"The duel begins."
As Hayate's voice fell, Misumi Tsurugi picked up a kunai from his waist and ran toward Naruto in a Shinobi run with his hands swung backward.
Gekko Hayate's eyebrows twitched, and he secretly sighed in his heart that this young man named Misumi Tsurugi was quite brave to actually charge straight in like that.
Naruto's azure blue pupils reflected the figure running toward him, and he let out a soft sound of confusion.
Why was this person's emotions toward him so strange?
First it was tension, then relaxation, and also resentment.
Naruto recalled the people in Konoha with whom he had a relatively poor relationship. Could it be one of them? Did he plant a tree at their doorstep before?
"Hey, we don't have any grudges between us, do we?" Naruto suddenly asked Misumi Tsurugi.
Misumi Tsurugi did not speak. His figure had already appeared in front of Naruto, swinging his arms and slashing his kunai at Naruto in a strange manner.
???
Naruto side-stepped, wanting to dodge Misumi Tsurugi's attack, but he did not expect Misumi Tsurugi's arm to be like a whip, striking Naruto's cheek in a bizarre way.
Slash!
Momentum propelled the kunai, carving a slender wound across Naruto's face.
Sasuke in the spectator stands furrowed his brows, his expression quite dissatisfied. He could not understand how Naruto actually made a mistake at a time like this.
Even if the opponent's arm was a little strange, Naruto shouldn't have been like this.
Feeling the rapidly healing wound on his face, a trace of anger flashed in Naruto's pupils.
He quickly squatted down and delivered a sweeping kick to Misumi Tsurugi's lower leg.
A trace of smugness that his scheme had succeeded flashed in the depths of Misumi Tsurugi's eyes. His body had undergone Softening