Chapter 147: Surveillance

Clang!

The kunai and the short sword clashed, producing a crisp sound.

Looking at 'Seimei', who once again blocked with his sword, the Anbu captain's expression under the mask was extremely gloomy. He then took a few steps back, creating distance.

Seeing this, Suzu, although not understanding the reason, also stopped her attack and just warily watched 'Seimei'.

'Seimei' stood in place, looking at the Iwa Anbu who suddenly retreated and the gloomy eyes under his mask. He instantly understood that the other party must have discovered something.

He didn't bother to keep up the act anymore and said with a smile, "What's wrong? Continue!"

Hearing his words, the Anbu captain suddenly said in a calm tone, "As expected, you're not Uchiha Seimei, or rather, you're just one of his shadow clones."

"Shadow clone?"

Hearing this, Suzu immediately looked at 'Seimei', a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, but she didn't seem too shocked.

Clearly, both the Anbu captain and Suzu were somewhat mentally prepared for this situation.

As for his identity being exposed, 'Seimei' didn't find it strange. The other party might not be able to see any difference with their naked eyes, but it wasn't difficult to guess the answer.

A shadow clone was, after all, a shadow clone. Because of its limited ability to withstand damage, it was destined to make some strange moves.

For example, frequently giving up excellent attack opportunities to avoid some non-fatal injuries.

Such actions were fine once or twice, and could be attributed to his unwillingness to get hurt. But after many times, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.

Because there was simply no ninja in the ninja world who would act like this.

'Seimei' guessed that the Anbu captain in front of him had figured out his shadow clone identity through these strange actions.

However, what he found strange was that the other party's reaction was too calm, as if they had expected it all along.

"Could it be..."

Seimei suddenly seemed to have thought of something. His gaze swept over the two of them, then looked at the surrounding forest, and muttered, "No way..."

"Does the plan need to change again?"

'Seimei' felt speechless.

Just then, an invisible wave of energy struck, causing his body to tremble involuntarily.

Seimei looked up and saw that the female ninja, who had been providing support, suddenly unleashed a large-scale offensive ninjutsu.

An invisible sound wave, centered around her, spread out rapidly like waves, rippling outwards.

Along the way, whether it was flowers, plants, trees, or snakes, insects, rats, and ants, anything that encountered this sound wave would tremble uncontrollably.

Moreover, as the attack continued, this trembling intensified.

Caught in the attack, 'Seimei' felt the various structures that made up his body rapidly 'shaking', as if they would fall apart at any moment.

This reminded 'Seimei' of a word - resonance.

If that was truly the case, then the potential of this technique was terrifying.

However, it didn't matter much to him anymore.

The other party launched this unreasonable attack, clearly aiming at the shadow clone's weakness of limited damage tolerance.

And since he didn't escape the range of the ninjutsu in the first place, the outcome was already determined.

'Seimei' didn't bother wasting any more chakra. He raised his hands and actively dispelled the 'Shadow Clone Technique'.

Seeing Seimei turn into a puff of chakra and disappear, Suzu finally stopped the technique and started panting heavily.

Clearly, using this ninjutsu also put a great strain on her.

After catching her breath for a while, Suzu came to the Anbu captain and said, "Captain, I'm ready. Let's go!"

"Mm."

The Anbu captain responded and, together with Suzu, returned the way they came, chasing after their other two teammates.

And the direction these two were heading was precisely the direction Seimei's true body had escaped in.

It turned out that Seimei hadn't shaken off the Iwa Anbu's pursuit from the beginning. It was just that they couldn't tell which of the two paths was his real escape route.

So, they split into two groups and started their pursuit.

That was also why the Anbu captain and Suzu appeared so calm after discovering that their target was a shadow clone.

...

On the other side.

Seimei, who was rushing through the forest, suddenly stopped and quickly diverted a part of his mind to read the memories that suddenly appeared in his mind.

A moment later, his face darkened.

What the shadow clone could think of, he naturally could too. The overly calm reaction of those two was indeed somewhat abnormal.

Combined with the pressure they put on the shadow clone, Seimei felt that there might be more enemies than just those two.

Although the Anbu captain was strong, he wasn't enough to pose a fatal threat to him, even with the assistance of a special Jonin specializing in sound wave ninjutsu.

But his intuition warning from before was real.

Therefore, there were most likely more enemies than just these two.

In other words, there might be more pursuers behind him.

Suddenly, Seimei stopped and quickly looked back.

One second, two seconds...

Five seconds, ten seconds...

Soon, a minute passed.

The rear remained calm, with no enemies appearing.

"Phew—"

Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Seimei retracted his gaze and then laughed at himself, "Since when did I become so easily spooked?"

Just thinking about it, even if there were pursuers behind him, with his speed from earlier, they might not necessarily be able to catch up.

And next, as long as he continued to maintain this high-speed movement, he wouldn't be afraid of any so-called pursuers.

Seimei was about to continue on his way when he suddenly sensed something and looked up at the sky.

The next moment, his pupils contracted, and his heart couldn't help but skip a few beats.

Under the moonlight, a hawk was circling. Its eyes were fixed on the ground, like a ghost, without making a sound.

If Seimei didn't have the Sharingan, he might not have been able to spot it.

Although this hawk looked no different from other hawks, his intuition told Seimei that this was the means the pursuers were using to monitor him.

If it were just pursuers, even if he couldn't shake them off, he could rely on his speed advantage to keep them at bay. As long as his specific whereabouts weren't exposed, it would be difficult for the enemy to corner him.

But with this hawk acting as surveillance, the situation was completely different. They could completely grasp his escape route in advance and mobilize people to intercept him.

This was the advantage of fighting on their home turf.

"No, I have to get rid of this thing, or I'll eventually walk right into their trap."

Seimei's mind raced, thinking about how to deal with the current situation.

Seimei tried, but with his current level of ocular power, he couldn't directly influence the hawk from such a long distance.

As for other ninjutsu, there was even less hope.

"It seems I can only deal with the people behind it."

Seimei's idea was simple. Since he couldn't deal with the hawk, he would deal with the person controlling it. The result would be the same.

"Sigh!"

With a light sigh, Seimei originally wanted to avoid any conflict with the Iwa pursuers, but plans never kept up with changes.

In this situation, even if he wanted to avoid a fight, he couldn't.

Fortunately, part of the enemy's forces had been led to another path by the shadow clone and couldn't catch up for a while.

This way, as long as he acted quickly, he shouldn't fall into the predicament of being surrounded and attacked.

(End of Chapter)