After disengaging from the fight, Seimei retraced his steps, and within minutes, he spotted the main group. By now, the entire group had halted, with several high-ranking shinobi, including Nara Shisui, gathered together, seemingly in discussion.
Seeing Seimei return, Nara Shisui immediately asked, "Seimei, what's the situation on your side?"
At the time, the information conveyed by the signal whistle was extremely limited. With dozens of Iwa-nin targeting him, Seimei couldn't blow it for too long, further limiting the information he could pass along. All he had managed to convey was a brief warning: "Ambush ahead!"
As a result, while Shisui and the others knew there was an ambush where Seimei was, they had no idea about the number or strength of the enemies, making them hesitant to advance recklessly.
Now, with Seimei back, they wasted no time asking for more detailed information.
Without delay, Seimei reported that the vanguard of the enemy consisted of about twenty Iwa-nin, with even more reinforcements behind them.
Hearing this, the expressions of Shisui and the others darkened.
Seimei glanced at the assembled jōnin and immediately noticed several members of the combat squad. His sense of foreboding deepened.
"What's the situation on your end?" Seimei asked directly.
One of the combat squad members shook his head and replied, "Not great. There are enemies on almost every front."
The implication was clear: they were surrounded.
"No wonder those guys didn't care if I managed to send out a signal. They were confident all along!" Seimei thought, his earlier doubts now fully dispelled. The situation, as he'd suspected, was grim.
However, judging by Shisui and the others' demeanor, the situation wasn't yet hopeless.
In fact, it wasn't.
Through further discussion, Seimei learned that aside from the Iwa-nin on his side, the other directions had also encountered enemies. Including those trailing them, the total number of Iwa-nin was roughly 400.
Even if Seimei's group faced 100 Iwa-nin on their front, the enemy's total number was just over 500.
As for their own side?
Despite having suffered some casualties in the battle half an hour ago, they still had 382 shinobi.
This meant that the enemy only outnumbered them by 1.5 to 1. Considering the disparity in average combat strength, they weren't too intimidated.
It was for this reason that Shisui and the others hadn't panicked.
However, they also knew they couldn't afford to be bogged down in a prolonged engagement. The 500 enemies they were currently facing were likely just the first wave of reinforcements. More were undoubtedly on the way.
With some Iwa outposts being relatively far from their current location, even if Iwagakure had dispatched more forces immediately, it would take time for them to arrive.
Therefore, their best option was to break through now.
This was the consensus among the jōnin.
After a round of discussions, they all agreed to break through in the southeast direction, where the number of Iwa-nin was the lowest, offering the easiest path to escape.
With the decision made, they wasted no time. The group immediately set off.
This time, it wasn't the combat squad members like Seimei leading the way. Instead, several special jōnin from the Hyūga clan took the lead.
Given the current situation, those with the Byakugan were the best scouts, helping the group avoid unnecessary battles.
Time passed minute by minute.
Half an hour later…
Several special jōnin from the Hyūga clan, who had spread out ahead, suddenly came to a stop.
"What's going on? Is there a problem?"
Seimei turned to one of the nearby Hyūga ninjas and asked.
"We've hit a dead end."
Hyūga Rinoka replied.
"A dead end?"
Seimei frowned. "What do you mean?"
"The path ahead is completely blocked by Iwa-nin. It seems they've figured out our plan and are conducting a dragnet search. There's no way to avoid them."
Rinoka continued observing the enemy's movements with his Byakugan as he explained.
Soon, Nara Shisui received the same report. After confirming that there was no way around the Iwa-nin's sweep, he immediately ordered the group to charge in a specific direction.
After all, there weren't too many Iwa-nin ahead. Once they broke through, even if the Iwa-nin confirmed their location, they would have to reform their encirclement.
That would fulfill their objective of delaying the enemy reinforcements.
At this moment, the Iwa-nin ahead were still unaware that Seimei and his group had begun their charge. By the time they noticed something was wrong, Seimei and the others were already upon them.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Seimei was the first to attack, unleashing a powerful wind jutsu that forced all the hidden Iwa-nin out of cover.
Next to act was a middle-aged jōnin, who quickly performed hand signs before spitting out a stream of water.
The water hit the ground, transforming into a surging wave that rushed toward the Iwa-nin, turning the terrain into a lake in its wake.
This was none other than the B-rank jutsu—Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave, a high-level water jutsu capable of altering the terrain.
Seeing the oncoming wave, the Iwa-nin hurriedly retreated.
Only one of them stepped forward, rapidly forming the "Serpent-Rabbit-Dog" hand signs before slamming his hands on the ground. He cast the B-rank jutsu—Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.
In an instant, a towering wall of earth, over ten meters high, rose from the ground, standing between the Iwa-nin and the onrushing water.
The wave crashed into the wall, recoiling on impact, only to be caught by a second wave and hurled back again.
Over and over, the waves slammed against the wall, shaking the surrounding ground, but they couldn't breach the barrier.
After a few moments, the middle-aged jōnin ceased his jutsu.
Seeing this, the Iwa-nin atop the wall breathed a collective sigh of relief, having feared the enemy might continue their assault and eventually collapse the wall.
"Still…"
They looked toward the Iwa jōnin leading them and thought, "It's a good thing we have Norikawa with us. Any other jōnin might not have been able to hold against the Konoha jōnin's attack."
But Norikawa himself showed no sign of relief. He stared down at the Konoha shinobi standing on the lake below, his expression grave.
He knew this wasn't over. As long as the Konoha shinobi sought to escape, they would find another way to break through.
Sure enough, with a crackling sound, a bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from among the Konoha forces, resembling a spear as it pierced into the earth wall.
Everyone knew that lightning release countered earth release.
As expected, when the jutsu "Lightning Release: Lightning Spear" struck the earth wall, it left several deep cracks, each about a foot wide.
Immediately afterward, two enormous dragons, one of water and one of fire, burst forth from the Konoha ranks, diving toward the earth wall and the Iwa-nin atop it.
"Disperse!"
Seeing this, Norikawa shouted to his comrades, leaping backward himself.
But at that moment, his eyes caught a glimpse of a pair of crimson Sharingan, and his entire field of vision was consumed by them.
"Not good! It's the Sharingan!"
Realizing what was happening, Norikawa tried to form the seals to break the genjutsu, but before he could, his consciousness was pulled into an illusionary world.
On the lake, Seimei lowered his hands.
Watching as the Iwa jōnin was struck down by the "Water Dragon Bullet," Seimei murmured to himself, "As expected of a level 6 genjutsu—so overwhelming!"
Indeed, the jutsu he had just used was a level 6 "Genjutsu: Sharingan."
There was no denying its brutal effectiveness when properly prepared.
Even from such a distance, he had easily trapped the Iwa jōnin in an illusion.
It was worth noting that this was a fully-fledged jōnin.
Despite that, once ensnared, the Iwa jōnin had no means of resistance.
From this, one could imagine the fate of other ninjas caught in the same genjutsu. They likely wouldn't fare much better than the Iwa jōnin.
The only downside was that achieving such an effect required several seconds of preparation.
And in a battle against opponents of equal strength, such opportunities were exceedingly rare.
Shaking his head, Seimei dismissed the thought and refocused on the battlefield.
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