Whatever the case, the setup was complete, all Shiki had to do now was wait for Benihime to guide Keiko into position at the center of his sealing trap for him to bring it.
The girl naturally noticed his plan, much as the boy expected, and continued to harass the Swift Release user with storms of red flying slashes created by her Shura Style: Chikaze, or Blood Wind, slowly but surely driving her unwitting opponent into the cage prepared for her.
Shiki counted every tense second that passed as Beni steadily corralled Keiko into position.
And then, the moment came.
'Dragon Gate Sealing Style: Coiling Dragon Seal'
The trap was sprung.
Purple flames emerged from the ground in a spiral formation as the Sealing Tags placed by Shiki burned away and a coiling dragon image composed of purplish black sealing formulae covered the ground.
Keiko immediately felt her chakra become sluggish and unresponsive all while her body was weighed down and even her thoughts slowed.
A near complete restraint, missing just soul restrictions that were still outside the boy's expertise.
Shiki emerged from the ground with a vengeance and unleashed his Assault Storage: Shadow Hand, launching a storm of chakra enhanced shuriken.
However, under his disbelieving gaze, Keiko forcefully mobilized her sluggish chakra and activated her body to the limit through her kekkei genkai.
With blinding speed, she weaved through the barrage, pulling out two Yang Chakra enhanced kunai to deflect any shuriken she couldn't dodge.
'She's still being affected by the formation but her max activation enhances her speed to the point she's still slightly faster than me even under suppression . . .' Shiki simply couldn't believe it.
If she managed to somehow overwhelm or break his sealing, he would have been less surprised however . . .
'To still be this fast and agile while weighed down by my Coiling Dragon Seal . . .'
Speed and agility had always been one of the points of pride for the boy, an aspect even his young age could not impede too much but now, he understood just how vast the world truly was, far wider than the original series sometimes gave the impression of.
This however, did not change what he had to do.
Keiko might still be faster than his base state but with Phantom Flicker, his burst speed surpassed her sealed version.
Conjuring two shadow clones, Shiki boxed the Swift Release user in, not letting her leave the Coiling Dragon Seal's area of effect.
'Forcefully mobilizing her chakra despite the seal and keeping her body in such a high state of activation continuously is burning her out incredibly fast, so long as I can hold her back for a little, victory will be ours.' The boy determined.
Beni had toughed it out for two long.
She was powerful but her young age meant her stamina and chakra reserves were far from her eventual peak.
This combined with the strain from continuous use of her Shuigan left her exhausted.
In her current state, the girl knew she would be more of a liability than help if she tried to jump in so Shiki had to take care of the finish by himself.
Back to the battle, Keiko was barely holding her own, even popping the boy's shadow clones a few times.
But she was getting desperate. Stamina and chakra running low, her body was getting damaged from prolonged over acceleration and Shiki was not just waiting for her to tire out.
With each exchange, small, shallow cuts started showing on Keiko's clothes, dripping blood and staining her vest.
If he was willing to take more risks, Shiki might have been able to finish her off but he judged there was no need to recklessly put himself in harm's way when he held the advantage.
The boy had noticed the alarming trend of him trading injury for injury in all his high level battles, a dangerous habit and shortcoming, one he was keen to get rid of.
What Shiki forgot however . . . was that trading injuries for an advantage was not a tactic exclusive to him.
By the time his Kukyo - Seven Senses picked up the sudden surge of desperation from Keiko, it was already too late.
'Swift Release: Vanishing Comet'
Shiki could instantly sense his opponent's very life starting to burn as her body began to break down.
A short lived burst of incredible power at massive personal cost.
With the temporary increase in speed, Keiko rushed towards one of the rapidly shifting openings in Shiki's shadow clone formation.
The Shikis naturally moved to block her, closing the gap and unleashing a chakra enhanced slash to make the kunoichi back up.
It was looking like a repeat of Keiko's previous failed attempts at breaking out from the boy's siege.
This time however, a creeping sense of imminent failure began creeping up on Shiki . . . And for good reason.
Rather than back off, the Swift Release user unhesitantly leapt into the blade's path, raising her arm to defend herself.
'A hidden defensive ability!?' Shiki questioned.
But he was wrong.
Keiko's left arm went flying, severed from her body.
However, her life was intact and the closed gap was reopened.
Before Shiki could make any further moves, the kunoichi managed to step out of the Coiling Dragon Seal's range and vanished into the surrounding rock formations at speeds even the boy's highly advanced sensory abilities could not perceive.
"Shit!" He shouted in frustration before Kukyo reined in his emotion.
With a sudden realization, the boy scanned the area for Zee's chakra but . . .
'She took her . . . Damn! Got outplayed.'
Shiki stopped maintaining the Coiling Dragon Seal, letting it burn out, all the while stewing in his first real failure on the field.
'If I took the risk like in my previous battles . . . I could have ended her.' He thought to himself.
That sort of dangerous fighting style was not suitable for anyone who intended to live a long life but its effectiveness was undeniable.
*
The battle was over.
Most enemies had been eliminated with only three survivors, Keiko who managed to escape and bring Zee along with her making two of them. The remaining survivor was Dodai who was captured.
Though Shiki was immensely dissatisfied with the fact that Keiko managed to escape him, holding that as a personal failure, the overall battle had been a tremendous success.
Even with the escapes raining on the boy's parade, the corpses and samples of various kekkei genkai users put a bright smile on his face.
Keiko herself left an arm behind which, while nothing compared to a full corpse, was still leagues better than nothing.
Dodai had his chakra sealed and Shiki used his medical ninjutsu to put him in an induced coma. Not dangerous but it ensured he was not a threat until someone with the means actually woke him up.
As the group got all back together, Mei who was a part of the second ambush group which was meant to assist Shiki, was rather outraged that she didn't have the opportunity to fight.
Benihime having received the opportunity to fight alongside Shiki as a duo was just adding fuel to the already fierce fire burning in the young Uchiha's heart.
Ema was in the same position as Mei but she was someone who abhorred fighting and killing, even if she was rather good at it, so not having to participate in the battle suited her quite well.
While walking back, everyone felt the need to discuss the mounting danger of their mission.
What started off as a simple long term B rank escort mission and transformed into something as serious as any proper S rank mission.
Honestly speaking, even Shiki was starting to come around to the idea of backing off.
Kumo was getting dangerous and Kurogane Saburo clearly had serious resources and connections considering the quality of mercenaries he managed to hire.
It was clear that critical decisions had to be made, sooner rather than later.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -