Shiba Seika's Efficient Style

Faced with Konan's trembling gaze at this moment, Shiba Seika didn't rush to strike harshly and provoke her. Instead, he steadily worked to solidify his own image first.

He mouthed silently, "Don't act rashly, Sister Konan. Stay calm. I'm here."

Winning Konan over wasn't something that could be done overnight, so he had patience, quietly building goodwill without making a stir.

Besides, the current situation was far from safe. Acting recklessly and agitating Konan now would only put himself in danger.

There was still a squad of Iwagakure ninjas below.

These weren't the "Iwagakure spies" he'd fabricated earlier to take the blame—they were genuine ninjas from a major hidden village!

Sometimes, things really do go from bad to worse.

Just as Shiba Seika was considering the Iwagakure threat, the Iwagakure squad leader below suddenly looked up at that very moment.

"Who?! Who's on the roof?!"

As the leader spoke, another older ninja in the squad quickly formed hand signs.

"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Gun!"

A rock pillar spear shot toward the ceiling without a moment's hesitation!

Shiba Seika and Konan were forced to drop down, revealing themselves in the warehouse.

But the next moment, countless white papers fluttered through the air as Konan immediately launched her counterattack.

"Dance of the Paper Person of God!"

Her body scattered, drifting apart like butterflies, transforming into dancing paper butterflies. Then, in midair, they gathered into several paper spears that shot at lightning speed toward the Iwagakure squad leader!

The smug hoarder merchant Ando was so startled his pipe fell to the ground.

"What?! How are there people?! Protect me! Protect me now!! Kill them all!"

The remaining Iwagakure ninjas in the warehouse sprang into action at his words.

Shiba Seika, who had just landed, felt even more relieved that he hadn't rushed into using Talk Style to shake Sister Konan's heart earlier.

On the contrary, thanks to his subtle influence over the past few days, Konan had instinctively diverted a portion of her paper butterflies to shield him the moment she struck.

Perhaps Konan herself hadn't realized it, but Shiba Seika's importance in her heart had steadily risen, making him the third most significant person in the organization after Yahiko and Nagato.

And Shiba Seika naturally wouldn't waste this favoritism. Blending in among the paper butterflies, he fully exploited the environmental advantage, raising his hand to toss out a large handful of his specially crafted paper shuriken.

With paper butterflies swirling all around, and the Iwagakure leader just forced back by the blue-haired mysterious girl's paper spears, the remaining Iwagakure ninjas fell into a cognitive trap, instinctively assuming the paper shuriken Shiba Seika threw were similar items.

So they hastily dodged, not daring to take them head-on.

One Iwagakure ninja even shouted a warning to his comrades.

"This guy uses Paper Ninjutsu too! Watch out!"

Little did they know, Shiba Seika was just throwing ordinary paper.

After easily breaking the enemy's encirclement with a handful of scrap paper, Shiba Seika immediately picked a direction and lunged at one of the enemies!

That one was probably a Genin. Seeing Shiba Seika charge, a flash of panic crossed his eyes. Instead of advancing, he retreated, quickly forming hand signs.

No offensive intent in his gaze, the hand signs likely weren't for an attack jutsu, and his eyes were darting to his own side and rear—but there was clearly nothing there.

Putting it all together, Shiba Seika made a quick deduction—

This guy was planning to use the Substitution Technique!

So he casually tossed a shuriken, a half-hearted attack.

After confirming the enemy was still forming hand signs, he immediately stopped, drew his blade, changed direction, and charged toward his own side and rear!

"Bang!"

The shuriken hit its mark, but after a puff of white smoke, the original enemy turned into a wooden log.

Everything went exactly as Shiba Seika had predicted!

The log with the shuriken stuck in it bounced twice on the ground, letting out a crisp "thud, thud."

But as the sound rang out, Shiba Seika had already changed direction and closed in on the enemy who had just completed his displacement!

"Wha—?!"

The man's question, mixed with doubt and terror, had barely uttered its first syllable when Shiba Seika's blade ended his life in one stroke!

The older ninja who had just used "Rock Pillar Gun" to blast through the ceiling was shocked.

"Damn it! He's at least a Chunin! Don't face him alone!!"

He quickly called off the remaining two young Genin in the squad, signaling them to regroup and not separate, while he himself crouched down and began forming hand signs.

This time, he didn't shout the technique's name, but that didn't stop Shiba Seika from making a quick predictive response.

He leaped into the air, continuing to toss out handfuls of paper shuriken.

Iwagakure's ninjutsu was mostly Earth Release, and with the enemy having a crouching preparatory motion, leaving the ground first was always the right call.

The two Iwagakure Genin were forced back by the scrap paper shuriken again, while Shiba Seika used the chance to jump onto a storage shelf in the warehouse.

"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"

At that moment, the older ninja's technique finally activated—but Shiba Seika was already far beyond his reach.

This technique was supposed to erupt from underground and drag an enemy beneath the earth, yet now the aged Iwagakure ninja had merely used it as a repositioning tool, swiftly arriving at the spot where Shiba Seika had just stood.

Beyond that, it accomplished nothing.

By now, the older ninja's heart was filled with wariness.

Why can he always see through our jutsu in advance? Just now with Yuta's Substitution Technique, and now with my Double Suicide Decapitation Technique... Could it be... he has some special dojutsu?

Just as he was mentally speculating, on high alert, a young genin suddenly spotted the flaw.

"Damn it! These are just ordinary paper! He's bluffing us!!"

Used twice in a row, Shiba Seika's "Paper Style" had finally been exposed.

The genin who discovered the secret, confident he had seen through the enemy's trick, immediately abandoned the older ninja's earlier teachings. He leaped onto the storage cabinet and charged straight at Shiba Seika with a kunai in hand!

Shiba Seika threw another paper kunai!

"Boring tricks!"

The young genin neither dodged nor flinched, his eyes firm with resolve.

But Shiba Seika couldn't help starting to laugh.

"Boom!!"

The next moment, a violent explosion rang out!

The older Iwagakure ninja's eyes nearly split with fury!

Another comrade's life had been extinguished!

It was an Exploding Tag!

Shiba Seika had hidden an Exploding Tag inside the paper kunai.

Earlier, when he had sought Sister Nan's advice on throwing Paper Shuriken, he had learned the little trick of concealing Exploding Tags inside paper props.

By drawing lines and runes similar to those on an Exploding Tag on every sheet of paper, then wrapping them together and hiding the fuse, it was hard to tell the difference at a glance.

Especially since Shiba Seika's first two volleys of Paper Shuriken had contained nothing at all, further dulling the enemy's vigilance.

Such a vicious move naturally earned him "high praise" from his foes.

"Despicable Rain Ninja!"

But Shiba Seika couldn't care less about such feeble accusations.

Vicious? Despicable? As long as he won, he preferred to call it efficient!

After efficiently eliminating two genin, the last Iwagakure genin had temporarily lost his will to fight, retreating far back to stand beside the merchant Ando.

He appeared to be protecting the employer, but in truth, he was avoiding battle.

So Shiba Seika turned his gaze to the older Iwagakure ninja, who had just used two Earth Release techniques.

This guy... must be a Chunin, right?

He could take this chance to test his current strength.