*Whoosh*
A pair of light blue chakra wings appeared behind Seimei. With a gentle flap, he ascended into the sky.
Once airborne, Seimei scanned his surroundings and thought, "The Mist Village reinforcements wouldn't likely cut straight across the main battlefield. Yamanaka Aoi didn't mention that possibility, so they're probably taking a detour."
"And if they're taking a detour, the north is too far, so the south is the only viable route."
With that thought, Seimei used the *Mind Link Jutsu* to inform the five Konoha Jonin below about the current situation. He instructed them to finish the battle quickly and prepare for a possible enemy ambush.
As for himself, he flew directly toward the northeast, the direction of the coastline.
Originally, Seimei thought he'd have to search for a while, but to his surprise, he hadn't flown far before spotting traces of the Mist ninjas.
Or rather, they weren't trying to hide. The entire squad was advancing rapidly in a defensive formation.
Seimei quickly estimated their numbers—three large units, about 200 people—and let out a sigh of relief.
Earlier, when he heard that the Mist had mobilized their reserve forces, he was worried they might send too many at once.
But now it seemed like he was overthinking it.
After all, if the reserve forces were several hundred strong, they could have easily joined the main battlefield and broken through Konoha's defenses entirely.
Since they hadn't done that, it meant the reserve forces weren't capable of such a feat.
And 200 people, while a lot, weren't enough to become the final blow that would crush Konoha on the frontlines.
So, it made sense that the Mist didn't deploy them recklessly.
But now they were using them.
While 200 people might not be enough to turn the tide on the main battlefield, it was still something they had to take seriously. If they weren't careful, their already fatigued forces could easily be overwhelmed.
As Seimei was about to take a closer look at the enemy's strength, a figure among the crowd suddenly glanced sharply in his direction.
Dressed in a dark blue robe, with his right eye covered by a black cloth, the figure was unmistakable to Seimei. It was none other than Ao, the "Byakugan Killer."
Seeing him, Seimei licked his lips and muttered, "A Byakugan served up on a silver platter, huh?"
He had been wanting to get his hands on a Byakugan for some time, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Just as Seimei was contemplating his next move, more Mist ninjas started looking up at him from the crowd below.
The two sides, one in the air and one on the ground, found themselves in a tense standoff, and the Mist forces halted their advance.
Seimei didn't approach recklessly. Time was on his side, after all, and the longer he dragged it out, the more advantageous it would be for him. So, he began circling them from above, hovering in the sky.
...
Time ticked by, second by second.
A few minutes later, it was the Mist forces below that broke the stalemate.
Ao glanced at his comrades, thought for a moment, and said, "Everyone, be prepared for combat at any moment. Then... move out!"
Upon hearing this, the Mist ninjas tightened their grips on their kunai and, led by three Mist Jonin, resumed their march.
Yes, among the Mist reinforcements, only the unit captains were Jonin. Even with Ao included, there were only four Jonin in the group.
Moreover, of the four, only two were true Jonin. The other two were Special Jonin.
While these two Special Jonin specialized in stealth and assassination, making them more powerful than typical Special Jonin, they still couldn't compare to fully-developed Jonin in all aspects.
In other words, the high-level combat strength of this Mist team was quite average.
At first, Seimei was a bit surprised to realize this, but then he remembered how brutal the frontlines were and understood.
While the Mist commanders hadn't sent the reserve forces directly into battle, they surely hadn't wasted the Jonin-level fighters. They likely reassigned them early on.
This probably explained why there were so few Jonin in this squad.
And that gave Seimei an opportunity.
Seeing the Mist team moving again, Seimei decided to repeat his old trick, trying to harass them with a "cry wolf" strategy.
However, on his first dive, he encountered danger.
As a dense barrage of kunai came flying towards him, Seimei's face turned pale. Without a second thought, he flew straight back up into the sky.
Once he was safe again, his gaze turned cold as he looked down at the Mist ninjas.
It wasn't just the sheer number of kunai that concerned him; many of them were laced with a deadly poison.
The black-purple sheen on the blades, along with the nauseating stench, made Seimei feel dizzy just from a whiff.
This alone spoke volumes about the potency of the poison.
If it had been just one or two kunai, he might have brushed it off. But nearly half the squad had kunai like that. This wasn't a coincidence.
It was clear the Mist had prepared specifically for him.
And indeed, they had.
The reason Ao had taken almost half an hour to arrive was because he had brought everything the village had prepared for dealing with Seimei.
Not just the poisoned kunai, but also various exotic ninja tools and a few experts in binding and sealing jutsu.
Though Ao wasn't confident he could take down Seimei, and it wasn't even his primary goal, it didn't mean he wouldn't try.
After all, sometimes you had to give it a shot.
Seeing Seimei dodge the poisoned kunai and fly back up, Ao felt a wave of disappointment.
The first attack was always the most effective. Any further attempts, no matter how clever, would lose the element of surprise and thus their effectiveness.
But at least with all these preparations, they could defend against him, if not attack.
Ao gathered himself and ordered the team to continue advancing.
Seimei followed them from above, now feeling a bit uncertain.
Those highly poisonous kunai were troublesome, but with his current 'Constitution' stat of 19, even if he got hit, he wouldn't be in immediate life-threatening danger.
Plus, he had level 8 'Healing Palm Technique' and level 5 'Fine Harm Extraction Technique' that could be used for healing and detoxification.
So, he wasn't too afraid.
The real issue, however, was that he didn't know how many more tricks the enemy had prepared against him.
Without knowing the opponent's full hand, rushing in recklessly would be a foolish move.
But he also couldn't just let them advance.
Currently, on the southern battlefield, even though Konoha had gained the upper hand thanks to his impressive performance, the battle was far from over.
If these enemies joined the fray, not only would it make it harder to defeat the remaining enemies, but even the surviving Konoha ninjas could suffer greatly.
In that case, even if the reinforcements Sano Nobuhisa sent arrived, they might not be able to hold the enemy back.
It was clear that Nobuhisa wouldn't be able to spare many forces, and pulling troops from the front lines would mean they wouldn't be at full strength.
In this situation, facing the Mist's fresh forces, the chances of victory were slim.
So, the goal was to delay their advance as much as possible.
Only by stalling until Konoha's second wave of reinforcements could link up with the surviving Konoha ninjas from the previous battle, would they be able to truly hold off the Mist ninja's assault.
With this in mind, Seimei didn't hesitate any longer and launched an attack on the Mist ninja below.
It's true that he still didn't fully understand the enemy's tricks.
But with 'Heaven's Protection' as his final ace, there was no need for him to be overly cautious.
(End of Chapter)