Crack!

The sound of the ground splitting echoed sharply.

A dense network of cracks, resembling a spiderweb, spread beneath Seimei's feet. His leg muscles tensed sharply, then relaxed in an instant.

Then, like a cannonball, his body shot forward.

At this moment, the water dragon had just arrived.

Boom!

A muffled explosion resounded.

The massive water dragon smashed into the ground, obliterating a large swath of earth.

Countless broken branches, decayed leaves, and fragments of dirt and rock flew outward like bullets, densely spraying in all directions.

Seimei reacted swiftly. Before the secondary damage could reach him, he had already sheathed his blade, formed hand seals, and cast a jutsu—Earth Release: Hardening Technique!

In the next moment, a faint glow appeared on his skin, making it tighter and more resilient, almost like polished jade.

The debris that struck his body caused no harm.

Kurikawa Kosuke seemed to have anticipated this outcome. He quickly shouted to another Hidden Mist jonin not far away:

"Yuuhiro!"

Upon hearing the call, Kawada Yuuhiro, who had just retreated, swiftly formed hand seals and unleashed a jutsu.

Blinding lightning flashed, forming a lightning drill the size of a child's arm. It shot toward Seimei at incredible speed.

Seimei noticed the movement immediately.

When he saw that the jutsu was a lightning release, he heightened his alertness.

It was well known that lightning release was the natural counter to earth release, capable of breaking through its hardness.

If it were an ordinary lightning release jutsu, Seimei was confident that his perfected Earth Release: Hardening Technique could withstand it.

However, judging by the form of this jutsu, it was clearly a high-level offensive technique.

This left Seimei no room for carelessness.

Without hesitation, he retreated rapidly, gaining distance while simultaneously forming seals with his hands. Before the lightning drill could reach him, he cast another jutsu—Chakra Cloak!

This was a defensive technique he had created using wind-release chakra as a foundation, inspired by the tailed beast cloak.

In theory, it perfectly countered the opponent's lightning release.

In practice, it came close.

The lightning drill struck the pale cyan Chakra Cloak covering his body. Aside from slightly dimming its color, it caused no harm to Seimei underneath.

Relaxing slightly, Seimei shifted his gaze toward Kurikawa Kosuke and Kawada Yuuhiro.

At this moment, their expressions looked grim. Clearly, they hadn't expected that even with such a coordinated attack, they still couldn't injure him.

However, Seimei didn't care about their thoughts. As the saying goes, "Courtesy demands reciprocity." Since the opponents had shown such enthusiasm, he couldn't afford to lose momentum.

With this in mind, Seimei immediately formed hand seals and unleashed a jutsu—Earth Release: Rising Earth Spears!

In the next instant, numerous rock spikes emerged from the ground, under his control, striking at the two Hidden Mist jonin from multiple angles.

Kurikawa Kosuke and Kawada Yuuhiro reacted quickly, evading the most dangerous initial wave almost instantly.

As for the subsequent attacks...

To be fair, any jonin who exercised caution would typically avoid being hit.

However, evasion didn't mean they wouldn't be affected.

Under Seimei's deliberate control, the rock spikes forced the two to separate by a significant distance.

"Now's the time!"

Suddenly, Seimei's eyes lit up, and he ceased his jutsu.

In the next moment, he drew his blade.

A flash of cyan light appeared as Seimei used Instant Sword Technique, moving at lightning speed toward the less combat-savvy Kurikawa Kosuke.

Sensing the danger, Kurikawa instinctively stepped back, intending to repeat the strategy of having his companion engage Seimei in close combat while he attacked from afar.

Unfortunately, Seimei wouldn't give him that chance.

Almost at the same moment Kurikawa retreated, Seimei's chakra surged, his leg muscles tightened, and his speed accelerated like lightning as he closed the gap.

"Watch out!"

Kawada Yuuhiro noticed the problem and immediately shouted a warning.

Simultaneously, he threw a kunai straight at Seimei's chest, attempting to force him to abandon his attack.

However, Seimei wasn't about to let go of a hard-won opportunity.

With a quick glance at the incoming kunai, he twisted his body slightly, ensuring that it avoided his vital areas, and swung his blade at Kurikawa Kosuke.

At this point, Kurikawa had no time to dodge.

Left with no choice, he raised his kunai to block.

While he wasn't skilled in close combat, everything was relative. Compared to Kawada Yuuhiro, his taijutsu was indeed inferior.

But against a typical chunin, his close-combat ability was significantly stronger.

This was the fundamental gap between a jonin and a chunin.

Every jonin might have areas of expertise, but they had no glaring weaknesses in the core ninja disciplines of taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu.

If they did, they wouldn't have become jonin in the first place.

However, fighting Seimei required more than just being well-rounded; it demanded mastery.

And clearly, Kurikawa Kosuke lacked that level of skill.

Whoosh!

The blade sliced through the air.

Seimei seized the opportunity to combine Shadow Sword Technique and Illusion Sword Technique.

In an instant, six sword shadows—three real and three fake—rushed toward Kurikawa Kosuke.

Despite being mentally prepared, Kurikawa panicked slightly at the simultaneous assault of so many blades.

He forced himself to remain calm, quickly discerning the three illusory sword shadows and ignoring them. He focused on evading and blocking the other three.

Seimei frowned slightly, thinking to himself, As expected, my proficiency in Shadow Sword Technique still isn't high enough. Even when paired with the perfected Illusion Sword Technique, there are flaws.

These minor flaws might not matter against lower-tier opponents, but against jonin, they were a bit of a stretch.

Fortunately, Seimei hadn't relied on Shadow Sword Technique solely to confuse his opponent; it was meant to split their focus.

Previously, Kawada Yuuhiro—more skilled in close combat—had still had his clothing torn during Seimei's Shadow Sword Technique attack. It was only natural for the less capable Kurikawa Kosuke to fare worse.

The outcome was as Seimei predicted. While Kurikawa successfully blocked one real blade, he couldn't evade the other two.

Slash! Slash!

Two wounds appeared—one on his left shoulder and one on his right waist.

Judging by the bleeding, the injuries weren't too deep.

But it was enough.

In the next moment, Seimei extended his left hand, taking advantage of Kurikawa's momentary impairment, and struck his chest with a palm.

A Rasengan exploded against his chest, sending him flying. The faint sound of cracking bones accompanied the impact.

Clearly, survival was no longer an option for him.

(Chapter End)