The sun rose and set.
In the blink of an eye, a week had passed.
That afternoon.
West of the stronghold.
Somewhere in the forest.
Qian held a Short Sword and took on three Leaf Village chūnin by himself.
At first, the three of them were still trading blows evenly with Qian.
But as the fight went on, one of them suddenly froze in place, watching helplessly as Qian's Short Sword thrust straight toward him, completely motionless.
Seeing this, another Leaf Village chūnin hurried forward and blocked Qian's strike for him.
At the same time, the third Leaf Village chūnin held a Kunai and stabbed straight toward Qian's back.
A faint sense of danger crept into Qian's heart. He flicked a glance behind him from the corner of his eye, then willed a large amount of Wind Style chakra into his Short Sword.
Buzz—
A faint blue-green light appeared along the blade, enveloping Qian, making it seem as though he and the Short Sword had merged into one.
Then Qian's right hand, which held the sword, exerted the slightest force, and the tip pointed forward.
The next moment, the blue-green light flared brightly, and Qian vanished from where he stood, man and sword together.
By the time he appeared again, he was already standing behind Ono Seita, the Short Sword in his hand pressed against the spot over his heart from behind.
Seeing this, the two Leaf Village chūnin quickly lowered their weapons and admitted defeat.
One of them said helplessly, "Captain, your Flash Sword Technique has gotten faster again. We already can't keep up."
"Yeah!"
Hearing this, the other chimed in, "And your Illusion Sword Technique has gotten a lot stronger too. Seita still hasn't woken up yet."
As he spoke, he looked toward Ono Seita, who stood there