A chilling edge. A fierce, overwhelming aura.
At that moment.
The scene before Naruto's eyes seemed to become crystal clear in an instant.
Mizuki charged straight at him.
This time.
Naruto didn't dodge. He met him head-on.
"Zzzzzzt!"
A huge shadow rushed closer, bringing with it a terrifying aura.
A flash of lightning suddenly flickered across Mizuki's body.
The lightning clinging to the kunai.
Naruto's pupils shrank sharply, and his breath caught. He nearly failed to react in time.
The next moment.
"Clang!"
The two kunai clashed again. This time, a sharp flash of lightning suddenly sparked, and Naruto felt a tingling numbness surge through him.
It wasn't very strong.
But for an instant, it left Naruto's body momentarily rigid.
"Damn!"
"It's over!!!"
Mizuki halted, bloodlust flickering in his eyes.
Whoosh!
A faint crackle of thunder rang through the air.
A blur twisted.
Mizuki forcefully swung his arm, knocking Naruto's right hand aside.
The sharp edge came slashing in.
At that moment, Mizuki unleashed all the chakra he had left.
"Die!!!"
He, Mizuki, would make sure this strike landed!!!
Could he dodge!? Should he dodge!?
No!!!
This was also my only way to win!!
In the blink of an eye.
The golden light in Naruto's eyes grew ever brighter.
In those wild eyes.
Naruto's gaze was resolute.
At that moment.
It made Mizuki's heart tremble despite himself, as if he had glimpsed something terrifying.
A flicker of fear rose within him.
And that hesitation, brief as it seemed but deadly all the same—
Gave Naruto a fleeting but crucial fraction of a second.
Naruto twisted his body, shifting slightly to one side. Then, instead of dodging, he charged straight at Mizuki.
"Shhk!"
The sound of metal piercing flesh.
The kunai, crackling with lightning.
Slid easily into Naruto's chest, just slightly off-center.
That brief pause gave Naruto the chance to seize an opening and pull himself free. In that instant, the murderous look between Naruto's brows was unmistakable.
Enduring the excruciating pain surging from his entire body and into his nerves.
Naruto gritted his teeth.
In that split second, he clamped his left hand around Mizuki's body with all his strength.
Then, amid Mizuki's shocked and furious expression, Naruto drove his own kunai with pinpoint accuracy into Mizuki's left chest, straight toward his heart.
"Shhk!"
"The one who's going to die is you!!!"
His gaze was cold and unwavering. Naruto's lips trembled slightly as he spoke.
A cold voice rang out.
A precise, ruthless strike.
Naruto's kunai pierced Mizuki's left chest more accurately and swiftly than Mizuki's had pierced his.
"Gahhh!!!"
Mizuki cried out in pain.
Before he could react.
Naruto pulled away first. The second wave of pain as the kunai came free twisted his face into a grimace.
His right hand gripped the kunai even tighter, and he frantically twisted it inside Mizuki's chest.
"Gaaaaah!"
The excruciating pain.
Made Mizuki's scream unbearably shrill.
Then—
"Thud!"
With a powerful kick, Naruto twisted the kunai hard against Mizuki's heart, then yanked it out sideways.
Mizuki's body flew backward.
He crashed heavily onto the ground.
A second of silence.
The wound where the kunai had been pulled free was drenched in blood, and crimson poured from it without stopping.
"How... could... you..."
At that moment.
His strength ebbed away like the tide.
Mizuki looked unwillingly toward Naruto, fallen nearby. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed, until he finally sank into darkness.
Did I really die at the hands of a brat who hadn't even graduated yet? My ambitions, my future... How could it end like this...
That was the last thought Mizuki had left in this world.
Then his arm fell limp.
Mizuki's final breath faded away.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
The twist in Naruto's body had kept Mizuki's strike from reaching his heart, but even so, that blow, combined with his earlier wounds—
Though he wasn't on the verge of death.
Naruto was still severely injured.
By now, he didn't have the strength to move at all.
If Naruto had been alone there, he would probably have died from blood loss.
Fortunately, Iruka was still nearby.
Naruto and Mizuki's exchange had lasted only a few seconds.
Before Iruka could truly react, the fight was already over.
"Naruto."
Iruka's injuries weren't light, but they were nothing compared to Naruto's. After resting briefly, he had recovered enough to move again.
He struggled to his feet and made his way over to Naruto.
He didn't even have time to tend to his own injuries.
Looking at Naruto, battered from head to toe, his heart ached.
He hurriedly began bandaging Naruto's wounds as best he could. At the very least, he needed to stop the bleeding.
"Cough... Iruka-sensei... I... I took that guy down..."
Naruto looked at Iruka, who was anxiously bandaging his wounds.
With some difficulty, he managed a faint smile and spoke to Iruka in broken phrases. The slight smile at the corners of his eyes made Iruka's heart ache all the more.
It was a shudder of grief and pain that came from the depths of his soul.
"Don't talk yet, Naruto. I'm taking you to the hospital right away!"
Iruka quickly cut Naruto off.
At that moment.
Iruka truly hated himself. Why was he so weak?
Why did his student have to protect him?
He had felt this helplessness twelve years ago.
And now he was feeling it again.
Back then, he had watched his parents leave and then heard that they were dead. This time, he had watched his student—someone as dear to him as a younger brother—nearly die right in front of him. He felt for Naruto, and hated himself all the more.
For Iruka.
This truly, truly was a feeling he despised!
"Cough, cough... I'm fine, Iruka-sensei..."
Just as Naruto had said.
While Iruka bandaged Naruto's wounds, Naruto's face still looked terrible, but it wasn't as pale as before. A little color had returned, and his wounds were healing much faster than an ordinary person's. It wasn't as if he could recover completely in an instant, but the healing was visible to the naked eye. With Iruka's simple bandaging, Naruto's wounds were no longer bleeding as heavily as before.