201-205

Chapter 201: Speculation

Various thoughts flashed through his mind. Seimei threw three kunai.

Clang, clang

The middle-aged Iwa Jonin's kunai were all intercepted.

Then, Seimei formed hand seals again and swiftly used the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!

He opened his mouth slightly and spat out hundreds of fireballs, which then split into two streams under his control.

Two-thirds of them flew towards the middle-aged Iwa Jonin, and the remaining one-third targeted the severely injured Aikawa Kai beside him.

From his previous reactions, it was clear that the middle-aged Jonin valued Aikawa Kai greatly; otherwise, he wouldn't be so protective of him.

Naturally, Seimei wanted to take advantage of this.

"Damn it!"

The middle-aged Iwa Jonin cursed, his face darkening upon seeing Seimei's actions. But after cursing, he still had to brace himself and block Seimei's attack for Aikawa Kai.

He had no choice. Aikawa Kai was a rising star of their clan and couldn't be lost here.

That's right, the middle-aged Jonin and Aikawa Kai were from the same clan.

That's why he was the first one to come to the rescue.

'Water Style: Water Wall!'

The middle-aged Jonin swiftly formed hand seals and, before the fireballs reached them, used this B-rank ninjutsu to create a water wall, blocking Seimei's attack.

The fireballs hit the water wall, making a sizzling sound.

Then, a large amount of steam appeared, obscuring Seimei's vision.

Seeing this, Seimei frowned and immediately formed hand seals, using the Wind Style: Breakthrough!

A gust of wind blew past, instantly dispersing the steam and even clearing the smoke and dust in the surrounding air.

When everything calmed down, Seimei looked ahead.

However, there was no one there.

The spot where the middle-aged Jonin and Aikawa Kai had been was now empty, leaving only a hole in the ground about seventy to eighty centimeters in diameter.

Clearly, they had escaped using some kind of Earth Style ninjutsu.

So...

'Was the use of Water Style ninjutsu to block my Fire Style also deliberate?'

Feeling tricked, Seimei was annoyed. He scanned his surroundings with his Sharingan.

Then, he saw the middle-aged Iwa Jonin emerging from the ground in the distance, carrying the unconscious Aikawa Kai in his hand.

Seemingly sensing his gaze, the middle-aged Jonin looked over and gave a mocking smile.

Not only that, but he also made a provocative gesture, as if trying to provoke Seimei into coming after him.

But Seimei wouldn't be so foolish.

Although he was annoyed at being tricked, he wouldn't lose his mind and try to get even. Didn't he see that there were several Iwa Jonin nearby?

If he went over there, and they all abandoned their current opponents to surround and kill him, wouldn't he be in danger?

Seimei wouldn't put himself in such a risky situation.

Taking a deep breath, Seimei looked away and observed the battlefield around him.

The first thing he saw was his youngest subordinate.

He was currently being besieged by two Iwa Chunin, covered in blood, unsure whether it was his own or someone else's.

Without hesitation, Seimei used the Body Flicker Technique and rushed over.

Before the two Iwa Chunin could react, he consecutively cast two genjutsu, controlling them.

Then, he swung his short sword, instantly ending their lives.

"Captain!"

Only after the two Iwa Chunin fell did Seimei's subordinate react and greet him.

"Hmm."

Seimei nodded and, without wasting any words, pushed off the ground and rushed towards the next battlefield.

Since the enemy was willing to let him move freely for Aikawa Kai's sake, he wouldn't be polite and launched a series of attacks on these Chunin and Genin.

In just two minutes, Seimei moved between four battlefields and killed seven Iwa Chunin.

Finally, the Iwa Jonin couldn't stand it anymore and sent two more to deal with Seimei specifically.

However, to Seimei's surprise, these two didn't seem intent on killing him. As soon as they arrived, they focused most of their efforts on defense.

They would only take the initiative when Seimei showed signs of wanting to disengage, and once Seimei counterattacked, they would retreat again.

This made Seimei feel a bit troubled.

But through their actions, he also understood the Iwa ninja's goal. They just wanted to keep him here and prevent him from attacking other Iwa ninja.

As for killing him...

They probably hadn't even considered it, at least not for now.

In that case, Seimei decided to play along and waste their time.

What?

You ask why he didn't kill these two as well?

Indeed, if he went all out, he could do it.

But what then?

Would two more Iwa Jonin come?

This time, Iwa had sent out their elites, and there were quite a few Jonin in their ranks. Could he possibly kill them all?

Seimei believed he had done enough in this battle, having killed nearly ten Chunin, two special Jonin, and two true Jonin.

He had also severely injured one Jonin.

Such a record was enough.

Any more would be too showy.

As the saying goes, "The tallest tree in the forest will be the first to be blown down by the wind."

Before he had absolute strength, Seimei didn't want to stand out too much.

Although his current performance had already surpassed 90% of Jonin, it was still within an acceptable range.

But any more would be too much.

In that case, he might as well go along with the Iwa ninja's plan, slack off a bit, and顺便 gain some more Swordsmanship proficiency.

As for the life and death of other Konoha ninja...

That wasn't his concern. He wasn't their babysitter and had no reason to protect them all the time.

Moreover, Seimei felt something was off.

Logically, the battle had been going on for so long, which should have been enough time for Nara Shikaku to assess the situation and concentrate their forces for a counterattack.

But what was happening?

He was still using the tactic of sending small teams in batches.

This way, their forces could never surpass the Iwa ninja's, and their casualty rate couldn't possibly decrease.

If they continued fighting like this, only Konoha would suffer.

Seimei didn't believe Nara Shikaku couldn't see this. But since he still chose to do so, there must be a reason.

And the reason...

Could only be one of two things. Either other directions of the base were also under attack, and they couldn't spare any more manpower to support them, or Nara Shikaku was planning something and needed these people to act as bait to keep the Iwa ninja here.

In Seimei's view, the second possibility was more likely.

After all, if it were the first scenario, Nara Shikaku would most likely order them to retreat, shortening the defense line to concentrate their forces and reduce casualties.

Only when he had a deeper plan would he be willing to sacrifice lives to lure the Iwa ninja into staying.

'I just wonder how big his appetite is.'

With this thought, Seimei started to stall for time with the two Iwa Jonin in front of him.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter 202: Encirclement and Conclusion

Time passed by.

In the blink of an eye, the battle had been raging for over forty minutes.

And Seimei had been stalling for nearly ten minutes. Finally, the situation on the battlefield started to change.

First, there was some commotion on the outskirts of the battlefield, especially among the Iwa ninja far from the base.

Then, some Iwa Jonin, seemingly having received some news, started organizing their forces to retreat after a brief struggle.

Seeing this, Seimei narrowed his eyes.

He looked at the two Iwa Jonin who were stalling with him and said with interest, "Hey, your comrades seem to be retreating. Aren't you leaving?"

"What?"

The two Iwa Jonin were startled. They immediately glanced at the other Iwa ninja and indeed saw some of them starting to withdraw.

Clearly, they hadn't noticed this before.

But this was normal.

Although Seimei was stalling for time, he wasn't just going through the motions. To gain more proficiency, he was using his Swordsmanship at full strength.

Therefore, these two had to focus entirely on dealing with him; otherwise, they could still die by his sword.

So, it was normal for them not to notice the movements of the other Iwa Jonin.

Just as they were wondering why, several sharp whistles of varying lengths suddenly sounded on the battlefield.

'This is the retreat signal!'

The two Iwa Jonin's expressions changed slightly. They exchanged glances and immediately counterattacked Seimei.

Seeing this, Seimei roughly guessed the meaning of the Iwa ninja's whistles.

At this time, their proactive attack didn't mean they wanted to fight him to the death, but rather to create space for their retreat.

After all, if they were constantly suppressed by him, they wouldn't have a chance to retreat even if they wanted to.

'It seems that Nara Shikaku's plan has succeeded. I just don't know if it's the same as what I thought...'

Thinking this, Seimei swung his short sword, easily blocking the continuous attacks of the two Iwa Jonin in front of him.

And whenever they tried to retreat, he would counterattack, preventing them from disengaging.

This made the two Iwa Jonin anxious.

On the contrary, Seimei remained calm, keeping the two Iwa Jonin at bay, neither overly aggressive nor passive, focusing on one word - delay!

This was the same tactic the two Iwa Jonin had used against him earlier, and now he was using it against them, returning the favor.

This made the two Iwa Jonin extremely uncomfortable.

Soon, a minute passed.

As Seimei was dealing with the increasingly agitated two, a voice suddenly appeared in his mind.

It was Yamanaka Tokikaze.

At this moment, he was using the Yamanaka clan's Mind Transmission Technique to inform all the Konoha Jonin on the battlefield of the latest situation.

At the same time, he also conveyed Nara Shikaku's latest orders.

Seimei listened carefully for a moment, and soon a "just as I thought" expression appeared on his face.

His guess was correct. Nara Shikaku indeed had his own plan, and his appetite was quite large. He actually intended to wipe out this elite Iwa ninja unit.

Currently, more than three-quarters of the personnel in the base had been mobilized by him, and they had already surrounded the Iwa ninja troops on the battlefield.

The commotion among the Iwa ninja earlier was because they had discovered the encirclement and were hurriedly trying to retreat.

As for why even they, the Jonin, hadn't been informed in advance...

It could only be said that the plan was formulated too hastily.

By the time they finished the investigation, ensured there were no threats from the Iwa ninja in other directions, and started implementing the plan, the battle here had already been going on for quite a while.

And at that time, Yamanaka Tokikaze wasn't nearby. They couldn't send people to inform everyone individually, could they? That would be too easy to leak information!

So, Nara Shikaku decisively postponed the notification.

Seimei could only shrug. What else could he say?

They, the Jonin, were considered the pillars of the village, but in this world-encompassing war, they were also just higher-level cannon fodder.

So, saying anything was pointless.

Anyway, as long as his strength was sufficient, he could handle any situation calmly.

In the end, strength was the foundation that determined everything.

Just like now, even without knowing the full picture, he could rely on his strength to hold his ground on the battlefield and wait for the situation to become clear.

As for those who were weaker...

They could only blame their own bad luck.

While Seimei was distracted listening to Yamanaka Tokikaze, the two Iwa Jonin seized the opportunity and disengaged from the fight at the cost of minor injuries, quickly retreating into the distance.

Seeing this, Seimei thought for a moment but ultimately didn't pursue them.

He sheathed his short sword and, following Nara Shikaku's orders, started organizing the nearby Konoha ninja, preparing to cooperate with the teams from other directions to encircle and annihilate the Iwa ninja present.

...

Two hours later.

The battle ended.

Everything happened so naturally.

Except for less than ten who managed to escape, the rest of the elite Iwa ninja unit was wiped out.

In fact, the moment the Iwa ninja failed to discover Nara Shikaku's plan in advance and were surrounded, everything was already doomed.

Indeed, this Iwa team was elite, but the Konoha ninja who had fought their way here were no pushovers either.

Moreover, Nara Shikaku had mobilized nearly three-quarters of the base's personnel, giving them a significant numerical advantage over the Iwa team.

Coupled with the encirclement and the advantage of being prepared, the outcome was self-evident.

Even though the Iwa ninja fought desperately throughout the process, they only managed to kill a few more Konoha ninja, which couldn't change the overall situation. Most of them still died.

Looking at the corpse of the young Iwa Jonin on the ground, Seimei shook his head and said, "It seems you didn't survive in the end."

This person was none other than the Iwa Jonin he had severely injured.

And beside him was the corpse of the middle-aged Iwa Jonin.

Even in his final moments, he was still protecting the young Iwa Jonin. Unfortunately, there were too many Konoha ninja this time, and his little tricks were useless.

With such a burden by his side, how could he not die?

As he was lamenting, a Konoha Chunin ran over and respectfully said, "Seimei-sama, Captain Nara wants you to go to the meeting room for a meeting in an hour."

"In an hour?"

Seimei pondered for a moment and replied, "Alright, I understand!"

He also wanted to know why the Iwa ninja suddenly launched this attack, and it seemed that many of them weren't from the nearby bases.

As for how he was sure of this...

The reason was simple. Ever since he had made a name for himself, the Iwa ninja from the nearby bases, especially the lower-ranking ones, recognized his face.

After all, no one wanted to be targeted by the "Demon Sword."

However, when he arrived at the battlefield, only one of the four Iwa Chunin he first encountered recognized him.

This was problematic. He couldn't think of any other possibility besides these people not being from the nearby bases.

Moreover, the Iwa ninja who participated in this surprise attack were clearly not at a level that the nearby bases could muster, so there must have been reinforcements from other locations.

But now, with Iwa facing pressure from Suna and Kumo, how could they send reinforcements here?

There must be something he didn't know that was causing him to not understand Iwa's decision.

However, this meeting should be able to answer some of his questions.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter 203: Meeting

After pondering for a moment, Seimei shook his head, put those thoughts aside, and headed towards the area where the wounded were being treated.

There was still an hour before the meeting started, and he planned to use this time to gain some proficiency in the Mystical Palm Technique.

Currently, his Mystical Palm Technique had reached Lv6, but it required a full ten thousand proficiency points to advance from Lv6 to Lv7.

Relying solely on practice would be too slow.

Therefore, he couldn't miss any opportunity for practical application.

Although this would prevent him from using the condensed Yang Release chakra to strengthen his body, sharpening the knife wouldn't delay the woodcutting. The sooner he mastered the Mystical Palm Technique to Lv7, the better the strengthening effect would be.

Arriving at the treatment area, medical ninja were already busy. Seimei seamlessly blended in and started treating the wounded.

The other medical ninja didn't say much, just nodded at him and continued their work.

Clearly, they were already used to Seimei occasionally coming to help.

Time passed by. About fifty minutes later, Seimei stopped the treatment, informed the head of the medical team, and left.

On his way to the meeting room, Seimei opened his panel and glanced at it. The proficiency of the Mystical Palm Technique had increased by one hundred and twenty points.

"Not bad!"

He muttered, closed the panel, and headed straight to the meeting room.

When he arrived, many people were already seated, all of them Jonin.

Seeing him come in, they all nodded in greeting, and some even took the initiative to say hello.

Seimei keenly sensed a subtle change in their attitude towards him. They seemed... more enthusiastic!?

Not only that, but he also saw a hint of apprehension in their eyes.

'What's going on?'

Seimei was puzzled, but after a brief thought, he understood the reason.

After all, the only thing that could make these people apprehensive was strength.

And strength...

He had just demonstrated it in this battle.

Leaving aside the later encirclement and annihilation, Seimei had been mostly conserving his strength, taking the opportunity to harvest chakra.

But in the earlier stages, he had faced the siege of several Iwa Jonin, killing four and severely injuring one.

Although only two of the four he killed were true Jonin, and the other two were special Jonin with specialized skills.

It still couldn't deny his strength.

So, it was normal for others to be apprehensive of him.

And this also made Seimei feel that his decision to hide his true strength at the end was correct.

His current achievements had already caused these people to be apprehensive. If he had killed those two Iwa Jonin as well, it wouldn't be just apprehension anymore.

Perhaps these people wouldn't do anything, but what about those who were at odds with the Uchiha clan? There was no guarantee that they wouldn't do something after learning the news.

Thinking of this, Seimei suddenly wasn't as looking forward to the upcoming meeting.

Now, he just wanted to go back and grind the proficiency of his various skills, thereby increasing his strength.

Only powerful strength could give him peace of mind.

However, it wouldn't be appropriate to leave now. Seimei could only wait quietly for the meeting to start.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Just a few minutes later, Nara Shikaku, who was presiding over the meeting, arrived.

He sat in the chief seat, tapped on the table, and directly announced the start of the meeting.

First, he summarized the gains and losses of this battle.

He didn't mention the captured equipment and losses, as they weren't very important. The main focus was on the casualties of both sides.

According to post-battle statistics, a total of ninety-three Iwa ninja had been eliminated in this battle.

Among them, eighteen were Jonin (including eleven special Jonin), sixty-three were Chunin, and the remaining twelve were Genin.

Such a victory was considerable for their small base.

Of course, this was only for their base. Other bases couldn't even dream of killing so many Iwa ninja, let alone not being overrun by them.

After all, the main personnel of their base were the spearhead of the counter-offensive plan executed over a month ago and were already elites.

After several fierce battles and a second screening, their average strength was even higher.

That's why they were able to annihilate the Iwa assault team in one fell swoop.

Even so, they had paid a heavy price.

"In this battle, we lost a total of eight Jonin, forty-six Chunin, and thirty-two Genin, with about sixty wounded, both lightly and severely."

Hearing Nara Shikaku's words, everyone fell silent.

With eighty-six casualties, in terms of the number of deaths alone, they were actually about the same as the Iwa ninja. At best, it could only be considered a pyrrhic victory.

Of course, if they were to nitpick, Iwa's losses were definitely more severe than theirs, as the number of Jonin casualties on both sides differed by a factor of two.

But overall, their losses were indeed not small.

After a long silence, Nara Shikaku continued, "We owe a lot to Seimei-sama this time."

Hearing this, everyone turned their attention to Seimei.

'What does this have to do with me?'

Seimei was puzzled.

Then he heard Nara Shikaku say, "If it weren't for Seimei-sama withstanding the pressure in the early stages, killing several Iwa Jonin, and entangling two others, our losses would have been even greater."

Everyone nodded involuntarily.

Indeed, the time with the highest casualty rate was during the initial interception battle. Eighty percent of the casualties occurred then.

As for the subsequent encirclement and annihilation...

Because they had more people on their side, even if they were injured in battle, they would often be rescued, so the actual number of deaths wasn't high.

And in the early stages, it was precisely Seimei who contributed the most, so it was not wrong to say that they owed it to him.

However, these words sounded a bit like excessive praise, potentially harmful.

Seimei glanced at Nara Shikaku, who was sitting in the chief seat, but couldn't discern anything from his expression.

'I hope I'm overthinking it!'

He muttered inwardly and said calmly, "I just did what I should have done. The victory in this battle should be attributed to the eighty-six comrades who sacrificed their lives. It was their lives that were exchanged for this victory."

Seimei's politically correct words silenced the others who were about to echo Nara Shikaku's sentiment.

Hearing this, Nara Shikaku looked at him in surprise, then added a few more words before moving on to the second topic.

The second topic was about their defense strategy going forward.

The Iwa ninja, having suffered such a heavy loss this time, definitely wouldn't let it go. If they could launch one surprise attack, they could launch a second or third.

Therefore, the subsequent defense was crucial.

Everyone understood this, so they all expressed their opinions and quickly formulated a tight defense plan.

"Very good, then everyone will act according to the plan," Nara Shikaku concluded.

At this point, the meeting was nearing its end, and Nara Shikaku finally mentioned the reason for the Iwa ninja's sudden large-scale attack.

(End of chapter)

Chapter 204: The News

"According to the latest intelligence from headquarters, Sunagakure seems to have temporarily halted its offensive against Iwagakure due to logistical issues."

"Did Iwagakure do something?" someone asked.

Nara Shikaku shook his head.

Everyone looked puzzled. "Besides Iwagakure, who else would be interested in Iwagakure's logistics system?"

"No one did anything," Nara Shikaku replied.

"What do you mean?"

People were confused.

Nara Shikaku patiently explained, "It means exactly what it says. No one attacked Iwagakure's logistics system. They simply couldn't sustain it anymore.

"Not to mention the attacks against Iwagakure, even on the western front, where we've been fighting fiercely, Sunagakure has also slowed down its offensive in recent days.

"I'm afraid...

"Sunagakure really can't hold on any longer in this war."

"What?"

Everyone was shocked and couldn't believe it.

They couldn't imagine that one of the Five Great Ninja Villages would lose the war due to logistical problems.

Although logistics were crucial in war, unlike wars between ordinary people, the main deciding factor in ninja wars was still whether there were enough troops.

As for logistics...

Although it was also important, it was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

If they had enough troops, even if their logistics were cut off, they could still plunder supplies from enemy territory through battles.

Only when their own forces were insufficient did logistical problems become a real issue.

But the problem was that Sunagakure still had a considerable number of reserve troops.

Although Sunagakure had the fewest troops among the Five Great Ninja Villages, due to their higher average combat strength and the existence of puppeteer ninja, they had suffered the fewest casualties in the past two years of war.

Therefore, relatively speaking, their reserve forces were still quite abundant.

In this situation, for logistical problems to still become a key factor influencing Sunagakure's decisions, there could only be one possibility.

That is, Sunagakure's logistics had become so dire that a quantitative change had led to a qualitative change, making it a crucial part of their decision-making.

All the Jonin present were not fools and quickly understood this.

Seimei thought even further.

If Sunagakure's logistics were truly in such a terrible state, then...

Their subsequent betrayal of their hero, Pakura of the Scorch Release, to reach a peace agreement with Kirigakure, wasn't just Rasa eliminating dissidents. It was because Sunagakure really couldn't continue fighting and had to agree to Kirigakure's demands.

There was one thing that could indirectly prove this point.

That was when the "Ino-Shika-Cho" trio later represented Konoha and delivered the peace treaty to Iwagakure at the border of the three countries.

Some hawkish Iwa ninja didn't want to cease fighting and planned to sabotage it.

At that moment, Rasa suddenly appeared with his troops, claiming that this was also the Land of Wind's territory, and they couldn't just watch them fight, preventing the Iwa ninja from succeeding.

In the end, Iwagakure and Konohagakure successfully concluded a peace treaty.

This showed that Sunagakure was the one most eager to end the war among the major ninja villages; otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered to intervene.

The more Seimei thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

For the first time since coming to this world, he realized that the war was so close to ending.

However, the darkness before dawn was often the true darkness, and the calm before the storm wasn't true tranquility.

For the war to end, it was impossible without a few more fierce battles.

Therefore, it was still too early to talk about the end of the war.

Collecting his thoughts, Seimei ignored the others and looked at Nara Shikaku, asking, "Even if Sunagakure has slowed down their offensive, there's still Kumogakure, right?

"Shouldn't Iwagakure prioritize sending troops there?"

Hearing this, everyone came back to their senses and thought, 'Yeah, compared to Kumogakure's relentless attacks, what are we?

"We probably don't even deserve their attention.

"In this situation, even if Iwagakure has spare capacity, they should be targeting Kumogakure. Why did they suddenly attack us?"

Everyone looked at Nara Shikaku, waiting for an explanation.

Seeing this, Nara Shikaku said helplessly, "According to the latest intelligence, the competition for the Fourth Raikage position within Kumogakure has entered a heated stage.

"Currently, the frontline troops of Kumogakure have no intention of fighting, and the war with Iwagakure has almost stopped."

Hearing this, everyone was speechless, and at the same time, they understood why Iwagakure had shifted their focus to them.

Perhaps it wasn't just them but the entire Konohagakure.

Sure enough, Nara Shikaku continued, "Ten minutes ago, headquarters just sent a message. It's not just our base that was attacked, but several other bases were also raided.

"Currently, some bases are still holding on, while others have already fallen."

Hearing this, a Jonin sighed, "It seems Iwagakure wants us to give back all the gains we've made in the past month or so!"

Indeed, in the past month or so, they had taken advantage of Iwagakure's inability to send reinforcements and launched an offensive, seizing a large chunk of Iwagakure's territory.

Now that Iwagakure had freed up its hands, they immediately attacked them. Their intentions were all too obvious.

"In my opinion, we can give up the territory. Although the counter-offensive organized by headquarters didn't achieve all its goals, the results were still decent.

"Now, we can completely retreat to our previous bases and wait for the Iwa ninja to attack."

Someone said.

"Yeah!"

Hearing this, someone echoed, "I also think we can retreat. There's another advantage to retreating, which is that our supplies are closer.

"Honestly, after learning that Sunagakure had to slow down its offensive due to logistical problems, I'm also a bit worried about our own logistics.

"If the Iwa ninja bypass our bases and cut off our supply lines, we'll be in trouble.

"Don't forget, this was originally their territory. They know every nook and cranny.

"So, it wouldn't be difficult for them to evade our surveillance.

"Therefore, I also think we should retreat first."

Some agreed, and naturally, some opposed.

For a time, the meeting room was as lively as a market.

Finally, Nara Shikaku spoke, "That's enough!

"These matters are not for us to worry about. Strategic adjustments are up to the Third Hokage and Orochimaru-sama to consider. We just need to do our own jobs well."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent and chatted for a while. After Nara Shikaku announced the end of the meeting, they got up and left.

Leaving the meeting room, Seimei ignored the others and directly used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing why Seimei was in such a hurry.

What was he doing?

Training, of course.

Today's training plan hadn't been completed yet, and Seimei didn't want to waste time here.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter 205: Promotion and Plans

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.

During these five days, as expected, the Iwa ninja launched several counterattacks.

However, because they were prepared and the Iwa ninja had suffered heavy losses five days ago, their subsequent attacks were relatively weak.

Therefore, they didn't cause much impact.

As for Seimei...

Because he had participated in several battles, his training progress was slightly behind schedule. The skill that was supposed to level up yesterday was delayed until today.

...

Inside the secret base.

Seimei formed hand seals, like a beginner, carefully channeling chakra and using Genjutsu: Sharingan.

Each time, he gained a proficiency point and some insights.

After absorbing these insights, he used it again, gaining another proficiency point and new insights.

Seimei continued to absorb and practice.

This cycle repeated.

As the number of repetitions increased, the insights he gained also grew, eventually leading to a qualitative change.

At a certain moment, after Seimei used Genjutsu: Sharingan once again, new insights flooded in like a tide, instantly overwhelming him.

Seimei was immersed in it for a long time, not waking up.

And when he finally awoke, he felt that everything had changed.

Seimei raised his right hand and pointed. Although nothing happened, he knew that his Genjutsu: Sharingan had been successfully cast.

In the past, no matter how proficient he was, he still needed to form hand seals to achieve this.

But now...

He could activate it with just a finger. The entire process seemed to have become instinctive. As long as he wanted to, he could use it without needing any hand seals.

"Mastery?"

He murmured, retracting his finger, reminiscing for a moment, then silently said, "Status panel!"

The familiar light blue screen appeared.

[Name: Uchiha Seimei

Age: 11 -> 12

Physique: 11 -> 12

Spirit: 15

Chakra: 21500 (23572 -> 29236)

Bloodline: Sharingan - Three-Tomoe ((9999/10000)

Skills:

* Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv5 (135/5000)

* Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu: Lv4 (230/2000) -> Lv4 (1705/2000)

* Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique: Lv4 (210/2000) -> Lv4 (1680/2000)

* Wind Style: Breakthrough: Lv3 (502/1000) -> Lv4 (1020/2000)

* Wind Style: Wind Blade: Lv1 (2/200) -> Lv2 (112/500)

* Shadow Clone Jutsu: Lv2 (101/500) -> Lv3 (15/1000)

* Chakra Absorption Technique: Lv5 (1230/5000) -> Lv5 (1650/5000)

* Rasengan: Lv3 (650/1000) -> Lv4 (310/2000)

* Mystical Palm Technique: Lv5 (20/5000) -> Lv6 (1865/10000)

* Chakra Scalpel: Lv4 (25/20000) -> Lv4 (210/2000)

* Genjutsu: Sharingan: Lv6 (5045/10000) -> Lv7 (0/0)

* Mind Reflection Technique: Lv7 (4885/20000)

* Swordsmanship: Lv5 (2310/5000) -> Lv6 (512/10000)

* Chakra Control: Lv4 (980/2000) -> Lv4 (1376/2000)

* Three Basic Techniques: Lv3 (0/0)

* Body Flicker Technique: Lv4 (0/0)

* Shuriken Throwing Technique: Lv5 (0/0)

* Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: Lv5 (0/0)

* Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu: Lv5 (0/0)

* Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique: Lv5 (0/0)

* Wind Style: Breakthrough: Lv5 (0/0)

* Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique: Lv5 (0/0)

* Healing Jutsu: Lv5 (0/0)]

Seimei skipped all the other sections and focused on the Lv7 (0/0) Genjutsu: Sharingan at the bottom.

As he had expected, his Genjutsu: Sharingan had indeed reached mastery.

In fact, when he realized he could cast Genjutsu: Sharingan effortlessly, he had guessed that this skill should have been mastered.

Now, he was just reconfirming it.

And the mastery of Genjutsu: Sharingan also meant that from now on, most Jonin were no longer his opponents.

Of course, this didn't mean that he could defeat everyone with just Genjutsu: Sharingan alone.

Before his Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan and his瞳力 underwent a transformation, such instant genjutsu wasn't difficult to break free from, especially for Jonin.

The reason Seimei said this was because his other abilities were also powerful and could complement Genjutsu: Sharingan, allowing him to defeat those Jonin.

Of course, if his Sharingan evolved further from Three-Tomoe to Mangekyo Sharingan, then just Genjutsu: Sharingan alone could indeed defeat most Jonin.

Just like Uchiha Itachi later on, he could trap powerful individuals like Kisame in genjutsu with just a glance.

Thinking of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Seimei glanced at his Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the Bloodline section, its progress bar at (9999/10000), and shook his head.

Although he desperately wanted to level it up immediately, his rationality told him it wasn't the right time yet.

Anyway, he wasn't under any pressure now, so there was no need to take risks.

'I'll wait until my "Physique" attribute improves.'

Thinking this, Seimei turned his attention to other mastered skills.

He didn't need to mention Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique and Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. They had already reached mastery five days ago.

As for Wind Style: Breakthrough...

Thanks to Seimei allocating the five thousand chakra points originally intended for Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu to it five days ago, the chakra it could gain daily had doubled.

As a result, it reached mastery today, one day ahead of Genjutsu: Sharingan, which originally required ten more days to level up.

And with it reaching mastery, Seimei also mastered the shape and nature transformation of Wind Style chakra.

Now, when using Wind Style: Breakthrough, the power of the storm he created was at least twice as strong as before.

Furthermore, with this bonus, the proficiency gain rate for practicing Wind Style: Wind Blade would also double.

Then, as long as he reallocated the ten thousand chakra points originally intended for Wind Style: Breakthrough to Wind Style: Wind Blade.

It would take less than half a month for its level to surpass Lv5.

At that time, he would have another trump card.

However, these were all things for the future.

Now that his Genjutsu: Sharingan had reached mastery, and his Swordsmanship had also leveled up, the conditions for developing the Illusion Sword Technique were met, and he was ready to start trying.

There was also the Instantaneous Sword Technique...

He had already mastered the shape and nature transformation of Wind Style chakra. Although he lacked a good sword, the short sword in his hand could still be used temporarily.

So, he could also start researching it in advance.

In other words, he would be working on developing both the Illusion Sword Technique and the Instantaneous Sword Technique simultaneously.

Thinking of this, Seimei couldn't help but feel excited.

He was eager to know if the proficiency panel would be helpful in developing these sword techniques.

If it was, then perhaps he could forge his own unique path in the future. If not, he could only continue along the path paved by his predecessors.

However, Seimei believed it was highly likely to be useful.

After all, the skills he had learned on the panel were also developed by his predecessors. There was no reason why others' creations could be recorded, but his couldn't.

Therefore, Seimei was quite optimistic deep down.

Taking a deep breath and calming himself, Seimei began to attempt creating the Illusion Sword Technique based on his previous ideas and knowledge.

(End of Chapter)