Targeted

After killing two Rock Hidden Chunin, Qian took a brief rest, then prepared to do the same thing again and help Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko kill the other Rock Ninja.

But just then, a faint whistle through the air suddenly came from the side. Qian instinctively retreated, and then saw a kunai streak past right before his eyes.

Qian abruptly turned his head and looked in the direction the kunai had come from.

A Hidden Rock Jonin had suddenly broken away from the fight where they were surrounding the Leaf Village Jonin and was slowly walking toward him.

Qian's expression stiffened, and he cursed inwardly, "Damn it, no rules at all. I beat the small ones, so the old one comes out, huh?!"

Before, after he had killed a few Genin, it was one thing for Chunin to come deal with him. After all, there was no qualitative difference between Genin and Chunin.

But now they had sent a Jonin to target him. Wasn't that going a little too far?

Qian cast a pleading look toward Furukawa.

However, Furukawa only glanced over in a hurry, discreetly made a gesture telling him to stall for time, and then ignored him.

Seeing that, Qian gave up on the spot.

"Better to rely on myself than beg others!"

Qian's thoughts stirred. He barely steadied himself and began analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides.

First, he still had enough chakra for the time being.

In the few battles just now, he had not used many ninjutsu, and his chakra consumption had been limited. At present, he still had about fifteen hundred points left.

That was already the Chakra Amount many Chunin had at full strength, more than enough to support a battle.

Second, his Sharingan had not been exposed yet.

If used well, it could rewrite the battle at a critical moment.

That was equivalent to having a safety net, allowing him to face the enemy with more composure.

Finally, and most importantly, the other party was definitely not a true Jonin. Otherwise, Furukawa could not possibly have told him to stall for time.

Because whether it was the strength he usually displayed or the combat power he had just unleashed while killing enemies one after another, neither was enough to contend with a true Jonin.

But since Furukawa had told him to stall for time, that meant he was capable of doing it.

And with the strength he had currently revealed, the Limit of what he could handle was only a Special Jonin.

In other words, there was a high chance the other party was only a Special Jonin.

Once he thought of that, Qian felt much more confident, and most of the tension from suddenly having to face a Jonin vanished.

Against a battle-hardened, all-around Jonin, he had no confidence, but if the enemy was only a Special Jonin with one particular ability that stood out, he still dared to clash with him.

However, before that, it was better to leave this battlefield first.

That way, when he was forced to use the Sharingan, he could also reduce the risk of exposure to a minimum.

With that thought, Qian abruptly used the Body Flicker Technique and rushed at high speed toward the outer edge of the battlefield behind him.

Seeing this, Shiroishi Kurato gave a savage laugh and immediately sprang after him.

One chased while the other fled, and they left the battlefield.

A few minutes later.

Somewhere in the forest.

Qian was moving at high speed.

Suddenly, several kunai shot at him from behind. Qian dodged sideways, and the kunai nailed into the tree trunk ahead, making a sizzling sound.

Qian focused his eyes and looked. He saw that one of the kunai had an Exploding Tag tied to it, fire flickering on its surface. It was about to explode.

Qian thought, Not good, and hurriedly retreated.

Boom—

A violent explosion rang out.

Crimson flames swept across an area several meters around.

The shock wave stirred up by the Exploding Tag's detonation spread outward at a visible speed, shaking the trees in the forest until they creaked.

A moment later, a bout of coughing rang out.

In the smoke and dust, a figure could be seen vaguely struggling to rise.

The next instant, a kunai shot out and pinned that figure in place.

"Ah!"

The figure seemed to have suffered a heavy blow and let out a scream.

On a tree branch, Shiroishi Kurato withdrew his arm and watched all of this expressionlessly.

Suddenly, several shuriken flew out from the smoke and dust, heading straight for Shiroishi Kurato's face.

"Hmph! Petty tricks."

Seeing this, Shiroishi Kurato let out a cold snort. He yanked free the short blade slung diagonally at his waist, and in the next moment, a string of clanging rang out as every Shuriken flying toward him was cut down in a single strike.

As the smoke and dust cleared, Qian walked out from behind the tree, while the lingering afterimage of the clone beside him dispersed.

An illusion created by the "Clone Technique" could only play a tiny role when visibility was poor.

In a head-on fight?

Forget it!

Shiroishi Kurato shifted his gaze away from the clone and looked at Qian, saying with interest, "Kid, finally willing to come out?"

Qian said nothing.

The smile on Shiroishi Kurato's face faded. He raised the Short Blade in his hand slightly and said, "Kid, are you ready to meet death?"

As he spoke, he released an intense killing intent.

Someone weak of will, facing that killing intent head-on, might have given up resisting on the spot.

But who was Qian?

He had long since resolved to transcend this world. His ambitions were so vast that they had never been confined to a single village or a single nation. How could he be so easily affected by this man? Maybe if it were Orochimaru.

Seeing that Qian's expression still did not change, Shiroishi Kurato finally put away his contempt and treated Qian as an opponent who needed to be taken seriously.

The wind still rustled through the leaves.

One stood on a tree fork, the other beside the trunk. They were not far apart, but neither spoke, and neither made a move. They simply watched each other, as if they intended to stare each other down until dawn.

Suddenly, a leaf fell, and at a certain moment, it blocked Qian's line of sight.

The next instant, a sharp gust of force came at him from the side. Without thinking, Qian crouched down.

The Short Blade sliced through the air above Qian's head. Shiroishi Kurato's strike missed, and he immediately reversed his grip and chopped downward, slashing diagonally toward the right side of Qian's neck.

The sharp aura radiating from the Short Blade scraped Qian's cheek painfully.

At the critical moment, Qian raised his right arm and used the Kunai in his hand to block Shiroishi Kurato's Short Blade.

But just then, Shiroishi Kurato revealed a faint smile of a scheme succeeding.

Seeing this, Qian's heart tightened for no reason, and he immediately tried to pull back.

But it was already too late.

The crackle of electricity rang out.

A flash of lightning suddenly appeared. Blinding blue lightning erupted from Shiroishi Kurato's palm, traveled along the Short Blade, and reached the Kunai.

Qian's right hand went numb, and the Kunai fell to the ground with a clang.

Shiroishi Kurato seized the chance to swing the Short Blade in his hand. Even though Qian leaned back with all his might to dodge, the blade still cut across his chest.

The intense pain made Qian unable to stop a muffled groan from escaping.

Then, the smell of scorched flesh wafted over.

Without looking, Qian knew that the wound on his chest had been burned by the Lightning Release Chakra attached to Shiroishi Kurato's Short Blade.

The only thing worth being grateful for was that, for a short time, he did not have to worry about dying from excessive blood loss.

Was this Shiroishi Kurato's kindness?

The answer was, of course, no.

Although the Lightning Release Chakra attached to his Short Blade had helped stop the bleeding, it had also plunged Qian's body into a brief state of paralysis.

At this point, Qian no longer had the luxury of hiding it. With a thought, he activated the Sharingan.

In just an instant, his pupils turned from black to blood red, and a Tomoe as dark as ink spun wildly within them.

There was no time to form hand seals, so Qian directly activated the Sharingan's hypnotic ability.

The instant their eyes met, Shiroishi Kurato's gaze shifted from disbelief to confusion.

Qian knew this control was unstable.

So he pushed off the ground with both feet and quickly retreated. At the same time, he flipped his palm, drew several Shuriken from his Ninja Tool Pouch, and hurled them with force.