Qianhu Men was being held hostage.
Earlier, Kumano An had made it clear—threatening Qianhu Men with the Kiri Village to force compliance. The main culprit behind this incident was now obvious: the Mist Village.
It was also evident that the enemy's true target was the **Secret Treasure of the Land of Rivers**—a treasure Ye Liang himself desired. Since only Princess Naizi knew its whereabouts, the enemy hadn't succeeded yet.
"Wanting to compete with me for the treasure? That's practically asking for death," Ye Liang coldly mused.
The fact that Qianhu Men was being forced by Kiri didn't mean Ye Liang feared the Mist Village.
At this time, the Mist Village should still be under the control of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi—and Yagura had already been defeated by Ye Liang before!
So in that case, there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
Ye Liang relaxed.
Kumano An suddenly glanced toward Ye Liang.
This figure who had been present in his vision from the very beginning wasn't someone he had ignored.
However, since his earlier attention had been focused on Qianhu Men and Naizi Fujiwara, he hadn't paid much attention to him.
"Qianhu Men, who is this guy? Why is he here?"
This person...
Qianhu Men knew exactly who Kumano An was talking about, but he wasn't sure how to explain it.
Was this guy another bandit after the same treasure?
He cleared his throat. "Just some random guy. He helped catch Princess Naizi and came looking for a reward from your village."
"A reward? From your River Shinobi Village?" Kumano An gave a bitter chuckle, then added, "Didn't realize your River Shinobi Village actually had a system for rewarding contributions."
As he spoke, he suddenly lashed out with a palm strike aimed straight at Ye Liang!
Powerful and heavy!
It was aimed directly at Ye Liang's neck—an attempt to silence him permanently.
"Qianhu Men, you useless bastard! How could you leave any witnesses behind when doing such dirty work!" Kumano An roared furiously, not hesitating for a second with his hand.
"He actually made the first move!"
Far away, Qianhu Men was first shocked, then quickly filled with joy.
Kumano An had attacked Ye Liang!
To Qianhu Men, Ye Liang was a top-tier ninja!
The reason he brought Ye Liang along was twofold: one, because Ye said he wanted to help; and two, because Qianhu simply couldn't defeat Ye!
He had no choice but to bring him along!
That's also why Qianhu Men hadn't fully revealed everything from the start.
"You really want to die, huh?"
Ye Liang smiled.
He'd been waiting for a chance to make a move, and now Kumano An practically handed him an excuse by swinging straight at his neck.
After all, someone who truly wants to die—you can never stop them!
With a snap of his fingers, Ye unleashed a [Shinra Tensei]!
This time, the power was minimal—limited only to the immediate area in front of him, so Ye had no concerns about accidentally harming others.
Kumano An froze.
Before he could react, he felt a massive repulsive force crashing into him.
"Qianhu Men, you dare rebel against me!"
That was his first thought.
[Crash!]
He was hurled violently into the wall!
"How painful... It feels like my body's about to break apart!"
That was his second reaction.
Qianhu Men felt helpless.
He didn't trust Ye Liang one bit, figuring he was just another Tora after the treasure—but never had he expected the wolf and tiger to clash first!
And it was actually the wolf who made the first move?
"You can't really blame me for this," Qianhu Men shrugged at Kumano An.
Kumano An stood up, biting back intense pain.
Though he'd smashed into the wall, he wasn't knocked out. After all, he himself was an elite jonin. But he was scared!
In Kumano An's eyes, Ye Liang—who he'd originally thought weak—had turned out shockingly strong!
This was clearly a blatant conspiracy!
Qianhu Men must've planned rebellion from the start by bringing along Ye Liang, someone equally formidable.
He wanted to escape.
A mere elite jonin like Kumano An already struggled facing Qianhu Men alone, let alone Ye Liang—who looked even stronger!
At this moment, a thunderous boom suddenly echoed from the pitch-black ceiling!
Boom!
Five tall, thin shinobi from River Village dropped down: "Lord Kumano An, now is our chance to prove our loyalty!"
Kumano An startled but quickly recognized them.
If his memory served right, these were also shinobi from River Village. Because they had surrendered early, he remembered them clearly.
It was Qianhu Nagare's group!
Qianhu Men's eyes flickered.
Qianhu Nagare was his clansman and also an elder of River Village, yet because he himself had continuously held the position of Lord Rivershadow, they'd been unable to rise in rank.
Now with River Village under Mist control, they sensed their opportunity—and rebelled.
Qianhu Men's expression instantly stiffened as he shouted angrily, "Qianhu Nagare, you're aiding a tyrant!"
"Good! Very good! As long as you can ensure my safe escape from River Village, once the Mist army arrives, I'll have my father appoint you as Lord Rivershadow of this village!" Kumano An hurriedly said, then quickly jumped through the broken rooftop.
He bolted!
In his view, though these rebelling shinobi were strong, they absolutely couldn't save him. After all, their old leader was still around.
And there was still another person.
Ye Liang!
Ye Liang had barely hit him once, and he already knew the truth!
This man was extremely powerful!
Possibly even stronger than his father!
Since Kumano An was an elite jonin himself, he naturally had his own insights.
Yagura was his father, and he'd fought against him before.
His father was fearsome, yet completely no match for Ye Liang—not only because of Ye Liang's imposing aura, but especially because of that overwhelming Shinra Tensei just now!
[Shinra Tensei] Completely condensing one's chakra, then releasing boundless repulsive force!
Such an immensely powerful jutsu, not only might jonin struggle to perform, but even some powerful Kage-level masters could fail.
Plus, Ye Liang hadn't even performed any hand seals!
Someone capable of unleashing such a terrifying technique without hand seals—he'd never encountered anyone like that before. Just this one move alone, and his father definitely couldn't defeat him!
"I can only hope those shinobi can hold him back!" Kumano An rapidly fled across rooftops.
On the streets below,
the people who normally lived under Kumano An's shadow were confused.
"What happened to the once-invincible Kumano An? Why does he look so broken today?"
As for Ye Liang —
Qianhu Men's horizons were expanding again!
He hadn't even caught a glimpse of Ye Liang moving before Qianhu Nagare and his group were already taken down!
"It seems he held back during our fight earlier," Qianhu Men thought to himself.
Ye Liang sprang out of the Hokage office.
Since Ye Liang took out those trashy guys in under ten seconds, Kumano An naturally hadn't gotten far. He cast a deep glance at Ye Liang.
And panicked.
"Damn it! How did he catch up so fast? Where are those bastards? Weren't they supposed to block him?" Kumano An became as frantic as if injected with adrenaline and bolted toward the distance.
His neck flushed red.
"And just where do you think you're running off to, brat?" Ye Liang smirked.
In his hand, the kunai already activated the Flying Thunder God Technique with terrifying speed!
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