A dozen or so minutes later.
Qian arrived at another battlefield.
Before he even got close, he spotted a lone Hidden Rock genin.
Qian's eyes lit up, and he was just about to move in when something suddenly seemed to occur to him. He quickly activated his Sharingan and swept his gaze over the surroundings.
However, he found none of the ambush he had expected. The other party really did seem to have simply fallen behind.
"Am I overthinking this?"
Qian was puzzled and decided to observe for a little longer.
Soon, two minutes passed.
Qian still found nothing. The Hidden Rock genin below continued forward, looking as though he intended to catch up with the main force.
After thinking it over, Qian hesitated no longer. His hands formed the "Ram" seal, and with a Body Flicker Technique, he appeared directly behind the other man.
Thud~
A knife-hand strike fell, and the man dropped straight to the ground.
Qian stood where he was, warily scanning the surroundings.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
After a full minute, still nothing happened. Only then did Qian finally confirm that this really was just a lone Rock Ninja, not some kind of bait.
"So I've been matching wits with thin air this whole time."
Shaking his head, Qian stopped dwelling on it. He grabbed the Rock Ninja from the ground, leaped into the forest, and arrived at a relatively hidden spot.
Smack~ smack~
Qian slapped him left and right, and quickly woke the Rock Ninja on the ground.
Then, before he could fully regain consciousness, Qian cast Genjutsu: Sharingan, guiding him to begin recalling the intelligence he needed.
A few minutes later, Qian learned the other man's name—Ishiki Ichiro.
As for why he had fallen behind, it was because during the previous battle,