"Oh, so you couldn't wait any longer!"
Araki casually teased Asuna for attacking without even a greeting.
He raised his arm and precisely blocked Asuna's lightning-fast thrust with a kunai.
"That move doesn't work on me anymore!"
While blocking the rapier with one hand, Araki held another kunai in his other hand and slashed upward in an arc.
Clang!
Asuna twisted her wrist and turned her sword sideways, blocking both kunai at once before using the force to step back.
Whoosh!
Like a spring compressed to its limit suddenly snapping loose, Asuna instantly erupted with even greater speed than before. Her slender blade gleamed with cold metallic light as it reached Araki's eyes in the blink of an eye.
"Flash Thrust? I saw that coming!"
A smile tugged at Araki's lips. He quietly released both kunai and stood motionless, allowing Asuna's blade to pierce straight through his body.
Bang!
A cloud of smoke burst forth, engulfing Asuna, who had just killed "Araki."
Five-Star Rend!
Facing danger, Asuna did not panic. She understood how dangerous it was to lose sight of her enemy, so she immediately unleashed an area attack.
As her arm swung rapidly, five sword phantoms appeared at once, slashing forward, backward, left, right, and upward.
Asuna was confident that no matter where her enemy appeared from, he could not possibly ignore her attack.
Just as she watched her surroundings vigilantly, one of the kunai Araki had thrown onto the ground beneath her feet exploded once more, transforming into a familiar figure.
Asuna's position was actually rather poor. After piercing Araki's false body, she had not made any rash moves, leaving her standing directly over the two fallen kunai.
When one of those kunai transformed into Araki, Asuna was immediately lifted upward, because
Although Araki was only ten years old, he was still slightly taller than her legs. As he stood up, Asuna inevitably lost her balance for a moment.
"Ah!"
Seeing Asuna cry out as her body suddenly lost balance, Araki was slightly startled, but he did not stop. He swung his kunai toward her heart.
He understood that he was still far weaker than Asuna. He had only gained this opportunity through the unexpectedness of the Transformation Technique. If he missed it, it would probably be difficult to succeed again once Asuna was on guard.
But time at the Ninja Academy was limited. He had to increase his strength as quickly as possible, so he could only apologize to Asuna.
As for standing up from beneath her legs, that had only been an accident.
Even after losing her balance, Asuna did not give up fighting. She even threw the rapier in her hand, attempting to kill Araki with Hundred-Pace Flying Sword.
But Araki was still one step faster. When the kunai in his hand slashed across Asuna's chest, her body suddenly turned into fragments of golden light feathers that flowed into Araki's body.
"This is..."
Araki stretched out his palm, trying to catch one of the light feathers, but it was useless. They continued to resolutely merge into his body.
As the light feathers entered him one after another, Araki felt his body grow slightly warm. His muscles and bones seemed to be developing, and more importantly, Asuna's phantom appeared clearly before his eyes, repeatedly performing her sword techniques.
After a long while, the phantom faded and the warmth dispersed.
Holding his kunai, Araki recalled those sword techniques. With a thought, his body naturally reacted, thrusting forward a short distance in the most perfect stance for exerting force.
"This is... Flash Thrust?"
Coming back to his senses, Araki turned to look at the spot behind him where a kunai was still embedded, estimating the distance he had just covered.
"Hmm, that was about twenty meters. I crossed it in an instant. Isn't that speed comparable to the Body Flicker Technique?"
Araki was delighted, but also somewhat troubled. "But I barely felt anything during that thrust. Was the speed so fast that my nerves couldn't react in time? It seems I've only learned it—I haven't fully mastered it yet!"
At that moment, he caught sight of what seemed to be additional writing on the title page of the [Book of Sword Masters]. He focused his eyes on it.
[Name]: Araki (Yachiru) [Realm]: Swordsmanship Initiation [Sword Skills]: Combo Technique (maximum eight-hit combo: Stardust Splash), Charging Technique (Flash Thrust) [Other]: Chakra Refinement Technique, Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, Transformation Technique
"I've learned all of Asuna's skills, yet I'm still only at Swordsmanship Initiation? That can't be right!"
Araki was somewhat dissatisfied with that evaluation of his realm, but there was nothing he could do. It was only an illustrated book; it could not communicate with him.
"Fine, fine. I'm not upset for myself—I'm standing up for Asuna! Once I've mastered all her sword skills, I'll take another look. With her strength, she can't possibly be only at the initiation level!"
Muttering to himself, Araki left the mindscape.
To practice sword skills, he naturally needed a target.
After practicing against wooden posts for several months, Araki felt that he had more or less mastered Asuna's sword skills. Naturally, immobile dead objects could no longer meet his needs.
Thus, his classmates began suffering terrible misfortune.
Although Kirigakure's Ninja Academy graduation examination was incomparably brutal, students were not allowed to fight each other during ordinary days. They could only fight during class, according to the groupings assigned by their chunin instructors.
Therefore, in order to seize the few opportunities he had for actual combat, Araki especially cherished every classmate who fought him.
After knocking them down, he would pull them back up and repeat the previous battle.
Again and again, reusing them in a cycle until they were completely exhausted, only then would he reluctantly let them go.
Because of this behavior, everyone who had encountered him, watched him, or even merely heard of him gave him a nickname: the Smiling Devil.
During battle, he never showed any negative emotions. A handsome, sunny smile remained on his face at all times, even when he forcibly dragged his opponents up from the ground.
For this reason, Araki, like the terrifying-looking Zabuza, became the nightmare of every student in their class.
But he did not care about such things. Aside from Zabuza, Araki had not even remembered the names of his other classmates.
After all, since they were in the same class as Zabuza, their fates had already been decided.
Their blood and souls would become nourishment for Zabuza's title of "Demon," while their wails would prompt Kirigakure's higher-ups to put an end to the brutal graduation examination.
Araki had never thought of changing any of this. There was no particular reason; he had never been a truly good person.
And after being killed by Asuna countless times in the mindscape, his attitude toward life had gradually become indifferent as well.
Now, aside from improving his own strength, he did not care much about anyone else's affairs.
Whatever happened was fine, as long as they did not disturb him.
If Zabuza failed to recognize what was good for him and came after Araki, Araki would not mind if Kirigakure had one less "Demon" in the future.
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