Time passed by, second by second.
Before long, five or six minutes had passed.
Seeing that Qingming had not shown any signs of weakness, the several Root ninjas exchanged looks and immediately understood each other's intentions—They could no longer afford to wait!
Up until now, they had merely been pretending to be unable to defeat him. If they allowed Qingming to continue his bombardment, they would truly have no chance.
Thus, they had to make their move while they still could.
That's right, it was time for a desperate gamble.
Having lost the initiative and with three of their comrades dead, many of the tactics they had prepared were already rendered useless. Though they still had some backup measures, given the current situation, they could only resort to desperate measures.
Without hesitation, one of the Root ninjas, who appeared to be their leader, shouted, "Plan C!"
Upon hearing this, the four other Root ninjas immediately stopped in their tracks and took up positions in the four corners, their movements synchronized. In an instant, they formed three hand seals.
The next moment, countless black markings appeared on their bodies, shooting up into the sky, transforming into four beams of light.
If one looked closely, they would see some wandering sealing techniques inscribed within those beams.
These sealing techniques quickly spread out, seemingly attempting to form a cubic barrier to trap Qingming inside.
However, when these four remained in place around him, it had already caught Qingming's attention.
In the past few minutes, he had specifically targeted them with his attacks.
Despite the increased danger, these individuals had not moved from their designated positions.
Moreover, the others were subtly protecting these four.
From that point onward, Qingming had suspected that something was off with these four.
As expected, they suddenly began performing some strange sealing technique. Though the barrier had not yet closed, Qingming could already feel an invisible pressure weighing on both his body and mind.
Without hesitation, Qingming immediately flapped his wings, intending to leave the area before the barrier could fully take shape.
However, these Root ninjas were clearly prepared for this, and as soon as Qingming made his move, several vacuum bullets shot towards him at an astonishing speed, even causing him to glance sideways.
Indeed, this was a B-rank ninjutsu—Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!
In the hands of Danzo, this technique was powerful enough to injure even Sasuke, who had activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
At this moment, Qingming was merely maintaining his Three-Tomoe Sharingan state.
It was only being used by a particularly strong Root Special Jonin, otherwise, Qingming might not have been able to dodge it so easily.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Several vacuum bullets flew past Qingming's ears.
He let out a quiet sigh of relief, intending to continue flying away.
However, at that moment, a shuttle-shaped bird appeared out of nowhere, and in an instant, it charged at him, its sharp beak aiming to pierce his heart from behind.
As it flew, it was almost silent, and its timing was flawless.
In that moment, any other ninja might have been seriously injured.
But Qingming was different.
The moment it appeared, his Byakugan had already noticed it.
Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and used his Chakra Surgical Knife technique, slicing off the bird's head with a single strike.
Caw~
A mournful cry came from the bird's mouth.
At the same time, down below in the forest, the lone Root Chunin let out a painful scream.
Qingming glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
Through his Byakugan, he had already realized that this strange summoning beast had been summoned by the Chunin earlier.
Moreover, the Chunin had likely used some kind of secret technique to temporarily control the bird's body.
It made sense, as the bird's precise attack could only have been the result of manipulation.
However, because of this, with the bird's head severed, its controller had suffered significant backlash.
But for the Root ninjas, it was all worth it.
Qingming surveyed the area and saw that, in the time it had taken, the four beams of light had merged together, forming the sealing barrier.
As he had sensed earlier, the moment the barrier closed, Qingming felt a strange pressure applied to both his body and mind.
It was important to note that the body and mind were the foundation of chakra, and chakra was the source of a ninja's extraordinary power.
Once both the body and mind were suppressed, a ninja's chakra would be hindered, making it incredibly difficult to use ninjutsu, even if they possessed immense strength.
Now, Qingming could clearly feel that if he were to try and perform any ninjutsu, the difficulty would be at least ten times greater than before. His chakra felt as though it was being restricted, and it was extremely difficult to mobilize.
It was obvious that the Root had realized that ordinary barriers wouldn't be enough to contain him, so they had somehow found this obscure sealing technique specifically designed to target him.
"Indeed, sealing techniques are the greatest power in this world," Qingming muttered softly as he allowed the four transparent chains, covered in sealing formulas, to shoot out from the four Root ninjas maintaining the barrier. These chains pierced directly into his body.
"Hmm~"
Qingming let out a low grunt.
He could feel his chakra being further suppressed, making it even more difficult to use ninjutsu.
"Breathe~~~"
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Ignoring the immense pressure from the four transparent chains, Qingming discreetly glanced at a distant tree, where a strange summoning beast, resembling a sloth, was silently observing the situation.
If his guess was correct, this beast had likely been used by the Root ninjas to monitor the movements of the main battlefield earlier.
But now, it was being used to observe this battle.
Clearly, this was a contingency plan.
If they failed, the summoning beast would record everything that had happened in this battle and send the information back to the Root headquarters.
This was precisely why Qingming had refrained from resisting.
Had he reacted faster, he could have activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and used his Tengu technique to escape the barrier before the chains made contact with him.
But he hadn't done so.
One reason was to avoid revealing his trump cards.
Qingming didn't want to expose his secrets here, giving Danzo any reason to be wary.
Of course, the more important reason was that Qingming had already figured out the nature of the sealing barrier and was confident he could survive the ensuing battle.
Otherwise, even if his trump cards were exposed, he would not hesitate to use them.
After all, nothing was more important than his life.
With that thought, Qingming withdrew his gaze, ignoring the tremendous pressure exerted by the four chains, and turned his attention to the four Root ninjas maintaining the barrier.
Through his Byakugan, he could clearly see that their life force was rapidly depleting, and they were visibly aging before his eyes.
Clearly, maintaining such a special barrier was no simple feat.
However, by watching their subtle expressions, Qingming realized that this seemed to be beyond their expectations.
Normally, they should have been well aware of the energy required to maintain such a barrier, yet they were showing signs of surprise.
Suddenly, Qingming seemed to have realized something. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the chains connecting to him.
A few moments later, he opened his eyes, and a look of understanding appeared in them.
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