The Back

"What's your name, brat? Cough, cough, cough!" The Konoha ninja, barely clinging to his last breath, knelt on the water's surface and asked with difficulty, turning his head.

"My name is Qi Shuang!" Qi Shuang replied expressionlessly.

Facing a dying man, he didn't mind granting him a final act of mercy.

"Good... very good..."

Upon hearing his answer, the man slowly turned his head, as if his dying wish had been fulfilled. He exhaled his last breath, his chakra no longer under control. His body sank into the river water, seemingly slowly but actually quickly, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Nothing remained to prove he had ever existed, except for the increasingly faint crimson flowers in the water.

"Is this what killing feels like?" Qi Shuang finally raised his trembling hands after the other man had completely vanished.

His arms were covered in mottled bloodstains, the marks left behind after a flower of life had withered.

This was the first person he had killed with his own hands.

Although he knew this day would come after becoming a ninja and had prepared himself mentally, he still found it difficult to come to terms with it when the moment actually arrived.

He had taken a vibrant life just like that.

However, he had no choice. This was a battlefield, not a sparring match.

Only by killing the other person could he survive.

If he had shown a moment of softness and let the other person go, he didn't know if his mercy would be met with the same in return.

He was unwilling to gamble on the enemy's mercy, even if that person came from a place he held special feelings for, Konoha.

Only dead enemies put his mind at ease.

He convinced himself of this, forcing himself to calm the unease that came with killing.

Meanwhile, the remaining Konoha ninja was struggling under Kamiya Ki's assault. This made Kamiya Ki, who was eager to kill the other person and rush to Qi Shuang's aid, extremely anxious.

"Did you hear that explosion just now?"

The Konoha ninja, while cautiously defending himself, taunted, "Perhaps your little subordinate has already been blown to smithereens by my comrade!"

"I suggest you run for your life!"

"If my comrade comes back, we'll have a two-on-one situation, and you won't be able to leave even if you want to!"

He tried his best to shake the other's mental defenses, hoping to delay the assault, to stall for time; or perhaps to scare him away and resolve his current crisis.

As long as his comrade killed that brat and returned to reinforce him, everything would be resolved.

Hearing this, Kamiya Ki, hidden in the dense fog, couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety.

Qi Shuang was merely a newly graduated Genin, while his opponent was a Chunin-level Konoha ninja. Just holding him off was already a struggle.

He didn't believe Qi Shuang had any chance of winning.

Some time had already passed, and based on his assessment of Genin, surviving under a Chunin for this long was already the limit.

Furthermore, there had been no further sounds from that direction after the explosion, filling him with a sense of foreboding.

"Could it be that the kid is really dead?" he couldn't help but wonder.

After his speech, the Kirigakure ninja's assault immediately stopped. The Konoha ninja's heart filled with joy.

"It seems my words had an effect!" he smirked.

As long as they maintained this stalemate until his comrade returned, their victory would be assured.

He didn't believe that brat, barely at Genin level, could have killed his Chunin comrade.

Just then, a rustling sound of footsteps came from the dense fog.

He shouted excitedly, "Did you take care of that brat?"

"Yes, I did!"

A slightly hoarse voice replied from within the mist.

"What happened to your voice?" he asked in surprise.

From the other side of the fog, the hoarse voice slowly said, "That brat tried to take me down with him using Explosive Tags. Fortunately, I was alert and kept a close eye, managing to escape!"

"However, because the distance was too close, I couldn't completely avoid it, and my throat was affected by the smoke!"

"Oh! So that's what happened!" His mind was filled with understanding.

He had indeed heard an explosion earlier; it turned out the brat had wanted to die together with him.

Clang!

A familiar sound of metal colliding echoed. Someone else was fighting.

Just then, an urgent cry from his comrade came from the direction of the fog.

"Hurry up and come help me, I'm seriously injured! That big guy attacked me!"

Immediately after, continuous sounds of metal clashing came from the fog.

It turned out that the remaining Kirigakure ninja was taking advantage of his comrade's injury to launch a fierce assault, attempting to kill one of them before they could regroup.

"No wonder there was no movement from him after hearing us communicate," he thought to himself.

Without a doubt, he immediately rushed in that direction and called back loudly, "Wait for me, I'm coming!"

As he got closer to the source of the fighting, he saw a figure covered in blood, desperately fending off unseen attacks from the dense fog.

Clang!

He quickly reached his companion's side, immediately blocking another attack from a Kirigakure Ninja for him, and asked loudly, "Are you alright?"

"Still not dead! It's just that with only the two of us, I'm afraid we can't take down the remaining one! We can barely defend ourselves!" his companion replied somewhat dejectedly.

"It's fine, as long as we wait for those two..."

"Careful!"

Before he could finish speaking, his companion shoved him away, making him stumble and nearly fall headfirst to the ground.

"You're trying to get me killed!" Steadying himself, he immediately turned back and cursed.

When facing the possibility of an enemy ambushing at any moment, any slip-up could lead to his death.

If the person in the fog had seized that moment to attack, he might have died.

Therefore, he was somewhat relieved that the person in the fog hadn't taken the opportunity during that moment.

Otherwise, he would have almost been killed by his own comrade.

Strangely, the moment he turned his head, he saw his companion quickly retreat and immediately disappear into the dense fog, swallowed from sight.

"You..."

Just as he was about to say something, a sudden premonition struck him, and an extremely dangerous aura came from behind him.

Boom!

Just as he was preparing to turn around, an explosion suddenly occurred behind him. A powerful shockwave transmitted into his chest, making his limbs go numb and immediately blowing him away.

Caught completely off guard, he was immediately blasted to the ground by the close-range explosion.

Immediately after, the surrounding dense fog rapidly dissipated at a visible speed, vanishing completely in just a few breaths.

Lying on the ground, he struggled to lift his head and looked at his "companion" not far away, asking indignantly, "You... you... why... why..."

That sudden explosion had happened right behind him.

The Kirigakure Ninja hidden in the fog hadn't touched his back; only his companion had touched his back just now. Without a doubt, it was his companion who had set him up.