Taking advantage of the insight provided by his Sharingan, Qingming immediately noticed the turmoil in Terumi Mei's eyes. However, he didn't dwell on her internal conflict. At this moment, he was already back on the surface of the sea, level with her.
Without hesitation, he surged forward. As he ran, he rapidly formed hand seals and unleashed the jutsu—Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Technique!
In an instant, fireballs resembling phoenix flowers shot from his mouth, streaking across the sky like shooting stars towards Terumi Mei.
Moreover, to enhance the attack's lethality, he threw several shuriken among the fireballs, directing them at Terumi Mei as well.
The fireballs soared, and the hidden shuriken aimed to strike her, but they were abruptly halted by a rising water wall.
It turned out that the moment he launched his attack, Terumi Mei had quickly reacted, retreating while forming hand seals. Just before the fireballs reached her, she executed Water Release: Water Barrier!
This not only blocked his jutsu but also stopped the shuriken that accompanied the fireballs.
Qingming didn't mind this too much; his intention in casting the jutsu was to distract her and create an opportunity to close the distance.
And now, his objective had been achieved.
Clang!
He unsheathed his long sword.
Qingming closed the distance to Terumi Mei and struck out with his blade, its cold gleam causing her gaze to wander momentarily.
"Not good!"
Suddenly, Terumi Mei snapped back to attention, quickly focusing her mind and relying on instinct to evade and block Qingming's sword strikes.
In an instant, the two were entangled in battle once again.
Seeing the situation tipping back into a defensive position, Terumi Mei gritted her teeth and, risking the injury to her left arm, abruptly distanced herself from Qingming.
The next moment, she moved with unprecedented speed to form hand seals, unleashing her bloodline jutsu—Liquid Release: Dissolving Monster Technique!
Pfft!
A large spray of noxious, viscous liquid shot towards Qingming's face.
Not daring to take it head-on, he quickly dodged to the side, narrowly escaping the corrosive fate.
Instant Sword Technique!
Almost immediately after evading the attack, he summoned wind chakra and executed the technique, rapidly closing in on Terumi Mei.
However, Terumi Mei was no slouch either; she flipped her hands and, from seemingly nowhere, produced several kunai, launching them like a shower of petals towards his vital points.
Seeing this, Qingming activated his Sharingan, swiftly analyzing the trajectory of the kunai.
In the blink of an eye, his body glimmered with azure light as he used Instant Sword Technique to evade the incoming projectiles.
While he successfully dodged her attack, this gave Terumi Mei the chance to create distance between them once more.
Without hesitation, she unleashed another Liquid Release: Dissolving Monster Technique.
Qingming, still wary, again opted to evade rather than confront her directly.
Thus, the battle devolved into a game of cat and mouse, with Terumi Mei launching attacks while Qingming skillfully evaded them.
······
Time passed slowly.
Gradually, Terumi Mei began to feel overwhelmed.
While Qingming primarily fought with his swordsmanship, occasionally supplementing with ninjutsu and genjutsu, Terumi Mei relied heavily on ninjutsu to exploit her advantages.
This disparity meant their chakra consumption was not on the same level.
Additionally, the pressures each faced were different, leading to predictable results.
Huff... Huff...
Terumi Mei stood on the surface of the sea, battered and gasping for breath, gazing at Qingming in the distance, her eyes filled with unwillingness.
At this moment, Qingming appeared largely unchanged compared to the beginning. Other than some tattered clothing, he showed no visible injuries, with not a single wound in sight.
This didn't mean he hadn't been hurt; rather, any injuries he sustained had been healed during the battle through his modified Healing Palm Technique.
As their situations contrasted starkly, it reflected the disparity in their states.
This was also the reason behind Terumi Mei's reluctance.
However, despite her unwillingness, she was left with no choice.
If she had felt conflicted before, there was no more time for indecision; retreat was now imperative.
With a glance at the battlefield's perimeter, she realized that the advantage she had gained while Qingming was absent had completely vanished after a few minutes.
If this continued, not only would she perish here, but her comrades would also meet the same fate.
With this thought, Terumi Mei made up her mind, swiftly retreating to the outer edge of the battlefield, near Qing, signaling him to withdraw.
Although Qing's state was still dire, he had managed to staunch the bleeding from his chest injury, regaining a bit of his fighting strength.
Seeing Terumi Mei's signal, he wasted no time and immediately pulled out a whistle, blowing it with urgency.
Suddenly, the sharp sound of the whistle pierced the air.
The mist ninjas, who had been focused on the fight, immediately responded to the order to retreat.
As they began to fall back, Uchiha Tiehuo and Kanda Yoshikazu quickly moved to Qingming's side, asking, "Captain, should we pursue?"
Hearing this, Qingming turned to see Terumi Mei and her group fleeing in the direction of the mist's warships—the same direction leading to their base in the Land of Waves.
It was clear that Terumi Mei intended to regroup with the main force of the Mist.
After all, on the vast ocean, there was nowhere for them to go other than the large ships; only those four warships could ensure their safe return.
Coincidentally, their own mission was to launch a surprise attack from behind the Mist.
While that plan was now virtually impossible to execute, they still needed to head towards the main battlefield.
Therefore, pursuing them along the way made sense.
However, as Qingming surveyed the battlefield, he noted that only twenty-one Leaf ninjas remained, all of them wounded.
Given this situation, it was unwise to pursue immediately.
In their current state, even if they caught up, they might not be able to stop the retreat, and encountering enemy reinforcements would only complicate matters further.
After some thought, Qingming decided to rest briefly before leading his team in pursuit.
When he conveyed this decision, both Uchiha Tiehuo and Kanda Yoshikazu visibly relaxed.
It was evident they had no desire to rush into a pursuit.
Noticing their subtle expressions, Qingming instructed, "You two immediately assess the losses in each team and check everyone's injuries. Those with serious wounds can come to me first."
"Understood, Captain!"
Uchiha Tiehuo and Kanda Yoshikazu acknowledged and quickly dispersed.
Watching their retreating figures, Qingming stopped overthinking and used Body Flicker Technique to reach the lookout tower on the reef.
Ignoring the blood and corpses scattered on the ground, he found a relatively clean spot and began to meditate.
The continuous travel and battles had left him utterly exhausted, and he needed to rest as quickly as possible.
This was one of the reasons he refrained from impulsively pursuing the enemy.
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