Darker Than Twilight

The VIP Area.

The Daimyo struggled to save face. He gritted his teeth and silently cursed that Nara brat for not knowing when to play along.

Ryūzaki, you have to win, no matter what!

Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuga Hiashi both frowned, clearly displeased by the turn of events.

They felt Eiji should not have been eliminated so easily. Had his overwhelming power really made him careless?

Yet something about it felt unreal.

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

Tsunade could no longer sit still. She planted a foot on the back of the seat in front of her and shook her fist at Eiji, sending the villager sitting there scrambling aside.

She had just finished boasting about Eiji 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 realized he could not freely control Eiji's movements!

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

Seeing how relaxed Eiji looked, Kushina froze for a moment, then broke into a smile again!

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

Kushin maintained his hand seal, but his usual look of annoyance at anything troublesome had turned to shock.

"It was a clever tactic. Just what I'd expect from the Nara Clan. Anyone else would probably have lost to you."

Eiji finally spoke.

The Nara Clan truly could unleash astonishing strength when backed into a corner.

Trying to bind him from outside his field of vision might sound simple, but pulling it off was anything but. The Ino-Shika-Cho Families had timed their moves perfectly.

But with his Six Eyes, an ambush had never been possible in the first place.

Cold sweat ran down Kushin's forehead. His face darkened.

"In a sense, the Shadow Imitation Technique works like Genjutsu. Both disrupt an enemy's Chakra flow to control them. But there's one condition: if the target's Chakra or willpower far exceeds the user's, the effect drops sharply."

As Eiji spoke, he looked not at Kushin but off to the side.

Kushin followed his gaze and saw Yamanaka Kōkō crouching there, drenched in sweat. He looked drained by excessive Chakra use.

"The Mind Body Switch Technique is even more dangerous than the Shadow Imitation Technique. He tried to take over my body with his mind. But because I can control my own Chakra precisely, I turned that connection around and attacked his mind."

A complete defeat.

Kushin finally accepted that he had lost. His Chakra had already been severely depleted, and there was nothing he could do now.

Helplessness washed over him. This man's strength was unfathomable... No wonder the young clan leader had mentioned his name so many times.

From now on, Eiji's name would be known throughout Konoha!

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

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

He went over to ask 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.

"Finally, the three most troublesome opponents are gone. So, next..."

Eiji rolled his neck from side to side and looked at the remaining contestants without a change in expression.

Under the gaze of his azure eyes, every last one of them showed fear.

Eiji also checked his Fusion Rate. In less than ten minutes, it had risen by a full one percent.

It still did not seem like much, but this was before the Shinobi World War. Every little bit he could gain mattered.

"...I surrender."

A contestant wearing round black sunglasses raised a hand, then silently walked past Eiji toward the Rest Room.

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

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

Others might not have noticed, but Eiji's Six Eyes had seen everything.

He was cautious. Unfortunately for him, it had all been pointless.

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

The Inuzuka Clan graduate scratched his head. He called to his Ninja Dog, then followed it toward the Rest Room.

Once those two had started, the others began forfeiting one after another.

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

Damn it, couldn't you hold out a little longer? What about all the Experience Points I'm losing... Hm?

As the contestants left, Eiji noticed his Fusion Rate ticking upward by 0.01% or 0.05% at a time. Every withdrawal added a little more.

So taking part in a fight and then surrendering still counts as a defeat. I see.

In that case, he did not mind if everyone surrendered. It would save him the effort.

When the commotion ended, only Uchiha Yo remained in the Arena.

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

Yo's expression twisted as the two Tomoe in his blood-red eyes spun wildly.

"Show me what you can really do! Let me see your Full Power!"

Yo roared at Eiji, his eyes blazing with rage.

Angry, is he?

That was understandable. Yo had probably always been called a genius within his clan. Being crushed like an insect would shake anyone. But Eiji also wondered whether it might awaken Yo's Mangekyo.

After watching him for a while, Eiji felt a little disappointed. Yo seemed to lack the potential to awaken the Mangekyo—or perhaps this much provocation was nowhere near enough. Otherwise, defeating him might have yielded even more Fusion Rate.

After a moment's silence, Eiji crossed his arms before his chest and looked at Yo with a grave expression.

"Are you sure? You want me to use my Full Power?"

Even as he spoke, Eiji was considering how to make his next move more entertaining.

Just then, a lively girl from memories of his previous life came to mind: fiery red hair, crimson eyes, a black headband, a black cloak, and a rather slight figure—Lina Inverse.

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

"Yeah! Come at me!"

Yo took a defensive stance, prepared for whatever came.

But then...

"Darker than twilight..."

What?

"Redder than blood..."

...What is this guy talking about?

No hand seals. He was just chanting some kind of incantation?

Did he think he was a monk?

"Hey! What are you—"

Yo tried to interrupt, unable to make sense of it. Then his pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.

His gaze slowly rose.

Eiji still had his arms crossed before his chest, but his body was slowly rising into the sky!