Qingyuan followed the instruction.
The rock fist grazed the tips of his hair, whipping up a fierce gust of wind.
“Now. ‘Lightning Release: Earth Walk.'”
Renegade Qingyuan said.
Qingyuan quickly formed hand seals, and a broad field of electric arcs spread close to the ground.
Crackle!
The crackle of the arcs filled the air as they shattered most of the rock fist condensed around Oishi’s left hand.
“This little brat can still use ninjutsu.”
Oishi frowned.
He had seen that Qingyuan was merely a crestless commoner—so how could he still have so much chakra?
“I can’t keep this up. Take over.”
Qingyuan felt a wave of lightheadedness.
He had already used quite a few ninjutsu.
Qingyuan had also had no chance to rest on the way here.
If he had not taken a forbidden drug before coming, his chakra would have run out long ago.
Oishi regained his footing, and the rock fist condensed again.
This time, he was more cautious, trying to judge Qingyuan’s position by sound.
“Too slow.”
Renegade Qingyuan said softly.
Under his guidance, Qingyuan moved rapidly through the gray mist, each step landing precisely in Oishi’s blind spot.
“Right hand. Kunai. Three inches up.”
Qingyuan struck as instructed, and the kunai stabbed precisely into the joint at Oishi’s right elbow.
Oishi cried out in pain.
The rock fist technique instantly fell apart, the stone crumbling and dropping from his hand.
“How is that possible…”
Oishi faced Qingyuan in disbelief.
“You’re clearly just a genin…”
Qingyuan did not answer.
The moment he made a sound, he would give away his position.
Rumble rumble!
Just then, a thunderous roar came from the ground, and the cave shook.
“The other Iwagakure jonin has already used ‘Earth Release: Rock House Collapse.'”
Renegade Qingyuan warned.
This technique was generally used inside caves, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling and trigger a cave-in.
That meant Hikari had already begun using his deadly move.
At that very moment, Qingyuan tightened his grip on the kunai.
As Oishi’s expression changed drastically and he began thinking there was no way out, Qingyuan hurled a shuriken to distract him.
“Everyone, run for the exit!”
Kakashi shouted.
Seeing this, Qingyuan used his remaining chakra to cast ‘Wind Release: Great Breakthrough,’ blowing away all the lime powder shrouding the cave entrance.
Rumble rumble rumble…
Qingyuan was the first to run out, then stood at the entrance waiting for the others.
Kurenai Yuhi and Shiranui Genma were both very fast, and they emerged in an instant.
Kakashi, however, was much slower.
His injured left eye left him with a blind spot.
Bang!
In the end, a rock struck Kakashi in the blind spot of his left eye.
As another huge boulder behind them was about to fall and roll down, Obito pushed Kakashi away and was crushed beneath it with a thunderous crash, leaving only half his body exposed.
Qingyuan vaguely heard the sorrow of balls.
Chapter 21: Hot-Swappable Sharingan
“So then, Madara Uchiha is right beneath my feet.”
Qingyuan thought to himself.
The account of this part in the original work was actually rather vague.
It was possible that Madara Uchiha had ordered White Zetsu to carry Obito into the underground cave, then tricked Obito into believing that he had fallen there himself.
It was also possible that this was simply what had happened: Obito had already used some of Kamui’s power while he was still at the Sharingan stage.
“Are you all right, Rin… Kakashi?”
With only half his body and his head exposed, Obito looked toward the others with his left eye.
“Obito!”
Kakashi’s pupils contracted, and he immediately ran over, trying with all his strength to push the boulder away and save Obito.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard Kakashi pushed, he could not budge it in the slightest.
“Stop pushing, Kakashi. I’m done for. The right side of my body is completely crushed. I can’t feel a thing.”
Hearing this, Kakashi, consumed by self-blame, braced himself against the wall and recounted his mistakes.
It was all his fault that things had turned out this way.
Qingyuan watched the scene quietly from behind.
The bond among these three really was deep.
But…
As far as Obito was concerned, only Kakashi and Rin Nohara counted as people.
Everyone else, no matter how well they treated Obito, would be disowned the moment he turned against them.
For instance, he would even turn around and try to kill his own master and his master’s wife.
Kushina had clearly even brought him rice balls and looked after him while he trained.
That was also why Qingyuan had previously chosen not to seek much contact with Obito.
First, there was no need.
Second, Madara Uchiha might notice him, and he might end up as one link in Obito’s descent into darkness.
“Minato Namikaze should be on his way here by now.”
Qingyuan thought to himself.
Once Minato Namikaze arrived, they could go together and blow up Kannabi Bridge, completing the mission.
With this mission, Qingyuan should have enough merit to earn a promotion when he returned, and could take the Chunin Selection Exam.
He probably needed only an internal assessment to become a chunin outright.
“Oishi is dead?”
Qingyuan suddenly noticed that, amid a pile of fallen rocks, Oishi had apparently failed to escape because of the lime powder Qingyuan had thrown.
His head had been crushed beneath the rocks, leaving only his body exposed.
With luck like this, Qingyuan immediately decided to loot the corpse.
As soon as he searched it, he hit pay dirt.
“Well, look at that—he was even carrying thirty thousand ryo.”
Qingyuan found a thick stack of bills in Oishi’s ninja tool pouch, promptly confiscated it in the name of justice, and tucked it into his own pocket.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Qingyuan found another ninjutsu scroll inside.
Opening it, he saw that it was a C-rank ninjutsu called ‘Earth Release: Underground Submarine Voyage.’
It could use chakra to turn solid sand and stone underground into fluid, allowing the user to swim rapidly through the soil beneath the ground.
“He was probably training this ninjutsu recently. Too bad he never mastered it.”
Qingyuan shook his head.
Now it had all fallen into his hands.
If Oishi had truly learned ‘Earth Release: Underground Submarine Voyage,’ he probably would not have been crushed to death.
Though he thought about it, Qingyuan did not stop moving.
He put the Iwagakure ninja’s vest, along with kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and various other items, into a sealing scroll.
“Kakashi, I’m going to give you my Sharingan as a gift for becoming a jonin.”
While Qingyuan was looting the corpse, Obito was nearly finished telling Kakashi his last words.