CH_109

In the blink of an eye—

Thunk! A very faint sound…

Shing shing shing! Mizuki immediately threw several shuriken as if casually tossing them—along with a smoke bomb mixed in!

Whoosh! Before the thrown "projectiles" could take effect, Mizuki dodged to the side and pulled the kunai out of his thigh…

Whether it would affect his ability to keep moving at high speed was unclear, but Mizuki didn't stick to his original tactic.

The smoke bomb had now covered Tatami Iwashi's position.

For a moment, even the entire spectator stand fell silent.

"Iwashi can actually match that guy Mizuki." Natchi said.

"He's my teammate, after all!" Kotetsu overheard and chimed in. Even if Iwashi was only a temporary teammate, Kotetsu had his back.

"Did you notice? The shuriken that hit Tatami Iwashi all avoided his vital spots. His fundamentals are solid." Neru also offered her assessment.

"Looks like Mizuki's improved quite a bit in the three years since graduation!" Tobitake Tonbō, standing not far from Natchi, joined the discussion. "But the way he's using that smoke bomb—it might not be an ordinary one."

"What do you mean…" Natchi was curious.

Most people used smoke bombs to cover their own escape. The last time Natchi had seen one thrown directly at an opponent was when Tōji had laced his with poison…

"Look—more movement." Seeing something stirring in the smoke, Tonbō reminded everyone to keep watching the match.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two Fūma Shuriken shot out from the smoke at high speed, heading straight for Mizuki…

Mizuki frowned.

One of them was a fake!

But the two large shuriken were coming from both sides, blocking his movement left and right…

He had to watch out for both. Mizuki sidestepped to his left, gripping a kunai in each hand to block the left shuriken, while keeping an eye on the other one to his right…

Poof! Hiss~ This—this was Tatami Iwashi turning the tables on him… The other Fūma Shuriken immediately reverted to a smoke bomb and quickly began spreading smoke.

"What are these two doing? Is throwing smoke bombs directly at people the new trend now?" Kotetsu was also puzzled.

"Mizuki's smoke bomb might be laced with poison. As for Tatami Iwashi… we'll have to wait and see." Tonbō explained. "Mizuki has failed the Chūnin Exams several times in a row—he's been unlucky. Lately, he's started researching concoctions."

As Mizuki's classmate, Tonbō knew him better than Tōji and the others did.

The two clouds of smoke lingered in the cool breeze for a while—they'd need some time to dissipate…

Clang! The ordinary spectators couldn't see what was happening inside the smoke, but the sound of metal clashing told them the fight was still going.

"Ah!" Mizuki cried out in pain. Then he was seen leaping backward out of the smoke…

His upper body was covered in white powder, and his eyes were shut…

"Iwashi used the quicklime powder on the ground!" Even though everyone could see it, Kotetsu still provided commentary.

Whoosh! Tatami Iwashi also emerged from the smoke—but something seemed off…

"He looks like he's been hit with a hallucinogenic poison." Tōji recognized the signs.

"So—do you think Iwashi can still win?" Natchi didn't care that Kotetsu was standing right there—he wanted Tōji's opinion.

"Hard to say—I can't tell the dosage or his willpower just by looking. Mizuki, on the other hand, is only temporarily blinded—he can still fight." Tōji couldn't predict the outcome—he didn't know everything.

"Whoa?!" Many in the audience gasped at that moment.

Because they saw Tatami Iwashi stab his own thigh with a kunai!

"Way to go, Iwashi!"