Moonlight shone down, lighting Mei Terumi's face and revealing her enchanting smile.
Both charming and dangerous.
The twenty-plus Kirigakure Anbu froze in place and did not attack immediately.
First, Mei Terumi, even at a young age, already possessed two bloodlines and was well known in Kirigakure, they all recognized her.
Because they recognized her, they were also more cautious: a reckless strike could easily be melted by Boil Release or Lava Release.
Second, their leader had not yet issued the attack order; they were to strictly follow his commands.
The man at their head raised a hand to signal his subordinates to hold, then stepped forward slightly.
"Mei Terumi, I know you're close with Elder Genji, one of his confidants."
"But on this matter, heed my one piece of advice: stop while you can and sever your ties with Genji..."
"You should know that your actions now already constitute treason. I can't bear to see a genius of Kirigakure fall here."
Mei's smile faded; she said calmly, "I am not committing treason. On the contrary, I am merely correcting some mistakes."
She paused, then looked at the man as if struck by an idea, "If I'm not mistaken, you are the one called Shadow One, captain of the Anbu squad, right?"
"I heard you were secretly trained by the Third Mizukage as his personal guard, leader of the Shadow Guard."
"If that's the case, you should know more about him than I do, and you should be clearer that letting him run rampant will push all of Kirigakure, even the entire Land of Water, into the abyss."
Captain Shadow One was silent for a moment and didn't answer directly.
Instead he changed the subject, "You appearing here likely means you're not alone."
"Can you tell me where your comrades are? What do they intend to do?"
Mei smiled again, her tone thick with mockery, "If you must know, it's not impossible."
"As long as you're willing to join us and rebel against the Mizukage's tyranny, I'll tell you everything..."
Shadow One was not disturbed; he only said, "You have your position, I have mine. But... do you think if you fight me you have a chance to win?"
Mei's eyes narrowed slightly; she spoke seriously.
"Elder Genji warned me to be careful of you. Your danger level is said to be even above the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
"I'm not so foolish as to ignore the Elder's words. One-on-one, I'm not even a match for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, let alone you."
"But... some things, someone has to do them, right?"
"If everyone gives up simply out of fear of failure, then there will never be a day of success."
Captain Shadow One sighed, "I understand. Since you know you're not my match but still speak with me here, it's to buy time, isn't it?"
"In that case, I'll have to finish this quickly!"
Shadow One's expression hardened. He waved to the surrounding Anbu, "Take her, regardless of life or death. Be careful of her Lava Release and Boil Release."
The surrounding Anbu obeyed, like cold-blooded machines, executing the order without hesitation.
Immediately, the air filled with a killing intent as twenty-plus Anbu lunged toward Mei Terumi.
Seeing this, Mei formed hand seals at once.
"Water Release, Kirigakure Technique."
A large volume of mist burst from her mouth, shrouding the surrounding area.
She didn't use the Heavy Mist Art because that jutsu consumes a huge amount of chakra; she was facing more than a dozen opponents and couldn't waste chakra.
Still, the Kirigakure Technique achieved its purpose. At least it blocked the vision of the charging Anbu and made them pause.
Mei knew, however, this trick wouldn't buy much time; after all, Kirigakure ninja have high resistance to the Kirigakure Technique and can recover to normal with slight adaptation.
More importantly, Shadow One beside them was still watching like a hawk.
At that moment, Mei quickly formed seals inside the mist, took a deep breath, and said, "Lava Release, Dissolving Monster Technique!"
A torrent of acidic liquid spewed from her mouth, spraying toward Shadow One.
The spray moved much faster than when she'd used it during the Chūnin Exams against Rin; it soon reached Shadow One and descended, enveloping him from all sides.
Yet Shadow One didn't seem the least bit hurried. He only formed his hand seals before the Lava Release fully fell.
The next instant, his figure disappeared.
Mei released her sensory and searched for where Shadow One had gone, but found nothing.
Until, behind her, in an absolute shadow, a form appeared. And this time he had added another kunai to his hand and thrust it toward Mei.
Mei spun around hastily; the acidic substance she'd spat turned direction with her and shot at Shadow One again.
Shadow One halted his stab; his whole body sharply changed direction, moved downward, and merged into another shadow.
Then he vanished once more.
Mei frowned. As described, Captain Shadow One possessed a secret art to merge with darkness, omnipresent at night.
But just as she thought that, a bone-chilling cold emanated from behind her.
Shadow One had managed to get behind her in such a short time.
'Could this be a space-time ability?'
Without hesitation, Mei dodged to the side.
But the Shadow One who appeared behind her still thrust a kunai into the small of her back.
Shadow One withdrew the kunai and continued to stab. Mei had already turned and redirected her Lava Release spray.
Only then did Shadow One give up; his figure disappeared once more into the dark.
Mei spun on her feet and sprayed a large amount of Lava Release material around, enveloping herself and forming a temporary absolute defense.
She stopped her breath, pressed her hand to the wound in her lower back that was bleeding, and her face went pale.
The situation was now extremely unfavorable for her.
That stab had wounded her internal organs, severely impairing her combat power.
And the Kirigakure Technique was failing; she would soon face the assault of a large group of Anbu.
Even without the Anbu, a ninja who could appear at any moment in the dark and possibly wield space-time ninjutsu was deadly.
After just two exchanges, she'd been injured. The gap between her and Shadow One... was much larger than she'd imagined.
Moreover, her Lava Release material was gradually flowing to the ground and cooling. This temporary absolute defense would eventually fail.
When that time came, what would she do?
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