Since coming to Konoha, Qi's strength had skyrocketed like a rocket. Almost everyone who knew him thought it was because he'd become Orochimaru's disciple and fought alongside Minato, receiving instruction from both powerful shinobi.
But Orochimaru had barely taught him anything. If anything, he'd focused more on teaching Qi the theory behind ninjutsu. Minato was even less help: even if he'd wanted to teach Qi, he couldn't have, because Qi had no chance of understanding the formulas behind his Space-Time Ninjutsu.
Before coming to Konoha, what Qi lacked most wasn't combat experience or ninjutsu to learn. It was a basic understanding of ninjutsu—the very thing that divided experts from the weak.
The weak simply followed instructions and performed ninjutsu by rote. The strong, however, understood the principles behind their techniques inside and out, and could improve them. Kakashi was hailed as the most gifted talent Konoha had ever seen because he'd reached that threshold at a young age and created Chidori.
Yet improving a technique was actually far more difficult than creating one. The Yuki scroll Qi carried described this in detail. It not only covered how these secret techniques had been developed, but also included the insights of many Yuki clan members as they developed and refined techniques based on their principles, and even changed how they were used in combat.
The Yuki clan didn't have many secret techniques. That was common among bloodline clans: they only had a handful of bloodline techniques. So most of the scroll was devoted to these principles. Before, Qi had never been able to understand any of it...
Orochimaru understood this perfectly. That was why he hadn't taught Qi any practical ninjutsu, instead focusing on the most basic theoretical knowledge. At last, Qi could understand the principles behind the Ice Release techniques in the Yuki Secret Scroll, which had once been as incomprehensible to him as a book written in another language.
The accumulated wisdom of countless generations had led to a leap in his strength. Although he was still only at the "Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals" stage, he was already more than ten times stronger than he'd been when he first advanced...
For a bloodline clan, this was the most important thing. Protecting their bloodline was certainly important, but without the experience and understanding accumulated over generations, outsiders who obtained it still couldn't bring out its true potential. Kakashi in the original story was a perfect example.
Now, Qi was about to use a style of Ice Release combat that he'd developed by adapting what he'd learned from the powerful shinobi he'd encountered during this time.
Who had he fought the most? The Iwagakure Ninja! And among them, the ones who'd left the deepest impression on him were the three elite Iwagakure jonin who had fought Minato. Their elusive fighting style had shocked Qi back then.
Having witnessed how powerful the Rock Ninja's Earth Release was in close combat, he'd used ice to imitate the Earth Release: Stealth Technique. Now, he was going to imitate something else.
"Stopped?"
Before any jutsu had even been cast, everyone fighting in the area noticed the change.
"Could Qi have run out of chakra? But where is he?"
Xiu was even more puzzled. His opponent had already been dealt with in the conditions just moments ago. The man wasn't a jonin, and in that environment he'd been practically blind. Xiu, with his Sharingan, had taken him down with ease.
Still, Xiu didn't dare move recklessly. He knew there were two jonin enemies still in the area, and rushing in to help Qi might only cause unnecessary trouble. In a shinobi battle, jumping in like that brought both opportunity and danger. More often than not, it just got in the way.
But the snowstorm suddenly stopped. On the silver-white ground, Xiu couldn't see Qi at all. He could only see his master still fighting two jonin with gusto. Meanwhile, Qi's opponent had split into more than a dozen clones and was racing toward the end of the street.
"Damn it! He's getting away!"
At the thought, Xiu leaped up and prepared to chase after him.
But a shout suddenly exploded beside his ear...
"Go!"
A powerful force lifted him and pulled him sharply in the opposite direction. He looked back and saw his master, Uchiha Kongci, grinning.
"Master!? Where's Qi?"
Why were they suddenly retreating? Could it be...
"Don't let your imagination run wild. Your friend is extraordinary. He's not a true expert yet, but he won't be far off for long."
Kongci laughed heartily as he accelerated,
"We've already won tonight. All that's left is to watch what kind of jutsu that boy uses to bring things to a close, right, Ogata?"
"Hmph!"
At the sound of a cold snort, Xiu was surprised to see Qi's master appear at his other side, blood on his hands.
"Not bad. Took you all these years just to cross the threshold. You really are a stupid disciple!"
Ogata ignored Xiu's astonished gaze and muttered his dissatisfaction.
In an instant, Kongci, Ogata, and Xiu all stopped, having escaped Qi's domain. Xiu finally understood, quickly turning to look back at the battlefield.
After all, the area covered by the ice and snow Qi had created wasn't very large—only a few dozen meters across. This wasn't the highest level of Ice Release, with its freezing and crystallization, but merely the freezing of the ground and the creation of a snowstorm.
By now, the young man's clones had reached the edge of the area. One of the other two jonin had fallen to the ground, a huge hole in his chest. The other was racing toward the young man!
"Ice River Torrent!"
At that moment, Qi's voice emerged from the entire sheet of ice. Before the jutsu had even been cast, it carried an eerie, chilling quality.
Inspired by Gaara's technique from the anime of Qi's previous life, modeled after the Iwagakure jonin's "Earth Style: Earth Flow Burial," and based on the Flowing Ice Barrier technique, while also making use of Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals' ability to conceal him, Qi had developed his first original jutsu.
Boom!"
With a tremendous roar like waves crashing against the shore, the previously calm, solid ice erupted into a frenzy!
The first to suffer were the young man running at full speed and his many clones. In almost the same instant, the ice beneath their feet lurched—and the original and his clones sank straight into it, more than a dozen feet disappearing beneath the surface!
"Not good!"
The young man's expression changed drastically. As the original, he was far stronger than his clones. He didn't dare conserve his chakra now. With a sudden burst of power, he tore himself free of the ice, which was beginning to roll wildly, and leaped high into the air!
That was right—it was rolling. The entire sheet of ice was churning like a swamp!
The clones that couldn't escape were swept up by the ice and swallowed whole, then crushed to pieces!
Bang!"
One after another, the young man's clones were wiped out. Yet he'd only just jumped into the air!
What the hell was this now?! The people who'd gathered intelligence on Qi deserved to be tortured to death!
But that wasn't the end of it. As the young man stared in shock, the entire sheet of ice began at the boundary and suddenly rose up, flipping over!
Judging by how it looked, Qi meant to bury him alive beneath the ice! And from the grinding sounds coming from within it, if he really was buried, he'd be ground into countless scraps of flesh before he suffocated—just like his clones!