Tap, tap, tap—
A burst of hurried footsteps rang out.
A Rock Ninja was sprinting desperately through the forest, glancing back from time to time, his eyes filled with tension and unease.
His name was Andino. He was a chunin, and today, under orders from his superiors, he had come with three teammates to harass the Konoha ninja who had occupied their village's stronghold.
At first, everything had gone smoothly. At the cost of one man suffering minor injuries, they had surrounded and killed a Konoha Chunin and a Leaf Village Genin on the outskirts of the battlefield.
But just as they were about to clean up the battlefield and leave, a figure had suddenly appeared in the field. In a single exchange, he had taken down the strongest among them.
Then, in close combat, he had moved like a ghost, dodging their attacks again and again, and soon defeated two more of them.
In the end, only he had managed to escape.
Remembering the scene of that battle again, Andino could not help shuddering as he thought, Sure enough, there are only wrong names, never wrong nicknames.
"Ghost Sword Qian."
Andino spat out those four words through gritted teeth, his voice filled with boundless hatred, as well as fear he could not hide.
"What? Were you looking for me?"
All of a sudden, a voice came from above, carrying a hint of teasing mockery.
"What?"
Andino was startled by the voice. He immediately slammed to a stop and instinctively looked up.
Then he saw a pair of blood-red Sharingan.
Thud—
Caught in Genjutsu, Andino toppled straight to the ground.
Qian flickered forward, formed seals with both hands, and used the Chakra Scalpel. With practiced movements, he severed the muscle groups and nerve pathways in the man's limbs, removing his