Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 1073 Abrupt End and News (Part 2)

huh~
Before Qingming could retract his longsword, a kunai suddenly shot from behind, aiming straight for his back.

The one who launched this attack was none other than Shimazu Gosuke, who still possessed considerable fighting strength.

It must be said that the opponent was quite good at seizing the opportunity, choosing precisely the moment when he was most relaxed and most difficult to defend.

Moreover, through the omnidirectional vision of the Byakugan, Qingming also saw that the kunai he threw also carried a burning explosive tag.

Based on the burning speed of the explosive tag, Qingming was certain that even if the kunai did not hit him in the end, or if he blocked it, the explosive tag on it would explode when it got close to him.

It can be said that the other party had planned everything perfectly.

Even the Cloud Village Jonin in front of them was used as bait.

Of course, it's also possible that the person did it voluntarily.

Otherwise, the other party wouldn't be enduring the pain of his severed arm to fight back against him now.

That's right, the moment he sheathed his sword, the Cloud Village Jonin in front of him swung out his only remaining left arm.

Silently, a kunai slipped from his sleeve, was grasped in his palm, and then swiftly slashed towards his throat.

At this moment, Qingming was attacked from both sides.

However, Qingming's expression remained unchanged in the face of this situation.

Not to mention that he had already seen through the Byakugan's X-ray vision and seen the two people's hidden movements and attacks, so he was prepared.

Not to mention how exaggerated his reaction speed became with the blessing of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

The ability to manipulate repulsive forces possessed by the evolved Byakugan alone was enough for him to handle the situation at hand.

That's what Qingming thought, and that's what he did.

Without him even reacting, the Cloud Village Jonin in front of him was sent flying backward. The kunai in his hand didn't even hurt him, let alone him; it was already a miracle that it didn't.

The kunai thrown by Shimazu Gosuke from behind also seemed to hit some invisible barrier and were deflected.

Boom~
The detonator it carried exploded.

A large number of flames appeared.

However, under the repulsive barrier, these flames seemed to encounter some invisible obstacle, and instead of rushing towards Qingming, they all spewed towards the opposite side.

Even the shockwave from its explosion did not affect Qingming in the slightest.

At this moment, Qingming was like a god in the eyes of mortals, high above and untouchable.

Upon witnessing this scene, Shimazu Gosuke's pupils constricted, and he murmured, "What kind of ability is this?"

His voice was filled with confusion, doubt, and utter disbelief.

If he was like this, what about the others on the battlefield?

In Qingming's white-eyed vision, it was clear that these people's faces were filled with fear.

However, Qingming will not become merciful because of this.

This is a battlefield where you have to live or die, not a game of make-believe.

In this situation, to be merciful to the enemy is to be irresponsible towards one's own life.

Well.
Although these people are unlikely to threaten his life, caution is always wise.

Therefore, without any hesitation, Qingming immediately seized the opportunity to clear the battlefield.

He first used the 'Instantaneous Movement Technique' to appear in front of Shimazu Gosuke.

Then, he slashed out with a single stroke.

Shimazu Gosuke narrowly escaped.

Qingming, not one to back down, swung his long sword repeatedly, forcing Shimazu Gosuke to dodge each time.

At one point, he suddenly raised his left hand.

Instantly, an invisible repulsive force spread out, sending Shimazu Gosuke, who had just regained his footing, flying away.

However, having witnessed Qingming's methods, Shimazu Gosuke was prepared and not particularly flustered.

As he retreated, he quickly adjusted his posture, attempting to regain his balance.

But the next moment, another suction force came.

This caught Shimazu Kosuke off guard, and he immediately stumbled.

How fast is Qingming's reaction speed?

In an instant, he seized the opportunity, unleashed the 'Instant Sword Technique,' and arrived beside Shimazu Gosuke.

The next moment, the long sword was swung out.

Shimazu Kosuke quickly dodged.

However, with a "sizzle" sound, the long sword of Qingming sliced ​​through Shimazu Gosuke's body. Although he avoided the risk of losing an arm, he was left with a deep wound that exposed the bone.

With such injuries, coupled with the internal injuries caused by the previous 'Rasengan', it didn't take long for Qingming to seize the opportunity and use 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' to control his opponent.

At this point, most of the Cloud Ninja in the arena had lost their fighting ability.

However, what Qingming needs is for them to completely lose the ability to resist.

So, after subduing Shimazu Gosuke, he didn't stop and immediately began to eliminate the others.

These Cloud Ninjas were naturally unwilling to surrender. Some fought back, some turned and ran away, and some tried to negotiate, but Qingming knocked them all unconscious without discrimination.

Looking at the forest that had fallen silent again, Qingming let out a long breath.

Although the battle was short-lived and he didn't use many techniques, every battle inevitably requires energy.

So, Qingming rested for a while before checking his gains.

A Cloud Ninja elite squad, totaling seventeen people.

Among them, the squad leader, Shimazu Gosuke, and the two squad leaders are true Jonin, while the captains of the remaining two squads are special Jonin who are skilled in sensory perception and tracking.

As for the twelve team members...
There were no genin among them, but they were all chunin.

According to Qingming's calculations, this combination could contribute approximately 250,000 chakra points to him.

To be honest, that's not a lot of chakra.

However, even a mosquito's leg, however small, is still meat.

Qingming doesn't mind!
He took a step forward and stood in front of someone. Then, he raised his hands to form a hand seal and directly unleashed the 'Chakra Absorption Technique'.

That's right, he didn't use the Byakugan's ability to absorb chakra from a distance. He used the same 'Chakra Absorption Technique' as before to absorb the chakra of these people.

There are three reasons for this choice.
Firstly, his Byakugan is not highly evolved yet, and his chakra absorption speed is relatively slow, making it somewhat time-consuming to use.

Secondly, unlike the 'Chakra Absorption Technique', it cannot completely drain the target's mental and physical energy, thus wasting chakra.

Thirdly, activating the Byakugan requires additional chakra, which also results in a waste of some chakra.

Therefore, considering the above three points, he ultimately chose to use the 'Chakra Absorption Technique' to absorb the chakra of these Cloud Ninja.

Time passes minute by minute.

About half an hour later.

Qingming completed the absorption of chakra.

As expected, he gained a total of 255,000 chakra points. Incidentally, he also used his 'mind-reading technique' to access the memories of Shimazu Gosuke and several other Cloud Village Jonin, gaining a different perspective on the current situation.

At the same time, I also learned about the current situation of Hidden Cloud Village.

From the memories of the others, he knew that the sudden attack by the Hidden Cloud Village was the result of the village's inability to suppress the radical faction.

At this moment, there is a huge division within the Hidden Cloud Village, with those advocating war and those advocating peace each holding their own opinions, and neither side can convince the other.

Now, everyone is waiting for Aina's final decision.

However, the Fourth Raikage, A, has remained silent.

It is worth mentioning that Shimazu Gosuke and several Cloud Village Jonin on the ground belonged to the radical faction, that is, members of the pro-war faction.

Or rather, most of the Cloud Village ninjas who invaded the Land of Fire this time belonged to this faction.

In their minds, this would mark the beginning of a renewed war.

However, Qingming, who was well-versed in the general trend of the ninja world, knew that this was just wishful thinking on their part. No one could defy the trend of peace in the ninja world unless they were not "human".

Unfortunately, there was no such "person" among the radicals in Kumogakure.

Therefore, Qingming concluded that this battle would not last long.

And indeed, things turned out exactly as he had predicted.

After completing the mission of eliminating Shimazu Gosuke's Cloud Ninja squad, Qingming carried out several similar missions. In a total of half a month, the battle ended just as suddenly as it had begun.

Well.
It can't be said to be a complete end, but rather a return to the previous state of low-intensity confrontation in the border areas, no longer deliberately seeking to invade the other side's territory.

Then, Qingming heard the news that the Cloud Village delegation was about to visit Konoha.

······
Hidden Leaf Village.

Uchiha clan.

Qingming returned home quietly.

Looking at the shadow clone in front of him, he immediately dispelled the 'Shadow Clone Technique'.

Suddenly, a flood of memories rushed into my mind.

Qingming sorted through and digested the information, and soon gained a certain understanding of what had happened in the village over the past ten days.

That's right. Ten days ago, after confirming that the battle situation had stabilized, he left the village and resumed his arduous training.

This arduous training lasted for ten days.

He truly did not expect that only ten days had passed before news came that the Cloud Village delegation was about to visit Konoha.

Originally, he thought that even if the Hidden Cloud Village abandoned its plan to go to war, it would take some time to quell the different voices within the village before considering peace talks with the Hidden Leaf Village.

But now it seems he underestimated the Fourth Raikage's control over Kumogakure.

Previously, when the pro-war and pro-peace factions were arguing, the other side had not expressed its opinion for a long time. This was probably not because it was caught in a dilemma, but because it wanted to take this opportunity to test Minato Namikaze's determination.

If Minato Namikaze did not choose to retaliate decisively this time, but instead sought peace, then...

Who knows, the other side might agree with the pro-war faction's idea and start a war with Konoha.

Unfortunately, Minato Namikaze's courage exceeded his expectations; he chose to retaliate decisively the moment he was attacked.

As a result, the Fourth Raikage, A, dared not go against the tide and start a war against Konoha.

Similarly, this was also a way to test Minato Namikaze's attitude. The Fourth Raikage, A, knew that continuing the stalemate was pointless.

Therefore, they quickly unified their internal voices and sent a signal to Konoha for peace talks.

This point in time is even earlier than another timeline.

After all, in another timeline, Hinata Hyuga was kidnapped when she was three years old.

And now, it's not even a year old.

It can be said that the Fourth Raikage, A, brought this point in time forward by about two years.

I just don't know.
Will the same scenario repeat itself this time, where the Hidden Cloud Village uses peace talks as a pretext to kidnap Hinata Hyuga, only to have her killed by Hiashi Hyuga, then turn around and accuse Konoha of deliberately sabotaging the peace talks, ultimately resulting in Hizashi Hyuga paying for his brother's death?

However, Qingming estimated that even if this happened, Minato Namikaze would not make Hizashi Hyuga pay with his life.

After all, compared to the other timeline, the current Konoha has not only escaped the friction and depletion of the following two years, but the Fourth Hokage is still alive, and the Nine-Tails' attack did not cause the deaths of many elite ninjas.

It can be said that Konoha's fighting strength has been maintained quite intact.

Under these circumstances, Minato Namikaze would never be able to compromise with Kumogakure as easily as Hiruzen Sarutobi in another timeline.

This is especially true after this probing attack.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but Qingming shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

These things are just a diversion for him. In any case, no matter how the events develop, they are unlikely to affect him in the end, so there is no need to devote too much energy to them.

Of course, if he were to encounter this problem, he wouldn't mind resolving it.

After all, he does have a white eye.

Gathering his thoughts, Qingming quickly washed up, changed into casual clothes, and left home.

He continued walking and soon arrived at the 'food street'.

Unbeknownst to many, half a year has passed since the Nine-Tails' rampage.

After such a long time, the food street has long since recovered. Although traces of that battle can still be seen in some nooks and crannies, overall, the impact has dissipated.

Looking at the familiar, bustling streets, Qingming composed himself and immediately began to eat voraciously.

After his 'Constitution' attribute was raised to 31 points, his physical abilities improved again. Not only did his self-healing ability surpass Tsunade's 'Creation Regeneration', but his digestive ability also improved significantly from its original level.

He is now a complete "good-for-nothing".

Therefore, Qingming ate without any restraint.

And just like that, two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Qingming ate almost every food item on the street that interested him before leaving the 'food street'.

However, instead of rushing back home, he went to the open-air bath called 'Konoha no Yu'.

It's worth mentioning that this place is far from the center of the village and was not damaged during the Nine-Tails' rampage; everything remains as it was originally.

Even the staff remained the same.

So, Qingming skillfully paid for the ticket and then entered the bathhouse.

Lying in it, feeling the warm spring water flowing over his body, Qingming felt incredibly comfortable.

Then, he closed his eyes, letting his mind relax and quietly enjoy this moment of peace.

Time passes minute by minute.

Unbeknownst to him, Qingming had fallen asleep.

He was startled awake long afterward, just as the bathhouse was about to close.

Instinctively, Qingming sensed his surroundings.

Only after confirming that there were no abnormalities did I finally feel completely relieved.

He then got up, went back to the locker room, changed his clothes, and left the place.

(End of this chapter)