Chapter 144: Three Days Later

Three hours later, it was approaching evening.

Qingming finally finished absorbing the chakra contributed by the four Iwa Chunin. He then skillfully used the C-rank ninjutsu, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, to dispose of the bodies.

Without wasting any time, he headed towards an area closer to the battlefield in search of his next target. Qingming knew that the Third Raikage could only hold out for three days, after which he would be exhausted and die. Once the Iwa Village forces were free, the risks of his actions would greatly increase.

He needed to act fast, maximizing his strength during these three days. After that, he would have to think about leaving the Land of Earth.

With these thoughts in mind, Qingming quickened his pace.

Time passed quickly, and three days had flown by.

That afternoon, in a stone forest near the northwestern border of the Land of Earth, more than twenty Iwa ninjas lay on the ground, occasionally letting out groans of pain. Clearly, they were injured.

In front of them stood Qingming and his four shadow clones. Under normal circumstances, capturing so many Iwa ninjas should have been cause for celebration, but Qingming's face showed no joy. Instead, he was worried.

The reason was simple: there was a high chance that his identity had been compromised.

Qingming's gaze fell on an Iwa Jonin in front of him. Although the man's hands were crippled, and a deep, twisted wound marred his chest, his eyes were still full of defiance.

Seeing Qingming looking at him, the Iwa Jonin sneered, "Uchiha brat, just wait. Someone will come for you soon. You may have beaten me, but can you fight all of Iwa Village? After killing so many of our people, the Third Tsuchikage won't let you go."

"Shut up!" Qingming scowled, then turned to one of his shadow clones. "Make him be quiet!"

In an instant, the shadow clone flickered behind the Iwa Jonin and delivered a chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

"Takagi Jonin!" several Iwa ninjas cried out from the crowd.

Without needing another order, the other three shadow clones swiftly moved and knocked out all the remaining Iwa ninjas.

Looking at the unconscious Iwa ninjas scattered across the ground, Qingming found himself in a dilemma.

As the Jonin had said, he could win against one opponent, but he couldn't possibly take on the entirety of Iwa Village. At least, not right now.

But soon, he might have to face the pursuit of numerous Iwa ninjas.

It all started about fifteen minutes ago. After discovering this gathering point for the injured, Qingming observed for a while and confirmed that the defenses only included one Special Jonin and three Iwa Chunin. Confident, he launched his attack.

However, during the heat of the battle, an unexpected twist occurred. Among the injured, another Jonin appeared—not a Special Jonin, but a true Jonin. This caught Qingming completely off guard.

If it weren't for his sword skills, the assistance of his Sharingan, and a well-timed Rasengan without needing hand seals, the battle might still be ongoing.

Even so, he hadn't been able to stop the Jonin's summon—an armadillo, which burrowed into the ground and disappeared in an instant.

Because of this, Qingming was certain that his identity had likely been exposed.

During his fight with the two Jonin, he couldn't maintain his Transformation Jutsu, and his true form had been revealed. That armadillo had likely seen everything.

Now that it had escaped, it was only a matter of time before his likeness spread throughout Iwa Village.

A change in appearance could be dealt with using the Transformation Jutsu, but the problem was that his abilities had been exposed. This meant that the next pursuers would not be simple Chunin but, at the very least, Special Jonin.

He would have to be extremely careful moving forward.

With his current strength, he could handle one or two Jonin, but if that number increased to three or more, things would get dangerous.

And judging by Iwa Village's tactics today, it was clear that they were already planning to deal with him.

But there was still one thing Qingming needed to verify.

With that in mind, Qingming approached one of the Iwa Chunin guards. A few slaps to the face woke the ninja up, and Qingming immediately used his Sharingan to cast a genjutsu and extract information.

The reason he didn't start with the two Jonin was his fear that they might have set some kind of trap. Although the chances were slim, he wasn't willing to take that risk. Instead, he chose to probe the mind of this Chunin first.

To Qingming's surprise, he obtained the information without any difficulty. Iwa Village hadn't even encrypted the data, likely because they didn't deem it that important.

This saved him a lot of trouble.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Qingming carefully reviewed the information. When he opened them again, a knowing expression crossed his face.

As he suspected, Iwa Village's plans today were indeed targeted at him.

Before today, they didn't know who he was exactly, only that there was someone—or a small team—hunting down Iwa ninjas, particularly targeting the injured. Following the trail of clues he had left behind, they tracked him to this spot and set a few traps to catch him.

Because his past three days had gone so smoothly, Qingming had become somewhat complacent. After finding this injured gathering point, he only assessed the four guards and failed to check the injured carefully, which led him straight into the trap.

If it weren't for the fact that the Third Raikage hadn't died yet, and the bulk of the Cloud Village forces hadn't escaped Iwa's pursuit, keeping many of their troops occupied, the situation could have been much worse.

Had Iwa Village deployed more high-ranking ninjas, he wouldn't have been able to win so quickly. In fact, he might not have been able to win at all.

Reflecting on this, Qingming couldn't help but feel a bit fearful.

"No, I can't stay here much longer."

Qingming quickly stood up, ready to order his shadow clones to deal with the unconscious Iwa ninjas and leave. But as he looked at the numerous Iwa ninjas sprawled across the ground, he hesitated.

These twenty or so Iwa ninjas, after a quick estimate, could provide at least 150,000 chakra points. That was no small amount!

After a moment's indecision, Qingming decided to take a gamble. He would stay and train with his shadow clones, absorbing the chakra as quickly as possible.

Of course, this decision wasn't just about greed. Although 150,000 chakra points was a lot, with his current recovery speed, he could accumulate that amount in about a week. It wasn't worth risking his life over.

The real reason Qingming chose to stay was that he didn't think Iwa Village could gather enough forces to threaten him in such a short time.

Before discovering this gathering point, he had scouted the surrounding area and found no signs of a large Iwa ninja presence. This meant that any reinforcements would have to come from farther away, which would take time.

Moreover, after that armadillo delivered its information, it would need to go through various levels of reporting and approval, which would also take time.

Taking all this into account, Qingming decided it was worth the risk to stay and absorb as much chakra as possible.

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