Sage Mode

Xia Yan had actually noticed long ago that someone else was standing at the rear of the forest they were in.

The man had concealed himself well, but unfortunately, he still had nowhere to hide from Xia Yan's perception.

But Xia Yan did not dare attack. First, he had consumed quite a lot of chakra. With only a Chunin's level of chakra, he was already running short after one battle.

He might have cut through those Sand Ninja like vegetables, but his expenditure had been anything but small.

Those Sand Ninja had simply been unlucky to encounter an Anbu ninja like Xia Yan, who was also exceptionally skilled at speed. That was why they had been crushed so thoroughly.

Under normal circumstances, even if those Sand Ninja were only Chunin, they could not have collapsed so quickly against a Jonin.

As long as they did not do anything stupid, buying some time would have been no problem at all, though the final outcome would still have been getting killed one by one.

After using so many techniques, Xia Yan's chakra was nearly depleted. On top of that, he had sensed that the hidden man's chakra fluctuations had already surpassed the Chunin level.

And this man was responsible for receiving the others. That could only mean one thing: he was very likely a Jonin!

That was why Xia Yan had chosen to stall and bait him out. On one hand, he intended to provoke the man's emotions; on the other, he wanted to recover his own chakra.

Although Xia Yan was an absolute disgrace to the Senju Clan in terms of chakra reserves, his chakra recovery made him the clan's pride.

In just a few short minutes, his chakra had recovered to seventy percent, and he had not even taken any medicine like Soldier Pills!

Once he had recovered enough, Xia Yan naturally could not keep dragging things out. His chakra reserves had also led him to a decision.

My opponent is a Jonin, and he's absolutely an enemy. Unlike with Kakuzu, fighting or retreating aren't both options, so this time I have to go all out and try to crush him as quickly as possible!

Xia Yan's thinking was very clear. He had already worked out his strategy.

He did not know who his opponent was, but surely he could not be so unlucky as to encounter another opponent like Kakuzu.

Actually, facing Kakuzu had not been so bad. From the anime Xia Yan had watched in the past, he knew that the man generally did not go all out casually.

Whether against the monk Chiriku or Yugito, the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki, he had practically done nothing, leaving Hidan to handle everything.

Even when he finally acted against Asuma, he had not exerted himself at all. Only against Kakashi had he really gone all out.

And the reason he had gone all out was that Kakashi had destroyed one of his hearts in a surprise attack, and he intended to replace it with Kakashi's heart.

With that information to fall back on, Xia Yan had dared to suppress the idea of using Sage Mode against Kakuzu.

Besides, even if he had used it, he could not have won. He might as well save it for his escape.

As it turned out, Kakuzu had been just as he expected.

He had even underestimated Xia Yan so much that Xia Yan had not needed Sage Mode to escape.

But things were different now. Xia Yan had no intention of holding back!

The instant he flashed out with the Body Flicker Technique, the sage chakra within him surged into motion. Had he not been wearing a mask, a faint layer of red eyeshadow would have been clearly visible on his face.

The hidden Sand Ninja had been eavesdropping all along. When he heard Xia Yan say that Konoha already knew they were from Sunagakure, he was not particularly surprised.

There were only two possibilities: either it was a bluff, or their operation had indeed been discovered.

Neither possibility was any great concern.

A bluff would accomplish nothing, since there was not much evidence.

And what if they had discovered it?

Sunagakure had indeed lost the war and was unwilling to start another, but Konoha likewise lacked the ability to provoke another war now.

If they could use their identities as "Stone Ninja" to provoke a conflict with Konoha, then all would naturally be well. They could also seek greater influence in the Land of Birds and the Land of Rivers.

The Land of Birds was a buffer between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, while the Land of Rivers was a buffer with the Land of Fire.

These buffer zones were also where the greatest shares of missions were contested. If they could extend their influence there, it would be a good thing no matter how one looked at it.

To put it plainly, this operation was a deal that guaranteed a profit if it succeeded and absolutely no loss if it failed!

Although they would lose some ninja as a result, those losses were truly insignificant compared with the village's interests.

They've been caught, so I'll just have to find a way to clean things up, and see if I can finish off these two Konoha Anbu while I'm at it.

The Sunagakure Anbu ninja thought to himself. But the next moment, a sense of danger rippled through his heart. In an instant, that Konoha Anbu ninja had actually charged over.

The surging chakra spoke of how terrifying this Anbu ninja was. The quality of chakra like that had absolutely reached an astonishing level!

How did this guy find me? And his strength isn't right!

The Sunagakure Anbu ninja's expression changed instantly. From his earlier observations, this brat was very strong.

But he had only been at the Jonin level, about the same as himself, and his chakra did not seem particularly abundant.

In a fight between Jonin, he only needed to launch a surprise attack, and winning would be no problem.

Although it was one against two, and one of them was even Konoha's war hero, Kakashi Hatake, he had not taken them too seriously.

In his view, Kakashi's reputation as a war hero owed more to that legendary figure, the Fourth Hokage, than to Kakashi himself.

But he had never imagined that he would be locked onto before he even acted, or that his opponent's strength would be completely different from what he had expected!

At the sight of that sharp blade, the Sunagakure Anbu ninja used the Substitution Technique almost instinctively. He was no mediocre fighter, or he would never have been assigned a mission like this.

Boom!

The ground trembled slightly, and thick smoke spread. The Sunagakure Anbu ninja landed steadily atop a tree, glancing at his shoulder out of the corner of his eye.

A slit had opened in his clothing, and a faint trace of red was just visible on his shoulder.

He had reacted quickly enough, yet he had still been hit?

Just how fast was this damned white-haired brat?

But he had no time to think further. That Konoha Anbu ninja gave him no room to breathe and launched another attack.

Faced with an attack so fast it seemed to flash through space, the Sand Anbu ninja gritted his teeth, and his chakra erupted fiercely.

The next second, the sand in the ground seemed to sense something. It surged up at once, hardening with the help of chakra.

Yet that blade still came slashing down, slicing through the sand before it could fully harden and tearing apart his mask as well.

Drops of blood fell along the blade...