Once Seimei made up his mind to attack, he turned his face sideways and looked at the ninjas and samurai hired by Genzo.
They wielded their weapons, ready to defend the caravan and their clients against the enemies ahead. Seimei had to say that they were indeed courageous.
Several thousand years of ninja and samurai traditions of protecting their clients and lords were etched into their very bones. Most would stand up and fight even if it meant death.
For ninjas, the supernatural mercenaries of this world, protecting their clients with their lives meant protecting their reputation and securing the future of their next generation.
After all, who would trust a ninja clan with their lives if they abandoned their clients and ran at the key moments?
For ninjas, whether they belonged to the centralized structure of Konoha or to the independent ninja clans, reputation was their bread and butter. Since they had taken your money, they would fulfill their mission with their lives.
Clear-cut transaction, no complexity at all.
For samurai, who lived by a chivalric code of honor, their reason to stand firm in the face of death was even more straightforward. Their goal was simple—to protect the lord they served.
Failure to do so was worse than death to them. If they failed to save their lords, quite a few samurai commanders wouldn't even hesitate to commit seppuku.
As those thoughts appeared in his mind, Seimei could only sigh.
Then, without missing a beat, he informed them, "I will go ahead and face them head-on. I will try to keep the Jonin-level ninjas and as many Chunin-level ninjas locked in combat as possible."
"But I can't possibly hold all of them off."
"I will leave the bandits, the Genin, and the stray Chunin to you. You can go all out and kill them. Even if some slip away, my companions and your captain, Fukada Ren, and his elite squad will take care of them and protect Mr. Genzo."
Hearing this, many of Genzo's hired ninjas' and samurai's eyes lit up in hope. Some even nodded their heads like woodpeckers.
Seimei smiled and looked back at the bandits and the enemy ninjas, who were most likely Kumo ninjas.
From the moment of his last attack until now, not even a minute had passed.
But the other side seemed to get a grip on themselves and were preparing to charge ahead once more.
But as kind as I am, how can I let you guys exert so much effort to come to me? Don't worry, I will come to you instead. Hehe!
Seimei mused. Suddenly, he mobilized a large amount of chakra, kneaded it inside his body, and released one of his favorite ninjutsu.
Multi-Shadow Clone Technique
Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
And in the blink of an eye, four more figures identical to Seimei appeared beside him with a puff of smoke.
Each of them carried 10% of Seimei's total chakra reserves. In other words, each one of his shadow clones had more than 70,000 units of chakra.
If the majority of ninjas who could never reach the critical threshold of 10,000 chakra units in their entire lives knew that, they would probably be green with envy and jealousy.
But that had nothing to do with Seimei. When the instructors at the ninja academy lectured on chakra conservation and efficient chakra use, Seimei would simply stare at them blankly.
Chakra exhaustion? Sorry. After a certain point, he simply forgot what that was.
Seimei shook his head and reined in his wandering thoughts.
He cracked his knuckles and murmured, "It's time to loosen up my body a little."
Two shadow clones even grabbed the ninjato from their storage seal bracelets and channeled lightning-natured chakra through the blades, causing them to vibrate at high frequency with several arcs of purple lightning snaking around them.
Crackle! Crackle!
Meanwhile, the remaining two shadow clones and Seimei stayed bare-handed.
And then…
Body Flicker Techniquex5
With a burst of chakra, all five of them vanished from the spot and rushed toward the group of hostile bandits and ninjas like wolves jumping into a flock of sheep.
Five shadows passed through the group of real bandits. Their targets weren't the real bandits, but the Chunin and Jonin standing behind them.
However, that didn't stop them from taking down a few bandits along the way.
Slash! Puchi!
One of Seimei's ninjato-wielding shadow clones conveniently decapitated two bandits, making their heads roll on the ground. And the other pierced the heart of an unsuspecting bandit, leaving a bloody, charred hole on the left side of his chest.
Three bandits died in the blink of an eye.
Another shadow clone drove a kunai through the throats of two bandits.
The last shadow clone didn't bother with petty kills.
It simply appeared in front of a Chunin-level ninja, clenched its fist, gathered chakra on the surface of the fist, and threw a punch straight at the Chunin's chest so fast that the ninja didn't even have time to react.
Chakra Enhanced Strength
The moment the shadow clone's punch connected to the Chunin's chest, the chakra gathered on the fist detonated violently.
Boom!
The sheer concussive force behind the exploding chakra tore the Chunin's skin, shattered his ribs, and made his chest sink. The shattered ribs punctured his lungs and heart, and the bone fragments further ruptured many vital inner organs.
A sharp wave of unbearable pain assaulted the Chunin. The Chunin vomited blood in the air as he flew backward like a rocket, crashing into the ninjas standing behind him, making the entire group of five or six ninjas disoriented.
But the shadow clone's assault didn't end there.
Next, he gathered and kneaded a large amount of earth-natured chakra and released it onto the ground.
Earth Release: Earth's Grasp
The earth before Seimei's shadow clone trembled as the earth-natured chakra began to mold it.
Then, in the blink of an eye, several hands made of solid earth, each with palms and fists as large as an adult human, erupted from the ground and shot at the disoriented enemy ninjas who had just regained their balance.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Crack! Smash!
The flexible yet solid earthen hands mercilessly crashed into the ninjas.
A couple of Elite Chunin who were exceptionally alert managed to dodge them and retreated further back.
As for the unlucky ones and those who didn't manage to react in time…
The earthen hands directly crushed their bones and turned them into bloody, gory meatpaste.
Wherever the earthen hands struck, the ground cracked and sank, forming numerous craters while kicking up dust.
While his shadow clones were spreading chaos in the icy battlefield, the real Seimei approached a full-fledged Jonin like a ghost.
"You!!!"
Seeing Seimei before him all of a sudden, the Jonin was momentarily startled.
But he was an experienced veteran with tens of years of experience, after all.
He quickly composed himself, unsheathed the ninja sword from his back, channeled lightning-natured chakra through it, and diagonally slashed at the area between Seimei's neck and left collarbone.
"Die!"
The Jonin's attack was fast, but Seimei's reaction was faster.
Seimei grabbed a kunai with his left hand and channeled wind-natured chakra through it.
Wind naturally countered lightning, and it sharpened the edges of any object imbued with its power.
Both Seimei's and the Jonin's weapons blurred and met with a heavy metallic screeching noise.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the wind-natured chakra suppressed the flashes of lightning on the Jonin's blade.
The sheer strength of Seimei's attack caused the Jonin's weapon-wielding arm to jerk back violently, displaying the results of his chakra infusion training sessions and the might of his Otsutsuki physique.
Even the Jonin's blade now had chips in it due to the sharp cutting force of wind-natured chakra and Seimei's arm strength.
The Jonin's guard was now wide open. For an experienced Jonin like him, it would only take a fraction of a second to regain his form.
But that fraction of a second was enough for Seimei, someone with lightning-fast reflexes, exceptional chakra control, and massive chakra output capability.
Shing~
Chakra gathered on Seimei's right palm and instantly transformed into a volleyball-sized spinning chakra sphere.
Wind warped around the blue chakra sphere. The moment it appeared in Seimei's palm, the Jonin's pupils constricted into needle points in shock and fear.
Rasengan
Without wasting any time, Seimei's arm moved like a blur and smashed the Rasengan into the Jonin's chest.
The moment the Rasengan made contact with the Jonin's chest, it tore his clothes, skin, muscles, and ribs into shreds. The spiraling chakra then wreaked havoc on his internal organs, turning them into mush.
Then, the Jonin's body flew backward and hit the ground with a loud thud.
His eyes were wide open, but there was no light in them. He was already dead.
The entire sequence of events, from Seimei and his shadow clones using the Body Flicker Technique to Seimei killing the Jonin, had only taken three seconds.
By the time Ryohei finally reacted, several of his subordinates, including multiple Chunins and one Jonin, had lost their lives.
Rage flooded Ryohei's eyes. He snarled so hard that his face twisted like a demon of hell.
"BASTARD!!"
However, his mind was still clear.
He signaled his subordinates, and five full-fledged Jonin instantly surrounded the real Seimei in a circle.
Ryohei commanded, "Attack together. Kill him. Don't give him a chance to form hand seals. I would like to see how he survives attacks from all directions without having the time to perform hand seals or cast ninjutsu."
Seimei looked at the Jonin-level ninjas encircling him. His expression was as calm as water.
Hah! Who even uses hand seals these days?
Seimei mused. His lips curled up in a mocking smirk.
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