Darker Than Twilight

The VIP Area.

The Daimyo struggled to keep his composure. He gritted his teeth and silently cursed that Nara Clan brat for not knowing when to back down.

Ryūzaki, you have to win this, no matter what!

Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuga Hiashi both frowned, plainly displeased with the turn of events.

They didn't think Ryuuzaki Eiji should have been eliminated so easily. Had his overwhelming power really made him careless?

Then why did it all feel like an illusion?

"Hey, Eiji! What are you doing? Take this seriously!"

Tsunade couldn't stay seated. She planted a foot on the back of the seat in front of her and shook her fist at Eiji, frightening its occupant into scrambling aside.

She had just been bragging about him to Jiraiya and Orochimaru. How was she supposed to save face now?

"Eiji! Come on! Don't give up so easily! You can't lose to these guys!"

Kushina cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted at Eiji. Minato stood too, looking at him expectantly.

Nara Kushin tried to raise his hand and force Eiji to surrender, but he suddenly found he couldn't control Ryuuzaki Eiji's movements!

Eiji slowly lifted an arm and gave Kushina a leisurely thumbs-up.

Kushina froze at the sight of his easy confidence, then broke into a smile again!

What? Hadn't the Shadow Imitation Technique worked!?

Nara Kushin held his hand seals, but his usual look of weary indifference had turned to shock.

"That was a clever tactic. Just what I'd expect from the Nara Clan. You'd have beaten almost anyone else."

Eiji finally spoke.

The Nara Clan truly could summon astonishing strength when driven into a corner.

Getting around his field of vision to bind him sounded simple, but pulling it off was anything but. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had timed it perfectly.

But against someone with the Six Eyes, a surprise attack had never been possible in the first place.

Cold sweat ran down Nara Kushin's forehead. His face looked grim.

"In a sense, the Shadow Imitation Technique works like Genjutsu. Both disrupt an enemy's Chakra flow to take control. But there's a catch: if the enemy's Chakra reserves or willpower far exceed the caster's, the effect weakens dramatically."

Eiji wasn't looking at Kushin as he spoke. His gaze had shifted elsewhere.

Kushin followed his gaze and saw Yamanaka Kōkō crouched on the ground, drenched in sweat. He looked drained from excessive Chakra use.

"Compared with the Shadow Imitation Technique, the Mind Body Switch Technique seems even more dangerous. He tried to seize my body with his mind. But because I can control my own Chakra with precision, I was able to turn it against his mind instead."

A complete defeat.

Nara Kushin finally accepted that he'd lost. He had already burned through much of his Chakra, and now there was nothing he could do.

Helplessness washed over him. The strength of the man before him was unfathomable... No wonder the young clan head had mentioned his name so many times.

From this day on, Ryuuzaki Eiji's name would be known throughout Konoha!

"I don't stand a chance... I surrender."

Nara Kushin scratched his head, looking relieved that the trouble was finally over, then raised a hand to withdraw.

He went over to ask Yamanaka Kōkō how he was doing. After a few words, the two of them carried the unconscious Akimichi Chogen out of the Arena.

Eiji watched the three leave and shrugged.

"At last, the three most troublesome ones are out. Now then..."

Eiji rolled his neck from side to side and calmly surveyed the remaining contestants.

Not one of them could hide their fear under the gaze of his azure eyes.

Eiji checked his Fusion Rate too. In less than ten minutes, he'd gained a full one percent.

It still wasn't much, but with the Shinobi World War yet to come, every bit he could earn now counted.

"...I surrender."

A contestant wearing round black sunglasses raised a hand, then silently passed Eiji on his way to the contestants' Rest Room.

One of the Aburame Clan. Come to think of it, he'd been trying all kinds of ways to get his insects inside me since the match began.

He had hidden them in the air, in the soil, and even on his teammates.

Others might not have noticed, but Eiji's Six Eyes had caught every detail.

He was cautious, but unfortunately, all that effort had been for nothing.

"Ah, you got me... Nice work, kid. I surrender."

The Inuzuka Clan graduate scratched his head. He called his Ninja Dog over, and the two headed for the Rest Room together.

Once those two had set the example, the others began withdrawing one after another.

Eiji watched them go, his face darkening as the corner of his mouth twitched.

Come on, at least put up a little fight! What am I supposed to do about all those lost Experience Points... Hm?

Eiji noticed his Fusion Rate climbing as people left, ticking up by 0.01 percent here, 0.05 percent there. Every withdrawal added a little more.

So taking part in a duel and surrendering halfway through still counts as a loss. I see.

In that case, it didn't matter if everyone surrendered. Eiji was happy to spare himself the work.

After all that, only Uchiha Yo remained in the Arena.

"You... you haven't been fighting me seriously at all, have you?"

Uchiha Yo's face twisted. The two Tomoe in his blood-red eyes spun wildly.

"Show me what you've really got! Let me see you go all out!"

His eyes blazing with fury, Uchiha Yo roared at Eiji.

Angry, are you?

It was understandable. He had probably been hailed as a genius all his life within his clan. Being crushed like an insect would shake anyone. But Eiji also wondered whether the shock might awaken his Mangekyo.

After watching him for a while, Eiji felt a little disappointed. Perhaps Yo lacked the potential to awaken the Mangekyo, or perhaps this simply wasn't enough to push him there. Otherwise, defeating him might have earned Eiji even more Fusion Rate.

Eiji fell silent for a moment. Then he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at Uchiha Yo with a grave expression.

"Are you sure? You want me to go all out?"

As he spoke, Eiji was already thinking about how to make his next move more entertaining.

Just then, a lively girl surfaced in his memories of his previous life: fiery red hair, crimson eyes, a black headband across her forehead, a black cloak, and a rather slight figure—Lina Inverse.

That's it. I'll imitate the opening of her move, then fire off Azure.

"Yeah! Come at me!"

Uchiha Yo took a defensive stance, ready to face whatever came.

But then—

"Something darker than twilight."

What?

"Something redder than blood."

...What is he talking about?

No hand seals. Is he just chanting some kind of spell?

Does he think he's a monk?

"Hey! What are you—"

Uchiha Yo tried to interrupt him, but his pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints.

His gaze slowly lifted.

Ryuuzaki Eiji still had his arms crossed, but his body was rising steadily into the sky!