Inverse Scale

"I had to think of a way to make this guy take my ice needles head-on!" Watching the figure flee at high speed, Qi Shuang furrowed his brow.

Just then, inspiration struck, and he thought of something—dogs!

The Inuzuka Clan was Konoha's famous beast-taming clan, and its members excelled at secret techniques involving coordination with Ninja Hounds.

As a result, they were usually inseparable, always moving together.

They were like a supreme swordsman and the sword in his hand—neither person nor sword ever leaving the other.

Thus, to Inuzuka ninjas, a Ninja Hound was their other half, an indispensable part of their lives.

And the opponent before Qi Shuang was an Inuzuka clan member, yet no Ninja Hound followed him. That was extremely abnormal.

The possibility that his Ninja Hound was hiding nearby, preparing to launch a surprise attack, was minuscule.

After all, ever since their earlier encounter with the four Konoha shinobi, Qi Shuang had not seen a single Ninja Hound.

This meant that his opponent's Ninja Hound was not by his side at all.

And given how important Ninja Hounds were to the Inuzuka clan, there could only be one reason it was absent: the Ninja Hound had died!

Because even if they were sick or injured and unable to fight, Inuzuka clan members would never leave their side.

Besides, this was wartime, and death was commonplace.

Yet this opponent of his had taken part in the battle without bringing his Ninja Hound.

There was a ninety percent chance that his partner, the Ninja Hound, had already died!

At that thought, Qi Shuang immediately came up with a plan.

He abruptly halted the ice needles that were about to descend from midair and called out with a smile, "Hey, you from the Inuzuka Clan! I have a question for you!"

Noticing that no more ice needles were falling behind him, the Inuzuka ninja immediately stopped as well and carefully sniffed the air again.

Sensing that plenty of chakra fluctuations still lingered in the air and that the other party's technique had not been completely released, he did not dare approach recklessly. Instead, he stood where he was and replied cautiously, "What do you want to ask?"

Under these circumstances, the other party actually still had the presence of mind to question him, so he could not help feeling curious.

"Aren't you Inuzuka always inseparable from your dogs, with the dogs inseparable from you? Where's your Ninja Hound?" Qi Shuang asked with feigned surprise.

At those words, the Inuzuka ninja's face immediately fell, and he said coldly, "I can kill you even without it!"

Seeing this, Qi Shuang instantly knew that his guess had been right.

Then, he suddenly raised his voice.

"Don't tell me... it died on the battlefield?"

The Inuzuka ninja clenched his fists. His icy gaze swept over Qi Shuang, and his murderous intent gained a hint of anger.

"I bet your Ninja Hound was raised too fat! Your opponent spotted it at a glance, and then it ended up in someone else's dog-meat hot pot! Hahaha!" Qi Shuang laughed without the slightest restraint.

The Inuzuka ninja froze for a moment when he heard this. Then his mind buzzed, as if a pot of water had begun boiling.

Murderous intent and rage churned together, nearly blowing his skull apart!

"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you! I absolutely must kill you!"

At that moment, only one thought remained in his heart.

That was to kill the other party!

At any cost, he would kill that foul-mouthed Mist ninja brat!

"Good, good!"

Seeing his opponent's furious appearance, Qi Shuang curled up the corners of his mouth. His provocation had worked.

At present, the only way he could think of to make his opponent attack him recklessly was to provoke him!

Everyone had a certain place in their heart that was off-limits to others and could not be touched.

As the ancient saying went, a dragon had inverse scales, and touching them meant certain death.

Just as Sasuke's inverse scale was Itachi and Naruto's inverse scale was Sasuke.

As long as those two people were mentioned in front of them, with a little goading, they would lose all reason and become crazed.

And now, all Qi Shuang needed to do was touch the inverse scale of this Inuzuka ninja to achieve the same goal.

Although he did not know his opponent personally, he knew very well that all Inuzuka clan members shared one common inverse scale: their Ninja Hounds!

Speaking ill of a Ninja Hound in front of its owner was already enough to make people hate you.

Now he had even mocked the other party's deceased partner, talking about eating dog meat and the like. That was no different from trampling on the remains of someone's family or friends.

The Inuzuka ninja's hatred for him had probably reached an unimaginable level.

He likely wanted nothing more than to skin Qi Shuang, tear out his tendons, drink his blood, and eat his flesh!

A head-on clash was about to begin!

Then he deliberately smacked his lips and licked the corner of his mouth before continuing to provoke him. "Speaking of dog meat, the flavor is truly delicious! I haven't eaten dog in a long time..."

Before he could finish, an enraged roar came from across the way.

"Fang Over Fang"

Filled with hatred and fury, the Inuzuka ninja locked onto the hazy figure opposite him. He spun his waist and transformed into a small gray cone of wind that stabbed straight toward Qi Shuang.

As for whether the opponent's ice needles would injure him and make his victory look less impressive, he no longer cared.

His heart held only one thought: tear the other party to pieces.

"Come on!"

"Go!"

Seeing his opponent charge, Qi Shuang hurriedly dodged to the side while controlling the small portion of ice needles remaining in midair and shooting them rapidly forward.

Clang, clang, clang!

The instant his ice needles came into contact with the gray cone of wind, nearly half of them were instantly shredded. The rest were either knocked away or deflected by the vortex of air generated by his opponent's rapid rotation. Not a single one could pierce into the cone of wind.

"As expected, is the hardness of my ice still too poor?" Qi Shuang furrowed his brow at the sight.

Fortunately, all these attacks had merely been feints. His true killing move was still to come.

Whoosh!

The gray cone of wind grazed past him. He felt a chill along his arm, followed by a scorching pain shooting up to his scalp.

When he looked more closely, a palm-sized patch of skin had already been scraped from his arm!

Blood gushed out, and the pain made his upper and lower teeth chatter.

The gray cone of wind landed on the surface of the water and slowly dispersed. The Inuzuka ninja crouched on the water with bloodshot eyes, already assuming the posture of a beast preparing to hunt.

"Go!"

At the same time, the moment he emerged from the gray cone of wind, Qi Shuang endured the pain in his arm and controlled the last few ice needles in the thick fog overhead, sending them shooting toward his target.

Thud, thud!

Several muffled sounds rang out, and several ice needles pierced the Inuzuka ninja's body.

He had sensed the ice needles just before they arrived, but his opponent had timed the attack too perfectly, leaving him no chance to dodge.

Or rather, consumed by fury and hatred, he had not even thought of dodging at that moment.

He had known from the beginning that the opponent's ice needle attack was weak and could only cause superficial injuries.

He only wanted to tear the opponent apart with an unstoppable attack and vent his rage and hatred.

"Brat, your attack is far too weak! You aren't even qualified to scratch an itch for me!"

"Now, please go die!"

Beast Mimicry Technique: Four Legs Jutsu

Without bothering to pull out the ice needles in his body, he rapidly activated the technique that enhanced his physical abilities and pounced at the detestable Mist ninja brat again, intent on seizing the opportunity when the opponent had exhausted his ice needles and killing him at once.