Chapter 107: Successful Capture

Fifteen minutes later.

Somewhere in the forest.

Sabaku no Kaze's low shout suddenly echoed.

"Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel Technique!"

A violent wind swept through, uprooting the surrounding trees, and dense vacuum blades scattered in all directions, carving deep furrows in the ground.

Amidst the storm, a figure flickered rapidly, constantly dodging the vacuum blades coming from all sides.

This person was none other than Seimei.

Earlier, due to his recklessness, he had inadvertently fallen into Sabaku no Kaze's trap and was caught in his ninjutsu.

Now, he could only look for an opportunity to escape.

However, before he could run far, Sabaku no Kaze's familiar voice came again, "I finally managed to trap you; how could I let you leave so easily? Fire Style: Exploding Flame Technique, burn him!"

"What? Fire Style!?"

Hearing the opponent's words, Seimei's expression changed drastically. He immediately activated his Sharingan to its fullest and ran towards the outside.

However, no matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun the spreading flames.

As the saying goes, fire borrows the power of the wind, and wind aids the might of fire.

When the Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel Technique and the Fire Style: Exploding Flame Technique were combined, their power far surpassed that of a single technique alone.

Clearly, this was Sabaku no Kaze's trump card.

And once this trump card was unleashed, it achieved good results.

"No--"

Within the storm, Seimei let out an unwilling roar, and then his entire being was engulfed in flames.

"Huff~ Huff~"

Outside the range of the techniques, Sabaku no Kaze leaned on his three-star fan, panting heavily. His eyes were fixed on the spot where Seimei had been swallowed by the flames, and he murmured, "Did it work?"

"Work? Hehe~"

As soon as Sabaku no Kaze finished speaking, Seimei's cold laughter reached his ears, along with the sound of a blade piercing through the air.

An extreme sense of crisis surged into his heart. Sabaku no Kaze didn't have time to think and instinctively leaned to his right.

Pierce~

The sound of a blade entering flesh rang out.

Seimei's short sword pierced through Sabaku no Kaze's left arm.

Then, with a thought, he infused fire-style chakra into the short sword and flicked it upwards, directly slicing off half of Sabaku no Kaze's arm.

The smell of burnt flesh filled the air, making Seimei frown.

Sabaku no Kaze clutched his severed arm and retreated rapidly in pain. He didn't stop until he was three or four meters away.

Then, he looked at Seimei and asked through gritted teeth, "Was that a shadow clone just now? When?"

Clearly, he wanted to know when Seimei had used a shadow clone to replace his real body.

However, Seimei didn't want to waste words with him. With a flash, he appeared directly in front of him.

Having lost half an arm, Sabaku no Kaze's combat power was greatly reduced.

Unable to form hand seals, he could only use taijutsu and rely on his three-star fan to crudely release wind-style chakra's power.

Unfortunately, none of these were effective against Seimei.

In less than two minutes, Seimei found an opportunity and used Genjutsu: Sharingan for the first time, successfully controlling the opponent.

What followed was simple. Seimei knocked him unconscious, then used the Chakra Absorption Technique to drain all the remaining chakra from his body.

Next, he used the Healing Technique to treat the wound on his severed arm.

Although the wound had been cauterized by the high temperature and was no longer bleeding, to ensure his survival, he still used chakra to heal it.

After all this was done, Seimei formed hand seals again and used the Shadow Clone Technique to create a shadow clone.

Today, he had really gone all out, using the Shadow Clone Technique consecutively, consuming a considerable amount of chakra.

Fortunately, it was all worth it. As long as he safely delivered Sabaku no Kaze to the cavern and extracted his chakra once, he could easily replenish today's losses.

According to his Sharingan's observation, the opponent had at least eight thousand chakra points when at full strength. With a 60% conversion rate, that was nearly five thousand chakra points.

Such a large amount of chakra made Seimei's heart skip a beat.

Forcefully suppressing his excitement, Seimei said to the shadow clone beside him, "You set off now and quickly take him back."

"Mm."

The shadow clone responded softly without saying much, then carried the unconscious Sabaku no Kaze and left.

Seimei began to clean up the battlefield, erasing any traces that might arouse suspicion, ensuring that Sabaku no Kaze's whereabouts wouldn't be discovered.

After finishing this, Seimei didn't linger and immediately rushed towards the previous battlefield.

If possible, he wanted to capture a few more Suna-nin.

For him, the more "chakra batteries," the better.

And if he could capture that puppeteer, it would be even better.

Thinking of this, Seimei couldn't help but quicken his pace.

However, when he returned to the previous battlefield, there was no one there except for another Konoha ninja's corpse.

Seimei glanced at the corpse. It was his subordinate who had voluntarily damaged his hearing.

Clearly, he hadn't survived in the end.

Just as Seimei was examining the corpse, a faint sound suddenly came from the nearby woods.

Seimei abruptly stood up and shouted, "Who's there?"

"Captain, it's me!"

Kamijo Yoichi's somewhat weak voice replied.

Then, the woods rustled, and Kamijo Yoichi walked out, his face pale.

He was clutching his abdomen, and blood could be seen seeping through his fingers, indicating a serious injury.

The Sharingan in Seimei's pupils dilated slightly. He carefully examined Kamijo Yoichi from head to toe, and after confirming that he wasn't an enemy in disguise, he stepped forward and asked, "How are you? Where are the enemies?"

"Cough, cough, cough~"

Kamijo Yoichi coughed a few times and replied with some difficulty, "They suddenly retreated a few minutes ago. I don't know why."

"Retreated..."

Seimei pondered for a moment and then continued to ask, "Do you know which direction they went?"

Kamijo Yoichi pointed towards the northwest.

"Area E12?"

Seimei frowned.

"Mm."

Kamijo Yoichi nodded and said, "It's very likely."

Hearing this, Seimei fell silent.

At this time, Kamijo Yoichi suddenly asked, "By the way, Captain, what about Sabaku no Kaze?"

"Don't mention it, he escaped."

Seimei replied with a frustrated expression.

Kamijo Yoichi didn't doubt his words.

Because he also didn't think Seimei could kill a Jonin. Or rather, the fact that Seimei could force the opponent to flee was already beyond his expectations.

As for going any further, he didn't even dare to imagine it.

On the other hand, after Seimei answered the question, although he didn't say anything on the surface, he was paying attention to Kamijo Yoichi's expression from the corner of his eye.

If the other party had any doubts about his words, he might have to silence him.

Although he wouldn't kill indiscriminately, if the other party touched his core interests, he wouldn't show mercy either.

Fortunately, Kamijo Yoichi's reaction was normal.

Seimei glanced at the wound on his abdomen and, after confirming it wasn't fatal for the time being, didn't waste chakra healing him.

Instead, he said directly, "You stay here for now and report our encounter. I'll go to Area E12 to check it out."

"Yes, Captain!"

Kamijo Yoichi replied crisply.

"Alright, take care of yourself."

Seimei gave him one last reminder and then disappeared into the dense forest, following the direction in which the Suna Chunin had left.

After he left, Kamijo Yoichi raised his blood-stained hands, performed the Summoning Technique, and once again summoned the parrot, starting to give his report.

(End of Chapter)