In the blink of an eye, half an hour had passed.
Behind Sand Ridge, roughly several dozen kilometers from the battlefield, Orochimaru stopped fleeing.
Only a few breaths later, another figure arrived on the scene as well.
It was none other than Qian-kun.
Their chase, one pursuing and one fleeing, had lasted a full half hour.
Looking at Orochimaru, who had stopped ahead of him, Qian-kun said, "Oh? Why aren't you running anymore?"
"Heh heh heh~"
At that, Orochimaru first let out a cold laugh, then said, "Isn't this exactly what you wished to see, Qian-kun?"
"What do you mean?"
Qian-kun asked with interest.
However, Orochimaru did not answer his question directly. Instead, his gaze swept across Qian-kun's face.
Looking at the Sage Markings still present on his face, Orochimaru was inwardly astonished.
There was no helping it. Compared with Jiraiya, who needed others' assistance to enter Sage Mode and could only maintain it for a limited time, Qian-kun had kept his Sage Mode active for more than half an hour once he activated it.
The key was that he still did not look flushed or out of breath. The difference between the two was like heaven and mud.
How could that not shock Orochimaru?
"Is this the strength of a self-developed Sage Mode?"
Orochimaru sighed inwardly.
He had naturally heard the earlier exchange between Hashirama Senju and Qian-kun.
Precisely because of that, he was even more shocked.
After all, Sage Mode was not something that could be mastered so easily.
If it were, the Ninja World would not have only one sage.
Suddenly, Orochimaru thought of Jugo, as well as the battle between Qian-kun and several sages of Ryūchi Cave in the Rice Field Country a few months ago.
"Could it be that the Natural Energy there allowed Qian-kun