The Ineffective Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain

"The fifth round of the U-17 team's First String shuffle battle against the junior high school students is now beginning. The First String representatives are No. 6 Ohmeguro Ryuji, and No. 2, Tanegashima Shuji."

Junior high school student representatives Sanada Genichiro and Akutsu Jin.

"Is Sanada really going to team up with Akutsu for doubles?"

"This match looks really serious..."

Upon hearing the referee announce that the match was about to begin, the middle school students were puzzled by the pairing of Sanada and Akutsu.

However, the referee had already finalized the starting lineup, and it was impossible to change it.

At the net, the two sides didn't exchange many words, only glancing at each other before turning around to prepare.

"The match officially begins, with Akutsu serving."

"High school students, you'll have to apologize to that guy."

Akutsu looked very serious as he looked at Tanegashima and Ohmeguro Ryuji standing opposite him.

Akutsu tossed the ball into the air, swung his racket, and went straight for the sweet spot.

Bang!

"Junior high school students score, 15:0"

A powerful serve results in a direct point.

"Oh? Not bad."

I heard you had a hiatus before, but you can't tell at all from your performance."

Tanegashima remained calm as he watched the ball fly past him.

"That's it, a good serve."

"Give them another hit, Akutsu."

"Don't tell me what to do."

In the middle school students' half of the court, Sanada, standing in the frontcourt, was very satisfied with Akutsu's serve.

Unmoved by Sanada's praise, Akutsu instead issued a warning to Sanada.

He then hit the ball from the sweet spot again, but this time Ohmeguro Ryuji caught the trajectory of the ball.

Seeing his serve returned, Akutsu moved and swung his forehand to hit a cross-court ball.

However, Ohmeguro Ryuji reacted quickly and positioned himself before the tennis ball hit the ground.

With Ohmeguro Ryuji's next swing, Akutsu's return was successfully defended.

Akutsu used his unique return motion, spinning several times in the air before using the spin to deliver an even more powerful shot.

"Your movements are quite interesting."

Tanegashima, noticing Akutsu's unusual behavior, couldn't help but tease him curiously.

Immediately after Akutsu hit a return shot that resembled a smash, Tanegashima lowered his racket, neutralizing the power of the smash.

Upon seeing the Lob Shot, Akutsu stopped moving and turned to look at Sanada.

"Aggressive as Fire!"

Facing an open ball, Sanada jumped immediately.

He unleashed a fiery smash, sending the tennis Smash Shot, carrying flames, hurtling towards the First String's half of the court.

"It's here! Sanada Vice President's evolved form Wind Forest Fire Mountain, is now known as Bursting Forest Fire Peak!"

Sanada, Kirihara from the sidelines, became excited upon seeing Sanada's focused expression.

However, Tanegashima didn't take such a powerful shot seriously at all.

He quickly moved to the landing point of the tennis ball and Tanegashima his racket to hit it.

When the tennis ball carrying flames touched Tanegashima's racket, the flames on the tennis ball immediately disappeared.

Bang!

"First String scores, 15:15"

The tennis ball only stayed on the racket for a second before Tanegashima returned it. Sanada didn't even have time to be surprised before the ball landed and scored a point.

"It seems this trick isn't working. Should we try something else?"

After scoring a point by retaliating against the Aggressive as Fire, Tanegashima said casually.

Sanada was somewhat surprised by this, after all, the evolved flame was much stronger than the previous fire.

However, Tanegashima was still able to easily retaliate, and Sanada's sense of crisis grew stronger.

" Its Swift as the Wind Storm!"

"Its speed is like a forest!"

"Moving Like Thunder!"

Bang!

"First String scores, 30:15"

Bang!

"First String scores, 40:15"

Bang!

"First String scores, score 1-0"

"Vice President Sanada's ultimate move didn't work!?"

After his Aggressive as Fire proved ineffective, Sanada then used Violence, Forest, and Lightning in succession.

However, Tanegashima easily defeated them all, especially with his final Moving Like Thunder.

Tanegashima's return shot knocked Sanada's racket away, and also put a huge strain on Sanada's wrist.

"Don't be surprised, it's the same principle as catching goldfish, so there's no ball I can't return."

Tanegashima's ability to counter Sanada's four ball techniques annoyed Sanada.

Especially after cracking it, Tanegashima still looked quite relaxed.

Akutsu's serve was broken, and Tanegashima gained possession of the ball.

On the baseline, Tanegashima is hitting a tennis ball.

Unlike others who only dribble a few times, Tanegashima dribbles continuously throughout the serve.

"Hey! When are you going to...?"

"They're here!"

Bang!

"First String scores, 15:0"

Tanegashima kept bouncing the ball, while Sanada on the opposite side gradually became agitated.

Just as Sanada was about to lose his temper, Tanegashima suddenly hit the ball, scoring a point directly with his serve.

As he listened to the referee's decision, Sanada's expression grew increasingly grim.

"Genichiro is wavering drastically; he has lost his composure."

"What should we do? That guy named Tanegashima seems really powerful."

Off the field, Yanagi and Kirihara observed Sanada's changes.

Bang!

"First String scores, score 2-0"

Bang!

"First String scores, score 3-0"

"Sanada, don't let yourself get caught up in their rhythm."

"Idiot! It's time to change the situation, Akutsu."

When the score reached 3-0, Akutsu finally lost his patience with Sanada.

Hearing Akutsu's impolite words, Sanada, who was already losing control of his emotions, angrily retorted.

"So you're going to give up targeting me and focus on dealing with Ryuji, right?"

"In that case, I'll leave the rest to you, Ryuji."

Looking at Sanada and Akutsu arguing across from him, Tanegashima suddenly smiled.

Then, turning his head to look at Ohmeguro Ryuji, he tossed his own racket over as well.

"You're just going to rest like that? Honestly, have mercy on me."

Ohmeguro Ryuji caught the racket that Tanegashima threw to him, his face full of helplessness.

Seeing Taneshima already sitting Tanegashima on the ground, Ohmeguro Ryuji took two rackets and walked to the baseline.

"What's going on? Is he going to let that mustachioed guy fight alone?"

"But is it really possible to use two rackets at the same time?"

"The rulebook doesn't say it's forbidden, so using two rackets is allowed."

Upon seeing the two rackets in Ohmeguro Ryuji's hands, everyone from Rikkai Dai in the stands sensed something was wrong.

On the baseline, Ohmeguro Ryuji tossed the tennis ball up and then hit it.

Don't get too cocky!

"Hateful!"

Akutsu was also furious at Ohmeguro Ryuji's serve, and even increased the force of his return.

Ohmeguro Ryuji also felt this very clearly; the pressure on his returns increased significantly.

"This is ridiculous! Get this farce over already! I'm going to crush you!"

After Akutsu made a counterattack, Sanada angrily charged towards the ball that Ohmeguro Ryuji had returned.

After hitting a forehand smash, Ohmeguro Ryuji suddenly darted out from in front of the net.

"Retreat immediately!"

"I told you not to tell me what to do!"

Seeing that Ohmeguro Ryuji was already gathering his strength, Sanada quickly turned around and told Akutsu to retreat to the backfield to defend.

Although Akutsu hated being commanded by Sanada, he still consciously retreated to the back of the field.

Just as the two turned around and reached the backcourt, Ohmeguro Ryuji's racket, which he had been swinging with full force, suddenly lost power.

He easily hit a short ball, and the tennis ball floated lightly to the ground.

Thump...

"First String scores, 15:0"

"Seriously, I don't care anymore, I'll just face both of you in this match by myself."

After scoring, both rackets spun synchronously on Ohmeguro Ryuji's arm.

As the arm swung, the racket spun a few times before being caught by Ohmeguro Ryuji.

At this moment, Ohmeguro Ryuji's eyes had become sharp, and although his tone was still somewhat lazy, his entire aura had changed.

"I wonder how those two middle school students will cope with Ryuji's two-sword style."

"Neither of them has a good temper; how can you expect them to have any decent communication?"

However, it's possible that the two of them might create some interesting results.

Horio and the others watching from the sidelines shook their heads as they observed Sanada and Akutsu.

Bang!

"First String scores, 30:0"

"Blindly attacking is unwise. The opponent only has one person. We need to run around the field and use a war of attrition to deal with him."

"Didn't I tell you not to point fingers?! I'll beat you to a pulp!"

Their tactics failed again, and Sanada had to change his strategy on the spot.

Akutsu was already furious with Sanada's command, and he was on the verge of exploding.

At this moment, Akutsu hit the ball Ohmeguro Ryuji, and Akutsu returned it.

"First, use the 'Explosive Forest Flame Peak' to wear down that guy's stamina, then find an opportunity to defeat him."

Seeing that the offensive was not very effective, Sanada prepared to wage a war of attrition.

Sitting opposite Sanada, Tanegashima seemed to have read Sanada's mind, and spoke up just as Sanada was about to take action.

"I forgot to tell you, Ryuji has the best stamina in the entire team."

"What? In that case, how about this move?"

Hearing Tanegashima's words, Sanada's plans were thrown into chaos once again.

Sanada could only try to calm himself amidst the chaos, forcing himself to stay composed before swinging his racket at the tennis ball.

Puff!

At that moment, an unusual sound rang out. Sanada missed the tennis ball, Akutsu gained a new scar on his face.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

Upon seeing Akutsu, whom he had knocked to the ground, Sanada apologized.

Akutsu ignored Sanada's apology and, after getting up from the ground, his eyes turned fierce.

"Not good!"

"Akutsu is about to go berserk; will this turn into a chaotic free-for-all...?"

Seeing Akutsu's increasingly frightening gaze, everyone in the audience began to worry for Sanada.

After standing up, Akutsu stared at Sanada, wiped the blood from the wound on his face, and then walked towards Sanada.

Seeing Akutsu approaching with clenched fists, Sanada wasn't afraid, but the guilt in his eyes was very obvious.

As Akutsu drew closer to Sanada, the hearts of those watching were in their throats.

To their surprise, Akutsu, who was walking towards Sanada, did not retaliate but instead went to his own spot.