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Whoosh!
Before Seimei could even sheathe his long blade, a kunai suddenly shot from behind, aimed straight at his back.
The attacker? None other than Shimazu Gosuke, who still had some fight left in him. Gotta hand it to the guy—his timing was spot-on, striking right when Seimei was most likely to let his guard down and least able to defend.
Through the all-seeing vision of his Byakugan, Seimei noticed the kunai wasn't just any weapon—it had an explosive tag attached, already burning. Judging by how fast it was burning, Seimei was certain that even if the kunai missed or he blocked it, the tag would detonate the moment it got close.
The guy had planned it all out.
Heck, even the Cloud ninja in front of him was being used as bait. Or maybe he was in on it voluntarily. Why else would he be ignoring the pain of his severed arm to counterattack?
Yup, at the exact moment Seimei pulled back his blade, the Cloud ninja swung his remaining left arm. Silently, a kunai slid from his sleeve into his hand, slashing toward Seimei's throat like lightning.
In that instant, Seimei was caught in a pincer attack.
But his expression didn't change one bit.
For one, his Byakugan's x-ray vision had already caught both of their hidden moves, so he was ready. For another, with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan boosting his reaction speed to ridiculous levels, he was more than prepared.
And that's not even mentioning the evolved Byakugan's ability to manipulate repulsive force, which was more than enough to handle this situation.
Seimei didn't even flinch. Without any visible movement, the Cloud ninja in front of him was sent flying backward. The guy's kunai didn't even graze Seimei—in fact, it was a miracle he didn't cut himself.
As for the kunai Shimazu Gosuke threw from behind? It hit an invisible barrier and was deflected away.
Boom!
The explosive tag went off, unleashing a burst of flames. But under the repulsive force barrier, the fire couldn't touch Seimei—it all shot in the opposite direction. Even the shockwave from the blast didn't faze him.
In that moment, Seimei stood like a god among mortals, untouchable and lofty.
Behind him, Shimazu Gosuke's pupils shrank as he muttered, "What is that power?" His voice carried confusion, doubt, and a whole lot of disbelief.
If he was reacting like that, imagine the others on the battlefield. Through his Byakugan, Seimei could see the fear etched on their faces.
But fear wouldn't make him go soft. This was a life-or-death battlefield, not a game. Showing mercy to the enemy was like gambling with his own life.
Well… okay, these guys probably couldn't threaten his life, but better safe than sorry.
Without hesitation, Seimei seized the moment to clear the field. He used Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of Shimazu Gosuke in an instant. Then, he swung his blade.
Shimazu barely dodged.
Seimei pressed the attack, relentlessly swinging his long blade, forcing Shimazu to keep dodging. At one point, Seimei raised his left hand. A wave of invisible repulsive force surged out, sending Shimazu—who had just regained his footing—flying again.
But Shimazu had seen Seimei's tricks and was ready. As he was pushed back, he quickly adjusted his stance, trying to stabilize himself.
Too bad. The next moment, a pulling force yanked him forward. Caught off guard, Shimazu stumbled.
Seimei's reaction speed was insane. In a flash, he used Instant Sword Technique to appear at Shimazu's side. His blade slashed out.
Shimazu tried to dodge, but with a rip, Seimei's blade sliced across his body. He avoided losing an arm, but the cut left a deep, bone-exposing wound. Combined with the internal injuries from an earlier Rasengan, it didn't take long for Seimei to find an opening and use Genjutsu: Sharingan to take control of him.
With that, most of the Cloud ninja on the field were out of commission.
But Seimei wasn't done—he needed them completely neutralized. After subduing Shimazu, he kept moving, taking out the rest.
Some fought back desperately, some tried to flee, and others even attempted to negotiate. Seimei didn't care. He knocked them all out, no exceptions.
As the forest fell silent again, Seimei let out a long breath. The fight hadn't lasted long, and he hadn't used too many techniques, but any battle took a toll on his energy. He took a moment to rest before checking his spoils.
One elite Cloud ninja squad, seventeen members total. The squad leader, Shimazu Gosuke, and two team captains were full-fledged jōnin. The other two team captains were special jōnin skilled in sensing and tracking. The twelve regular members? No genin here—just chūnin.
After a quick calculation, Seimei figured this group would net him about 250,000 chakra points. Not a huge haul, but even a mosquito's leg is still meat. He wasn't complaining.
Stepping forward, he approached one of the ninja, formed hand seals, and used Chakra Absorption Technique. That's right—he didn't use his Byakugan's long-range chakra absorption. He stuck to the old-school method.
Three reasons for that. First, his Byakugan's evolution wasn't advanced enough yet, so its absorption speed was mediocre and a bit of a time-waster. Second, it couldn't drain a target's mental and physical energy as thoroughly as Chakra Absorption Technique, which meant wasting chakra. Third, using the Byakugan's ability consumed extra chakra, which was also wasteful.
So, all things considered, he went with Chakra Absorption Technique to drain the Cloud ninja.
Time ticked by.
About half an hour later, Seimei finished. As expected, he'd gained roughly 255,000 chakra points.
While he was at it, he used Mind Reading Technique to skim through Shimazu Gosuke's and a few other Cloud jōnin's memories, getting a new perspective on the current situation and the state of the Cloud Village.
From their memories, he learned that this sudden attack was the result of the Cloud Village's warmongering faction gaining too much influence. The village was deeply divided—hawks and doves were at each other's throats, neither side able to sway the other.
Everyone was waiting for the Fourth Raikage, Ai, to make a decision. But, curiously, Ai hadn't said a word.
Interestingly, Shimazu Gosuke and the other Cloud jōnin on the ground were part of the hawk faction. Most of the Cloud ninja invading the Land of Fire were, too. In their minds, this was the prelude to reigniting the war.
But Seimei, who had a good grasp of the shinobi world's bigger picture, knew better. This was just their pipe dream. No one could defy the momentum of peace in the shinobi world—unless they weren't human.
Sadly for the Cloud's hawks, they didn't have anyone like that.
So, Seimei was certain this conflict wouldn't last long.
And he was right. After taking out Shimazu's squad, he carried out a few similar missions. Just half a month later, the fighting stopped as abruptly as it had started. Well, not stopped exactly—it reverted to the low-intensity border skirmishes from before, with no more deliberate invasions.
Then came the news: a Cloud Village delegation was headed to the Hidden Leaf.
---
Hidden Leaf Village, Uchiha Clan Grounds
Seimei slipped back into his home quietly. Looking at his shadow clone, he dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique. A flood of memories poured into his mind. He sorted through them, quickly getting up to speed on what had happened in the village over the past ten days.
Yup, ten days ago, once the situation stabilized, he'd left the village to resume his intense training. He hadn't expected that just ten days later, he'd hear about the Cloud delegation visiting the Leaf.
He'd figured that even if the Cloud gave up on war, it'd take them a while to sort out their internal disputes before negotiating with the Leaf. But apparently, he'd underestimated the Fourth Raikage's control over the village.
Ai's silence during the hawk-dove debates wasn't indecision—he was likely testing Minato Namikaze's resolve. If Minato had opted for peace talks instead of striking back decisively, the Cloud might've gone with the hawks and declared war.
But Minato's resolve exceeded Ai's expectations. The moment the Cloud attacked, he hit back hard. That forced Ai to realize that defying the shinobi world's trend toward peace wasn't an option.
The counterattack also showed Minato's stance, so dragging things out further was pointless. Ai quickly unified the village and sent a signal for peace talks.
This timeline was even earlier than another one Seimei knew of. In that other timeline, Hinata Hyūga was kidnapped at age three. Now, she wasn't even one. Ai had moved things up by about two years.
It was unclear whether the Cloud would still try to kidnap Hinata under the guise of peace talks, only to have her father, Hiashi Hyūga, kill the culprit, leading to the Cloud accusing the Leaf of sabotaging negotiations and demanding Hizashi Hyūga's life as compensation.
But Seimei figured that even if that happened, Minato wouldn't let Hizashi die for it. Unlike the other timeline, where the Leaf was weakened by two years of conflict, the Nine-Tails attack, and the loss of elite ninja, the current Leaf was still at full strength. Minato was alive, and the village hadn't suffered those losses.
In this situation, Minato wouldn't bend as easily as Hiruzen Sarutobi had in that other timeline—especially after the Cloud's probing attack.
These thoughts flickered through Seimei's mind, but he shook his head, brushing them off. This stuff was just a distraction. Whatever happened, it likely wouldn't affect him much, so there was no need to dwell on it.
Of course, if he ran into the issue, he wouldn't mind dealing with it. After all, he did have a Byakugan of his own.
Clearing his mind, Seimei washed up, changed into casual clothes, and left the house. He soon arrived at the "Food Street."
Unbelievably, it'd been half a year since the Nine-Tails attack. The street had long since recovered, though traces of that battle lingered in the corners. Overall, though, the damage was gone.
Looking at the familiar, bustling street, Seimei gathered himself and dove into a food frenzy. With his Physical Strength at 31, his body's abilities had leveled up again. His self-healing surpassed Tsunade's Creation Rebirth, and his digestion had improved massively.
He was, in every sense, a bottomless pit now. So, he ate without holding back.
Two hours flew by. Seimei had tried nearly every dish that caught his eye before leaving the street. Instead of heading home, he went to the "Leaf Hot Springs," an open-air bathhouse.
This place was far from the village center and hadn't been damaged in the Nine-Tails attack. Everything was the same—even the staff hadn't changed. Seimei paid, got his ticket, and stepped into the bath.
Soaking in the warm water, he felt utterly relaxed. Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift, savoring the rare moment of peace.
Time slipped by.
Without realizing it, Seimei dozed off.
It wasn't until the bathhouse was about to close that he snapped awake. Instinctively, he scanned his surroundings. Confirming nothing was off, he relaxed fully.
He got up, headed to the changing room, put on his clothes, and left.