Withdrawal and Arrival

Earlier, he had felt there was something off about Qian. The man clearly was not weak, and he was fighting on home ground, yet he had never used ninjutsu in battle.

He had not even used Exploding Tags.

And that Shadow Clone from before—no matter how he thought about it, it made no sense!

Now, he finally understood. So the person chasing him had a problem with his identity too. It was not that he did not want to use powerful ninjutsu or Exploding Tags, but that he likewise did not dare cause too great a commotion.

But was that really the truth?

All that could be said was that the other party had oversimplified things.

The reason Qian had not used ninjutsu or Exploding Tags was only because he feared the other man would not hold out and would not last until the three Mist Village squads on the perimeter drew closer.

Taking a step back, even if the other party had managed to hold out while he deliberately held back, there was still a good chance he would have been frightened out of his wits and completely given up on fighting him head-on.

If he focused solely on fleeing, then the timing of Qian's withdrawal would become hard to control.

In that case, his plan might well fall through.

That was exactly why, in the battle just now, he had acted somewhat "overcautious."

However, all of that was in the past.

Now, the people he had been waiting for were almost here, so he no longer needed to restrain himself.

With that thought, Qian had already arrived in front of the Iwagakure Anbu.

Whoosh—

His long blade flashed.

Qian infused Wind Style Chakra into the blade and unleashed "Wind Style: Vacuum Blade," swinging it straight toward the chest