After finishing off the strength-based Ninja Blade Candidate, Shinji did not pause. Using the man's corpse as cover, he immediately ambushed another candidate before the enemy could react.
"Urgh-" Disbelief and shock filled the second candidate's face. A breathy rasp escaped his throat as his massive body crashed to the ground like a toppled mountain. Blood gushed from the slit in his throat, quickly gathering beneath him into an ever-widening, sticky pool.
Shinji did not even have time to catch his breath. His newly awakened Two-Tomoe Sharingan spun eerily, instantly locking onto his next target with the precision of radar-the Long Blade Candidate whose strange weapon was driving Miwako into a corner as blood loss made her movements slower and slower!
Miwako was already at the end of her strength. Blood poured from her shoulder, her face was white as paper, her gaze was losing focus, and her steps were unsteady. The elusive long blade, darting like a snake's tongue, was about to pierce her chest!
"Miwako! Get down!" Shinji's voice carried an extraordinary calm, as though steeped in polar ice. It cut through the battlefield's clamor, the roar of explosions, and the screams of the dying, reaching Miwako's ears with perfect clarity.
Miwako trusted Shinji's voice almost instinctively and without reservation, a trust forged through countless battles fought side by side, with their lives on the line.
At his shout, she moved without even thinking. Relying entirely on their understanding as battle partners and her last shred of will to survive, she summoned the final trace of strength in her body and threw herself forward, pressing herself flat against the cold ground to make the smallest possible target.
Almost at the very instant she dropped, Shinji's left hand flashed across his Ninja Tool Pouch. Six shuriken, each tied to