"Captain!"
Not far away, a Kiri-nin Chūnin appeared, and upon seeing the disfigured corpse of Hasegawa, he shouted in alarm.
Soon after, several more Kiri-nin appeared, all Chūnin as well. They surrounded Qingming, closing in from all sides.
However, Qingming seemed completely unconcerned.
His gaze swept over them.
Although it was only a brief glance, he instantly recognized these individuals as the ones who had attempted to stop him when he had killed Fukui Takuichi earlier and was heading toward Hasegawa.
Unfortunately, he had moved too quickly back then, and by the time these people caught up, Hasegawa had already been killed.
However, Qingming wasn't worried about these Chūnin. Even if they had caught up, they couldn't have caused him any trouble. After all, they were just Chūnin.
But, that wasn't how they saw it.
It seemed they hadn't fully realized the difference in power between them, as after exchanging looks with one another, they immediately launched their attacks.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Kunai were thrown from all directions, seemingly aiming to kill him on the spot.
But such an attack didn't faze Qingming at all.
With just a quick glance, he locked onto the trajectory of the kunai, even clearly seeing through the little tricks they were trying to pull.
Most of the kunai weren't a problem, but some were wrapped with explosive tags.
Clearly, they were hoping to catch him off guard when he blocked the kunai, setting off an ambush.
Qingming shook his head and threw several of his own kunai.
Cling! Cling! Cling!
These kunai accurately struck the ones wrapped with explosive tags, knocking them back.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions went off, and fireballs erupted, exploding near the Kiri-nin.
The Kiri Chūnin, who had planned to ambush him, were now the ones caught in their own trap.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Qingming swung his long sword to block the remaining kunai.
Then, with a swift move, he disappeared from his position.
When he reappeared, he was already in front of one of the Kiri Chūnin.
"Ah!"
The Kiri Chūnin was startled and quickly attempted to retreat.
Unfortunately, the moment he lifted his right foot, his consciousness was dragged into an illusion.
Against these Chūnin, Qingming only needed a moment of eye contact to cast a genjutsu and control them.
Whoosh!
The blade flashed.
The Kiri Chūnin's throat was slit.
The intense sensation of suffocation brought him back to reality.
But that didn't help him.
After snapping back to the real world, he could only helplessly clutch his throat, waiting for death.
Without giving much attention to the dying Kiri-nin, Qingming vanished again, reappearing in front of another one.
Whoosh!
Another sword strike.
This Kiri Chūnin reacted quite quickly, raising his kunai to block the attack.
But that was all he managed.
Qingming's left hand extended, and a pale blue chakra orb appeared in his palm, which he slammed onto the Chūnin's chest.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The crisp sound of bones breaking filled the air.
The Kiri Chūnin's face twisted, and after coughing up a mouthful of blood, he was sent flying backward.
Qingming didn't care whether the opponent was alive or dead. After dodging several shuriken coming from the side, he charged toward the third Kiri Chūnin.
It didn't take long for the third to fall as well.
Qingming's steps never slowed as he sought out the fourth target.
Given the gap in strength between him and these Kiri-nin, it felt like a wolf among sheep—none of them could stop him.
However, this massacre didn't last long.
Just as he was about to kill the seventh, a dense mist suddenly enveloped the area.
"Mist Hidden Jutsu?"
Qingming immediately recognized the technique and muttered softly to himself. Without hesitation, he performed his own jutsu: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Whoosh—
A powerful gust of wind erupted from his mouth, instantly dispersing the mist.
However, just as he regained his vision, a blinding flash of lightning struck his eyes, forcing him to close them.
Despite this, his brain swam with dizziness, and he staggered a step.
Clearly, the lightning wasn't just blinding—it had some genjutsu properties as well, and its effect was quite potent.
Otherwise, with his current mental strength, he wouldn't have reacted so strongly.
As he pondered the nature of this jutsu and whether he could learn it, a faint sound of something slicing through the air reached his ears.
Using his sharp hearing, Qingming swiftly moved, dodging the incoming attack.
To avoid any further attacks, such as those with explosive tags, he quickly retreated several steps, distancing himself from his previous position.
It turned out his caution was well-founded.
Before he could retreat much further, several violent explosions erupted from the area he had just vacated.
Soon after, a strong shockwave followed.
Qingming adjusted his position, continuing his retreat until he was far from the earlier location.
At the same time, his vision cleared, allowing him to see again.
The first thing that met his eyes was a pair of steel wires.
He glanced sideways and saw two special Jōnin from Kiri, one on each side of him.
Each had thrown a steel wire aimed at his legs, clearly attempting to trap him and restrict his mobility.
But, they weren't fast enough.
Qingming immediately charged forward, avoiding the wire's encirclement.
With a few quick jumps, he positioned himself on a wall, putting even more distance between them.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
More kunai came flying at him.
Once again, he saw explosive tags attached.
Without hesitation, he threw the same number of kunai back, knocking theirs away.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions rang out, but they didn't harm him.
Qingming followed the trajectory of the kunai and saw the two special Jōnin of Kiri.
However, from the chakra levels, he could tell that only one of them was a true Jōnin—the other was merely a special Jōnin.
The one who had thrown the kunai with explosive tags was the special Jōnin.
As for the true Jōnin, Qingming recognized him as the one who had unleashed the lightning earlier.
He withdrew his gaze from that direction and looked back at the two special Jōnin on either side of him.
It was clear now that these four were the latest reinforcement Kiri had sent to deal with him.
"One true Jōnin, three special Jōnin..."
Qingming shook his head.
It wasn't that their strength was insufficient—based on their earlier teamwork, their combined strength seemed decent.
But that wasn't enough to kill him, and there was even a risk of them being killed by him.
He had been active on this battlefield for quite a while now, and he had made many moves. Kiri must have gathered intelligence on him.
And based on his displayed strength in the past period, he was certain that these people would not be able to stop him. Qingming didn't believe Kiri's command would be unaware of this fact.
But since they knew this and still sent these four, the reason could only be one: they didn't have enough manpower left.
It was clear that the prolonged war of attrition and the earlier encirclement by Konoha had taken a heavy toll on Kiri.
Now, when faced with a sudden crisis, their response was lacking.
But this was good news for Konoha and for him.
As long as he could hold these four off, the three other Konoha squads would soon advance, and the situation would become clear.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but Qingming didn't waste any more time. He immediately charged toward the closest enemy.
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