Chapter 195: Encirclement

"Damn you, Kurota!"

Seeing his comrade killed by Seimei, Oda Naikou, whether out of guilt or something else, cursed and recklessly charged at Seimei.

However, even when they worked together, the two of them couldn't defeat Seimei, let alone now, when Oda is alone.

After only a few dozen moves, Seimei gained the upper hand and left several wounds on Oda's body with his short sword.

Yet, despite this, Oda did not retreat.

Naturally, Seimei wasn't going to show any mercy.

A dozen more moves passed, and just as Seimei was about to seriously injure his opponent, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shift and soften.

Seimei reacted quickly. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he gave up his attack, tapped the ground lightly with his toes, and swiftly left the spot.

The next moment, the ground he had just been standing on turned into a swamp.

It was clear that if he had stayed there just a moment longer, the swamp would have swallowed him whole.

"Who is it?"

Seimei was confused and scanned his surroundings.

Before he could locate the hidden attacker, as soon as his feet touched the ground, a sharp rock spike shot up from below, aiming directly at his heart.

This ambush came fast and fierce, perfectly following the swamp technique just used.

For an ordinary ninja, facing this kind of consecutive attack would have meant serious injury, if not death.

But Seimei was different. He had the Sharingan, giving him reflexes several times faster than normal.

So, when the rock spike first emerged, he quickly performed a double jump and created more distance.

In the end, the spike only pierced the afterimage he left behind.

However, this was just the beginning. Before he could steady himself, another spike appeared.

Then a third, and a fourth...

Seimei dodged the rock spikes like a gymnast, twisting and turning within a radius of several meters, avoiding one spike after another.

In just a few seconds, he had dodged dozens of rock spikes.

The hidden attacker seemed to realize these strikes weren't enough to hurt Seimei, so they stopped wasting chakra and ceased the jutsu.

Seeing no more spikes appearing, Seimei let out a quiet breath.

Though the attacks hadn't truly threatened him, losing the initiative felt unsettling.

Moreover, there was another Iwa ninja lurking in the shadows, which kept him on edge.

Yes, it wasn't just one person attacking him—there were two.

The ninja responsible for creating the rock spikes was different from the one who had transformed the ground into a swamp. Otherwise, the sequence of attacks wouldn't have been so seamless.

After all, performing hand signs takes time.

As Seimei pondered this, a sudden water arrow shot toward him from a distance, moving at an incredible speed.

But Seimei's reaction was quicker. Sensing the danger, he sidestepped just in time.

The water arrow grazed his arm and pierced through a large tree behind him, showing just how powerful it was.

This was undoubtedly a high-level Water Release technique.

Seimei looked toward the direction from which the water arrow had come and saw an Iwa ninja standing with both hands raised to his chest, mouth slightly open.

There was no doubt this ninja had launched the water arrow.

But Seimei's attention wasn't entirely focused on him, because nearby, another Iwa ninja was crouching on the ground, moving his hands away from the earth, as if he had just used some technique.

With everything pieced together, Seimei would have been a fool not to realize who his attackers were.

Clearly, the ninja who had just performed the "Earth Release: Earth Pillar Spears" jutsu, creating the rock spikes, was the one who had been trying to ambush him earlier.

"Two Jonin, huh?"

Seimei glanced over both of them and instantly judged from their massive chakra reserves that these two were indeed Jonin.

Looking over at Oda Naikou, who had nearly been forced into a corner by him earlier, Seimei thought to himself, "Two Jonin, and a Special Jonin? They must really think highly of me!"

Without waiting for the three enemies to surround him, Seimei immediately dashed toward Oda Naikou.

As the saying goes, "It's better to break one finger than to hurt all ten."

Of the three, Oda had the weakest strength, and he had already suffered considerable damage, making him the perfect target.

As for the two others in the distance...

Now that Seimei was prepared, he wasn't too worried about any sneak attacks from them.

After all, with both sides' ninjas fighting nearby, they couldn't risk using any large-scale jutsu. If it was just small techniques, Seimei was confident he could dodge them.

Thus, he chose to ignore the two Jonin.

At the same time, seeing Seimei charge toward him, Oda Naikou didn't retreat. Instead, he rushed forward to meet him.

Seeing this, a flicker of surprise flashed in Seimei's eyes. He had thought that after stalling for his teammates to arrive, Oda would no longer fight so desperately.

To his surprise, Oda was so determined, completely different from the Iwa ninja who had been so frightened earlier that he couldn't even meet Seimei's gaze.

"It seems the death of that Iwa ninja really affected him!"

Seimei silently mused and heightened his focus. He swung his sword at Oda while thinking, "But no matter how hard you fight, without strength, it's useless!"

Clang!

Clang, clang, clang!

The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed continuously, like a torrential downpour, urgent and relentless.

This time, Seimei held nothing back, unleashing his near-level-6 swordsmanship with full force. Combined with his fully evolved three-tomoe Sharingan, he easily overpowered Oda.

In the blink of an eye, Seimei left yet another wound on Oda's body.

"Ugh..."

Oda grunted, swinging his kunai with all his strength to block Seimei's short sword, then kicked off the ground to create a bit of distance.

He glanced at the new wound on his left arm, his expression grim.

It wasn't that Seimei had injured him.

He had already gotten used to being wounded and knew he wasn't Seimei's match, so being hurt was expected.

What frustrated him was the difference in Seimei's power compared to before.

From the strength Seimei displayed now, Oda could tell that he hadn't been fighting at full power earlier.

Given this realization, the fact that Kurota had died because of his mistake made Oda feel even more guilty.

That's why his face was so dark.

However, Seimei didn't care what Oda was thinking. Seeing his opponent pull away, Seimei immediately followed up, keeping up the pressure.

The familiar sound of metal clashing rang out again as the kunai and short sword collided.

But this time, Seimei didn't have long to press his advantage.

The two Iwa Jonin from afar, after testing the waters and realizing their small-scale tricks weren't effective, had now fully closed in.

Clearly, they intended to encircle and kill him with all three of them working together.

At this point, Seimei could have easily used a jutsu to disrupt their rhythm and avoid being surrounded.

But he chose not to.

The reason was simple—his swordsmanship was on the verge of leveling up, and Seimei intended to use this opportunity to push it to level 6.

As for the risk involved...

Seimei weighed the situation and believed it was manageable, so he quickly made up his mind.

Of course, he dared to take this risk because he had enough confidence in his abilities, knowing that even if something went wrong, he could rely on his sheer strength to turn the tide.

This was why, in this precarious situation, he chose to use his enemies to refine his swordsmanship.

(End of Chapter)