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Haruto stood still, eyeing the two Sand shinobi who had taken positions in front of him. His jaw tightened slightly, his annoyance bubbling beneath the surface. Two against one? Was that all they thought he was worth? His teammates, Shisui and Daichi, were locked in fights against three opponents each, yet he was only given two. It felt like an insult.

He smirked, hiding his irritation behind a calm, collected exterior. He would show them why underestimating him was a grave mistake.

One of the Sand shinobi, a lean man with cruel eyes, carried several vials strapped to his chest. The pungent scent of poison wafted in the air around him, marking him as a poison specialist. His partner, a kunoichi with a massive fan slung across her back, stood poised to attack, her muscles coiled with readiness. They moved together, a perfect team — one to create openings with poison, and the other to strike with wind-based attacks.

Haruto wasn't impressed.

He split his attention between them effortlessly, thanks to his two-mind ability. While others might have been overwhelmed trying to track two enemies at once, Haruto's mind handled it with ease. His senses expanded, calculating every movement they made, every shift in their stance.

The fan user struck first, swinging her fan in a wide arc. A gust of wind chakra ripped through the air toward Haruto, carrying the unmistakable shimmer of poison mixed into it. A clever tactic, but Haruto had already anticipated it. With a swift leap, he dodged the blast, positioning himself out of the wind's path while simultaneously throwing a handful of shuriken toward the fan user.

She deflected the shuriken with another quick flick of her fan, but that didn't bother Haruto. It was exactly what he expected. His real focus was on the poison specialist, who was moving in to close the gap.

Haruto's lips twitched into a grin. They were playing right into his hands.

As the poison specialist lunged forward, kunai raised, Haruto's hand dipped into his pouch. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he slapped a Directional Explosive Tag onto the man's arm without him even noticing.

Just as the poison user got within striking distance, Haruto triggered the tag.

The explosion erupted violently, but the force only blasted in one direction — away from Haruto and straight into the poison user. The tag's unique design funneled the explosion toward the target while sparing Haruto from the blast. The poison specialist barely managed to dodge in time, but the explosion still caught him, sending him tumbling backward with burns and cuts along his arms and face.

"Not bad," Haruto muttered, watching as the poison specialist struggled to get back on his feet. He was injured, but not out of the fight yet. Still, Haruto wasn't worried. He had already laid the groundwork for his victory earlier in the battle, and they had no idea.

The fan user, seeing her partner injured, launched herself forward with a furious expression. She swung her fan in wide, sweeping arcs, sending gusts of wind chakra in every direction. Haruto's body moved instinctively, dodging each blast with graceful precision. His two-mind ability allowed him to track both her strikes and the poison user's movements without breaking a sweat.

They were skilled, he had to admit, but they weren't going to win.

The poison specialist tossed more vials onto the ground, releasing clouds of noxious gas that filled the air around them. The fan user used her wind jutsu to spread the poison-laden gas, trying to box Haruto in and force him into a deadly trap. But Haruto was always a step ahead. His sharp eyes followed their movements carefully, dodging every blast of poisoned wind as if it were a simple training exercise.

Then, the fan user made her fatal mistake. She lunged forward, closing the distance to try and land a decisive blow with her fan. Haruto's eyes gleamed. This was the opening he had been waiting for.

Lightning chakra surged through his body as he activated his next move. His hand glowed with a sharp, crackling energy, the medical precision of the Chakra Scalpel enhanced with the destructive power of lightning. The tips of his fingers sparked dangerously, the technique now fully formed.

This was Thunder Scalpel — a fusion of surgical precision and lightning chakra that turned his hand into a lethal weapon.

As the fan user swung her fan down toward him, Haruto moved like lightning. In an instant, he slipped past her defenses, his glowing hand cutting through the air with surgical precision. His fingers pierced her throat, and in one fluid motion, he slashed across her neck, severing her head from her body in a single, brutal strike.

Her lifeless body collapsed to the ground, her head rolling a short distance before coming to a stop. Her fan fell beside her, useless now. Haruto didn't even pause. He turned his attention to the last remaining shinobi: the poison specialist.

The poison user's eyes widened in terror as he realized his partner was dead. Desperation set in, and he began throwing vial after vial, trying to catch Haruto in a cloud of poison. But Haruto was already in control.

With a flick of his wrist, Haruto threw another Directional Explosive Tag, but this time, he aimed it at the ground near the poison user's feet. The explosion went off with a sharp crack, forcing the poison user backward and pinning him exactly where Haruto wanted him.

The poison specialist's movements became frantic as he realized too late that he had been maneuvered into a trap. Haruto allowed himself a small, cold smile. The battle had been decided long before this moment.

Earlier in the fight, when the poison user had been distracted, Haruto had discreetly placed one of his creations on the battlefield: a Corrosive Poison Tag. The trap was waiting, ready to spring. Now, with the poison user pinned in place by his explosive tags, there was no escape.

Haruto triggered the seal.

The ground beneath the poison specialist hissed as the tag activated, releasing a cloud of corrosive poison that engulfed the shinobi. The poison worked slowly, eating away at his skin, his eyes, his lungs as he struggled to breathe. The agony was clear on his face as his body convulsed, wracked with pain as the corrosive fumes began to melt his flesh.

The poison specialist gasped for air, but the more he inhaled, the deeper the poison sank into his body, destroying him from the inside out. His screams died quickly as his lungs were eaten away by the toxic gas.

Haruto watched, impassive, as the shinobi collapsed, his body twitching one last time before going still. The battle was over.

He glanced down at the remains of his opponents — one decapitated, the other reduced to a melted husk. Haruto sheathed his weapons with calm precision, his mind already moving beyond the fight. He had won, but it hadn't been enough. Two enemies. Only two. His teammates, Shisui and Daichi, were both fighting three opponents. The imbalance gnawed at him, but he quickly pushed the irritation aside.

There would be more fights to come.

Haruto turned his attention back to the battlefield, where Shisui and Daichi were still engaged. His lips curled into a small smile as he made his way toward them. His teammates were just as skilled and deadly, and soon, they would all regroup and finish this battle together.

Without a word, Haruto moved to assist them, his mind already focused on the next challenge.