My Name Is Mei Terumi

The three quickly caught up to them outside the city.

Toru spotted the girl at a glance and said to Shikaku and Asuma, "That woman might be the mastermind. I'll deal with her—you keep chasing them."

For a moment, Toru seemed to have become the team captain.

But in a crisis, no one paid attention to that. Shikaku and Asuma continued pursuing the Hidden Mist ninjas ahead.

Toru immediately changed direction and headed for the girl.

Seeing this, the girl smiled and ran toward the forest behind her.

Though Toru knew it was a trap, he had no choice but to chase after her.

The girl darted into the forest and quickly vanished from sight, but she could not hide from Toru's Six Eyes.

Toru ran straight toward her location. Suddenly, a huge net dropped from above, trying to trap him.

But Toru had anticipated it. A Fireball Technique burned the net to ashes.

The girl curled her lip. "Just as I thought, that net I swiped from a fishing boat was useless."

As Toru ran, he suddenly leaped into the air, neatly avoiding a large pit trap concealed by leaves ahead.

The girl was stunned. "What...?"

Then, she noticed the tomoe in Toru's eyes. "All right, so it's the Sharingan."

She attributed it to Toru's Sharingan, thinking that the Sharingan truly was remarkable.

Toru arrived before her and demanded, "You lured me here, but you didn't set any deadly traps. What exactly are you trying to do?!"

The girl put her hands on her hips and pointed at Toru. "Don't think I don't know what you Konoha ninjas came here for!"

"We're only here to carry out a mission. What ulterior motive could we possibly have?!" Toru retorted even more righteously.

The girl could no longer keep up the act. "I don't know either. I was just making it up to trick my subordinates into acting with me."

Toru then knew that pretending to be righteous had worked after all—he had fooled this girl.

He then said sternly, "It is only natural for us Konoha ninjas to come to the Land of Waves to complete a mission, yet you Hidden Mist ninjas kidnapped one of our companions. Are you trying to provoke a war between Konoha and the Hidden Mist Village?!"

Toru's presence was imposing, and the girl was guilty to begin with, so he successfully achieved his goal.

The girl hurriedly explained, "D-Don't talk nonsense! I just thought you were handsome and wanted to capture you and take you back to the village. I only wanted to scare that female ninja from your village a little."

Toru was speechless. He had been so anxious after learning that Kurenai had been kidnapped that he had even activated his Sharingan, only to be told now that she had merely been frightened.

"Then your plan has already failed. I won't go to the Hidden Mist Village with you, and my teacher and companions have already gone to rescue Kurenai," Toru said.

The girl nodded. "So her name is Kurenai. Then what's your name?"

"Were you even listening to me?" Toru asked with a frown.

The girl chuckled. "I heard you, I heard you. But it's not necessarily over yet. There are three jonin and more than twenty chunin over there, and I'm very strong too."

"So what's your name?"

Toru felt that the girl before him had a strange, somewhat unhinged temperament. He answered, "My name is Uchiha Toru."

The girl immediately replied, "My name is Mei Terumi. Remember it."

Mei Terumi then formed hand seals and exhaled a thick mist that spread throughout the entire forest.

"I've heard about the Sharingan's reputation from the elders in my family, but the Hidden Mist Technique is extremely effective at countering the Uchiha Sharingan."

"Once I defeat you, you'll obediently come back to the village with me. It won't be so bad for you."

Toru smiled. "I admit that you're very strong, but compared to me, you're still far behind."

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

Toru immediately tried to use Wind Release to blow away the dense mist, but as soon as he dispersed part of it, Mei Terumi replenished it.

"You'll pay the price for underestimating me, you stinking Uchiha Toru," Mei Terumi muttered to herself.

Seeing this, Toru gave up on trying to disperse the mist.

Instead, he used the Six Eyes to directly search for Mei Terumi within it. In terms of vision, the Six Eyes surpassed the Sharingan.

Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

Toru exhaled an enormous fireball that shot straight at Mei Terumi.

Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!

Mei Terumi exhaled a wall of water of equal scale, blocking the fireball.

"Seriously? Was that just a guess?"

Mei Terumi could not believe that Toru had been able to pinpoint her position in the dense mist, and she kept changing positions within it.

Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!

A barrage of small fireballs descended like a blanket over the sky, once again precisely covering the area where Mei Terumi was located.

Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!

Mei Terumi easily blocked the attack again. He really saw through my Hidden Mist Technique! What's going on?

Unable to understand why, Mei Terumi no longer dared to be careless and immediately used her signature technique.

Lava Release: Melting Apparition!

Mei Terumi formed hand seals and spat out a large pool of yellow acidic liquid that was highly corrosive and viscous. At the same time, she maneuvered around Toru, circling him with the acid.

Then Mei Terumi formed hand seals again and used her other Kekkei Genkai, Boil Release.

That was right—Mei Terumi was a prodigy who possessed two Kekkei Genkai.

Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!

While Toru was trapped amid the acid and at a loss for what to do, Mei Terumi used high-temperature acidic mist to completely seal off his movements.

Mei Terumi then stepped off a large tree and leaped into the air, forming hand seals with both hands.

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!

Mei Terumi expelled a water dragon from her mouth, sending it diving toward Toru.

Trapped in the center by the acid and acidic mist, Toru had nowhere to retreat and could only allow Mei Terumi to do as she pleased.

Boom!

Under the impact of the massive torrent, Toru instantly fell to the ground unconscious.

Seeing this, Mei Terumi withdrew her Chakra, and the thick mist disappeared along with it. She then adjusted the density of the acidic mist and retracted that as well.

Only after doing so did Mei Terumi cross the chasm she had created and approach Toru—only to instantly realize that something was wrong.

Toru's clothes were not even wet. Mei Terumi inwardly cried out that she had been tricked.

But at such close range, Toru suddenly sprang up and restrained Mei Terumi, leaving her no time to react.

Toru wrapped an arm around Mei Terumi's fair, slender neck and pressed a kunai to her throat. "You lost."

Mei Terumi, however, asked like a curious child, "How did you find me inside the Hidden Mist Technique? And how did you come out of that unharmed just now?"

Toru had no intention of answering. He merely brought Mei Terumi to the spot where she had set the traps, tore off a hemp rope, and tied her hands together.

Mei Terumi cooperated, though she complained that the rope was too rough and would chafe her skin.

So Toru humanely loosened the knot a little, then said, "Let's go. I'm going to use you to trade for my companion."

Toru kept Mei Terumi tightly under control, ensuring that she could not escape.

"Companion? Not your girlfriend?" Mei Terumi teased.

"Not yet," Toru replied.

Mei Terumi nodded, then suddenly turned and kissed Toru on the cheek.

Toru had not activated Limitless just then, so he had genuinely been kissed.

"She probably hasn't kissed you before, right? Then your first kiss belongs to me now," Mei Terumi said smugly, spouting shamelessly provocative words.

Toru wiped his cheek. "You... really are something, Mei Terumi."