Chapter 77: Chapter 77: In Hand
In the forest, Qingming was moving swiftly.
Suddenly, a kunai came shooting toward him from the front-right direction.
Almost instinctively, Qingming dodged with a quick step and landed on a nearby tree branch. However, as soon as his feet touched the branch, he sensed something was off.
Looking down, he saw a nearly invisible wire.
"A trap? Could it be because I killed that white-furred monkey earlier?"
Indeed, just moments ago, while on the move, a white-furred monkey had targeted him.
Initially, Qingming didn't want to create any extra trouble, but the forest environment was too advantageous for the creature. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake it off.
So, Qingming decided to deal with the monkey directly, spending some effort to take it down. He didn't expect it to attract attention.
To his surprise, the three-man team he had been tracking was much closer than anticipated, so it made sense they might have noticed something.
Qingming was almost certain that the team responsible for setting the trap and ambushing him was the very same one he had been pursuing.
In a split second, Qingming connected the dots.
At this moment, the trap had just been triggered.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Dozens of kunai flew at him from all directions, blocking all possible escape routes.
Faced with this predicament, Qingming didn't panic. He even had the presence of mind to comment, "Not a bad trap!"
He wasn't mocking them; he genuinely believed it. In this situation, if it were an ordinary person, the only option would be to either take the hit and be put on the defensive or be completely overwhelmed.
Unfortunately for them, Qingming wasn't ordinary.
The two tomoe in his blood-red Sharingan spun rapidly, instantly predicting the trajectory of every kunai flying his way.
With a series of fluid movements, he dodged each attack with millimeter precision.
This scene left the three hidden ambushers dumbfounded.
"Are you going to come out yourselves, or should I drag you out?"
Qingming's gaze locked onto the location where the three were hiding as he spoke calmly.
His tone was casual, as if he didn't regard them as a threat at all.
In reality, he was fully alert.
Even though they were capable of setting such a precise trap, indicating they weren't amateurs, Qingming never underestimated anyone.
As the saying goes, "Even a lion uses all its strength when hunting a rabbit."
No matter how strong he became, Qingming believed that underestimating others could be fatal. The world of shinobi was full of unexpected and deadly techniques.
"Still not coming out?"
Qingming spoke again.
Before he could finish his sentence, a volley of shuriken was thrown at him.
But such attacks posed no threat to Qingming.
With a few more agile movements, he easily dodged all the shuriken.
Suddenly, a faint sense of danger flickered in his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, Qingming noticed a shadow rapidly extending toward him.
"A shadow possession technique?"
The moment he saw the shadow, Qingming recognized it as a jutsu from the Nara clan.
Immediately, he deduced the identity of his attacker—Nara Seihei.
As the only member of the Nara clan participating in this Chunin Exam, Qingming had paid special attention to him beforehand.
So, the moment he saw the Shadow Possession Technique, he knew who his opponent was.
"No wonder the trap was so precise. It's a Nara clan member..."
Everyone knew that shinobi from the Nara clan were known for their high intelligence.
It was no surprise that Seihei had been able to predict Qingming's landing point and set the trap so effectively.
But, in the face of overwhelming strength, such tricks were minor obstacles.
These thoughts flashed through Qingming's mind as he swiftly leaped and dodged Seihei's shadow several times.
Eventually, the shadow extended as far as it could, stopping just centimeters from Qingming's feet.
Clearly, it had reached its limit.
Seeing this, Qingming wasted no time in counterattacking.
He quickly formed hand seals with lightning speed, completing the sequence for the Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
Opening his mouth, he unleashed dozens of small fireballs that rained down on the three hidden ambushers with precision.
As explosions echoed through the forest, Nara Seihei and his two companions were forced out of hiding.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several kunai flew toward Qingming.
He dodged the first few, and as the last one passed right in front of him, he stretched out his right hand and skillfully caught the kunai's ring with his index finger.
With a quick flick of his wrist, he twirled the kunai several times around his finger before hurling it back with tremendous force.
Whoosh!
The kunai whizzed through the air, embedding itself just three inches above a man's head.
Feeling the vibration of the kunai striking the tree above him, Satou Katsu shuddered in fear. When he looked up and saw the kunai sticking out of the wood, his face turned pale.
Just a bit closer, and he would've been dead.
Wait...
"Did he really miss?"
The thought crossed Satou Katsu's mind, and he glanced at Qingming in the distance, noticing the blood-red Sharingan in his eyes. It was then that he realized—Qingming had spared him on purpose.
With the Sharingan's visual acuity, how could he have missed by just three inches?
Without giving Satou Katsu another glance, Qingming's figure blurred as he appeared right in front of another opponent.
Aoki Kouko, seeing Qingming suddenly appear in front of her, immediately leapt backward and readied her kunai for defense.
But it was too late.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan."
As soon as their eyes met, Qingming quickly formed a hand sign and cast a genjutsu.
Even though he didn't have enough time to prepare a stronger illusion, the technique was effective enough.
Aoki Kouko's movements froze, her eyes growing vacant as her body began to show signs of drowsiness.
Clang!
The sound of a blade leaving its sheath echoed as Qingming deflected a kunai thrown by Nara Seihei. Then, he delivered a powerful kick that sent Aoki Kouko flying.
At that moment, Nara Seihei suddenly relaxed, lowering his guard entirely. This surprised Qingming for a second, but he quickly understood what was happening.
Seihei had realized he wasn't a match for Qingming and was giving up.
Seihei's next words confirmed Qingming's thoughts.
Taking three scrolls from his pouch, Seihei threw them on the ground and said quickly, "We surrender. These are our team's scrolls."
Seeing how cooperative they were, Qingming didn't want to waste any more energy. In just a few steps, he reached the scrolls and saw that all three were "Earth Scrolls."
Of course, they wouldn't give different scrolls to members of the same team; that would make the exam too easy.
But this worked out perfectly for Qingming.
Using his short sword, he carefully inspected one of the scrolls. After confirming it was safe, he silently left the area.
It wasn't until Qingming had completely disappeared that Nara Seihei finally let out a sigh of relief.
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