"Where is he?!"
Seimei's pupils shrank violently as alarm bells rang in his mind.
Instinctively, he dodged to the left with all his strength while simultaneously slashing at the opening beside him using both the Fire Sword in his right hand and the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords in his left!
One vertical, one horizontal, the blazing flame blade light, and the sharp cyan wind blade intertwined into a net. Wind fueled the flames, flames amplified the wind, transforming into a death zone that swept outward.
"Oh? Not a bad reaction."
Shinichi raised his brows slightly, delighted at finding worthy prey. With a wave of his right hand, flames roared outward, while his left hand formed a blade and slashed.
Dark Sweep!
Storm Blade!
The crimson flames, sculpted and propelled by the pale cyan wind blade, instantly stretched and transformed into a crimson flaming blade light whose power and speed surged explosively as it slashed toward Seimei!
Boom!!!
The crimson flaming blade light collided with the afterimage of Seimei's wind-fire cross slash, producing a violent explosion.
Seimei's wind-fire cross slash was instantly destroyed for the most part, while Shinichi's flaming blade light also consumed a great amount of chakra, its size and brilliance dimming considerably. Yet it still stubbornly passed through the exploding flames and shot toward Seimei himself!
"Damn it!"
Seeing this, Seimei immediately formed a hand seal. Streams of light rapidly circulated across his armor's surface, instantly unfolding a semi-transparent chakra shield covered in tiny vortex-like patterns before him.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The crimson flaming blade light struck the shield like mud sinking into the sea. The chakra vortices on the shield's surface frantically tore apart and absorbed it, visibly weakening and dimming it at a speed detectable by the naked eye.
However, at the instant the shield's light fluctuated violently from continuously absorbing huge amounts of energy, causing a brief instability in its defense, a figure burst through the gap like a gale tearing through flames.
Crack!
With a crisp shattering sound, the violently fluctuating chakra shield was smashed apart by Shinichi's punch, exploding into countless drifting light particles!
And Shinichi's iron fist lost none of its momentum as it slammed squarely into Seimei's shocked face!
Bang!
A dull sound of flesh colliding with each other rang out.
The astonishment on Seimei's face was instantly replaced by violent shock and pain. He did not even have time to scream before his eyes rolled back, and his entire body spun backward through the air for hundreds of meters before crashing heavily onto the ground. Amid flying dust, he had already fallen unconscious.
The Fire Sword flew from his hand and stabbed into the nearby ground, while the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords also fell into the ground.
The battle ended abruptly.
"Not bad."
Shinichi stepped forward and picked up the Fire Sword and Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords for inspection before turning his gaze toward the unconscious Seimei in the distance.
Especially the Dark Sword behind him, which had already returned to sword form, and the Infinite Armour on his body, whose light had dimmed but whose structure remained intact.
He had already been considering finding an opportunity to study forging back on the northeastern battlefield, laying the groundwork for generating related talents in the future.
Now, these four top-tier special tools were practically pillows delivered just as he was getting sleepy.
Among them, the Fire Sword and Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords, one fire and one wind, would undoubtedly provide extremely valuable reference material, verification, and even breakthrough inspiration for the Fire Style Nintaijutsu system he was constantly refining and the newly created Wind Style Nintaijutsu.
As for the Dark Sword, which could freely extend and contract in length and even transform into a dragon, it greatly fascinated him.
If he could comprehend its principles, perhaps in the future he could use it as a blueprint to forge a genuine Golden Cudgel that belongs exclusively to him!
As for the Infinite Armour capable of absorbing and neutralizing chakra attacks, Shinichi was also very eager about it.
Among his current three major Nintaijutsu systems, the Fire Armor and Lightning Armor undoubtedly possessed strong defensive capabilities, but these were purely physical and chakra defenses.
On the Wind Style Nintaijutsu side, he had already created Dream Bullet, which focused on explosive impact; Storm Blade, which emphasized extreme cutting power; Quick Step, which specialized in agility and adaptability; and Sky Dance, which enabled levitation and midair suspension.
But regarding defensive techniques, he truly had yet to achieve anything.
It was not that he could not create Wind Armor; rather, in his view, when it came to pure energy defense, thickness, and impact resistance, he already had Fire Armor and Lightning Armor.
Creating another wind armor that would most likely have weaker defense would be merely redundant construction with little meaning.
His conception of Wind Style defensive techniques had escaped the fixed mindset of pursuing absolute hardness from the very beginning.
What was the wind?
Invisible and formless, flowing endlessly, capable of softness and hardness alike.
Therefore, the defensive techniques of his Wind Style Nintaijutsu should focus more on deflecting, redirecting, dispersing, or even absorbing and neutralizing the force of enemy attacks, similar to…
"Similar to the great shift of the cosmos?"
A flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in Shinichi's mind as he recalled techniques from martial arts novels in his previous life.
The Infinite Armour before him, displaying the ability to redirect and absorb enemy attacks, happened to provide an excellent real-world reference and reverse-engineering sample for this line of thought.
Studying it might allow him to create a defensive move unique to himself, something akin to the great shift of the cosmos.
Merely by leaving the village to carry out an ordinary A-rank mission, he had suddenly acquired four top-tier tools while also obtaining precious inspiration and research samples to perfect his Nintaijutsu systems.
He's really heaven's favorite child.
Shinichi joked inwardly.
Several hours later, the internal chaos and purge within Takumi Village finally came to an end.
Under the complicated gazes of Takumi Village's leaders, who were both grateful and heartbroken, Team 10 departed on the journey back to Konoha carrying the first batch of successfully transferred weapons and tools sealed into multiple storage scrolls, along with an additional order agreement whose details had been finalized.
...
One day later, at the southwestern Land of Fire, Tanzaku Town.
Because the mission had been completed beyond expectations, there was no need to hurry on the return trip, so Tsunade proposed they stop by to rest a little.
Then, under Shizune's expression of, just as expected, mixed with disdain, Tsunade confidently led the three members of Team 10 into Tanzaku Town for this so-called rest.
Although it was called a town, Tanzaku Town was actually a massive entertainment capital in the southwest region of the Land of Fire, which is famous everywhere.
It gathered the largest number of casinos in the Shinobi World, ranging from low-class to luxurious establishments, along with extravagant hotels, theaters, and pleasure districts.
The lights never went out through the night, and the noise of crowds never ceased. It was a place where wealthy merchants, nobles, and even ninjas, between missions, came seeking thrills and indulgence, unwilling to leave.
This was a true money-burning pit, the Las Vegas of this world.
Inside the grand hall of a lavishly decorated casino, in the slot machine area, the place was packed with noise and smoke. The clatter of chips, the rattling of spinning reels, excited screams, and disappointed sighs all blended together into one chaotic symphony.