Chapter 569: Retreat

"Quick reaction!"

Seimei withdrew his gaze from Yuida Hidefu and glanced at the jonin before him, muttering under his breath.

As he spoke, a surge of blue energy enveloped him—it was the Shunken Technique. In an instant, he closed in on his opponent.

Clang!

A crisp metallic clash rang out.

Seimei's long blade was intercepted by Kamihara Kazuhiro's kunai.

With the opponent mere inches away, Seimei wasted no time. Channeling his chakra and mental energy, he prepared to unleash the Sharingan Illusion Technique.

However, Kazuhiro seemed experienced in dealing with Uchiha shinobi. Sensing the imminent danger, he immediately shut his eyes and leapt backward.

As he retreated, Kazuhiro hurled several shuriken at Seimei, intending to slow him down.

Unfortunately, such attacks posed little threat to Seimei, merely delaying him for a moment.

Dodging the shuriken with a swift sidestep, Seimei planted his feet firmly on the ground. The force of his movement cracked the earth beneath him, and he propelled himself forward like a cannonball, chasing after Kazuhiro.

Originally, Seimei's assault could have been seamless.

Yet Kazuhiro's quick shuriken throw bought him a sliver of time—just enough to better prepare for Seimei's relentless pursuit.

In Seimei's sights, Kazuhiro reached into his tool pouch with his left hand and scattered a handful of cold, glinting caltrops precisely along Seimei's path.

Seimei's pupils contracted sharply.

This kind of treacherous weapon was something he rarely encountered in past battles.

If he stepped on them, his footwear would be punctured, injuring his feet. If the caltrops were laced with poison, the situation could turn even more troublesome.

Judging from Kazuhiro's barehanded toss, the caltrops were likely not poisoned. Even if Seimei's feet were injured, his extraordinary regenerative ability would heal him quickly.

Still, the pain would be unavoidable.

While Seimei wasn't afraid of pain, he wasn't a masochist either. If this were a critical moment, he might have endured it.

But this wasn't such a moment.

The two opponents before him—even with the support of the nearby special jonin Yuida Hidefu—posed little threat to him.

Thus, Seimei saw no need to push himself unnecessarily.

After quickly considering his options, Seimei decisively slowed down. Using his Sharingan to scan the ground, he chose safe landing spots and leapt over the obstacles.

Meanwhile, Kazuhiro had already steadied himself, and Yuida Hidefu was closing in. With two opponents now facing Seimei, they felt less threatened by his illusions.

Of course, this assumed Seimei wouldn't resort to a trade injury for injury strategy.

After a brief internal debate, Seimei decided against it.

As a result, the upcoming battle promised to be relatively "dull."

In stark contrast, the intensity of Minato Namikaze's battle skyrocketed.

Previously facing five opponents, Minato had been cautious, gathering intelligence. But now, against only three, he went on the offensive without hesitation.

This aligned with Seimei's thinking—and Minato's actions.

As Seimei engaged Kazuhiro and Hidefu, Minato shifted from defense to a full-on attack.

In no time, the three Mist jonin struggled to keep up with him.

This demonstrated that Minato Namikaze wasn't simply "soft"—when it was time to retreat, he retreated; when it was time to fight, he fought with unwavering resolve.

Perhaps this sudden shift was due to the fact that the Six-Tails jinchuriki's power was growing unstable.

Although only three tails were visible now, the jinchuriki hadn't yet unleashed full strength.

Even so, the four Leaf shinobi managing the jinchuriki were clearly struggling. Their sealing jutsu—meant to shift momentum efficiently—wasn't sufficient because their foundational strength was lacking.

Back in Seimei's battle, he parried Kazuhiro and Hidefu's strikes with ease, his long blade meeting their kunai in light, effortless clashes.

The duo noticed Seimei's divided attention but couldn't exploit it to their advantage.

"Damn it!"

Yuida Hidefu cursed under his breath, unconsciously quickening his attacks. This disrupted his coordination with Kazuhiro, creating a minor gap in their teamwork.

Seimei keenly observed this lapse and began baiting Hidefu further, even intentionally offering openings to lure him in.

Finally, an opportunity presented itself. As Hidefu lunged with his kunai, Seimei's eyes lit up.

Activating his Sharingan fully, Seimei locked onto Hidefu's attack and simultaneously monitored Kazuhiro behind him.

Twisting his body in an unnatural manner, Seimei dodged both their strikes with precision.

Seeing this, both Kazuhiro and Hidefu paled.

"Not good!"

If Seimei could evade both attacks simultaneously, it meant their strikes had overlapped within his countering window.

As expected, Seimei seized the moment. His long blade swept toward Hidefu's neck.

Sensing the danger, Hidefu instinctively withdrew his kunai to block.

Clang!

The clash of metal reverberated.

The sheer force of Seimei's strike sent Hidefu staggering half a step back.

Behind him, Kazuhiro tried to intervene, rotating his wrist to shift his kunai from a thrust to a slash aimed at Seimei's waist.

But Seimei neither dodged nor flinched. Instead, he turned his head toward Kazuhiro.

In Kazuhiro's vision, Seimei's crimson Sharingan seemed to glow with a bloodthirsty aura.

"An illusion?!"

In an instant, Kazuhiro recognized the threat.

With Hidefu temporarily unable to attack, Kazuhiro dared not challenge Seimei's powerful illusion head-on. He shut his eyes and leapt backward.

This retreat softened his attack, leaving only a shallow cut on Seimei's waist—a wound so minor it wouldn't hinder him.

Even without treatment, it would heal completely in minutes.

Satisfied, Seimei redirected his focus to the special jonin before him.

Without pause, he closed the distance and swung his blade at Hidefu's neck once more.

Sensing danger, Hidefu raised his weapon to block.

But this time, Seimei's illusion technique was woven into his strike.

"Eh?"

Looking at the blade in his line of sight splitting into three, Hidefu's pupils suddenly contracted.

As an experienced special jonin, he immediately realized he was under the influence of a genjutsu.

Without hesitation, he focused his mind and disrupted the chakra within his body.

Instantly, the blade in his vision merged back into one.

"Hmph! Child's play!"

Hidefu felt a sense of triumph. Without delay, he raised the kunai in his hand to block Seimei's attack.

Although breaking free from the "Illusory Blade Technique" had cost him a moment and slightly slowed his defensive action, which might lead to a disadvantage, he was already prepared to redirect the force.

As long as he could withstand this round of attacks, he believed everything would return to the previous state once Kazuhiro and Hong rejoined the fight.

This was the plan in Hidefu's mind, but unfortunately, things didn't go as expected.

Seimei's strike appeared forceful but wasn't. The force transferred to him was far less than the previous attack, rendering his subtle redirection efforts pointless.

This was highly unusual.

Seimei could have seized this opportunity to launch a ferocious assault and gain the upper hand, but he chose not to.

Clearly, this was a waste of the hard-earned opportunity.

As the saying goes, when something deviates from the norm, there's a reason for it.

Hidefu did not believe that Seimei had simply failed to react in time and missed the chance.

Judging from the opponent's earlier performance, despite his young age, Seimei was highly experienced in combat. Such a significant mistake seemed impossible.

Even if such an error occurred, Seimei's powerful three-tomoe Sharingan's perception would have corrected it.

Yet, Seimei did not seize the opportunity.

"What's going on?" Hidefu's mind was in turmoil.

At that moment, a strong sense of danger surged in his heart.

In his vision, Seimei's face displayed a sinister smile.

The next moment, a sharp, piercing pain came from his abdomen.

Looking down, he saw Seimei's left hand had somehow reached out, clutching a pale blue, high-density chakra sphere, pressing it against his abdomen.

Pfft~

A large mouthful of blood spurted out.

Recalling his earlier smugness at dispelling Seimei's "Illusory Blade Technique," Hidefu widened his eyes and muttered, "You… did this… on purpose?"

Seimei ignored the question, exerting more force with his left hand. The Level 8 Rasengan exploded violently, blasting Hidefu away.

Indeed, as the opponent suspected, Seimei had intentionally allowed him to break the genjutsu, all to silently prepare the Rasengan.

This move was called "Openly Repairing the Road While Secretly Crossing the River."

The decision was made because, at the beginning of the fight, Seimei had already noticed Hidefu's mediocre sensory abilities.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the confidence to deceive him.

Boom!

Watching Hidefu crash heavily to the ground, Seimei withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Kazuhiro and Hong.

At this moment, Kazuhiro had just opened his eyes and regained his footing.

Though the battle between Seimei and Hidefu seemed long, it had unfolded in mere moments, leaving Kazuhiro little time to grasp what had happened.

And indeed, that was the case.

Kazuhiro only felt as if he had blinked, and his comrade was already on the ground.

As for what had transpired, he had no idea.

He glanced at Seimei, then at Hidefu struggling to rise in the distance, his mind racing with thoughts of how to stall for time alone.

"Retreat!"

At that moment, a stern shout came from nearby.

Hearing the voice, Seimei and Kazuhiro both turned their heads.

Two Kirigakure jonin were running toward them, one clutching his arm and the other holding his abdomen.

Behind them was Namikaze Minato, pulling a kunai from the chest of another Kirigakure jonin.

Clearly, the battle on Minato's side was over.

The question now was, should Seimei stop these fleeing enemies?