*Clang!*
*Clang, clang, clang!*
Seimei, wielding his short sword, held his own against the attacks of two Iwa Jonin, even managing to counterattack occasionally.
The reason he was targeted by these two stemmed from an incident about fifteen minutes ago.
Back then, Seimei had just entered the battlefield and killed the Iwa Chunin and Genin on the outskirts. He continued to advance, eliminating every Iwa ninja he encountered.
Initially, no one noticed him. But after he consecutively killed over twenty Iwa Chunin and Genin, he finally caught their attention.
And then, his opponents became the two Jonin before him.
They had been fighting for nearly three minutes now. Although Seimei's left arm was injured, it didn't affect his swordsmanship in close combat.
Therefore, these two couldn't overcome him.
Moreover, as the battle progressed, he had grasped their fighting habits and strengths.
He decided not to waste any more time.
With this thought, Seimei suddenly abandoned all unnecessary defense and launched a full-on offensive, focusing his attacks on the weaker of the two, a special Jonin.
That's right, only one of these two Iwa Jonin was a true Jonin with well-rounded abilities. The other was a special Jonin specializing in assassination.
Seimei focused on this special Jonin.
He was indeed skilled in assassination, but this was a head-on battle. The Three-Tomoe Sharingan's powerful insight allowed Seimei to see through any deceptive moves.
He quickly found an opportunity.
Dodging the attack from the other Iwa Jonin, Seimei appeared before the special Jonin and thrust his short sword.
Seeing this, the special Jonin's eyes lit up. Instead of retreating, he twisted his body, skillfully avoiding Seimei's attack.
Then, he swung his kunai, aiming for Seimei's throat.
Seimei couldn't retract his sword to block in time and had to dodge.
But this dodge would inevitably cost him the initiative he had just gained.
The other Iwa Jonin would then follow up with an attack, temporarily suppressing him.
In that situation, as long as the special Jonin capitalized on his strengths and launched a timely attack, he could pose a threat to Seimei.
Even if they couldn't kill him, they could at least completely suppress him.
Admittedly, their plan was sound. If things went according to their expectations, they could indeed cause Seimei significant trouble.
But the premise was that this opportunity was something they actively created, not something Seimei deliberately offered.
Clearly, the latter was the case.
The reason the special Jonin had this counterattack opportunity was that Seimei intentionally lured him into making a move.
And since he dared to do this, he naturally wasn't afraid of their scheme.
However, he didn't immediately reveal anything unusual. Instead, he dodged as they had anticipated.
He leaned back slightly, avoiding the special Jonin's swift strike.
Logically, if things were going according to plan, Mishima Kazuki should have been happy. But the reality was the opposite.
At this moment, he felt an unprecedented fear instead of joy.
'Why?'
Mishima Kazuki stared at Seimei's unchanged expression, his mind racing.
Thinking of Seimei's casual dodge and decisive action, he felt a sense of dissonance.
In that situation, anyone would instinctively try to block first and only dodge if blocking was impossible.
But Seimei?
He showed no intention of blocking at all and directly chose to dodge.
No matter how strong the Sharingan's insight was, the body's instincts couldn't lie. At that moment, Seimei indeed had no intention of retracting his sword to block.
In other words, he had never planned to block from the beginning.
But this would undoubtedly put him in danger.
Unless...
Suddenly, as if realizing something, Mishima Kazuki thought, "Oh no," and was about to warn his teammate.
But at that moment, a sense of crisis washed over him.
He saw Seimei extend his left hand and press a pale blue sphere against his chest.
*Thud*
A sharp pain hit him, and Mishima Kazuki couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
In the next moment, he was sent flying by the Rasengan.
This was Seimei's plan. He deliberately "made a mistake" to create an opportunity for the enemy, then used the information asymmetry to counterattack and secure victory.
From the beginning of the battle, he had rarely used his left arm. Coupled with the bandage, he subtly created the illusion that his left arm was severely injured.
Of course, this alone wasn't enough. The two opponents were Jonin after all; they wouldn't completely let their guard down.
The key was his Rasengan. As a jutsu without hand seals, its concealment was unquestionable.
The combination of these two factors allowed him to catch them off guard.
Otherwise, even if Mishima Kazuki fell for it, he could still have avoided the counterattack. He wouldn't have been severely injured like this!
Putting those thoughts aside, Seimei stopped paying attention to the fallen Mishima Kazuki and focused on the other Iwa Jonin.
This Jonin wasn't frightened by Mishima Kazuki's惨状. Instead, to protect his comrade, he unhesitatingly attacked Seimei.
And as Mishima Kazuki had predicted, because of his dodging movement, Seimei lost the initiative and was suppressed by the Iwa Jonin.
Unfortunately, Mishima Kazuki was severely injured and couldn't assist in the attack, so this situation didn't last long.
Soon, Seimei found an opportunity and regained the initiative.
Moreover, with one less enemy, his offense became even stronger.
For a time, the Iwa Jonin could only defend passively.
But a prolonged defense inevitably leads to mistakes. Just a few minutes later, he had several new wounds, and Seimei's attacks became increasingly fierce.
Just as he was about to collapse, another Iwa Jonin joined the fight, working together to resist Seimei.
Seimei scanned the battlefield. The number of Iwa ninja was almost two or three times that of Konoha. Although the Jonin-level combat power couldn't have such a big difference, it was still at least 1.5 times greater.
Coupled with the several Konoha Jonin held back by Han, the Iwa side clearly had more Jonin available to provide support.
That's why someone was able to come to the rescue in time.
Seimei's current strength was limited, and he couldn't decide the overall situation, so he could only adapt and continue to entangle with these two Iwa Jonin.
Time passed by.
A few more minutes went by.
Seimei, in the midst of battle, suddenly sensed some commotion on the outskirts of the battlefield, as if something was happening.
Moments later, Yamanaka Tokikaze's voice echoed in his mind.
"Attention everyone, our reinforcements have arrived. Everyone, gather with the nearest Jonin and break through towards the northwest."
Hearing this, Seimei suddenly understood. It was the reinforcements from Tiger Mountain camp. No wonder there was a commotion on the battlefield's outskirts!
In that case, they could attempt a breakthrough.
With this thought, Seimei stopped entangling with the two Iwa Jonin, found an opportunity to disengage, and headed northwest.
Along the way, the Konoha Chunin and Genin, seeing him, immediately gathered around him, quickly forming a small team and heading northwest together.
Not only him, but other Jonin also did the same, taking the lead and guiding groups of Konoha ninja towards the designated direction.
However, the Iwa ninja weren't fools.
At first, they were caught off guard by the sudden and organized actions of the Konoha ninja.
But soon, they understood Konoha's intentions and immediately organized their forces to try to stop the main force's retreat.
The fighting on the battlefield intensified.
The Konoha ninja wanted to leave, but the Iwa ninja wouldn't allow it. Both sides fought desperately, throwing ninja tools and explosive tags as if they were worthless.
Moreover, because both sides' ninja were relatively concentrated, the Jonin on both sides started using large-scale offensive ninjutsu.
This made the clashes even more intense.
(End of Chapter)