CH_108

Because Izumo had been covered in a large amount of quicklime powder, and even his eyes had been mildly burned, he was immediately taken to the medical room.

But those minor injuries were nothing.

In this world with its somewhat peculiar tech tree, medical technology was considered quite backward—but when chakra came into play, the healing effects were remarkably good, almost top-tier.

『What a crude approach. He'd be better off using poison directly—though spreading it that way would be too costly.』 After analyzing the situation, Tōji concluded—

That Akamon Manabu's methods were far from clever. His taijutsu was average, and he hadn't shown a single jutsu. He probably had no chance of being promoted to chūnin this time.

By now, Shinku was calling Tatami Iwashi and Mizuki to the arena.

"Go, Iwashi!" Kotetsu wasn't at all worried about Izumo's minor injuries, cheering on his temporary teammate.

"I will—thanks, Kotetsu." Iwashi responded politely and a little nervously, then jogged to the stairway entrance… and took the stairs down to the arena.

Mizuki didn't seem to know anyone there, and no one wished him luck. He walked out of the waiting room expressionlessly and also chose the stairs.

Once Mizuki was gone—

"You seemed pretty interested in that Mizuki guy earlier." Neru rarely initiated conversation.

"Mizuki, huh… I just thought he seemed a bit unusual, so I paid attention." Tōji wasn't about to tell Neru that Mizuki was the first "notorious villain" who'd successfully manipulated the savior into committing a crime.

Seeing Tatami Iwashi already in the center of the arena, Kotetsu shouted loudly, "Go, go! You can do it!"

Mizuki arrived less than two minutes later.

Following Shinku's countdown, the next match began!

Shing! Shing! Shing! Shinku had barely said "Begin" and hadn't even used Body Flicker to retreat when Mizuki's shuriken were already flying straight at Iwashi.

Shinku didn't mind the minor disruption—he glanced at Mizuki briefly before flashing out of the combat zone.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Iwashi deflected the shuriken one by one with a single kunai, already noticing that Mizuki was circling rapidly about ten paces away.

Shing! Shing! Shing… As he ran, Mizuki threw shuriken rhythmically, one after another, creating a sustained assault from multiple angles.

Iwashi held his ground steadily, adapting to the changing attacks while blocking and defending.

The metallic clashing sounds grew faster and faster…

『Here it comes!』 Tōji naturally knew Mizuki wouldn't keep this up forever—he was an aggressive type.

Whoosh! A Fūma Shuriken made a sound completely different from ordinary shuriken, and it was moving at least twice as fast.

A sudden, unexpected attack!

Clang! Iwashi blocked it in time. But the Fūma Shuriken packed much more force than a regular one, and it took Iwashi a couple of extra seconds to regain his stance after deflecting it…

Thunk! Thunk-thunk-thunk! Clang!

Iwashi was hit multiple times!

But he didn't make a sound—and immediately blocked the following shuriken.

"Iwashi doesn't seem ready yet—Mizuki's probably going to win!" Natchi was now bold enough to predict the outcome.

"Not necessarily—Tatami Iwashi's expression is very calm." Neru's focus was different from Natchi's.

Tōji glanced at Neru—she was still the same one who paid attention to details.

Whoosh! Suddenly, something changed in the arena. Tatami Iwashi threw his kunai!

In that instant, many shinobi with sharp eyes held their breath for Iwashi… Would it hit?

If it hit, great!

If it missed, he'd be unarmed and at a huge disadvantage!