How could that be?
Those were Jonin!
Clone Techniques and Substitution Techniques were things even Genin had to master.
The clones Jonin mastered were solid, capable of deceiving the eye.
Their Substitution Techniques were also far superior to those of Genin.
However, before Li Anshi, these maneuvers were utterly useless.
No matter what fancy tricks they employed, Li Anshi could always find their true bodies and send his flying dagger to their necks.
In some respects, when Li Anshi held a dagger, his perception was the strongest in the ninja world!
As he moved, Li Anshi could feel the trajectories of countless daggers spreading out from him as the center.
At the furthest end of these trajectories lay the vital points of various living beings.
"Not this one..."
"This isn't it either!"
Li Anshi advanced rapidly, using the trajectories of these daggers to determine if the beings ahead were Cloud Village ninjas.
Soon, a being with considerable chakra appeared within Li Anshi's perception.
Notably, this ninja seemed to have just consumed chakra to use a ninjutsu.
"Found you!"
Confirming the ninja's identity, Li Anshi's speed suddenly increased, rapidly closing in on the Cloud ninja's location.
And this Cloud ninja, seemingly aware he had been exposed, quickly fled backward.
"Cloud ninja ahead, if you don't want to die, stop immediately! Otherwise, in the next second, my dagger will pierce your throat!"
Li Anshi's words were like a basin of ice water in the dead of winter, chilling the Cloud ninja to the core.
Although in his perception, Li Anshi was nearly a hundred meters away, the trembling sensation at his throat told this Cloud ninja that Li Anshi's words were no mere boast.
"This fellow's daggers, their attack range is actually this far?"
The Cloud ninja was shocked.
The maximum effective killing range of ordinary kunai and shuriken was about ten meters.
Further out, beyond twenty meters, the threat of thrown ninja tools diminished greatly.
At such a distance, with the throwing speed of an average ninja, they were easily avoided.
Unless one used a ninjutsu like the "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique" for wide-area saturation attacks, or, like Tenten decades later with her "Rising Dragon" and "Twin Rising Dragons," directly threw thousands or even tens of thousands of kunai and shuriken from sealing scrolls, only then could one cause significant trouble for mid-range ninjas.
But that Konoha ninja's daggers, their attack range actually reached a terrifying hundred meters without any loss of power...
This information had to be relayed back!
Thinking this, the Cloud ninja bit his finger, his hands rapidly forming seals. Two seconds later, he stopped, half-squatted, and slammed his palm onto the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
A series of black runes spread out rapidly from the Cloud ninja's palm as the center, eventually forming a summoning circle.
Bang!
White smoke billowed, and a fist-sized falcon appeared before the Cloud ninja. Before it could speak, it was snatched up by the Cloud ninja and stuffed into his pocket, only its small, bewildered eyes peeking out.
Swoosh!
A hundred meters – at Li Anshi's speed, it took less than five seconds to cross, bringing him behind the Cloud ninja.
As a sensory ninja, this Cloud ninja naturally sensed Li Anshi appear behind him. He instantly stiffened, not daring to make another move.
"Hello there."
"..."
The Cloud ninja slowly rose, turned to face Li Anshi, and swiftly drew two kunai from his ninja tool pouch, assuming a defensive stance.
At such close range, forming hand seals for ninjutsu was impossible; only with kunai could he offer some resistance.
As for whether it was useful or useless...
Who knew?
But he wasn't willing to go down without a fight.
Swoosh—
Chakra erupted from beneath his feet, and the Cloud ninja rapidly closed in on Li Anshi.
Li Anshi spread his hands, chakra diffusing from his palms, swirling around him.
"Revolving Heaven!"
Boom!
The rapidly expanding and rotating chakra sphere directly sent the Cloud ninja flying.
The kunai he held were knocked away by the rapidly spinning force, and his hands were torn, blood dripping from them.
Bang—
The Cloud ninja crashed to the ground. He immediately rolled several times before using the momentum to get back on his feet.
But in the next moment, Li Anshi's figure appeared behind him, the flying dagger in his hand pressed against the Cloud ninja's neck.
"My friend from the Cloud Village, if you move again, I can't guarantee where my dagger will end up on your body next time. I imagine a ninja left behind in the Land of Grass to monitor Konoha's movements wouldn't doubt my ability to do so!"
Li Anshi's words weren't wrong.
The reason the Cloud ninjas had withdrawn from the Land of Grass was because they had detected Konoha transporting over three thousand "flying daggers" to the front line.
Furthermore, this information hadn't been obtained through any particular channel but was an accident.
If Mandara hadn't coincidentally encountered Konoha's supply convoy, they might have remained oblivious until those daggers reached Konoha's camp.
At that time, if Konoha, led by Li Anshi, launched an assault on the Cloud ninjas, even if the Third Raikage's injuries had mostly healed, he wouldn't be confident of surviving Li Anshi's hand again.
All the sensory ninjas left in the Land of Grass knew their purpose: to constantly monitor Li Anshi's movements and report them back to the village, allowing them to determine their strategy based on Li Anshi's location.
"Heh, Your Excellency Li, do you think we ninjas of the Cloud Village fear death?"
Although terrified, this Cloud sensory ninja's tone showed no weakness.
Of course, while his tone was firm, this Cloud ninja made no further unnecessary movements.
As a Cloud Village ninja, he naturally knew that until the village found Li Anshi's weakness and figured out how to fight or even kill him, Li Anshi remained a major threat to the Cloud Village.
The more intelligence they could gather on Li Anshi, the greater the village's chances of victory.
After summoning his creature, this Cloud ninja's plan was to stall for more time and gather more information on Li Anshi.
As for death?
From the day they became ninjas, they were destined to walk alongside death.
"Tsk, your words make me want to laugh."
Li Anshi clicked his tongue. "If you Cloud ninjas don't fear death, why did you withdraw from the Land of Grass so easily?"
"You didn't even have the courage to stay here and fight us honorably. How do you have the gall to say that to my face?"