Slipping Hand

"I didn't expect you to be so cute, yet so cruel!" Seeing his comrade die, a Konoha ninja broke away from his opponent, gaining a moment's respite, and shouted at Mei Terumi.

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

"What's more, as a ninja of Kirigakure, isn't it only natural that I kill you lot, enemy Konoha ninja?" Mei Terumi gave him a mocking glance, while subtly scanning the surroundings for her next target.

"Uh..."

Hearing this, the three Konoha ninja were left speechless.

Originally, they felt it was a bit incongruous for such a cute girl to smile while doing something as cruel as killing.

But after hearing her clarify her stance, they finally realized that the child was not just a cute girl, but also a ninja from Kirigakure!

She was their enemy! One where only one side could survive!

Killing was, therefore, only natural.

It was just that their hearts couldn't accept that their comrades had died at the hands of such a cute girl.

Meanwhile, Qi Shuang, who was fighting a Konoha ninja, had also witnessed Mei Terumi's entire exchange with her opponent.

Although he marveled at the success of Mei Terumi's "honey trap," he knew it was an inherent advantage of being a cute girl, and his envy was useless.

What frustrated him the most was that the Konoha ninja had actually fallen for it!

He was actually so distracted by a girl around ten years old!

If Mei Terumi were already an adult, possessing the peerless charm she had in the original story, he wouldn't doubt her allure at all. But the Mei Terumi before him was only about ten years old, a simply adorable little girl.

He really didn't think such a Mei Terumi could have any charm to make an adult male lose his composure.

"Could it be that guy is actually a lolicon?" Qi Shuang couldn't help but maliciously speculate.

Immediately after, he suppressed the杂念 in his heart, gripped his kunai, and engaged his opponent once more.

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

To ensure he could always respond to threats, he had to control his chakra consumption.

Furthermore, his ninjutsu were still half-baked, making it difficult to achieve a one-hit kill. Thus, he didn't use ninjutsu lightly, intending to rely on taijutsu.

Perhaps due to having gone through many tough battles earlier and expending a lot of energy, the Konoha ninja adopted the same strategy as him, not releasing ninjutsu easily and engaging only in taijutsu.

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

Originally, with an adult's physique, a taijutsu match against a ten-year-old child should have been one-sided. But now, he was merely suppressing Qi Shuang.

The prospect of ending the battle completely was nowhere in sight.

Clang!

The crisp sound of colliding kunai echoed through the air.

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

The Konoha ninja cautiously glanced at the little girl not far away, who was preparing to strike, and retorted, "When she makes her move, it will be my time to drag you to hell with me!"

Ever since the first comrade died, the little girl had stood in the arena without moving.

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

In other words, when the little girl made her move again, it would be the time when their second comrade died.

This was also one of the reasons why they had slowed down their attacks and dared not go all out against the three Kirigakure ninja, maintaining a stalemate.

Because doing so could easily lead to irreversible mistakes.

Such a result would only lead to a dead end!

"You want to take me down with you? I don't think you have that chance!" Qi Shuang wagged his index finger at the man.

Suddenly, his peripheral vision landed on his kunai, and he had an idea. He then "surprised" and said, "Oh dear, the edge of this kunai is a bit dull. Let me switch to another one before we continue!"

As he said this, he carefully guarded against the man while reaching out with his other hand to his ninja tool pouch on his lower back for another kunai.

Just as Qi Shuang was preparing to switch his kunai, the Konoha ninja opposite him became extremely alert.

Although changing weapons was not unusual, as a veteran on the battlefield, he felt something was amiss.

Being cautious would never hurt.

Just then, he saw the little boy opposite him take out a new kunai, but an accident occurred as he prepared to switch it to his dominant hand.

Perhaps it was nervousness from experiencing such a battlefield for the first time, or perhaps his palms were sweaty from the previous taijutsu exchange, but he didn't hold the new kunai firmly and accidentally let it slip from his grasp.

"Ah, my kunai!"

As if surprised himself, the little boy cried out and instinctively shifted his gaze away from the man, quickly lowering his head to catch the kunai.

"Opening!"

His heart leaped with joy. Seizing the moment the opponent looked down, he immediately charged forward.

On the other side, Mei Terumi, who was constantly monitoring the battlefield, couldn't help but curse upon seeing this, "What an idiot, how can he not even hold onto a kunai properly!"

"It fell, so it fell! Why are you picking it up!"

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

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

She stomped her foot and immediately rushed over.

Hoping to save Qi Shuang's life.

The other two Konoha ninja noticed this and secretly rejoiced, immediately intensifying their attacks and cutting off any possibility of their opponents going to the rescue.

Just as the Konoha ninja raised his kunai, aiming to slash down at Qi Shuang's head, a mocking voice echoed in his ears.

"Just kidding, idiot!"

Immediately after, he saw his opponent in front of him roll away without even looking up, narrowly dodging his fatal blow.

At the same time, he also saw that a burning Explosive Tag was attached to the kunai that had slipped from the little boy's palm.

"Bastard!"

He pushed off the ground without hesitation, immediately intending to retreat.

Fortunately, he had only used seventy percent of his strength earlier and hadn't launched a full-power assault; otherwise, there would be no possibility of escape right now.

BOOM!

The kunai with the Explosive Tag detonated!

Blinding flames dazzled his eyes, and a powerful shockwave, along with smoke and dust, rolled towards him.

He still couldn't completely escape the explosion's radius and was sent flying by the shockwave.

As soon as he flew out of the smoke, a cold voice reached his ears again.

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

He forced his eyes open. His vision was still a bit blurry from the close-range flash, but he could still see the small figure of the little boy chasing him from the side.