On the other side.

Facing the three assailants charging directly at him, Seimei realized they were desperate.

Without any hesitation, he flung three shuriken, targeting one of them. The sharp weapons were aimed at the man's throat, heart, and abdomen—three critical points.

Successfully forcing his opponent to retreat, Seimei turned his attention to the other two. As he sheathed his sword, he quickly formed hand seals and unleashed a ninjutsu—Lightning Style: Thunder Strike!

The speed of a Lightning Style attack is notoriously fast!

Crackle!

The sound of two overlapping thunderclaps reverberated.

Then, two blinding streaks of lightning shot out from Seimei's palms, resembling serpents of pure electricity. They sped toward the two approaching enemies with astonishing speed.

Seeing this, the two Mist Jōnin's faces immediately changed.

Even though they had prepared themselves to give it their all to stall Seimei and buy time for their allies, they had no intention of courting death.

If they were struck by this, even if they didn't die, they would be severely injured.

And in such a state, how could they possibly stop Seimei from escaping?

Thus, without any hesitation, the two sidestepped and dodged the attack.

With all three attackers forced to retreat, Seimei found a rare moment of freedom.

At this point, if he used Wind Style: Wind Wings, he'd have a 50–60% chance of flying away, even if the nearby Mist Jōnin tried to intercept him.

But he didn't do that.

Instead, he used this opportunity to perform another ninjutsu—not Wind Style: Wind Wings, but Shadow Clone Jutsu.

With the ace cards of Heavenly Transport and Susano'o in his hand, Seimei wasn't truly afraid of being surrounded by over twenty Mist Jōnin and special Jōnin.

But unless absolutely necessary, Seimei preferred not to reveal these trump cards.

Thus, he needed to employ some strategy.

Otherwise, facing over twenty enemies alone would indeed be dangerous.

The strategy he came up with was Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Since the Mist Shinobi had sent so many people after him, it was clear they were determined to kill him. If they wanted to ensure his demise, they couldn't afford to overlook any shadow clones.

As a result, the Mist Shinobi would be forced to split their attention.

This division would significantly enhance his safety—at least until all the clones were destroyed.

Of course, against a group of experienced Jōnin, shadow clones with inherent weaknesses wouldn't last as long as they would in one-on-one combat.

But that would be enough.

More than two minutes had already passed. He only needed to hold out for the same amount of time for Nara Hikaru's preparations to be completed.

By then, it wouldn't be Seimei worrying about being surrounded; it would be the Mist Jōnin fretting over how to escape.

These thoughts flashed through his mind as a puff of chakra smoke erupted, and seven identical figures appeared on the battlefield.

They were all Seimei's shadow clones.

Blending in with the clones, Seimei refrained from using Telepathic Link, just in case. He let the clones act on their own.

Still, the clones inherited his combat experience and memories. The moment they appeared, they reacted to the crisis at hand.

The Mist Jōnin, seeing Seimei's actions, feared he might use this chance to escape. Before closing in, they launched dozens of shuriken, targeting different clones.

The shadow clones either dodged, deflected, or countered the attacks.

In the end, none of them dispersed due to injuries.

Not only that, but they also used the opportunity to scatter in all directions, forcing the Mist Jōnin to split into smaller groups to pursue them.

Seimei, hidden among the clones, showed no sign of revealing himself.

Glancing around, he, like the others, seized the last moments before the Mist Jōnin could fully close in and cast a jutsu—Fire Style: Majestic Dragon Flame!

After ten days of training, this technique had reached its perfect level, LV7 (0/0).

Once unleashed, its power was astounding.

Three fiery dragons erupted from Seimei's mouth, radiating intense light and heat as they hurtled toward three Mist Shinobi. Forced to dodge, the three had no choice but to break formation.

Simultaneously, the other clones began casting their own jutsu.

Though the attacks didn't cause any significant harm to the Mist Jōnin, they disrupted their rhythm.

This small disruption bought Seimei and his clones precious time.

Even a fleeting moment mattered.

Since the objective was to stall for time, Seimei wouldn't let even a second slip by. The clones, carrying his will, acted no differently.

Thus, they bombarded the Mist Jōnin with a relentless wave of attacks.

Unfortunately, their opponents weren't ordinary shinobi.

Within just a few breaths, the Mist Jōnin stabilized their footing.

Seeing this, Seimei and his seven clones didn't waste any time. Each engaged the nearest Mist Jōnin head-on.

The battle erupted instantly!

Because the distance between them was so close, the Mist Jōnin couldn't use large-scale attacks to destroy the clones outright.

As a result, the fight devolved into close-quarters combat.

Even so, the Mist Jōnin, with their superior numbers, quickly gained the upper hand.

Through coordinated communication, they divided their forces efficiently—assigning a small group to restrain certain clones while concentrating more manpower to take down the others.

As the saying goes, "Two fists can't fend off four hands."

Despite having Sharingan and a full reserve of chakra, each shadow clone struggled against the coordinated attacks.

Boom!

One clone failed to dodge in time and was struck by a Mist Jōnin's punch. It flew backward several meters before dispersing into chakra smoke.

This seemed to mark the beginning of the end.

Soon, the second and third clones were defeated, one after another.

With more Mist Shinobi freed up, the remaining four clones didn't last much longer and were swiftly destroyed, leaving only Seimei's original body on the field.

Without the shadow clones, he no longer needed to hide, but the sheer number of enemies left him overwhelmed.

The Mist Jōnin, with their rich combat experience, gave him few opportunities to counterattack through their flawless teamwork.

It was only thanks to his extraordinary physical resilience, the powerful insight of his Sharingan, and the dual protection of Earth Style: Hardening Technique and Chakra Cloak that he wasn't already killed.

This wasn't because Seimei lacked strength, but rather due to the inherently fragile nature of shinobi in a situation where he was refusing to use his trump cards. No matter how skilled, he couldn't take on so many enemies of such high caliber alone.

His only option was to drag things out.

"Luckily, the timing's just about right."

Seimei muttered to himself.

Boom!

As he narrowly evaded another coordinated attack and was kicked by one of the Mist Jōnin, sending him flying, reinforcements from the Leaf Village finally appeared on the battlefield's edge.

The Mist Jōnin froze in place, their attacks halting abruptly.

One by one, they scanned the surroundings warily.

Moments later, a sensor shinobi among the Mist Jōnin opened his eyes with a grim expression and announced, "We're surrounded!"

"What?!"

"That's impossible!"

"How did the Leaf respond so quickly?!"

Chaos erupted among the Mist Shinobi.

They had anticipated the possibility of Leaf reinforcements, but it had only been a little over four minutes since they began their operation. How could the Leaf have organized a force and encircled them in such a short time?

Unless...

"The intel was leaked ahead of time!"

The realization struck all of them simultaneously.

Their gazes turned toward Seimei in unison.

They were all sharp enough to connect the dots between his peculiar behavior and this sudden development.

Before, they had thought Seimei's actions were merely the desperate struggle of a cornered animal.

Now, it was clear—he had used himself as bait to lure them in.

As they watched the Leaf Jōnin rapidly closing in from all sides, the Mist Jōnin felt trapped in a predicament.

Leaving wasn't an option. Staying wasn't either.

They were caught between a rock and a hard place—the nightmare of indecision.