Just Do It

He had dealt with the Iwa Jonin.

Qifeng remained where he stood.

He savored the battle that had taken less than a minute.

To be honest, even he had not expected to end the fight so quickly. Genjutsu truly played an excessively huge role in actual combat.

Moreover, without exaggeration, Qifeng using this Experience Card was stronger than the ninja represented by the card itself—considerably stronger, even.

That was because this Konoha Jonin was a genjutsu-type Jonin. Genjutsu was his specialty; although his taijutsu and ninjutsu were not weak, they were not particularly outstanding among Jonin.

Qifeng, meanwhile, had always excelled at taijutsu. That became even more true after activating the Shikotsumyaku. Coupled with a small amount of matching overlap, his taijutsu had become somewhat outstanding even among Jonin.

Combined with the powerful genjutsu of an excellent Experience Card,

he was essentially a well-rounded Jonin who combined control and overwhelming offense. If his ninjutsu could also meet the standard, then he would not be a Jonin, but an Elite Jonin.

Therefore, the iwa-nin's defeat had been inevitable.

With genjutsu control combined with the all-round offense and defense of the Shikotsumyaku, aside from being slightly lacking in speed, his harvesting ability on the battlefield was truly not much weaker than that of the future Body Flicker Shisui.

This was an entirely new experience.

When Qifeng had used Experience Cards before, he had relied completely on the abilities and enhancements granted by the cards.

But this time, he had used the Experience Card to compensate for his own weakness—or rather, to greatly strengthen that weakness and combine it with his existing abilities.

So genjutsu is this powerful. Qifeng murmured inwardly.

There were not many genjutsu-type ninja in the Shinobi World, and there were even fewer truly powerful ones. In Qifeng's memory, the only people whose genjutsu was powerful enough to look down upon the Shinobi World were probably the close friends Uchiha Shisui and Itachi Uchiha.

That was because using genjutsu placed tremendous demands on the caster's intelligence. Ninja without high intelligence might truly not be able to use it well.

Using genjutsu required more than mastering hand seals, Chakra flow, and mental influence. It also required mastery of timing, rhythm, and the setup of the genjutsu.

The goal was to make the opponent unable to distinguish reality from illusion for an instant, then seize that fleeting opening and kill them.

Otherwise, if the genjutsu was too abrupt and made its victim immediately realize they had fallen under an illusion, its effectiveness would be cut in half.

Of course, Sharingan genjutsu was another matter.

Take this battle, for example. When the iwa-nin was first hit by the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, he immediately realized he had fallen under genjutsu. He promptly used Earth Release to protect himself and tried to break the illusion.

If Qifeng's Shikotsumyaku had not produced an unexpected effect, it was hard to say how the battle would have turned out.

When he used genjutsu for the second time, Qifeng promptly made up for that mistake.

The Hell Viewing Technique briefly threw his opponent into panic, allowing him to land the decisive blow.

Genjutsu required highly advanced techniques to use.

"Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, Hell Viewing Technique."

Qifeng committed the formulas and Chakra circulation of those two techniques to memory, but he estimated that after the Experience Card expired, using them again with his own genjutsu ability would probably be unrealistic.

Still, there might be a chance to use them in the future.

Memorizing these two techniques was already Qifeng's limit.

After all, whether it was genjutsu or ninjutsu, hand seals were only the most superficial part. The key lay in Chakra circulation. It was an extremely complicated process; even the slightest mistake could cause a technique to fail or even result in unforeseen danger.

If it were only the hand seals, memorizing them would not be difficult.

Otherwise, the Sharingan's copying ability would not have become famous throughout the Shinobi World. Any ninja with slightly better memory could remember those hand seals.

Collecting his thoughts, he glanced at the iwa-nin's corpse on the ground and grinned.

"Jonin aren't that hard to kill, either."

He happily looked at the iwa-nin's corpse on the ground. Another Yellow Corpse acquired.

War was dangerous, but it truly was a corpse collector's paradise.

Elsewhere.

The battle between the iwa-nin and Konoha was finally nearing its end.

And the one leading the battle toward its conclusion was none other than Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had been entangled by five iwa-nin and found it difficult to break free for a time. Seeing the iwa-nin gaining an increasing advantage, Orochimaru erupted.

He completely abandoned his own defense. Relying on his nearly monstrous body and recovery ability, he fiercely attacked Tu He, the commander of the iwa-nin Advance Force, disregarding the restraint of the other four iwa-nin.

He beat Tu He into a near-crippled state, forcing him to use Earth Release to flee the battlefield.

As both commander and strongest iwa-nin of the Advance Force, Tu He's departure left the iwa-nin without a backbone.

More importantly, without Tu He, the other four iwa-nin could no longer restrain Orochimaru.

How terrifying was Orochimaru once he had been completely unleashed?

Anyone among the iwa-nin present could answer that question.

Almost single-handedly, he reversed the entire situation and beat the iwa-nin back step by step.

With their Advance Force left without a commander, the iwa-nin began retreating almost entirely on instinct. Naturally, Konoha would not let off these iwa-nin who had killed who knew how many of their comrades.

This was the role a Kage-level powerhouse could play on the battlefield.

When no one could restrain him, that was when he began harvesting the battlefield.

When Orochimaru said Tu He and the others were not good enough and that Ōnoki would be more suitable, he had not been speaking without basis. He truly had the confidence and ability to say so.

Ōnoki refused to come because of his status as Tsuchikage.

Fine, then Orochimaru would fight until he came!

At the same time.

Tu He, who had fled the battlefield, wore an expression of frustration and unwillingness.

It was not that he feared death, nor was it that he did not want to fight Orochimaru to the death. His identity simply did not permit it.

As the commander of the Advance Force, Tu He's position in Iwagakure was not low.

Accordingly, he knew much about Iwagakure's strategic deployments, including no shortage of Iwagakure's secrets.

If Konoha captured him, or even took away his corpse, Konoha—with the Yamanaka Clan and its various Secret Technique clans—would certainly be able to obtain a great deal of information from him.

Even information of the most trivial kind was exceptionally crucial at this moment, when the two sides were about to clash head-on.

His identity did not allow that to happen.

Therefore, even though they watched him flee, the Stone shinobi said nothing, because they understood its importance as well.

This had merely been a clash between Advance Forces, a probing collision before the all-out war between the two sides. It would not affect the larger battle.

But if he were captured, it could have an enormous impact on the iwa-nin's overall arrangements.

Tu He emerged from underground. Looking at Orochimaru in the distance as he began ravaging the iwa-nin, Tu He clutched the wound on his chest, his eyes filled with struggle.

Watching his comrades die one after another was not easy, but he could only swallow the pain.

Gritting his teeth, he turned to leave.

But the moment he turned around, his bloodshot eyes widened, and a flash of disbelief crossed them.

At the same time.

Qifeng, standing opposite him, also looked completely dumbfounded.

This...

"What a coincidence."

Tu He caught sight of the Iwa Jonin's corpse lying on the ground, and anger flashed across his face.

Although he did not recognize Qifeng at this moment, the iwa-nin corpse on the ground explained everything.

At once, fury shattered the last line of reason in his mind.

However, before he could act, Qifeng struck first.

If Tu He had been at full strength, Qifeng would have turned and run without a moment's hesitation.

But now, Tu He was covered in blood. Tu He was burning with rage. Tu He was about to lose his mind.

In Qifeng's eyes, he was a moving treasure chest.

And Qifeng had just easily dealt with an Iwa Jonin. The Experience Card's effect was still active.

Damn it!

Just do it!