Whizz, whizz, whizz!
Ishii Ichiro had just dodged the attack from the kunai when a few shuriken came flying toward him, subtly limiting his movement space.
Left with no choice, Ishii Ichiro swung his kunai to block the incoming shuriken.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Qingming once again used the Body Flicker Technique, closing the distance between him and Ishii Ichiro at high speed.
Then, just as before, they became entangled in combat again.
Liangjie and Mizutani Shizuko stayed close to Qingming as instructed, coordinating to disrupt Ishii Ichiro's movements.
"Damn it!"
Watching Qingming's increasingly proficient combat moves, Ishii Ichiro felt like he was being used as a sparring partner, and his frustration grew, with no way to vent it.
Just then, a kunai came flying from the side.
However, the target wasn't Ishii Ichiro but Qingming, who was absorbed in the fight.
"Watch out!"
"Be careful!"
Two warning shouts came almost simultaneously.
Qingming felt a chill in his heart and immediately retreated backward.
Whoosh!
A kunai sliced through the air, flying just past his face.
Out of the corner of his eye, Qingming glanced in the direction the kunai had come from, and he saw a middle-aged Iwa ninja rushing toward him, with a Konoha chunin in pursuit behind him.
The one who first shouted the warning was that very Konoha chunin.
Qingming recognized him as the chunin who had organized their defense earlier.
That chunin had been moving around, helping different parts of the battlefield, and now he had reached Qingming's location.
However, Qingming's expression darkened as he looked at the middle-aged Iwa ninja who had just ambushed him.
If it weren't for that ambush, Qingming would still be using Ishii Ichiro to gain more combat experience!
'Ah, I was trying to take it easy, but now they're forcing me to go all out.'
Yes, Qingming had already decided to make his move.
The enemy had clearly set their sights on him.
In such a situation, continuing to hold back would only lead to being surrounded and overwhelmed.
Since that was the case, the only option was to strike first.
As for revealing some of his true strength...
So be it.
With that thought in mind, Qingming pulled out six shuriken and swiftly threw them.
Three of the shuriken were aimed at blocking the enemy's escape route, and three more anticipated his movements, while the final two were aimed directly at his vital spots—his chest and abdomen.
The middle-aged Iwa ninja hadn't expected Qingming's counterattack to be so decisive, and his response was a bit stiff.
That slight hesitation allowed the pursuing Konoha chunin to catch up, and the two of them clashed, the sound of steel ringing out as they engaged.
However, everything has its pros and cons.
While Qingming had stopped the Iwa ninja from closing in, it also gave Ishii Ichiro a chance to breathe.
Almost at the exact moment Qingming threw his shuriken, Ishii Ichiro hurled his kunai at Qingming.
Qingming didn't have time to block and had to dodge quickly.
That dodge gave Ishii Ichiro even more time.
Within moments, he had swiftly put some distance between them, completing a series of hand signs in the blink of an eye. Then, he slapped the ground and unleashed a jutsu—Earth Release: Earth Fissure Palm.
In an instant, several large cracks, each as wide as a man, began to spread from Ishii's hand in a fan shape, quickly approaching Qingming's position.
Liangjie and Mizutani Shizuko tried to disrupt him, but their lack of combat experience meant they couldn't find the right timing. The kunai and shuriken they threw missed their marks.
In the end, Ishii Ichiro successfully cast his jutsu.
As the ground beneath him shook and the fissures spread toward him, Qingming's expression grew serious.
He raised his hands and completed the hand signs for the Body Flicker Technique at his fastest speed yet.
Just before the fissures reached him, Qingming used his superior speed to escape the jutsu's range.
It had to be said, jutsu that caused earthquake-like effects were especially troublesome for any ninja who couldn't fly.
If Ishii Ichiro had more chakra or had mastered this technique, Qingming might have struggled just to stay on his feet, let alone run.
But fortunately, everything had passed.
Looking at Ishii Ichiro in the distance, who now had a constipated expression, Qingming wasted no time and rushed forward.
But he wasn't the first to arrive—three kunai he had thrown earlier reached Ishii Ichiro first.
Ishii's sharp eyes caught sight of an explosive tag attached to one of the kunai, and he immediately retreated.
Boom!
A sudden explosion sent a visible shockwave radiating out from the center of the blast.
The battlefield around them briefly fell silent.
But Qingming didn't care about that. Since he had decided to make his move, he wouldn't hesitate.
Using the explosion as cover, Qingming closed in on Ishii Ichiro again.
Just as Ishii expected Qingming to engage in close combat once more, Qingming suddenly halted. His hands began flying through a series of hand seals—Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger.
Taking a deep breath, Qingming gathered Fire Release chakra in his throat and exhaled sharply.
In the next instant, fireballs resembling Phoenix Sage Flower seeds appeared, dancing through the air toward Ishii Ichiro.
The jutsu's visual impact alone was impressive—one of the most dazzling techniques, perfectly befitting the Uchiha clan's reputation.
But Ishii Ichiro had no time to admire it.
The moment he saw Qingming form hand seals, a sense of dread washed over him.
And now that fear had materialized, but all he could do was dodge.
Fireballs rained down on him from all sides, forcing him to duck and weave. Although he wasn't completely engulfed by the flames, he couldn't avoid getting burned.
When the flames finally died down, Ishii Ichiro's clothes were scorched in multiple places, and several blisters had formed on his face.
If Qingming's Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique had been more powerful, or if he had activated his Sharingan to target more precisely, Ishii Ichiro would have been severely injured or even killed.
But fortunately for Ishii, the flames weren't lethal.
Still, Qingming wasn't done.
Before his chakra had fully settled, Qingming began forming hand seals again.
Seeing this, Ishii Ichiro panicked and prepared to use a jutsu to escape.
But before he could act, a surge of mental energy invaded his mind, and he saw an image of Qingming throwing kunai at him.
Instinctively, Ishii dodged to the side.
But in the next moment, a sharp pain pierced his chest.
Looking down, he saw a kunai embedded in his heart.
In his final moments, Ishii Ichiro struggled to look up at Qingming, whose arm had yet to fall back into place. With a final whisper, he murmured, "Genjutsu..."
Indeed, Qingming had just cast a genjutsu on him.
But it wasn't the Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique; it was the lesser-known Reflection Illusion Technique.
The Shackling Stakes Technique required the use of the Sharingan, and while Qingming had decided to reveal some of his abilities, the Sharingan was not one of them.
So, he used the Reflection Illusion Technique instead.
While this technique was not as famous or powerful as the Shackling Stakes, it did have some effect as a genjutsu.
It could distort the target's senses and influence their judgment.
Earlier, Qingming had shown Ishii Ichiro an illusion of him throwing a kunai. Once Ishii dodged, Qingming made his real move, landing a fatal strike.
Thanks to his high mastery of the technique, Qingming had successfully landed a killing blow.
The level of his Reflection Illusion Technique was nearly at Lv4, the highest among all his abilities.
While its effectiveness didn't reach the level of an A-rank genjutsu, it was still on par with most C-rank illusions.
For Ishii Ichiro, falling for it was inevitable.
After all, who would expect a mere genin to have mastered so many skills?
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