Grind is My Ninja Way

The battle on Seimei's side drew considerable attention.

Thus, when he finally killed Kuroki Izumi, he could clearly sense the morale of the Mist ninja around him drop significantly.

Conversely, the nearby Leaf ninjas fought with even greater vigor.

Seimei flicked the blood off his blade, scanning his surroundings for the next target.

His gaze lingered briefly on a few Mist jonin locked in combat with Leaf jonin, then shifted to the standout Mist chunin and genin performing impressively on the battlefield.

Indeed, in large-scale battles like this, there is an unspoken rule among ninjas: soldiers fight soldiers, and generals fight generals.

Typically, high-ranking ninjas do not target lower-ranking ones. Both sides would seek opponents of similar strength.

But this only applies when both sides have comparable high-level combat strength.

If one side breaks this rule, it often triggers retaliation, leading to heavy losses for both.

However, this situation was clearly not ordinary.

After killing six or seven Mist jonin in succession, the Mist side, already stretched thin, had no more high-level combatants to deploy.

Therefore, Seimei could completely disregard the rule and end the battle as quickly as possible.

Besides, the previous skirmishes left him with no chance to absorb chakra, and he had consumed quite a bit. It was time to replenish.

With that thought, he set his sights on a Mist chunin in the crowd who had just killed two Leaf chunin and cast the Fire Release: Scorching Ash Technique!

To the Mist chunin's credit, his reaction was swift, and his sensory skills were sharp.

The moment he sensed danger, he dodged, and Seimei's fire jutsu only burned the corner of his clothes. Quickly tearing it off, he avoided being engulfed by flames.

But this was just the beginning.

As the Mist chunin looked around for the caster, Seimei used the Flash Sword Technique, closing the distance at incredible speed.

Seeing him approach, Shinkawa Genichi's expression changed drastically.

Although confident in his own strength, he knew he wasn't a match for someone who had just killed several high-level opponents.

Without hesitation, he sprinted toward the area with the most allies.

It's often said that birds of a feather flock together.

Being skilled himself, the allies around him were also strong.

By sticking together, they significantly increased their chances of survival on the battlefield—a small trick for low- and mid-level ninjas.

Unfortunately, this time their opponent wasn't just a strong chunin or even an average jonin. It was Seimei.

Ignoring the fact that they outnumbered him, Seimei charged straight at them.

The moment Seimei approached, their hearts involuntarily skipped a beat.

Instinctively, they wanted to retreat from him.

But Seimei gave them no chance.

With one slash, he sent Shinkawa Genichi flying and immediately performed the Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

Balls of fire resembling seeds of the phoenix flower shot from his mouth like burning bullets, rapidly targeting the group.

Seeing the incoming attack, the group didn't dare hesitate. Either alone or with help, they managed to dodge the first wave of attacks.

However, before they could counterattack, Seimei launched his second wave.

No unnecessary probing, he unleashed an A-rank technique—Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!

He threw a single shuriken, then swiftly performed a hand seal, multiplying it into dozens, even hundreds, of shuriken, all hurtling toward the Mist ninjas.

Thanks to his Sharingan's exceptional perception, even without direct observation, he could predict their movements from their subtle actions.

Thus, the shuriken's trajectories were cunningly calculated, often anticipating their evasive maneuvers.

After one round of attacks, a Mist chunin fell, and most of the others were wounded.

This shattered what little courage the Mist ninjas had managed to muster.

Shinkawa Genichi observed his comrades' expressions and knew they couldn't let Seimei continue unchecked. Otherwise, they would collapse entirely, and his own life would be at risk.

Gritting his teeth, he dragged his injured left arm and charged directly at Seimei.

As he ran, he shouted, "Don't be afraid! He's only one man. Let's take him down together!"

The others, either inspired by his courage or realizing they couldn't flee, followed suit, charging at Seimei with him.

Before they got close, they launched various ninja tools at him.

Among the projectiles were movement-restricting caltrops and wires, standard kunai and shuriken, as well as hidden senbon and other exotic weapons.

Some weapons carried explosive tags, while others were laced with poison.

It could be said they threw everything they had prepared for this war.

But it was all in vain.

Seimei's Sharingan spun rapidly as he scanned the incoming attacks. Without hesitation, he performed the Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!

Boom!

With a thunderous quake, four massive earthen walls, each ten meters long and four to five meters high, rose from the ground, forming a fortress around Seimei.

Boom, boom, boom!

Explosions followed in rapid succession.

The attacks hit the earthen walls but failed to breach them, let alone harm Seimei inside.

However, the Mist ninjas weren't completely helpless. Some immediately used Lightning Release jutsu, hoping to exploit its elemental advantage to destroy the wall.

And they succeeded.

Seimei hadn't invested much chakra into the technique, so the walls weren't particularly long, tall, thick, or sturdy.

Coupled with the earlier bombardment of explosive tags, the walls crumbled after several consecutive Lightning Release attacks.

But what awaited the Mist ninjas was not the lone figure of Seimei—it was ten identical copies of him.

Clearly, Seimei had used the Shadow Clone Technique during the brief reprieve.

The ten clones exchanged glances, then each picked a direction and charged at the Mist ninjas.

The Mist ninjas, caught off guard, initially panicked but soon felt a glimmer of hope.

In their experience, shadow clones were far weaker than the original.

Encouraged by Shinkawa Genichi's rallying cry, they mustered a fragile courage. Though still intimidated by Seimei, they believed their chances had improved with the clones.

This gave them a false sense of security, a fleeting moment of joy.