Chapter 141: Taking Action
Fifteen minutes later.
Seimei arrived at the other battlefield.
Before even getting close, he spotted a lone Iwa genin.
Seimei's eyes lit up, and he was about to approach, but suddenly he seemed to think of something and quickly activated his Sharingan, scanning the surroundings.
However, he didn't find the expected ambush. It seemed the other party was truly alone.
"Could it be that I'm overthinking?"
Seimei was puzzled and decided to observe for a while longer.
Soon, two minutes passed.
Seimei still hadn't found anything. The Iwa genin below continued to move forward, seemingly intending to catch up with the main force.
After some thought, Seimei no longer hesitated. He formed the 'Mi' hand seal with his hands and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly behind the genin.
Thump
A single chop to the neck, and the genin fell straight to the ground.
Seimei stood in place, vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
A full minute passed, and still nothing happened. Seimei finally confirmed that this was indeed just a lone Iwa genin, not some bait.
"So I've been playing mind games with the air this whole time."
Shaking his head, Seimei stopped thinking about it, grabbed the Iwa genin on the ground, and leaped into the forest, arriving at a relatively hidden spot.
Slap Slap
Seimei slapped the Iwa genin on both cheeks, quickly waking him up.
Then, before the genin could fully regain consciousness, he cast the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' and guided him to start recalling the information he needed.
A few minutes later, Seimei learned the genin's name - Ishiki Ichiro.
The reason why he was alone was that during the previous battle, he had accidentally fallen into a Cloud ninja's genjutsu and collapsed in a corner.
And because all his teammates were already dead and no one cared about him, he didn't wake up until recently.
So, he naturally became separated.
After figuring this out, Seimei was speechless.
Sometimes things were that simple; it was just that people overcomplicated them.
However, Seimei didn't feel embarrassed at all.
Even if he encountered such a situation again, he would still do the same. After all, compared to wasting a bit of time, his own life was more important.
Who could guarantee that next time it wouldn't be a trap?
Therefore, when caution was necessary, he couldn't afford to relax in the slightest.
"But..."
Seimei looked at Ishiki Ichiro, who was still immersed in the illusion, and felt that his identity and experiences were quite suitable. Perhaps he could save him a lot of trouble.
Thinking this, Seimei quickly formed hand seals and then pressed his hand on top of Ishiki's head, casting the 'Chakra Absorption Technique'.
This time, he didn't need to be as cautious as he was with the injured Iwa ninjas, fearing that the other party would detect any abnormalities.
This time, Seimei directly activated the 'Chakra Absorption Technique' at full power. In less than two seconds, he drained all the chakra from the genin.
After all, he was just a genin and didn't have much chakra in his body.
However, Seimei didn't stop. He continued to extract the genin's mental and physical energy, converting them into chakra and absorbing it into his own body.
Another two seconds later, Seimei released his hand.
At this point, Ishiki Ichiro was on the verge of death, and no more chakra could be squeezed out of him.
Crack
Seimei twisted the genin's neck and then formed hand seals to cast the 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique', burning his body.
Then, he used the Transformation Technique to transform into the genin's appearance and continued walking forward along his original path.
Along the way, he saw many corpses, both Cloud ninja and Iwa ninja, but no wounded.
The Cloud ninja were understandable. Even if there were wounded, they would either be taken away by their comrades or finished off by the Iwa ninja, so it was unlikely for any to be left behind.
But the Iwa ninja were different. This was their home turf. It didn't make sense for there to be no wounded at all!
Seimei was puzzled. As he was walking, he suddenly stopped and looked towards the forest on one side, his ears twitching.
Faintly, he seemed to hear pained groans, a sound he had heard all day yesterday and was very familiar with.
Without any hesitation, Seimei walked straight towards the direction of the sound.
However, before he could go far, a kunai flew towards him and embedded itself in the tree in front of him.
Seimei looked in the direction the kunai had come from and saw an Iwa jonin standing on a tree branch, looking down at him.
"Name? Squad number? Why are you here?"
A cold voice came from the jonin, giving the impression that if he answered one word wrong, he would be sent to meet his maker.
Seeing this, Seimei quickly lowered his head, pretending to be terrified, and replied, "I, I'm Ishiki Ichiro, from Squad E379.
Just now, during the battle, I accidentally fell under a genjutsu. When I woke up, there was no one around me, and now I'm rushing to the battlefield.
As for why I'm here..."
Seimei carefully glanced at the jonin and used his peripheral vision to scan a few other spots before continuing, "I just heard a sound from here, so I thought I'd come and check it out."
After hearing his explanation, the Iwa jonin in front remained silent, seemingly judging the truth of his words.
After a while, he finally said coldly, "This has nothing to do with you, Ishiki Ichiro. As a jonin, I order you to immediately rush to the battlefield without delay. Do you understand?"
"Ye-yes!"
Seimei hurriedly agreed and turned to leave.
But at this moment, the Iwa jonin suddenly called out to him, "Wait, you..."
However, before he could finish his sentence, Seimei had already activated his three-tomoe Sharingan.
Even though this Iwa jonin was very vigilant, he didn't expect Seimei to possess the Sharingan.
Therefore, the moment their eyes met, he was hypnotized by Seimei.
Although it was only for an instant, it was enough for Seimei to launch an attack.
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh
Three shuriken flew out of his hand.
Sensing the danger, the Iwa jonin broke free from the hypnosis, but he could only block one shuriken.
The other two, one embedded itself in his left arm, and the other in his right leg, limiting both his ability to form hand seals and his ability to escape.
Seizing this opportunity, Seimei used the Body Flicker Technique to approach the jonin at high speed, with a short sword already in his hand.
And the moment he left his original spot, several kunai pierced the ground where he had been standing.
Obviously, the other party wasn't alone.
But that didn't matter.
Because the strongest one among them had already been approached by him. As long as he dealt with this one, the others were no threat.
Seimei had already sensed the chakra of the others while talking earlier. They were at most chunin level and posed no threat to him at all.
Even this Iwa jonin, who was the strongest among them, was most likely just a special jonin. Overall, the risk was manageable, so he took action.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind. He unleashed his lv5 'Swordsmanship', and coupled with his three-tomoe Sharingan, once again displayed its unpredictable movements.
In the blink of an eye, Seimei left a deep wound on the Iwa jonin, who was already hindered in his movements...
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 142: A Big Haul
"Captain!"
Seeing that the Iwa jonin was almost stabbed through the heart by Seimei's sword, several Iwa chunin cried out in alarm and jumped out to join forces against Seimei.
However, with just a glance, Seimei knocked down the first Iwa chunin who jumped out.
Then, before the chunin could recover from the hypnosis, a shuriken flew over.
The shuriken drew a graceful arc in the air and finally accurately pierced the chunin's abdomen, incapacitating them without taking their life.
This shocked the other two Iwa chunin, who both stopped in their tracks.
"Be careful, don't make eye contact with him!"
At this moment, the Iwa jonin spoke.
"Hehe~"
Hearing this, Seimei chuckled and launched another attack.
Clang clang clang
The crisp sound of metal clashing rang out continuously.
Seimei fought against three opponents at once, not giving an inch.
No, to be more precise, he was completely overwhelming the three of them.
A mere two ordinary chunin, plus a severely injured special jonin, couldn't put any pressure on Seimei.
If it weren't for the need to avoid vital points and preserve their lives, Seimei could have ended the battle long ago.
However, it was time to end it.
Seimei glanced at the deeper part of the forest from the corner of his eye.
There, he could vaguely see some bandaged figures approaching, and behind them, even more figures were struggling to get up.
Obviously, the groans he had heard earlier were from these wounded.
The Iwa jonin and the three Iwa chunin in front of him were their guards.
To prevent any accidents, Seimei decided to reveal one of his trump cards and end the battle quickly.
Clang
Another clash between kunai and short sword.
Seimei looked at the Iwa jonin who was close at hand and suddenly raised his left hand, completing hand seals with one hand, much to the jonin's shock.
'Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique~'
Seimei opened his mouth and spat out dozens of flames shaped like phoenix sage seeds.
The distance was too close. Even though the Iwa jonin sensed something was wrong and retreated instantly, he still couldn't completely dodge.
Two flames accurately hit his legs. The intense heat caused him to instantly lose his mobility.
Not only him, but the other two Iwa chunin also couldn't escape. Seimei controlled over a dozen flames, cornering them.
Whoosh Whoosh
Two shuriken flew out, accurately piercing their abdomens. Again, it didn't take their lives, but it rendered them combat ineffective.
At this time, the footsteps of the wounded in the forest were getting closer.
Seimei didn't hesitate at all and immediately crossed his hands, performing the 'Shadow Clone Technique'. His figure instantly split into six.
Seimei looked at the four newly created shadow clones and said, "I'll leave it to you."
"Mm."
The shadow clones nodded and then rushed into the forest.
With their strength, dealing with those wounded was more than enough.
...
Fifteen minutes later.
The battle ended.
All the captives were knocked unconscious and gathered in one place.
Looking at the Iwa ninjas lying on the ground, Seimei couldn't hide the joy on his face anymore.
"As expected, coming here was the right choice."
Mumbling to himself, Seimei started counting the number of people.
After counting, the joy on his face intensified.
There were a total of thirty-four captives on the field, the most he had ever captured at once.
Among these thirty-four, there was one jonin, twenty-seven chunin, and only six genin.
Based on his past experience, if he disregarded their lives and extracted their chakra to the fullest, a genin could provide him with about three thousand chakra points, a chunin between six thousand and ten thousand points, and a jonin generally over fifteen thousand.
Although these people were mostly wounded and their chakra wouldn't be particularly abundant, the total amount was still considerable.
Seimei did a quick calculation. If he drained all thirty-four of them, he could gain approximately two hundred thousand chakra points.
If all this chakra was used to practice the 'Reflecting Heart Technique', he could gain one thousand two hundred and fifty proficiency points.
Correspondingly, the evolution progress of his Sharingan would also increase by one thousand two hundred and fifty points.
Undoubtedly, this was a massive improvement.
However, Seimei couldn't do that.
The reason was simple: not enough time.
Casting the 'Reflecting Heart Technique' once would last for about a minute. Only after the special chakra in his brain disappeared could he cast it a second time.
One thousand two hundred and fifty times meant a full twenty hours. He obviously couldn't stay here for twenty hours.
As for how long he could specifically stay...
Seimei went straight to the Iwa jonin he had fought with earlier.
Slap Slap
Two slaps woke him up.
Then, he cast the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' and guided the jonin to recall relevant information.
Soon, Seimei got the answer: at most three hours.
After three hours, someone would come to take these wounded away. He had to leave before then.
In other words, he had at most three hours to practice the 'Reflecting Heart Technique'.
And this was only enough to consume less than thirty thousand chakra points.
Of course, Seimei had also thought about using shadow clones to speed things up.
But that was useless.
The 'Reflecting Heart Technique' directly stimulated the brain to produce a special kind of chakra, thereby promoting the evolution of the Sharingan.
Although shadow clones were physical clones, they couldn't complete this step, so using them was pointless.
At this moment, Seimei regretted not learning a sealing technique like the 'Yin Seal' that could store chakra!
However, regret was useless. Now he could only make do.
Although shadow clones couldn't assist him in practicing the 'Reflecting Heart Technique', they could still practice other ninjutsu, even if the efficiency was a bit lower.
Proficiency, in the end, was about understanding ninjutsu. These shadow clones didn't have the proficiency panel's assistance, and although they would encounter bottlenecks during their practice, they could still summarize their experiences.
As long as he promptly collected these experiences and converted them into proficiency, and then created shadow clones again for a refresh, he could, to some extent, ignore the existence of bottlenecks.
This was the solution he came up with after discovering that shadow clones didn't have the proficiency panel.
It was just that in the past, chakra wasn't abundant, so there was no need to do this.
Now, the situation was special, and he could just experiment.
Seimei summoned four shadow clones and had them split into two groups, practicing the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' and the 'Rasengan' respectively.
He himself practiced the 'Reflecting Heart Technique'.
As for the last shadow clone, its task was to keep watch.
Although Seimei had already extracted information from the Iwa jonin's mind, the situation on the battlefield could change rapidly. No one knew what would happen in the next second. What if the Iwa ninjas responsible for transporting the wounded arrived early?
He couldn't be completely unprepared, right?
So, vigilance was still very necessary.
With everything ready, Seimei didn't waste any more time and immediately used the 'Chakra Absorption Technique' to extract chakra from the Iwa jonin in front of him.
Once his chakra was replenished, he quickly entered a cultivation state.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 143: Draining the Pond to Catch the Fish
Fifteen minutes later.
The two shadow clones practicing the Rasengan were the first to collapse, transforming into a mass of chakra and returning to the original body along with their experiences and memories.
Seimei, who was practicing the Reflecting Heart Technique, frowned slightly, then diverted a part of his consciousness to start merging these experiences and memories.
A moment later, he opened his eyes and glanced at the panel. The proficiency of the Rasengan had increased by thirty points.
With the same amount of chakra, if the original body practiced it personally, he could gain about forty-five proficiency points.
In other words, the shadow clone's training efficiency was only two-thirds of the original body's.
And this was only the efficiency in the short term.
If it continued for a long time without refreshing the shadow clone's state, this efficiency would decrease further until it encountered a bottleneck, and the efficiency would drop to zero.
However, Seimei would definitely not let such a thing happen.
Glancing at the two shadow clones still practicing the Genjutsu: Sharingan, Seimei thought for a moment and took the initiative to release the Shadow Clone Technique.
Immediately, two more streams of experience and memories returned, and Seimei carefully savored them.
After fully merging these experiences and memories, he opened the panel and glanced at it.
The proficiency of Genjutsu: Sharingan had increased by fifty points, and the efficiency was also about two-thirds of the original body's.
Seimei nodded in satisfaction, then went to an Iwa ninja, used the Chakra Absorption Technique to absorb their chakra, and replenished his own chakra to full capacity.
Then, he used the Shadow Clone Technique again, creating four shadow clones, and started a new round of training.
Just like that, every fifteen minutes or so, Seimei would refresh the state of the four shadow clones and replenish his chakra, repeating the cycle.
Soon, an hour and a half passed.
After Seimei once again merged the Rasengan training experiences from two shadow clones, the proficiency of his Rasengan directly reached lv1 (197/200)!
Considering the possible bottleneck, Seimei simply paused his practice of the Reflecting Heart Technique and personally practiced the Rasengan three times.
As a result, without any surprise, his Rasengan directly crossed into the lv2 level.
Consequently, Seimei's understanding of the Rasengan also reached a new level.
Now, when casting this technique, both the speed and the condensed chakra ball were much stronger than before.
However, there was still a long way to go before reaching the point where he could infuse Wind Release chakra and develop the S-rank ninjutsu - Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
Seimei wasn't too anxious about this.
Anyway, he hadn't fully mastered the Shape and Nature Transformation of Wind Release chakra yet. Even if he increased the level of the Rasengan now, it would be difficult to complete the step of infusing Wind Release chakra.
So...
"Let's take it one step at a time!"
Mumbling to himself, Seimei gathered his thoughts, once again performed the Shadow Clone Technique, created four shadow clones, and continued the previous training.
...
Time passed by second by second.
In the blink of an eye, more than an hour passed.
Seeing that the three-hour time limit was about to arrive, Seimei finally achieved his set goal.
Out of a total of two hundred thousand chakra points, twenty-eight thousand were used to practice the Reflecting Heart Technique, gaining one hundred and eighty proficiency points.
One hundred and fifty thousand were used on the Rasengan and Genjutsu: Sharingan, increasing their proficiency by three hundred and sixty points and six hundred points, respectively.
Another twenty thousand chakra points were consumed due to frequent use of the Shadow Clone Technique.
To be honest, seeing this consumption made Seimei feel a bit心疼, but there was no other way. To save time, he could only do this.
Seimei stood up, glanced at the corpses of the Iwa ninjas on the ground, then formed hand seals and cast the 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique'.
Boom
Crimson flames spread out, engulfing all the corpses in the blink of an eye.
The smell of burning flesh and blood wafted over. Seimei frowned, covered his nose, and took two steps back. Only after all the corpses were charred did he leave the place.
Not long after he left, a dozen Iwa ninjas escorted two medical ninjas to this location.
Obviously, they were the Iwa ninjas responsible for receiving these wounded.
However, all that awaited them were charred corpses all over the ground.
Immediately, all the Iwa ninjas' expressions changed.
Some looked around vigilantly, some contacted their superiors to report the situation here, and others searched for traces of the enemy.
In short, they were all very busy.
And by the time they found some clues, Seimei had already found his second target.
It was a four-man team, currently hurrying on their way, their destination unknown.
Seimei carefully followed them for a distance, confirming that there was no one else around and that all four were only chunin, then decisively took action.
With almost no effort, all four were knocked down by him.
Then, Seimei directly used the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' to guide the leading Iwa chunin to recall the relevant information about their mission.
Soon, he figured out the mission of these four people.
It turned out that they were on their way to deliver a piece of intelligence.
As for the content of the intelligence...
Seimei opened the man's clothes and took out a scroll from his chest, but upon seeing the sealing talisman attached to it, he gave up the idea of checking it.
Intelligence like this required a corresponding method to open it; otherwise, the scroll would self-destruct.
And obviously, these four expendable tools couldn't possibly know the correct method.
So, Seimei didn't waste any time on it.
Glancing at the surroundings, Seimei used the Shadow Clone Technique to create a shadow clone, then the two of them, each carrying two Iwa chunin, left the original spot.
After finding a secluded corner, Seimei ordered the shadow clone to keep watch while he started the preparations for his training.
Based on his previous experience, if he pushed them to their limits, these four Iwa chunin could probably provide him with about thirty thousand chakra points.
This time, there was no rush, and he could use all this chakra for practicing the Reflecting Heart Technique.
In this way, he could gain over one hundred and eighty proficiency points.
Actually, if he wanted to accumulate proficiency most efficiently, he should have done the same as before, finding a place to practice by himself.
Then, he would let his shadow clones go out and capture prisoners, harvesting their chakra in a gradual and sustainable way.
Only in this way could he fully utilize the value of these captives.
At the same time, it wouldn't waste too much time.
But in the current situation, staying in one place was too dangerous, so he could only temporarily abandon this method.
Fortunately, this time, in order to encircle the Third Raikage and the elite Cloud ninja he led, Iwagakure had mobilized over ten thousand ninjas.
With so many ninjas gathered together, even with good training, there was bound to be some chaos.
In this way, he could easily find targets to attack and wouldn't waste too much time.
Shaking his head, Seimei put these miscellaneous thoughts aside, calmed his mind, and began to seriously comprehend the entire process of the Reflecting Heart Technique taking effect.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 144: Three Days Later
Three hours later.
It was nearing dusk.
Seimei finally finished absorbing the chakra from the four Iwa-nin Chunin.
Afterwards, he skillfully executed the C-rank ninjutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, completing the task of destroying the bodies.
Next, he hurried to a location closer to the battlefield, searching for his next target.
Seimei knew the Third Raikage could only hold on for three days, after which he would die of exhaustion.
By then, Iwagakure would have its hands free, and if he acted then, the risks would increase dramatically.
Therefore, he had to seize the time and improve himself as much as possible within these three days. After that, he would have to consider leaving the Land of Earth.
With this thought in mind, Seimei couldn't help but quicken his pace.
...
Time flew by, and three days passed.
This afternoon.
In a stone forest near the northwestern border of the Land of Earth, over twenty Iwa-nin were lying on the ground, occasionally letting out groans of pain. They were clearly all wounded.
In front of them stood Seimei and his four shadow clones.
Logically, capturing so many Iwa-nin should have made him happy, but there was no joy on Seimei's face at this moment.
No other reason, but that information about him might have been leaked.
Seimei cast his gaze towards an Iwa-nin Jonin in front. Even though the Jonin's hands were crippled and there was a twisted,狰狞 wound on his chest, there was still no fear in his eyes.
Seeing Seimei looking over, the Jonin said fiercely, "Uchiha brat, just you wait. Soon someone will come for you.
You can defeat one of me, but can you defeat the entire Iwagakure?
Having killed so many of us, the Third Tsuchikage won't let you off!"
"Shut up!"
Hearing this, Seimei frowned and said to the shadow clone beside him, "Make him shut up!"
The next moment, the shadow clone flashed and appeared behind the Iwa-nin Jonin. Then, with a chop to the neck, the Jonin was knocked unconscious.
"Takagi-Jonin!"
Seeing the Iwa-nin Jonin being knocked out, several Iwa-nin in the crowd shouted out.
This time, without Seimei's command, the other three shadow clones immediately moved, knocking out all the Iwa-nin on the scene in an instant.
Seimei looked at the Iwa-nin on the ground, feeling troubled.
Just as the Iwa-nin Jonin said, he could defeat one of them, but he couldn't defeat the entire Iwagakure.
Well...
At least not now.
And what he was about to face was very likely the pursuit and interception of numerous Iwa-nin.
It all started about ten minutes ago.
At that time, after discovering this gathering point of the wounded, he observed for a while and determined that the guarding force consisted of only one special Jonin and three Iwa-nin Chunin. He then took immediate action.
However, at the most intense moment of the battle, a Jonin suddenly appeared among the wounded, and it wasn't a special Jonin, but a real Jonin.
This caught Seimei completely off guard.
If it weren't for his swordsmanship skills, the Sharingan's assistance, and the timely use of the no-hand-seal 'Rasengan' to land a critical hit on the opponent, the battle might not even be over yet!
Even so, he failed to stop the opponent's summoning beast, a pangolin, which burrowed into the ground and disappeared in an instant.
It was precisely because of this that Seimei said his information might have been leaked.
Fighting two Jonin, he naturally couldn't maintain the 'Transformation Technique', and his true appearance had already been exposed.
And that pangolin had been hiding for a long time, definitely witnessing everything.
Now, it had escaped.
It was foreseeable that his appearance would soon be known throughout Iwagakure.
That was fine, it was just his appearance, a 'Transformation Technique' could solve that.
The key was that his strength had been exposed, so what awaited him next would definitely not be Chunin, but at the very least special Jonin.
Thus, he had to be cautious.
With his current strength, dealing with one or two Jonin was still manageable, but if that number increased to three, it would become dangerous.
And judging by Iwagakure's arrangements today, it was clear they were already figuring out how to deal with him.
However, this still needed verification.
Thinking this, Seimei went straight to one of the Iwa-nin guards, woke him up with a few slaps, and then began to use the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan' to extract information.
The reason he didn't directly target the two Jonin was that Seimei was afraid there might be some trap.
Although this possibility was small, to be on the safe side, he decided to start with this Iwa-nin Chunin.
To Seimei's surprise, he directly obtained the information he wanted from the Chunin's mind. Iwagakure hadn't encrypted this information at all, or perhaps they didn't think this information was that important.
This saved Seimei a lot of trouble.
He quickly closed his eyes and carefully read the relevant information.
A moment later, Seimei opened his eyes with a "just as I thought" expression on his face.
Based on the Chunin's memory, Seimei had confirmed his guess. Iwagakure's arrangements today were indeed targeted at him.
Of course, before today, they didn't know exactly who he was, only that there was a person or a small team hunting Iwa-nin, particularly fond of targeting the wounded.
So, they followed the traces he left, all the way to this place, and then set up several traps, waiting for him to take the bait.
And Seimei, because the past three days had been too smooth, after discovering this gathering point of the wounded, only confirmed the status of the four guards and didn't carefully investigate the situation of the wounded.
In the end, he fell right into the trap.
It was also fortunate that the Third Raikage wasn't dead yet, and the main force of the Cloud ninja hadn't completely escaped the pursuit of Iwagakure, tying up a considerable number of their forces.
Otherwise, if Iwagakure had arranged a few more high-level ninja, he wouldn't have been able to defeat them so quickly.
At that time, let alone defeating them, it would be considered good if he didn't get captured there.
Thinking of this, Seimei couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.
"No, I can't stay here for long!"
Seimei abruptly stood up, ready to have the shadow clones deal with the Iwa-nin on the ground and then leave this place immediately.
However, when he saw the Iwa-nin all over the ground, he still felt somewhat reluctant.
These over twenty Iwa-nin, Seimei only needed to do a quick calculation to know that these people could provide him with at least 150,000 chakra points.
This was not a small number!
After hesitating for a moment, Seimei finally decided to take a gamble, letting the shadow clones cultivate together with him, using the fastest speed to consume this chakra.
Of course, his decision to stay wasn't entirely because he was reluctant to part with this chakra.
Although this chakra wasn't a small amount, with his current chakra recovery speed, accumulating it would only take about a week, far less important than his life.
The reason he decided to stay was that he felt Iwagakure couldn't mobilize enough manpower to threaten him in a short time.
Before discovering this gathering point, he had roughly walked through the surrounding area and hadn't found any signs of a large number of Iwa-nin gathering.
In other words, if Iwagakure wanted to take action against him, they could only mobilize people from farther away, and it was unknown how long it would take for them to arrive.
Moreover, after the pangolin delivered the information back, Iwagakure still needed to go through layers of reporting and approval, which would also take some time.
It was precisely considering these factors that Seimei decided to stay and take a gamble.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 145: The Pursuers
Two hours later.
When Seimei once again dispelled the 'Shadow Clone Technique' and completed another round of cultivation, the chakra belonging to the Iwa-nin was finally exhausted.
At this moment, the surroundings were still quiet, just as he had predicted. A mere two hours wasn't enough for the Iwa-nin to surround this place.
"Phew—"
Seimei let out a long sigh of relief, walked over to the last two Iwa-nin Chunin, formed hand seals, and executed the 'Chakra Absorption Technique'.
In just a few breaths, his chakra was fully restored, while the two Iwa-nin on the ground completely lost their lives due to the rapid loss of mental and physical energy.
Although much of his information had been leaked, Seimei still didn't want Iwagakure to know why he targeted these people.
Therefore, before leaving, he still routinely used the 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique' to incinerate the bodies on the ground.
This way, Iwagakure couldn't discover what he had done through the corpses.
Finally, after cleaning up the battlefield and erasing his own traces, Seimei quickly left the area, heading straight towards the southeast.
Next, he needed to cross half of the Land of Earth, follow the southwestern border, enter the Land of Rain, and finally return to the area under Konoha's control.
That's right, Seimei was planning to return now.
Although there was no news from the Third Raikage, Seimei estimated that he couldn't hold on for much longer. At the latest, by tonight, he would definitely be dead.
Instead of waiting until then to act, it was better to set off now. This way, he might even be able to avoid some of Iwagakure's eyes and ears!
However, what Seimei didn't know was that shortly after he left, a four-person team from Iwagakure arrived at the scene.
Unlike ordinary teams, these four were clad in black robes and wore masks. They were clearly an Anbu team.
The four members of the team looked at the charred corpses on the ground. Although they didn't speak, the aura around them collectively turned a few degrees colder.
"Suzu!"
The Anbu ninja at the lead suddenly spoke.
Without needing further instruction, the Anbu ninja codenamed Suzu responded, "Understood, Captain!"
With that, she swiftly formed hand seals, her mouth slightly open. An invisible sound wave rapidly spread out from her as the center.
Suzu closed her eyes, her ears twitching slightly, carefully listening to the changes in the sound wave.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and shook her head at the Anbu captain, saying, "Captain, the person has already left."
"Kuro?"
Hearing this, the Anbu captain turned his head to look at another Anbu ninja.
The Anbu ninja codenamed Kuro didn't waste any words and immediately began to carefully examine the scene.
Although Seimei had cleared his traces before leaving, it couldn't withstand such meticulous scrutiny. So, the Anbu ninja, who specialized in tracking, quickly discovered the trail.
He led his teammates to a certain spot in the stone forest, pointed at a faint footprint on the ground, and said, "Captain, this was left by the target."
"Is that so?"
The Anbu captain carefully observed the footprint for a while, then looked at the direction the toes were pointing, and said, "So the target ran in this direction?"
"That's right."
Kuro replied affirmatively.
"Very good!"
The Anbu captain nodded and immediately said in a cold voice, "Let's go."
With that, he directly used the 'Body Flicker Technique' and disappeared.
The other three, seeing this, immediately followed.
...
At the same time.
Walking through the forest, Seimei suddenly felt a sense of unease.
He stopped and carefully sensed his surroundings.
However, he found nothing.
"Could it be an illusion?"
Seimei thought to himself.
But soon, he dismissed this idea.
Seimei trusted his intuition; there must be danger approaching.
After thinking for a moment, Seimei no longer followed the original path but changed direction, taking a detour towards his destination.
After walking for a while, the feeling of unease indeed disappeared.
Seimei slightly relaxed.
However, before he could be happy for long, after only about an hour, that uneasy feeling reappeared.
If the last time could still be attributed to an illusion, then this time, there was no way it could be called an illusion.
After all, how could there be two identical illusions?
Without any hesitation, Seimei immediately changed direction again.
At the same time, he carefully cleared the traces he left behind.
As expected, this time the uneasy feeling disappeared for a longer duration.
But in the end, this feeling returned.
At this point, Seimei was almost certain that someone was following him, and they were very close. Otherwise, he wouldn't have such a strong sense of unease.
If he wasn't mistaken, the other party should be a ninja from Iwagakure, but to make him feel uneasy, their strength definitely couldn't be weak.
Under such circumstances, Seimei naturally wouldn't confront them head-on. Knowing the enemy was stronger and still engaging in a direct clash wasn't bravery, but recklessness.
With this thought, Seimei once again changed his direction of travel.
This time, not only did he clear his own traces, but he also used the 'Shadow Clone Technique' to create a shadow clone.
Then, he and the shadow clone exchanged a glance and ran in different directions.
The shadow clone maintained a slightly faster speed than before, attracting the enemy to pursue, while Seimei used the 'Body Flicker Technique' with all his might to move at the fastest speed.
That's right, Seimei didn't want to encounter the enemy at all, nor did he have any thoughts of ambushing them or anything like that.
Right now, he just wanted to leave the Land of Earth as soon as possible and return to the area under Konoha's control.
The reason for his urgency was simple. The shadow clone he left with the Third Raikage had just sent a message: the Third Raikage had died in battle.
This meant that Iwagakure would have enough manpower available from now on.
Although most of them would have to return to the front lines, even if they dispatched a small portion, it would be enough to cause him trouble.
Therefore, what he needed to do now was to leave the Land of Earth immediately. Before that, he absolutely couldn't get entangled with the Iwa-nin.
With this thought in mind, Seimei's pace quickened even more.
Seimei was somewhat grateful that he had cultivated the 'Body Flicker Technique' to the perfected level early on. Now, using it truly felt like flying.
Coupled with his chakra, which far surpassed that of an average Jonin, Seimei was confident he could shake off the pursuers behind him.
Of course, this didn't mean he would ignore those pursuers.
As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated."
Even though he didn't plan to engage with the enemy behind him, and they most likely wouldn't encounter each other, to be on the safe side, understanding the enemy was still necessary.
And the shadow clone he had just separated had this task.
That shadow clone had a full 10,000 chakra points within it. As long as it avoided being hit and reduced the number of direct confrontations, even a Jonin might not necessarily be able to defeat it.
Avoiding enemy attacks might be difficult for other people's shadow clones, but for him, possessing the Sharingan, it was very easy.
In this way, gathering some intelligence about the enemy shouldn't be too difficult.
Chapter 146: The Encounter
An hour later.
Somewhere in the forest.
Seimei's shadow clone was moving forward at high speed.
Suddenly, a few faint whistling sounds were heard.
The shadow clone glanced back from the corner of its eye, then flickered a few times, avoiding the kunai attack.
It stood on a tree branch, warily looking behind.
Swish, swish~
Two figures appeared instantly.
They were clad in black robes and wore masks. They were none other than the Anbu captain and the female ninja codenamed Suzu.
"Iwa Anbu?"
The shadow clone looked at the newcomers and asked in a deep voice.
Hearing this, neither the Anbu captain nor Suzu answered, only carefully sizing up Seimei.
After a while, the Anbu captain finally spoke, "Uchiha Seimei, the newly emerged genius of the Uchiha clan, awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan at eleven years old. Tell me, what is your purpose?"
'They figured out my true identity in such a short time. The intelligence capabilities of the Five Great Shinobi Villages truly cannot be underestimated.'
'Seimei' felt a hint of wariness.
You know, although he had some fame before, in the entire Konoha, it was just average...
This was partly due to his deliberate low profile, but it was undeniable that there were simply too many geniuses in Konoha.
His little bit of fame couldn't even compare to the young and famous Kakashi Hatake, let alone the recently rising star on the front lines, Uchiha Shisui.
But even so, just a few hours after his appearance was exposed, Iwagakure still managed to figure out his true identity.
Not only that, they even got their hands on some basic information. This showed the strength of the Five Great Shinobi Villages' intelligence capabilities, so it was no wonder Seimei felt wary.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind. 'Seimei' suddenly activated his Sharingan, and the two Anbu ninja, who were already prepared, immediately looked away.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, 'Seimei' flipped his palm, and six shuriken appeared, which he instantly threw, shooting towards Suzu from both the left and right sides.
As the saying goes, "It's better to break one finger than to injure ten."
So 'Seimei' targeted the weaker Suzu from the start.
Sensing the danger, Suzu dodged to the side, attempting to evade the shuriken attack.
However, her reaction had already been anticipated by 'Seimei'.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Two more shuriken flew out.
'Seimei' used even more force this time. These two shuriken, though thrown later, arrived first, accurately hitting two of the six shuriken in the air.
With sparks flying, those two shuriken abruptly changed direction and collided with the other four.
In the end, the eight shuriken, like scattered flower petals, shot towards Suzu from different directions.
At this moment, Suzu had just landed on her feet and couldn't dodge in time. Helplessly, she could only take out kunai to confront them head-on.
It had to be said that the combat skills of Anbu ninja were indeed high. Even in such a hasty situation, all eight shuriken were blocked.
Of course, she also suffered some minor injuries - two shuriken, knocked away by the kunai, grazed her shoulder, leaving two shallow cuts.
Logically, 'Seimei' should have pressed his advantage at this point, but he didn't.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.
Because the moment he made his move, the Anbu captain also took action.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Several kunai shot straight towards him.
'Seimei's Sharingan spun rapidly, and with just a glance, he saw the explosive tags attached to them.
So, without any hesitation, the moment he threw the shuriken, he had already left his original spot.
Boom, boom, boom~
Violent explosions rang out.
Several bursts of flames rose, dispelling the surrounding darkness.
The moment 'Seimei' landed, the Anbu captain and Suzu flanked him from front and back.
Clearly, they knew how to deal with the Sharingan.
"Attack!"
With the Anbu captain's command, Suzu 'instantly' completed hand seals, opened her mouth, and emitted a piercing sound that directly struck Seimei's brain, making him unsteady.
Seizing this opportunity, the Anbu captain immediately charged forward, the kunai in his hand aiming straight for 'Seimei's heart.
Fortunately, 'Seimei' possessed the Sharingan. With it fully activated, the opponent's movements appeared as slow as a turtle crawl in his eyes.
'Seimei' endured the discomfort in his brain, dodged the Anbu captain's attack, and then shot a kunai towards Suzu.
Suzu was forced to interrupt her technique. 'Seimei' was about to pursue, but was entangled by the Anbu captain who charged forward again.
For a time, the sound of clanging metal filled the air.
As a true Jonin, this Anbu captain excelled in all aspects. Even with his vision obstructed, he could still hold his ground against 'Seimei's continuous attacks.
And Suzu focused on support, using a variety of sound wave ninjutsu to greatly disrupt 'Seimei's movements.
'Seimei' tried to counterattack several times but had no chance. Either the opponent was too far away for his attacks to reach, or the Anbu captain restricted his movements.
In short, it was very uncomfortable, almost entirely led by the two of them.
Of course, 'Seimei' knew this was because he was currently a shadow clone and couldn't withstand heavy blows, which was why he was restricted in every way.
Otherwise, even if these two were carefully selected by Iwagakure specifically to deal with him, they wouldn't be able to make him so passive.
It could only be said that the inherent 'fragility' of the shadow clone limited his strength.
The battle continued, and as it progressed, he gradually figured out the information about these two.
First was Suzu. She was most likely just a special Jonin with average taijutsu skills. Her only noteworthy ability was a series of sound wave ninjutsu.
Previously, due to lack of experience, the shadow clone was significantly affected.
However, after this encounter, if the main body encountered similar attacks again, with preparation, it shouldn't be severely affected.
Next was the Anbu captain in front of him.
His strength was considerable. In terms of combat skills alone, he was even above the lv5 'Swordsmanship'. 'Seimei' had to rely on the Sharingan's insight to suppress him.
Additionally, he was proficient in a defensive Earth Release ninjutsu that could be cast instantly upon being attacked, reinforcing his skin to a degree where it was difficult for swords and blades to penetrate.
Unless Seimei fully mastered the Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation of Wind Release chakra, enabling him to infuse wind chakra into his short sword to enhance its attack power, it would be hard to break through his defense.
Of course, if there was no interference, he could also try to use the Sharingan to briefly influence the opponent, creating an opening for a one-hit kill.
But regardless of the method, it wouldn't be easy.
It was clear that this Iwa Anbu's strength surpassed that of an ordinary Jonin. As for whether he had reached the elite level, Seimei couldn't tell.
Firstly, he had never fought against a ninja of that level and didn't know how strong they truly were, making comparison difficult.
Secondly, he didn't know if the Iwa Anbu in front of him was holding back.
Logically, at the Jonin level, a ninja should at least be proficient in two chakra natures.
But this Iwa Anbu, apart from Earth Release ninjutsu, hadn't used any other type of ninjutsu.
Therefore, Seimei didn't know the true extent of the opponent's strength.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 147: Surveillance
Clang!
The kunai and the short sword clashed, producing a crisp sound.
Looking at 'Seimei', who once again blocked with his sword, the Anbu captain's expression under the mask was extremely gloomy. He then took a few steps back, creating distance.
Seeing this, Suzu, although not understanding the reason, also stopped her attack and just warily watched 'Seimei'.
'Seimei' stood in place, looking at the Iwa Anbu who suddenly retreated and the gloomy eyes under his mask. He instantly understood that the other party must have discovered something.
He didn't bother to keep up the act anymore and said with a smile, "What's wrong? Continue!"
Hearing his words, the Anbu captain suddenly said in a calm tone, "As expected, you're not Uchiha Seimei, or rather, you're just one of his shadow clones."
"Shadow clone?"
Hearing this, Suzu immediately looked at 'Seimei', a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, but she didn't seem too shocked.
Clearly, both the Anbu captain and Suzu were somewhat mentally prepared for this situation.
As for his identity being exposed, 'Seimei' didn't find it strange. The other party might not be able to see any difference with their naked eyes, but it wasn't difficult to guess the answer.
A shadow clone was, after all, a shadow clone. Because of its limited ability to withstand damage, it was destined to make some strange moves.
For example, frequently giving up excellent attack opportunities to avoid some non-fatal injuries.
Such actions were fine once or twice, and could be attributed to his unwillingness to get hurt. But after many times, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
Because there was simply no ninja in the ninja world who would act like this.
'Seimei' guessed that the Anbu captain in front of him had figured out his shadow clone identity through these strange actions.
However, what he found strange was that the other party's reaction was too calm, as if they had expected it all along.
"Could it be..."
Seimei suddenly seemed to have thought of something. His gaze swept over the two of them, then looked at the surrounding forest, and muttered, "No way..."
"Does the plan need to change again?"
'Seimei' felt speechless.
Just then, an invisible wave of energy struck, causing his body to tremble involuntarily.
Seimei looked up and saw that the female ninja, who had been providing support, suddenly unleashed a large-scale offensive ninjutsu.
An invisible sound wave, centered around her, spread out rapidly like waves, rippling outwards.
Along the way, whether it was flowers, plants, trees, or snakes, insects, rats, and ants, anything that encountered this sound wave would tremble uncontrollably.
Moreover, as the attack continued, this trembling intensified.
Caught in the attack, 'Seimei' felt the various structures that made up his body rapidly 'shaking', as if they would fall apart at any moment.
This reminded 'Seimei' of a word - resonance.
If that was truly the case, then the potential of this technique was terrifying.
However, it didn't matter much to him anymore.
The other party launched this unreasonable attack, clearly aiming at the shadow clone's weakness of limited damage tolerance.
And since he didn't escape the range of the ninjutsu in the first place, the outcome was already determined.
'Seimei' didn't bother wasting any more chakra. He raised his hands and actively dispelled the 'Shadow Clone Technique'.
Seeing Seimei turn into a puff of chakra and disappear, Suzu finally stopped the technique and started panting heavily.
Clearly, using this ninjutsu also put a great strain on her.
After catching her breath for a while, Suzu came to the Anbu captain and said, "Captain, I'm ready. Let's go!"
"Mm."
The Anbu captain responded and, together with Suzu, returned the way they came, chasing after their other two teammates.
And the direction these two were heading was precisely the direction Seimei's true body had escaped in.
It turned out that Seimei hadn't shaken off the Iwa Anbu's pursuit from the beginning. It was just that they couldn't tell which of the two paths was his real escape route.
So, they split into two groups and started their pursuit.
That was also why the Anbu captain and Suzu appeared so calm after discovering that their target was a shadow clone.
...
On the other side.
Seimei, who was rushing through the forest, suddenly stopped and quickly diverted a part of his mind to read the memories that suddenly appeared in his mind.
A moment later, his face darkened.
What the shadow clone could think of, he naturally could too. The overly calm reaction of those two was indeed somewhat abnormal.
Combined with the pressure they put on the shadow clone, Seimei felt that there might be more enemies than just those two.
Although the Anbu captain was strong, he wasn't enough to pose a fatal threat to him, even with the assistance of a special Jonin specializing in sound wave ninjutsu.
But his intuition warning from before was real.
Therefore, there were most likely more enemies than just these two.
In other words, there might be more pursuers behind him.
Suddenly, Seimei stopped and quickly looked back.
One second, two seconds...
Five seconds, ten seconds...
Soon, a minute passed.
The rear remained calm, with no enemies appearing.
"Phew—"
Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Seimei retracted his gaze and then laughed at himself, "Since when did I become so easily spooked?"
Just thinking about it, even if there were pursuers behind him, with his speed from earlier, they might not necessarily be able to catch up.
And next, as long as he continued to maintain this high-speed movement, he wouldn't be afraid of any so-called pursuers.
Seimei was about to continue on his way when he suddenly sensed something and looked up at the sky.
The next moment, his pupils contracted, and his heart couldn't help but skip a few beats.
Under the moonlight, a hawk was circling. Its eyes were fixed on the ground, like a ghost, without making a sound.
If Seimei didn't have the Sharingan, he might not have been able to spot it.
Although this hawk looked no different from other hawks, his intuition told Seimei that this was the means the pursuers were using to monitor him.
If it were just pursuers, even if he couldn't shake them off, he could rely on his speed advantage to keep them at bay. As long as his specific whereabouts weren't exposed, it would be difficult for the enemy to corner him.
But with this hawk acting as surveillance, the situation was completely different. They could completely grasp his escape route in advance and mobilize people to intercept him.
This was the advantage of fighting on their home turf.
"No, I have to get rid of this thing, or I'll eventually walk right into their trap."
Seimei's mind raced, thinking about how to deal with the current situation.
Seimei tried, but with his current level of ocular power, he couldn't directly influence the hawk from such a long distance.
As for other ninjutsu, there was even less hope.
"It seems I can only deal with the people behind it."
Seimei's idea was simple. Since he couldn't deal with the hawk, he would deal with the person controlling it. The result would be the same.
"Sigh!"
With a light sigh, Seimei originally wanted to avoid any conflict with the Iwa pursuers, but plans never kept up with changes.
In this situation, even if he wanted to avoid a fight, he couldn't.
Fortunately, part of the enemy's forces had been led to another path by the shadow clone and couldn't catch up for a while.
This way, as long as he acted quickly, he shouldn't fall into the predicament of being surrounded and attacked.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 148: The Final Battle
With his decision made, Seimei didn't hesitate any longer. He immediately returned to his previous state and sprinted forward at an extremely fast pace.
Without any surprises, the hawk followed him once again.
Seimei ignored it and continued forward until he reached a dense forest. After confirming that the view above his head was blocked, he stopped.
Then, he crossed his hands and used the "Shadow Clone Technique" to create a shadow clone.
Seimei looked at the clone and nodded. The shadow clone didn't speak, but also nodded and ran straight ahead.
Seimei, on the other hand, flashed to the side of the path, concealing his presence and waiting for the pursuers to arrive.
...
Time passed by second by second.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten minutes had gone by.
The expected enemies still hadn't appeared, making Seimei wonder if his guess was wrong.
But in the end, he patiently continued to wait.
A few more minutes later.
With faint footsteps, two figures appeared on the forest path.
They were clad in black robes and wore masks, dressed exactly like the two the shadow clone had encountered before. They were clearly also Anbu ninja from Iwagakure.
Seeing these two, Seimei couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
As the saying goes, "It's not the thief you fear, but the thief who has his eye on you."
Knowing that there were enemies targeting him but being unable to find them was the most agonizing thing.
But since they had appeared, there was nothing to be afraid of.
In the ninja world, in the end, it was still strength that spoke.
With this thought, Seimei seized the opportunity and instantly threw three kunai, aiming directly at one of the Iwa Anbu.
What could he say?
They were indeed Anbu ninja; their reactions were fast.
The moment he sensed danger, he dodged to the side.
However, the kunai Seimei threw weren't just kunai; each had an explosive tag attached to it.
Boom, boom, boom~
With three deafening explosions, three fireballs rose, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness.
Seimei's Sharingan spun rapidly, instantly locking onto the landing spots of the two Iwa Anbu.
Without any hesitation, he flipped his palm and threw three more shuriken.
Following the principle of striking while the iron was hot, this time he targeted the same Iwa Anbu as before.
This person was already dazed by the shockwave from the explosive tags, and now suddenly facing another attack, he couldn't react at all.
In a hurry, he only managed to block two of the shuriken.
As for the last one...
He twisted his body, trying to dodge, but it was too late. In the end, he could only protect his vital points, leaving a deep wound on his waist.
Seimei pressed his advantage, his hands swiftly forming seals. He took a deep breath and then exhaled sharply.
The next moment, a gale swept through, and a massive cyclone appeared in front of Seimei, advancing forward at an incredible speed. Along the way, flowers, plants, and trees were uprooted.
Even some small stones were swept up and flew into the distance.
This scene, resembling a natural disaster, was the power of Seimei using 'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough' at full strength.
This single attack consumed nearly a thousand chakra points from Seimei.
But it had to be said, the effect was truly remarkable.
After clearing the area, without the trees blocking the way, the moonlight shone directly down, making the surroundings even brighter.
Amidst the chaos, two figures appeared - the two Iwa Anbu.
At this moment, they formed a triangle with Seimei, ensuring that if he used the Sharingan, the other person could attack him.
However, this was useless. Without the cover of the complex surroundings, even facing two opponents, Seimei wasn't afraid at all.
"Kill!"
With a low shout, Seimei drew his sword and charged forward, almost instantly reaching one of the Iwa Anbu - the same one he had deliberately targeted before.
As the saying goes, "Pick the soft persimmon to squeeze."
He had already injured this opponent before, so naturally, he wanted to press his advantage now. As for the other one, he could deal with him later.
Soon, the three were locked in combat.
Seimei could clearly feel that these two were far weaker than the two Iwa Anbu the shadow clone encountered on the other path.
Perhaps it was because they weren't specialized in direct combat but in other abilities.
In any case, it only took Seimei a little over ten minutes to kill both of them.
During the fight, the two counterattacked multiple times, but under Seimei's lv5 'Swordsmanship' and three-tomoe Sharingan, they couldn't create much of a threat.
However, to end the battle quickly, Seimei still adopted some tactics of trading injuries for advantages, resulting in some minor wounds on his body.
Fortunately, he had the 'Healing Technique', so these injuries were nothing.
After briefly treating his wounds, Seimei didn't linger and immediately left the area.
He didn't even bother cleaning up the battlefield.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 149: Return
An hour and a half later.
The Anbu captain and the Anbu ninja codenamed Suzu finally arrived at the scene.
Looking at the messy scene and the corpses of their two teammates, they no longer had their previous composure.
"Captain?"
Suzu wanted to say something, but the Anbu captain raised his hand to interrupt her. "First, investigate the scene and see if we can find any traces of the target."
"Yes, Captain!"
After Suzu responded, she and the Anbu captain began to carefully examine the scene.
A while later, they gathered again, their expressions under the masks not looking good.
It wasn't that they hadn't found any traces left by Seimei.
On the contrary, they found many.
But it was precisely because there were too many that they didn't know where to start.
As Anbu ninja, their abilities in this area weren't weak, but compared to their two teammates who specialized in investigation and tracking, they were far inferior.
However, those two were now dead, making it impossible for them to distinguish the true and false clues in a short time.
This meant they would inevitably waste a considerable amount of time.
And by the time they figured it out, Seimei would probably be long gone.
Although he was reluctant to admit it, the Anbu captain knew that they most likely wouldn't be able to catch Seimei this time.
However, even if there was a one in ten thousand chance, he still didn't want to give up.
After thinking for a moment, the Anbu captain instructed Suzu, "Suzu, send a message to the teams ahead, telling them to immediately seal off all roads leading to the Land of Rain border in this area."
That's right, just as Seimei had predicted, once his whereabouts were known, Iwagakure had already mobilized a large number of people to wait for him ahead.
If he hadn't discovered the hawk above his head earlier and continued running, he would have eventually walked right into the trap specifically prepared for him.
At that point, he would truly have no chance of escape.
It was important to note that because his actions were exposed prematurely, he had to evacuate early.
Currently, his Sharingan's evolution progress hadn't reached the critical point yet, and he couldn't evolve it into the Mangekyo Sharingan in a short time.
This meant he had lost his biggest trump card.
In that case, once surrounded, he would have no ability to break through the encirclement.
The only thing awaiting him then would be certain death.
It could only be said that his caution had saved his life once again.
...
Three days later.
Land of Earth.
Southern border.
Seimei carefully passed through Iwagakure's last line of defense and entered the Land of Rain.
Then, after spending another day, he crossed the area controlled by Iwagakure and arrived at the area under Konoha's control.
Reaching this point, he was finally out of danger.
Looking back on the past few days, he had been crossing mountains and rivers, living a life of constant anxiety.
Iwagakure not only sealed off all roads but also sent people to search the mountains.
To avoid Iwagakure's pursuit and interception, he didn't dare to relax for a moment. He couldn't take the normal roads, so he had to spend the entire journey in the mountains, trekking through mountains and rivers. It wasn't just a figure of speech.
After a few days, he had almost become a wild man.
Now, all Seimei wanted was to find a place to take a comfortable bath and then have a good sleep.
"Who's there?"
Just as Seimei was lost in thought, a slightly稚嫩 yet low shout suddenly came from the distance.
Immediately afterward, several kunai flew over, grazing his cheek and embedding themselves in the tree in front of him.
Seimei stopped and instantly activated his three-tomoe Sharingan, looking in the direction the kunai had come from.
However, to his surprise, what met his eyes was another pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
Seimei looked towards the owner of the eyes and saw a young Uchiha ninja, who seemed even younger than him, walking out.
"Shisui?"
That's right, the person who came was none other than Uchiha Shisui.
Behind him were three Konoha Chunin, clearly members of his team.
However, Seimei's gaze only swept over them briefly before returning to Uchiha Shisui.
After months of fighting on the battlefield, he had undergone tremendous changes. Although his appearance was still young, his demeanor was exceptionally calm and composed.
Upon first contact, he gave off a sense of trustworthiness.
"Seimei?!"
Uchiha Shisui looked Seimei up and down a few times, hesitantly speaking.
It wasn't that he didn't recognize Seimei, but Seimei's current unkempt appearance was completely different from before, making him unsure.
In the past, although Seimei wasn't exactly a clean freak, he always presented himself in a neat and tidy manner.
But now...
He was almost indistinguishable from a wild man.
Seimei saw the disbelief in his eyes and replied with a wry smile, "It's me."
Hearing this, Uchiha Shisui raised his hand to signal his teammates to relax, then said with a smile, "How did you end up looking like this?"
Seimei pointed to the north and said, "Mission requirements, no choice."
Hearing about the mission, Uchiha Shisui tactfully didn't pry further. The two chatted for a bit, and after verifying Seimei's identity, he let him pass.
Watching Seimei's departing figure, a strange glint flashed in Uchiha Shisui's eyes.
Although he couldn't be completely certain, during the brief moment of eye contact just now, he felt his Sharingan being suppressed.
In other words, Seimei's ocular power might be even greater than his.
And how fast was his own progress?
Compared to other Uchiha Jonin, Uchiha Shisui was very clear - among all the Uchiha ninja, he was definitely in a league of his own.
But what about Seimei?
He had clearly awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan after him, yet his ocular power now surpassed his. This made him feel happy, but also inevitably sparked a sense of competition in his heart.
At the same time.
Seimei was also estimating the degree of Uchiha Shisui's Sharingan evolution.
In the end, he concluded that if calculated according to the system's rules, it was probably only one or two thousand evolution points behind his own.
"Hiss~"
Reaching this conclusion, Seimei couldn't help but gasp.
You know, he was practically cheating with his cultivation, while Uchiha Shisui could only rely on himself.
Even so, he was only one or two thousand evolution points ahead of the other party.
This showed just how strong the other party's talent was!
However, Seimei quickly regained his composure.
Whether the other party's talent was strong or not had little to do with him. He just needed to follow his own path; there was no need to compete for superiority.
Moreover, no matter how strong the other party's talent was, when they encountered the threshold of the Mangekyo Sharingan, they would still slow down.
He was different. If he truly disregarded everything else, he could awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan in at most half a month.
But what use was that?
Apart from increasing the risk of developing genetic diseases, it wouldn't significantly improve his apparent combat power.
After all, he couldn't expose the Mangekyo Sharingan at this time.
Therefore, what he needed to do now was to first increase his 'Physique' attribute and narrow the gap between it and his 'Spirit' attribute.
Only in this way could he lay a solid foundation for future progress.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 150: Rest and Plans
Another day passed.
After going through several checkpoints, Seimei finally returned to the base camp.
However, after returning, he didn't rush to write the mission report. Instead, he planned to take a bath and clean himself up first.
The camp's conditions were limited, so Seimei went directly to a waterfall not far from the training ground.
After taking a comfortable bath there and changing into a new set of clothes, he started to write a detailed account of his mission experience.
Because the shadow clone had been active the entire time, it didn't take him long to finish the mission report.
After submitting it, Seimei didn't care how the higher-ups viewed the report. He went back to his quarters and fell asleep.
For almost ten days, he hadn't had a good night's sleep. Now that he was finally back, he naturally wanted to sleep well.
...
Time flew by, and it was noon the next day.
Seimei, who had slept for over twenty hours straight, finally woke up.
The next moment, he abruptly sat up straight, his Sharingan involuntarily activating, and his gaze warily scanned the surroundings.
Only after seeing the furnishings inside the tent did he recall that he had already returned to the base camp.
"Phew—"
Seimei couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Thump~
He fell back and closed his eyes again.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
One minute, two minutes, three minutes...
A full ten minutes passed, and Seimei still couldn't fall asleep. Even though he was still a bit tired, he just couldn't sleep.
He decided not to force himself to sleep anymore. He propped himself up with his hands and sat up again.
"Status!"
With a thought, Seimei opened the proficiency panel.
The next moment, the familiar light blue screen appeared.
[Name: Uchiha Seimei
Age: 11 years old
Physique: 11
Spirit: 15
Chakra: 21350 (20980 -> 22132)
Bloodline: Sharingan - Three Tomoe (5806/10000) -> (8724/10000)
Skills: Chakra Refinement Technique: lv4 (1674/2000) -> lv4 (1738/2000)
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique: lv4 (65/2000)
Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique: lv4 (23/2000)
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough: lv3 (419/1000)
Shadow Clone Technique: lv2 (16/500) -> lv2 (88/500)
Chakra Absorption Technique: lv5 (810/5000) -> lv5 (1050/2000)
Healing Technique: lv4 (490/2000) -> lv4 (650/2000)
Rasengan: lv1 (5/200) -> lv3 (650/1000)
Genjutsu: Sharingan: lv6 (13/10000) -> lv6 (2310/10000)
Heart Reflection Technique: lv7 (692/20000) -> lv7 (3610/20000)
Swordsmanship: lv5 (1025/5000) -> lv5 (1120/5000)
Chakra Control: lv4 (410/2000) -> lv4 (820/2000)
Three-Body Technique: lv3 (0/0)
Body Flicker Technique: lv4 (0/0)
Shurikenjutsu: lv5 (0/0)
Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: lv5 (0/0)
Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique: lv5 (0/0)]
Seimei looked at the three-tomoe Sharingan on the panel, its evolution progress reaching (8724/10000). He quickly calculated that he would need about 200,000 more chakra points to push it to the brink of evolution.
Currently, his chakra recovery rate was 21,000 points per day.
In other words, it would only take about ten days for him to accumulate enough chakra.
Seimei pondered for a while and decided to do nothing for the next period, focusing solely on cultivating the 'Heart Reflection Technique' to raise his Sharingan's evolution progress to at least 9,900 points.
Although he had safely escaped being pursued and intercepted by Iwagakure this time, the process was still somewhat dangerous.
Now, Seimei urgently desired a trump card that could turn the tide of battle.
This way, if he encountered any difficult situations in the future, he could simply overturn the table.
Undoubtedly, the Mangekyo Sharingan possessed such power.
That's why he wanted to push his Sharingan to the verge of evolution in the shortest possible time.
This way, at a critical moment, he could forcibly awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan and gain the power to change the course of battle.
However, if he did that, the gap between his 'Spirit' attribute and 'Physique' attribute would widen further, and the risk of triggering a genetic disease would increase exponentially.
Therefore, he had to immediately start working on improving his 'Physique' attribute after his Sharingan's evolution progress reached the critical point.
Only in this way could he avoid suffering the consequences after overturning the table.
As for the method of improvement...
He would follow the method he had summarized before, using the Yang Release chakra generated by high-level medical ninjutsu to nourish his body, allowing it to improve naturally.
This was currently the easiest and least harmful method for him.
Of course, at this stage, he couldn't just focus on medical ninjutsu.
Techniques like 'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough', 'Rasengan', 'Genjutsu: Sharingan', and 'Swordsmanship' all needed to be practiced simultaneously.
But by then, he might have to go back to his old ways, capturing prisoners and using them as 'chakra batteries'.
Thinking of this, Seimei felt a bit of a headache. After a while, he sighed lightly and said, "Ah, if only I had a tailed beast."
However, for now, he could only imagine. Before awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, he wouldn't risk taking action against a tailed beast.
Even after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, he wouldn't make a move without absolute certainty.
You know, there were quite a few people in the ninja world eyeing the tailed beasts. Not to mention the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Seimei knew their methods, so he wasn't too worried about them.
The key was Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu. These two were also after the nine tailed beasts.
Uchiha Madara was fine; his lifespan would soon come to an end, and then Seimei wouldn't have to worry anymore.
But Black Zetsu was different. He had no lifespan concerns.
As the will incarnate of Kaguya Otsutsuki, he had been working for a thousand years in the ninja world to resurrect his mother. This time was almost the most promising one.
Therefore, this time, he definitely wouldn't let others take possession of the tailed beasts.
If Seimei wanted to target the tailed beasts, he would inevitably clash with him.
Considering Black Zetsu's near-perfect concealment ability and pervasive investigative capabilities, Seimei felt that before taking action, he had to master a sufficiently strong detection method.
Otherwise, he might capture a tailed beast in the morning, only to have his home stolen in the afternoon.
Seimei didn't want to do all the work for someone else, so he had to be fully prepared.
Additionally, there was Nagato. When he led the Akatsuki, their ultimate goal was to capture the tailed beasts. This also couldn't be ignored.
The more he thought about it, the more Seimei felt his preparations were still insufficient.
If possible, he hoped to learn the 'Flying Thunder God Technique'.
That way, both his travel and life-saving abilities would be greatly enhanced.
"Flying Thunder God Technique..."
Seimei murmured, starting to think about how he could obtain this technique.
Just because Shiranui Genma, Iwashi Tatami, and Raido Namiashi, three ordinary Konoha ninja, could learn this technique later on, didn't mean anyone could learn it.
In reality, as an S-rank forbidden technique recorded in the Sealed Book, the Flying Thunder God Technique is not something that just anyone can access.
As long as Hiruzen Sarutobi is still in charge of Konoha, Seimei estimates that even if his merits are sufficient, Hiruzen wouldn't grant him the qualification to learn this technique.
After all, Hiruzen is also very wary of the Uchiha clan, otherwise he wouldn't have tacitly allowed Danzo Shimura to do so many things.
Under such circumstances, how could Hiruzen allow him to learn such a highly mobile ninjutsu? Isn't he afraid of being assassinated by him?
"Hiruzen Sarutobi... Danzo Shimura..."
Thinking of these two obstacles, Seimei wished he could immediately kill them.
However, in the end, Seimei calmed down.
Not to mention that his current strength is not yet a match for these two, even if it were, he couldn't do such a thing before the war is over.
At this stage, he still needs a place to stay.
In addition, Seimei doesn't want Konoha to become the loser of this Ninja World War.
If that happens, it wouldn't be a good thing for him either.
(End of Chapter)