Grind is My Ninja Way

"Some kind of long-distance surveillance jutsu?"

On the battlefield.

On top of the passenger ship.

Seimei looked up at the sky and murmured.

Just moments ago, as he was searching for potential hidden enemies, a sudden feeling of being watched crept into his heart.

It was the same feeling he had when Aburame Ryoma used the 'Secret Technique: Destruction Insects' to spy on him.

Because of this, he immediately noticed it.

Seimei furrowed his brow slightly, then closed his eyes. He fully unleashed the powerful mental strength from his 19-point 'Spirit' attribute.

Instantly, everyone on the battlefield felt a weight on their hearts, as if an invisible pressure had settled over them.

And when they realized the source of the pressure, none of them dared to speak.

Seimei ignored the others as he carefully sensed the chakra in the air.

Any long-distance surveillance jutsu relies on chakra as a medium.

In theory, the person being watched could trace the connection back to the caster.

And that was exactly what Seimei was doing.

A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards a certain sea area to the northwest, murmuring, "Found you."

Activating his Sharingan to its full power, Seimei vaguely saw some unusual phenomena in that area.

Perhaps the 'Ice Crystal Invisibility Technique' didn't have any obvious flaws at such a distance if one wasn't looking closely.

But since Seimei had already determined there was something wrong in that area, the powerful insight of the Sharingan made it impossible to hide the flaws.

As he stared with his Sharingan, it was as if his gaze met someone else's through the ice mirrors.

On the Hidden Mist warship, Yukikaze's expression changed drastically.

Staring into those blood-red eyes, his heart trembled, his back felt cold, and a sense of impending doom washed over him.

As the saying goes, "Don't Stare too long in Abyss."

Seimei had killed too many powerful enemies. Even though Yukikaze was highly confident in his family's Ice Release bloodline, he couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated when facing a master like Seimei.

"Wasn't he supposed to be a swordsmanship expert? How is his perception so sharp? And how did he notice me?"

For a moment, Yukikaze's thoughts were in chaos.

At that moment, the voice of a nearby Mist ninja snapped him out of it: "Lord Yukikaze, did he discover us?"

Hearing this, Yukikaze shook off his confusion, suddenly realizing he was sweating.

He hadn't even fought yet and had already been 'scared' like this, making Yukikaze feel both embarrassed and annoyed.

"Damn it!"

He muttered, then immediately deactivated the ship's camouflage and ordered, "Everyone, full speed ahead! Prepare for battle!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Mist ninja beside him hesitated for a moment but quickly followed the order, passing the command down.

······

On the other side.

Seimei saw the warship suddenly appear and instantly understood—the enemy had realized he had detected them, so they stopped hiding.

Seeing the ship's direction, they were heading straight for them instead of retreating.

This pleased Seimei even more.

This way, he wouldn't have to figure out how to get closer to them.

However, preparation was still necessary.

With that thought, he immediately called some Konoha ninja to retreat from the current fight and prepare for the incoming enemies.

However, before the battle could start, they were hit by a long-range attack.

As the Hidden Mist warship approached within 100 meters, the surrounding air suddenly dropped several degrees.

Then snowflakes began to fall, and a strong wind started to howl.

In an instant, the area within 100 meters felt like it was in the middle of a blizzard, making it hard to see anything and leaving everyone shivering from the cold.

If that were all, it wouldn't be a problem. Though ninjas aren't very durable, they could endure a blizzard thanks to their chakra.

But the key problem was that, after just a few moments, the snowflakes turned into crystal-like shuriken.

Many Konoha ninja were caught off guard and seriously injured. Even those who reacted quickly could only handle one or two of the shuriken, but there were hundreds, if not thousands.

Seeing the number of ice shuriken increasing in the air, Seimei wasted no time and quickly performed hand signs, unleashing a jutsu—Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

That's right, he used this jutsu again.

In theory, the best way to deal with these ice shuriken would be Fire Release. As long as the temperature rose, they would melt naturally.

However, the fire jutsu he knew couldn't cover such a large area, so it couldn't melt all the ice shuriken in a short time.

Therefore, he chose to use brute force, expending a lot of chakra to summon a whirlwind with 'Wind Release: Great Breakthrough' to blow away the snow.

And his plan worked.

As the wind swept through, the surrounding snow instantly dispersed. The terrifying blizzard vanished like an illusion, disappearing without a trace.

Only then did Seimei seriously look at the handsome man on the Hidden Mist warship's deck.

His mind quickly recalled the relevant intelligence. If his guess was correct, this man was a member of the Yuki clan from the Hidden Mist Village.

Only a ninja with the Ice Release bloodline could create such a blizzard.

Thinking back to the future descendant of the Yuki clan, Haku, and his 'Ice Release Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals,' Seimei could only think that true strength is forged in the heat of war.

Compared to the vast blizzard created by this man, Haku's 'Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals' seemed small in scale.

However, due to their different uses, the two techniques weren't really comparable.

Yukikaze's blizzard might be very threatening to average ninja, but it would struggle against an elite jōnin.

On the other hand, Haku's 'Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals,' if used skillfully, could be effective against both higher and lower-ranked ninjas.

In game terms, one was an AOE skill, and the other was a single-target attack.

What Seimei didn't know yet was how strong this Yuki clan ninja's single-target attacks were.

As he thought about this, he saw Yukikaze quickly form hand signs.

The next moment, an ice dragon appeared.

Standing on its head, Yukikaze controlled the dragon and charged straight at Seimei.

Feeling the icy cold emanating from it, Seimei didn't hesitate. He raised his hands and quickly performed a jutsu—Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu!

A stream of fire erupted from his mouth, transforming into a fire dragon that charged toward the ice dragon.

Yukikaze reacted by having the ice dragon open its mouth and spray a blast of cold air, like an arrow, straight at the fire dragon.

Instantly, the temperature of the fire dragon dropped, and its color dimmed.

However, even then, the fire dragon didn't collapse.

Seeing this, Yukikaze's expression changed, and he quickly directed the ice dragon to dodge.

(End of chapter)