"Tch, I didn't expect his mental fortitude to be quite this good."
Mishu had delivered several dozen sentences of agonizing trash talk, yet the enemy still hadn't rashly charged out of the fog. He curled his lips, and the mockery in his voice grew even louder.
"Hey, hey! You're not attacking, and you're not running away! Are you waiting for me to throw you a bone like a good dog?"
Mishu chuckled. "Besides, at your age, maintaining this level of dense mist must be rapidly draining your pathetic chakra reserves. How much longer can you last? I only cast a basic Water Clone. My chakra is completely full."
Mishu stepped forward, his boots crunching on the dirt. "As a ninja, without chakra, you are nothing but an ordinary, fragile human. Killing you then will be as easy as slaughtering a chicken. Aren't you going to fight back?"
As soon as Mishu's words fell, three identical figures violently burst from the mist.
Three Kurosuki Ryuichis rushed toward Mishu and his two clones, their faces twisted in pure rage. "Damn peasant! Shut your mouth!"
"Heh. Using clones as cover? Completely useless."
Mishu only glanced at the incoming attackers. He decisively abandoned the Ryuichi charging directly at his center and violently pivoted toward the figure on the right.
The Ryuichi on the right had faint blue lightning flickering around his calves—that had to be the real body.
Ryuichi's strength was decent, but he was still young. Mishu didn't believe that a fragile academy-level Water Clone had the complex chakra control required to utilize cellular stimulation techniques. If the boy's clones were actually that powerful, Mishu would have run away long ago.
Behind him, clone fought clone. Mishu ignored them, lunging forward and stabbing straight ahead with his short sword.
Ryuichi was horrified to see his real body identified so instantly, but his reflexes weren't slow. He brought his long sword across horizontally, desperately blocking the incoming thrust with the flat of his blade.
What immense strength!
Ryuichi was physically overpowered by the sheer kinetic force of the thrust. He couldn't help but stumble back two steps, completely failing to understand how a civilian's physical power was so vastly superior to his own.
His ambush failed. Panicking, Ryuichi waved his left hand, shooting out three shuriken to slow Mishu's pursuit, desperately hoping to use the brief window to escape back into the safety of the mist.
I won't let you escape this time!
Mishu quickly formed a set of hand seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A powerful, roaring gust of wind spewed from Mishu's mouth. The localized hurricane instantly swept away both the incoming shuriken and the dense cover of the mist.
Ryuichi had just turned around to run. Hearing the roaring gale behind him, he tried to look back, only to be violently struck by the wall of wind. He tumbled chaotically through the air like a discarded sack, crashing brutally into the rocky ground.
Without waiting for the wind to fully dissipate, Mishu rushed forward. Looking down at Ryuichi, who was groggily struggling to push himself up, Mishu coldly executed a lethal downward strike.
"How... how can a civilian know Wind Release...?"
Lying in a rapidly expanding pool of his own blood, Kurosuki Ryuichi was extremely unwilling to die. He voiced the final, agonizing doubt in his heart.
Mishu, who had been full of relentless trash talk during the fight, remained entirely silent this time. He merely watched the light fade from the boy's eyes, quietly confirming the kill.
With the mist entirely dissipated, Mishu scanned the cleared environment, but he didn't sheath his blade. Instead, his gaze locked onto a patch of dense, trembling bushes a few yards away.
"It's been quite a while," Mishu called out coldly. "You neither leave nor attack. What exactly is your purpose? Did you fall in love with me while watching? If so, you better be a beauty."
The bushes rustled violently. A young girl with bright brown hair and large green eyes hesitantly stood up. She raised both hands in the air like a docile, frightened rabbit.
"Don't kill me!" she squeaked, her voice carrying a trace of charming innocence. "I was just passing by! I didn't see you slaughter Kurosuki Ryuichi and his team! I swear!"
Mishu scanned her up and down. She was undeniably cute, especially with the soft baby fat on her cheeks that made people want to pinch them.
Since the eavesdropper was so polite and harmless-looking, Mishu stopped his psychological warfare and simply offered her one word of advice.
"Scram."
Hearing Mishu's blunt dismissal, the girl's face instantly turned bright red with fury. Her nostrils flared, and her raised hands clenched into tight fists.
Assuming the girl was offended and about to attack, Mishu became fully alert. He tightened his grip on his blood-stained sword, his cold gaze subconsciously locking onto her exposed neck and vital organs.
Just one second before Mishu launched a preemptive strike, the girl stomped her foot and shouted in pure, indignant anger. "I won't scramble!"
This was Rinko. As a rising star and a genius within her own clan, she was deeply favored by her elders and was the absolute center of attention in her academy classes.
She had fought in spars, she had been injured, and she had experienced failure—but she had never been completely ignored and casually dismissed like garbage. Out of sheer, childish spite, she planted her feet firmly, her large green eyes filled with absolute stubbornness.
"Then you're seeking death!"
Mishu rushed forward, his short sword emanating pure killing intent. Rinko was greatly startled by the explosive speed; she had absolutely no time to dodge before the blade brutally cleaved her in half.
Splash.
Water Substitution? That casting speed was incredible!
Rinko's 'bisected' body turned into a harmless puddle of clear water. Her real body materialized perfectly on the surface of a small lake a dozen meters away.
This generation of academy students has far too many highly capable individuals, Mishu thought, narrowing his eyes. Did Zabuza actually manage to slaughter all of them in canon? Is that guy really that much of a monster?
Perhaps the truly strong heirs had graduated early in the original timeline, and the remaining students Zabuza massacred had simply been the weaker stragglers.
Mishu quickly reassessed the situation. This girl's jutsu casting speed was phenomenal. He absolutely didn't want to engage in a high-risk battle to the death with her over bruised egos. Turning his back, he prepared to simply walk away.
However, after only taking a few steps, he heard a splash. Turning his head, he saw the girl actively following him onto the shore. He frowned deeply.
"Life is so incredibly beautiful," Mishu sighed. "Why must you insist on throwing yours away?"
Rinko stood about ten paces away, perfectly out of his immediate striking range. Seeing Mishu looking genuinely annoyed, she actually started laughing, revealing bright white teeth.
"Hahaha! If you have the guts, come over here and kill me then!" she taunted, placing her hands on her hips. "I love seeing you look so frustrated! How dare you insult me? I absolutely won't let you off today!"
"What a persistent ghost."
Mishu didn't want to be entangled by a bizarre opponent whose true strength and motives were unknown—it felt like holding a live bomb that could detonate at any moment. Therefore, he decided to completely eliminate the hidden danger right now.
He let out a slow breath, gently rolling his shoulders to ensure his muscles were fully loose. Then, he erupted with kinetic energy. His entire body shot toward the girl at a terrifying speed, the short sword cleaving down aggressively from above.
"You are very fast, but I am not weak either!" Rinko shouted.
She was genuinely shocked by Mishu's burst speed, which actually created a sharp whistling sound in the air. However, her own taijutsu foundations were excellent. She retreated continuously, flawlessly weaving around his strikes. Although she didn't have a single opening to counterattack, she didn't sustain a single scratch either.
In a few short moments, Mishu launched more than a dozen lethal strikes, but every single one hit empty air.
Compared to her evasive taijutsu, Rinko's ninjutsu was her true specialty. Finding a tiny window of opportunity, she suddenly leaped backward and rapidly formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Raging Waves!"
Rinko inhaled sharply and spewed a massive, high-pressure wave of water from her mouth, crashing toward Mishu like a localized tsunami. Mishu immediately bounded backward into the trees to avoid the crushing impact.
Landing safely on a patch of grass, Mishu watched the residual water pool around his boots.
"Where is she?"
Mishu looked up, realizing the spot where the girl had just been standing was completely empty. At that exact moment, a sweet voice echoed from directly behind him.
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
Accompanied by the girl's triumphant voice, the shallow puddles of water surrounding Mishu's boots surged upward. They rapidly formed a dense, inescapable spherical prison, entirely enveloping him in heavy liquid.
Rinko stood behind him, her right arm plunged deep into the water prison to sustain the jutsu. She was panting slightly.
With her current chakra reserves, consecutively using a Substitution, Raging Waves, and a Water Prison was indeed incredibly strenuous, but it was all worth it.
"Got you! Let's see how arrogant you can be while drowning!"
Rinko looked at Mishu, who was suspended quietly inside the water prison, making absolutely no attempt to struggle. She smiled brilliantly.
The combination tactic of Raging Waves into the Water Prison Technique was her own proud, original creation. Even her harsh clan elders had repeatedly praised her tactical genius for it. Using it to capture an arrogant, civilian ninja trainee should be a piece of cake.
Inside the dense water prison, oxygen was completely cut off. After a minute or two, Mishu would lose consciousness and the ability to resist.
However, the battlefield is always full of sudden reversals.
"Goodbye, little girl."
A voice whispered directly into her ear. A cold, sharp blade pressed gently against Rinko's throat.