Wind Release Chakra Seed

Blood spilled from Yashamaru's chest once again.

Had he not reacted quickly and taken sufficiently precise evasive action, that blow would probably have killed him!

Yet Xia Yan had no intention of letting him off. The instant Yashamaru evaded his attack, Xia Yan followed up with a kick.

With the help of chakra, Xia Yan's kick landed squarely in Yashamaru's abdomen.

"Urgh..."

Yashamaru could not hold it back at all. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, slamming hard into the large tree behind him.

Boom!

The tree could not withstand such an impact. With a crash, it snapped and collapsed, while Yashamaru struggled briefly against its roots before losing consciousness.

Having completed that series of attacks, Xia Yan could not help letting out a small breath of relief. Beneath his mask, the red eyeshadow on his face vanished as well.

His sensory perception told him that Yashamaru was now unconscious. The man had not had a chance to use any Substitution Technique to ward off his attacks.

Although Xia Yan had not used any ninjutsu while in Sage Mode, taijutsu was the primary means of fighting in an actual battle.

Much of the time, ninjutsu played a supporting role.

Unless one had a finishing ninjutsu that could settle the fight in a single blow, it was better not to use ninjutsu recklessly.

That was the experience Xia Yan had gathered over his many years in the Anbu. Besides, he did not have much chakra himself, and using ninjutsu recklessly would only make his situation worse.

"Captain." Seeing that Xia Yan had finished the fight, Kakashi immediately leaped out. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry." Xia Yan smiled slightly. Naturally, there could not have been anything wrong with him.

In fact, he had long known that Kakashi was hiding nearby and had no intention of intervening for the time being.

He thought that was perfectly normal, though. Sometimes, intervening was less effective than staying out of the fight.

There had been a very famous saying in Xia Yan's previous life: "A nuclear bomb is at its most powerful on the launchpad, not after launch."

The same was true of a fist. The psychological pressure and fear a clenched fist inspired were certainly far greater than after it had been thrown.

Kakashi's constant presence nearby put invisible pressure on Yashamaru that was certainly far more effective than his intervention would have been. Besides, Xia Yan did not need him to intervene.

He had seen through Yashamaru's trick long ago. The man merely wanted to exploit the properties of Magnetic Shield.

He had repeatedly struck Xia Yan's Ninja Blade with his kunai to leave chakra on the blade, making it easier to control and counterattack.

In fact, that was exactly what he had done, but unfortunately for him, Xia Yan had already seen through his intentions and plans.

Although Xia Yan had detected him earlier, he had thought it was probably a coincidence, or that Xia Yan had made some preparations beforehand that allowed him to discover him.

On top of that, Xia Yan put so much pressure on him that he had to find a way to counterattack.

What he did not know, however, was that once enough Magnetic Shield chakra had accumulated, Xia Yan had quietly used a Shadow Clone and the Substitution Technique.

His real body had hidden nearby, quietly watching Yashamaru activate the chakra on the Ninja Blade before finally launching a surprise attack.

"Looks like we caught a big fish." Kakashi could not help turning his gaze toward Yashamaru. "Is this Yashamaru? The younger brother of the Fourth Kazekage's wife?"

"If our intelligence is correct." Xia Yan nodded and said with a smile, "And he's also an Anbu. He knows far more than those two Sand Ninja. It's just..."

It was just that Anbu all had the ability to destroy themselves.

Xia Yan suddenly felt a headache coming on. Bringing this big fish back would certainly be a major achievement. After all, he was Rasa's brother-in-law.

During ninja missions, living captives were actually far more valuable than dead ones most of the time.

Whether for intelligence work or as bargaining chips, they were excellent options.

But the nature of the Anbu left Xia Yan at a loss. He had only just begun studying Sealing Jutsu and had no way to seal this man's chakra.

"Captain, why don't we give him some poison?" Kakashi also understood what Xia Yan meant. After thinking carefully for quite a while, he spoke hesitantly. "Keep him unconscious, and then we can take him back with us."

"You have something like that?" Xia Yan froze for a moment, then looked at Kakashi in surprise.

"No." Kakashi shook his head. "But Captain, shouldn't Anbu carry drugs like that when they go on missions?"

"I wonder if you have some misunderstanding about the Anbu..." Xia Yan sighed helplessly. "Some people do use methods like that, but I haven't prepared anything of the sort."

Some Anbu did indeed use poison, but Xia Yan really had never used such things.

For him, encounters with enemy Anbu generally ended with him killing them or quickly disengaging. He rarely captured an opponent intact.

This time was an exception. If this man had not been Yashamaru, the Fourth Kazekage's brother-in-law, a combination of identities that made him very valuable...

He would probably have been like the Anbu Xia Yan had dealt with before, long since sent to rest in the Pure Land.

Sighing helplessly, Xia Yan simply sat beneath a nearby tree and began considering what to do.

What he never expected was that, as his body drew close to the tree, the system in his mind suddenly stirred.

Plant with special attributes detected. Analyzing.

Xia Yan froze for a moment. He was very familiar with that voice; over the years, he had heard it more times than he could count.

And whenever that voice sounded, it almost always meant one thing: he had encountered a seed he had not collected before, or a higher-grade one!

To be honest, this cheat of his was quite user-friendly. Once he had collected a seed, it would not notify him again unless it was a higher-grade one.

Unless Xia Yan himself had something in mind, in which case the system would give him some prompts. At present, however, he had no such thoughts.

Analysis data: basic Wind Release seed.

Before long, the mechanical voice sounded in his mind once again, making Xia Yan raise his eyebrows.

Wind Release?

That really was something I'd never come across before!

So far, Xia Yan had only found seeds of two chakra natures: Earth Release and Water Release.

The others were mostly seeds for basic attributes and chakra reserves. Even at his luckiest, he had only found a Senjutsu seed.

He had never found anything like Fire Release, Lightning Release, or Wind Release before. Today, however, his luck seemed rather good: he had actually found a Wind Release Chakra Seed.

That brought an involuntary smile to his lips...