Chapter 69: Setting Fire to the Mountain.

Chapter 69: Setting Fire to the Mountain.

Not long after Tatsuro entered the forest, he heard the sound of nearby trees collapsing. He knew the newcomer must be Aoi Todo, and slowly drew the long blade from his back, gripping it tightly with both hands.

After all, besides Todo whose personality would lead to such an entrance, probably only senior Hakari would do something like this.

Crack—

Trees splintered, and Aoi Todo emerged from among them. He had already taken off his upper clothes, revealing his sturdy muscles. The badge he was required to wear on his chest was now on his pants. He wore a smile, his hands clenched into fists, arm muscles bulging, and he suddenly punched out.

"Hee!"

A smile touched Tatsuro's lips. He gripped the hilt of his blade tightly with his right hand, his left arm supporting the blade's body. His legs bent, and he pushed off the ground, directly meeting the blow.

A dull thud echoed. Aoi Todo, seeing Tatsuro wasn't sent flying as he had imagined, said, "Yo! Brother, nice block."

"Naturally. You already call me brother; how could I be weak?"

Tatsuro glanced down at the nearly one-meter-long gash on the ground, a smile playing on his lips. Indeed! My current strength is nothing like it was before.

The system mission timer also began its countdown the moment the two made contact.

[9:56]

[9:55]

[9:5...]

Click-clack—

Aoi Todo cracked his neck, making "click, clack" sounds. He readjusted his fighting stance and said, "Let me see your strength, brother! No, from this moment on, I should call you best friend, since there's nothing left to hide between us."

"No, I don't want to be so intensely involved with a man. I haven't even married and had children yet..." Tatsuro grumbled internally. Looking at the ticking countdown panel, he said with some reluctance, "Since you already call me best friend, why don't we sit down and chat for a bit, then fight later? Preferably after ten minutes."

"That won't do! This is a battlefield, best friend!!" Aoi Todo shouted and then fiercely threw a punch, his speed terrifyingly fast.

"Of course, I know that!"

Just as Tatsuro was about to retaliate, a blood-red arrow shot out from somewhere, seemingly controlled, and arced at an unbelievable angle directly towards him.

He... was caught in a pincer attack!

Todo's fist was already inches away. Tatsuro's pupils turned crimson, the two tomoe spinning rapidly. Cursed energy erupted from his eyes as he directly cast an illusion on Todo.

The fist paused; Aoi Todo's eyes became vacant. Tatsuro abruptly turned his head, his gaze locking onto the incoming arrow. He threw the long blade gripped in his right hand, cleaving the arrow in two.

"How interesting. A mental-type cursed technique?" Todo's voice came from behind. Tatsuro inwardly screamed "not good." Just as he was about to run, a hand touched his head.

"Well done, senior Todo! Press the advantage now, quickly force him to surrender. It'll be bad if the others regroup." A mechanical voice sounded from the side as a cursed corpse walked out from behind a tree.

Tatsuro glanced at the cursed corpse. When his peripheral vision scanned the sky, he saw a small girl currently sitting on a broom, observing him.

Sometime, without him even noticing, he had been surrounded by four people. But Aoi Todo didn't make a move, merely resting his hand on Tatsuro's head without applying force.

Aoi Todo continued, "Rest assured, my best friend, how could I let others interfere in matters between us?"

Tatsuro: "..."

Speechless, the person who had sneak-attacked him with the arrow now jumped down from a tree. Noritoshi Kamo held a bow, with arrows in a quiver on his back. He said, "Taking his badge and tying him to a tree works just as well, and we can even round up the entire Tokyo school."

Aoi Todo cracked his neck again, asking with some annoyance, "I'm sparring with my best friend. Why are you all interfering?"

"Don't be childish, Todo. I'm the captain. You should..."

"Don't you dare order me around!" Before Noritoshi Kamo could finish, Aoi Todo interrupted, "I'll give you two choices now. One, scram while I'm not yet angry. Two, I slaughter all of you!"

"Senior Todo! What you're saying makes no sense. The principal wants us to win, not to have some so-called manly 1v1 battle. Besides, I don't think you..."

Clap!

Before he could finish, a crisp clapping sound was heard. Mechamaru, who had just been speaking, had now switched places with Tatsuro. Aoi Todo then directly snapped Mechamaru's neck and asked, "Do I need to say more? All of you, scram!!"

"You... you... you..." Mechamaru's head, now on the ground, kept repeating one word as if stuck. The light in its eyes gradually faded.

He... kicked the bucket.

"Todo! What are you doing!!"

Just as Noritoshi Kamo was about to nock an arrow and draw his bow, another voice came from Mechamaru's headless body, "I'm fine. It's just one controllable cursed corpse destroyed. Let's go, hunt the other Tokyo school members."

With that, the body opened up, revealing an even smaller mini-Mechamaru amidst a complex array of mechanical parts.

This stunned even Todo. He had roughly guessed that this cursed corpse was remotely controlled and destroying it wouldn't matter much, but he hadn't expected another one inside.

"Is that so." Noritoshi Kamo put the arrow back into his quiver and warned Aoi Todo, "I will report this to the principal."

"Go ahead, go ahead. Don't disturb my spar with my best friend," Aoi Todo urged dismissively, seemingly unconcerned about Noritoshi Kamo reporting him.

Tatsuro watched them leave, letting out a sigh of relief internally. Looking at the system countdown, which was already past the halfway mark, he muttered under his breath, "It would have been great if you guys had kept chatting. I could have completed the system mission while 'eating melon'."

However... what was that teleportation just now?

It was like being forcibly swapped, giving him a Sasuke [Amenotejikara] kind of feeling. And the trigger condition should have been the clap.

As Tatsuro pondered, Aoi Todo readjusted his fighting stance and said, "Let's continue, best friend."

"Ah, then let's continue."

Tatsuro glanced at the system mission countdown, clenched his fists, and assumed an offensive stance. His lips parted slightly as he took a deep breath, reactivating his Sharingan. He thought to himself:

"Right now... perhaps I can really cause a big ruckus."

[3:45]

[3:44]

The two locked eyes and attacked simultaneously. The brutal sound of fists meeting flesh echoed in the air.

Within two breaths, Tatsuro, knowing he was outmatched in strength, jumped onto a tree to evade. His hands quickly formed seals as he muttered, "Rat, Ox, Dog, Horse, Monkey, Pig, Tiger! Great Fire Annihilation!!"

His mouth opened, and after sucking in a deep breath, a scorching flame seemed to ignite within his chest, then spewed out with that breath.

A ferocious flame erupted from his mouth. The originally highly compressed flame, now given more space to expand, violently spread out in all directions.

Monstrous waves of fire instantly consumed all surrounding trees. The Great Fire Annihilation, fueled by 400 cursed energy, could aptly be described as setting fire to the mountain.

At this moment, Yoshinobu Gakuganji, who was watching from the principal's office, could no longer sit still. He slammed the table and shouted, "Damn it, put out the fire quickly! That grandson Gojo Satoru actually didn't warn his students not to set fires in the forest!"