It Ended the Moment I Turned Around!

Boom!

A cloud of white smoke exploded in front of Raijin Maki's abdomen and vanished in an instant.

As the white smoke dispersed, a head of black hair spilled down. Several strands struck the rigid lightning blade and were severed instantly, fluttering down to lie silently on the ground.

As the strands fell, the pair of pale eyes beneath the hanging black hair slowly glanced toward her upper right. Yukina bit her cherry lips, then slowly swallowed. A drop of blood trickled down from her smooth right temple, ran across her delicate brow bone, and fell from the tip of her eyebrow with a faint pat onto the sand-like ground, blackened by the blast, before those Kumogakure ninja sandals.

"Crackle... crackle... crackle..."

As the blood droplet fell, the electricity coursing over her body and the crackling lightning blade slowly weakened until they disappeared.

Thud!

As the lightning blade's glow faded, the left hand that had been held horizontally just a millimeter before her temple slowly dropped, striking the left knee opposite it.

Clang!

At the same time, a gleaming Ninja Sword fell from beyond her right shoulder, landing at the boundary between the grass and the sand-like soil scarred by the explosion before finally coming to rest on the grassy side.

Tap!

Yukina felt the weight on her left shoulder lift, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Then came a familiar fit of coughing.

"Yukina, are you all right?!"

At that moment, another familiar voice rang out. A pair of hands gently held her shoulders, steadied her, and guided her backward, away from the old Kumogakure ninja in front of her.

A warm hand radiating a soft pale green glow pressed against her temple. The pain from the scraped skin there immediately vanished.

"I'm