Grind is My Ninja Way

*Pop~ Pop~*

The sound of water bubbles bursting echoed from time to time.

Seimei gazed at the four burning corpses, smelling the charred scent in the air, and furrowed his brows slightly.

After waiting for a moment to confirm that the bodies were beyond any hope of recovery, he quickly left the area and headed toward the distant battlefield.

On the battlefield, the Konoha ninja showed signs of relief as he approached, while the Iwa ninja, on the other hand, displayed expressions of fear.

Without wasting words, Seimei scanned the battlefield and found a fight between a Konoha Jōnin and an Iwa Jōnin. Without hesitation, he intervened.

*Clang! Clang!*

It didn't take long for Seimei and the Konoha Jōnin to finish off the enemy.

From a distance, Kurokawa Ichirō, who was in charge of commanding, witnessed this and couldn't help but recall the disastrous defeat from over half a month ago.

It seemed that, once again, Seimei was the first to take down his opponent, then helped other Konoha Jōnin break through, ultimately crushing their offensive.

'Is the same thing about to happen again?'

Kurokawa Ichirō glanced at the four burning corpses in the distance, then looked at the Iwa Jōnin Seimei had just killed, and started pondering.

Unconsciously, he touched his rock-hard left hand and forearm, and a surge of anger welled up within him.

He surveyed the battlefield, confirming that a fair number of Konoha ninja had already been killed. If they could just hold out a little longer, victory would be theirs.

With this thought, he hesitated no longer and immediately gathered his forces to prepare for an encirclement to kill Seimei.

Soon, a team of thirty Iwa ninja surrounded Seimei.

However, despite the overwhelming number of enemies, Seimei showed no fear on his face, as if he didn't even notice them. He stood there calmly, as though unbothered.

This wasn't Seimei showing off, but rather because these people posed no real threat to him.

In fact, he had already noticed their movements earlier but chose not to intercept or break through, intending to let them gather around him.

At the start of the battle, he created an opportunity and used the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough to scatter the Iwa ninja's formation, giving his subordinates an early advantage.

But the sheer difference in strength still allowed the Iwa ninja to gradually regain their footing.

Meanwhile, while fighting with Kamihara Nobunaga and the others, Seimei's Konoha ninja had already lost fifty to sixty comrades.

If things continued this way, even if he killed all the Iwa Jōnin, victory wasn't guaranteed.

Furthermore, even if they managed to repel the Iwa forces, the Konoha side would likely suffer heavy losses.

Seimei's goal was for his people to survive this battle, not merely to defend the base.

So, he couldn't just focus on the Iwa Jōnin; he needed to relieve the pressure on his Konoha ninjas.

But to openly attack the lower-ranked Iwa ninja would violate the battlefield's unspoken rules, potentially provoking retaliation from other Iwa Jōnin.

The resulting casualties would be even worse.

Originally, it seemed like an unsolvable dilemma.

But now, with the enemy voluntarily gathering mid- and low-ranked ninja to surround him, they had only themselves to blame for what was about to happen.

That's right—the thirty Iwa ninja gathered by Kurokawa Ichirō were mostly mid- and low-ranked, except for himself and one other Jōnin.

This was precisely why Seimei remained so calm.

Given his current strength, as long as the number of mid- and low-ranked ninja didn't exceed a certain limit, they posed no threat to him.

And where was that limit?

Seimei glanced across the battlefield. Even if there were 300 of them, it still wouldn't be enough, let alone a mere thirty.

"Kill!"

With Kurokawa Ichirō's command, the surrounding Iwa ninja hurled kunai, shuriken, and even unleashed ninjutsu at Seimei.

Normally, someone facing such an overwhelming assault would have no choice but to dodge.

But Seimei was different. He chose to counterattack.

He stomped the ground hard and leaped high into the air.

Midair, his body twisted, dodging several sneak-attacking shuriken.

Then, his hands swiftly formed hand signs. He took a deep breath, and with a forceful exhale, unleashed the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

In an instant, more than 2,000 points of chakra vanished, and the whirlwind he released rapidly transformed into a tornado.

The tornado struck the ground, whipping up layers of dirt and debris, which were swept outward in all directions by the fierce wind.

In no time, the incoming kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and ninjutsu were all blown back by the storm.

Some explosive tags detonated mid-air, their flames further fueling the storm's ferocity.

Seeing this, the Iwa ninja instinctively retreated, their eyes wide with disbelief and panic.

There was no denying it—Seimei's current display was terrifying.

'Is this level of wind ninjutsu even humanly possible?'

The Iwa ninja were filled with doubt.

Although most of them had over 2,000 points of chakra, releasing that much chakra at once and shaping it into a jutsu was no simple feat.

It required tremendous chakra control and an in-depth understanding of the specific ninjutsu.

If Seimei hadn't mastered his chakra control to Level 5 and perfected the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

And unleashing so much chakra at once produced a ninjutsu effect that was nothing short of astounding.

The clearing effect alone was top-tier.

Originally, Seimei had learned the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough because he couldn't find a large-scale fire-style jutsu like Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation and needed a substitute.

Now, the substitute had lived up to its expectations, and Seimei was quite pleased.

Midair, as Seimei descended, his eyes rapidly scanned the ground, locking onto several Iwa ninja. He pulled out several shuriken from his pouch.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~*

The shuriken flew across distances of ten to twenty meters, hitting several mid- and low-ranked Iwa ninja amidst the chaos.

Instantly, cries of pain rang out.

As Seimei's feet touched the ground, he didn't pause, immediately jumping to the side.

The next moment, kunai embedded themselves in the spot where he had just stood, explosive tags attached to them burning rapidly.

Seimei quickly moved, widening the distance.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

A series of loud explosions shook the air.

Amidst the smoke and dust, Seimei moved with agility, gracefully avoiding the onslaught of kunai and shuriken, moving toward the sound of an Iwa Chūnin nearby.

*Slash!*

The sound of flesh being sliced was heard.

At some point, Seimei had drawn his short sword and swiftly slashed, severing the throat of the Iwa Chūnin.

Then, he quickly attached an explosive tag to the body.

Moments later, he dodged another round of attacks.

*Boom!*

Another explosion resounded.

Not long after, another Iwa ninja's scream pierced the air.

Taking a quick glance, Seimei saw an Iwa ninja lying next to the one he had just slain, charred and barely alive.

Seimei withdrew his gaze, once again becoming a ghostly figure weaving through the Iwa ninja. His Sharingan, with its three tomoe, was fully activated, enabling him to efficiently and lethally take down the Iwa forces.

Kurokawa Ichirō and the other Iwa Jōnin tried to stop him, but they had no chance.

Before long, most of the thirty Iwa ninja were either dead or injured.

(Chapter End)