"Hehe, good thing I made it in time. Otherwise, you really would have slipped away from me this time, Kei!"
A sudden exchange of attack and defense.
Just as the water-bullet attack was completely blocked.
And that wall of ice melted away entirely.
Directly ahead.
A slender figure appeared on the branch of an enormous tree, wearing a pale purple, round-necked long dress, with her signature reddish-brown curls crossed over her shoulders and beautiful green eyes that seemed capable of captivating the soul.
Almost the instant he saw that figure.
Kei's brows furrowed.
Even Minazuki Ranne, standing a little farther back, widened her eyes at that moment before exclaiming, "Mei Terumi!?"
She instinctively shifted her gaze toward Kei, diagonally ahead of her, shock and confusion flickering in her bright eyes.
Was her younger clansman actually involved with this girl whose beauty outshone everyone at the academy, a girl who could practically be said to possess both strength and beauty!?
And from the looks of it, their involvement seemed quite deep!?
After all, judging by Mei Terumi's manner, it looked for all the world as though she had deliberately come looking for Kei. Otherwise, she wouldn't have said something like that, would she!?
Ranne couldn't help speculating inwardly.
Naturally, Kei, standing up ahead, knew nothing of the many thoughts running through his older clanswoman's mind behind him.
At that moment, he really was looking at Mei Terumi opposite him with helplessness and confusion written all over his face. He truly hadn't expected this girl, whose scheming nature was maxed out, to actually intercept him in such a huge examination ground!
And at such a coincidental moment, too.
Just how had she pinpointed his location?
Kei truly couldn't figure it out at all.
There was no way Kei could have realized that Mei Terumi had arranged for quite a few people to track him down in order to pinpoint his location!
If one person couldn't do it, a dozen or more certainly could!
After all, these "subordinates" Mei Terumi had found were all people at the Ninja Academy who were "utterly loyal" to her. They might not obey her every command, but a request like this was absolutely no problem!
Kei had also suffered from his lack of experience and awareness.
No matter how talented he was or how strong he was now, a lack of experience was still a lack of experience, especially when it came to reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, which placed particular emphasis on skill and awareness. What the academy taught was ultimately theoretical knowledge on paper. Moreover, Kei really hadn't expected anyone to secretly track him during an examination like this, so he truly hadn't taken any precautions in that regard. If anything, Kei's failure to discover those trackers really wasn't because they were so capable.
Rather, it was because Kei himself was truly such a "noob" in this area.
"Why go to all the trouble of coming such a long way to intercept me, Terumi? There's no grudge between us, and I never offended you back at the Ninja Academy, did I?"
Although Kei was inwardly complaining furiously about how beautiful women were nothing but trouble, he still maintained a calm expression as he looked at Mei Terumi with a trace of helplessness and asked softly.
But his inward complaints were one thing.
As mentioned before, after his thoroughly satisfying battle with Kisame Hoshigaki, Kei's mindset had already undergone a slight "qualitative" change.
The thought of "avoiding trouble" had completely vanished from Kei's mind, and he had also realized that if he wanted to become truly strong...
His previous mindset and way of thinking wouldn't do! They should even be called wrong!
Caution was one thing!
But courage was another matter entirely!
Not to mention that ninja placed particular importance on "perseverance" and "tenacity"!
Constantly backing away would only make him lose what mattered most: his own conviction and will to fight!
So, if Mei Terumi really wanted a fight...
Kei would naturally oblige her to the very end.
At most, he simply couldn't understand why Mei Terumi had to be so hung up on him.
As perceptive as Mei Terumi was, she could naturally hear a slight difference in Kei's words.
Although it wasn't particularly distinct or clear.
Compared with their meeting a month ago.
Mei Terumi could still tell that Kei's attitude seemed to have changed a little. There was no reason for it, either; she simply felt that the current Kei irritated her even more than he had a month ago!
Putting it that way might have sounded a little unreasonable.
But Mei Terumi really disliked Kei's current attitude.
Still, the girl wore a smile of certain victory as she lightly brushed back her hair. Looking at Kei with a gentle smile, she parted her lovely lips and said, "It seems you still have quite a deep misunderstanding of me, Kei. Didn't I make myself very clear last time? I want to settle things with you in a fair fight. It's that simple. But since you weren't willing, I had no choice but to resort to this. What, you can fight Heiji, and you can fight that Hoshigaki, but you just won't fight me, Kei?"
Strictly speaking, there really was no legitimate reason, and there truly wasn't the slightest conflict between Kei and Mei Terumi.
But Mei Terumi was proud, too!
She was a girl with an incredibly strong sense of pride, and all the more so as a girl of ten. The complexity of her inner thoughts could far exceed an outsider's imagination.
There was only one reason Mei Terumi had set her sights on Kei!
She didn't like seeing other people deliberately "go easy" on her!
Whether it was intentional or unintentional!
Neither was an outcome Mei Terumi could accept. Of course, beyond that, there was no need to elaborate on the influence of certain other young-girl feelings. All one could say was that those who knew, knew.
And those who didn't would naturally never understand in their entire lives.
Ranne clearly belonged to the type who understood as soon as she heard it, because, at their core, she and Mei Terumi were the same kind of person!
So, almost the moment Mei Terumi finished speaking.
A faint look of realization appeared in Ranne's beautiful eyes, and she turned a slightly strange gaze toward Kei.
With strength and talent like that, no wonder Terumi thinks so highly of him...
Ranne thought silently to herself.
Kei's older clanswoman could understand instantly, but Kei belonged to the latter category just mentioned: the type who would never understand in his entire life.
To put it bluntly, he was a steel-straight man!
Kei hadn't picked up on the slightest bit of the underlying meaning in Mei Terumi's words. Instead, his attention went straight to the fact that Mei Terumi actually knew he had fought both Heiji Kaguya and Kisame Hoshigaki.
Could it be? So that's how it was?
After furrowing his brows slightly, Kei slowly relaxed them again. He had been utterly baffled before, but now he had some idea of why his whereabouts had been discovered.
It still came down to his serious lack of vigilance and experience!
Kei silently reflected on this.