The Grass Ninja Rout

This was the terrifying power of S-rank Lightning Release Ninjutsu.

Elder White Ape, who had been watching from afar, finally could no longer hold back.

"Wood Release: Ghost Tree Forest!"

As the supreme commander of this battle, Elite Jonin White Ape had taken patience and restraint to the extreme.

He had racked his brains to lure out the Village Chief of the Hidden Jun Village.

He had even used Grass Ninja combat squads as bait to force Ye Chen to appear. It was a cold-blooded move.

He knew perfectly well that unless he eliminated Ye Chen, the Village Chief of the Hidden Jun Village, wiping out the village would be difficult.

If he paid such a steep price and still made no progress...

White Ape could hardly imagine the consequences of failure.

Yet the elusive Village Chief of the Hidden Jun Village was exceptionally alert and slippery.

In the first engagement, he had successfully "hooked" his target.

But just as White Ape prepared to haul in the net, the Village Chief of the Hidden Jun Village had slipped away.

This time, he had successfully "hooked" him again.

Elite Jonin White Ape had been about to strike when Ye Chen suddenly swept into the battle with overwhelming force.

Elite Jonin White Ape knew he had to act this time.

Both engagements had cost him dearly. If he had nothing to show for them in the end, there would no longer be a place for him in Kusagakure.

Cautious as he was, Elite Jonin White Ape had carefully observed Ye Chen twice and gained a rough estimate of his strength.

Anyone who could wipe out so many Grass Ninja squads with a mere turn of his hand had to be a Kage Level fighter.

White Ape had witnessed the results of both of Ye Chen's attacks.

He estimated that Ye Chen was only at the early Kage Level.

Elite Jonin White Ape believed he had the means to hold his own against him.

At the very least, Elite Jonin White Ape could use his own strength to keep Ye Chen occupied.

Ye Chen was alone. However outstanding his strength, help would be hard to come by.

Kusagakure was different. As long as White Ape stalled for a while, powerful reinforcements would surely arrive.

With that, Elite Jonin White Ape put aside his misgivings and attacked.

As Elite Jonin White Ape made his move, the already lush forest began to change.

One tree after another actually came alive.

Their crowns swayed and their branches shook, just like living creatures.

More terrifying still, those densely packed branches writhed and stretched toward Ye Chen.

They swayed and twisted, exuding an eerie menace.

The Ninjutsu White Ape used was an A-rank Summoning Technique within Wood Release.

The wildly writhing branches looked particularly sinister and frightening.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen swiftly finished off the remaining enemies and stood quietly in place, electrical arcs still dancing over his body.

Crackle!

A strong, scorched smell filled the air.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled within Ye Chen's eyes, making him seem like an immortal.

He watched the branches form a massive cage and close in around him.

He allowed the twisting branches to coil around his wrists and ankles.

Ye Chen had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

As the saying went, it was not the thief's theft you feared, but the thief who kept you in his sights.

Having an Elite Jonin from Kusagakure constantly lurking without showing himself was genuinely irritating.

Every time Ye Chen acted, the man watched him. Being spied on felt unpleasant.

Fortunately, that patient fellow had finally made his move.

Ye Chen let the branches wrap around his entire body. His chakra spread outward, and he sensed his opponent rapidly closing in.

Boom!

The seemingly impenetrable cage of branches and vines instantly fell apart as serpents of lightning raced through it.

Ye Chen became a pillar of lightning and charged straight at the Elite Jonin.

Elite Jonin White Ape, who was rushing forward at full speed, was instantly horrified.

He had thought the cage of branches and vines, strong enough to trap a Kage Level fighter, would buy him some time.

He had never expected Ye Chen to break out so easily.

Shocked or not, he still had to unleash his Ninjutsu.

"Wood Release: Puppet Art!"

The White Ape standing there went rigid, while the real White Ape had already slipped into hiding.

At the same time, countless branches and vines chased Ye Chen like slithering snakes, coiling and twisting around him.

But however fast they were, how could they outrun lightning?

Crack!

The pillar of lightning instantly punched through the body of the White Ape standing rigidly in place.

Clack!

A crudely carved wooden figure fell to the ground.

Lightning release chakra had already burned the carving to charcoal.

This wooden carving was a puppet.

It could help its caster evade one attack.

Yet Ye Chen's lightning pillar lost none of its momentum and charged straight into the depths of the forest.

Every tree along his path was left with large patches of blackened wood.

That alone showed the power of Lightning Blade.

Just as White Ape was about to make another move, he discovered something terrifying.

Ye Chen seemed unaffected by the Puppet Technique and was charging straight at his real body.

What White Ape did not know was that within the Hidden Jun Village's territory, Ye Chen was practically all-knowing.

The system could clearly relay everything happening around the Hidden Jun Village to Ye Chen.

It was just that monitoring the entire village was far too mentally draining.

Ye Chen would rather take it easy than exhaust himself managing this village so closely tied to him.

Of course, in battle, Ye Chen was completely focused.

With his mind working at full capacity, he no longer cared about such a brief expenditure.

White Ape's hands flew through seals. The roots and vines beneath his feet slithered like snakes and wrapped around his legs.

Then the branches and vines dragged his body away in retreat.

But how could Lightning Blade's speed be underestimated?

Ye Chen was already moving fast enough to leave afterimages, yet he accelerated again.

To the naked eye, a pillar of light flashed past.

Before the particles of light trailing that pillar had dispersed, Ye Chen had already caught up with White Ape.

Lightning release chakra used Ye Chen's two fingers as its cutting edge, forming a massive blade of lightning.

Boom!

The thunderclap and a muffled groan rang out together.

Broken branches and fallen leaves littered the spot, all burned to black charcoal by lightning release chakra.

Elite Jonin White Ape had already vanished.

Ye Chen stopped where he was, the electrical arcs around him slowly fading.

He shook his head and murmured:

"Unbelievable. How can an Elite Jonin be so hard to kill?"

Even using the lingering momentum of the S-rank Lightning Release Ninjutsu, Lightning Blade, he had only managed to wound Elite Jonin White Ape.

How could an Elite Jonin not have life-saving measures?

Their escape Ninjutsu were even more numerous.

Take Elite Jonin White Ape, whom he had just fought in a brief clash. Even caught off guard, he had managed to counter with several Ninjutsu.

That made it easy to imagine just how difficult killing a peak Jonin would be.

Of course, Ye Chen had severely wounded White Ape with a single blow.

If news of such a feat spread through the ninja world, who knew how many jaws would drop?

If they learned that Ye Chen had wanted to kill a peak Jonin in one blow, who knew what they would think?

After fleeing the forest, White Ape spat out a mouthful of bloody froth.

His right arm was completely blackened, and half his body was numb, making his retreat extremely awkward.

He could not spare any attention for that. As he fled, he muttered:

"The intelligence was wrong. The Village Chief of the Hidden Jun Village is far stronger than a peak Jonin..."