"In that case, be prepared to die."
As soon as Seimei said that, the air between him and Ryohei became incredibly heavy. The tension of imminent battle made the atmosphere suffocating.
At least that was what Ryohei was feeling right now.
He knew he couldn't win.
He wouldn't get any chance to retreat with his life unless Seimei made some uncharacteristically stupid mistake.
This frozen, battle-ruined ice pass would probably become his grave.
But he would not go down without a fight. He would try his absolute best to stay alive as long as possible, giving his subordinates enough time to get away from Seimei and his crew safely.
And to make it happen, he couldn't be on the passive.
He had to strike first.
And he had to strike hard.
And that was exactly what he did.
Ryohei's fingers became blurred as they wove multiple hand seals in the blink of an eye, kneading the potent chakra inside his body.
Boar → Ram → Snake → Horse → Dragon
Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder
Crackle… Crackle…
In no time, a surging wave of high-voltage blue electricity, powerful enough to rip through solid rock and destroy human bodies in mere seconds, erupted from his hands and raced along the ground toward Seimei.
Seimei reacted instantly.
Wind Release: Rising Wind Wall
A violent, nearly invisible upward stream of wind rose from the ground, surrounding Seimei in a protective, circular formation.
Seimei's white hair danced as the 360-degree wind walls surrounded him. The outer layers of the wind wall held several tiny yet incredibly deadly wind blades that promised to shred any ninjutsu or physical blow to pieces on contact.
Whoosh! Crackle!
The terrifying wave of lightning arcs reached Seimei just a few moments after Seimei cast the Rising Wind Wall ninjutsu.
High-voltage electricity slammed against the wind wall, attempting to bypass it. The collision of the elements was nothing short of catastrophic.
Boom! Boom!
Lightning currents thrashed violently, destroying the ground around the wind wall. But the wind wall's wind-natured chakra effectively suppressed the lightning chakra, not letting even a spark pass through.
Inside the 360-degree wind wall, Seimei was completely unharmed.
Hmm…this guy is not bad. He has certainly developed his lightning affinity to LV6. But oh well, my Wind affinity is sitting at LV6, too. Wind suppresses lightning. And my chakra reserves are twelve times larger than his.
Yeah…too bad for him.
What should I do next? Let's see…
Seimei thought inwardly as he raised his left hand's index finger and pointed it at Ryohei.
In a fraction of a second, potent wind-natured chakra poured out of his index finger's tenketsu and began taking shape.
Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique
The wind chakra took shape and was morphed into a three-meter-wide crescent, nearly invisible wind blade with enough power to slice through human-sized thick boulders without chakra reinforcements.
With a simple thought, Seimei shot the wind blade toward Ryohei.
Whiz~
The wind blade released only a faint sound as it shot at Ryohei with the speed of an arrow amidst the dying sparks of his lightning ninjutsu.
But Ryohei was a veteran Elite Jonin.
He immediately detected the approaching threat, performed two hand seals, and slammed both palms on the ground.
Earth Release: Earth-style Wall
The ground before Ryohei quickly morphed and rose, creating a thick wall of earth, five meters tall and seven meters wide.
The earth wall, reinforced by chakra, was several times denser and harder than regular rocks, capable of blocking even destructive B-rank and several non-penetrative A-rank ninjutsu.
Swish! Crack!
Soon, the wind blade hit the earth wall. The wind blade's sharp cutting power left a deep cut and several visible cracks in the wall.
But the barrage of wind blades wasn't over.
Cut! Swoosh! Crack!
The very next moment, three more wind blades hit the wall, leaving three more cuts.
Ryohei could immediately sense the integrity and defense of his earth wall dropping at a visible rate.
His senses were fully alert. He pushed his chakra field to the limit, trying to sense everything within his vicinity with precision.
Suddenly, he sensed a large, dense construct made of wind chakra approaching his earth wall with a terrifying momentum.
The sheer lethal threat of that construct made his scalp tingle.
"What the…?"
He wanted to curse.
Crack! Bang!
But it was cut short as a massive, fifteen-foot-long demonic claw-like construct made of condensed mass of wind chakra tore the earth wall apart with ease.
Its claws, made of sharp, compressed wind, instantly pierced Ryohei's chest, much to his terror.
However, Seimei, who had cast the Beast Tearing Gale Palm jutsu to create the demonic claw construct of condensed wind and pierce Ryohei's chest, was utterly calm.
Thanks to his Tenseigan, he knew that the Ryohei he had killed wasn't the real Ryohei at all.
Seimei quietly dispelled his jutsu.
At the same time, he watched the fake Ryohei with a hole in his chest. It was just that the hole in his chest wasn't bleeding at all.
Soon, the Ryohei with a hole in his chest turned into a human-sized doll made of earth, cracked, and crumbled into earth fragments.
This bastard is smart. He left a decoy at the very last moment using the Earth Substitution Technique and quietly slipped into the ground. And he did it so fast that most sensor ninjas will be hard-pressed to detect it, even with a highly focused and stable chakra field.
Then Seimei looked to his right side. His ocean-blue eyes focused on a specific spot on the ground roughly ten meters away.
His Tenseigan glowed blue with interest, and his lips curled up a notch.
Unfortunately for him, in front of these eyes, all his hidden motives and movements were useless. Oh no…I am acting like a chunnibyou, emo Uchiha again. Nope. Not happening.
Anyway, that guy is about to come up and launch a 'sneak attack' on me. Interesting. Very interesting. What will he actually use?
Just as Seimei was musing silently, Ryohei suddenly emerged from the ground.
Then, he wasted no time and threw several lightning-charged kunai at Seimei.
Tens of kunai, coated with highly paralyzing blue lightning chakra, shot through the air like bullets, targeting vital points on Seimei's body, including the heart, throat, and forehead.
Not to mention, each of them had high-quality explosive tags attached to its handle.
"Ah…good old explosive tags. It never goes out of fashion."
Seimei muttered under his breath as he activated the Body Flicker Technique to flicker away tens of meters before the lightning-chakra-charged kunai wrapped in explosive tags could hit him.
The kunai, missing the target entirely, plunged into the ground with only their outer handle ring visible. And then, the explosive tags wrapped around their handles exploded.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Visible shockwaves and heat waves spread in a ring shape from the detonation zone.
The resulting kinetic force and the explosive flames created several deep, charred craters. Fire still burned in those craters, which twisted the air around them.
Ryohei missed his target.
But he had already anticipated that.
He quickly found Seimei and kept throwing kunai laced with explosive tags, like throwing breadcrumbs for the pigeons and fish, as if those highly lethal ninja tools cost no money.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
And Seimei kept dodging with effortless ease, causing the explosive tags to detonate behind him one by one.
The already ruined battlefield was being ravaged by constant explosions once more.
Ryohei barked, "Stay in one place, damn it!!"
Seimei quipped back. "If you were me, would you stay in one place and let me hit you?"
At that very moment, Seimei suddenly puffed his chest, gathering fire-natured chakra in his throat.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Seimei expelled a large amount of scorching yellowish-white flames from his mouth, which quickly condensed into a massive, five-meter-wide blazing fireball.
In the blink of an eye, the giant fireball shot forward at a breakneck speed, leaving its blazing trail behind.
"Tch!"
Seeing the giant fireball coming at him like a horizontal meteor, Ryohei clicked his tongue, stopped throwing kunai, and performed a quick sequence of hand seals.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall
Ryohei immediately spat a large amount of water. The water rose and formed an eight-meter-high, ten-meter-wide protective wall.
BOOM! Hisssssss!
The giant fireball hit the water wall like a truck. Its intense heat and sheer momentum almost vaporized the curtain of water.
But Ryohei kept dumping a large amount of chakra into his jutsu, keeping the water wall steady. However, he still felt the blistering heat coming from the other side of the water curtain.
The fire and water kept clashing and grinding each other down, causing a lot of heat to dissipate and the water to vaporize into mist.
After several seconds of desperate struggle, both jutsu finally crumbled, leaving behind a thick mist that obscured both Seimei's and Ryohei's visions.
"Oh? You blocked the fireball, huh? Nice. Wonderful job. You do deserve an award."
Seimei's mocking voice echoed in the air, tightening Ryohei's expression. He became even more alert. The mist obscured his vision.
But he was a sensor-nin. He could still sense chakra and the movements of living organisms even with his eyes closed.
The next moment, Ryohei sensed a sudden spike in chakra density a few meters away to his right.
He quickly looked to his right, only to see the mist being parted by something incredibly volatile and dangerous. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up in alarm.
His eyes caught the sight of the despicable white-haired boy coming at him fast with an infuriating smile on his face.
A basketball-sized blue, spinning chakra sphere rested on his right palm.
"Here's the gift for you," said Seimei as he arrived in front of Ryohei in the blink of an eye and slammed the ball of spiraling chakra into his chest before he could even move.
Rasengan!
Before the Rasengan could hit him, Ryohei's body suddenly turned into a human-sized wooden log with a puff of smoke.
Boom!
In the end, the Rasengan hit the wooden log, grinding it to dust with a loud bang. The resulting shockwave cleared the remaining mist.
Substitution technique again…
Seimei narrowed his eyes.
But the next moment, he activated the Body Flicker Technique and vanished.
A second later, a piercing, wavy beam of crackling blue lightning struck the spot where Seimei had been standing moments ago and obliterated it into smithereens.
Boom! Crackle!
The intense lightning currents cracked and scorched the earth before exploding into an annihilating lightning storm covering a five-meter-wide area.
Ryohei watched the spot with a hint of regret.
He had just used Lightning Release: False Darkness Jutsu's beam form to attack Seimei. It was one of the most lethal and fast B-rank ninjutsu in his arsenal.
Thanks to his LV6 lightning affinity and relentless training, his False Darkness Jutsu had more lethal power than most A-rank Ninjutsu.
It was fast, deadly, and difficult to evade. It literally hit with the speed of lightning, pierced the targets, and obliterated their bodies from the inside out with high-voltage current.
He timed the attack so perfectly. He hoped for a miracle.
But Seimei still managed to dodge it perfectly.
The very next moment, Seimei appeared eight meters away from Ryohei and scrutinized him with his sharp, ocean-blue eyes.
Ryohei also looked back at him.
None of them said anything for a few seconds.
Finally, Seimei said, "You evaded my Rasengan. Your substitution jutsu was fast, efficient, and masterful. Your chakra control is phenomenal. Your last lightning release ninjutsu was also timed almost perfectly, not to mention, it was highly lethal."
"You are not some regular Elite Jonin. You are very close to the threshold of an S-ranked ninja (Quasi-kage level)."
Seimei smiled. "Given time, you would have surely reached that level in a couple of years."
Suddenly, Seimei pulled a ninjato (straight-bladed katana) out from his storage bracelet.
His expression became blank again.
"Still, this battle should end now."
He pointed the tip of his blade at Ryohei and said, "The playtime is over. It's about time I send your soul to the Pure Land."
------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and get access to the 14 Advanced chapters!
patreon.com/Seigan
You can also help me by sharing the story around. Thank you for reading!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Don't forget to check out my new book: The Trait Hoarding Mage.
This progression fantasy book is packed with magic, adventure, a unique system, and plenty of action.
If you love magical elements, want to explore the logic behind each spell, desire to uncover a vast world filled with countless fantastical and unknown elements, and enjoy high-speed, high-stakes battles where victory relies on meticulous planning, execution, and sometimes raw, unadulterated force, then this story is for you.
If you like it, please leave a review and share your honest thoughts. I always welcome constructive criticism as it helps me refine my stories further.