Hours passed in the blink of an eye, and evening fell.
Heavy rain poured from the sky.
Seimei and the others, drenched in rainwater, found themselves in a dense forest.
The relentless fighting and fleeing had left everyone exhausted, desperately needing a moment to rest.
"Qingshan!"
Nara Shisui glanced at Hinata Qingshan beside him and spoke up.
Hinata Qingshan understood his intent and nodded, mustering his spirit as he raised his hands to his chest, activating his Byakugan once more.
In the next moment, veins bulged at the sides of his eyes, and everything within a kilometer came into his view.
After a brief moment, he closed his Byakugan and said in a low voice, "There are no enemy forces within a kilometer radius, just some scattered shinobi keeping watch."
"Very good!"
Upon hearing this, Nara Shisui breathed a slight sigh of relief and turned to Seimei. "Seimei, those sentinels are your responsibility. Qingshan, you assist him."
"Understood."
Hinata Qingshan replied, while Seimei remained silent, striding directly toward the edge of the team.
The continuous killing had left him mentally and physically drained, and he didn't feel like saying another word.
Seeing Seimei leave, Nara Shisui nodded at Hinata Qingshan, signaling him to follow.
Soon, the two departed from the main group.
Well...
To call it a main group was somewhat misleading.
Over the course of the day, to avoid being bogged down and surrounded, they had hardly paused in their escape.
While this had increased their speed of travel, it also meant many Konoha shinobi who got entangled along the way could not receive backup, ultimately falling prey to the overwhelming Iwa shinobi.
As a result, their numbers had significantly dwindled.
Compared to their original force, they now had roughly half of their members left, hardly justifying the term "main group."
······
About a quarter of an hour later.
Seimei returned from the other side.
His expression remained numb, and upon seeing Nara Shisui, he merely nodded without saying a word.
Behind him, Hinata Qingshan spoke up, "The monitoring points within a kilometer have all been eliminated. We should have at least half an hour to rest now."
Having fewer people had its advantages; they were moving quickly enough that the Iwa forces couldn't keep up.
Now that the sentinels were gone and with the heavy rain falling, it would take the Iwa shinobi much longer to find them.
Of course, this was predicated on them not resting here, as the likelihood was high that the Iwa shinobi on watch had reported their location.
So, if they wanted to rest, they needed to cover some more ground first.
Thus, the Konoha forces quickly set out again.
Shortly after they left, several Iwa reconnaissance teams arrived in the area.
They carefully examined the traces left on the ground and then headed off in the direction Seimei and the others had taken.
Following behind them was the main force of the Iwa shinobi.
At this point, the Iwa forces numbered more than just three hundred-man teams. After a day of pursuit and blockades, their ranks had swelled to over seven hundred.
This was still a result of Seimei and the others having eliminated quite a few along the way; otherwise, there would have been even more.
After inspecting the markers left by the reconnaissance teams, they too followed in the direction Seimei and the others had gone.
Thus, both sides engaged in a battle of wits, chasing and fleeing from one another. The night passed quickly.
······
The following day.
Morning.
Seimei and his companions looked ahead at the more than one hundred Iwa shinobi blocking their path, their expressions grave.
Just when they thought they were about to escape the Iwa forces and enter the influence range of Fengliu Town's base, this unexpected group appeared to obstruct their escape, and nobody was pleased about it.
If it were just an ordinary hundred-man team, they might not have felt too concerned; although they were also down to roughly the same number, they had complete confidence in overcoming them.
However, the Iwa shinobi before them were anything but ordinary.
Not to mention that there were hardly any low-ranking shinobi among them, but their morale and spirit were not comparable to a standard shinobi team.
Without a doubt, this was an elite squad.
The leader of the Iwa shinobi only reinforced this point; it was none other than the Iwa jonin known as Shō, who had clashed with Seimei not long ago.
As soon as Seimei saw him, he knew that getting through this encounter would be challenging.
If the enemy had even a modicum of intelligence and didn't engage him head-on, their final losses would be significant.
What Seimei didn't realize was that Shō was also wary of him.
Over the past day of fighting, Shō had been keeping a close eye on Seimei.
Seimei's performance had been exceptionally impressive; the damage he inflicted on the Iwa forces was nearing a quarter of their total losses.
And even now, there were no signs of him slowing down.
This made Shō extremely cautious.
Thus, when tasked with blocking Seimei and his team, he had meticulously selected his subordinates and organized a squad of elite shinobi to take on the challenge.
In the curtain of rain, the two forces faced each other.
It was unclear who shouted "Kill," but combat erupted instantly.
As the battle commenced, both sides launched a flurry of shuriken, but being elite shinobi, such attacks clearly failed to cause much impact.
Fortunately, neither side had any expectations of this initial exchange, treating it merely as a greeting; the real focus would be on the close-quarters combat to follow.
"Kill—"
Both sides yelled as they charged forward, and the brutal melee began.
Seimei wielded his short sword, swiftly taking down two opponents, while Shō was no slouch, landing two powerful punches that left deep wounds on two Konoha chunin.
Seimei made no attempt to stop Shō, knowing that would only embolden him further.
Only through a similarly frenzied massacre could he force Shō to direct his attention toward him and engage in a head-on clash.
As it turned out, his gamble paid off.
After Seimei killed six Iwa chunin in quick succession, Shō could no longer restrain himself and charged at Seimei.
This time, Seimei didn't try to dodge; he simply waited for Shō to approach.
Finally, the two met in close combat.
Seimei's strikes were swift and precise, forcing Shō to evade with each attack.
Simultaneously, the explosive chakra in Shō's fists kept Seimei on high alert, making him wary of letting Shō land a hit.
Thus, to an outside observer, their battle seemed almost theatrical, with each attack missing the other by mere inches, appearing rather comical.
However, this was merely a façade; in reality, both were highly focused.
The reason there were no strikes landing flush against one another was that such an occurrence would mean at least one of them would be severely injured.
Therefore, without absolute confidence, neither Seimei nor Shō would allow the other to make contact.
As time passed slowly, the intensity of the battle increased.
Seimei knew he could no longer drag this out, as prolonged fighting would inevitably lead to an encirclement by the Iwa main forces.
So, they had to find a way to disengage quickly, just as they had in their previous fights.
With that thought in mind, Seimei no longer hesitated. He dodged Shō's next attack, then took a step back to create some distance.
Next, he formed hand seals with his hands and rapidly unleashed a jutsu—Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique!
Previously, their battle had cleared a wide area around them.
Therefore, Seimei no longer needed to worry about injuring his allies; he could cast his jutsu freely.
The only unfortunate aspect was that, due to the rain, the power of his fire jutsu was somewhat diminished, requiring him to expend more chakra to make up for the deficit.
Fortunately, he had ample chakra to spare and didn't need to worry about this slight expenditure.
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