Meanwhile.
In the Sea of Mist.
On a hidden island, Seimei's figure suddenly appeared.
This island was none other than the base of the rogue ninja organization that Daiki Kinmura and Reiko Koike belonged to.
At this moment, neither of them was by his side.
In fact, when Seimei had first arrived on the island earlier, his shadow clone had already parted ways with them.
As a result, they were unaware of the shadow clone's subsequent scouting mission.
Based on the feedback from the "Heart-Sealing Soul-Locking Contract Teleportation Mark" on their bodies in recent days, they hadn't tried to betray him to anyone else.
This saved Seimei a lot of trouble.
Clearing his thoughts, Seimei didn't dwell on it further. He raised his hand, formed seals, and activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak, soaring straight into the sky.
Thanks to the cover of night and thick fog, no one noticed his presence.
Hovering high above, Seimei looked down at the jungle-covered island, his brow furrowing slightly.
Even though he was here in person, in this kind of environment, there was still a chance someone could slip away if he wasn't careful.
This lack of absolute certainty instinctively irked him.
At that moment, he suddenly regretted not learning a couple of barrier techniques for sealing.
If he had mastered something like the Four Violet Flames Formation, he could've sealed off the entire island.
That way, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone escaping.
At that point, he wouldn't even need to act himself—just a few shadow clones could handle everything.
"Ugh, what a shame," Seimei muttered with a sigh, shaking his head.
He made up his mind: once this round of training was over and he returned to rest, he'd head to the Uchiha clan's library to see if he could find any barrier techniques like that.
But for now? It was time to move!
Could a living person really be stopped by something as trivial as this?
Sure, he didn't have barrier techniques, but he had Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. By creating more shadow clones, he was confident no one on this island could escape.
With that thought, Seimei formed seals and unleashed the technique.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
With bursts of chakra smoke, over fifty figures appeared in the sky.
Looking at his shadow clones, Seimei picked out a dozen or so and sent them to the island's perimeter, blocking all possible escape routes.
Then, he ordered the rest to split up. Based on the intel his earlier shadow clone had gathered, combined with his Byakugan, they would hunt down the rogue ninjas scattered across the island.
That's right—these rogue ninjas didn't live together. They were spread out across the island.
Seimei understood why.
After all, these were people who'd defected from their respective villages. Naturally, they didn't trust each other. Plus, this place was secretive and safe, so there was no need for them to stick together.
But this worked in Seimei's favor, letting him take them out one by one.
Even if they all came at him together, he wouldn't be afraid—but saving a bit of effort was always nice.
With that in mind, Seimei watched his shadow clones fan out. With a thought, he activated Heaven's Authority, cloaking himself in invisibility, using only one Byakugan to observe the entire island.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Thanks to the shadow clones' strength and the combat experience inherited from Seimei himself, the mission went smoothly at first. Over half the rogue ninjas were silently taken out.
But those who'd become rogue ninjas and survived this long weren't pushovers. They all had one or two tricks up their sleeves, and their vigilance wasn't half-bad either.
So, it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.
Sure enough, at a spot in the island's center, one shadow clone had just slipped into a wooden cabin when the person inside woke up.
The next moment, a deafening explosion rang out.
Seimei recognized the sound instantly—it was the detonation of an explosive tag.
The shadow clone didn't react in time. Caught in the blast's shockwave, it instantly turned into a wisp of chakra, carrying its memories back to Seimei's main body.
In the firelight, a figure scrambled out, clearly the one who'd just woken up.
Glancing around, they didn't hesitate, immediately using Body Flicker Technique to vanish from the spot.
But how could Seimei let them escape?
In an instant, he used Mind Communication Technique to relay their position to the two nearest shadow clones, ordering them to intercept.
Still, the commotion woke the others on the island.
This slowed Seimei's cleanup operation considerably.
Fortunately, after the earlier round of assassinations, only about twenty rogue ninjas were left alive.
That number included Daiki Kinmura and Reiko Koike.
As expected, those two wouldn't dare make a move against him.
In fact, the moment the explosion went off, both of them bolted out of their respective hideouts without looking back, fleeing toward the shore.
Clearly, they were trying to slip away in the chaos.
Seimei didn't bother with them.
With the Heart-Sealing Soul-Locking Contract Teleportation Mark, no matter where they fled—be it to the ends of the earth—he could pinpoint their location and teleport to them instantly.
So, he simply ignored their actions.
Aside from those two, fewer than twenty people remained alive on the island.
Meanwhile, the shadow clones tasked with taking them out numbered over forty.
With a two-to-one advantage, even if the shadow clones couldn't take much damage, they could still handle these stragglers with ease.
At first, the sounds of fighting on the island were intense, but they soon died down.
From his vantage point in the sky, Seimei could clearly see that within just a few minutes, most of the remaining ninjas were dead. The survivors, terrified out of their wits, were fleeing in all directions.
But with the Byakugan, they had nowhere to run.
As time passed, the number of living people on the island dwindled further.
Just as Seimei was about to finish them all off in one go, a figure caught his attention.
Why? Because in a single instant, they'd taken down two of his shadow clones.
High in the sky, Seimei's gaze snapped toward them.
There, he saw a refined-looking young man.
He had gray hair, wore diamond-shaped glasses, and his eyes were blood-red.
But unlike the scarlet of the Sharingan, his sclera were red, with black pupils and a horizontal bar in the center, resembling the "I" shape seen in Sage Mode under the Toad Sage's influence.
Those eyes gave Seimei a vague sense of familiarity, but he couldn't place where he'd seen or heard of them before.
Still, there was no doubt—this was a Bloodline Limit.
The young man had just used those eyes to disrupt the movements of two shadow clones, then swiftly threw two kunai, striking them and causing them to dissipate.
Without hesitation, Seimei alerted the nearby shadow clones to converge on the target.
The young man, however, showed no signs of fleeing. He simply stood there, waiting for Seimei to come.
(End of Chapter)