Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Dozens of kunai shot through the air like raindrops, targeting the area where Qingming had been standing.
Moments later, a series of explosions followed. Among the kunai was a paper bomb, which detonated with a thunderous roar.
And that was just the beginning.
Boom boom boom!
One explosion followed another in quick succession. Shockwaves rippled through the area, shaking the nearby trees. Some of the closest ones were even snapped in half, crashing to the ground.
The flames from the exploding paper bombs quickly spread, setting many surrounding trees ablaze, making the environment even more hazardous.
Ptuh!
As the smoke cleared, Qingming crawled out from under a fallen tree, spitting out bits of debris. Brushing off the dirt and grass from his head, he stood up and cautiously glanced toward the direction from which the kunai had been thrown.
Through the fading smoke, he could see the vague silhouettes of a dozen or so figures standing with their arms crossed, watching him quietly.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
A Konoha Jonin who had escaped the attack with Qingming formed hand seals, opened his mouth, and unleashed a powerful gust of wind.
Whoosh—
The gust swept away the lingering dust and smoke, revealing the figures in the distance. They were none other than a group of Iwagakure shinobi.
Qingming's gaze swept over each of them before settling on the man in the center.
It wasn't for no reason—this man had the most chakra and gave Qingming the strongest sense of danger.
As for the others...
Aside from a few Jonin who caught his attention, the rest, while elite Chunin, didn't pose much of a threat to him.
While Qingming was observing them, they were also sizing him up. The man in the middle spoke up, saying, "As expected of a genius from the Uchiha clan. You managed to spot our ambush ahead of time. Tell me, how did you notice?"
"Spotted the ambush?"
Qingming felt a bit speechless.
In reality, he had merely shown some abnormal behavior because he'd suddenly received memories from his shadow clone.
Yet, to the enemy, it seemed as though he had detected the ambush beforehand.
Maybe if they had waited a little longer, he really would have noticed. But at that moment, he truly hadn't sensed anything.
This misunderstanding was quite fortunate.
If the enemy hadn't been so eager and mistakenly believed they had been exposed, they wouldn't have launched the attack so prematurely, and Qingming wouldn't have become aware of the danger.
If the Iwagakure shinobi had just waited a bit, they would have realized it was all a misunderstanding.
But alas, there are no "what-ifs" in this world. Qingming certainly wasn't going to explain things, either. Letting the enemy remain in the dark suited him just fine.
However, this incident made Qingming realize one of his shortcomings: the lack of a large-scale detection technique.
"I'll definitely have to address that in the future."
With these thoughts in mind, Qingming replied to the Iwagakure Jonin, "Why don't you take a guess?"
"Guess?"
Sensing the mockery in Qingming's tone, the Iwagakure Jonin was about to order his subordinates to attack when Qingming and the Konoha Jonin beside him turned and bolted.
In fact, Qingming had already secretly signaled the Konoha Jonin to prepare for a retreat.
And now, the two of them sped away.
Seeing this, the Iwagakure Jonin's face darkened. He barked, "Chase them!"
"Yes, Captain!"
The dozen Iwagakure shinobi immediately responded and gave chase.
Meanwhile, the Iwagakure Jonin remained in place, forming hand seals. In an instant, he disappeared from sight.
...
Elsewhere, as they fled, Qingming and the Konoha Jonin sent signals to the main group.
Suddenly, a faint tremor emanated from beneath their feet.
Exchanging a glance, the two of them instinctively split up, retreating in opposite directions.
Almost immediately, the ground beneath them erupted, sending dirt and debris flying, forcing the two to retreat even further.
"Paper bombs?"
"No... something else!"
Qingming quickly dismissed that thought.
The sound and the resulting destruction were different from what would happen after a paper bomb exploded. Plus, they had chosen to flee along the same path they had used earlier to avoid traps.
If there had been no explosions the first time, it didn't make sense for them to happen now.
Something was definitely off.
These thoughts flashed through Qingming's mind as he focused on the scene ahead.
As the dust settled, a figure appeared, standing in a large crater with clenched fists.
It was none other than the Iwagakure Jonin who had given Qingming a sense of danger earlier.
Qingming glanced at the man's clenched fists, then at the crater beneath his feet.
Suddenly, something clicked. He took a closer look at the man's appearance—slightly lean, a gaunt face, and brown, spiky hair.
It all seemed very... "familiar."
Qingming hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Is that you, Karui?"
Yes, the man's appearance reminded Qingming of Karui, a member of Iwagakure's Explosive Corps who had been resurrected during the Fourth Great Ninja War via the Edo Tensei technique.
Karui possessed a kekkei genkai—Explosion Release—that allowed him to create explosions.
Sure enough, upon hearing his name, Karui furrowed his brows and asked, "You know me?"
That confirmed it.
However, Qingming felt no excitement at recognizing an "old acquaintance." Instead, he grew even more cautious.
Why? Because, in a way, Karui countered his fighting style quite well.
Karui's combat style relied on his fists, giving him strong close-combat abilities. If that were all, Qingming wouldn't be too concerned; he feared no one in close combat. But Karui's Explosion Release made things dangerous.
By infusing chakra into his fists, Karui could cause anything he touched to explode. The crater beneath his feet was a testament to the power of his technique.
For a normal human body, this technique was a death sentence. Just being touched would mean near-certain death.
This meant that Karui could adopt a "trade injury for injury" approach, forcing Qingming to abandon his favored "blind spot" combat style.
As long as Karui could be sure that Qingming's next strike wouldn't be fatal, he could counterattack, forcing Qingming to either dodge or retreat.
In this sense, Karui was indeed a tough opponent for Qingming.
However, the fact that Qingming couldn't rely on his blind spot tactics didn't mean he couldn't still pose a threat.
For example, his Sharingan's genjutsu would certainly give Karui a hard time.
Hearing the rapid footsteps of the Iwagakure shinobi approaching from behind, Qingming didn't hesitate any longer. Pretending to answer Karui's question, he suddenly activated his Sharingan, casting Genjutsu: Sharingan.
"Not good!"
Karui immediately sensed the danger and tried to back away, closing his eyes in the process.
But Qingming's Genjutsu: Sharingan had already reached level 7 (0/0), the pinnacle of mastery. It was fast and effortless, and Karui simply wasn't quick enough to react.
In the blink of an eye, he was caught under Qingming's control.
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