No need for him to shout. Miki Ayano had already moved.
The speed of a Special Jonin was not something a Genin could compare to.
Mei Terumī only saw a dark shadow rush out from the mist, fast as a bolt of lightning, so fast her eyes couldn't capture it at all.
She instinctively wanted to dodge, but her body couldn't keep up with her consciousness. She took a heavy kick to the abdomen.
The power of that kick was astonishing; Mei Terumī was sent flying backwards, crashing into the ruins behind her.
Rubble and debris collapsed with a clatter, burying her legs and striking her shoulder.
She lay prone in the ruins, her mouth filled with the taste of blood. Yet, she still struggled to crawl back up.
Propping herself up with her hands, her knees knelt on the gravel; the wounds that had just scabbed over tore open again, blood soaking her pant legs.
"Teacher, you want to kill me too?"
Mei Terumī pushed herself up, standing unsteadily as a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
Miki Ayano stood five paces away, looking down at her.
There was no anger or killing intent in those eyes, only a calmness, as if looking at something that had to be disposed of.
"Kekkei Genkai," Miki Ayano said softly, her tone as gentle as if stating a simple fact. "I cannot let you live."
This time, Mei Terumī didn't reply; she raised her hands and formed hand seals again.
Boiling Release: Skilled Mist Technique!
This time, what she spat out wasn't a viscous liquid, but a high-temperature acid mist.
Grayish-white mist billowed from her mouth, thicker and hotter than the night fog, carrying a temperature high enough to melt steel as it enveloped Miki Ayano.
Miki Ayano was forced to retreat several steps to avoid the lethal acid mist. But her eyes remained fixed on Mei Terumī, without even blinking.
Mei Terumī leaned against the wall, standing in the ruins. As the acid mist slowly dissipated, it revealed her swaying figure.
She knew she couldn't win. Those two strikes just now had almost completely drained her Chakra; her body felt empty.
But she was still standing.
Her knees were shaking, her arms were shaking, her whole body was shaking.
But she was still standing, as if she would never fall.
Miki Ayano rushed forward again, so fast she couldn't see clearly, so fast she didn't have time to react.
Just then.
The sound of breaking wind.
A sharp whistle tore through the mist, and a Kunai dived down from the depths of the night.
Miki Ayano's pupils constricted suddenly, and she instinctively stepped aside.
The Kunai grazed her neck and flew past, pinning into the broken wall behind her, its tail feathers humming and vibrating.
"Who?!"
No one answered. Only a dark shadow rushed out from the mist, fast as the night wind of the Hidden Mist.
The figure swept past her side, heading straight for Ichima Shirataka.
Just as Ichima Shirataka thought to dodge, a thin line of blood appeared on his throat.
It was very thin and faint, then the line split open, and blood gushed out.
His eyes widened as he clutched his neck tightly with both hands, kneeling on the ground, twitching twice before becoming still.
"What the hell?!"
Morimoto Makoto cried out in alarm and retreated, one arm still mangled with charred flesh curling back.
He stumbled backward, but as soon as the shout left his mouth, it was cut off in his throat.
The dark shadow was already right in front of him. Then came a punch, right in the center of his chest.
*Thump!*
A dull sound of impact.
Morimoto Makoto's sternum visibly caved in, and he was sent flying like a ragdoll, crashing into the broken wall behind him, never to rise again.
Two strikes. Two people killed.
From the moment the first Kunai was thrown until now, it had been no more than three breaths.
"At least an Elite Chunin!"
Miki Ayano's pupils shrank to the size of pinheads.
Her hands were already forming seals, but the dark shadow was faster.
Just as the figure sent Morimoto Makoto flying, he had already turned toward her, hands coming together to form seals in a fluid motion.
Water Release: Water Blade Slash!
A gap was sliced through the mist as a blade of water slashed out from the darkness.
Miki Ayano barely managed to sidestep; the water blade grazed her waist and slashed into the ruins behind her.
With a loud boom, gravel splattered everywhere.
Before she could catch her breath, a second water blade arrived.
This time she wasn't fast enough; the water blade sliced across her arm, and blood splattered.
She let out a muffled groan and stumbled back, the hand that was forming seals dropping down.
"Who on earth are you?!" she hissed, fear entering her voice for the first time.
No one answered.
Only the sound of footsteps came from the mist.
Neither fast nor slow, the gravel made faint crunching sounds underfoot.
A dark shadow walked out from the mist.
Shinji.
"It seems I'm not too late."
He withdrew his hand, his gaze bypassing Miki Ayano's frozen figure and landing on the swaying Mei Terumī in the ruins.
At this moment, Mei Terumī leaned against the broken wall, her chest heaving violently, blood still hanging from the corner of her mouth.
The wound on her knee had completely torn open, blood soaking her entire pant leg.
But she was still standing.
Covered in wounds and swaying, yet she was still standing.
Shinji walked over.
When he passed by Miki Ayano's side, he didn't even give her a glance.
The woman still maintained her posture from being wounded by the water blade, clutching her bleeding arm, her pupils filled with lingering shock and fear as she watched him walk past, not daring to move an inch.
Shinji came to a halt three paces in front of Mei Terumī, looking at her.
"Are you okay?"
There was no extra concern in his voice, no intentional tenderness, just four plain words.
Mei Terumī was stunned.
Leaning against the wall, every wound on her body was aching, her ears were still ringing, and her vision was a bit blurred.
But she saw the person in front of her clearly. Black hair, ordinary features, an ordinary build—only those eyes were as calm as a deep pool.
It was him. The one from earlier today.
The one who stood at the edge of the crowd and spoke up for her.
The top graduate who was taken away by Kisame Hoshigaki.
Shinji.
Why are you here?
Mei Terumī stared at him, her lips moving, but she couldn't say anything.
She should have asked.
Ask why he was here, how he knew something would happen to her, and why he chose to help her.
But she couldn't ask anything; she just stared blankly at this boy, something beginning to grow in her heart.
Mist flowed between the two of them.
Miki Ayano stared at Shinji, the color draining from her face bit by bit.
At this moment, she also recognized this face.
This year's top of the grade, Shinji.
He had just killed two of her students with two strikes and wounded her arm with two water blades.
Miki Ayano gritted her teeth, clutching her bleeding arm as her voice squeezed through the gaps in her teeth:
"Shinji, you... do you know what you're doing? A Kekkei Genkai like hers is bound to be a disaster sooner or later! Everyone in the Village understands this; there's no way you don't know!"
"I know more than you."
Shinji didn't let her finish. The next moment, he moved.
His seemingly ordinary figure pulled an afterimage through the mist.
Miki Ayano instinctively wanted to retreat, to form seals, to create distance. But she forgot that something was still wrapped around her ankle.
Water Release: Water Flow Whip. That water whip condensed from Chakra had been wrapped around her ankle all along, silent and unnoticed.
Now it suddenly tightened, forcefully dragging her body down as she tried to leap from the ground.
She lost control of her posture and slammed heavily onto the ground.
But she didn't care about the pain; propping herself up with one hand, her other hand had already begun to form seals: Snake, Ram, Monkey.
But Shinji was faster, already right in front of her.
His face was no more than three feet away from Miki Ayano, those same calm eyes staring at her.