Grind is My Ninja Way

Looking at Kakuzu's corpse, Seimei thought to himself: "Probably no one would know that here, in this unknown corner, a ninja who could be ranked among the top in the entire ninja world died silently like this..."

'I wonder if one day in the future, I will also be like him, dying quietly in some corner.'

An inexplicable sense of panic arose in Seimei's heart.

But he quickly suppressed it. He still had to transcend in this world and achieve immortality. How could he die like this?

Collecting his thoughts, Seimei stopped thinking further and turned to look around.

Without Kakuzu's Chakra supply, the sea of fire created by the 'Compound Ninjutsu: Blazing Wind Chaos' was rapidly receding.

However...

The surroundings were all forests, and many trees had been ignited during this time, so it wasn't realistic to expect all these flames to disappear immediately.

Fortunately, this was deep in the forest, with high humidity. The fire couldn't spread at all, and it might even attract heavy rain when it reached a certain extent.

At that time, the flames would naturally extinguish.

So, he didn't need to worry about anything.

Coincidentally, the commotion here was already big enough, and Seimei didn't want to stay any longer.

So, he found the place with the most intense fire, threw Kakuzu's corpse there, and then left on his own.

······

Time flew by, and it was the evening of the next day.

At this time, Seimei had already returned to the coast.

Next, he just needed to cross the strait in front of him to reach the Land of Waves and then return to the forward base.

However, Seimei wasn't in a hurry to set off. What came next was a physically demanding task, and after sprinting for more than ten hours, it was time for him to rest.

Standing on the treetop, gazing at the setting sun on the distant sea, Seimei's thoughts gradually drifted away.

Speaking of which, after killing Kakuzu, his luck seemed to have improved quite a bit.

Originally, he thought he would encounter harassment from other bounty ninjas again, after all, seventeen million Ryo was not a small amount.

As the saying goes, people die for money, and birds die for food. Such a high bounty was enough for many ninjas to ignore the risks involved.

But to his surprise, the journey had been smooth sailing. Let alone other bounty ninjas, not even a single unexpected incident had occurred.

However, thinking about it, it made sense. Everyone who had seen him this time had already been silenced by him, so how could there be other bounty ninjas appearing in a short time?

As for why it was a short time, not permanently?

Not to mention that his bounty was still hanging there, and sooner or later someone would find him because of it. Just this incident alone couldn't be kept hidden for too long.

Although he had been very discreet and silenced everyone who needed to be silenced, there was one thing that couldn't be hidden no matter what.

That was the Kusanagi Sword he had taken from the Takumi Village leader.

As long as he continued to use this sword in the future, as his fame grew, it would naturally attract attention.

At that time, the black market, which had been monitoring the Takumi Village leader for a long time, would easily connect the dots.

In that case, they definitely wouldn't mind giving a little push when those bounty ninjas accepted the mission.

After all, he had offended the black market this time.

They definitely wouldn't let it go.

At that time, there would definitely be many people coming after him.

Of course, he could also choose to hide the long katana in his hand.

This way, he would definitely avoid a lot of trouble.

But he had gone through so much trouble to obtain such a powerful weapon. If he didn't use it, wouldn't all his efforts be in vain?

Just a mere black market and a few bounty ninjas couldn't make him fear them to that extent.

As the saying goes, when soldiers come, block them with generals; when water comes, block it with earth.

He would deal with future matters in the future!

With this thought, Seimei jumped down from the treetop, sat on a branch, placed the long katana on his knees, and began to rest with his eyes closed.

Time passed by.

In the blink of an eye, the sun sank below the horizon, and night gradually fell.

At some point, Seimei opened his eyes, and without lingering, he concealed his aura and immediately headed towards the coast.

Avoiding a few Konoha patrol teams, he arrived at the sea. After confirming his direction, he walked on the waves, heading towards the location of the Konoha forward base in the Land of Waves.

However, unlike when he came, the coastline of the Land of Fire was vast, and there was no need to pay too much attention to the direction. As long as he didn't deviate too much, he could land.

But the Land of Waves was much smaller, so when returning, he needed to pay attention to his direction at all times, or he could easily go astray.

And what Seimei didn't know was that while he was rushing towards the forward base, on the other side of the sea, several large ships were also heading there.

From the water flow markings on those ships, it was clear that they were Kirigakure's warships.

At this time, those ships were filled with Kirigakure ninjas.

Obviously, after more than ten days of silence, the Kiri-nin had started to move again, and their first move was to launch a major attack - directly assaulting Konoha's forward base in the Land of Waves.

······

Several hours later.

East of the Land of Waves, about a dozen kilometers away from the forward base.

In a watchtower built on a reef, a Konoha ninja's expression suddenly changed, and he hurriedly blew the whistle on his chest.

Instantly, the sharp whistle echoed throughout the entire watchtower.

A flurry of footsteps approached, and a special Jonin arrived at the top of the watchtower.

As soon as he appeared, he asked: "Quartz, what happened?"

Hearing his question, the Chunin who had just blown the whistle immediately replied: "It's Kirigakure's warships, they're attacking!"

"How many are there?"

The special Jonin remained relatively calm and immediately asked the crucial question.

"Four."

The Chunin named Quartz answered.

Hearing this, the special Jonin breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Based on past experience, four Kirigakure warships could transport approximately two to three hundred ninjas.

Although this number wasn't small, it was roughly equivalent to the number of ninjas Konoha had stationed at the forward base.

If so many Kiri-nin suddenly launched an attack and caught Konoha off guard, they might indeed suffer a significant loss.

But now...

Since they had discovered the enemy in advance, there was nothing to fear.

With this in mind, Kanda Otsuru asked again: "What's their direction?"

"This way!"

Quartz pointed towards the southeast.

Seeing this, Kanda Otsuru took the monocular from Quartz's hand and looked in that direction.

With the help of the moonlight, he indeed saw four large ships on the horizon.

Those ships were pitch black, sailing on the sea, looking like ghost ships.

Kanda Otsuru knew that they weren't ghost ships, but Kirigakure had deliberately extinguished the lights on the ships to reduce the chance of being discovered.

Unfortunately, they were unlucky. This reef watchtower was newly built by Konoha during Kirigakure's period of inactivity and wasn't in Kirigakure's intelligence.

Therefore, before they could get close, their whereabouts were discovered.

(End of Chapter)