Chapter 98: Captive

"As expected..." Looking at the three fireballs rising simultaneously behind him, Seimei's heart tightened, and he couldn't help but say, "They really all have explosive tags!" As he finished speaking, he saw more spider puppets leaping towards him. Seimei didn't dare to face them head-on and quickly retreated. Boom, boom, boom~ Several more explosions rang out in succession. Amidst the smoke, Seimei dashed out, followed by dozens of spider puppets of varying sizes. At this moment, Seimei wished he could instantly learn the Wind Style: Great Breakthrough technique and unleash it on them, scattering those spider puppets. Unfortunately, he hadn't practiced it since obtaining this ninjutsu. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he hadn't fully mastered the shape and nature transformations of fire-attribute chakra yet. Rashly developing wind-attribute chakra would only be counterproductive. Even with the assistance of the proficiency panel, forcibly learning this ninjutsu and grinding its proficiency would consume more unnecessary chakra. It was completely not worth it, so he hadn't practiced it yet. However, after this incident, Seimei planned to allocate more chakra to the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique to quickly master the shape and nature transformations of fire-attribute chakra. Then, he could start developing wind-attribute chakra. By then, if he encountered a situation like this again, he wouldn't be so passive. Thinking this, Seimei leaped once more, dodging the sneak attacks of several spider puppets. Boom, boom, boom~ The familiar sound of explosions rang out again, still not causing any harm to Seimei. Not only that, but as time went on, Seimei gradually discovered the weaknesses of these spider puppets. The most fatal one was that they couldn't stray too far apart. Seimei guessed this was a drawback of the opponent's clever method of controlling so many puppets. That's right, it was clever. Seimei had already figured out that the opponent wasn't directly controlling so many puppets. Instead, they were using an indirect control method, spreading their control from a few key points to the entire group. This resulted in most of the puppets having to stay close to the few puppets acting as the central control points. As a result, they couldn't effectively encircle Seimei. And Seimei wasn't too afraid of individual pursuits or self-destructions. After all, these puppets were limited in number. Once they were exhausted, it would be his chance to counterattack. To speed up this process, Seimei would occasionally use the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique while dodging. Although this technique's power was slightly lacking against the giant puppet, it was more than enough to deal with these small spider puppets with their "crude" craftsmanship. 'Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique~' Hundreds of fist-sized fireballs were controlled by Seimei, smashing into the group of spider puppets. Unfortunately, the spider puppets were too small and agile, so most of the fireballs missed, with only about ten hitting their targets. However, that was enough. Accompanied by a series of explosions, those few puppets were all destroyed. In this way, Seimei continuously reduced the number of spider puppets. A few minutes later, there wasn't a single spider puppet left on the field. Chiya walked out from behind the tree with a gloomy expression, looking at Seimei, seemingly wanting to say something. But at that moment, Seimei's expression suddenly changed. With a flash, he instantly appeared in front of Chiya, his short sword slashing diagonally towards his neck. Chiya didn't expect Seimei to attack without saying a word and hurriedly raised his kunai to block. Clang~ The kunai and the short sword clashed, producing a crisp sound. Seimei continued to exert force, pressing down until Chiya had to retreat. Seimei pressed his advantage, using both Konoha-Style Kenjutsu and Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu, coupled with his fully activated Sharingan. In just a few breaths, he left a deep wound on Chiya's body, exposing the bone. As this wound appeared, Chiya's figure suddenly collapsed, turning into a cloud of chakra smoke and dissipating. Clearly, this was just a shadow clone. Seeing this, Seimei's face turned slightly unsightly, but he didn't show any surprise. The reason was that the moment the opponent appeared, Seimei had keenly observed that there was something wrong with the amount of chakra in their body. Although the Sharingan couldn't directly see the chakra pathways and acupoints in a ninja's body like the Byakugan, it could still roughly discern the amount of chakra. Therefore, Seimei could tell at a glance that the opponent's chakra was much less than expected. You know, because of the Chakra Absorption Technique, Seimei paid close attention to the amount of chakra his enemies possessed. Not long ago, the last time he saw the opponent, they still had quite a bit of chakra. But after he dealt with the last few spider puppets, the opponent's chakra suddenly decreased by almost half. In this situation, the opponent either used some powerful ninjutsu or used the Shadow Clone Technique to divide their chakra equally. For the former, Seimei hadn't seen any major movements or sensed any fatal danger, so he ruled it out directly. That left only the latter possibility. That's why he attacked without saying a word, to quickly confirm his guess. If his guess was wrong, he would take the opportunity to capture the opponent. If his guess was correct, he would have to hurry up and search for the opponent's real body. Facts proved that his guess was right. So, the next step was to find the opponent's real body. Seimei had put in so much effort; he didn't want to let the opponent escape. With a thought, Seimei began to recall the entire battle process, analyzing when and where the opponent had used the Shadow Clone Technique to escape. A few moments later, Seimei arrived behind a large tree. It wasn't the same tree where Chiya's shadow clone had hidden earlier but another one not far away. Seimei remembered that the last time the opponent disappeared from his sight was here. After carefully examining the area, he indeed found some traces. Once he confirmed the direction the opponent had left in, Seimei didn't hesitate and immediately gave chase. Half an hour passed in a flash. Finally, Seimei cornered Chiya in a clearing in the forest. "You're really persistent!" Chiya looked at Seimei, who had appeared before him once again, his face quite unsightly. Although the moment he merged with the shadow clone's memories, he understood that Seimei had discovered his trick and knew that the opponent would definitely pursue him. But he truly hadn't expected Seimei to arrive so quickly, even though he had been very careful. He could only say that he had underestimated the Sharingan's perception abilities. Once the direction was determined, with Seimei's experience and the Sharingan's assistance, it was impossible for him to escape his pursuit. Seimei didn't have the mood to waste words with the opponent. This battle had dragged on long enough, and he didn't want to waste any more time. So, with a Body Flicker Technique, he directly appeared in front of the opponent. The battle instantly began! As a puppeteer, Chiya's main methods were focused on controlling puppets. Without his puppets, it was like a tiger without its claws and teeth. Such a tiger, although it could scare people, couldn't hurt them. Therefore, Seimei didn't expend much effort to subdue him. Looking at Chiya, who had fainted on the ground, Seimei thought for a moment, then used the Chakra Absorption Technique to absorb all the chakra from his body. Then, after carefully handling the traces around the area, he carried the opponent and headed towards the underground space. (End of Chapter)