Grind is My Ninja Way

It's undeniable that in order to swiftly eliminate Kaguya , he did expend a significant amount of chakra.

However, as the two shadow clones dissipated, their remaining chakra returned to his main body.

Currently, his remaining chakra still exceeded 20,000 points.

While this figure might pale in comparison to his full capacity of nearly 60,000 points, it still far surpassed that of ordinary ninja, even Jonin.

Therefore, there was no urgent need for him to replenish his chakra.

So why was he doing this?

Simple, he wanted to lure the two Mist Jonin over.

At this moment, the Chunin on their side were in a dire situation.

Admittedly, before engaging Kaguya , he had eliminated twelve Mist Tokubetsu Jonin, reducing their overall number by almost half.

Even so, their remaining numbers still exceeded those of their own Tokubetsu Jonin.

Moreover, their Tokubetsu Jonin had also suffered losses.

Aside from the one initially severely injured by Kurosuki Raiga's lightning strike, two Tokubetsu Jonin were killed by Kaguya alone.

Taking into account those who perished while being besieged by other Mist Tokubetsu Jonin, there were now less than five Tokubetsu Jonin left on their side.

Even then, three of them had to be assigned to entangle the two Mist Jonin, leaving no spare capacity to alleviate the pressure on the Chunin.

On the contrary, the Mist side, leveraging their numerical advantage in Tokubetsu Jonin, was continuously inflicting damage upon the Konoha Chunin.

In just the few minutes that Seimei and Kaguya had been fighting, nearly a third of the Konoha Chunin had fallen.

To prevent the situation from collapsing and impacting the Jonin battlefields, Seimei had to find a way to attract the two Mist Jonin.

Only by doing so could he free the Konoha Tokubetsu Jonin engaged with them, allowing them to ease the pressure on the Chunin battlefield.

Although the effect might not be particularly significant, it was still better than leaving those Chunin to fight alone, wasn't it?

And the two Mist Jonin were very cooperative. Seeing him immediately capture Mist Chunin to replenish his chakra after a fierce battle, they rushed over.

At this point, his goal was achieved.

'Next, is to quickly deal with these two.'

Thinking this, Seimei suddenly abandoned his attack on the Mist Chunin and turned to face the two Mist Jonin.

Compared to Kaguya , these two were quite average in strength. Perhaps slightly stronger than ordinary Jonin, but far from reaching the elite level.

Therefore, Seimei had no qualms and charged straight at them.

Seeing him approach, the two Mist Jonin's hearts skipped a beat, realizing they seemed to have fallen for a trap. But the arrow was already on the bowstring, they had to release it.

Now, they could only brace themselves and face him head-on.

Observing this, a relaxed smile appeared on Seimei's face.

Everything was proceeding according to his plan.

Without hesitation, Seimei swiftly drew several kunai from his ninja tool pouch.

Then, his Sharingan spun, instantly locking onto the two's movement trajectories and making certain predictions before throwing the kunai in his hand.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~

The kunai sliced through the air, carrying a faint killing intent, and shot towards the two Mist Jonin.

Just as they were about to dodge, they suddenly felt a sense of danger and quickly changed their instinctive choices.

Thump thump thump~

Several kunai embedded themselves in the nearby tree trunks, causing the two Mist Jonin's expressions to change.

The direction where the kunai landed was precisely where they had instinctively intended to dodge.

If they hadn't reacted in time and sensed the danger, immediately altering their evasion direction, they would likely be in a sorry state now.

Not far away, Seimei witnessed this scene with some disappointment.

But it was merely some disappointment.

He had anticipated this outcome. After all, they were two Jonin, it was impossible for them to be easily killed by his kunai.

Even if they hadn't reacted in time just now, at most they would have been somewhat disheveled, not injured or killed.

It was just that it cost him a chance for a combo attack.

However, this was just an attempt.

Since it didn't succeed, let's settle this with our skills!

Clang~

The kunai and short sword clashed, producing a clear metallic sound.

Both sides exerted force simultaneously, sparks flew, and the friction between the kunai and short sword emitted a harsh "ding!" sound.

At this moment, the other Mist Jonin stepped forward and attacked Seimei from the side.

Sensing the danger, Seimei abandoned the struggle, tapped his feet on the ground, and retreated backward.

Seeing this, the Mist Jonin who had just clashed with him head-on seized the opportunity and pressed forward, attempting to completely suppress Seimei.

Clang clang clang~

The kunai and short sword clashed repeatedly, creating a series of sounds.

Seimei, facing two opponents, continuously retreated, seemingly having no room to fight back.

Clang~

After another collision, Seimei abruptly widened the distance and swiftly retreated backward.

Witnessing this, the Mist Jonin who had first engaged him didn't hesitate and immediately closed in, pursuing Seimei just like before, preventing him from creating distance.

From a distance, it looked as if the two were moving in sync.

But at this moment, Seimei suddenly raised his left hand and completed the hand seals for the 'Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique' at an extremely fast speed.

Then, he opened his mouth and spat out a fist-sized fireball.

Immediately afterward, this fireball rapidly expanded and hurtled towards the Mist Jonin in front.

Seimei's move seemed intended to catch the opponent off guard.

However, facing this sudden attack, the Mist Jonin didn't panic at all.

Not only that, a mocking smile even appeared on his face.

He abruptly stopped, kicked off the ground with his right foot, and dodged sideways, skillfully evading the attack.

Simultaneously, the other Mist Jonin seized the opportunity and lunged at Seimei.

Judging by their smooth movements, it was clear they had anticipated Seimei's counterattack.

And indeed, that was the case.

Although they hadn't fought Seimei before, they had been observing his battle with Kaguya and were already familiar with some of his techniques.

Therefore, they had anticipated his counterattack method early on.

So, the two played along, one responsible for luring Seimei into attacking, while the other took advantage of this opportunity to launch an assault.

Unfortunately, facing this sudden attack, Seimei also remained calm.

He abruptly turned his head, looked at the attacker, and his three-tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly, instantly releasing the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan'.

Sensing the abnormality, this Mist Jonin inwardly exclaimed, "Not good!" While leaping backward, he immediately averted his gaze.

However, it was too late.

The moment their gazes met, Seimei had successfully cast the 'Genjutsu: Sharingan'. Although it was just a momentary cast with average power, it was enough to control the opponent for a while.

Thus, the Mist Jonin, after retreating a few steps, suddenly froze in place.

Seizing this opportunity, Seimei took out several shuriken and swiftly threw them, aiming for the vital points around this Mist Jonin.

Clearly, this was a counter-counter-attack.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~

The shuriken traversed several meters, seemingly about to hit the Mist Jonin.

But at this moment, several other shuriken suddenly shot from the side.

Then, a few "clang clang clang" sounds were heard, and the shuriken thrown by Seimei were all knocked down.

Seimei looked towards the direction from which those shuriken came.

The Mist Jonin who had just dodged his 'Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique' attack flashed and blocked in front of the other Mist Jonin.

The two sides faced off, and the battle returned to the starting line.

(End of Chapter)