Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 1245 Defeat
bang~
A dull crashing sound sounded.

Orochimaru raised his arms high, blocking Qingming's kick aimed at his face.

The two were locked in a stalemate for a moment. Even though Orochimaru had the flexibility to absorb the force of the kick, he was still sent flying backward by the kick.

Seeing this, Qingming pressed his advantage, stomping his foot again and fiercely chasing after him, followed by another powerful 'Leaf Leaf Whirlwind'.

Orochimaru had no time to dodge and could only continue to swing his arm to block.

Then, a series of "bang bang bang" sounds rang out.

Aoki unleashed the 'Konoha Fluid Technique' and the 'Uchiha Fluid Technique' in quick succession, and with his enhanced physical abilities from 'Sage Mode', Orochimaru was left with almost no chance to fight back.

In just a few breaths, it retreated more than a hundred meters away, and Qingming chased after it for more than a hundred meters.

As the situation grew increasingly critical, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju finally arrived.

Qingming caught a glimpse of the two out of the corner of his eye, his brows furrowing slightly as he thought to himself that he shouldn't get entangled with them.

So, he glanced at the others on the battlefield and, after confirming that there were no friendly forces within a radius of two or three hundred meters, he suddenly stopped attacking.

Then, without giving Orochimaru time to react, he immediately formed hand seals and unleashed the ninjutsu—Lightning Release: Lightning Prison!
In an instant, thousands of bolts of lightning descended from the sky, turning an area of ​​two hundred meters in radius into a sea of ​​lightning.

The sounds of crackling and popping echoed incessantly. Even though the fighting on the entire battlefield was extremely fierce, the situation here still attracted everyone's attention.

There's no way around it; 'Lightning Release: Lightning Prison' is already a powerful ninjutsu, and now, with the added boost of 'Sage Mode,' its effects are naturally even more pronounced.

Qingming was unaware of, and did not care about, the reactions of the outside world.

Inside the Lightning Prison, his Sharingan whirred as he manipulated the surrounding lightning to avoid himself while observing Orochimaru's reaction.

As can be seen, the moment he unleashed 'Lightning Release: Lightning Prison', his experienced opponent abandoned the idea of ​​using Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju to attack him, instead having the two protect him.

Among them, Tobirama Senju was the first to suffer, and was instantly turned into charred remains by a dense barrage of lightning.

Taking advantage of the brief moment he gained, Hashirama Senju unleashed a ninjutsu—Wood Release: Wood ...

A giant wooden demon mask appeared, blocking the dense lightning descending from above and protecting Hashirama Senju and Orochimaru within it.

Seeing this, Qingming frowned slightly.

He knew this technique; as a defensive ninjutsu mastered by Hashirama Senju, its defensive power was undeniably strong.

During his battle with Madara Uchiha, he was even able to withstand the Tailed Beast Ball emitted by the Nine-Tails.

Of course, with Hashirama Senju's current body, he certainly couldn't use such a high level of power, but it was still enough to withstand the current lightning attack.

After all, the ninjutsu 'Lightning Release: Lightning Prison' kills enemies by unleashing countless lightning attacks; its strength lies in sealing off the target's escape space, not in single-target attacks.

Therefore, it was completely unable to break through the defenses constructed by Hashirama Senju.

Seeing that the lightning was ineffective, Qingming pondered whether he should reveal another trump card and use the 'Wind Release: Rasenshuriken' to launch an attack.

As an S-rank forbidden technique, Qingming was confident that, with the blessing of 'Sage Mode', he could use this technique to shatter the 'Wood Release: Ranking Technique' currently being used by Hashirama Senju in one blow.

However, although he had used the 'Wind Release: Rasenshuriken' many times during the Third Shinobi World War, he had not mastered it to perfection at that time and was unable to launch it as a free-range attack.

If this were to be used now, it would inevitably expose this fact.

It's important to understand that a powerful ninjutsu that can only be used at close range and a high-powered ninjutsu that can be used for long-range attacks are two completely different concepts.

It was foreseeable that once he revealed this trump card, it would inevitably arouse suspicion from many parties. Therefore, Qingming hesitated.

However, he soon didn't need to hesitate any longer, because Orochimaru reacted first, not far away.

Suddenly, the ghost mask in the distance opened, and a wooden dragon soared into the sky.

Ignoring the surrounding lightning attacks, it directly carried Orochimaru and Hashirama Senju, who were hiding below, out of the range of 'Lightning Release: Lightning Prison'.

Clearly, they were trying to escape.

If he wasn't mistaken, this wooden dragon should be another powerful ninjutsu mastered by Hashirama Senju—Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique, and it should be the strongest ninjutsu that his current body can perform.

Without any hesitation, Qingming immediately stopped maintaining 'Lightning Release: Lightning Prison' and instead used 'Wind Release: Wind Wings' to give chase.

But at that moment, Tobirama Senju, whose body had already recovered, launched another attack on him.

Whoosh whoosh~
Several kunai were shot at him, followed by a barrage of various ninjutsu. Although Qingming dealt with these attacks with ease, he was still blocked for several breaths.

In those few breaths, Mokryu had already led Orochimaru far away from the battlefield.

Judging from the direction they were heading, it was clearly the cave they had previously speculated was Orochimaru's lair.

Qingming glanced at Orochimaru in the distance, then at Tobirama Senju nearby. After thinking for a moment, he decided to focus on getting the benefits in front of him first.

However, just as he was about to take down Tobirama Senju, a coffin suddenly appeared at Tobirama's feet not far in front of him, completely engulfing him.

Then, one person and one coffin disappeared.

Seeing this, Qingming was slightly taken aback, and then suddenly looked in the direction of Yamato and Uchiha Inahi.

Just as he had predicted, the Third Kazekage, who had been fighting them, suddenly stopped.

Then, just like on Tobirama Senju's side, a wooden coffin appeared out of thin air, swallowed it, and then disappeared.

Clearly, Orochimaru didn't want to leave him any benefits at all, and even summoned the two of them back before leaving.

How could Qingming tolerate this?

Ignoring the reactions of others, he flapped his wings and chased after Orochimaru at an extremely fast speed.

Later, Yamato saw this scene and wanted to say something, but in the end he gave up.

Ahead, Orochimaru spotted Qingming relentlessly pursuing him and, without a word, immediately disappeared into the cave.

A few breaths later, Qingming also arrived at the entrance of the cave. He was skilled and daring, and without pausing, he chased after them into the cave.

Boom~Boom~Boom~
A violent explosion sounded.

Clearly, the trap Orochimaru left behind has been triggered.

However, this had no effect on Qingming.

Amidst the smoke and flames, Qingming, clad in a 'chakra cloak,' slightly opened his Byakugan between his brows, locking onto Orochimaru's location, and continued his pursuit.

And so, the two chased and fled, quickly getting away from the cave entrance.

(End of this chapter)