The Job Was Done, But I Really Didn't Do It

"Damn, this bitch was hard to shake!" Jing Hang raced forward alone with his Lightning Release Armor active, while Feng Jianxu pursued close behind, not losing any ground in speed.

When he realized they were about to be surrounded by Hidden Stone Village forces, Jing Hang decisively ordered a retreat. Though he reacted quickly, a few unlucky men were still swept by Feng Jianxu's Atomic Dismantling Jutsu, leaving not even scraps behind.

Damn it, I was only here to help out. I can't die here. Jing Hang dodged the Dust Release attacks and shouted, "Scatter and break through! Regroup at the old place!" Everyone immediately scattered in all directions.

The imitation Lightning Armor was nearly as fast as the genuine article. Before long, Jing Hang had left most of the Hidden Stone Village ninja behind, with only that crazy woman still relentlessly chasing him.

It was not that Jing Hang feared her Dust Release. Although he had been highly confident in his strength since crossing over, the techniques he truly excelled at were Magnet Release and Wind Release. His physical attributes determined that; there was no helping it. After all, monsters like Hashirama and Hiruzen Sarutobi, who mastered ninjutsu of every attribute, were exceptionally rare throughout the ninja world. But the moment he made a move, his identity would inevitably be exposed. Nearly everyone in the ninja world knew that there was only one ninja who used Iron Sand: Jing Hang. Using it would be the same as revealing himself. Ninjutsu was not necessarily better just because one mastered more of it. Tobirama, the Second Hokage, excelled in Water Release, while A, the Fourth Raikage, excelled in Lightning Release; both were still formidable powerhouses of the ninja world.

Jing Hang was confident that defeating Feng Jianxu would not be difficult, but judging from her skills, killing her without using the Iron Sand Technique was almost impossible. If she managed to tie him down, he truly would not be able to get away. Besides, he had come here to provoke conflict between Hidden Stone Village and Hidden Cloud, forcing Hidden Stone Village to withdraw. Though he had not done the deed himself, the practical result was about the same. Yet in Feng Jianxu's eyes, he was a Hidden Cloud Jonin who had come to launch a sneak attack. If his identity were exposed, it would not merely mean that he had made this trip for nothing—the entire plan would backfire. Jing Hang found himself with a headache. It seemed he either had to shake her off completely or run farther away and kill her in a single blow.

Suddenly, a mountain appeared ahead of him. It looked quite tall. Jing Hang silently calculated in his mind, and an idea immediately formed. Without hesitation, he raced toward the summit.

The two chased one another to the mountaintop in no time. Jing Hang immediately leaped off the cliff. Watching him jump, Feng Jianxu sneered coldly. Trying that trick on me? Jumping off a cliff was meaningless before the Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique. Without pausing in the slightest, she floated down after him. Sure enough, she found Jing Hang hanging from a crooked tree halfway down the mountainside.

"Comfortable hanging there?" Feng Jianxu looked at him teasingly.

Jing Hang did not waste words. He flung open his cloak toward Feng Jianxu, revealing seven or eight burning explosive tags beneath it!

"Earth Release: Rock Arm Technique!"

Feng Jianxu reacted swiftly. Her right hand rapidly transformed into a massive stone arm, nearly shielding her entire body.

"Boom!" A deafening explosion rang out, sending broken wood and shattered rocks flying everywhere. Only after a long while did the smoke finally clear.

Feng Jianxu withdrew her stone arm and carefully examined the crooked tree that had just been blown to pieces.

"Did he escape?" As a ninja, she naturally could not believe that the one who had just blown himself up was the real body. It had to be a bomb trap created with a Shadow Clone or Transformation Jutsu. Feng Jianxu carefully searched the entire cliff three times, yet she still did not find a single trace of anyone. She even deliberately left for a while before returning, but the cliff remained exactly the same, without the slightest change.

"Looks like he really escaped. He's certainly good at running." Feng Jianxu drifted away unhappily.

After a long while, several meters from the explosion site, a section of the cliff wall slowly faded away like sand. Before long, it revealed a cave only half a person tall.

"Fortunately, this whole area is black basalt. Covering it with Iron Sand was hard to notice unless you looked closely. That bitch finally left." Jing Hang let out a breath of relief.

Luckily, there was a tree halfway down the cliff and a small cave nearby. After leaping from the cliff, Jing Hang had gained a few seconds on Feng Jianxu. As he fell, he quickly assessed the terrain and changed his plan. Originally, he had intended to unleash a wide-area Iron Sand attack the moment Feng Jianxu came down and take her out in one wave. Instead, he immediately created a Shadow Clone, took off his cloak, and fashioned a simple trap. His real body then flipped through the air, slipped into the small cave, and sealed the entrance with Iron Sand.

Jing Hang crouched halfway down and watched the cave entrance as he quietly recovered his strength and refined his chakra.

"Yo, hello there, stranger."

The strange voice made Jing Hang's scalp tingle.

He never would have imagined that someone was inside such a tiny cave, less than half a person tall and located halfway up a mountain! Jing Hang had always considered his perception extraordinarily sharp, yet after all this time, he had not noticed anything at all! For the first time since arriving in the ninja world, Jing Hang felt profound fear.

Jing Hang slowly turned around and came face-to-face with a monster whose face was half black and half white.

Oh, it was him. No wonder.

"Smack! Onoki, that bastard, has gone too far!" A large hand slammed furiously onto the table. The sturdy-looking solid wood desk instantly collapsed, raising a cloud of dust. After a while, the dust dispersed, revealing a burly man with dark skin, pale blond hair, a long beard, knotted muscles, a lightning-shaped scar across his chest, and the character for "lightning" tattooed on his right shoulder. He was none other than A, the Third Raikage!

"Lord Raikage, please calm down." Dodai skillfully cleaned up the desk. As the Raikage's secretary, he knew the Raikage's bad habits all too well. A considerable portion of that year's office budget had been spent on furniture alone. As he gathered the broken table legs, he continued his report.

"The outpost on the border with Earth Country was indeed attacked, and judging by the scene, the attackers primarily used Earth Release. But that does not prove Hidden Stone Village was responsible. After all, they are currently at war with Hidden Leaf Village. Starting a war with us would not benefit them. I suspect..."

"Hahahaha!" The Third Raikage interrupted Dodai with a burst of laughter.

"My dear Dodai, how could you be so naive?"

"Hm?" Dodai was puzzled.

"When I wage war, I never care about the reasons. I only care about whom it benefits me to fight. Understand? As for the reasons, someone will always come up with them. Understand? Hahahaha!"

"Isn't that what I, the secretary, am supposed to do?" Dodai's tone was somewhat helpless.

"Hahahaha! You finally understand."

A laughed for a long time before stopping. His gaze suddenly turned sharp.

"Immediately assemble the ninja forces. Have them lie in wait at the Earth Country border. Two hours after issuing the declaration of war, launch a full-scale assault on Hidden Stone Village."

After reading the urgent intelligence Feng Jianxu had sent over, Onoki sank into thought. Beside him, his three great disciples—Kitsuchi, Hakudo, and Akatsuchi—did not even dare breathe too loudly, afraid of interrupting their teacher's thoughts.

"Orders: at the third watch tonight, the entire army will withdraw to Earth Country." Onoki opened his eyes and spoke sharply.

"What?!" The three disciples were shocked. Hakudo even anxiously rose to his feet.

"We can't! Danzo is already on the verge of collapse. One more push and he'll fall for sure. As long as we..."

But Onoki raised a hand, cutting off their words.

"I know what you want to say. I have my reasons. You do not understand the Third Raikage. By the time he decides to fight you, you may no longer have the chance to avoid his fist."