Three days passed in a blink of an eye.
The commotion caused by Chiya, the Suna puppeteer, had subsided. The mission report, concluding with the enemy's escape, was submitted by Seimei and passed the review.
From now on, unless someone paid special attention to this person or Sunagakure made a big fuss about finding him, this person would be considered vanished from the face of the earth.
And this was all too common in times of war.
No one would waste energy on such an "unknown person." Perhaps only his family would search for him.
That's right, from Chiya's own words, Seimei had confirmed his guess - the other party wasn't some ordinary ninja but came from a declining clan within Sunagakure.
It was said that the head of their clan was once a disciple of the Second Kazekage, Shamon, and inherited his techniques for creating and controlling puppet mechanisms.
Unfortunately, the two Great Ninja Wars had caused heavy losses to their clan, leading to their gradual decline.
It wasn't until recent years, with the emergence of Chiya, a somewhat talented individual, that they showed signs of revival.
But because of this, Chiya had never had freedom.
No matter what he did, someone would follow him, and most of the time, he was confined within the clan, learning puppet techniques.
Chiya was also quite capable, able to create puppets at a young age. The giant spider puppet and the humanoid puppet were his proudest creations.
It was precisely because of these two puppets that he was allowed to act freely.
Perhaps because he had been suppressed for too long, he tended to be a bit impulsive when carrying out missions, liking to take risks to prove himself.
Just like this time, he could have let Kuraki go, but seeing that he was alone, he acted without thinking, ultimately attracting Seimei and the others.
Later, he even tried to ambush and eliminate Seimei's entire team.
Unfortunately, if you walk in the night long enough, you're bound to encounter a ghost.
With the configuration of his team, if it were any other Konoha Chunin leading the team, he might have succeeded.
Unfortunately for him, he had bad luck and ran into Seimei.
And Seimei's strength, let alone Chunin, even Jonin wouldn't be able to easily defeat him. Clearly, Chiya didn't possess the strength of a Jonin.
Therefore, it was only natural that he ended up being captured after failing.
"Captain, should we split up here again?"
While he was thinking, Kamijo Yoichi's voice suddenly came from the side.
Seimei glanced around and nodded, "Yes, right here!"
As he spoke, he looked at Kamijo Yoichi and another Chunin who had been transferred from another team for support.
He instructed, "Next, you two proceed according to the plan, checking the markers and traps along the way. Report any issues immediately."
"Yes, Captain!"
After responding, the two left.
Seimei also pretended to inspect the area he was responsible for.
But soon, he detoured to a secluded corner and stopped under a short tree.
He looked left and right, making sure no one was around, and then pulled away the weeds on the ground, revealing a dark hole.
Then, he leaped into it, falling for three or four meters before landing on solid ground.
Seimei didn't linger. He found his way in the darkness and continued forward, eventually arriving at a spacious underground cavern.
This was the place Seimei had accidentally discovered during his patrol earlier. The cavern was naturally formed, but the passage was artificially created.
Inside the cave, he had also found some supplies, probably from about ten years ago.
That's why he concluded that this place was specifically dug out by someone during the last Great Ninja War as a hiding place.
"I wonder if that guy is dead yet?"
Seimei thought to himself.
However, even if the other party wasn't dead, as long as they didn't need to use this place, they probably wouldn't come here. They might have even forgotten about it.
In that case, it wouldn't hurt for him to use it temporarily.
Arriving at the deepest part of the cavern, looking at Chiya, who was tied to a pillar with his hands severed, Seimei said, "Alright, stop pretending to sleep. You should know the abilities of these eyes of mine."
As soon as he finished speaking, Chiya opened his eyes, filled with resentment.
"Don't even dream about it. I won't tell you anything."
Chiya gritted his teeth and said.
Seimei calmly replied, "I know."
With that, he raised his hands, formed hand seals, and activated the Chakra Absorption Technique.
His palms enveloped in chakra, Seimei pressed them against the top of Chiya's head.
Immediately, the opponent's chakra gushed out like a flood, pouring into his body.
At first, Chiya struggled fiercely, but as his chakra was gradually drained, his entire body became limp.
It had to be said that Chiya, being seen as the hope of his clan, indeed had extraordinary talent.
The chakra of an ordinary Chunin was only around two to three thousand points, but he had a full five thousand points, and this was before his body had fully matured.
If he were given a few more years, after his body developed further, his clan might have gained a new Jonin.
Unfortunately, all of that now benefited Seimei.
After draining the opponent's chakra, with a 60% conversion rate, Seimei obtained three thousand points.
Just like two days ago, Seimei divided these three thousand chakra points into two parts.
Two thousand points were used to practice the Heart Reflection Technique, and one thousand points were used to increase the level of the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.
In this way, both the Heart Reflection Technique and the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique could gain an additional twelve proficiency points.
The former could boost the Sharingan's evolution progress by four points. Combined with the ten points gained from his own chakra supply, that was fourteen points.
The overall speed was 40% faster than before.
Undoubtedly, this was a significant improvement.
As for the latter, it more than doubled the speed of accumulating proficiency for the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, which was an even greater improvement.
In this way, even if Chiya didn't reveal any knowledge related to the Puppet Secret Technique, Seimei wouldn't be at a loss.
Having such a chakra battery could save him a lot of time.
However, just one "battery" was too few. Seimei had already planned that after he learned the Shadow Clone Technique, he would go capture more prisoners.
That's right, Seimei was already preparing to learn the Shadow Clone Technique.
Only by mastering this technique could he avoid the eyes and ears of other Konoha ninjas and stay here for a long time.
And only by being here himself could he dare to imprison more ninjas.
Otherwise, if one of them escaped accidentally, it would be a big problem.
Just like now, to prevent Chiya from escaping while he was away, he had ruthlessly cut off his hands, disabling his ability to form hand seals and condense chakra threads.
Even then, Seimei still had to come and check on him from time to time, fearing that he might escape using other methods.
In the future, if he imprisoned more people, he couldn't chop off all their hands, could he?
Even if he did, it wouldn't be foolproof!
The ninja world was full of various secret techniques. Who knew if the opponent might, like Jiraiya, perform hand seals with their feet.
Therefore, only by personally keeping an eye on them could Seimei feel at ease.
After checking the ropes again and making sure there were no problems, Seimei quickly left the cavern.
He hadn't forgotten his mission. If something happened above while he was away, it would be difficult to explain.
(End of Chapter)