Tatsuya rushed at Mizuki like a bullet, kunai in both hands.
[A skill has been created through a specific action.]
[You've gained the skill Dual Wielding (Passive)!]
[Dual Wielding (Passive) — Lv.1]
[When holding two weapons at the same time, all stats increased by 10%.]
[Dual Wielding in effect!]
A pulse of power surged through Tatsuya's limbs as if his muscles had just gotten lighter, tighter, sharper. His speed picked up—his body sharper, faster.
Mizuki's eyes widened as the boy charged in. "Persistent brat!"
The traitor Chunin whipped his own kunai up in a counter slash, but Tatsuya didn't stop—his gray eyes glowing with eerie intensity.
Tatsuya twisted midair, barely avoiding Mizuki's strike. The Eye of the Sleepless let him see the trajectory before it fully happened. It was like having slow motion vision.
"I see it," he whispered.
With one swift, clean motion, he slashed—both kunai gleaming under moonlight.
Mizuki stepped back, but not fast enough.
A line of red bloomed across his forearm.
"You bastard!" Mizuki shouted, face twisting in rage. He leapt back onto a high branch, gripping his arm. Blood dripped steadily.
Tatsuya flipped and landed lightly on a nearby branch, crouched low like a predator. His chest didn't even rise and fall. No fatigue. No hesitation.
[Superb action, host!]
[Controlled Breathing leveled up to Lv.28!]
[Basic Kunaijutsu leveled up to Lv.58!]
[Dual Wielding leveled up to Lv.2!]
[Basic Taijutsu leveled up to Lv.63!]
[Leaf Concentration Practice leveled up to Lv.90! Huge upgrade due to synchronization with intense chakra burn from Eye of the Sleepless!]
[Eye of the Sleepless leveled up to Lv.2!]
'So skills level up way more during real battle, huh?' Tatsuya thought, blinking rapidly. His vision wavered just for a second.
[30 second passed. Eye irritability side effect has began!]
Mizuki's hands blurred.
"Shit—hand signs!" Tatsuya bolted to the side, already moving before the jutsu was complete.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
The ground erupted.
A spear of jagged stone burst upward, roaring through the air with lethal force. Tatsuya's eyes widened—too fast, too close.
The earth-shard impaled him straight through the chest.
Mizuki's lips curled into a victorious grin. "Finally."
But the body exploded into a puff of smoke.
Poof!
A cracked log slammed to the ground in his place.
"Substitution Jutsu...!" Mizuki snarled, spinning around on instinct.
Tatsuya was already behind him, kunai raised for a fatal strike.
[Substitution Jutsu has leveled up to Lv.45!]
But Mizuki was too experienced. He ducked under the slash and pivoted with fluid ease.
"Tch!" Tatsuya hissed, leaping back. Damn it. I should've attacked from a different angle. Too obvious.
[Basic Kunaijutsu leveled up to Lv.63!]
[Dual Wielding leveled up to Lv.4!]
[Leaf Concentration Practice leveled up to Lv.93!]
[Controlled Breathing leveled up to Lv.29!]
Their kunai clashed—spark after spark in the moonlight—until Mizuki suddenly dropped low and drove a kick into Tatsuya's gut.
"Urghhh—!"
The air fled his lungs as he flew backward, slamming hard into a tree trunk. The bark cracked. He fell, landing harshly on a lower branch, one arm dangling.
"Kid!!" Tsubaki screamed from the clearing below. She was watching everything—her mind still broken from Mizuki's earlier attack.
Tatsuya's breath came in ragged gasps.
[1 minute has passed. Hallucinations and memory errors starting!]
[Eye of the Sleepless leveled up to level 3!]
His eyes felt like they were burning. The world pulsed, blurring in and out. Blood trailed down from his sockets.
He looked up—and saw two Mizukis. One smiled cruelly. The other flickered and wavered.
"Are those... hallucinations?" he thought numbly.
Mizuki stepped forward slowly, savoring the sight. "That's a forbidden jutsu, right?" His eyes gleamed. "Those eyes... I bet the side effects are hitting pretty hard now."
He gave a mocking shrug. "Why don't you just hand over the scroll? Come on... Where'd you hide it?"
Tatsuya didn't answer. The Scroll of Seals sat safely in his Inventory, locked behind a system only he could access. He had put it there in a rush after Mizuki had thrown the first kunai at him that night.
Instead of answering, he slapped himself hard across the face, teeth grit.
Smack!
The pain rang through his skull—but it cleared him, if only a little.
"Never!" he growled.
His fingers tightened on the kunai again. He forced himself up.
The battle wasn't over.
Not yet.
To be continued...
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Sorry if the chapter is short today, but I didn't have much time to write.