Seimei traveled through the forest for a few minutes before stopping in a relatively open space.
It wasn't that this place didn't have trees. But the number of trees per area was certainly lower here than in any other place in the forest.
The forest had many such patches, so it was nothing new. If anything, staying in places like this would make others more vulnerable to enemy ambushes.
Of course, since this forest was still a part of Konoha, hardly anyone would be suicidal enough to enter here after painstakingly breaching the outer barrier of Konoha, unless they were a complete lunatic and eager to expose their identity as a spy.
But would the Konoha ninjas need to rest in such a place when they could just rest in their homes? Of course not.
So, hardly anyone paid attention to these random open patches inside the forest behind the Hokage Rock.
That made these random open patches a great place to build a secret place, as long as you were skilled enough to keep it hidden in plain sight.
And Seimei, a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster, definitely had the skills.
He had been using this place for nearly two years, and not even a random bird found this place.
"Even if someone actively searched for a hidden training hideout like mine, trying to pinpoint it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack."
"Who could possibly have the protagonist-like luck to stumble upon this place accidentally? The original child of destiny of this world is yet to be born, if the 'child of destiny' thing even exists at all."
Shaking his head at his random thoughts, Seimei pulled out a circular metallic plaque, just big enough to fit into his palm.
The metallic plaque had several Fuinjutsu seals curved on its surface.
It was a form of precaution.
This metallic plaque, engraved with special Fuinjutsu seals, would allow Seimei or anyone else to find the training ground's location that he had hidden with several concealment seals.
Additionally, anyone holding the sealing plague could enter the barrier set by Seimei. This way, the holder of the plaque wouldn't have to unravel the barrier's mysteries.
They could enter directly without raising alarms or activating traps.
It also revealed the barrier's sealing formations, allowing Seimei to detect whether someone had entered the barrier or tampered with the seals.
After all, being careful never hurts.
Seimei thought inwardly before injecting chakra into the metallic plaque.
The seal on the metallic plaque glowed with a faint blue light before it established contact with the sealing barrier hiding Seimei's training ground in the forest.
The barrier reacted and glowed with a faint blue light as well.
Several key seals, including concealment seals, illusion seals, restriction barrier seals, seals connected to the traps, and alarm seals, shimmered into existence, hovering right in front of Seimei.
These seals were akin to a special code, allowing Seimei to observe the changes in the barrier.
Seimei observed the seals that had manifested in front of him.
"Okay. Everything looks fin-"
However, he suddenly paused.
Wait a damn minute!
He observed the seal more closely. His eyebrows knitted in a frown.
What is this shit? Who tampered with the seals?
And the tampering is so subtle that even the seasoned Seal Masters won't be able to identify it.
Seimei's mind raced as he discovered the signs of tampering in the main seal.
He looked at the Fuinjutsu barrier warily and didn't take a single step forward.
Whoever tampered with the barrier could still be inside. In the worst-case scenario, he could be ambushed the moment he entered the barrier.
But even he had to admit that the one who compromised with the barrier seal had great skills.
If his passive chakra perception hadn't been sensitive enough to put even the greatest sensors to shame, he would have never perceived the micro changes in the barrier's chakra flow, which ultimately forced him to give his seals a careful look.
Whoever the intruder was, he/she had to be one of the best Fuinjutsu Grandmasters.
If the intruder were someone from Konoha, it would be fine. But if the intruder turned out to be a spy from another hidden ninja village, things could get troublesome.
After all, fighting a prepared Fuinjutsu Grandmaster could spell doom even for a Kage-level ninja.
And him right now? An S-rank ninja at best, who could probably put up a respectable fight against a recently promoted Kage-level ninja before getting the hell out of there.
But I can't just leave this place like this, can I?
I should at least check who the heck intruded on my training spot.
Of course, he wouldn't be stupid enough to enter himself.
When you are in doubt, you can just grab a Nara.
And if there is no Nara clan ninja around, just throw a shadow clone at the problem. That will do the job.
It's time to send another shadow clone as a scapegoat…cough cough…I mean, as a scout.
Once he made up his mind, Seimei immediately molded the chakra inside his body and activated the shadow clone technique.
Shadow Clone Jutsu
Puff!
In the blink of an eye, a solid, material clone that looked just like Seimei came into existence with a puff of white smoke.
The shadow clone opened his eyes and looked at Seimei.
Seimei looked at its eyes and said, "You know the drill."
The shadow clone nodded. In his hand was a copy of the metallic plaque that was also cloned because of the secondary effects of the shadow clone technique.
The shadow clone channeled chakra into the metallic plaque and walked toward the barrier hiding Seimei's training ground.
It had raised its vigilance to the max, ready to respond to any ambush.
If the intruder were still inside the hidden training ground, the moment the shadow clone tried to cross the barrier, the unwanted person would immediately notice it.
The shadow clone stood right in front of the barrier and looked back at Seimei.
Seimei gave it an encouraging nod.
Seeing this, the shadow clone turned its head back to the barrier and touched it with its right hand.
Water-like ripples spread across the barrier, as if a stone had been dropped on the surface of a calm lake.
Then, without a second thought, the clone jumped inside the barrier.
The ninjato already rested in his right hand. A large amount of lightning chakra flowed through the ninjato's blade, causing several arcs of purple lightning bolts to snake around its length.
Once he got inside the barrier, he saw a silhouette of another person, holding a ninja short sword, covered in fiery flames, poised to launch a deadly attack at a moment's notice.
At the next moment, Seimei's shadow clone's gaze fell on the face of the intruder.
But when it saw the face of the intruder, the clone was stunned.
The shadow clone had expected to see a middle-aged or elderly Fuinjutsu Grandmaster or an enemy ninja.
However, standing before him was someone whom Seimei's shadow clone had never expected to see.
The figure in front of the shadow clone was equally stunned.
"It's you?!" x2
The figure and Seimei's shadow clone instinctively uttered the same question at the same time.
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