"Squeak~"
Just as the summoned rat was severely injured by Seimei, two more rats emerged from under the other two Iwa-nin.
They swiftly darted towards the cave exit.
Seimei carefully sensed these rats, realizing that if he didn't keep his eyes on them, it was difficult to perceive their presence.
Although part of the reason was their inherent weakness, making them hard to detect, it was mainly due to their innate talent.
Seimei discovered that they seemed to be able to actively conceal their own aura, greatly reducing their presence.
That was why he hadn't noticed their infiltration while cultivating.
After figuring out where the problem lay, Seimei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, two shuriken flew from his hand, embedding themselves into the rats' bodies before they disappeared from sight.
Amidst a flurry of squeaks, Seimei rushed out of the cave.
If he were a bit greedier, he could have completely drained the mental and physical energy of the Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin before leaving. But to be safe, he chose to rush out of the hidden cave immediately.
Facts proved that his caution was justified.
The moment he dashed out of the cave, several kunai were shot towards him.
In his crimson pupils, the Sharingan spun rapidly.
With just a glance, Seimei saw the explosive tags tied to the back of the kunai.
Without any hesitation, Seimei swiftly dodged the kunai attack.
Then, he kicked off the ground, instantly creating some distance.
In the next moment, a series of explosions rang out, accompanied by flashes of fire. Behind him, the cave entrance collapsed.
One could imagine that if he had been greedy for that bit of chakra, thinking that having hostages would prevent the enemy in the shadows from acting rashly, he would probably be trapped inside now.
It was clear that the enemy didn't care about the two Kumo-nin and three Iwa-nin at all.
'Just who is this person in the shadows?'
Seimei wondered, his gaze turning towards the direction from which the kunai had been shot. There, he saw a 'dust-covered' Iwa-nin Jonin.
Obviously, the Jonin had just arrived.
Earlier, perhaps out of fear of alerting him, the Jonin hadn't approached, only sending the summoned rat to scout ahead.
And after the rat was severely injured by him and sent out a warning, the Jonin rushed over in a hurry.
Unfortunately, he was still a step too late and failed to trap Seimei inside the cave.
As the two sides faced off, over a dozen rats suddenly chased from behind, surrounding the Iwa-nin Jonin and squeaking loudly.
The Iwa-nin Jonin seemed to understand their language, his expression changing with the rats' squeaks.
In the end, his face turned completely gloomy.
Takayama Yoichi stared at Seimei, gritting his teeth, "Uchiha brat, you're good. You even dared to kill Xiao Qi..."
"Xiao Qi? Killed?"
Seimei was taken aback at first, then realized that the Xiao Qi the Jonin mentioned should be the summoned rat.
'But... it actually died!'
Honestly, Seimei was a bit surprised.
After he attacked, the rat had already dispelled the summoning jutsu and returned to its original place.
Seimei had thought it would survive because of that, but now it seemed his sword strike had still taken its life.
However...
'Three ninja from your village are still buried in the cave, their lives hanging by a thread, and yet you're here agonizing over the death of a summoned animal.'
Seimei shook his head, thinking, 'This is so typical of Iwagakure.'
Because Onoki adhered to the principle of 'quantity over quality', he had greatly lowered the entry requirements and graduation threshold for Iwa-nin. Although this had cultivated the largest ninja force in the ninja world, it also led to two consequences: the uneven quality of Iwa-nin and the perception that lower-ranked Iwa-nin were 'expendable'.
That was why many high-ranking Iwa-nin didn't care about the deaths of their subordinates.
Some would even deliberately arrange for them to die, using the lives of these lower-ranked ninja to consume the enemy's chakra and energy.
When the enemy was weakened, they would then personally strike and ultimately complete the mission.
Clearly, the Iwa-nin Jonin in front of him belonged to this category.
He didn't value the three Iwa-nin captured by Seimei at all. Perhaps in his eyes, their lives truly weren't worth as much as that summoned rat.
But what did that have to do with him?
He wasn't an Iwa-nin, so why should he care?
Next, he just needed to think about how to quickly deal with this opponent and then leave this place.
With this in mind, Seimei immediately activated his Sharingan, intending to hypnotize the opponent and create an opportunity.
However, this Iwa-nin Jonin was obviously not easy to deal with.
Despite appearing angry, he had been vigilant of Seimei's movements the entire time. The moment Seimei activated his Sharingan, he immediately looked away.
Furthermore, he flicked his wrist and threw two thin senbon, aiming for Seimei's eyes at high speed.
"Oh?"
Seeing the Jonin's reaction, Seimei let out a soft exclamation and tilted his head to dodge the senbon attack.
Then, without any pause, he threw several shuriken in return, precisely blocking the Jonin's retreat path.
That's right, his retreat path.
All the anger, rage, and the look in his eyes that seemed to want to kill Seimei to avenge the rat—these were all just an act.
From the beginning to the end, Takayama Yoichi had no intention of fighting him head-on. That's why he started to flee the moment Seimei activated his Sharingan.
Recalling everything that had just happened, Seimei finally remembered that there was a moment of unnaturalness in the Jonin's expression when he saw his Three Tomoe Sharingan.
Clearly, from that moment on, the Jonin had planned to escape.
Seimei even suspected that if the Jonin had known beforehand that he was an Uchiha ninja with the Three Tomoe Sharingan awakened, he probably wouldn't have come at all.
However, since he was here, Seimei couldn't let him leave easily.
With this thought, Seimei leaped forward, drawing his short sword, and clashed with Takayama Yoichi, who had just been intercepted by the shuriken.
Clang, clang, clang~
Kunai and short sword clashed, sparks flying.
Seimei went all out, combining his Sharingan and 'Swordsmanship'. In just a short time, he gained the absolute upper hand.
This was only natural!
Although Takayama Yoichi was a special Jonin, his specialty lay in tracking, not direct combat.
In terms of frontal combat strength, he was only slightly stronger than an average Chunin.
Therefore, under Seimei's full-fledged attack, he had little room to fight back.
He couldn't even manage to cast a single ninjutsu.
And this was the common fate of most ninja whose strength was inferior to Seimei's.
Under the gaze of his lv5 'Swordsmanship' and Three Tomoe Sharingan, those lacking in strength simply had no opportunity to 'slowly' form hand seals.
If they did, Seimei could seize the chance and instantly kill them.
In this aspect, he was somewhat similar to the samurai of the Land of Iron.
However, the samurai relied on their rich combat experience to find openings in their opponents, while he relied on his Sharingan.
But regardless of the method, the end result was the same: ninja who were not strong enough couldn't last long against them.
(End of Chapter)