*Puchi~*
The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed.
Takayama Yoichi looked at the short sword embedded in his chest, wanting to say something, but when he opened his mouth, only blood gushed out, no words formed.
Seimei watched him expressionlessly. With a slight twist of his right hand, he pulled out the short sword.
Takayama Yoichi stumbled back two steps, glaring at Seimei with eyes full of unwillingness, but ultimately collapsed helplessly.
'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique~'
Looking at the corpse on the ground, Seimei swiftly formed hand seals, opened his mouth, and spewed out a massive fireball with a diameter of two meters.
The fireball landed on the corpse, sizzling intensely, and soon burned Takayama Yoichi beyond recognition.
As for reducing him to ashes?
That wasn't realistic.
His Fire Release hadn't reached that level of power yet.
However, this was enough.
Seimei merely wanted to prevent Iwagakure from obtaining any memories related to him from Takayama Yoichi's brain; he didn't necessarily need to incinerate him completely.
As for concealing his death...
Seimei didn't intend to do that, nor could he.
After all, not all the rats had died. As long as Iwagakure had a way to find them, they would definitely discover Takayama Yoichi's demise.
Since that was the case, there was no need to waste effort on concealment.
As for the few people inside the cave, although they had been unconscious the whole time and were unaware of what Seimei had done to them, it didn't mean that Iwagakure couldn't find out.
Therefore, to keep his secret from being exposed, these people also had to die.
What?
You ask why not keep them and continue extracting chakra?
It was simple. Since Iwagakure could find them once through some clue, they might find them a second time.
In that case, the risk of keeping them far outweighed the potential gains.
So, Seimei wouldn't waste effort on relocating them.
Arriving at the cave entrance, Seimei looked at the collapsed cave, thought for a moment, then raised his right hand, focusing his mind. In a short while, a high-density chakra ball formed in his palm.
That's right, it was the Rasengan.
Seimei extended his right hand, pressing the Rasengan against the rubble. A rotating force transmitted outward, instantly flinging the surrounding debris aside.
Seimei didn't stop. After advancing a distance, he used the Rasengan again, repeating the process to continue moving forward.
This was only because Seimei's Rasengan was just beginner level and couldn't condense too much chakra. Otherwise, he could have cleared the entire passage in one go.
A few minutes later, Seimei finally returned to the cave.
At this time, the three Iwa-nin and two Kumo-nin were still alive.
Seimei didn't waste any time. He went straight to them, performed the Chakra Absorption Technique, and extracted as much of their mental and physical energy as possible.
Soon, Seimei's chakra reached full capacity.
However, the people on the ground still hadn't been completely drained.
Seimei could only shake his head in regret. He didn't have time to linger here, so he had to give up.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Five kunai were casually thrown by Seimei, accurately piercing the five people's hearts.
Their bodies twitched unconsciously, and then they breathed their last in their sleep.
Next, Seimei once again used the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique to incinerate all five corpses before leaving the cave.
To be safe, Seimei didn't immediately head to the next hiding spot. Instead, he first circled the vicinity.
Only after confirming that no one or anything else was following him did he quietly make his way to another hiding place.
There were also a few Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin captives there.
Based on his time estimates, their physical condition should have recovered by now, ready for another round of harvesting.
Thinking of this, Seimei didn't want to delay even for a minute. He quickened his pace, and in no time, he arrived at his destination.
He looked around, ensuring there were no issues, and then entered the hiding spot, quickly starting another round of cultivation.
...
That night.
At Iwagakure's last line of defense, inside a small hut in the command post, an Iwa-nin Jonin bowed to the elderly man above him, "Elder!"
Hearing the call, the old man put down the documents in his hand, looked at the Iwa-nin Jonin below, and said with a smile, "It's Ishikawa! What's the matter?"
"Reporting to the Elder, something happened to Yoichi," Ishikawa said with a serious tone.
"Yoichi?"
The Iwa elder was stunned for a moment upon hearing the name.
A moment later, as if recalling something, he said in realization, "Oh, you mean that kid Takayama Yoichi. What happened to him?"
"Elder, according to the requirements, he should have contacted us half an hour ago, but we haven't received any news until now. So we believe he might have already been killed in action," Ishikawa reported truthfully.
Hearing this, the Iwa elder's expression also turned serious, "I remember he was investigating that mysterious ninja and the recent disappearances of ninja in the outer areas, right?"
"Yes, Elder," Ishikawa replied.
"And then?"
The Iwa elder pressed further.
"There's no 'and then'," Ishikawa shook his head. "After that routine contact, Jonin Takayama disappeared."
Hearing this, the Iwa elder pondered for a moment, "You mean, Jonin Takayama discovered something and was then silenced?"
"Most likely!"
Ishikawa replied with certainty.
"Can you pinpoint the location?"
The Iwa elder asked again.
"Yes," Ishikawa answered. "Jonin Takayama has a blood contract with the Hidden Rat Clan. He always summons some Hidden Rats when carrying out missions. As long as we find the leader of the Hidden Rat Clan, we should be able to determine Jonin Takayama's final location."
However, upon hearing this, the Iwa elder fell silent.
After a while, he finally said, "Let's put Takayama's matter aside for now. Our current priority is to cooperate with the main force's operation.
"At the earliest tomorrow morning, at the latest tomorrow noon, the main force's intentions will be exposed. At that time, we need to hold back the Kumo-nin.
"As for Takayama's situation..."
The Iwa elder pondered for a while before continuing, "Judging by the recent number of missing people, there are at most a few insignificant individuals causing trouble out there.
"As long as they continue to act, they won't be able to stray far from this battlefield.
"And once the main force arrives tomorrow, they'll be like fish in a net, unable to escape. At that time, we can easily deal with them by sending some personnel.
"So, there's no need to worry about them for now."
Finally, the Iwa elder said earnestly, "Ishikawa, remember, the more critical the moment, the more important it is to distinguish priorities. The Kumo-nin are our main target; everything else is secondary, understand?"
"Thank you for your guidance, Elder. I understand," Ishikawa replied sincerely.
That's all for today.