CH_94

As Neru's black hair continued to tighten…

Whoosh! Natchi came down from above Raidō's head, his right claw already unleashing an ultra-short-range claw wave blade.

Thunk! Shrrk! The sound of Tōji's kunai piercing Raidō's back and Natchi's claw blade slicing through his flesh rang out one after another…

At that point, the Tōji underground quickly retreated, and Natchi leaped back as well!

Poof! A soft sound—just as Tōji and the others had predicted, they wouldn't succeed in one go. It was only a Substitution Log.

Neru stepped out from behind a tree, scanning her surroundings with both eyes…

Natchi had already stopped on a branch, focusing on his sensory perception…

Tōji's Earth Clone crouched in place, feeling the ground's faint vibrations through his hands…

"Ah!" Neru cried out in pain!

Natchi turned his head—Neru had been kicked flat to the ground from behind by Raidō. He now had his foot pressed against her lower back, his sword tip aimed at her heart.

"Seems you guys aren't all that impressive, hahaha." From Raidō's expression, he still looked pretty relaxed.

Natchi and Tōji's Earth Clone exchanged a glance but made no further move…

"So? What are you going to do now?" Raidō was clearly in spectator mode.

Shing! Tōji's Earth Clone simply threw a single shuriken.

Clang! Raidō used his tachi to deflect it…

Crack! Shhh~ Another Tōji burst out from behind Raidō and forcibly dragged Neru away from under his foot… Raidō hadn't been pressing down firmly, so she slipped out.

Shing shing! Neru quickly used Body Flicker twice in a row to put distance between herself and Raidō.

『Called it.』

The shuriken Tōji's Earth Clone had seemingly tossed at random was meant to exploit Raidō's complacent mindset.

And sure enough, Raidō had used the very sword that posed the greatest threat to their rescue attempt to deflect it. Sometimes you wondered if Raidō was going easy on them.

But Tōji's shuriken had indeed been deliberately aimed at a spot where Raidō would find it most natural to deflect with his blade.

In an instant, their ambush on Raidō had turned into a head-on confrontation.

But Tōji and the others weren't panicking at all—they'd anticipated this scenario from the start.

"Go!" Tōji, now closest to Raidō, took command.

They already had a tactical plan in place—they just needed to make minor adjustments on the fly.

"Cat Man" Natchi, despite his bulky frame, moved less like a cat and more like a leopard. He was the first to pounce from the trees, claws extended. Raidō met him with his blade.

Neru, of course, continued her mid-range harassment attacks with her hair. But Raidō had to stay wary—if he got entangled, he'd be half-defeated.

Tōji's Earth Clone kept circling outside the engagement zone, continuously throwing shuriken.

Meanwhile, Tōji himself retreated to the tree Neru had been using earlier and quietly began forming seals…

"Natchi!" Tōji called out suddenly—it was a prearranged signal.

Natchi, ignoring the sword slash he took on the shoulder, tackled Raidō to the ground!

Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Three more strands of black hair wrapped around Raidō's arms and waist.

"【Multiple One-Thread Lamp Formation】!" Barrier seals materialized on the ground—a sealing array.

Tōji's real body, his Earth Clone, his Water Clone, and Neru all held their final seals, pinning Raidō at the center of the formation.

Tōji had only decided to use this E-rank sealing-barrier technique against the "tower guard" two days ago, and had practiced it multiple times with Neru.

Now, it was just right!

Raidō, already pinned by Natchi and bound by Neru's hair, now found himself caught in the combined version of the 【One-Thread Lamp Formation】—he genuinely couldn't move.

"Alright, alright—I'll give you the scroll!" Raidō conceded.

Natchi said, "I'll search him!"