*Whoosh!*
A massive wind blade, more than ten meters long, flew through the air.
Below, a group of Mist ninjas panicked instantly. Some tried to form hand signs to cast jutsu for defense, while others turned and fled.
However, the wind blade was too fast. Neither those attempting to block it nor those fleeing succeeded.
*Slash!*
The sound of a blade cutting through flesh echoed.
A Mist Chunin at the front was sliced in half by the wind blade, his intestines spilling out onto the ground. The blade continued its path, severing the left arm of one Mist Genin and slicing into the shoulder of another Chunin.
Even the fourth Mist ninja was left with a deep wound.
In one move, Seimei's wind blade had almost entirely crippled the small group of Mist ninjas.
Seimei glanced at the two survivors and, without hesitation, flew over their heads, changing direction to attack another group of Mist ninjas.
Seeing Seimei approaching, the new group quickly scattered, clearly fearing they might be taken out in one sweep.
They even threw kunai at him, trying to force him to leave.
But Seimei wasn't afraid. With a twist of his body, he effortlessly dodged their attacks.
Before they could launch another attack, Seimei took the initiative, casting a jutsu: *Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!*
After swiftly forming the hand signs, Seimei opened his mouth and released a stream of fire.
In the air, the fire transformed into a dragon, charging straight toward two Mist ninjas.
Among the fire-style techniques Seimei had mastered, the Dragon Flame Jutsu had the fastest attack speed and considerable power. It was his go-to move.
The ninja at the front reacted quickly enough to avoid a direct hit, suffering only a burn on his right arm. However, the Genin behind him wasn't so lucky, and the fire dragon engulfed half of his body. With a burst, he became a man of flames.
"Ahhh!"
A horrifying scream pierced the air.
Hearing the scream, the nearby Mist ninjas shivered.
But Seimei didn't care. After his first strike, he quickly formed more hand signs and cast another jutsu: *Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire!*
In an instant, dozens of fireballs shot from his mouth, floating like seeds in the wind, encircling the remaining Mist ninjas.
*Water Style: Water Formation Wall!*
*Water Style: Water Wave!*
Two Mist Chunin swiftly finished forming hand signs and cast these water-style jutsu. They either blocked or countered most of the fireballs, creating an opening in the fiery barrier.
Taking advantage of the gap, the remaining Mist ninjas scattered and escaped the attack.
Seeing this, Seimei was ready to launch a third wave.
Suddenly, a few shuriken flew toward him at high speed. Unlike those thrown by lower-ranked ninjas, these were much faster and launched from tricky angles.
In midair, Seimei abruptly halted, pulled out a kunai, and deflected them with swift movements.
*Clang, clang, clang!*
With the sound of metal clashing, all the shuriken aimed at him were knocked down.
At that moment, five Mist Jōnin approached him.
Seimei glanced at the five who had grouped together, but he didn't plan to engage them. His goal was to disrupt the enemy, not engage in a life-or-death battle.
True, only two of the five were actual Jōnin, while the others were elite Chunin. With some effort, he could probably take a few down. But it wasn't necessary.
Rather than fighting them head-on, Seimei preferred to target the other Mist ninjas. It was quicker, easier, and safer.
With this in mind, he prepared to fly away.
But just as he turned, a dozen kunai flew toward him.
Dodging the kunai, he was immediately met with several water arrows formed by water-style jutsu from the two Jōnin.
Frowning slightly, Seimei quickly formed hand signs and unleashed another fire jutsu: *Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!*
*Roar!*
The fire dragon roared as it crashed into the water arrows, instantly shattering them.
But that was only the beginning.
Before the fire dragon had even dissipated, two more jutsu were launched at him.
One of them was *Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet*, a jutsu Seimei was very familiar with. The other was a rare wind-style jutsu.
Dodging the water dragon, Seimei saw countless air bullets, invisible and fast, shooting toward him like bullets.
Fortunately, with his Sharingan and the agility of his *Wind Style: Wind Wings*, he was able to dodge the attack. Otherwise, it would have been hard to escape unscathed.
However, the delay gave the other Mist ninjas time to regroup.
The previously scattered ninjas quickly gathered, and with the five Jōnin holding him back, their offensive and defensive capabilities were much stronger than before.
Seimei had to admit that the Mist ninjas were well-trained. To regroup so quickly wasn't something an ordinary team could accomplish.
But it didn't matter.
If Seimei could scatter them once, he could do it again.
Shaking off the Jōnin, Seimei flew high into the sky. Then, with a sharp turn, he prepared to dive down and launch another attack on the Mist ninjas.
At that moment, he noticed another group of Mist ninjas approaching from the south.
They had regrouped and were hurrying toward the battlefield. At their current pace, it would take them less than a minute to join forces with the Mist ninjas below.
Once they regrouped, they would be much harder to deal with.
But Seimei wasn't too worried.
Because on the other side, the Konoha reinforcements had also set out.
From his high vantage point, Seimei could easily oversee the battlefield. He saw a force of about 150 Konoha ninjas leaving the Black Rock base's southern gate, heading toward the battlefield.
It was clear that after a few minutes of preparation, Sanou Nobuhisa had gathered troops to support him.
However...
"Only 150 of them?"
Seeing the number of reinforcements, Seimei frowned slightly.
After all, even with his earlier efforts, the Mist ninjas below still had about 250 combatants remaining. That meant they outnumbered the Konoha reinforcements by 100, a significant difference.
Unless Seimei gave it his all, it would be impossible to stop the Mist ninjas.
Just as Seimei was thinking about this, a wave of chakra, mixed with mental energy, entered his mind.
The voice of Yamanaka Aoi echoed.
"Jonin Seimei, the reinforcements have set out. Captain Sanou requests that you assist the support team and keep the Mist ninjas away from the base."
"Only 150?" Seimei asked directly in his mind.
Yamanaka Aoi paused, surprised that Seimei already knew the number of reinforcements. He hadn't mentioned it yet!
Then he realized Seimei must have seen the force from above, given his ability to fly.
"Yes, Jonin Seimei. This is all the manpower we could muster from the base right now," Yamanaka Aoi responded. "Please do your best to keep the enemy at bay."
Seimei considered the situation and glanced at the battlefield.
*Sigh* "I guess I'm always busy," he muttered to himself.
He had hoped to stay low in this battle, but it seemed he would have to take action after all.
"After all, you can't hide a brilliant light, no matter how hard you try," Seimei thought, comforting himself.
"Alright, I'll handle it," Seimei replied. "Tell them to hurry."
"Yes, Jonin Seimei!" Yamanaka Aoi responded before ending the *Mind Transmission Jutsu*.
Seimei didn't rush to attack the Mist ninjas again. Instead, he took a moment to reflect on Yamanaka Aoi's use of the jutsu.
Although Seimei had only been on the receiving end, he gathered plenty of information. Especially since he had already developed a similar jutsu, this helped deepen his understanding.
Unconsciously, Seimei felt his mastery of the *Mind Transmission Jutsu* increase, and when he checked his stats, he saw that his proficiency had improved significantly, saving him thousands of chakra points.
Though one thousand points of chakra wasn't much to him now, even a small gain was worth it. Seimei didn't mind collecting these small advantages wherever he could.
(End of Chapter)