Time slipped by, minute by minute, second by second.
At first, Qian had thought that since Orochimaru and Jiraiya had both left the town, a battle should break out very soon.
Yet to his surprise, more than two full hours passed, and they still had not stopped.
Qian had followed behind them as well, running for more than two hours.
During that time, he also discovered traces of some Anbu ninja.
Unfortunately, those people had not followed for long before losing track of the two.
Taking that chance, Qian also vaguely grasped what Orochimaru and Jiraiya were thinking.
Perhaps it was the pride of being Sannin that made them unwilling to lose face in front of others, or perhaps they simply did not want to expose information about themselves.
In any case, the two were tacitly shaking off everyone.
And their plan succeeded. Now, aside from Qian, not a single other person was following them.
Qian gazed toward the forest ahead. His intuition told him that the final great battle was about to begin, and this forest up ahead was the best battlefield.
Facts proved that his premonition was correct.
Not long after Jiraiya and Orochimaru entered the forest, an explosion rang out.
Having been through the battlefield, Qian was all too familiar with this kind of explosion. It was precisely the sound produced when an Exploding Tag detonated.
Qian stopped, thought for a moment, and performed a very practical ninjutsu—Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique!
As one of the first ninjutsu he had learned and grinded all the way to max level, its effect was to hide underground and use Chakra as a medium to observe movement above.
The whole process was just like a fish in water, silently peering through the surface at the scene on the shore.