With this thought, Qingming gathered a large amount of wind chakra, infusing it into his long sword while enveloping his entire body. Suddenly, a gleam of blue light appeared.
In an instant, Qingming activated the "Instant Sword Technique."
Indeed, it was the "Instant Sword Technique"! Since he developed it, he had scarcely used it due to his short sword being destroyed, leaving him unable to execute the technique.
Now that he finally had a good weapon, he certainly wouldn't waste this opportunity.
Suddenly, his body transformed into a blur, appearing right in front of the water attribute mask monster that was preparing to launch a sneak attack against him.
Swish—
A flash of sword light sliced through the air.
Qingming's long sword struck directly at the mask on the monster's head.
This was its vital point; if he could destroy it, he could kill the monster and cause Jiao to lose a life.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned!
At that critical moment, the black tendrils that formed the monster's body shot out, intertwining with one another to create a flesh wall, blocking his blade.
Hiss—
A distinct sensation of blockage was felt.
Qingming felt as if his strike had hit rubber, unable to exert force.
At that moment, a "crack" sounded as the lightning attribute mask monster flew nearby and unleashed a bolt of lightning at him.
Qingming reacted swiftly, creating distance before the lightning could reach him.
Not only that, but he also completed his hand signs and unleashed the ninjutsu—Wind Release: Blade of Wind!
Swish—
A transparent wind blade shot out at high speed, targeting the lightning attribute mask monster.
However, just like before, the monster nimbly evaded the attack.
In the distance, Jiao showed no mercy; he changed his hand signs and immediately controlled another mask monster to execute ninjutsu—Fire Release: Great Fireball!
A small fireball was expelled by this mask monster, and as it hit the ground, it erupted into a raging inferno, rapidly spreading in all directions.
Its power was incomparable to the previous attack!
Qingming hurriedly retreated, distancing himself until he could perform the hand signs and summon the ninjutsu—Water Release: Water Barrier.
In an instant, a wall of water appeared, blocking the subsequent waves of heat and embers.
He had to admit that without activating the Mangekyō Sharingan, defeating these four monsters was truly no easy feat.
After all, in a normal state, apart from water, fire, and wind attribute ninjutsu, his sharpest methods were limited to sword techniques and genjutsu.
While his sword skills were effective against ordinary ninjas—who often had high attack and low defense—hitting these monsters was another story. Their only weak point was the mask on their heads; striking any other part would be ineffective.
In this situation, they only needed to defend at critical points, and when necessary, they could block attacks like the water attribute mask monster did with its tendrils.
Thus, his sword techniques were significantly hindered.
As for genjutsu, these monsters were entirely under Jiao's control, devoid of any will, making them immune to illusion techniques.
And regarding ninjutsu, it's not like he had many techniques available, and those that could be utilized were few. Attribute countering alone could reduce the potency of his ninjutsu by half.
Considering all these factors, it was evident that in a conventional state, he was thoroughly countered by the opponent, unless he could directly attack Jiao's body.
However, Jiao's actions had left him with no opportunity to close the distance.
During the earlier battle, Qingming had tried to approach Jiao but was continuously blocked by the four mask monsters.
Moreover, even if he got close, figuring out how to inflict damage on Jiao was another issue.
Since Jiao's body had an earth attribute heart, he could instantaneously cast the ninjutsu—Earth Release: Earth Spear; regular physical attacks would be completely ineffective.
Only lightning release could pose a significant threat to him.
But Qingming didn't know any lightning release ninjutsu!
Thus, he could only resort to other means.
Yet, given Jiao's reaction speed, there was roughly a fifty percent chance he could evade the attack.
After all, the current Jiao was not the same as the one faced by Naruto and the others in the later timeline; upon realizing that Qingming was aware of his intelligence, he had been avoiding direct confrontation.
Given Jiao's cautious demeanor, even estimating a fifty percent probability seemed like an underestimation.
Qingming regretted showing too much understanding of Jiao at the start of the battle.
Had he not done so, his situation might have been better now.
Ultimately, he was still influenced by memories from his past life, thinking that Jiao's strength was merely mediocre.
However, after engaging in combat, he realized that Jiao's power was far beyond the shortcomings he recalled.
In fact, if one thought carefully, even Jiao's earlier encounters with Naruto and others didn't depict him as weak among the many powerful figures.
Even though he was initially ambushed by Kakashi and lost the water attribute mask, and later was manipulated by Nara Shikamaru, which led to the destruction of his earth attribute heart and loss of complementary attributes, he was ultimately taken down by Naruto due to his carelessness.
Otherwise, it would have been hard to determine the victor.
Now, Qingming faced a fully powered, vigilant Jiao.
The difficulty of the task was evident.
It could be said that without activating the Mangekyō Sharingan, he was unlikely to defeat Jiao on his own.
However, Qingming had reservations about activating the Mangekyō Sharingan: he was concerned about whether he could take Jiao down in one fell swoop.
If he couldn't kill Jiao and allowed him to escape, that would lead to significant trouble.
As a ninja who had survived from the Warring States period to the present, Jiao undoubtedly knew some secrets about the Sharingan.
In fact, he might have even seen the Mangekyō Sharingan before.
Thus, if Qingming recklessly used the Mangekyō Sharingan, Jiao would likely recognize it.
If that happened and Jiao managed to escape, Qingming's intelligence would undoubtedly be compromised, something he absolutely wished to avoid.
As Qingming wrestled with these thoughts, Jiao had already controlled the four mask monsters to pursue him, unleashing a barrage of ninjutsu attacks to keep up the pressure.
Shaking his head, Qingming momentarily cast aside his various distractions and focused on defending against the attacks from the mask monsters.
At the same time, he attempted to push forward towards Jiao, emulating Naruto to execute Wind Release: Rasengan in a bid to land a decisive blow on him.
Jiao might have five lives, but if he were truly hit by the Wind Release: Rasengan, even replacing his heart would be of no use.
The reason was simple: the chakra needles condensed by the Rasengan would destroy Jiao's body at the cellular level.
In that case, even if he remained alive, he would be unable to mobilize his chakra, allowing Qingming to do as he pleased.
Furthermore, after practicing during this time, his Wind Release: Rasengan had advanced from lv1 (100/200) to lv3 (174/1000)!
With such proficiency, it was more than ready for use.
plz support me if you can.
patreon.com/Mano99
all the fanfic is 30 chapter a had and you will get 1 chapter everyday.