The Actor

"You're far too confident!"

A cold voice came from his companion. To his astonishment, white smoke rose from the battered companion's body, revealing a short figure.

It was Qi Shuang.

"You... you... you... How is this possible..." The Konoha ninja on the ground stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

By now, how could he not understand? The "companion" who had nearly blown him to death just now was not one of his own at all, but the Mist brat transformed with the Transformation Jutsu.

It was the Mist Genin who should have died at the hands of his companion!

Turning back to the moment after the explosion, when the sound of hurried footsteps appeared on the battlefield.

"You killed that guy?" Kamiya Ki quietly approached the newcomer and asked in surprise.

Although the thick fog reduced visibility to almost zero, as the caster, he was completely unaffected by it.

When he heard the sudden footsteps, he had already sensed from afar that the newcomer was his subordinate, Qi Shuang.

"Shh!"

Qi Shuang raised a finger to his lips, pointed toward the other side of the thick fog, and whispered, "I'm happy to report that I completed the mission. I got lucky and killed that guy."

Then he asked, "Teacher, how are things on your side?"

Kamiya Ki sighed helplessly. "Our abilities are about equal. Although I have the upper hand thanks to the Mist Technique, it'll still take some time to truly deal with him."

Hearing this, Qi Shuang glanced toward the other side of the fog again. His eyes shifted, and an idea immediately occurred to him.

He lowered his voice. "Teacher, you can see through this fog and know that I've arrived, but that guy can't."

"He'll probably think I was killed by that Konoha ninja. Why don't I turn his plan against him? I'll transform into his companion, approach him, and then look for a chance to strike!"

"Mm!"

Kamiya Ki nodded gleefully. "That's a good plan! If you attack while disguised as his companion, he definitely won't be on guard!"

With his teacher's approval, Qi Shuang immediately formed hand seals and used the Transformation Jutsu, taking on the appearance of the Konoha ninja he had just killed.

"To make this look more convincing and keep him from getting suspicious, attack me now, Teacher, and draw him over to support me." Qi Shuang, now disguised as the enemy, added in a hoarse voice.

"Good!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kamiya Ki vanished back into the thick fog.

When the sound of kunai clashing rang out, the two began acting out a chase.

Soon, the remaining Konoha ninja heard his companion's urgent cries for help.

Everything went according to plan. Qi Shuang reached the other man without a hitch, and while pretending to shove him away from Kamiya Ki's sneak attack, he stuck an Explosive Tag to the man's back.

Using the power of the Explosive Tag, he gravely wounded him in one stroke!

Seeing the man's disbelief, Qi Shuang gave him a cold look and sneered, "Just because you're a Chunin, does that mean you can kill a Genin one hundred percent of the time?"

"You people thought far too little of me, and far too highly of yourselves!"

A Chunin was certainly stronger than a Genin, but they were all made of flesh and blood. Once someone's vital point was struck, they would die.

It wouldn't change simply because one was a Chunin and the other was a Genin.

The true difference between them was that a Chunin, being stronger, was more likely to strike a Genin's vital point, while the reverse was true for a Genin.

Therefore, if a Chunin was struck in a vital spot by a Genin, he would die all the same!

"You... you... you..."

Hearing his taunt, the man was so furious that he spat out another mouthful of blood. He was already breathing out far more than he was breathing in.

Qi Shuang turned to Kamiya Ki and said solemnly, "Teacher, two of them are still missing, but I'm afraid they can't have failed to notice the noise from this battle."

"To prevent complications, I think we should kill him and leave as soon as possible! If we delay, it could become troublesome!"

"That guy who killed Natsuki in one strike... I feel that he's extremely dangerous!"

Although he had only seen him briefly, Qi Shuang felt that among the four Konoha ninjas, that man was by far the most dangerous.

He was very likely a powerful ninja on the level of a Jonin!

A ninja's rank wasn't like a level in a game. It represented their own abilities and the recognition they had received from others.

Following the laws of nature, the higher a ninja's rank, the stronger they were—but such experts were also increasingly rare.

The gap between each rank also became more and more obvious.

Qi Shuang still had the courage to fight a Chunin, but against a Jonin, he truly had no confidence.

The disparity in hard power was simply too great. No amount of wisdom could make up for it.

If Kamiya Ki, a Chunin, faced such an existence, he might still be able to exchange a couple of blows and possibly survive. But as a Genin, Qi Shuang's odds of survival would be infinitely close to zero.

The most likely outcome was for him to be killed in one strike, just like Natsuki earlier!

Kamiya Ki looked at his young subordinate in surprise, then walked over to the Konoha ninja who was barely clinging to life. He slowly said, "Your intuition is right. That guy really is dangerous!"

As he spoke, he drew his Kunai and aimed it at his opponent's neck.

Perhaps because his injuries from the explosion were too severe, the Konoha ninja desperately opened his mouth and tried to beg for mercy. Unfortunately, he couldn't utter a single complete word and could only make hoarse, "Ah, ah" sounds.

Then, under his terrified gaze, Kamiya Ki brought down the Kunai cleanly and sliced his throat in an instant.

"If that idiot hadn't been careless enough to get killed by a Genin brat..."

"If we had chosen to intercept them up ahead instead of tracking them from behind..."

"If we hadn't chosen to hunt them down in the first place..."

"If... if..."

Scene after scene from his life replayed before his eyes like a lantern show. After struggling several times, the second Konoha ninja's pupils rapidly dilated, and he unwillingly swallowed his final breath.

"I thought all ninjas faced death without fear!" Qi Shuang shook his head as he watched his opponent's fingers gradually loosen.

Although he hadn't clearly heard what the man was saying, judging from his expression and lip movements, he had probably been begging for mercy.

Kamiya Ki wiped the blood from his Kunai on the man's clothes and said helplessly, "When the woods are big enough, every kind of bird can be found!"

"Besides, when facing a crisis of life and death, how many people can truly remain unmoved?"

"Everyone has selfish desires. Being afraid of death isn't shameful!"

"What's shameful is what you're willing to do for that 'life.'"

As he spoke, he gave his young subordinate a solemn look.

"I don't know!"

Qi Shuang answered without hesitation.

He was very afraid of death, and his desire to survive was extremely strong. He knew that perfectly well.

If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have used two consecutive Water Clones to confuse his opponent earlier.

However, he also knew that sometimes, "survival" couldn't represent everything.

Therefore, he might resort to any means for the sake of survival, or he might abandon survival for something else.

That was why he didn't know what he would ultimately do when that moment came.