Moving swiftly through the mist, Seii activated his Byakugan from ti to ti—both to search for the marks left by the Konoha spy and to avoid being cornered by the Cloud ninja.
Just as he began to wonder how much longer luck would elude him, he suddenly froze, his whole body stiffening in place.
In an instant, he spun around and looked behind him.
Through the thick fog, his sharp eyes spotted a Cloud ninja.
The ninja's appearance was unremarkable, with nothing distinctive about him, but he had separated from his team and was carefully carving sothing into the trunk of a large tree.
Once he finished, Seii focused on the mark. Sure enough, it was the symbol left by the Konoha spy—both a sign of their identity and a guidepost for Seii's direction.
"Could this be the spy?"
Seii's mind raced as he focused all his attention on the man.
The next mont, the ninja's body gave a sudden shiver just as he was about to leave, glancing around nervously as if sensing sothing was wrong.
That reaction confird Seii's suspicions.
Indeed, the most dangerous places are often the safest.
For soone to infiltrate the Cloud Village for so long and gain access to secret research, they had to be highly skilled. It wasn't surprising, then, that he had managed to slip into a search team unnoticed.
This also explained how the spy managed to leave marks all over the mountains unnoticed.
Various thoughts flashed through Seii's mind, but he shook them off. Since his target had been found, there was no need to hesitate—he'd take his n and leave imdiately.
With that decision made, he stopped wasting ti, deactivated his Byakugan, and sprinted directly toward the spy's location.
A few minutes later, Seii found his target.
At that mont, the spy was blending in with a small search squad, combing through the area under the Cloud Village's orders.
With his target in sight, Seii didn't hesitate—he attacked imdiately.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several kunai flew out at once, aid at all four mbers of the squad.
Yes, even the ninja who was likely the disguised Konoha spy wasn't spared.
Only by treating them equally could Seii avoid raising suspicion among the other three.
As expected, faced with the sudden attack, the four split up and instinctively ford a defensive formation, focusing their attention on Seii.
At the sa ti, a signal flare shot into the sky, illuminating the thick white mist around them.
Seii wasn't surprised.
Ever since the reinforcents from the Cloud Village arrived, every squad he ambushed had imdiately sent out distress signals.
It was troubleso, but manageable.
Before reinforcents arrived, Seii was confident he could take down the three enemies before him.
With that thought, he darted forward, drawing the longsword from his waist, ready to strike down his first target.
But just then, sothing unexpected happened.
The three Cloud ninja, who had just ford a defensive stance, suddenly turned their weapons toward the supposed Konoha spy.
Their decisive actions made it clear—they had already identified the spy.
The shock on the spy's face made it obvious he had no idea his cover was blown.
Seii couldn't help but sigh internally. "Seriously? This guy was supposed to be good?"
He had expected more from soone who'd managed to stay undercover for so long.
In reality, the Cloud Village had known all along. They were simply using the spy as bait.
To be fair, Seii was misjudging the situation.
The spy had likely been exposed because his hiding place had already been compromised. And the marks he left behind, though subtle, weren't entirely undetectable given how much manpower the Cloud Village had committed to the area.
All it took was one person's suspicion, and with so many search teams deployed, the truth was bound to surface eventually.
In fact, the Cloud Village probably discovered his identity around the sa ti Seii did.
The three Cloud ninja in the spy's squad had played their roles convincingly, giving nothing away.
Pressed for ti, the spy likely hadn't noticed the subtle changes in their behavior.
Now, it was Seii who was in trouble.
Initially, he could have swiftly eliminated the three ninja and taken the spy away.
But with the sudden shift in circumstances, things had gotten complicated.
The three enemies were clearly determined to prevent their escape and, knowing they couldn't defeat Seii, focused all their efforts on the Konoha spy instead.
And since the Cloud Village had set up this trap, Seii was sure they had more reinforcents ready to close in.
Activating his Byakugan again, his worst fears were confird—Cloud Village jonin were closing in from all directions, with the nearest one less than 200 ters away.
In these dense forests, that distance ant nothing to a skilled jonin.
"I need to end this quickly!"
In a flash, Seii made up his mind.
His Sharingan activated, locking onto a target. With a subtle adjustnt of his posture, he unleashed Instant Blade Technique, moving faster than the eye could follow to appear at his opponent's side.
Then, combining Shadow Blade Technique and Illusion Blade Technique, he sent six slashes—three real and three illusory—slicing toward his enemy from different angles.
Feeling a surge of danger, the Cloud ninja instinctively blocked two of the slashes with his kunai and retreated swiftly.
Even as he withdrew, he didn't stop attacking—throwing a kunai directly at Seii's chest, aiming to delay him rather than kill.
Seii, forced to respond, deflected the kunai with a quick slash of his blade.
Without hesitation, he raised his left hand, forming seals in an instant and unleashing a jutsu: Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
A massive fireball, over three ters in diater, roared toward his enemy, radiating intense heat.
Without waiting to see the outco, Seii turned toward the remaining two opponents.
His Sharingan spun rapidly, locking onto another target. With swift hand seals, he cast another fire-style jutsu—Fire Style: Scorching Ash Technique!
The attack was subtle and perfect for overwhelming slow-reacting opponents.
His target, though stronger than an average chunin, didn't stand a chance—especially since Seii had predicted his movents and launched a sneak attack.
"Ahhh!"
A pained scream echoed as flas engulfed the Cloud ninja, sending him thrashing on the ground.
Seii didn't spare him a second glance, instead dashing toward the Konoha spy, blocking an attack aid at him with a swift sword strike.
Clang!
The sound of tal striking tal echoed as his blade collided with a kunai.
Without looking back, Seii barked, "Go!"
The Konoha spy didn't hesitate—he turned to retreat imdiately.
But just then, a loud shout echoed from the distance.
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