Seimei composed himself, not wasting any time. He raised his hand, forming seals, and used the "Chakra Absorption Technique" to start extracting chakra from the Mist Ninja in front of him.
At this point, Harada Isamu was already on the brink due to massive blood loss, his breathing weak and erratic. If things dragged on, he might die before Seimei could absorb any more chakra.
Seimei was not about to let that opportunity slip away.
Even though he moved swiftly, the chakra he could extract from his opponent was still far below expectations.
There were two main reasons for this. First, the opponent was severely injured, and both his physical and spiritual energy had been drained along with the blood loss. Second, the two hours of fighting had exhausted much of his chakra.
As a result, there wasn't much chakra left for Seimei to absorb.
The latter reason was beyond Seimei's control, but the former? Next time, perhaps he could be a little gentler, avoiding such severe blood loss in his target.
With that thought, Seimei withdrew his hand. Seeing that his chakra reserves had increased by barely 3,000 points, he shook his head in disappointment.
*Thud.*
Allowing the opponent's body to fall to the ground, Seimei moved over to the other two Mist Chunin nearby. Using the same method, he began absorbing their chakra as well.
Soon, he had drained both of them of their chakra, physical energy, and spiritual energy.
Feeling it within himself, his chakra reserves had grown by about 15,000 points. It was less than he'd hoped, but it was acceptable.
Shaking his head, Seimei dismissed further thoughts about it. Ignoring the three corpses on the ground, he formed seals again and used the Wind Style: Wings of Wind, taking to the sky once more to search for new targets.
Three minutes later.
Seimei found another Mist Ninja team.
This group was a bit larger, made up of four Mist Chunin and two Genin, all being chased by a Leaf Village team.
Seimei's eyes glinted as he made his move.
As expected, he subdued the Mist team effortlessly.
After signaling the Leaf team to leave, he started absorbing the chakra of his new captives.
At level 6, Seimei's "Chakra Absorption Technique" could absorb 2,000 chakra points per second, converting them entirely into his own chakra.
In less than a minute, he'd drained all six of them.
In total, he gained 35,000 chakra points.
Adding this to his previous gains of 18,000 points, along with his initial reserves, his chakra had now reached nearly 100,000 points.
This was about his limit.
With no further need to pursue additional targets, he stopped searching.
Besides, it wouldn't be easy to find anyone else now.
Compared to ordinary people, ninja have a vast array of escape techniques. Within minutes of receiving the retreat signal, most of them had already fled.
Even if he wanted to search for more, it wouldn't be easy.
Moreover, he had a new mission to attend to.
A short time ago, Yamanaka Aoi sent word that Sano Nobuhisa wanted him to follow the main Mist force to ensure they were truly retreating and not planning a surprise return.
Seimei was familiar with this task. The last time the Mist retreated, he'd also watched them return to Flying Fish Town.
This time would be no different.
With his flight ninjutsu, this mission was hardly dangerous, so he accepted it easily.
After checking his equipment and replenishing kunai, shuriken, and other tools, Seimei raised his hand, forming seals, and activated the Wind Style: Wings of Wind!
*Whoosh.*
A pair of pale green chakra wings appeared on his back. Seimei lightly flapped them, lifting himself into the sky.
After orienting himself, he flew toward the eastern outpost, where the Mist fleet was anchored on the ocean.
A few dozen seconds later, Seimei arrived over the target area.
With the brightening moonlight, he could see the Mist fleet still anchored below, many ninja gathering around it.
It was clear that the Mist ninja couldn't all arrive at once after leaving the battlefield; they still needed to regroup. In this case, he could have descended and cast a few Fire Style techniques to cause serious damage.
However, he merely thought about it and didn't act.
It wasn't that it would be dangerous—his current level 5 "Wings of Wind" provided him with the speed and agility to stay safe even if he attacked.
The real reason was that he simply didn't want to waste chakra on something that didn't benefit him.
Seimei wasn't one to do thankless tasks.
So, he hovered quietly in the sky, waiting for the Mist fleet to depart.
About ten minutes later, the Mist forces gathered, and the fleet finally set sail.
Interestingly, it seemed that the Mist had noticed him after he'd been hovering for a while.
Initially, they were tense, but seeing that he took no further action, they began to relax.
Seimei doubted they were truly relaxed, though. More likely, they were pretending, watching him closely from within.
He didn't believe they could truly relax with an enemy hovering above them.
Who knew if they were waiting for him to come closer, ready to strike?
Unfortunately for them, they'd be wasting their effort.
He wasn't about to go down there.
So, whatever they had planned didn't matter.
······
Time ticked by.
In the blink of an eye, an hour had passed.
The Mist fleet had put some distance between itself and the Blackstone Outpost.
By now, Seimei was fairly certain they intended to leave for good, with no thought of circling back.
Still, his mission required him to confirm their final destination; he couldn't leave just yet.
However, at the Mist fleet's current speed, it would still take several hours to reach Flying Fish Town.
Seimei didn't want to waste time following them so tediously.
Extended flight could certainly improve his proficiency in "Wings of Wind," but it would be a time sink.
Thinking it over, Seimei distanced himself from the fleet, then descended to the ocean's surface.
He raised his hands, crossing them in the "jin" seal, and activated the Shadow Clone Technique.
*Poof.*
With a burst of chakra smoke, nine shadow clones appeared.
Without wasting words, Seimei addressed one of them directly. "The task of monitoring the Mist fleet is yours from here."
"Understood."
The clone nodded, responding simply.
It immediately formed seals, using "Wings of Wind" to take off and follow the fleet.
Seimei looked away from it and toward the remaining eight clones. "All right, let's go!"
Hearing this, the other clones all nodded in agreement.
Then, they followed Seimei, heading toward a rocky shore he recalled.
There, they would train until the clone monitoring the Mist fleet returned.
That way, they wouldn't waste any time.
*End of Chapter*