"The second battle is about to begin. Please have the contestants enter the arena as soon as possible."
"Contestant Mei Terumi, please enter."
"Contestant Kusa, please enter."
Although the sudden upset in the first battle had caught everyone somewhat off guard, the three streamers were not newcomers either, and they quickly adjusted and announced the start of the next battle.
Mei did not rush to the arena like the two contestants in the previous battle. Instead, she walked onto the arena at the pace of an ordinary person.
The director also knew very well what most people wanted to see and immediately gave Mei a close-up.
Today, Mei was wearing a dark blue high-slit dress. Every step she took caused the high slit of the dress to sway slightly upward, revealing her fair, plump thighs clad in black stockings.
The viewers watching the livestream all started sending messages praising the cameraman, after all, who doesn't like looking at a beautiful woman in black stockings?
As for Mei's opponent, Kusa, he appeared on the arena in a very ninja-like flash.
Looking at the slow-moving Mei, Kusa frowned. "It really makes people angry. These so-called high-ranking officials of the ninja villages are as arrogant as ever."
Kusa was somewhat displeased. He felt that Mei was looking down on him, believing that she would definitely win against an unknown nobody like him.
Carrying this displeasure, Kusa even became displeased with the surrounding spectators, especially the area where the Five Kage were seated.
'With vermin like you around, how could the shinobi world ever become better? Only by following the footsteps of the True God can the shinobi world become better.' Kusa thought disdainfully as he looked at the Five Kage.
Although he had once merely been a wandering ninja reduced to catching cats and finding dogs for a living, Kusa, who believed he had received divine revelation, had already looked down on the Five Kage, and even looked down on the Six Paths Sage who existed in the present world.
In his eyes, although the Six Paths Sage was a legendary existence from mythology, at most he could be considered a powerful ninja, a false god. Only Lord Zangshi was a true deity.
Before encountering Lord Zangshi, he could not even defeat a Genin from one of the great ninja villages, but after Lord Zangshi bestowed power upon him, even those so-called veteran figures of the shinobi world were no match for him. His strength had suddenly crossed an unknown number of levels, and he had even entered the finals of the Shinobi Martial Arts Tournament, which he had once considered unattainable.
He did not believe that the so-called Six Paths Sage could reproduce such a miracle. After all, he was not the only one who had received divine revelation.
Although Kusa thought Mei was moving slowly, she was actually walking at a normal pace and had not deliberately slowed down, so she soon reached the arena as well.
"Everyone should be quite familiar with contestant Mei. After all, she is the famous Flower of the Mist, the assistant of the Mizukage of the Hidden Mist Village. She possesses multiple Kekkei Genkai and the Breathing Style Sage Mode, and she also holds an important position within the Shinobi Alliance. In the previous finals, she achieved the excellent result of reaching the quarterfinals." Kotetsu Hagane began introducing Mei.
Compared to Kakuzu from the previous battle, there were even more things that could be said about Mei.
Compared to Kakuzu, who had begun wandering the world long ago, Mei could be said to have deep roots in the Hidden Mist. She had already been groomed as the next Mizukage. With the extremely rapid spread of information nowadays, her fame was naturally easy to imagine. She was a powerful and beautiful woman in black stockings.
"Although contestant Kusa is not well-known, his strength should not be underestimated. I believe he will be able to bring us an exciting battle." Mabui continued with a smile.
Like Ryuichi Tachikawa from the previous battle, apart from the strength he had displayed, Kusa basically had no noteworthy achievements, so Mabui could only talk about his strength.
"Don't point the camera at the commentators! I want to see the black-stocking beauty!"
"Above me, is Mabui not big enough?"
"To be fair, she really is big."
The comments quickly went off topic, and soon the discussion of Mei had turned into a discussion of just how big Mabui was.
However, the atmosphere among the spectators at the venue remained relatively serious, and many spectators were cheering for Mei.
"Big Sister Mei, do your best!" Kurotsuchi shouted loudly in support of Mei.
Mei had once studied in Konoha for a long time, and during that period, she became quite close with Kurotsuchi, who was attending school in Konoha.
As if she had heard Kurotsuchi's voice, Mei turned around on the arena and blew Kurotsuchi a kiss, causing all the male spectators in Kurotsuchi's section to become excited.
"The battle is about to begin. Contestants, please prepare yourselves."
The referee's voice came through the broadcast, and the second battle was about to begin.
Mei stopped paying attention to what was happening outside the arena. Her eyes were fixed tightly on Kusa, her body tense, waiting only for the battle to officially begin before immediately going all out to subdue her opponent.
Although her opponent was an unknown nobody, after what had happened with Kakuzu, Mei did not dare to be careless.
Those actions earlier had actually been deliberately performed by her to mislead her opponent, with the purpose of making him think that she was careless.
"Begin!"
The moment the referee's voice fell, Mei rapidly formed hand seals. Her red lips opened and spat out a large amount of thick mist, enveloping the entire arena.
The dense white mist containing the nature transformation of Water Release Chakra completely obscured the figures of both of them. Even some Uchiha on the field who had activated their Sharingan could not see through the dense white mist and find the figures of the two.
"She immediately used the Hidden Mist Village's signature Ninjutsu, Hidden Mist Technique. It seems contestant Mei is being extremely cautious." Izumo Kamizuki began his commentary.
"Everyone, don't think that this Ninjutsu is simply about spitting out a cloud of dense mist. In fact, this Ninjutsu places extremely high demands on the user's Ninjutsu foundation."
"For a ninja of contestant Mei's level, the Hidden Mist Technique she uses can block even the vision of a Mangekyo Sharingan."
"Heh, flashy tricks." Surrounded by the dense mist, the corners of Kusa's mouth curled into a cold smile, and he seemed completely unpanicked.
Immediately afterward, black tattoos began appearing across Kusa's body beneath his clothes. Apart from his head, almost his entire body was covered.
Feeling the power continuously surging upward within him, Kusa clenched his fists, producing a series of crackling sounds from his joints.
After receiving divine revelation, he had not comprehended any peculiar Ninjutsu. Instead, he had obtained an incomparably powerful body, powerful enough to easily smash through Ninjutsu with his fists, while his senses had become so sharp that he could lock onto a mosquito five hundred meters away.
"Found you." Kusa activated his powerful sensory abilities and instantly locked onto Mei, who had silently arrived behind him, then decisively threw a punch.
Although she did not understand why her position had been discovered so quickly, Mei's Observation Haki instantly issued a warning, allowing her to swiftly use a Water Release Ninjutsu to skillfully neutralize Kusa's attack.
The battle that followed was even more as if the dense mist did not exist at all. Kusa was able to precisely locate Mei every time and launch extremely rapid attacks.
Relying on Water Breathing combined with Water Release Ninjutsu, Mei could only defend, appearing extremely battered.
"Is he a Taijutsu ninja with exceptional sensory abilities? What a troublesome opponent." Seeing that the Hidden Mist Technique was ineffective, Mei simply dispersed the Hidden Mist Technique and prepared to clash head-on with Kusa using Senjutsu.
No, the author hasn't dropped the novel. I've just been very busy with my graduation project recently and my defense is coming up soon. I finally managed to find some time to write a little. I'll finish writing it once I'm done with my graduation matters.