Not Even a Jonin Without a Bounty

Tsuchikawa's face contorted in pain.

The Earth Style: Rock Fist jutsu on his right arm had been countered by Lightning Style, and the previous strike had nearly severed his forearm.

Even if his arm hadn't broken, a wound deep enough to expose bone rendered his right hand completely useless.

The only fortunate thing was that the slash, while cutting through his arm, had also cauterized the flesh on either side of the wound with flames, preventing further blood loss.

"You damn bastard!"

Tsuchikawa cursed loudly.

No wonder Konoha would send such a young man to lead the defense of such a crucial checkpoint.

The opponent's specialty, Lightning Style, was the perfect counter to the Earth Style that Iwagakure Ninja excelled at!

And this bastard had deliberately held back, only using flame slashes until now, lulling him into a false sense of security.

"Hehehehe..."

"You don't think you've won already, do you?"

Tsuchikawa suddenly let out a sinister laugh, his gaze on Qingye's face becoming distorted.

As he spoke, seeing Qingye on guard, Tsuchikawa's expression hardened. He then abruptly turned and fled rapidly in the direction he came from.

If I can't win, can't I at least run?

"..."

Fine, fine, fine! You want to play dirty?

Qingye was almost amused to the point of anger.

He then gripped his Tachi, channeling Lightning Style Chakra to stimulate his cells, and with a burst of speed, he used a few Body Flicker Jutsu to catch up to Tsuchikawa ahead.

At this moment, Tsuchikawa was running while enduring the pain in his right arm, attempting to form hand seals.

The opponent was faster than him!

But as long as he could use an Earth Style Ninjutsu to burrow underground and escape, the opponent wouldn't be able to pursue him further.

With his right arm nearly broken, he barely managed to complete the hand seals. Just as he was about to successfully execute Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage Jutsu, Tsuchikawa heard a whistling sound from behind him.

He turned his head just in time to see Qingye arrive before him, his long sword about to swing down.

Uchiha Style: Lightning Flash Sword!

Lightning Style Chakra was infused into the Tachi, and the blade suddenly emitted a dazzling light that completely engulfed Tsuchikawa's vision.

Within the blinding light, a lightning-infused sword strike descended.

The light faded.

Tsuchikawa lay on the ground, a horrific gash across his back.

Qingye approached cautiously and kicked the prone Tsuchikawa over. He saw Tsuchikawa clutching a kunai in his left hand, stained with blood.

"He committed suicide?" Qingye was taken aback.

Blood was flowing from the man's chest.

It was clear that Tsuchikawa had realized he couldn't escape and had taken his own life with a kunai at the last moment.

What a shame.

Qingye felt a pang of regret.

If he could have captured a Jonin alive, the mission reward would have been much higher.

Now, he could only bring back a corpse.

After confirming Tsuchikawa was indeed lifeless, Qingye picked up the body and headed towards Yūhi Kurenai and Hyuga Himon.

When he arrived, their battle was not yet over.

"Captain?!"

The young Iwagakure Ninja looked horrified.

Seeing the young Konoha Ninja, who was around his age, toss their captain to the ground like a dead dog, the young Iwagakure Ninja was still unable to process it.

Their captain, a Jonin, had been defeated in such a short time?

No, impossible!

He must have fallen victim to the Konoha female ninja's Genjutsu!

Heh, the cunning Konoha Ninja had finally shown a weakness; their captain would never have lost so quickly, even in defeat!

"Release!"

The young Iwagakure Ninja formed hand seals and violently disrupted the Chakra within his body.

When he opened his eyes again, the scene before him hadn't changed. Suddenly, a figure charged at him, and before he could react, he received a heavy blow to the abdomen, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

In the distance.

Two white figures trailed behind Aoya, quietly following him.

"You took down that Iwagakure Jonin so easily?"

White Zetsu A still found it unbelievable.

"Hahaha, that Iwagakure Jonin was hilarious. I actually thought he had some powerful Ninjutsu left to use, but he just ran away."

"Look at Uchiha Aoya's expression, he was stunned!"

White Zetsu A couldn't help but scold, "You idiot, keep your voice down. Do you want them to find us?"

"Yes, yes. But has Uchiha Aoya's strength improved so much? Last time his squad was wiped out, he fought so miserably?" White Zetsu B asked doubtfully.

White Zetsu A thought for a moment and guessed, "Was this Iwagakure Jonin too weak?"

"Uh, I don't know."

White Zetsu B spread his hands.

He was just a White Zetsu.

White Zetsu A: "..."

He also couldn't figure it out.

Thinking about such things was too much for them, White Zetsus.

"Forget it, let's go back and report to Lord Madara."

The two White Zetsus sank into the ground and used the Mayfly Technique to leave.

"Tie them up properly, lest they commit suicide."

After Aoya arrived, he slightly increased his speed and easily killed the remaining two Iwagakure Chunin.

Yūhi Kurenai and Hyuga Himon were already used to this.

However, Hyuga Himon looked at the Iwagakure Jonin Captain, Tsuchikawa, whom Aoya had thrown to the ground, and still felt deeply frustrated, "Why are you so fast, Aoya?"

"...What kind of question is that!"

Aoya's expression darkened.

"No, I mean, why did your fight end faster than ours?"

Aoya had faced a Jonin, while he and Yūhi Kurenai had each faced a Chunin.

But the result was that Aoya's fight with the Jonin ended first, and he even came over to help them quickly eliminate these two Iwagakure Chunin.

Hyuga Himon clearly felt that with Aoya's special training during this period, he had been improving rapidly.

But why did the gap seem to have widened!

"You're improving, and I'm improving too. What's so strange about that?"

Aoya took out a small booklet from his ninja pouch and walked up to Tsuchikawa, comparing his face to the pages as he flipped through them.

Hyuga Himon leaned closer, curious, "What are you looking at?"

"...Nothing."

Aoya quickly finished flipping through the pages, put away the bounty manual from the underground exchange, and his mood was very unpleasant.

This trash!

Why didn't he even have any bounty!

He was a Jonin, after all. He had expected to take this guy's corpse to the underground exchange to get money.

You know, handing in the same corpse, the underground exchange paid much more generously than Konohagakure's mission rewards.

Losing one Jonin corpse, although it would deduct some points from his mission record, it was definitely more practical to exchange for more money and prepare more Explosive Tags.

"Right, Himon, after the fight, check again to see if there's anyone else around."

Putting away his regretful mood, Aoya reminded, "In case the enemy has other squads hiding in the dark and they sneak attack us while we're letting our guard down, it'll be troublesome."

"Understood. I'll be careful after battles from now on."

Hyuga Himon silently remembered this experience, and at the same time activated his Byakugan, scanning the surroundings: "...No, at least within a five-kilometer radius, there's no one else."

"That's good," Aoya nodded.