One day later.
Evening.
Somewhere in the forest, two teams, one from Iwagakure and one from Kumogakure, were locked in fierce combat.
Soon, only five remained on the battlefield: three Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin. The Iwa-nin were in slightly worse condition, while the Kumo-nin fared slightly better.
As they faced off against each other, three figures suddenly appeared. These individuals were cloaked in black robes and wore masks, making it impossible to discern their allegiance.
Both the Iwa-nin and Kumo-nin immediately became vigilant.
But vigilance was futile. The moment these three appeared, without a word, they launched a silent attack on the five.
The trio displayed remarkable coordination and sharp swordsmanship. Relying on their agility, they never engaged in direct confrontation, and within a short time, they had taken down two opponents.
Seeing this, the remaining three couldn't help but consider retreat.
However, before they could put their plan into action, they saw the black-robed figure fighting them suddenly create distance, forming hand seals as if to unleash some ninjutsu.
The three didn't dare to be careless and immediately prepared to counter with their own ninjutsu.
Previously, they had been suppressed and had no chance to use ninjutsu. Now that their opponent had initiative to created distance, it was their opportunity to disrupt the situation.
However, just as they raised their arms, they saw the eyes beneath the three black-robed figures' masks abruptly change from black to blood red.
And within those blood-red pupils were three pitch-black tomoe.
"Sharingan?!"
The three were shocked and immediately tried to avert their gaze, but it was too late.
The next moment, they felt a sharp pain, as if their bodies had been pierced by several giant iron nails, rendering them immobile.
Clearly, they had fallen victim to the Uchiha clan's unique genjutsu - Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!
"Are you Uchiha ninja? Why are you attacking us?"
One of the Kumo-nin asked through the pain.
However, the three black-robed figures completely ignored him.
Having gained control of the situation, they flashed behind the three and knocked them unconscious with a few swift blows.
Not only them, but the two Iwa-nin who had been taken down earlier were also quickly knocked out.
Only after completing these tasks did the three black-robed figures revert to their original appearance, revealing themselves to be Seimei's shadow clones.
No, not just three. On a tree branch above, another of Seimei's shadow clones stood silently.
This clone had been hiding there the entire time, observing the every move of the Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin on the battlefield with its Sharingan, guarding against any potential surprises.
Whoosh~
The shadow clone on the tree branch used the Body Flicker Technique to instantly appear on the ground.
It looked at the other three Seimei shadow clones and said, "Quickly clean up the battlefield. Someone is probably already heading this way. We need to hurry."
"Mm."
The three shadow clones didn't waste words, simply nodding and then efficiently cleaning up the battlefield.
Their movements were very practiced, indicating they had done this many times before.
In fact, this was indeed the case. Originally, Seimei's task for them was to search for suitable targets, and then he would personally capture them.
But after several captures, the number of captives in his hands increased, the chakra available to him daily skyrocketed, and the time required for cultivation correspondingly lengthened.
Gradually, he couldn't spare the time.
So, Seimei simply let these shadow clones handle it themselves.
These shadow clones inherited his memories, and their combat experience and skills were not lacking at all.
Moreover, he himself focused on agility and rarely engaged in direct confrontation, so there was no need to worry about the shadow clones' ability to withstand damage.
Thus, with the cooperation of the four shadow clones, the task proceeded very smoothly.
A few minutes later.
The battlefield was cleaned up.
The four shadow clones erased their traces, grabbed the unconscious three Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin, and quickly left the area.
Unbeknownst to them, shortly after they left, an Iwa-nin Jonin arrived at the scene. He looked at the familiar 'clean' battlefield and frowned slightly.
Seimei's unrestrained capture operations had finally aroused suspicion in Iwagakure, and this special Jonin was specifically sent to investigate the matter.
He surveyed the scene but found nothing suspicious.
So, he bit his thumb, quickly formed the hand seals 'Boar - Dog - Bird - Monkey - Ram', and slammed his hand on the ground, using his blood as a medium to perform the Summoning Technique!
In the next moment, over a dozen palm-sized rats appeared on the scene. They were pitch black with smooth fur and bright, lively eyes.
The Iwa-nin Jonin crouched down, picked up one of them, and placed it in his palm, saying, "Rat, sniff around and see how many people's scents are here."
The rat named Rat sniffed hard and then squeaked a few times.
The Iwa-nin Jonin seemed to understand, glanced at the surrounding corpses, counted, and then said, "Can you smell which direction they went?"
"Squeak~"
Rat squeaked a few times, extended its front paw, and pointed in a direction. It was precisely the direction in which Seimei's four shadow clones had left.
Seeing this, the Iwa-nin Jonin said happily, "Rat, good job! Here, for you..."
He took out a few peanuts from his pocket and handed them to the rat in his palm.
The rat was delighted and quickly finished the peanuts.
Then, the Iwa-nin Jonin said, "Rat, lead the way. Follow those scents and see if you can find anyone."
"Squeak~"
Rat squeaked and then, along with its companions, dashed forward.
The Iwa-nin Jonin carefully followed behind them.
...
Meanwhile.
In a hidden cave.
Seimei drained the last Kumo-nin's chakra. Seeing that his own chakra was still not full, he extracted some mental and physical energy from the Kumo-nin, converting them into chakra to replenish himself.
Only then did Seimei nod in satisfaction. He then began to perform the 'Reflection Heart Technique' to promote the evolution of his Sharingan.
An hour later.
Seimei stopped the technique.
At this point, the chakra within his body had dropped to half its full capacity, and the proficiency of the 'Reflection Heart Technique' had reached lv6 (9895/10000).
Clearly, after more than a day of effort, his 'Reflection Heart Technique' was one step closer to lv7.
Seimei didn't want to waste time. He checked the condition of the several Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin in the cave, confirming that they wouldn't wake up anytime soon, and then left the cave.
He identified the direction and headed towards another hidden cave.
While he was cultivating earlier, his shadow clones had transmitted a memory to him - there, they had prepared three more Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin for him.
The reason for not having them bring the captives over was mainly for safety.
Seimei was well aware of how audacious his current actions were. If the Iwa and Kumo high-ups were to catch on, keeping the captives separated would prevent a total loss.
(End of Chapter)