Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 989 Theft and Discovery

Standing in front of the archives room, looking at the two Iwagakure ANBU ninjas whose consciousness had completely fallen into an illusion, Qingming reached out and removed the masks from their faces.

After examining it carefully, he raised his hand and formed a hand seal, unleashing the 'Shadow Clone Technique'.

Bang~bang~
Two puffs of chakra smoke dissipated, revealing two more figures in the arena.

Looking at the two shadow clones, Qingming nodded to them.

Then, the two simultaneously formed hand seals and used the 'Transformation Technique' to transform into the appearances of the two Iwagakure ANBU members in front of them.

Seeing this, Qingming nodded in satisfaction and handed over the two masks in his hand.

The two shadow clones immediately reached out, took the masks, and put them on their own faces.

The next moment, two guards identical to the previous ones appeared in the arena.

Without Qingming's orders, the two shadow clones took over the positions previously held by the Rock Hidden Dark Division members, replacing them and beginning to stand guard outside.

Qingming withdrew his gaze, and with a thought, he activated the White Eye between his eyebrows again, scanning towards the door.

With his powerful X-ray vision, he easily discovered some small mechanisms and various traps set inside.

Qingming reached out and carefully pushed open the door. Then, he pointed his index finger, and a thread of chakra shot out, entangling the mechanisms and traps inside and silently paralyzing them.

After he finished doing all that, he pushed open the door and went inside.

Of course, he didn't forget to bring the two Iwagakure members from outside into the room.

Click~
The door was closed again.

Qingming let the two Iwagakure ANBU stand behind the door, opened his ninja tool bag, and took out a small flashlight.

With a gentle push, the switch on the flashlight was turned on, and the flashlight beam illuminated a small area nearby.

That's right, it's just a small area.

This was done intentionally by Qingming, in order to prevent anyone from discovering anything from the outside.

It can be said that Qingming has taken all aspects into consideration for this trip.

Now that everything is ready, it's time to find your goal.

With this thought in mind, Qingming scanned the entire room.

As you can see, apart from the side where the door is located, there is a bookshelf on the other three sides of this room, and the bookshelves are filled with various books and scrolls from top to bottom.

In contrast, the space available for people to stand is relatively small.

This made Qingming abandon the idea of ​​creating more shadow clones to help with the search.

Taking a step forward, Qingming started from the left bookshelf, looking through each book and scroll carefully for any record of 'Dust Escape'.

Just in case, he didn't touch any books or files that had titles or catalogs; he just glanced at them.

If he cannot see the list, he will carefully check it before opening it to confirm the contents.

Therefore, his movements naturally couldn't be very fast.

Fortunately, it's late at night, so he has plenty of time.

And so, time passed by, second by second.

In the blink of an eye, nearly three hours had passed.

It was just before dawn.

Qingming searched from the left side of the room to the right side, scanning almost all the books and scrolls, but found no target.

This made Qingming somewhat anxious.

"Inhale...exhale..."

Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Qingming forcibly suppressed his somewhat anxious feelings, turned around, came to a corner of the room, and looked at the books and scrolls piled up there.

Compared to the books and scrolls displayed on the bookshelf, these books and scrolls were rather inconspicuous, even covered in dust, as if they hadn't been touched in a long time. To be honest, Qingming didn't think he would find what he was looking for here. 'Dust Escape' was so important; it was unlikely that the person who organized the information would put it among this pile of seemingly 'junk'.

He had even given up, and his mind began to consider where to go next to find what he wanted, but his inner unwillingness made him unwilling to skip this place.

He really didn't want to give up any hope, no matter how small.

However, it was precisely this attitude that prevented him from missing what he was looking for.

Indeed, it was among this unassuming pile of books and scrolls that he found what he was looking for.

Reaching out, he opened one of the scrolls and saw scattered notes inside, some of which had been edited and revised, concerning the balance between Fire Release and Earth Release techniques.

Find another scroll, which records the mutual restraint and promotion mechanisms of Wind Release and Fire Release.

Qingming worked swiftly, picking out dozens of books and scrolls from the pile of 'junk'. The contents of these books and scrolls were all related to the fusion of Wind Release, Earth Release, and Fire Release.

Others might be confused by these, but having independently developed several bloodline limits, he recognized them at a glance as someone's notes on developing 'Dust Release'.

That's right. Although he didn't find the cultivation method for 'Dust Escape', he did find its development log.

In Iwagakure, apart from the Second Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, the creator of the First Dust Release, he couldn't think of anyone else.

In other words, he found Wu's experimental notes.

This might not allow him to learn 'Dust Escape' by rote, but it could still provide him with considerable assistance.

In fact, its effects might even be better than the Dust Escape technique.

Indeed, if he could obtain the true 'Dust Escape' cultivation method, he could avoid many detours, but this would inevitably be a long process.

Because of the dangers of 'Dust Escape', its creator had to consider the safety of later practitioners.

Therefore, it is highly likely that a gradual approach will be adopted to guide them.

By referring to these experimental logs, he could speed up or slow down the process depending on his own condition and skill level.

That's why Qingming said that its effects might be better than actual cultivation methods.

Overjoyed, Qingming immediately took out a sealing scroll from his ninja tool bag and sealed all the books and scrolls inside.

"Whoo~~~"

With a long sigh of relief, Qingming was about to get up and leave.

But just then, a series of hurried footsteps approached from afar.

With his 'Spirit' attribute reaching 29 points and his 'Spirit Transformation Technique' maxed out, Qingming's perception had already surpassed that of so-called perception ninjas.

Therefore, even though there was a door and some distance between them, he still noticed the anomaly.

At the same time, the shadow clone guarding the door also sent him a warning through the 'mind-reading technique'.

"what happened?"

Qingming was puzzled.

'Everything was fine just now, how come someone suddenly showed up at the door?'

'Is it a shift change?'

'No, based on what my shadow clones are observing, the other party clearly has ill intentions!'

'Now we need to see if it's just this one team, or if there are others involved?'

If it's the former, then that's fine.

'But if it's the latter, then...'

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Qingming activated his Byakugan once again.

The next moment, everything within a one-kilometer radius came into view.

(End of this chapter)