An hour later.
The sun was already setting, casting a golden glow across the sea as the light of the evening bathed the waves in shades of amber.
Within this golden light, a large ship slowly appeared.
Upon closer inspection, four symbols resembling flowing water or mist could be clearly seen—marking this as a ship from the Village Hidden in the Mist.
Yes, this Mist battleship was one of the fleet led by Yuki Ozawa.
Behind it, several other similar ships gradually came into view.
They arrived slightly later than expected, having clearly taken time for rest along the way.
In other words, they were ready to launch an attack immediately.
And indeed, they acted accordingly.
Because Yasuda and others were holding the coastline, Sano hadn't stationed troops too far ahead this time.
The first line of defense was less than a kilometer from the stronghold.
Thus, there was nothing to hinder Yuki Ozawa and his forces from reaching the land. After joining up with Yasuda's group, they launched the attack without much delay.
The battle erupted instantly!
This time, neither side relied on tricks; it was a straightforward, face-to-face clash, a test of overall combat power.
---
**The Blackstone Stronghold.**
**South City.**
On top of a building.
Seimei stood there, gazing eastward.
Though he was some distance away, with the insight of his Sharingan, he could make out the battlefield's general situation.
After watching for a few minutes, Seimei nodded.
Overall, this time, the situation in the stronghold was better than two days ago, even with fewer people after recent actions.
Why? Because the conditions of the ninja from each side were on completely different levels.
The Leaf side had just won a victory, and with the rest before the battle, their morale was not sky-high but strong enough to perform at their best.
What about the Mist?
Sure, Yuki Ozawa and Yasuda restricted information and minimized the troops' exposure to each other, but no one was naive.
Even without much communication, anyone could see the situation for what it was.
So, even though Ozawa and Yasuda kept silent, the troops could guess that the operation wasn't going smoothly.
For most ninja—ordinary people at heart—their fighting spirit was bound to be affected by the slightest doubts.
One or two might not make a difference, but when more than half the squad felt this way, the overall fighting strength inevitably decreased a level.
How could they win like that?
Seimei could already foresee that this battle would ultimately end in the Mist's defeat.
Unless they had someone like Minato Namikaze—a powerful elite who could fight as ten or even a hundred.
Otherwise, there was no way to change the outcome.
Did they have such a person?
Perhaps the Third Mizukage or the Fourth Mizukage's successor, Yagura, had this capability, but they wouldn't participate here.
This showed that the Mist, isolated on its island, had fairly limited strength. They only managed to reach the Land of Fire's borders because the Leaf was spread thin, fighting several fronts.
Otherwise, with their strength, they wouldn't have even breached the Leaf's forward base in the southeastern part of the Land of Waves.
At the very least, their main forces didn't get past it before the Leaf's clash with the Sand Village, right?
Seimei shook his head and stopped thinking about it, forming hand seals and unleashing a jutsu—Wind Release: Wings of Wind!
*Swoosh~*
A pair of faint green chakra wings appeared.
With a slight flap, Seimei lifted off the rooftop and, adjusting his direction, sped toward the battlefield.
Indeed, this battle's outcome was already sealed.
However, if he didn't intervene, the Leaf would still pay a significant price to drive them off.
Since he had the strength, he didn't mind giving them a hand.
Moreover…
---
**Mid-air.**
Seimei sensed his chakra reserves.
After an hour's recovery, he was still just shy of 30,000 chakra points.
Though this amount was already beyond what most ninja could hope for—especially rare even among elite jōnin—Seimei didn't feel quite assured.
So he planned to use the chaos of this battle to replenish his chakra.
With this in mind, Seimei accelerated again and, in seconds, arrived above the battlefield.
He gave the Mist jōnin no time to prepare, aiming directly at a Mist chūnin and descending toward him.
Why target a chūnin?
Simple. Genin were too low on chakra and energy to be worth his time, while jōnin were tougher to subdue.
So, all things considered, chūnin were his best target.
The Mist chūnin below didn't expect a high-level fighter like Seimei to focus on him.
When Seimei appeared, he was still stunned.
But Seimei didn't care what state the chūnin was in; almost as soon as their eyes met, he cast "Genjutsu: Sharingan."
In an instant, the chūnin's consciousness was pulled into a genjutsu.
Wasting no time, Seimei flashed forward, completed his hand seals, and gripped the man's throat.
Then, with "Chakra Absorption Technique" in effect, chakra poured from the chūnin like floodwater.
Through his palm's chakra channels, the energy converted and flowed into Seimei.
Within breaths, the chūnin's chakra was drained dry.
Still, Seimei wasn't satisfied and kept the absorption active.
Next, he forcibly drew out the chūnin's mental and physical energy, converting it into chakra and absorbing it.
Moments later, Seimei released his grip.
The Mist chūnin was now completely drained, lifeless.
Sensing himself, Seimei felt his chakra increase by over 10,000 points and nodded in satisfaction.
Just then, two swift whistling sounds reached his ears.
Seimei's ears twitched, and he tilted slightly.
In the next instant, two kunai flew past his face, embedding in the ground not far away.
Glancing toward the direction the kunai came from, Seimei saw two Mist genin looking at him.
Clearly, the sneak attack came from them.
Narrowing his eyes, Seimei activated "Body Flicker Technique."
"Ah!" x2
Two short cries of pain followed.
Seimei had appeared before the genin, taking them down with a punch and a kick.
"Spurt~" x2
Blood spilled from their mouths.
The weight of Seimei's blows was evident from the way they collapsed.
Ignoring their misery, Seimei used "Genjutsu: Sharingan" to control them.
Then, forming seals quickly, he cast "Chakra Absorption Technique."
In the blink of an eye, he grabbed both and began extracting their chakra.
Once that was gone, he drew out their mental and physical energy until they were completely drained and lifeless.
Although his main targets were chūnin, since these two had attacked him, he wouldn't go easy on them.
*(End of Chapter)*