Grind is My Ninja Way

The night wind rustled softly.

Seimei and the two Mist Jonin stood in a tense standoff, the atmosphere growing increasingly oppressive. The surrounding air felt as if it had solidified, making it difficult to breathe.

Unconsciously, the nearby Chunin had moved away from the battlefield.

At one moment, a leaf fell, obscuring Seimei's vision.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~

In the next instant, several kunai were thrown by a Mist Jonin, some aimed at blocking Seimei's retreat, others targeting his vital points.

His Sharingan spun rapidly.

In an instant, Seimei captured these kunai in his sight and keenly noticed that three of them were each wrapped with an explosive tag.

Without hesitation, Seimei instantly drew several kunai and threw them out.

Clang clang clang~

Accompanied by a series of crisp metallic clangs, the kunai thrown by both sides met in mid-air, sparking, and then scattered in different directions.

Immediately afterward, violent explosions erupted.

Boom boom boom~

Three crimson fireballs appeared, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness.

Due to the close proximity, this sudden shift from darkness to light caused Seimei to involuntarily close his eyes.

"Now!"

At this moment, the other Mist Jonin shouted, unleashing the jutsu he had prepared beforehand.

'Earth Style: Earth Spear~'

In an instant, countless earth spikes emerged from the ground, like venomous snakes, stabbing at Seimei from all directions.

Sensing the danger, Seimei immediately dodged, but the number of earth spikes nearby was simply too great, and this Mist Jonin had been prepared.

Not only was his timing impeccable, but the earth spikes he controlled were incredibly fast and precise in their attacks.

This left Seimei somewhat flustered.

Rip~

The sound of flesh being torn echoed.

Seimei failed to dodge in time, and his left arm was grazed by a suddenly emerging earth spike.

However, that was the extent of it.

After a brief moment of discomfort, Seimei reopened his eyes.

With the aid of the Sharingan's powerful perception, no matter how fast these earth spikes attacked, they couldn't harm him any further.

At this moment, Seimei was like a dancer on the tip of a blade, with every step he took, he managed to precisely evade the earth spikes' attacks.

Although the process appeared incredibly dangerous, coupled with Seimei's calm expression and confident gaze, it seemed exceptionally graceful.

In the distance, the Mist Jonin who was performing the jutsu couldn't help but frown upon seeing this scene.

It wasn't like he had never dealt with Jonin from the Uchiha clan before.

Although their Sharingan was formidable, it never gave him the same sense of ease and control as Seimei's did now.

'Could it be that his eyes are even more powerful than those of the veteran Uchiha Jonin?'

Wasabi was startled by his own sudden thought.

However, the more he pondered, the more he felt it was possible.

Otherwise, how could the opponent have killed Kaguya Shinnosuke?

Although he didn't have a favorable impression of ninja from this crazy clan, it didn't prevent him from acknowledging their strength.

And such a powerful ninja had died at Seimei's hands, so Seimei must possess something extraordinary.

Recalling their previous exchange, Seimei always seemed to perfectly evade Kaguya Shinnosuke's various taijutsu attacks and then seize opportunities to counterattack.

"Hiss~"

Wasabi couldn't help but shiver.

Looking at Seimei in the distance, who showed no signs of chakra exhaustion, Wasabi increasingly felt that they might have fallen into a trap.

However, it was too late to say anything now. Since they were already here, they could only fight to the end.

With this thought, he immediately looked at his teammate and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Just in time!"

Hearing his words, the other Mist Jonin responded.

As he spoke, he finished the last hand seal.

Then, he spread his hands apart and slammed them onto the ground.

In the next moment, violent chakra flowed out from his body and surged into the ground, connecting with the earth's ley lines.

"Haaa~"

Hayakawa Kaede shouted, silently chanting in his heart, "Ninjutsu - Earth and Sky Reversal!"

Instantly, an invisible ripple emanated from him as the center, rapidly extending forward, covering the area within tens of meters around Seimei in the blink of an eye.

Immediately, an invisible force from the earth beneath his feet exerted itself upon Seimei, inexplicably increasing the pressure he bore several times over.

"Ugh~"

Seimei groaned, feeling his movements becoming incredibly sluggish.

This wasn't the end.

Next, a crack appeared on the ground, followed by a second, a third...

In no time, the surrounding earth was like a shattered mirror, covered in cracks of varying widths.

Seimei, enduring the immense pressure, dodged left and right, narrowly avoiding these cracks.

However, this was just the beginning.

When these cracks stopped increasing, they rapidly widened until, at a certain moment, they reached a critical point and shattered with a boom.

At this moment, everything on the ground, whether flowers, trees, snakes, insects, ants, or even people, were all buried in the soil.

And after everything on the ground vanished, this shattered earth, under that heavy pressure, transformed back into solid ground.

It was as if the earth itself had reversed, utterly terrifying.

This was the effect of the A-rank ninjutsu - Earth Style: Earth and Sky Reversal!

It first restricted the enemy's movements with heavy pressure, then buried the enemy by shattering the earth, and finally, delivered a finishing blow by restoring everything.

Looking at the barren ground, Wasabi used Shunshin to arrive in front of Hayakawa Kaede and said, "How was it, did it succeed?"

"Huff... huff..."

Hayakawa Kaede panted heavily, saying, "It should be fine. I can sense that the opponent was truly buried by my ninjutsu."

Hearing this, Wasabi quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

As his partner, he knew the power of this technique. Although it took time to cast and consumed a tremendous amount of chakra.

But undeniably, its power was truly terrifying.

Once fully unleashed, even if the initial earth shattering didn't kill the opponent, they would subsequently suffocate or even be crushed to death under the immense pressure.

As for the target escaping using ninjutsu...

It was basically impossible.

Because once the target was buried, their entire body would be under pressure, making it impossible to move.

Unable to form hand seals, how could they possibly use ninjutsu?

'Oh, right, the opponent seems to be able to use a hand seal-less ninjutsu?'

Suddenly, Wasabi thought of Seimei's 'Rasengan' and his heart skipped a beat.

However, he quickly relaxed again.

That 'Rasengan' was clearly a non-elemental ninjutsu, and being buried underground, escaping would require using Earth Style ninjutsu.

He didn't believe the opponent also possessed a hand seal-less Earth Style ninjutsu, and it happened to be an escape technique. The probability of that was too low.

So, there was no need to worry.

Pierce~

However, just as he was thinking this, the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out, followed by the sound of his companion vomiting blood.

Wasabi turned his head and saw a familiar figure standing behind Hayakawa Kaede. Who else could it be but Seimei?

(End of Chapter)