After dealing with the goblins outside of the hideout, Seimei and his shadow clones regrouped with Haneda and Touma in their previous hiding spot.
Thanks to the effect of the poison, they had cut down the already weakened and sluggish goblins swiftly without making any sound.
Now, it was time to deal with the goblins guarding the entrance of the hideout.
And finally…
"I will set up a Fuinjutsu Battle Formation to isolate a large but manageable group of goblins. Once we kill them, we will isolate another batch of goblins by setting up the same Fuinjutsu Battle Formation again."
"With that, we should be able to kill at least one hundred goblins before facing the remaining ones."
Seimei laid out his plan to deal with the goblins inside the hideout without taking too much risk.
Touma frowned and asked, "Why only two times? Can't you set that formation up again?"
Seimei gave Touma a blank look and explained, "First, the formation I am about to set up is specialized in dealing with relatively weaker enemies. So, I didn't bother to imprint it. It's a waste of an imprint space."
"Second, without imprinting the entire battle formation in one of my tenketsu (chakra points), I need to use raw chakra to form hundreds of seals with tens of thousands of sealing runes, which will take tens of minutes. The goblins aren't gonna give us that kind of time."
"Third, I only have two Fuinjutsu Battle Formation tags embedded with the battle formation."
"So yeah, I can't use it more than two times."
"And let's not forget that activating Fuinjutsu Battle Formations takes a lot of chakra, enough to squeeze an average full-fledged Jonin dry two or three times over. That's one of the reasons why only the Uzumaki clan, with their huge chakra reserves, ever bothered to imprint it."
"Locking the formation in the Fuinjutsu tags is the most popular method among other Sealmasters. After all, this way, multiple ninjas can power the formation."
"In fact, most Senju clan Jonins can do it, too. But we all know that most of the members of my clan prefer head-on battle instead of studying Fuinjutsu."
"Of course, I have enough chakra to power the formation ten times over. But as I mentioned, I am not interested in wasting one of my imprint slots to imprint a mediocre battle formation."
"Now, do you understand why I can only use the Fuinjutsu Battle Formation two times?"
Hearing this, Touma chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. His eyes darted left and right. He clearly didn't pay attention to all the technical stuff Seimei explained just now.
Touma only understood that Seimei couldn't deploy the Fuinjutsu Battle Formation instantly; it took a lot of chakra, and Seimei only had two battle formation tags.
As for the other things…
That bounced straight off Touma's head.
Seeing this, Seimei sighed and patted Touma's shoulder with an exasperated expression.
"Look, Touma, buddy. I know that you have zero interest in Fuinjutsu. And I am not asking you to master it."
"But you must have a solid understanding of the basics of Fuinjutsu. At the very least, you should understand the effects of different sealing techniques and Fuinjutsu Battle Formations."
"This will help you counter them in future battles."
"Otherwise, your enemies may just trap you inside a Fuinjutsu Battle Formation that perfectly counters your abilities. When this happens, even if you awaken Mangekyo Sharingan, they might still trap you and kill you."
Haneda, who was beside Seimei, also nodded solemnly.
He was also practicing Fuinjutsu and Juinjutsu. Although he was only a C-rank Fuinjutsu expert, far from reaching A-rank Sealmaster or S-rank Fuinjutsu Grandmaster, he understood the horrors of sealing techniques very well.
With enough creativity, innovation, and skill, the sealing experts could even make space-time Ninjutsu users powerless.
They could strip away your elemental advantage, bind you, seal you, and find hundreds of ways to kill you.
This was the ninja art developed to handle unkillable entities and strong opponents.
That was why the Uzumaki clan members, who had the most advanced Sealing Arts, were feared by their enemies.
Of course, truly powerful Sealmasters and Fuinjutsu Grandmasters were rare and far in between. Otherwise, the whole Shinobi continent would have been in even more chaos.
"Alright. Enough ramblings." Seimei handed over two sealing tags to Touma and Haneda. "These tags will prevent you from being restricted by the Fuinjutsu Battle Formation I am about to set up. So, keep them with you. You don't need to do anything. It will automatically resonate with the formation."
Haneda and Touma took the sealing tags and tucked them inside their inner pockets.
Then, three of them and Seimei's shadow clones silently watched the hobgoblins guarding the gates.
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7:14 PM…
The night deepened. And four hobgoblins were guarding the entrance of their hideout.
These hobgoblins were particularly robust, had thicker muscles and longer fangs, making them look particularly intimidating.
However, even such powerful hobgoblin guards had been poisoned by Seimei.
Although their conditions were better than most goblins and hobgoblins, they still suffered from mild sluggishness, muscle weakening, and nausea.
But they endured it all and dutifully guarded the entrance to their homes. After all, if they slacked off, they would face heavy punishment from the A-rank goblin lord.
So, Seimei decided to do a favor and grant them eternal rest.
Under the dark, clouded night sky, four shadow clones of Seimei emerged from the ground and touched the back of the hobgoblins.
Sealing Art: Self-Cursing Seal x4
The four shadow clones simultaneously used the Self-Cursing Seal to restrict the movement and the speech of the hobgoblins before dragging them underground.
And before the hobgoblins could resist underground, Seimei's shadow clones stabbed kunai into their hearts and twisted them.
The four hobgoblin guards coughed blood and died within a few seconds without even letting out a sound.
Meanwhile, the other shadow clones of Seimei emerged from the ground inside the goblin hideout and cautiously chose a place with a high concentration of poisoned goblins without alerting them.
The shadow clones looked at each other and nodded.
With that, one shadow clone used the Sound-Blocking Seal around him and disappeared with a puff of smoke.
Fortunately, due to the Sound-Blocking Seal, the usual sound the shadow clones made while dispersing themselves was blocked, making sure no goblins heard anything unusual.
With one shadow clone dispersed, real Seimei got all the information he needed and immediately took action.
Soon, Seimei, Haneda, and Touma emerged from the ground. Seimei quickly scanned the area with his Tenseigan before giving his shadow clones a slight nod.
Their scouting job was done. Now, it was time to enter slayer mode.
Seimei pulled out a Fuinjutsu sealing tag crafted using special materials from his ninja pouch before crouching down and placing it on the ground.
The sealing tag was filled with countless intricate, pitch-black runes, which occasionally glowed with a faint blue color.
Next, without wasting any time, Seimei directly channeled nearly 40,000 points of chakra into the sealing tag.
The sealing tag glowed slightly with icy blue and grey colors before burrowing itself underground. After all, this tag was akin to a formation core, so it was better to hide it from the enemy's sight.
However, Seimei had already formed a solid connection with it thanks to the unique properties of chakra.
With a single thought, he activated the sealing formation.
Fuinjutsu Battle Formation: Grey Mist
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