No Bounty, No Matter-He Was Still a Jonin

Tsuchikawa's face was twitching with pain.

The Earth Style: Rock Fist Technique on his right arm was countered by Lightning Release. That last strike had nearly sliced his forearm clean off.

Even though he was lucky enough to keep the arm, the wound went down to the bone, leaving his right hand completely useless in battle.

The one saving grace was that when the slash cut into his arm, the flames had also charred the flesh on both sides of the wound, preventing him from continuing to bleed.

"You damn bastard!"

Tsuchikawa swore furiously.

No wonder Konoha had sent such a young man to lead a team guarding such an important pass.

The opponent specialized in Lightning Release, which was the perfect counter to the Earth Release favored by Iwagakure shinobi!

And the bastard had deliberately held back until now, using nothing but Flame Slash and letting him lower his guard.

"Heh heh heh heh heh..."

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

Tsuchikawa suddenly let out a sinister laugh, his expression twisting as he stared at Qingye.

As he spoke, Qingye across from him raised his guard. Tsuchikawa's expression hardened, and he abruptly spun around and fled in the direction he had come from, moving at full speed.

If I can't beat you, I can still run, can't I?

"..."

Fine, fine. So you're trying to trick me, huh?

Qingye was nearly laughing with anger.

He raised the Tachi in his hand and used Lightning Style Chakra to stimulate his body's cells. Accelerating with all his might, he caught up to Tsuchikawa in just a few Body Flickers.

Tsuchikawa was running while trying to endure the pain in his right arm and form hand seals.

His opponent was faster than him!

But as long as he could use Earth Release to burrow underground and escape, his opponent wouldn't be able to keep chasing him.

With his right arm nearly severed, he barely managed to finish forming the seals. Just as the Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage Technique was about to take effect, Tsuchikawa suddenly heard the sound of something cutting through the air behind him.

He turned his head and saw Qingye right in front of him, the long blade in his hand about to swing down.

Uchiha Style: Lightning Sword!

Lightning Style Chakra poured into the Tachi. The blade suddenly blazed with dazzling light, completely swallowing Tsuchikawa's vision.

Amid the blinding light, a lightning-bright blade came crashing down.

The light faded.

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

Qingye caught up, still on guard, and kicked Tsuchikawa, who was sprawled facedown, onto his back. He saw a Kunai in Tsuchikawa's left hand, still smeared with blood.

"He killed himself?" Qingye stared in surprise.

Blood was pouring from the man's chest.

It was clear that the bastard had realized he couldn't escape and used the Kunai to kill himself at the last moment.

What a shame.

Qingye felt a pang of regret.

If he could have taken a Jonin prisoner, the mission reward would have been much higher.

Now all he could bring back was a corpse.

After confirming that Tsuchikawa was indeed dead, Qingye picked up the body and headed toward Yūhi Kurenai and Hyuga Himon.

When he arrived, the battle over there was still underway.

"Captain?!"

The young Iwagakure shinobi stared in horror.

The boy who looked about his age had tossed their captain onto the ground like a dead dog, yet the young Iwagakure shinobi still couldn't process what he was seeing.

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

No, impossible!

He must have fallen under that Konoha kunoichi's Genjutsu!

Hah, those crafty Konoha shinobi had finally let their weakness show. Their captain might have lost, but there was no way he could have been beaten that quickly!

"Release!"

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

When he opened his eyes again, nothing had changed. Suddenly, a figure rushed up to him. Before he could react, a heavy blow struck his abdomen, and he blacked out on the spot.

In the distance.

Two white figures trailed behind Qingye, quietly following him.

"He took down that Iwagakure Jonin just like that?"

White Zetsu A still couldn't believe it.

"Hahaha, that Iwagakure Jonin was hilarious. I thought he had some powerful Ninjutsu up his sleeve that he hadn't used yet, but he just ran away!"

"Look at Uchiha Qingye's face. He was completely stunned!"

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

"Yeah, yeah. But has Uchiha Qingye gotten a lot stronger? Last time, when his whole squad was wiped out, he was clearly in such bad shape," White Zetsu B said, puzzled.

White Zetsu A thought for a moment, then guessed, "Maybe that Iwagakure Jonin was just too weak?"

"Uh, I wouldn't know."

White Zetsu B spread his hands.

He was just a White Zetsu.

White Zetsu A: "..."

He couldn't figure it out either.

Thinking was still too advanced for White Zetsu.

"Forget it. Let's go report back to Lord Madara."

The two White Zetsu sank underground and used the Mayfly Technique to leave.

"Tie the two of them up securely, so they can't kill themselves."

After Qingye arrived, he picked up the pace a little and easily killed the two remaining Iwagakure Chunin.

By now, Yūhi Kurenai and Hyuga Himon had gotten used to it.

Even so, Hyuga Himon looked at Tsuchikawa, the Iwagakure Jonin captain Qingye had tossed to the ground, and felt deeply defeated. "Why are you so fast, Qingye?"

"...What kind of thing is that to say?"

Qingye's expression darkened.

"No, I mean, why did you finish your fight before we finished ours?"

Qingye had been up against a Jonin, while he and Yūhi Kurenai had each faced a Chunin.

Yet Qingye's battle against the Jonin had ended first, and he'd even come over afterward to help them take down the two Iwagakure Chunin.

Hyuga Himon had thought Qingye's intensive training over the past few days had made him improve rapidly.

So why did the gap seem to have gotten even wider?

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

Qingye took a small booklet from his ninja pouch and walked over to Tsuchikawa, flipping through it page by page as he checked the man's face.

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

"...Nothing."

Qingye quickly finished checking the booklet and put away the bounty list from the Underground Bounty Brokerage, his mood sour.

What a useless bastard!

He didn't even have a bounty!

He was a Jonin, for goodness' sake. Qingye had been looking forward to taking his corpse to the Underground Bounty Brokerage and exchanging it for money.

A corpse like this would fetch far more at the Underground Bounty Brokerage than Konoha would pay as a mission reward.

Losing the corpse of a Jonin would cost him some points on his mission record, but he'd still rather get more money and buy some Explosive Tags. That would be much more practical.

"By the way, Himon, check again after the battle and see if anyone else is nearby."

Putting aside his disappointment, Qingye reminded him, "If the enemy has another squad hiding nearby and they ambush us while we're letting our guard down, we'll be in trouble."

"Understood. I'll remember to check after battles from now on."

Hyuga Himon silently committed the lesson to memory and activated his Byakugan, scanning the area. "...No, at least within five kilometers, there's no one else around."

"That's good." Qingye nodded.