Bang, bang, bang.
Qian hovered quietly in the air, watching fireballs slam into the water curtain one after another with dull, heavy thuds.
Finally, after a dozen breaths, Konoha's "Attack Formula" stopped.
Below, the four Mist Village Special Jonin held on for a while longer, only dispelling the ninjutsu barrier when they could no longer sustain it.
Inside the barrier, the faces of the Mist Ninja all showed the relief of having survived a disaster.
But just then, Qian moved.
He had been watching the movements of those four Mist Village Special Jonin from the start, waiting for them to release their ninjutsu. Now that the barrier had vanished, it was time for him to act.
Without the slightest hesitation, Qian seized this brief opening, flapped his wings, and abruptly accelerated toward Flying Fish Town below.
"Careful!"
As it turned out, no matter how harmless he looked, the Mist Ninja could not possibly ignore his existence. Almost the instant he drew near, a Mist Village Jonin raised his voice in warning.
Immediately afterward, dozens of shuriken and kunai shot out, dense as raindrops, flying toward him.
Qian neither dodged nor evaded. He directly cast Earth Release: Hardening Technique and Chakra Feather Cloak, protecting his entire body.
Then he drove his Sharingan at full force, locked onto the kunai and shuriken flying at him head-on, flapped his wings, and flew forward.
His figure was agile, like a butterfly weaving through flowers, threading between kunai and shuriken one after another. He avoided every danger and rapidly closed in on the Mist Ninja below.
Boom, boom, boom!
Violent explosions rang out.
In the sky, fireballs appeared among those kunai—there were clearly Exploding Tags mixed in with them.
The shock waves from their explosions surged toward Qian from behind, but they were easily blocked