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Before leaving, Mei Terumi remembered to lower the concentration of acid mist on the field to avoid attacking the first-year students in the audience.
Several shinobi serving as examiners deployed barriers to protect the students.
Don’t misunderstand — they didn’t do this out of concern for these children’s lives.
It was purely for Kirigakure’s sake.
They couldn’t let this batch of shinobi seedlings die here.
If they were going to die, it should be six years from now during their graduation exams, after the true shinobi had been filtered out and only the dregs remained.
The acid mist on the field dispersed, revealing the forms of two who had already stopped breathing.
Or rather, they could no longer be called forms.
Two masses of ugly black mud sculptures would be more accurate.
In the original story, Mei Terumi only used Boil Release once during the Five Kage Summit when she fought Sasuke Uchiha.
The acid mist she spat out with Boil Release at that time could melt through Sasuke Uchiha’s Susanoo defense even in its skeletal state.
Though the current Mei Terumi couldn’t compare to the Fifth Mizukage version of herself, two students’ flesh-and-blood bodies likewise couldn’t compare to Susanoo!
Shocked by the horrific state of the two bodies, Yagura Karatachi and his companions drew sharp breaths!
And this was the reaction of three children whose mental fortitude far exceeded ordinary seven-year-olds.
Around them, quite a few children vomited on the spot.
Some even rolled their eyes back and fainted from fright!
“Terrifying, terrifying.”
Mangetsu Hozuki grabbed Yagura Karatachi’s clothes beside him, trembling with exaggerated fear.
“If I’m going to die in the future, my death pose absolutely has to be dashing! I absolutely cannot die like this!”
“…”
As someone who had lived over 20 years in an era of peace, Yagura Karatachi also felt discomfort at the scene and averted his gaze.
Still, thanks to Mangetsu Hozuki’s antics, Yagura Karatachi managed to recover somewhat.
Kaede Onime’s face was slightly pale.
“Let’s leave. We can walk out on our own now.”
“We can?”
“Yeah.” Kaede Onime nodded lightly.
“The teachers probably don’t have time to deal with us right now.”
Yagura Karatachi searched for their homeroom teacher Osamu Yamanashi and found him with several other shinobi not-so-gently “attending to” a large group of students in poor condition.
“Let’s go.”
Worst case scenario, the three of them were young masters.
For something as minor as skipping class, Osamu Yamanashi wouldn’t do anything to them.
…
Walking along the road, Yagura Karatachi was unusually calm, steadying his emotions and accepting the new worldview of the shinobi world.
It wasn’t that he’d never seen a dead person before.
At age four, he’d been assigned to kill someone with a kunai.
By comparison, Mangetsu Hozuki was in the best state.
After leaving the Duel Arena, he could still chatter nonstop at the two of them.
“If you ask me, those two were just too stupid. They didn’t even do proper pre-battle intelligence gathering, and they’d been teammates with Mei Terumi for two years.”
“Is it strange for someone with Earth Release chakra nature to use Earth Release? Making such a big fuss, their reaction was half a beat too slow, and Mei Terumi seized the opening.”
“That guy from the Onizuma family got blocked by the Earth Style Wall and couldn’t keep up, couldn’t absorb the Boil Release acid mist, and that guy from the Kaguya family just went down like that.”
“Mei Terumi’s chakra reserves are terrifying too. They’re all nine years old, but her chakra reserves are far greater than her teammates’. Boil Release against Dark Release, the latter ran out of chakra first.”
…
Honestly impressive he could still be this cheerful.
Yagura Karatachi looked at Kaede Onime, conveying this thought with his eyes.
Kaede Onime understood and shook his head lightly.
It’s not that Mangetsu’s personality is like this.
It’s because he’s long been accustomed to seeing dead people.
That was a lot of information to process.
Yagura Karatachi took a moment to fully grasp it, then turned his gaze to Mangetsu Hozuki.
“Mangetsu, if you fought Mei Terumi one-on-one, could you escape unscathed?”
“Me, fight her?”
Mangetsu Hozuki furrowed his brow and seriously considered the question.
His entire face collapsed into three words: ‘Not willing.’ “In a direct confrontation, I’d definitely be corroded by her Lava Release or Boil Release into something worse than jelly. Way too annoying.”
Yagura Karatachi teased, “Compared to Lightning Release?”
“Lightning Release is still more annoying.”
Mangetsu Hozuki crossed his arms and answered instantly.
“Lava Release and Boil Release aren’t something everyone has, but anyone could have Lightning Release.”
Yagura, Lightning Release Shinobi, Karatachi gave Mangetsu Hozuki a friendly smile at those words.
“But if it’s a real fight.”
Mangetsu Hozuki grinned, revealing sharp teeth.
“I have a 90 percent certainty of killing her.”
Yagura Karatachi froze.
After speaking, Mangetsu Hozuki turned his head, thoroughly enjoying Yagura Karatachi’s dumbfounded expression.
He hummed a little tune with the corner of his mouth curled up.
Yagura Karatachi wanted to press further, but Kaede Onime spoke up and interrupted them.
“Next, where to?”
The three had been walking and chatting.
They’d already put some distance between themselves and the Duel Arena, nearly entering Kirigakure village proper.
Yagura Karatachi didn’t want to part ways with his friends and go home so soon.
He touched his stomach.
“Are you guys hungry?”
“I’m okay.”
“How about we go eat ramen together? My treat.”
There’s no friendship that can’t be built with a single bowl of ramen.
If there is, then two bowls!
“I’m in.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”
Mangetsu Hozuki, on the other hand, had an issue.
He raised both hands and declined Yagura Karatachi’s invitation with a smile.
“The old man at home has something for me, so I won’t tag along. You two enjoy your meal. Next time there’s a chance, it’s on me.”
Yagura Karatachi glanced at Mangetsu Hozuki.
“Alright. Next time, your treat.”
“Definitely!”
…
Waving goodbye from afar as Yagura Karatachi and Kaede Onime walked off, Mangetsu Hozuki let out a sigh.
Really, what would this little team do without him.
“Hey, you can come out now.”
Looking toward the dark figure in the alley behind him, Mangetsu Hozuki’s tone was the complete opposite of how he spoke around his two teammates.
For someone who’d been tailing them ever since they left the Duel Arena, Mangetsu Hozuki wasn’t going to bother with politeness.
If the other party hadn’t shown zero hostile intent, Mangetsu Hozuki would definitely have kept Yagura Karatachi and the others here.
And then gang up on the person without any regard for martial virtue.
“Kehkehkehkeh, worthy of Mangetsu Hozuki.”
From beneath the shadows of the alley, a figure gradually walked out.
The upper half of his body was still obscured by shadow, but Mangetsu Hozuki had no trouble making out the person’s face and build.
Probably a bit taller than himself, dark-skinned, slender build…
Of course, none of that was the point.
The point was he didn’t know this person.
“You are?” Mangetsu Hozuki paused, then asked again, “Why were you following us?”
The newcomer bared his teeth in a grin showing two rows of sharp teeth and placed his hand on the hilt of the blade behind his back.
“This great lord’s name is Zabuza Momochi. Remember the name that will send you to hell.”
“…”
Don’t know him.
But this guy looks like he has some skill.
Mangetsu Hozuki grew cautious.
After his experience with Yagura Karatachi, he now faced every opponent with incomplete intel with 12 points of vigilance.
Especially since this person seemed very confident he could take him down.
Mangetsu Hozuki grumbled bitterly to himself.
“This guy isn’t another Lightning Release shinobi, is he. Are Lightning Release shinobi all over the place in Kirigakure now.”
Knowing the Hozuki clan’s weakness isn’t scary.
Knowing Lightning Release isn’t scary.
What’s scary is someone who knows both Lightning Release and the weakness of the Hozuki clan’s Hydrification Technique!
➤ Next: Dark Skin, Dark Hair, Spiky Head — Remember the Name Zabuza Momochi