With an emotionless face, Seimei pulled out his short sword. The Iwa ninja in front of him lost his support and collapsed, clutching his chest. After struggling for a moment, he breathed his last.
Without pausing, Seimei scanned the battlefield and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside another Iwa special Jonin.
This time, with the help of his Konoha comrades, it took even less time for Seimei to find an opening.
The moment their eyes met, Seimei cast the Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique, immobilizing his opponent.
Seizing the opportunity, the Konoha Jonin pierced the Iwa ninja's heart with his kunai.
As the Iwa ninja fell, Seimei nodded at his comrade and they each rushed towards a different Iwa ninja.
His teammate's target was one of the two true Iwa Jonin, whose strength was evident as he had already gained the upper hand against the Konoha Jonin in just two minutes. Seimei's teammate went to assist in resisting this Jonin's attacks.
Seimei's target was simple: another Iwa special Jonin. He believed in picking the easier fights.
His plan was to eliminate the weaker Iwa ninja first, then focus their combined strength on the two powerful Jonin.
He was currently being held back by several Konoha Jonin and could be dealt with later.
But things didn't go as smoothly as he had imagined.
Just as he killed the third Iwa special Jonin and was about to attack the fourth, a subtle tremor came from beneath his feet.
At first, Seimei thought someone was secretly using an Earth Style jutsu.
However, as he jumped onto a nearby tree branch, a strange creature emerged from where he had been standing.
It was two meters long, with three pairs of sharp legs and scales covering its entire body. It was Koharu Shuji's summoning beast, Chika.
Of course, Seimei didn't know this.
He only saw its agile, earthy yellow eyes lock onto him and its mouth open wide.
A powerful suction force pulled at him, as if the creature was trying to swallow him whole.
Seimei focused chakra on his feet to stabilize himself, then formed the Ram hand seal and used the Body Flicker Technique to escape.
As he moved, he threw a kunai at the creature below.
This wasn't an ordinary kunai. It had an explosive tag wrapped around its handle, which Seimei activated as he threw it.
Sensing danger, Chika closed its mouth and dodged the kunai, using its thick-scaled tail to shield its head. Get full chapters from novel•fire.net
The kunai hit the tail, making a crisp sound but causing no damage.
But in the next moment, a loud explosion erupted.
The explosive tag detonated, engulfing half of the creature's body in flames.
Chika let out a painful scream.
It thrashed around wildly, its six sharp legs leaving countless scratches on the ground and tree trunks.
Clearly, despite its seemingly peaceful appearance, it was quite aggressive.
A few moments later, the flames died down, and Chika stopped screaming.
Its scales were charred black. Although not fatal, it was severely injured.
Despite this, Chika still remembered Koharu Shuji's orders. It scanned the area and quickly approached an Iwa Jonin.
Then, it opened its mouth and spat out a figure.
The moment Seimei saw him, many things clicked into place. He guessed that Koharu Shuji was likely the one who had been spying on them.
Sure enough, Koharu Shuji's first words confirmed his suspicion.
"The Konoha ninja are running! They're stalling for time!" he shouted to the Iwa Jonin.
All the Iwa ninja were stunned, including Han, the Five-Tails jinchuriki, who was fighting the Konoha Jonin.
He charged forward, crashing through trees, and stopped in front of Koharu Shuji. "What's going on? Explain yourself!" he demanded in a deep voice.
Koharu Shuji swallowed nervously, feeling the oppressive aura emanating from Han.
He suppressed his fear and quickly explained, "The Konoha ninja discovered our encirclement plan in advance. They're now trying to break through. These guys are just trying to hold you here so their main force can escape."
"Which direction?" Han asked without wasting any words.
Koharu Shuji pointed in the direction the Konoha main force had left.
Once Han confirmed the direction, he didn't hesitate. Steam surged around him, and he charged forward like a locomotive.
Several Konoha Jonin tried to stop him, but he ignored their attacks, both ninjutsu and ninja tools.
With the Tailed Beast Cloak, he wasn't afraid of such hastily launched attacks.
One Konoha Jonin had to risk standing in his path and used the B-rank jutsu: Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall.
However, Han's tail split into two, and the horn on his forehead solidified further. With a loud crash, he slammed into the earth wall.
The wall collapsed almost instantly, and even the Konoha Jonin who had cast it was sent flying, his fate unknown.
Seeing this, the other Konoha Jonin were stunned. No one dared to stand in Han's way anymore. They could only harass him from the sides.
Thanks to their considerable strength and diverse ninjutsu, they could somewhat limit Han's speed. Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to keep up, let alone harass him.
Watching Han gradually disappear, the remaining three Iwa ninja exchanged glances, quickly broke free from the Konoha ninja, and gave chase.
The Konoha ninja naturally wouldn't let them go easily.
So both sides fought and chased, soon vanishing from sight.
Only Seimei and Koharu Shuji were left at the scene.
Oh, and the Konoha ninja whose fate was unknown.
It wasn't that Seimei didn't want to leave, but after informing his comrades, Koharu Shuji stared intently at Seimei, seemingly ready for a one-on-one duel.
Coincidentally, Seimei also wanted revenge, so he stayed.