The thing in his hand felt a little strange.
It was supposed to be a sword, but it was light and insubstantial.
The golden blade flowed like water, its edges blurry, giving off a faint sizzling sound, as though it might pop like a soap bubble at any moment.
It was only a little longer than a kunai, and its brightness... well, it would make a decent flashlight.
Was this the "Ama no Murakumo Sword: Phantom"?
Shuo grumbled inwardly. The system's note had said it was "exceptionally effective at bluffing." Judging by things now, it at least looked the part-the two Iwagakure ninja charging below visibly faltered, their eyes fixed on the unstable mass of golden light in his hand.
"What ninja tool is that? I've never seen chakra light like that..."
"Forget it! Take out the one firing the signal flare first!"
One Iwagakure ninja flicked three shuriken at Kentaro, who was lighting the signal flare, while the other immediately formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
A small earth dragon rose from the ground, opened its mouth, and spat out several fist-sized lumps of hard earth, pelting Shuo in the tree.
"Hey, hey, this enthusiastic right off the bat?"
Shuo complained, but his movements weren't slow-mostly because his brain was faster than his body.
He had no intention of blocking with the trembling light sword in his hand. The thing didn't look reliable.
He chose a more Kizaru-like approach.
Pushing lightly off the branch, he leaned backward and "fell" out of the tree in an almost horizontal, languid pose. The Earth Dragon Bullets skimmed over his head, and the shuriken struck empty space.
As he fell, he even found time to shout at Kentaro, who had just successfully launched the signal flare into the sky. "Run! What are you standing there for?"
Kentaro looked at Shuo dropping out of sight, then at the charging Iwagakure ninja. Gritting his teeth, he turned and dashed down the path pointed out earlier.
Shuo landed in a less-than-graceful pose and staggered, the impact sending pain through his chest wound. Yet the light sword in his hand actually hadn't dispersed. It stubbornly kept glowing.
The two Iwagakure ninja were already upon him, one on either side, their kunai thrusting straight at him. A textbook coordinated attack.
Shuo sighed.
He swept his right foot across the ground without much force, but that faint golden glow flashed again at the tip of his shoe-Light-Speed Kick: Faint Spark!
This time, instead of kicking out a light projectile, he put that little burst of acceleration and impact directly into movement.
His body swished half a meter to the left, narrowly avoiding the right-hand ninja's kunai. At the same time, he weakly raised his left hand-the one without the sword-and barely deflected the left-hand ninja's attacking arm, knocking it off course.
The movement was hardly graceful, even a little clumsy, but it worked.
And in the instant they passed each other, the light sword in his right hand, which had barely made its presence felt, casually "brushed" the left-hand ninja's ribs, as though by accident.
There was no clang of metal.
Only a faint hiss, like a red-hot iron bar pressed against wet cloth.
"Aah!"
The left-hand ninja screamed and staggered back. A slit had burned through his flak jacket at the ribs, leaving charred flesh trailing wisps of smoke.
The wound wasn't deep, but the sudden searing pain and the bizarre effect of the light blade instantly shocked him.
Seeing this, the right-hand ninja's gaze hardened, and he swept his kunai sideways in a reverse grip.
Shuo was a little breathless after using Light-Speed Kick to reposition and could only barely raise the light sword to block.
Clang-!
No, it wasn't the clear ring of metal striking metal, but a muffled buzzing pop, as though energy were collapsing.
The kunai's edge cut into the light blade, and then... got stuck?
No, the instant light blade and metal collided, the blade flickered and twisted violently. Countless light particles broke away from its edges, making it look ready to explode the next second.
But in the end, it didn't disperse.
It simply dimmed visibly and shortened a little, as though the kunai had "chopped off" some of its energy.
Shuo felt his hand grow lighter. The light sword had become even less substantial.
Taking the opportunity, he flicked his wrist and "slapped" the kunai's handle, not with the sword's edge, but with the side of its still-disintegrating blade.
The small but sufficiently sudden impact, coupled with the searing spray of light particles, numbed the Iwagakure ninja's hand. He nearly dropped his kunai.
Seizing that opening, Shuo once again used his half-mastered "Light Particle Shift," activated mainly through thought. His body blurred, sliding back three or four meters to put some distance between them.
Panting, he looked down at the "Ama no Murakumo Sword: Phantom" in his hand. It had shrunk by at least a third, its glow flickering even more erratically. His mouth twitched.
"Isn't this a little too... flimsy?" he muttered. The system really didn't lie to me. It really is a "toy dagger"-and a fragile one at that.
[Ding! First use of "Ama no Murakumo Sword: Phantom" in actual combat. Achievement unlocked: "Fighting Awkwardly with a Budget Divine Weapon." Evaluation: plenty of creativity, little practicality, but highly effective at showing off. Imitation Points +15!] [Current Imitation Points: 117/100. You may unlock the next stage of presence refinement: "A Salaryman's Resolve" (requires 150 points), or continue saving to unlock higher-level abilities.]
Highly effective at showing off? Shuo glanced at the two Iwagakure ninja opposite him.
One clutched his burned ribs, his eyes full of shock and uncertainty; the other stared grimly at the battered light blade in Shuo's hand, which stubbornly kept shining despite clearly being on the verge of falling apart.
True, the thing wasn't much good at dealing damage, but it was first-rate at bluffing and creating fear of the unknown.
Just then, urgent whistles and faint shouts came from the camp. Clearly, the signal flare had worked.
Farther away, sounds of combat and flashes of fire also erupted from the directions Long and Aoki were covering.
The Iwagakure ninja before him exchanged a glance. Their leader gritted his teeth. "Finish this quickly! Kill him first!"
Both stopped holding back and formed hand seals at the same time. One slapped both hands onto the ground. "Earth Release: Cracking Earth Palm!" The ground cracked open, fissures racing toward Shuo's feet.
The other drew a deep breath, his chest swelling. "Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!" Hard stone instantly covered his right arm, expanding into an enormous fist as he charged.
Shuo looked at the splitting ground and the charging stone fist, then at his light sword, which was about to sputter out. Only one thought remained in his mind:
Overtime pay really isn't easy to earn... I'm exhausted.
Dodge the cracks? What a hassle. Take the Rock Fist head-on? That'll hurt.
His gaze swept his surroundings and locked onto a small tree knocked askew by the earlier Earth Dragon Bullets.
Here goes!
He concentrated, pouring what little subtle connection to "light" remained in him after the fighting and tension, along with his remaining strength, into the battered light sword in his right hand.
The sword flared, then... became even more unstable. Its blade twisted and shuddered wildly, like a dying golden snake.
Shuo ignored it. Judging the distance, at the very instant the Rock Fist was about to strike him and the fissures reached his feet, he didn't dodge backward or sideways. Instead, he took a small step forward, straight toward the oncoming fist!
At the same time, rather than thrusting his extremely unstable light sword at the enemy, he tossed it like a javelin, lightly and with little force, toward the wrist of the Iwagakure ninja's stone-covered fist!
The motion was as casual as throwing away trash.
The Iwagakure ninja grinned viciously at the sight, driving his stone fist forward even harder, ready to smash both sword and wielder.
But an instant before the battered light blade struck the stone-covered arm...
It exploded on its own.
It hadn't been smashed. Its energy structure finally failed, spontaneously and silently bursting into a cloud of golden light fog that wasn't dazzling, but spread in an instant!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a golden patch that abruptly lit up, carrying searing heat and disruptive glare, engulfing the Iwagakure ninja's upper body-especially his eyes.
"Aah! My eyes!" The Iwagakure ninja screamed. His forward charge stopped short, and his stone arm instinctively rose to shield his face.
Now!
As he threw the light sword, Shuo had already used all his strength to activate one final "Light Particle Shift." His destination wasn't far away, just behind the small, tilted tree beside him.
His body blurred, dispersed, and re-formed once more.
Where he had stood, the Rock Fist crashed down, fissures spread, and dust flew.
Shuo had already appeared behind the small tree. His back against its trunk, he slid to the ground, his face white as paper, gasping as his vision repeatedly darkened.
He was completely empty inside. Even his pitiful little connection to light energy seemed overdrawn, temporarily "sputtering out."
The light fog dispersed. The Iwagakure ninja's eyes were red and streaming, temporarily blinded as he roared where he stood. The other ninja warily watched the spot where Shuo had vanished and reappeared, then his companion's miserable state, not daring to approach for the moment.
Leaning against the tree, Shuo didn't even want to move a finger.
Listening to the approaching footsteps of reinforcements from camp and the gradually fading sounds of combat from Long and Aoki's directions, he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Had I finally... held out until "clock-out" time?
He watched the temporarily blinded Iwagakure ninja being pulled into retreat by his companion, then looked at his own empty right hand, which still felt a little hot.
"Ama no Murakumo..." Shuo tugged at the corner of his mouth, weakly delivering his verdict to the empty air. "Next time... remember to get a sturdier version..."
"Disposable weapons... really waste the budget, y'know~"
With that, his eyelids grew heavy. Leaning against the trunk, amid the shouts of Konoha reinforcements arriving at the scene, he relaxed and... passed out.
His last thought before losing consciousness was:
This overtime... was a total loss.
[Ding! Before passing out from exhaustion, the host completed a "battle review" and "complaint" consistent with the template's style. Imitation Points +8.] [Host status detected: severely injured, overdrawn, unconscious. "Imitation System" entering low-power standby mode. Please rest well, host, so you can continue... working to become stronger.]
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