After who knew how long, Xia Yan slowly opened his eyes, and the scenery before him gradually came into focus.
The light was dim, the temperature cool, and the air very damp. The surrounding stone walls were rough and roughly oval in shape. This was probably a cave.
He moved his body gently and felt only a little soreness. Apart from still being mentally exhausted, there were no major problems.
That brought Xia Yan a sigh of relief, and he sat straight up to stretch his limbs.
"The toll this time really was unexpectedly heavy."
Xia Yan gave a wry laugh, and soon all the memories he needed surfaced in his mind.
He could no longer quite remember exactly how many days ago it had been. He only remembered dragging his exhausted body toward Konoha's main force.
His chakra expenditure had been far too severe. Even though the chakra inside him was constantly recovering, it was still a drop in the bucket.
Fortunately, Konoha had also sent troops to meet him, sparing him from collapsing to the ground and falling asleep from exhaustion.
Of course, given the feats Xia Yan had displayed, falling asleep by the roadside would hardly have been embarrassing.
After all, he had single-handedly ended what was probably the largest war since the Third Shinobi World War, and had wiped out Kumogakure's main force while emerging practically unscathed.
But Xia Yan did not want to finish showing off only to turn around and put on such a jaw-dropping display.
However, Konoha's stronghold had also been caught in the battle between Xia Yan and Kumogakure. Clearly, it could no longer be used.
As such, Konoha's main force was now gathered in a stretch of mountain forest within the Land of Fire, with no intention of setting out for