Pop, pop... The sound of water bubbles breaking filled the air intermittently.
Staring at the four burning bodies, the smell of scorched flesh prickling his nose, Qingming furrowed his brow. After waiting a moment to confirm the bodies were beyond recovery, he left the area and made his way toward the distant battlefield.
As he approached, the Konoha shinobi brightened at his arrival, while, in contrast, the Iwa shinobi trembled with visible fear.
Without a word, Qingming scanned the battlefield, locked onto a location where a Konoha jōnin was locked in combat with an Iwagakure jōnin, and quickly intervened.
Clang! Clang!
It didn't take long for Qingming and the Konoha jōnin to eliminate the enemy.
In the distance, Kurokawa Ichiro, responsible for directing the battle, witnessed this and couldn't help but recall the disastrous loss from over half a month ago. Back then, Qingming had first eliminated his opponent, then assisted the Konoha jōnin, breaking their formation and eventually dismantling the entire attack.
"Could it be happening again?"
Kurokawa Ichiro glanced at the distant, burning corpses, then at the recently fallen Iwagakure jōnin, a glint of anger flashing in his gaze. Instinctively, he clenched his stiff left hand and forearm, the bitter memories stirring a flame within him.
After scanning the battlefield and confirming that a large portion of the Konoha shinobi had been eliminated and that victory was almost in their grasp if they persisted a bit longer, he made a decision. Without further hesitation, Kurokawa immediately gathered forces, preparing to encircle and kill Qingming.
Soon, a team of thirty Iwa shinobi had surrounded Qingming.
Facing this many foes, Qingming showed no fear. It was as though he couldn't see them, standing there completely composed.
This wasn't arrogance but confidence—these enemies couldn't pose any real threat to him. In fact, he had noticed their movements long ago, but chose neither to prevent nor evade them, intentionally allowing them to close in.
While he had initially disrupted the Iwagakure ranks with a Wind Release: Great Breakthrough to give his allies the upper hand, the pure difference in strength gradually shifted the battle back in favor of the Iwa shinobi. During his earlier battle with Shinmoto Nobunaga and others, five or six dozen of his Konoha comrades had already perished. If things continued like this, even if he managed to take down all the Iwagakure jōnin, they might still lose. His goal was to help these men survive this conflict, not merely defend the base.
As a result, he couldn't solely focus on the Iwagakure jōnin. However, he also couldn't directly attack the Iwagakure lower- and mid-rank shinobi without breaching the "battlefield code," which would prompt retaliation from other Iwagakure jōnin, leading to even more casualties.
It seemed like an unsolvable predicament... until now. Since Kurokawa had rallied his shinobi to attack him directly, he had no reason to hold back.
Among the thirty Iwa shinobi Kurokawa had summoned, only he and one other were jōnin. The rest were lower- and mid-ranked.
Thus, Qingming was unfazed. In his current state, there was a limit to the number of lower- and mid-ranked shinobi who could even hope to threaten him. And where was that limit? He scanned the battlefield; even all three hundred combined wouldn't be enough, let alone a mere thirty.
"Attack!"
At Kurokawa's command, the surrounding Iwa shinobi launched their attacks. Some hurled kunai, others sent shuriken flying, while some began casting jutsu—all of it aimed at Qingming.
In most cases, a shinobi facing such an onslaught would do little but dodge. But Qingming was different; he chose to counter it head-on.
With a forceful stomp, he leaped high into the air, twisting his body mid-flight to avoid several hidden shuriken. He swiftly formed seals with his hands, took a deep breath, then exhaled, unleashing his Wind Release: Great Breakthrough technique!
In a blink, over two thousand chakra points were drained, and the whirlwind he released immediately transformed into a raging tornado, striking the ground and kicking up a thick layer of dirt and stone. The gusting wind carried the debris, swiftly spreading outward.
In that moment, all manner of projectiles—kunai, shuriken, exploding tags, jutsu—were blown back by the tempest. Some of the explosive tags ignited midair, their flames adding fury to the whirlwind.
Witnessing this, the Iwa shinobi instinctively retreated, their eyes wide with disbelief and panic.
"Is such a powerful Wind Release jutsu really something a human can cast?!"
Many of the Iwa shinobi harbored such doubts. Though the majority possessed over two thousand chakra points, releasing all of it at once and shaping it into a jutsu was no easy feat. This required not only exceptional chakra control but also deep understanding of the technique.
Qingming could accomplish this only because his Chakra Control had reached level 5 and his Wind Release: Great Breakthrough had reached its peak mastery.
With the large-scale nature of this technique, the effects were equally devastating. The clearing power alone was nothing short of top-tier.
Back when he'd initially learned Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, he was merely looking for a substitute for the wide-area Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation and was thrilled to see this technique achieving his desired outcome.
Descending to the ground, he swiftly locked onto several nearby Iwa shinobi, retrieving several shuriken from his pouch.
Whizz, whizz, whizz!
The shuriken flew through the air, crossing ten or twenty meters to strike several Iwagakure lower- and mid-ranked shinobi amid the chaos. Screams erupted as the weapons found their mark.
Landing with both feet, Qingming wasted no time, darting aside. The moment he moved, kunai with attached explosive tags struck the ground where he'd stood, sparking violently.
With agile footwork, Qingming skillfully dodged the oncoming kunai and shuriken, all while honing in on a nearby Iwa mid-ranked shinobi.
Squelch.
The sound of a blade slicing flesh echoed. Unbeknownst to the shinobi, Qingming had drawn the short sword from his waist, swiftly slashing the man's throat.
Without missing a beat, he attached an explosive tag to the fallen shinobi's body and deftly moved aside just before another barrage of attacks could land.
Boom!
A powerful explosion filled the air, followed by a fresh scream.
Casting a quick glance in that direction, Qingming saw another Iwa shinobi collapsing next to his previous victim, body charred beyond recognition. Qingming resumed his swift movements, his Sharingan spinning at full power as he efficiently cut down each opponent.
Kurokawa Ichiro and the other Iwagakure jōnin attempted to intercept him, but they could find no openings. In no time, half of the thirty Iwa shinobi were either dead or gravely wounded.
plz support me if you can.
patreon.com/Mano99
all the fanfic is 30 chapter a had and you will get 1 chapter everyday.