"After them!" Hatake Sakumo ran a hand across his blade, and visibly burning Chakra rapidly covered the entire short blade.
Chakra Edge.
Seeing one man stay behind to cover the retreat, he did not hesitate. With a twist of his waist, he aimed for the neck and slashed, a streak of silver flashing through the faintly brightening sky.
The other ninjas behind him paused briefly, then instantly leaped over Jiang Rui without even sparing him a glance. Trusting the Konoha White Fang, they already regarded Jiang Rui as a dead man.
Jiang Rui smiled, lightly spun the blood-red short sword in his hand into a reverse grip, and viciously thrust upward from his waist.
Clang!
Sparks scattered. Hatake Sakumo's heart tightened. Jiang Rui had used a thrust to catch his blade at the hilt, preventing it from advancing even an inch. Worse still, Jiang Rui's blade was slowly closing in on his right hand gripping the handle.
Left with no choice, he kicked out while using the motion to cover his retreat.
With Great Sage's assistance, Jiang Rui was practically relying purely on reaction speed to force his short sword mastery up to the master level.
Realizing his intent, electric arcs flashed at Jiang Rui's eyes. The instant his left hand pulled out a bolt of lightning, the short sword shot toward the other man's eyes! His freed right hand clenched into a fist.
Hatake Sakumo's short blade became an afterimage. The instant it blocked the short sword, a counterattack had already swept toward Jiang Rui's abdomen.
One punch. Hatake Sakumo let out a muffled grunt, but his short blade had already carved a wound from Jiang Rui's abdomen to his chest, black mist rising from it as droplets of liquid fell.
Jiang Rui pulled with his left hand, and