One Falls First

Kushimaru Kuriarare, wielding Nuibari, had just shouted for everyone to join forces against Uchiha Daiki when his entire body suddenly shuddered and froze in place.

Two beads of cold sweat slowly slid down his cheeks as his eyes strained to glance behind him.

"Were you talking about dealing with me?"

Uchiha Daiki's amused voice came from behind him, sending a chill down Kushimaru Kuriarare's spine.

Every hair on his body stood on end at that moment.

But Kushimaru Kuriarare, battle-hardened and bloodthirsty as he was, was no ordinary opponent. After his brief shock, he immediately reacted and decisively struck back, using Chakra to control the steel wire attached to Nuibari and attack the enemy behind him.

With a whoosh, Nuibari, thin as a steel needle, instantly pierced through Uchiha Daiki's body behind him.

"Looks like you let your guard down."

Seeing that he had actually landed a hit, Kushimaru Kuriarare was pleasantly surprised, and his tone relaxed as well.

But the next second, his pupils suddenly contracted.

"What?"

Kushimaru Kuriarare watched as the "Uchiha Daiki" struck by Nuibari slowly faded away.

"An afterimage..."

He finally seemed to realize that disaster was about to befall him.

His body stiffened as he stood there blankly, staring at the empty ground before him as though he had already lost the will to fight.

Sure enough, Uchiha Daiki appeared behind him once more, as silent as a ghost.

Just as he was about to attack Kushimaru Kuriarare, the latter suddenly leaped forward.

As he spun around in midair to face Uchiha Daiki, he grinned viciously. "You fell for it!"

At the same time, he formed hand seals. "Blade Ninjutsu: Earth Spider Stitch!"

In an instant, the ground beneath Uchiha Daiki's feet split open, and thin steel wires emerged around his feet. Then, with lightning speed, those sharp wires wrapped around both of Uchiha Daiki's legs.

"You're finished."

"You little Uchiha brat!"

Kushimaru Kuriarare grinned wickedly again, his face filled with the smug confidence of someone whose scheme had succeeded.

With a slight exertion of his hand, all the steel wires began to tighten. They not only firmly pinned Uchiha Daiki's feet to the ground, but continued constricting further.

Unless something unexpected happened, Uchiha Daiki's feet would be sliced off here by those sharp steel wires.

But Kushimaru Kuriarare had no intention of stopping there.

He continued controlling Nuibari in his hand, launching a Surprise Attack at Uchiha Daiki and driving it toward his heart.

He was attacking from two directions, clearly determined to take his opponent's life.

"This is bad!"

Watching from afar, Might Duy's heart clenched, and he was about to intervene.

But with a glance, he saw the remaining Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist eyeing this side like tigers watching their prey.

If he left to help that young Uchiha, the three little brats behind him would certainly be in danger.

For a moment, Might Duy was torn.

He opened his mouth, intending to tell Might Guy, Ebisu, and Genma Shiranui to retreat immediately while he stayed behind to help the young Uchiha.

But at that moment, blood sprayed.

The steel wires the enemy had planted underground all twisted together, severing everything below Uchiha Daiki's legs into several pieces.

The bloody, brutal sight made Might Duy's heart tighten again.

Might Guy and the other two trembled all over at the sight, furious and terrified.

But just when they thought Uchiha Daiki had truly been injured by the enemy, Kushimaru Kuriarare's body suddenly jolted for some unknown reason.

His head tilted slightly upward, and he stared in stunned disbelief as if he had seen a ghost.

His hands and feet spread apart slightly, as though something had restrained his entire body and left him unable to move.

Seeing such a strange scene, Might Duy, Might Guy, and the others all looked puzzled.

Everything had happened too quickly.

The situation had changed in the blink of an eye.

Before they could figure out what had happened, the remaining Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had already rushed toward Kushimaru Kuriarare.

Their target was not Kushimaru Kuriarare, but Uchiha Daiki behind him, who had pierced Kushimaru Kuriarare's heart from behind with a kunai.

"You're the one who let your guard down, aren't you?"

Uchiha Daiki's voice was cold, with a trace of amusement.

As he spoke, he completely ignored the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist rushing toward him at high speed. Instead, he drove the kunai in his hand in even harder.

With a squelch.

The sharp kunai, over twenty centimeters long, plunged into the opponent's body all the way to the hilt.

Its tip pierced out through Kushimaru Kuriarare's chest, directly through his heart.

"Urgh..."

Kushimaru Kuriarare opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of blood.

His eyes still held a trace of disbelief and unwillingness.

"Did you use the Body Flicker Technique... Such speed."

Kushimaru Kuriarare's body began to tremble, and his breathing became ragged.

He asked Uchiha Daiki in a shaking voice.

Even now, he still did not understand how Uchiha Daiki had escaped after clearly being restrained by his steel wires.

Nor how he had appeared behind him so quickly and silently.

"Ask the King of Hell. Perhaps he knows the answer."

Uchiha Daiki casually sent Kushimaru Kuriarare flying with a kick. The kunai slipped free from his opponent's body as he turned to face Juzo Biwa, who was charging at him.

The latter arrived before him at that very moment, swinging Kubikiribōchō mercilessly at Uchiha Daiki's neck.

The powerful horizontal sweep of Kubikiribōchō was enough to split rock and sever steel.

Yet at that moment, it was easily blocked by the kunai in Uchiha Daiki's hand.

However, the recoil still sent Uchiha Daiki flying sideways, straight into an attack from another of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Raiga Kurosuki.

"Lightning Release: Thunder Fang!"

Raiga Kurosuki had been closely watching Uchiha Daiki's movements.

When he saw his opponent flying toward him, the eyes fixed on him suddenly turned an eerie crimson, their pupils changing into a strange shape. He immediately launched his attack.

The Lightning Release he had long prepared erupted through the crossed Lightning Blade: Fang in his hands.

In an instant, a thunderstorm-like shockwave spread in every direction, blazing with dazzling light.

Part of it passed directly through Uchiha Daiki's body.

The expected sight of his opponent being pierced by his Lightning Release and blasted apart to the bone never appeared.

Instead, at that very moment, Raiga Kurosuki realized that he seemed to have fallen under a genjutsu.