Slipping Hand

"I didn't expect someone as cute as you to have such a cruel heart!" Seeing his companion die, a Konoha shinobi forced back his opponent and seized a moment to breathe before shouting at Mei Terumi.

"I'm a shinobi, a Kirigakure shinobi. Does being cute mean I can't kill people? What kind of logic is that?"

"What's more, as a Kirigakure shinobi, isn't it only natural for me to kill you enemy Konoha shinobi?" Mei Terumi shot him a mocking glance while quietly sweeping her eyes across the battlefield in search of her next target.

"Er..."

The three Konoha shinobi were all rendered speechless.

At first, they had felt that seeing such a cute girl smile as she committed the cruel act of killing was somewhat jarring.

But after hearing her make her position clear, they finally realized that the child wasn't merely a cute girl. She was also a Kirigakure shinobi!

Their enemy! The kind of enemy where only one side could survive!

Then killing them was only natural.

It was just that they found it difficult to accept their companion dying at the hands of such a cute girl.

On the other side, Qi Shuang, who was fighting a Konoha shinobi, had also witnessed the entire process of Mei Terumi defeating her opponent.

Although he was deeply impressed by the success of Mei Terumi's "beauty trap," it was an innate advantage that came with being a cute girl. No matter how envious he was, there was nothing he could do about it.

What depressed him most was that the Konoha shinobi had actually fallen for it!

He had even become distracted because of a girl barely ten years old!

If Mei Terumi had been an adult, possessing the peerless beauty she had when she appeared in the original story, he would have had no doubt about her charm. But the Mei Terumi before him was only around ten, nothing more than a cute little girl.

He really couldn't see what charm this version of Mei Terumi possessed that could make an adult man lose focus.

Could that guy actually be a lolicon? Qi Shuang couldn't help making the malicious guess.

Immediately afterward, he suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart, gripped his Kunai, and engaged his opponent in another exchange.

After all, this place had become a chaotic battlefield, and new enemies could appear at any moment.

To ensure he retained the ability to respond to enemies at any time, he had to control his chakra consumption.

On top of that, his ninjutsu were still only half-baked. Since it was difficult for him to kill with one strike, he didn't intend to use ninjutsu casually and planned to rely only on taijutsu.

Perhaps because he had gone through quite a few hard battles earlier and was greatly depleted, the Konoha shinobi adopted the same strategy. He didn't release ninjutsu casually either, fighting Qi Shuang only with taijutsu.

Unfortunately, because he had already experienced a major battle, the man was panting heavily, his steps unsteady. His strength and speed were not much greater than Qi Shuang's.

Ordinarily, given an adult's physique, fighting a child of around ten with taijutsu should have been completely one-sided. But now, the man could only suppress Qi Shuang.

Completely ending the battle was still a distant prospect.

Clang!

The crisp sound of Kunai colliding rang through the air.

Borrowing the force of their collision, Qi Shuang retreated two steps and taunted the man, "You're about to die!"

The Konoha shinobi cautiously glanced at the little girl in the distance, who was waiting for a chance to act, and refused to back down. "When she makes her move, that'll be when I take you with me to hell!"

After the first companion died, the little girl had remained motionless in the middle of the battlefield.

But everyone knew that she was merely waiting for an opportunity to strike—an opportunity to kill them all in one blow.

In other words, when the little girl acted again, their second companion would die.

This was also one of the reasons the few of them had slowed their attacks and didn't dare go all out against the three Kirigakure shinobi.

Otherwise, it would be easy for an irreparable opening to appear.

And that kind of result could only mean certain death!

"You want to die with me? I don't think you'll get the chance!" Qi Shuang shook his index finger at the man.

Suddenly, the corner of his eye fell on his Kunai, and he came up with a plan. He then exclaimed in "surprise," "Oh no, the blade of this Kunai is a little dull. I'll switch to another one before fighting you again!"

As he spoke, he cautiously kept an eye on the man while reaching his other hand toward the Kunai in the tool pouch at his lower back.

Just as Qi Shuang was preparing to change the Kunai in his hand, the Konoha shinobi across from him became fully alert.

Although changing weapons was perfectly reasonable, as a veteran of the battlefield, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was suspicious.

There was never any harm in being cautious.

At that moment, he saw the little boy across from him pull out a new Kunai. But as he tried to transfer it to his other, dominant hand, something went wrong.

Perhaps he was nervous because this was his first time witnessing such a battlefield, or perhaps the earlier taijutsu exchange had left sweat on his palm. The boy failed to hold the new Kunai securely, and it accidentally slipped from his hand.

"Ah, my Kunai!"

Apparently caught off guard as well, the little boy cried out in surprise. He instinctively shifted his gaze away from the man and hurriedly bent down to grab the Kunai.

An opening!

His heart leaped with joy. He immediately charged forward during the instant his opponent lowered his head.

On the other side, Mei Terumi, who had been keeping watch over the battlefield, couldn't help cursing when she saw this. "What an idiot! How can he not even hold a Kunai properly?"

"So what if he dropped it? Why are you picking it up?"

She truly hadn't expected Qi Shuang to make such a fatal mistake when the situation was overwhelmingly favorable.

But no matter how much she cursed or how angry she was, she couldn't possibly stand by and watch him die.

She stomped her foot and immediately charged over.

She hoped to save Qi Shuang's life.

The other two Konoha shinobi also noticed what was happening. They secretly rejoiced, immediately intensifying their attacks and cutting off any chance for their respective opponents to provide aid.

Just as the Konoha shinobi raised his Kunai high and brought it down toward Qi Shuang's head, a teasing voice reached his ears.

"Fooled you, idiot!"

The next moment, he saw the opponent in front of him roll away without even raising his head, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike.

At the same time, he saw an Explosive Tag burning on the Kunai that had slipped from the little boy's hand.

"Damn it!"

Without hesitation, he pushed off the ground and immediately tried to spring backward.

Fortunately, he had only used seventy percent of his strength earlier and hadn't committed to the attack with everything he had. Otherwise, there would have been no chance of escape.

Boom!

The explosive Kunai detonated!

The blinding firelight dazzled his eyes, and a powerful shock wave wrapped in billowing smoke came rushing over.

In the end, he still failed to escape the blast's range completely and was sent flying by the explosion.

Just as he flew out of the smoke screen, another cold voice reached his ears.

"I told you, you're going to die!"

He forced his eyes open. The light from the close-range explosion had left his vision somewhat blurry, but he could still see the small, thin figure of the little boy catching up from the side.