The Insidious Lethal Strike

When Kaze woke up, it was still early, around three in the morning. This sleep had left him feeling fully refreshed.

There was still plenty of time before his sparring session with Chirori, so there was no rush. He decided to try developing some new jutsu.

As for Cloud Release, he had only just grasped it and wasn't proficient yet. Besides, he hadn't even learned the Cloud Release techniques recorded in his clan's archives, so there was no need to develop new ones now.

Crystal Release, on the other hand, was granted by the system and had already merged with his very being. Using it felt as natural as breathing, so it made sense to develop more techniques in this area.

But the process was undeniably tedious. Repeating the same steps over and over might still yield unsatisfactory results. However, Kaze had the Genius buff backing him up, which significantly reduced the difficulty of developing new jutsu.

After more than an hour, the sun had begun its descent. Kaze ended his development session, changed into fresh clothes, and prepared to head out.

Though there were no servants in the house, Kaze hired people to clean periodically. After all, how could the head of a clan act as his own janitor?

Kaze and Chirori had agreed to spar above the Hokage Rock at night. Doing it in the village would draw too much attention, and since this was just a casual match, there was no need to make a big fuss.

It was around the time school let out, and Kaze ran into a few former classmates on the road. They all asked curiously why Mr. Calm hadn't been coming to class lately.

Kaze dodged the question without giving a direct answer.

Otherwise, what was he supposed to say—that he had already become the Hokage's disciple? These kids had only been in school for less than a month; they'd probably be crushed by the news.

He had hoped to run into Maruboshi Kosuke and the other two, but by the time he passed the school, he hadn't seen them. So, Kaze simply headed up the mountain.

"Sigh, without the Flying Thunder God, traveling is really slow."

Come to think of it, the mountain was quite tall. Chirori had felt that firsthand this morning, but Kaze had hitched a ride with Tobirama, so he hadn't noticed.

After climbing for nearly twenty minutes, he reached the summit. The sky was gradually turning dusky, and standing here overlooking the entire Konoha gave him a unique feeling.

Not long after, Kaze heard movement on the path up. He figured it must be Chirori, but he still stayed on guard.

Only when Chirori's figure appeared did he relax.

"Sorry, Kaze-kun, for keeping you waiting." Chirori said apologetically.

She was the one who had invited Kaze to spar, yet she was the one who arrived late.

"No worries, I just got here myself."

"Should we start now?" Kaze asked.

"Eh, no need to rush. By the way, Kaze-kun, do you have your own Will of Fire?"

Chirori had always felt that Kumonaka Torikaze's way of thinking was worth learning from. This time, regarding the Hokage's assigned question, she already had some insights of her own, but she still wanted to hear Kaze's thoughts.

"Just a rough outline. Perfecting it will take a long time—it's not something you can figure out in a day, nor can it be explained in a few words."

Hearing this, Chirori could only nod.

"Let's start quickly. I feel like something's off about this place."

More specifically, he had felt this way ever since Chirori arrived—a prickling sensation, like needles at his back.

"Then I'm coming at you." With that, her pupils spun and transformed into Three Tomoe.

Facing Kaze, Chirori didn't hesitate and immediately activated her Sharingan, entering her strongest state!

From watching Kaze's fight with Kyo, Chirori had understood his strength, so she dared not be careless.

With a quick step, she closed in on Kaze, swinging a kunai at his arm.

Facing Chirori's slash, Kaze didn't panic. He sidestepped to dodge and reached back to grab her arm.

Just as he was about to throw her away, Chirori suddenly exerted force, breaking free from Kaze's grip, and leaped into the air, tossing three shuriken.

"Crystal Style: Crystal Mirror Jutsu."

A pale pink, transparent crystal mirror appeared between Chirori and Kaze, and the shuriken she had thrown were completely blocked by it.

"Crystal Style: Mirror Reflection Jutsu."

Kaze's figure vanished abruptly. Even after landing, Chirori couldn't detect him with her Sharingan.

"Damn it! Where is he?"

A bead of sweat slid down her temple. Chirori had thought that activating her Sharingan would let her suppress Kaze for a while, but she had still underestimated him.

"Found you!"

Just as Chirori noticed an anomaly in the crystal mirror, Kaze emerged from it—his upper body outside, his lower body still inside the mirror, as if he had been cut in half.

"Crystal Style: Hexagonal Shuriken Dance." After completing the hand seals, Kaze unleashed countless crystal shuriken, scattering like heavenly flowers with no room to dodge.

Seeing this, Chirori knew that if she didn't go all out, she would surely lose.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive fireball erupted from her mouth—the Uchiha Clan's signature technique, the Fireball Jutsu! Chirori truly lived up to being a genius of the Uchiha Clan; the fireball's size was more than double what Kyo had released.

The countless crystal shuriken met the blazing fireball, and the two canceled each other out, dissolving into nothing.

Kaze still had half his body hidden in the mirror, looking ready to slip back inside and escape at any moment, leaving Chirori somewhat helpless.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

Chirori spat five fireballs toward Kaze in midair, as beautiful as phoenix flowers. But beneath that beauty lay the Uchiha Clan's specialty—shuriken!

The Phoenix Sage Fire wrapped around the shuriken, making them hard to detect.

But this move wasn't very effective against Torifu. Just as he was about to be hit, his body slowly retracted back into the mirror.

The Crystal Mirror struck by the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu only showed slight cracks but did not shatter.

Sensing that the external attack had ended, Torifu had just popped his head out when a Kunai precisely struck him in the head, piercing straight through the skull and embedding itself deep inside!

Torifu's body immediately went limp, hanging suspended in midair—a one-hit kill!

"Torifu!" Chirori was stunned by the scene before her; her mind completely froze.

She hadn't even noticed where the Kunai had come from before it had already pierced through Torifu's head.

Fear crawled into Chirori's heart. She turned to look at the forest, but her Sharingan detected nothing unusual.

Yet she couldn't pursue the attacker—Torifu was still hanging in midair! She didn't know if he could still be saved.

But when Chirori looked at Torifu, she saw that his blood-soaked face had turned into a crystal sculpture, with the Kunai still stuck in its head.

Chirori collapsed to the ground, gasping for air as if she had just survived a disaster.

'Torifu is fine!' That was her first thought—after all, she had seen this move before, just yesterday.

Sure enough, the half-body crystal sculpture on the mirror slowly shattered, breaking into pieces that fell to the ground.

And from the mirror, another Torifu emerged, smiling as he greeted Chirori.

"Sorry, Chirori, for making you worry."