Chapter 187: Mercy

Boom—

A deafening muffled rumble came from this common grassland in the Grass Country.

Even on another battlefield nearby, the Uchiha brat locked in a melee, as well as the remaining Rock Chunin, all stopped their actions.

They looked toward the direction from which this great sound came!

They knew that, although their side was fighting fiercely, if the other side were to decide the victor in a short time,

They also needed to prepare early on their side!

In most cases, a ninja battle still relies on the strongest leader among them to decide the outcome.

But when they turned their gaze toward that battlefield they were watching, a blinding white flash of lightning appeared before the smoke cleared, imprinting itself on their vision.

This caused everyone looking this way to squint, their eyes stung by the white light.

"Fast!"

The Rock special Jonin lowered his head, glanced at his chest, managed to utter these last words, and then large mouthfuls of blood spurted from his mouth.

Bang!

Afterward, he lost all strength, slowly falling backward, breaking free from the Chidori that Dong Shilang had thrust into his chest.

As he fell, the stone staff he had formed with his own chakra, now broken into two pieces, slowly slipped from his hand, dropping onto the grass and emitting two faint muffled sounds.

Originally, when Dong Shilang had used the Chidori's high speed to rush up beside this special Jonin, the latter had noticed somewhat and taken a defensive stance.

Yet, facing Dong Shilang's high-level Lightning Release ninjutsu, neither his stone staff filled with earth-attributed chakra nor his body-hardening technique could save his life.

The opponent's Lightning Release, with its piercing power, was terrifyingly strong; neither his weapon nor his defense had much effect against this high-level ninjutsu that countered his own attribute.

His weapon was severed, his defense shattered—his fate was no surprise!

"This Lightning Release..."

The Gangshan Jonin, who had been secretly observing all this and had witnessed it firsthand, now seemed a little dazed.

He had not expected the opponent's ninjutsu to possess such terrifying power, killing his subordinate with a single move.

You must know that, although the opponent is merely a special Jonin, in terms of sheer strength and speed, many Jonin might not be able to match him.

If it weren't for his shortcomings in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and secret techniques, he would be a proper Jonin.

Moreover, I have never seen this ninjutsu before!

I haven't even heard of it!

"Really..."

The stone ball hidden in the grass, acting as his eyes, cautiously observed the situation, and at that moment the Rock Jonin found himself in a dilemma.

At this point he was completely passive; even with a series of attacks using his comrades as bait, he failed to kill the opponent successfully.

Having lost his comrades' cooperation and seeing the opponent clearly recover, could he still kill the opponent at this point?

But what could he do, fleeing alone in disgrace back to the main camp?

The battle went poorly, the mission failed, and they lost many men. Those clan ninjas who had long disliked him would probably...

As the Gangshan Jonin hesitated, watching his opponent slowly lose life, Dong Shilang couldn't help but feel a twinge of sorrow.

He also wondered whether he himself might one day meet the same fate, being mercilessly slain by a foreign ninja~

Although he had relied on Sage Mode as his trump card this time to successfully kill his opponent, Sage Mode is not omnipotent, especially for someone like him who follows an unorthodox path.

Although at this moment there were two Shadow Clone Jutsu in the main camp helping him store senjutsu chakra, the number of times these clones could assist him is limited, and a large-scale ninja war cannot be won by just three or five Shadow Clone Jutsu rescues.

The enemy's assault came like waves, one after another. Having blocked this wave, he did not know how many more waves were still coming, waiting for him to face.

It felt as if he were steering a small boat through a stormy deep sea, where at any moment a rogue wave from nowhere could wreck the vessel and doom him.

This also explains why he had hesitated to use Sage Mode earlier; he did not want to reveal his trump card until the very last moment.

In order to make this trump card last longer, he put considerable thought into it, setting up a shielding barrier in his tent.

The purpose was that, when the Shadow Clone Jutsu are dispelled, only one clone would lie outside the barrier's range, while the others remain inside it.

This way they would not interfere with each other, so that each time he dispels a Shadow Clone Jutsu, he does not end all of them at once.

Calming his mind and breath, Dong Shilang half-crouched on the ground, slowly extending his right hand, touching the earth with a single palm, and began to sense the whereabouts of the Rock Jonin hiding in the darkness.

"Found it~"

Thanks to the enhancement from senjutsu, his perception at this moment was extraordinarily keen; within just a breath or two, he located the enemy's hiding place.

The enemy's current position lay thirty meters ahead and to his left, about five meters underground.

"Hmm! The enemy is starting to move position~"

"This direction..."

Sensing the direction in which the enemy was retreating, Dong Shilang couldn't help but smile, never expecting the opponent to plan a withdrawal at this moment~

This really is quite unexpected!

He didn't even bother with his subordinates still fighting!

"But that's really wishful thinking!"

"Do you think hiding underground means I can't do anything?"

After locking onto the enemy's position, Dong Shilang didn't dawdle; a few leaps brought him directly above where the Gangshan Jonin was hiding.

He thrust forward with a single hand, a blazing white spear of lightning chakra like a laser, straight toward the enemy's position without any hesitation.

For him now, killing an enemy entailed no burden whatsoever.

In a place where it's kill or be killed, he cannot afford any mercy.

Otherwise, the ones to suffer would be him and his comrades……