A precise, elegant stance.
As those ice spikes came into Mei Terumi's view.
The alluring girl still wore that coldly beautiful expression as her graceful figure pressed forward.
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!"
Her delicate lips parted slightly, blowing out a boiling-hot white mist, a technique released through one of the most unusual kekkei genkai, formed by combining fire- and water-nature chakra.
It possessed exceptionally powerful corrosive and evaporative abilities.
Although there was a world of difference between Mei Terumi at this stage and her strength when she appeared in the original story.
Against the Ice Release technique unleashed by Kei, whose strength likewise could hardly be considered particularly great, she could still overpower it head-on and corrode it completely.
There was practically no room for a contest between the two techniques.
As each ice spike plunged into that peculiar, intensely hot acidic mist, they visibly melted away in the shortest possible time, before they could even get close to Mei Terumi.
One after another, they turned into pools of clear water and fell.
At the sight of this.
The corner of Kei's eye could not help twitching twice. In the original story, Mei Terumi's Boil Release had been powerful enough to corrode and melt Susanoo. Although that had not been Susanoo's strongest form, it was still enough to demonstrate the power of her Boil Release!
Although her kekkei genkai was admittedly only in its earliest stages now, wasn't his own exactly the same!?
Unless he really threw caution to the wind and unleashed all the ice power currently available to him.
Then he could indeed gain the upper hand.
Otherwise.
With his current Ice Release power, which he had to deliberately suppress, he would definitely be the one to suffer in a head-on clash!
Another thing to bear in mind was that, although his chakra reserves were not small, he had barely had any time to rest and recover chakra since entering the examination grounds.
Before fighting Mei Terumi, he had only just finished an intense battle with Kisame Hoshigaki, and his chakra expenditure had been considerable. He had to change things up here!
Kei made his decision immediately in that instant.
Bang!
Then, with a light push of his toes and a burst of chakra, he darted backward, opening up a little distance.
"Water Release: Water Bullet Technique!"
He set Ice Release aside for the moment.
With a turn of his hands, he directly unleashed the most basic C-rank Water Release technique.
Large, crystal-clear droplets rapidly condensed all around him, accompanied by a spreading, chilling menace.
With flicks of Kei's fingers.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
They hurtled toward Mei Terumi's path with tremendous speed and force.
To an ordinary genin, this would already have been a sufficiently formidable attack.
But in Mei Terumi's eyes, it was nothing to fear.
She did not even need to deliberately retreat. With just a few nimble flips and twists in midair, she precisely evaded the flying water bullets, then continued closing in on Kei without slowing down.
"Water Release: Vortex Technique!"
She continued forming hand seals as she advanced.
Along with the chakra she molded.
Two spiraling waves simultaneously burst from the ground on either side of Mei Terumi, circling rapidly through the air before their ripples overlapped.
With tremendous speed, they rushed to a spot just above Kei.
An intense sense of pressure bore down on him.
It had to be said that, even without counting her kekkei genkai abilities, Mei Terumi's individual strength in Water Release techniques alone had already surpassed the genin level, at least rivaling some veteran chunin!
Her hand seal speed went without saying.
With the coverage of this Water Release technique and the might it radiated, it was truly no wonder this girl eventually rose to the position of Fifth Mizukage in the original story. Leaving aside those few cheats, Mei Terumi's talent and caliber were unquestionably a match for any outstanding genius in the history of the Shinobi World.
Not to mention that Mei Terumi was a woman, which made her stand out even more in such a cruel Shinobi World!
After all, in the original story, there were truly only a handful of prominent, outstanding female ninja. Mei Terumi's place among them was the strongest proof.
At this moment, Kei also truly grasped through Mei Terumi what it meant for a woman to be every bit a man's equal.
Smack!
Wave after wave of surging attacks came crashing in.
Kei's expression remained utterly serious and tense.
He extended his perception as far as possible, then mobilized a large amount of chakra as the churning waves rolled close to him.
"Ice Release!"
Kei immediately unleashed an enormous surge of ice power, spreading his hands to meet that wave of water from a distance.
Hum!
An icy chill spread over it in an instant.
Once again, it forcibly froze the sweeping waves in the shortest possible time, forming a magnificent ice sculpture between Kei and Mei Terumi!
The next second.
Kei leaped to the highest point of that ice sculpture.
Just as Mei Terumi closed in from below and to the side.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
With a turn of his hand, Kei drew more than ten shuriken from his ninja tool pouch, then bent and extended his arm forward, flinging them out swiftly.
The shuriken became tiny glints of cold light.
With fierce momentum, they rapidly closed in before Mei Terumi's eyes.
At the same time.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Technique!"
Kei clapped his palms together forcefully, rapidly forming hand seals. As he finished molding his chakra, his abdomen swelled, and he abruptly leaned forward, opened his mouth, and unleashed a gale.
The storm surged forth!
"!?"
Just as it reached her.
"Boil Release!"
It happened to be the very moment Mei Terumi used her kekkei genkai technique, intending to rely on Boil Release to corrode and engulf the approaching shuriken while further pressing Kei's position. What she had not expected was that Kei had anticipated this move!
The gale swept in with precision!
While easily blowing aside the flying shuriken, it also forcefully dispersed part of the Boil Release mist, completing an exquisite exchange of offense and defense in that single instant.
As Mei Terumi froze in surprise.
Screech!
Suddenly.
A slightly shrill scraping sound rang out close by, right beside Mei Terumi's ear!
Amid those minute details.
She saw transparent threads that seemed almost illusory.
"Not good!"
The look in Mei Terumi's beautiful eyes changed, and she was just about to pull back out of the area.