"Too late!"
Not far away, Kei smiled faintly and gave a sharp tug with his arm.
Whoosh!
Rip!
The shuriken that had scattered earlier seemed to heed some signal or command, and in those brief two or three seconds,
they swiftly converged on a single point again.
Ring upon ring closed in just enough to surround Mei Terumi!
The originally transparent, slender threads attached to the shuriken now stood out brilliantly, one after another, in the final second before Mei Terumi could mold chakra, form hand seals, and unleash her jutsu.
Bang!
Snap!
They swiftly wound around her, coil after coil, binding Mei Terumi tightly!
It was an unexpected turn, an attack she had never anticipated. The moment she was completely restrained, a rare look of bewilderment appeared on Mei Terumi's face. It had to be said that, no matter how powerful or outstanding she was when she appeared in the original story, she was still only a nine-year-old girl now. Kei had little combat experience or skill, and his battle awareness was hardly impressive. Was Mei Terumi any different?!
Even Heiji Kaguya and Kisame Hoshigaki, who had clearly already drawn blood before, had at most just a tiny bit more experience than Kei!
Their age alone meant they could not possibly be battle-hardened veterans!
In such an evenly matched clash, people their age were prone to mistakes that seasoned, experienced ninja would never make, especially when Kei's feints had been so well executed!
Layer upon layer of attacks blanketed her.
They kept Mei Terumi from noticing the crucial finishing move hidden in the shadows!
The battle's outcome was clear!
Mei Terumi could not help briefly losing focus as well. By the time she came to her senses and tried to find another way to escape her restraints,
Whoosh!
Kei had already seized the opportunity to close in on her. With a turn of his hand, he drew a kunai and laid its gleaming blade against her fair neck, saying with a faint smile, "Terumi, you lost!"
The cold edge seemed to carry a faint, prickling pain.
When she saw the kunai laid right across her neck,
Mei Terumi gave up her final struggle.
"Yes, you won, Kei. Those were perfect feints. You really did fool me completely!"
Looking at Kei nearby,
Mei Terumi took a deep breath before replying calmly.
One had to be able to let go as well as take things on.
Although Mei Terumi could be a little unreasonable about certain things, she would never make a scene over a matter of principle after losing a fair fight like this.
A win was a win.
A loss was a loss.
Besides, the reason Mei Terumi had wanted to pick a fight with Kei in the first place was ultimately because she thought highly of him!
Now Kei had proved his strength through his performance.
How could Mei Terumi possibly keep "making trouble"?!
This was a fight she herself had demanded.
Her ready acceptance of defeat instead left Kei stunned. He had thought the girl before him, whom he considered spoiled and willful, would not concede so easily.
Yet reality was completely different from what he had imagined.
But it lasted only two or three seconds. Looking into Mei Terumi's clear, bright eyes, Kei understood something. He withdrew his kunai and, as he untied the threads binding her, said softly, "I was lucky, too. You were a little careless, Terumi, which gave me an opening. Otherwise, I couldn't have beaten you so easily. If we fought again, there's still no telling which of us would win!"
Kei really was not being overly modest.
It was the plain truth.
In terms of individual strength, Mei Terumi, with her two kekkei genkai and considerable proficiency in Water Release, could hold a slight edge over him. Even if her kekkei genkai abilities were certainly not very well developed at this age, she still possessed some degree of advantage. Whether Boil Release or Lava Release, both countered Kei's Ice Release to varying degrees.
Of course, slight differences in strength could not determine victory with absolute certainty. Even in the online games Kei had encountered in his previous life, where numerical values mattered so much, differences in stats could still be overcome through skill!
Thus, the theory that higher numbers and stronger stats guaranteed victory was one of the stupidest claims out there, unless the gap between the two sides' numbers was so enormous that no amount of skill could make up for it.
If one slash from you killed me instantly, while my attacks could barely break your defense and inflict a little guaranteed damage, there was only one outcome no matter how we fought-defeat!
Kei and Mei Terumi were clearly almost perfectly matched in combat strength. Mei Terumi truly had only a tiny advantage, so either of them winning was entirely normal. Kei had spoken those words sincerely.
But to Mei Terumi, the loser, they sounded somewhat unpleasant. She could face her defeat calmly, but claiming she did not care at all would have been a lie. Ultimately, she was still a proud girl!
Given the choice, who would not want to keep winning until the very end?!
"No. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. We're ninja. Whatever we say after losing is just an excuse. Besides, if this had been on the battlefield, I'd already be dead, wouldn't I?"
Mei Terumi moved her arms as she shook her head and spoke seriously.
Making excuses for defeat was something only weaklings and fools did. Being a ninja was a dangerous profession to begin with, and ninja used every means available in combat. A fair, honorable fight?!
Was that a joke?
In the world of ninja, victory was the only thing that mattered!
They were not those so-called samurai, traditional and rigid. Besides, ninja looked down on those samurai in the first place!
Was winning not the very essence of combat?
Mei Terumi herself understood this very clearly. There was also something else she had left unsaid: unlike other ninja villages, Kirigakure's genin graduation examination could get people killed, and not merely one or two.
With her completely subdued just now,
Kei could have killed her outright.
Saying that Kei had shown her mercy by sparing her life was by no means an exaggeration. At least in that situation, had she encountered one of the more extreme Mist Ninja, she might not have survived. Mei Terumi herself understood that very clearly.
This served as a further warning to Mei Terumi.
She could not let her guard down at any moment.
She was about to truly step into the great maelstrom of the Shinobi World. Everything she would face in the future would be dozens of times crueler than life at the Ninja Academy. A single lapse could very well cost her life. As an ambitious young woman,
Mei Terumi absolutely refused to let her life end at its very beginning.