, they would only think it was a large bird.
Another fifteen minutes passed, and Ren suddenly felt a hint of doubt. According to the map, he should see a small town five minutes after leaving the forest, but below him, there was nothing but a road?
"It should be soon. I'll speed up and get there quickly; I'm starving."
As Ren murmured, he quickened the flapping of his wings behind him. His speed instantly increased by another notch, but with it came a drastic consumption of Chakra.
However, Ren didn't care. With his Chakra reserves, he could spend it freely without needing to conserve it.
Another fifteen minutes passed, and Ren finally realized something was wrong. He didn't descend but directly took out the map and looked at it from high in the sky.
"This isn't right!"
Ren looked at the map in front of him, suddenly feeling bewildered.
It said there would be a small town after half an hour of walking, but he had been flying for almost half an hour. Where had this small town gone???
Just as Ren was flipping through the map, a line of text in the upper left corner caught his attention.
"Hmm? Why is this text upside down?"
Ren voiced his confusion, and the next moment, his body stiffened abruptly, even the wings behind him suddenly stopped moving.
"What the hell?!"
Ren cursed under his breath, quickly regained control of his wings, and only then stopped his descent, stabilizing himself.
"So…", Ren, with a face full of dark lines, turned the map over, looking at the completely different roads than before, feeling a bit disoriented.
"Did I hold it upside down?"
Ren irritably scratched his hair, landed on the top of a tree by the roadside, and then, looking at the desolate scenery around him, he was momentarily exasperated.
"Ahhh, I want hot food!"
Ren irritably put away the map, the joy of flying instantly diluted somewhat. Just as he was about to return the way he came, several Chakra signatures entering his Perception range caught his attention.
"Hmm? Is someone fighting?"
As Ren's gaze turned towards the distant forest, the multiple pairs of wings on his back also flapped, approaching the area at an extremely fast speed in the air.
The ability to fly significantly increased Ren's mobility. In just a few breaths, he arrived at the battle location.
"This is…"
Ren stopped in mid-air, looking at the two sides clashing below, a hint of battle intent appearing in his eyes.
There were eight people fighting below. Four of them wore Konoha headbands, while the headbands of the other four were somewhat peculiar: three cloud-like symbols, with the two largest connected top and bottom, and a relatively smaller cloud in the upper left corner.
"Those Kumogakure fellows, interesting."
Ren understood their identity as soon as he saw their headbands.
Ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village of the Land of Lightning, one of the Five Great Nations. It seemed he had gone the wrong way and ended up on the Cloud Village Battlefield.
"Then I won't be polite."
Ren cracked his knuckles, then controlled his wings to dive downwards, simultaneously forming hand signs.
"Water Release: Water Stream Whip!"
Below, two Genin were engaged in a fierce taijutsu clash, their Kunai brandished with a powerful whoosh. They fought inextricably.
"Konoha scum, die!"
The Kumogakure Genin kept shouting while not forgetting to attack, a look of excitement on his face.
This was his first time on the battlefield, fighting an enemy. If he could kill the opponent, he could boast to his comrades!
"You Kumogakure guys, is all you can do talk?"
The Genin wearing the Konoha headband was not to be outdone, fighting back while also taunting. But a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He was also on the battlefield for the first time, his combat experience limited to a few bandit clearings with his teammates.
But now he was on a battlefield, and he subconsciously treated his opponent like a bandit, intending to defeat him with taijutsu.
What he didn't expect was that Kumogakure was a village where everyone was martial, from seventy-year-old grandpas to women and children. It was a military power second only to Konoha among the Five Great Ninja Villages.
So, although he could hold on for a while now, when both sides' stamina was nearly exhausted, the outcome would be decided, and with it, life or death.
But just then, the Kumogakure youth, who was engrossed in the battle, didn't notice a water whip lashing down from directly above his head. Before he could react, he was entangled by it.
"Huh?"
Not just the Kumogakure youth, but even the Konoha youth froze in place, momentarily at a loss in the face of this sudden turn of events.
"What are you looking at? Attack!"
The two youths looked in the direction of the voice and saw a youth, similar in age to them, descending from the sky while shouting at them.
"Let go of me!"
The Kumogakure youth immediately reacted and began to struggle violently, while the Konoha youth, after a moment of stunned silence, quickly came to his senses, a ruthless look on his face. He charged forward, then raised the Kunai in his hand and plunged it into the opponent's chest!
"Ugh!"
The Kumogakure youth, who had been struggling violently for a long time, suddenly stopped. His wide eyes were filled with disbelief.
After looking down and seeing a Kunai with only its hilt remaining in his chest and the Konoha Ninja in front of him, he slightly parted his lips, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, before he could speak, his head drooped, and he lost all signs of life.
"Who is it?!"
The six people on the other battlefields also noticed the situation here. The Kumogakure leader was a dark-skinned young man. After forcing back the Konoha leader, he quickly retreated, and the other two Kumogakure Ninja also disengaged from their respective opponents and retreated to their captain's side.
The Konoha leader also quickly called his team members back to his side, wary of the opposing side while also observing the suddenly appearing Ren.
After Ren landed, he stared blankly at their gazes for a moment before realizing that he had taken off his headband to avoid trouble when he left the Konoha Camp, and had forgotten to put it back on after returning to the Land of Fire.
Ren wasted no time, directly pulling out his headband from his Ninja tool pouch and waving it in front of the Konoha group, saying somewhat helplessly,
"Don't misunderstand, I'm one of you."