Full Firepower

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~

Shuriken sliced through the air with faint sounds, and just as they were about to hit Shiroishi Kurato, he suddenly woke up.

It had to be said that as a Special Jonin skilled in close combat, Shiroishi Kurato's combat instincts were truly exceptional.

The instant he woke, he made the most correct choice. Dodging and blocking at the same time, he stopped the vast majority of the shuriken.

Only his left arm suffered a few scratches.

However, Shiroishi Kurato did not take such minor injuries to heart.

Right now, he was staring straight at Qian, the shock in his eyes hard to hide.

Looking at those blood-red pupils, Shiroishi Kurato felt both excitement and fear.

His excitement came from the fact that whether on the Black Market or in the village, there were high bounties on the Sharingan.

As long as he killed Qian and turned in his corpse, he would immediately obtain a large sum of money.

Ninja were not saints without desires. With such a large sum of money at stake, very few people would not be tempted.

Moreover, snuffing out such a genius also filled Shiroishi Kurato with an inexplicable sense of accomplishment.

As for fear...

That naturally came from the reputation the Uchiha clan had fought to earn.

One on one, always run. Two on one, strike from behind. This saying was not a joke.

Unfortunately, what he was facing right now was exactly a one-on-one situation.

So Shiroishi Kurato felt an instinctive fear.

However, when he saw Qian's young, immature face, the fear in his heart unconsciously faded somewhat.

Not to mention...

Shiroishi Kurato's gaze shifted downward, and the hideous wound on Qian's chest was clearly visible.

Although the wound had been charred by the high temperature of the lightning strike and was no longer bleeding, the damage Qian had suffered was absolutely real.

This restored Shiroishi Kurato's confidence by a few more degrees.

And while Shiroishi Kurato was observing Qian, Qian was observing him as well.

He had to admit that he had made a mistake this time. He had never expected the other party to have developed a second chakra nature.

When he had fought the Rock Hidden Genin earlier, he had also taken the chance to observe the battles between the Jonin. Although he had not paid much attention to Shiroishi Kurato, he remembered seeing him use Earth Style.

Thus, he had instinctively assumed that the other party's chakra nature was earth and had never considered the possibility that he could use other types of ninjutsu.

Although he knew that once ninja reached the Jonin level, they would begin developing a second nature.

Subconsciously, however, he did not regard Special Jonin as true Jonin, only treating them as enhanced versions of Chunin.

As a result, he had overlooked this possibility and suffered a major loss.

Still, it was also his bad luck. Shiroishi Kurato had probably hidden his Lightning Release Chakra in order to ambush the Jonin on their side.

In the end, Qian had accidentally slaughtered his way through the Low and Mid-Ranked Ninja, drawing the other party's attention. Then he had ended up taking the disaster meant for several Jonin in their place.

This also made Qian understand one principle: before one's strength reached a certain level, one absolutely could not get reckless.

Otherwise, any small mistake could cost him his life.

Feeling most of the numbness in his body fade away, Qian stopped wasting time. He immediately raised both hands and was about to form seals.

Seeing this, Shiroishi Kurato immediately looked away.

He knew very well how dangerous the Sharingan was, so he did not dare meet Qian's eyes while Qian was forming seals, afraid he would be caught in Genjutsu.

Unfortunately, Qian's Genjutsu level was too low right now, and the evolution of his Sharingan was not high enough. He could not do what Uchiha Itachi later would, casting Genjutsu with every casual movement.

Otherwise, the way Shiroishi Kurato had just sized him up so brazenly would have been an act of courting death.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique~"

The moment Shiroishi Kurato looked away, a massive fireball came flying toward him.

Shiroishi Kurato did not dare take it head-on and hurriedly dodged to the side.

However, before he could steady himself, a kunai shot toward him from the front.

Shiroishi Kurato originally intended to swing his sword and block it, but when he saw the Exploding Tag burning on the kunai, his expression immediately changed, and he leaped straight backward.

Boom~

The Exploding Tag exploded, but failed to injure Shiroishi Kurato.

Qian pressed his advantage without mercy, directly using the "Body Flicker Technique" to arrive on another tree. Then he swiftly completed his hand seals and used "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."

The Tomoe in Qian's blood-colored pupils spun rapidly, and he pushed the Sharingan's insight to its limit.

Clusters of flame like balsam seeds flew from his mouth, as if they had been fitted with guidance systems. Every single one smashed precisely into the spot where Shiroishi Kurato was about to land, forcing him into a miserable state.

Even so, Shiroishi Kurato proved worthy of his title as a Special Jonin. Targeted by Qian like this, he still had not suffered any overly serious injuries.

If it had been that Rock Hidden Chunin from before, even if he had not died, he would have lost a layer of skin.

Unlike Shiroishi Kurato now, who merely had a few more scorch marks on his body.

"Cough, cough~"

Shiroishi Kurato coughed lightly twice, forced down the burning pain across his body, swept his gaze toward Qian's position, and muttered, "Is it over?"

"Over? Heh~"

Qian let out a cold laugh, appeared on another large tree, and formed hand seals again, casting a ninjutsu.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique~"

Once again, dozens upon dozens, nearly a hundred balls of flame were spat out by Qian, smashing toward Shiroishi Kurato like homing missiles.

At this moment, Qian was like a hotheaded rookie, completely unconcerned with his Chakra consumption. He was simply determined to smash the other man to death with ninjutsu.

After several times in a row, Shiroishi Kurato could no longer endure it and launched a counterattack.

It was not that Shiroishi Kurato lacked the patience to keep dragging things out with Qian, but as time passed, his dodging movements had gradually been seen through by Qian.

This caused the pressure on him to grow greater and greater.

Shiroishi Kurato feared that if this continued, he would lose his chance to strike back.

So, after dodging Qian's attack once more, before Qian could make another move, he stepped out from behind the tree where he had been hiding and used the Body Flicker Technique, closing in on Qian at extreme speed.

Perhaps before the Sharingan had been activated, this move of his might have caught him off guard.

But now—

Before the other man could get close, Qian had already used the Body Flicker Technique, pulling distance between them.

Shiroishi Kurato still wanted to continue his pursuit, but three Kunai suddenly shot over, precisely blocking the steps of his chase and making him feel wretchedly constrained.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique~"

After using the Kunai to stop the other man's advance, Qian cast this technique once again.

Seeing the familiar fireballs appear again, Shiroishi Kurato hurriedly stopped, focused his mind, and prepared to dodge.

But at that moment, several Shuriken burned red-hot suddenly flew out from within the flames, attacking the vital points all over his body a step ahead.

Shiroishi Kurato was caught off guard. His expression changed abruptly, and he hurriedly swung his sword to block.

However, while he blocked all the Shuriken, he no longer had time to dodge the flames created by the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.

Boom~

A ball of flame slammed into his body, blasting him backward.

"Cough, cough, cough~"

Shiroishi Kurato clutched his charred-black chest and coughed violently.

During this, he struggled to stand up, but even after several attempts, he failed.