Grind is My Ninja Way

As the moon set and the sun rose, several hours passed in the blink of an eye.

It was now early morning the next day.

Seimei was leading the team forward, facing the rising sun.

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and quickly raised his right arm, signaling the people behind him to stop.

Soon, everyone stopped and became alert.

A moment later, Uchiha Shisui, who was in charge of the rear, passed the entire team and came to Seimei's side, saying, "What's wrong, Seimei?"

Seimei shook his head and said, "There seems to be someone ahead..."

His tone was uncertain.

Although Seimei's mental power had surged after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, due to not practicing sensory ninjutsu, its utilization was average.

It was fine at close range, even the concealed surveillance of someone like Aburame Torune could be detected, but at long distances, it was somewhat inadequate.

Just like now, he could only vaguely sense a group of ninjas approaching them, but the specifics were unknown.

At this moment, he missed the Hyuga clan special jonin who was previously in the team. If he were present, he could see through the situation with a single glance.

Unfortunately, during the attack, as a Hyuga clan ninja, Hyuga Hibana was targeted by the enemy and directly surrounded and killed by several Mist special jonin.

Now, the only sensory ninja left in the team had a shorter perception range than him, which made Seimei shake his head helplessly.

However, Uchiha Shisui didn't know what Seimei was thinking. After hearing his words, he was immediately startled and quickly asked, "Are they Mist ninjas? Or..."

He didn't continue the rest of his sentence because there were people nearby.

But Seimei still knew what he wanted to ask.

Earlier, Seimei had already taken the time to inform him about the existence of Aburame Torune and the others.

Of course, he didn't go into details, only saying that he had discovered several ninjas suspected to be from Root who were monitoring them and had already killed them.

Obviously, the reason Uchiha Shisui didn't finish his sentence was that he wanted to ask if these people were other or remaining Root ninjas.

However, Seimei didn't think it was likely.

Having read Aburame Torune's memories, he knew very well that only their small team was involved in this mission.

Except for the spy hidden in Kirigakure, Faceless, everyone else had been killed by him. There were no remaining enemies.

As for sending others...

Root's reaction shouldn't be that fast.

Even if they had received the news, it was impossible to mobilize people here so quickly, unless...

Danzo had sent another group of people to participate in this mission from the beginning.

But this was almost impossible.

Given Aburame Torune's position under Danzo, if there were such arrangements, Danzo wouldn't have kept him in the dark.

Therefore, Seimei was more inclined to believe that these people were from other forces.

But which specific force they belonged to, whether they were friend or foe, required careful identification.

After a brief moment of thought, Seimei decided to take the initiative.

With that in mind, he said directly to Uchiha Shisui, "You and the others stay here on alert. I'll be back soon."

Uchiha Shisui opened his mouth, wanting to say that he should go, but when he thought of the gap between him and Uchiha Seimei, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

In the end, he could only nod and say, "Be careful!"

"Yes."

Seimei responded simply and then dashed forward. With a few leaps, he disappeared into the dense forest.

Uchiha Shisui looked at his disappearing back, turned to the others, and said, "Spread out and be on guard!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Twenty Konoha ninjas responded and scattered around. In the blink of an eye, the place was empty.

At least, on the surface.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side...

After leaving the team, Seimei immediately accelerated and headed straight towards the sensed location.

With his current strength, although he still needed to be cautious, there was no need to be overly timid.

So, in less than two minutes, he found his target.

However, to his surprise, these people were actually Konoha ninjas, and the leader was even an Uchiha clan jonin.

Although the other party was wearing a standard vest, the Uchiha clan symbol on both shoulders was clearly visible.

"Who's there?"

Seemingly because the result was unexpected, Seimei inadvertently leaked a trace of his presence, causing the leading Uchiha jonin to discover him.

He immediately activated his Sharingan, and several kunai were thrown over.

Seimei quickly drew his short sword, deflecting the incoming kunai with a few clangs. At the same time, he activated his Sharingan, revealing his figure.

Among Uchiha ninjas, proving one's identity was simple - just activate the Sharingan.

Sure enough, seeing his Sharingan, the opponent immediately raised his hand, stopping the others behind him who were about to attack.

Seeing this, Seimei flashed and arrived in front of the group.

The leading Uchiha jonin looked at him, carefully discerned his features, and then said, "You're... Uchiha Seimei?"

Hearing this, Seimei was slightly taken aback, wondering if his reputation was so great that the other party recognized him at a glance.

Seemingly guessing Seimei's thoughts, the Uchiha jonin smiled and said, "Kid, I'm Uchiha Hachidai. According to seniority, I should be your clan uncle. A few days ago, Elder Kazen sent a message saying that you were coming and asked us to look after you."

Hearing this, Seimei suddenly remembered that Uchiha Kazen did seem to have said something similar, telling him not to worry when he arrived at the Mist battlefield, as someone would take care of him.

Now it seemed that those weren't empty words.

However, these could be put aside for now. Seimei looked at him and the others behind him and asked, "Clan Uncle, what are you all doing here?"

Hearing this, Uchiha Hachidai's expression immediately turned grim, and he said with anger in his voice, "Not long ago, I received news that a group of Mist ninja elites had actually broken through the northern defense line.

And judging by their direction of travel, there's an overlap with your route, so I brought people here to meet you.

But seeing that you're okay, I'm relieved. Fortunately, you didn't encounter those guys, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

Oh, right, I remember that kid Shisui is with you, right? Where is he?"

However, hearing his words, Seimei's expression suddenly turned strange.

In the end, he didn't conceal anything and told them about the attack they had encountered.

However, as soon as he started speaking, Uchiha Hachidai became agitated and exclaimed, "What? You actually encountered those Mist ninjas and were ambushed? Then how did you escape? What about the others?"

Hearing his words, the Konoha ninjas behind him also became vigilant, seemingly afraid that the enemy had followed Seimei here.

Seeing their reaction, Seimei knew they were overthinking it, so he quickly explained everything that had happened.

After hearing his account, Uchiha Hachidai was speechless for a long time.

After a while, he finally came back to his senses and asked in disbelief, "You actually repelled those Mist ninjas? How is that possible?"

Hearing this, Seimei didn't explain but simply said, "I'll tell you the details later. Our people are still behind. Should we rendezvous with them first?"

"Yes, we should rendezvous first!"

Hearing this, Uchiha Hachidai composed himself, nodded, and said.

Then, the group, led by Seimei, headed towards the hiding place of Uchiha Shisui and the others.

However, Seimei could see that these people were still somewhat wary of him.

Seimei didn't pay much attention to this. Once the two sides met, they would naturally let down their guard.

(End of Chapter)