Tap, tap, tap...
The sound of footsteps echoed.
Seimei stepped away from Miura Naosuke's lifeless body and walked straight to Katui.
At this moment, his opponent was still trapped in an illusion.
Seimei didn't rush to extract his memories. Instead, he first formed a hand seal and performed a ninjutsu—Chakra Absorption Technique!
Placing his palm on Katui's shoulder, a massive surge of chakra flooded into his own body like a dam bursting.
Seimei was already very familiar with this sensation, so he remained calm and composed.
He quickly focused, converting the absorbed energy into his own chakra.
In no time, Katui's chakra was completely drained.
However, Seimei didn't stop there.
Next, he began absorbing his opponent's spiritual and physical energy. It wasn't until Katui's face turned deathly pale, and he was barely clinging to life, that Seimei finally withdrew his hand.
Now, even if his opponent woke up midway, he would be in no condition to put up a fight.
"Not bad. This way, it's much safer."
Seimei nodded in satisfaction and muttered softly.
With that, he wasted no time and concentrated his energy. Using Genjutsu: Sharingan, he altered the illusion Katui was trapped in.
Then, based on his reactions within the illusion, Seimei guided him into revealing the relevant memories.
In this way, he essentially gained a form of mind-reading ability.
Of course, this method was still indirect and not as straightforward as the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Reading Jutsu.
Fortunately, Seimei had already found some records on this subject in Danzo's collection. If he had the time, he planned to study them in depth. With his proficiency system, he might even be able to master the technique completely.
That way, extracting others' memories would become much easier.
But for now...
This method would have to do!
With that thought, Seimei refocused and began extracting Katui's memories regarding the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Time passed second by second.
About fifteen minutes later, Seimei opened his eyes, a flicker of electricity flashing through them.
As expected, he successfully obtained the training method for Lightning Release Chakra Mode from Katui's memories.
Just as he had suspected, this technique not only enhances offense and defense but also gradually strengthens the user's body during training.
This conditioning was a crucial requirement for fully utilizing the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
After all, if your speed increases dramatically, but your reaction time can't keep up, it would be pointless.
The only downside was that he only obtained the training method and key insights—none of the secret supporting ninjutsu that were developed alongside it.
In other words, in his hands, this technique's primary function was body enhancement rather than combat.
Unless...
He could develop an entirely new set of techniques on his own.
That wasn't impossible. With his memories from his past life and the knowledge he had accumulated over the past three years, he could certainly do it.
The problem, however, was time—something Seimei didn't have in abundance.
Perhaps, when he had more free time in the future, he could experiment with it.
But for now...
He decided to put it aside.
His original goal in acquiring this technique was simply to compensate for the weaknesses of the Mystical Palm Technique.
So there was no need to worry about anything else.
Just as he was organizing these newly acquired memories, Katui's eyes suddenly snapped open.
From the look in his eyes, it was clear—he had broken free from the illusion.
Indeed, that was the case.
The Lightning Release Chakra Mode and its related secret techniques were among the most closely guarded secrets of the Hidden Cloud Village.
Although Katui had been personally chosen by the Third Raikage and granted permission to learn the technique, the memories of his training had been sealed.
Seimei had spent considerable effort forcing those memories to surface within the illusion.
Fortunately, his Guardian Seals and Sealing Array Techniques had already reached mastery, laying a strong foundation for this.
Additionally, he had recently learned the Four Symbols Seal and the Self-Imposed Curse Seal, both of which had been trained to Level 6, nearing Level 7. This expertise allowed him to successfully break the seal.
Otherwise, even if he had captured Katui alive, he would never have been able to obtain the Lightning Release Chakra Mode training method.
However, forcefully breaking a seal came with consequences.
One of them was that the subject would experience extreme mental and physical distress.
That's why, even though Seimei hadn't actively released his Genjutsu: Sharingan, Katui had still regained consciousness.
"You…"
His expression darkened as he looked at Seimei, seemingly aware of what had just happened. He opened his mouth to speak.
But Seimei had no interest in talking.
Before Katui could utter a second word, Seimei cast Genjutsu: Sharingan once more, dragging him back into the illusion.
This time, Katui was utterly powerless to resist. With his chakra completely drained, along with most of his spiritual and physical energy, he lacked the strength to fight back.
In the blink of an eye, he fell back into the illusion.
Seeing him once again standing frozen in place, Seimei immediately attempted to extract more memories.
One second… Two seconds...
One minute… Two minutes...
Five minutes passed.
Seimei opened his eyes and murmured, "As expected... it's impossible."
Though he had anticipated this outcome, he still couldn't hide his disappointment.
This was the second consequence of forcefully breaking a seal—any supporting secret techniques would be permanently locked away.
Now, not only could he not extract them, but even if Katui wanted to share them, he physically couldn't.
This was the Hidden Cloud Village's fail-safe to protect their secrets.
Seimei shook his head and let go of his frustration.
Without hesitation, he formed a blade with his hand, activating Chakra Scalpel, and sliced through Katui's throat, ending his life.
Afterward, he dragged the bodies of Katui, Akita Ri, and Miura Naosuke over to where he had previously instantly killed more than a dozen Hidden Cloud ninjas using Lightning Release: Thunder Prison.
Then, he formed a hand seal and unleashed Fire Release: Cremation Technique.
Boom!
A burst of flames ignited one of the corpses.
Seimei continued infusing chakra into the flames, causing them to spread rapidly. In no time, all the bodies were engulfed in fire.
Once he was sure the flames would completely incinerate the bodies, he didn't linger.
He immediately rushed toward the battlefield where his subordinates were fighting.
Although the actual battle hadn't lasted long, extracting Katui's memories had taken up a considerable amount of time.
This had already exceeded Seimei's original plan.
If his guess was correct, the third Hidden Cloud squad should have already arrived at the battlefield.
If his men hadn't finished eliminating the previous squad by now, the situation could turn very dangerous.
So, he had to hurry back—immediately.