The next day, at 8:40 AM…
Seimei had used Earth Release Ninjutsu to create a hidden spot to live and keep watch over the road and the region where most of the disappearances occurred.
They had already sent the souls of the two captured Jonins to the Pure Land to reunite with their comrades. After all, they had squeezed all the intel they needed. Keeping them alive any longer was meaningless.
Sometimes, Seimei even lamented how he had become incredibly ruthless. Just eleven years in the Shinobi continent, and he had completely changed to adapt to this world where human lives had less value than the lives of D-rank dogs.
Perhaps it was a good thing that he changed.
If he failed to adapt, he would have remained weak, always at the mercy of the strong.
So, he had pretty much adapted to the life of a Shinobi, keeping only his very core beliefs and fundamental nature of his previous self.
Anyway, after disposing of the bodies of the bounty hunters they had killed, Seimei and his team quickly chose the most optimal location for setting up a camp while hiding their presence.
The location was a nearly 80-meter-tall cliff near the road.
From this point, they could easily watch over every movement below, including the passing caravans, groups of people, and other wandering chakra beasts.
Since then, one whole day had passed.
And during this time, no less than three merchant caravans with several armed samurai protecting the goods passed through the region where most abductions had occurred.
But they didn't even detect the ghost of the so-called culprit.
Still, Seimei, Touma, and Haneda didn't lose their patience.
They knew that the culprit would show up sooner or later. They just had to stay cooped up here and keep an eye on every single movement down below.
And the moment the culprit shows up…
Hehehehe…(Mad Uchiha-style laughter echoes)
Meanwhile, Haneda, who was sitting beside Seimei, was also looking down the cliff and scanning the area for any potential movements.
His abyss-black eyes were now glowing with a faint blue light. The light was so faint that even an experienced Chunin would miss it as long as Haneda stood under broad daylight.
After a few moments, the faint blue glow faded from his eyes.
He turned his head toward Seimei and said, "No matter how many times I use it, I still can't help but marvel at how simple yet incredibly useful this technique is."
Of course, the technique Haneda was referring to was the one responsible for making his eyes glow with a faint blue light.
It was a special way of reinforcing the eyes with the chakra that Seimei had accidentally discovered within the Senju clan's old archives.
It wasn't really a secret technique, but it was complicated to use. The ninjas needed to have the ability to control their chakra precisely. Such a level of chakra control was generally out of reach for most ninjas in the world.
A single major mistake, and you could say goodbye to your eyesight.
Thousands of years ago, when the Senju clan first got their hands on this technique, many tried to train it.
However, nearly 70% of the Senju ninjas at that time ended up blind since that era didn't have something as miraculous as healing potions or advanced medical Ninjutsu.
They burned their optic nerves and damaged their eyes, forever losing their ability to see ever again.
As for eye transplant and mending the optic nerves?
Don't even think about it. That era didn't have anesthetic solutions, advanced medical Ninjutsu, and powerful healing potions. Plus, ninjas at that time lacked a deep understanding of human bodies to differentiate between blood vessels and delicate nerves.
At that time, thousands of years ago, the lives of the heavily injured ninjas were truly miserable. Most died a rather gruesome death. Even undergoing a simple surgical treatment was like crossing hell.
Do you still want to practice the eye reinforcement technique?
So, they sealed it in the depths of their historical archives, where only useless or forbidden techniques were placed.
If that technique did anything good, then it was undoubtedly helping the Senju clan develop a detailed chakra infusion technique later on.
Other than that, it was a practically useless and extremely high-risk technique.
But times had changed. The moment Seimei found the technique, he picked it up without hesitation. Although it was rather useless for him, this technique could help his clansmen immensely.
And after accumulating enough merit, Ishimori Haneda had also chosen this technique to improve his sensory and reconnaissance capabilities.
Once a ninja successfully cultivated this special eye reinforcement technique, they could:
• See everything clearly within a distance of 100 meters. The range could be increased up to 500 meters with enough mastery, according to the records left by the Senju ancestors. It was like turning your eyes into adjustable binoculars.
• Roughly see and read the flow of chakra to understand when an opponent was preparing to release a Ninjutsu. This technique could also help the user determine the nature transformation release type of the Ninjutsu before the caster could even release it.
• Achieve a slight improvement in dynamic vision and visual insight abilities. However, these abilities would still be far inferior to the similar abilities of a one-tomoe Sharingan.
• Improve their mastery over chakra flow faster.
This technique was indeed incredible, but not something worth risking losing your eyesight over.
Fortunately, with the assistance of advanced medical Ninjutsu and potions, Haneda finally mastered it after three months of careful training.
Now, he could use this technique whenever he wanted with ease.
So, hearing Haneda praising the technique, Seimei smiled and replied, "Without your level of chakra control, it would be impossible for other people to even practice this technique."
"Even many Jonin-level ninjas will just suffer from ruptured optic nerves and damaged eyeballs."
Haneda remembered all the trouble and pain he had to go through to train this special eye reinforcement technique, Chakra Eyes, and he couldn't help but feel a slight chill down his spine.
He shivered a little before replying, "Yeah, good point. I almost lost my eyes several times during the first couple of months of practice."
"I had to spend almost all the money I saved by completing the mandatory missions on healing potions, eye drops, and hospital bills."
Haneda let out a triumphant smile and said, "But all the expense and pain were worth it."
"As long as you are happy," Seimei said as he continued to scan even the smallest movement within a radius of ten kilometers with his Tenseigan.
After 50 more minutes, they finally spotted another merchant caravan passing by the road under the cliff.
But this time, they had noticed something else.
A group of bipedal monsters, hidden under the cover of rocky terrain, was eyeing the traveling merchant caravans with eyes full of greed and killing intent.
Seimei immediately warned his teammates. "Guys, we have probably found our culprits. Just focus your eyes over there."
Seimei pointed his finger at a distant rocky region, nearly 150 meters away from the merchant caravans.
Haneda immediately used Chakra Eyes to get a closer look at the place Seimei was pointing at.
"Really?" Uchiha Touma asked excitedly and used a pair of binoculars to see things clearly.
There, they saw a group of nearly 20 bipedal, green-skinned, strange chakra beasts. Five of them were nearly 160 cm tall and had muscular physiques. The remaining creatures were only 140 cm tall and had little muscle on their bodies.
They were bald, had sharp canines, sported hooked noses, and had sharp nails on their fingers.
Their eyes were menacingly yellow with toad-like horizontal, black pupils.
And strangely, they carried bows, arrows, daggers, and swords in their hands, which Seimei and his group had no idea where they had gotten from.
Witnessing the grotesque faces of these chakra beasts, Touma cursed, "Bloody hell, what kind of ugly creatures are these?"
""Goblins"" Seimei and Haneda replied simultaneously.
Seimei explained, "They are goblins. They usually live in discrete locations and don't appear publicly most of the time. But whenever they did appear, they stirred up a lot of trouble."
"I will tell you the rest after we deal with this. For now, let's focus."
Touma chimed in, "At least these ugly mugs are finally out. Should we attack right now?"
Seimei shook his head and replied, "No. Let those goblins come closer and engage with the group of samurai protecting the caravan first."
"And then…"
"We strike."
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