Godspeed

The kunai infused with Xia Yan's chakra plunged viciously into a Stone Ninja's chest.

Then it tore straight through his chest, carrying scarlet blood as it shot toward the man behind him!

"Damn it!"

A man dressed as a Stone Ninja cursed and immediately raised his ninja blade to block, but his defense was as good as nonexistent before that azure kunai.

When his ninja blade collided with the kunai, cracks appeared in it in an instant. As those cracks spread rapidly, his blade snapped apart!

Had a ninja beside him not reacted quickly and grabbed him, pulling him to the side, that kunai would have pierced straight through his chest!

The middle-aged captain had yet to process what had happened. One second, he had been facing certain death, but the next, the situation had completely reversed. The shock was simply too intense.

Still, he was a competent ninja, and especially with the battle still underway, he could hardly lie on the ground and watch, even with his severe injuries.

He struggled to his feet and glanced at his subordinates around him, unable to help sighing.

He had three subordinates in total, making up a standard ninja squad, but one had already fallen in battle, and the other two, along with the captain himself, had sustained considerable injuries.

But at least reinforcements are here...

The middle-aged man thought to himself. A moment later, two white-haired men wearing black-and-white armor and white animal masks suddenly appeared before him.

Neither looked very old, but the chakra fluctuations coming from them left the middle-aged captain secretly astounded.

Anbu? Neither of these youngsters is ordinary.

Xia Yan had no idea what the captain was thinking. He glanced over the current situation, then drew his ninja blade.

Kakashi stood beside him, likewise keeping watch over everything. He had not attacked, clearly waiting for Xia Yan's orders.

This made Xia Yan nod in satisfaction. Kakashi was a proud fellow; in the original story, he had not followed orders at all while in the Anbu.

When facing an enemy, even if his captain told him to stop, he would kill them with Chidori without hesitation.

Kakashi's current behavior already showed that he trusted him, which was a good thing, so Xia Yan gave his orders directly.

"Leave one or two alive. Dispose of everyone else."

"Yes, Captain."

Kakashi spoke coldly. The next moment, he turned into a bolt of lightning and lunged straight at those Stone Ninjas, arcs of electricity dancing around his wrist.

Xia Yan did not pause either. With a single Body Flicker Technique, he rushed to a Stone Ninja's side and slashed without hesitation!

He was simply too fast. The boost the basic attribute fruit had given him back then was unimaginable, and combined with his mastery of the Body Flicker Technique, it made him so fast that his movements could not be perceived.

Shhk!

His blade flashed, spraying blood. With just one slash, Xia Yan severed the Stone Ninja's head from his body, his movements clean and decisive.

Before the enemy could react, Xia Yan suddenly spun around and swung his ninja blade again, slashing fiercely at another man with a whistle through the air.

By now, these Stone Ninjas had reacted and immediately attacked Xia Yan, but he had already taken down another enemy.

His ninja blade swept across the Stone Ninja's throat with precisely enough force to cut open his major artery.

The man's blood flew past the edge of Xia Yan's mask. Before it hit the ground, Xia Yan turned and blocked a ninja blade coming at him in a surprise attack. At the same time, several kunai were hurled at him.

Faced with this situation, Xia Yan did not panic in the slightest. The instant those kunai struck his body, he dissolved into smoke, and a block of wood fell to the ground.

"Substitution Technique? Watch out!"

One Stone Ninja immediately realized something was wrong and shouted a warning, but roaring chakra had already gathered behind him!

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"What? Using Water Release where there's no water?"

The water rapidly formed a massive dragon that slammed toward the Stone Ninjas inside the cramped lookout post!

Boom!

The lookout tower clearly could no longer withstand Xia Yan and the others' battle. As his Water Release rampaged through it, it collapsed outright.

Xia Yan reacted swiftly, grabbing the middle-aged man and a more seriously wounded Konoha ninja.

As for the other survivor, his injuries were relatively light, so Xia Yan did not bother with him.

Landing steadily on the ground, he quickly flung out several kunai to prevent the enemies from rushing him immediately, then formed hand seals again.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Biting Explosion!"

As his chakra surged, a massive vortex of water rose from the ground, sending several Stone Ninjas who had yet to regain their footing flying.

As the vortex continued to rise, the water finally gathered into a massive water dragon more than ten meters above the ground.

The water dragon let out a furious roar, then slammed down toward the ground!

The Stone Ninjas knocked down by the earlier vortex had no time to get up and escape. At least three were killed outright by Xia Yan.

The remaining two managed to dodge, but the waves created when the water dragon struck the ground had already surrounded them, forcing them to stand on the water to fight.

Yet neither seemed particularly accustomed to fighting in this environment.

Not used to places with water?

Watching their movements, Xia Yan raised his eyebrows slightly. Few people in the entire shinobi world were unaccustomed to fighting in this sort of environment, but they did exist.

For instance, those from the relatively arid Land of Earth and the severely arid Land of Wind!

Xia Yan had roughly guessed where these people came from, but two were still a little too many for him. He only needed one alive.

He could indeed take their heads back for examination if they died, but such examinations could only reveal things from the past. A great deal of more flexible intelligence could not be extracted through interrogation that way.

Thus, under normal circumstances, taking prisoners alive was the best choice for the Anbu, or even ordinary mission squads.

Only when there was truly no other option would they take heads back instead.

His gaze swept over the two extremely wary men before him. Sensing the chakra within his own body, Xia Yan could not help inwardly shaking his head.

He was now well-balanced and powerful in every respect, but he had one shortcoming of his own: he really did not have enough chakra.

But it doesn't matter, because...

Xia Yan bent slightly into an attacking stance while placing his left hand behind his back and slowly beginning to form hand seals.

It's about to end.

Water Release: Instant Water!

The next moment, the little chakra remaining within him surged fiercely, and his figure vanished without a trace in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already behind a Stone Ninja.

That Stone Ninja did not react at all. By the time he felt a sharp pain in his neck, his consciousness had already begun to blur.

At that moment, only a single thought echoed through his mind.

So fast...