On the other side.
Seeing the three people charging toward him, Qingming knew that they were desperate.
Without hesitation, he threw three shuriken, aiming at one of them. The targets were his throat, heart, and lower abdomen—critical points.
After successfully forcing the first one to retreat, Qingming turned his gaze to the other two. As he sheathed his sword, he quickly formed hand seals and cast a ninjutsu—Lightning Release: Thunder Strike!
The speed of Lightning Release attacks was famously fast!
Crack~
The sound of two thunderclaps rang out, and then two blinding bolts of lightning shot from Qingming's palms, like two lightning snakes, striking at the two enemies in front of him at incredible speed.
Upon seeing this, the two Mist Village jounin's expressions changed drastically.
Even though they had already prepared to work together and hold off Qingming to buy time for their comrades, they hadn't intended to throw away their lives. If they got hit by this, even if they didn't die, they'd be severely injured. In that case, how could they stop Qingming from possibly escaping?
Without hesitation, the two immediately dodged to the side.
With that, the three of them were forced back, giving Qingming a rare moment of freedom.
At this moment, if he used "Wind Release: Wings of the Wind," even though the other approaching Mist jounin might try to stop him, he still had a 50-60% chance of flying away.
However, he didn't do that.
Instead, he took advantage of this moment to cast a different ninjutsu, "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
With his trump cards, "Heavenly Sovereign" and "Susanoo," Qingming wasn't worried about being surrounded by over twenty Mist jounin and special jounin.
However, unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to reveal these two trump cards.
Thus, he had to employ some strategy.
After all, facing over twenty enemies alone was still somewhat dangerous.
His plan was "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Since the Mist Village had sent so many people after him, their goal was clearly to take his life. If they wanted to take him down in one go, they would have to eliminate every single clone, which would divide their attention.
This would increase his safety.
At least, until all the clones were dispersed, this strategy would work.
Of course, with the combined strength of these jounin, the shadow clones wouldn't last as long as when they fought individually, but it would be enough.
The time had already passed for over two minutes. If he could hold out for another two, Nara Keiko's preparations would be complete.
Then, he wouldn't have to worry about being surrounded. Instead, it would be the Mist jounin's problem—how to escape.
A series of thoughts flashed through his mind as a cloud of chakra smoke exploded, and seven figures appeared on the battlefield.
They all looked like Qingming—his shadow clones.
Qingming blended in with them, and to be safe, he didn't even use "Mind Communication Technique." He let the clones act on their own.
However, since they inherited his combat experience and memories, as soon as the shadow clones appeared, they reacted to the looming threat.
The Mist jounin had seen Qingming's movement, and fearing that he might escape, they shot dozens of shuriken at various shadow clones before they could get close.
These shadow clones either dodged, blocked, or fought back.
After a brief exchange, no clones were shattered by injuries.
Not only that, they used the opportunity to scatter, forcing the Mist jounin to split into several groups and chase after the clones.
Qingming, blending in with the clones, showed no abnormality. His eyes scanned around as he, like the others, used the final moments before the Mist jounin closed in to cast a jutsu—Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique!
This jutsu had reached Level 7 (0/0) after ten days of practice, and its power was formidable.
Three fire dragons shot from his mouth, emitting a bright light and intense heat, charging toward three members of the Mist Village team, forcing them to dodge.
Meanwhile, the other clones cast their respective ninjutsu.
Although the attacks didn't cause significant damage to the Mist jounin, they effectively disrupted their rhythm.
This, in turn, bought them a little more time.
Even though this time was insignificant, Qingming wouldn't waste any opportunity to delay, and the shadow clones, inheriting his will, wouldn't either.
So, they relentlessly bombarded the Mist jounin.
Unfortunately, their opponents weren't simple either.
After only a few moments, the Mist jounin regained their composure.
Seeing this, Qingming and the seven shadow clones wasted no time and immediately engaged the Mist jounin in front of them.
The battle erupted instantly.
Because the distance between the two sides was close enough, the Mist jounin couldn't use wide-range attacks to destroy the clones immediately.
Thus, the battle turned into close combat.
However, despite this, the Mist jounin quickly gained the upper hand due to their numerical advantage.
They swiftly coordinated their efforts, first using a small group to restrain some clones, while more concentrated forces attacked the remaining clones.
As the saying goes, "two fists can't defeat four hands."
Even with the Sharingan's help, every shadow clone was brimming with chakra, but against the combined attack of the Mist jounin, they quickly faltered and exposed weaknesses.
Boom~
One of the shadow clones failed to dodge and was struck by a Mist jounin, sent flying several meters before dissipating into a cloud of chakra smoke.
This seemed to be the beginning of the end.
Soon, the second and third shadow clones were hit and shattered.
With the Mist jounin's increased numbers, the remaining four shadow clones couldn't hold on much longer and were swiftly eliminated. Soon, only Qingming's original body remained.
Without the shadow clones, Qingming no longer had to deliberately hide his form, but the sheer number of enemies still overwhelmed him.
These Mist jounin were experienced fighters, and with their cooperation, Qingming had few opportunities to counterattack.
It wasn't that Qingming's strength was lacking, but without using his trump cards, the vulnerable nature of a ninja's body made it impossible to fight against so many, especially when the enemy was equally strong.
The only thing he could do now was buy time.
"Fortunately, it's almost time," Qingming thought to himself.
Boom~
As Qingming narrowly avoided another series of attacks from the Mist jounin, only to be kicked away by one of them, the first sign of Konoha's reinforcements appeared on the battlefield.
Instantly, the Mist jounin halted their assault.
Each of them vigilantly scanned their surroundings.
After a moment, a special jounin from the Mist Village who was skilled in sensory techniques opened his eyes, his face darkening as he said, "We're surrounded!"
"What?"
"That's impossible!"
"How could Konoha react so quickly?!"
Upon hearing this, the Mist forces erupted in confused chatter.
They had indeed expected Konoha would send reinforcements, but it had only been four minutes since their operation began. How could Konoha have organized their forces and set up an encirclement in such a short time?
Unless...
"The information was leaked!"
In an instant, everyone thought of this possibility.
They all turned to look at Qingming.
They were all smart people, and based on Qingming's abnormal behavior, it wasn't hard to guess the answer.
Earlier, they had only thought Qingming was struggling in his final moments.
Now, it was clear—he had been using himself as bait to lure them in.
Looking at the rapidly gathering Konoha jounin surrounding them, the Mist jounin felt trapped.
They were stuck in a dilemma—neither could they leave, nor could they stay. It was a nightmare for anyone facing a tough decision.
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