Time ticked by, second by second.
Under the cover of night, Seimei used the powerful insight of his Sharingan to observe the movements of the Mist ninja inside the base below and gather intelligence. Suddenly, a crossbow bolt shot towards him.
In an instant, a strong sense of danger surged in his heart.
Almost instinctively, Seimei dodged to the side.
The next moment, a crossbow bolt as thick as an infant's arm brushed past his shoulder, the whistling wind from it stinging his cheek.
But that wasn't the end!
After dodging the first shot, the sense of danger in his heart didn't fade. A flash of memory from the moment the bolt flew by showed him several paper seals attached to it.
"It's an explosive tag!"
Shocked, Seimei immediately pushed his "Wind Style: Wind Wings" to the limit, flying away from his original position.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three explosive tags detonated almost simultaneously.
In the next moment, three crimson fireballs appeared in the sky, dispelling the surrounding darkness and illuminating the entire night sky.
A figure burst out from the firelight, dropping a few meters before quickly pulling back up again.
Of course, it was Seimei.
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Wiping the corner of his mouth, he looked at the fireballs in the sky with lingering fear.
Just now, he had walked the line between life and death, almost dying in the explosions of those three explosive tags.
If it weren't for his "Wind Style: Wind Wings" being at level 3, allowing him to fly 30 meters per second, he would certainly have suffered serious injuries.
Even so, he was still hurt by the blast wave.
At that moment, his internal organs felt twisted, as if struck by a heavy hammer, causing him a deep, indescribable pain.
Compared to that, the burns on his body were nothing.
After all, the contact was brief, and he quickly distanced himself, preventing any severe injuries.
Seimei formed a hand seal and quickly used the general-purpose medical ninjutsu—Mystical Palm Technique—to alleviate his injuries, then looked down below.
The Mist ninja at the Flying Fish Town base were also clearly in disarray.
Obviously, the attack was not premeditated, and came as a surprise to them as well, or else they wouldn't be reacting like this.
However, it was precisely because of this that they managed to catch him off guard.
If the Mist ninja below had made even the slightest movement, he would have sensed it.
If he had been on alert, he wouldn't have faced such a risk.
But ultimately, it was his own lack of vigilance—he underestimated Kirigakure.
Indeed, he had been saying all along that Kirigakure would surely take countermeasures after that night, and the command post had also received relevant intelligence.
However, deep down, he hadn't truly raised his guard.
After all, he knew clearly from his past life's memories that the various major ninja villages of the shinobi world had few means to deal with aerial targets.
Most of their methods were just enough to cause harassment.
There were very few techniques that could actually counter him effectively.
Because of this, he instinctively let his guard down.
Naturally, this led to his current predicament.
There was no doubt that Kirigakure had taught him a valuable lesson, showing him that arrogance was always unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances.
Pulling his scattered thoughts together, Seimei steadied himself and moved his gaze away from the panicked crowd, focusing on the direction from which the crossbow bolt had come.
There, atop a building, were three figures struggling to operate a crossbow turret.
Clearly, the bolt had been fired from there.
And at that moment, another bolt was being loaded.
A faint sense of danger arose in Seimei's mind, and he immediately went on high alert.
The next moment, the bolt was fired, aiming straight for his chest.
This time, however, Seimei was prepared. His Sharingan narrowed, instantly discerning the trajectory of the bolt.
He flapped his wings and easily dodged.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three more explosions echoed.
The hot air rolled over, blowing Seimei's long hair around.
This time, however, Seimei was unscathed.
But before he could even take a breath, three more bolts were fired.
Seimei looked closely and saw that on the roof of another building, three crossbow turrets were arranged in a "pyramid" formation, with nine figures standing beside them.
Clearly, those three bolts had been fired by them.
However, just moments ago, when his gaze had swept over that spot, there had been nothing there.
Clearly, Kirigakure had used some kind of technique to conceal these turrets and the people operating them.
Vaguely, Seimei realized something.
He immediately wondered if there were other crossbows hidden in different locations.
With that thought, Seimei quickly scanned several other tall buildings, then maneuvered his chakra wings to fly even higher.
The next moment, more bolts were fired.
Sweeping his gaze around, he saw that crossbows had indeed emerged from those previously checked spots.
He flapped his wings, adjusted his flight path, and once again evaded the incoming bolts.
This was only the beginning.
After this, bolts were continuously fired from the turrets below, some aimed directly at him, others to cut off his escape routes.
In any case, they all sought to end his life.
However, as he flew higher and higher, he had more and more time to react.
Consequently, the threat posed by these bolts grew smaller and smaller.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosive tags detonated in the sky, the resulting fireballs like fireworks, lighting up the night.
Seimei dodged left and right, eventually leaving the range of the crossbows.
Only then did he finally let out a breath of relief.
Although he had faced danger tonight, he had also managed to identify a hazard for future battles.
Without tonight's encounter, a surprise attack by these bolts during future battles, combined with attacks from Mist ninjas, could have been even more dangerous.
It seemed Kirigakure was feeling anxious.
Still, he could understand.
After all, his flying altitude had indeed been a bit low, and he hadn't been very alert—making it a prime opportunity.
Unfortunately for them, his reaction was too fast, and in the end, he used sheer skill to escape the crisis.
"Indeed, personal strength is the most important thing at any time. That way, even if mistakes are made, there is still a chance for recovery."
Seimei once again strengthened his resolve to improve his power.
Putting these thoughts aside for now, Seimei activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and looked down.
He saw that Kirigakure had stopped attacking, and all the crossbows were exposed.
"One, two, three…"
Seimei's gaze moved from one crossbow to another, counting aloud.
Finally, he confirmed that there were a total of twenty-one crossbows deployed by Kirigakure.
Judging by the firing rate earlier, if all of these crossbows were operating simultaneously, with enough bolts, they could fire around thirty to forty shots per minute.
That meant approximately one shot every 1.5 to 2 seconds.
If that was all, it wouldn't be a problem. As long as he wasn't too close, Seimei could dodge all of them with his reaction speed.
But the key issue was that these bolts traveled extremely fast and carried a huge amount of kinetic energy, requiring him to make no mistakes.
Otherwise, even a graze could be deadly.
Coupled with the area damage of the explosive tags, it was enough to pose a significant threat to him.
"From now on, I must be more careful," Seimei thought.
Then, another question came to his mind: how did Kirigakure transport so many crossbows and bolts here?
After all, his aerial abilities had only been exposed the night before last, less than forty-eight hours ago.
Even if Kirigakure had the resources to stockpile such equipment, transporting it here this quickly seemed unlikely, especially given the distance from Kirigakure.
"No way they foresaw everything and prepared in advance, right?" Seimei scoffed at himself.
Wait!
Suddenly, Seimei realized that transporting supplies in the ninja world didn't necessarily require "one step at a time."
For such urgent items, they could have a ninja skilled in space-time techniques seal the crossbows into scrolls.
Then, whether by sending the ninja to escort them personally or using "reverse summoning" as a shortcut, the supplies could arrive swiftly.
With Kirigakure's resources, finding two such ninjas wouldn't be difficult.
"Indeed, I must never underestimate the strength and adaptability of these major villages."
Muttering to himself, Seimei no longer paid attention to the Mist ninjas below and flew straight in the direction of the Blackstone base.
His task for tonight was complete, and there was no need to linger further.
(End of chapter)