While Uchiha Touma and Uzumaki Keiko were running away from the location of the conflict against the Dire Wolf, Seimei and Haneda were leisurely moving toward the central tower.
With Seimei's Tenseigan, they easily evaded multiple students from the rival teams and countless Chakra Beasts.
It was already the evening of the first day of the Forest of Silence round. And they were determined to arrive at the tower before midnight.
As for fighting students of rival teams to showcase their dominance, and eliminating B-class Chakra Beasts to prove their mettle as true ninjas…
Forget about it!
Did you think this is a world of anime or a web novel, where transmigrators would fight to the death against tough opponents and flaunt their power in front of their teammates for nothing but sheer vanity?
Please, this was the real world.
Although Seimei was a transmigrator, had a cheat, and wielded a cheat-tier bloodline, he was still a normal person.
Right now, he only wants to reach the tower, freshen up, and get some quality sleep before lounging around the remaining two days of the first round.
He wasn't chuunibyou enough to fight unnecessary battles if he could avoid them.
So, he avoided all troublesome Chakra Beasts and rival students, and only killed a few unfortunate D-rank and lower C-rank Chakra Beasts he and Haneda encountered on their way.
However, fate was a fickle lady!
Sometimes, the more you want to avoid trouble, the more the troubles chase after you.
At approximately 7 PM, when Seimei and Haneda were just about 10 kilometers away from the central tower, Seimei's Tenseigan picked up something…troublesome!
Seeing this, Seimei suddenly stopped and moved his head toward his left, as if he wanted to take a good look at something he saw through his peripheral vision.
Watching Seimei halt and looking at a distance with a serious expression, Haneda also stopped on his track and asked, "Did you sense something?"
Knowing Seimei's character and noticing a serious look on his face, Haneda instantly became alert.
Seimei responded without moving his neck, "Yes."
"Something troublesome."
"But we can't ignore it."
Haneda, now confused, asked, "Troublesome? Can't ignore it?"
"What do you mean?"
Seimei finally glanced toward Haneda and urged him, "Let's move. I will tell you on the way."
Saying this, Seimei flickered toward his left.
Although Haneda's head was filled with multiple metaphorical question marks, he still followed Seimei without hesitation.
As they moved, Seimei described everything he sensed.
"I sensed Nara Shikamo and Sarutobi Yuto's chakra signature roughly 2.4 kilometers away."
"But they aren't alone."
"Those two are currently fighting a Chakra Beast."
"And judging by the beast's chakra signature and nature, this beast is not something to trifle with. If I'm not wrong, it's a B-class one at the very least."
"Come on! Let's move faster."
"Although Yuto and Shikamo's lives aren't in danger thanks to the patrolling Shinobi watching over them, if they intervene, our teammates will be disqualified."
"And most importantly, those two idiots will be severely injured at the very least, before the patrolling ninjas even think about moving to save them."
As Haneda heard what Seimei had to say, his expression hardened.
A life-and-death battle between Shinobi and Chakra Beasts could be very unpredictable.
And Yuto and Shikamo weren't strong enough to win against a B-rank Chakra Beast.
If things go south, they could suffer fatal injuries from the beast before the patrolling ninjas could even intervene.
Seimei was equally anxious.
What he saw wasn't just any Chakra Beast, but a bipedal one.
Although Seimei couldn't identify the beast without seeing its features up close, he knew very well that bipedal Chakra Beasts were usually more powerful and intelligent than their four-legged counterparts.
So, he travelled as fast as he could.
Although the dense foliage and trees hindered them greatly, Seimei and Haneda still reached the location in less than 2 minutes.
And what they saw made them curse out loud.
"Holy shit!"
"What the fuck is an Ice Demon doing here?"
It was a demon, a special kind of Chakra Beast with a rather notorious reputation.
Demons were bipedal, intelligent, and fast. Their regeneration rate was so fast that they could recover from lethal injuries, which could incapacitate or kill the other chakra beasts.
If it weren't for the fact that these demons could still die if you could destroy their hearts or decapitate them, Seimei would have thought that this world was an AU crossover between Naruto and the Demon Slayer universe.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
As long as he could separate their heads or destroy their hearts, the demons could still be killed.
There was no sunlight or Nichirin blade nonsense here.
Seimei unsheathed his ninjato, looked at Haneda, and said, "Anyways, let's finish this demon off as soon as possible, so we can go to the tower and relax."
Brilliant blue arcs of lightning crackled on his blade.
Seeing this, Haneda grinned and pulled out a kunai.
He nodded, "Let's go!"
In the next moment, both of them vanished from their spots.
-----------------
1 minute before Seimei and Haneda reached the location of the Ice Demon…
Yuto and Shikamo were already engaged in a fierce combat against the Ice Demon.
They tried to get away, but the demon wouldn't give them a chance to retreat.
They tried to counterattack and injured the demon several times, but the demon would still attack them as if nothing had happened.
And because of its insane regeneration speed, the demon's injuries would heal within ten or so seconds.
Plus, this demon's Ice Release innate skills made it hard for Yuto and Shikamo to counter it.
Sarutobi Yuto finally had enough and he asked angrily, "Damn it, you damn demon!"
"Hey, Shikamo. Run that genius brain of yours faster and churn out some ideas to deal with this bastard."
As he finished saying that, Yuto immediately threw a kunai covered with a couple of explosive tags at the demon.
The Ice Demon instantly sensed danger from the incoming exploding tags and activated its innate skill, Ice Wall, to create a tall and thick wall of frost in front of it.
Boooooom!!!
Crimson fire exploded as soon as the kunai hit the ice wall, creating powerful shockwaves in its wake.
The shockwave caused the ice wall to suffer from multiple cracks, and the heat from the flames made at least 20% of the wall's ice evaporate.
But the blue, gleaming frost wall still stood tall.
Suddenly, the demon hiding behind the wall leaped away from its location just before a strange, linear, shadowy line could touch its shadow.
As the Ice Demon landed, it glared at Shikamo, who released the shadowy line from his body that traveled on the ground, but failed to touch the demon's shadow.
It was one of the secret techniques of the Nara clan—Shadow Imitation Technique.
The users of this Jutsu channeled Yin Release chakra to their own shadow and made it extend toward their opponent's shadows.
Once the two shadows were interconnected, the user could force the target to stay still or copy the movement of the user.
It was a great technique. But the movement speed of the shadow was relatively slow, making it easier for the demon to dodge it.
Darn it. My proficiency with this Jutsu is still not good enough. I need to train more to make my shadow travel faster.
Won't it be a huge joke if I can't even bind my target's shadow and miss every time?
No, no! This can't go on.
For now, we have to deal with this demon somehow.
But how?
Curse it. We are completely unprepared.
Shikamo, who was grumbling internally, still replied to Yuto, "I'm thinking, idiot!"
"Stay silent for a moment and focus on the demon instead."
Yuto nodded and quickly completed a series of hand signs.
Fire Release: Flame Bullet
Yuto molded chakra and threw three basketball-sized, comet-like fire bullets at the demon.
However, the demon quickly dodged them once again with its innate high agility.
The flaming balls could only miss their intended target and torch a few trees behind instead.
Sizzle~ Sizzle~
Seeing this, Sarutobi Yuto couldn't help but curse, "It dodged once again."
"Damn it! If only Seimei or Reina were here."
At that moment, the sound of crackling lightning could be heard.
Crackle!! Crackle!!
Yuto saw a figure running at the Ice Demon like thunder, leaving behind a trail of blue lightning in his wake.
Lightning Release Kenjutsu: Chidori Katana
In the blink of an eye, Seimei arrived in front of the demon and slashed his lightning-covered blade at its neck, trying to decapitate it.
But how could the demon just let him claim its life?
The demon covered its hands and claws in pure, crystalline ice, which was as hard as diamond, and met Seimei's blade, covered in terrifying lightning arcs.
Ding~ Crackle~
The blade and the claw clashed, filling the air between them with flashes of lightning and chips of ice crystals.
Seeing the demon's arm unharmed, Seimei increased the output of Lightning Release chakra on his blade and slashed at the demon once again.
Ding~
Ding~
Crackle~
Ding~
Crackle~
The demon and Seimei crossed their claw and blades dozens of times in the span of five seconds, before separating from each other.
It wasn't that Seimei wanted to separate from this enemy, but he had no choice.
Even with chakra reinforcement and covering his blade with potent lightning chakra, he couldn't match the demon's raw physical strength.
He felt as if his bones could no longer hold on. And that's natural. After all, he wasn't even 9 yet.
As for the demon…
Its protective ice layer was covered with many cracks because of Seimei's Chidori Katana, forcing it to retreat.
The Shinobi and demon watched each other with wary gazes.
------------------------
A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and read up to 25 Advanced chapters!
patreon.com/Seigan