Ch431. Testing

"Don't disappoint me, Kumo girl." She whispered and that was the only warning Samui got before...

Ringo intended to go into the offensive for the first time but she was interrupted as a massive explosion rocked the entire village before an earthquake hit, causing most ninjas to lower their stability center in order to keep standing.

Many looked towards the place where the explosion occurred, only to see a massive big orange ball.

And while there were a lot of ninjas that had no idea what caused it, quite a lot of Kumo jonin were aware of Killer B's ability to transform into Hachibi. There were also a lot of Konoha's survivors of the Kyuubi attack and they witnessed a few similar balls in the past.

"Bijuudama..." Mabui muttered, inwardly wondering what could force B to transform and use his most dangerous attack. 'That would explain why he is not here, guarding A-sama as he should.'

'So they are already fighting. Hope the pipsqueak is satisfied with this and won't bother me in the foreseeable future.' Ringo inwardly mused, looking in the direction where the loud explosion came from.

Mei could be extremely annoying when she wanted something and that brought Ringo quite the headache before she relented and promised Mei to deliver Hachibi to her.

Samui was just as surprised as Mabui but she kept her cool and instead of gawking like a civilian, she noticed their opponent's attention slip from them... a kunai coated in lightning chakra instantly headed in Ringo's direction.

Alas, it was just wishful thinking and Samui inwardly cursed when Ringo, not even deeming to look in the direction of the attack, raised her hand and caught the fast kunai by its handle, not bothered in the least by the intense lightning chakra still crackling around it.

Ringo looked at the kunai with a raised eyebrow and a pleased smirk. "That... was really cold-hearted of you. To think you would be an honorless swine who attacked people's backs. As expected from a Kumo ninja." She quipped in a reproachful tone.

Inwardly though, Ringo snickered. 'Pot calling kettle black. Almost always works.'

Samui didn't reply but from the corner of her eye, Ringo could see the girl did not falter at her words at all. In fact, the girl actually got more on guard. Ringo's smirk slightly widened in satisfaction before she flicked her wrist and threw the kunai in Mabui's direction at speeds Samui could not intervene with.

The blond lass tried but before she even registered what was happening, the kunai was already halfway through its path...

Mabui's eyes widened and she tried to move out of the path but... her eyes were faster than her body and it was obvious she would not make it.

When the two women thought there was no chance... blue lightning appeared in front of Mabui just in time to deflect the kunai, revealing the form of A who was angrily frowning and glaring at Ringo. "Aren't you too an honorless swine? Attacking Mabui like this!?" He bellowed.

"Meh," Ringo casually shrugged. "I saw you preparing to launch an attack at my back. What better way to stop that than to force you to save your lover's life?"

A didn't have a retort to that so he just kept silently glaring at Ringo while Mabui was almost hyperventilating behind his back, coming to terms with her near brush with death.

Now she understood why A didn't want her to interfere. This was not a fight where she had a chance to survive if Ringo wasn't playing with them. Fortunately, she had A to protect her and was delegated to a long-range support role.

For a split of a second, a pity for Samui flashed through Mabui's head. The second their opponent decides to get rid of the blonde, there was no chance A could save her. Not when she was supposed to engage the Fifth Mizukage in melee combat.

But the pity was gone as fast as it came. This was Samui's role as Raikage's guard. Her duty was to lay down her life for the village and its leader and never surrender to their enemy.

The fight resumed when A decided to go on the offensive again, this time followed by Samui. A tried to use taijutsu to restrict Ringo's movements and create an opening but Ringo kept deflecting his blows with casual disregard.

Especially now that she had her blade drawn.

It was actually A who had to be extremely cautious and careful not to hit the sharp side of the lightning-coated sword because he was fully aware his fist would most likely be split in half if he tried to brute-force it.

Samui attacked too, not really trying to make use of openings. Instead, she tried to lock blades with Ringo and get her attention. She was fully focusing on trying to create an opening for her boss.

Ringo clashed with the girl in delight, always swatting one annoying buzzing fly away beforehand so she wouldn't be inconvenienced by a sneak attack before she blocked, hacked, or slashed at Samui's sword.

She always put just a bit more power behind her attack than what she received from the busty blonde, always interrupting Samui's sword technique midway by unbalancing her.

Whenever A got his bearings back, Ringo increased the power of her attack, causing Samui to backpedal as her sword and entire arm vibrated from the sheer power of the attack they just tanked.

In the meanwhile, Ringo turned her attention back to A, sidestepping his brash attack, punching him away with her free hand to gain herself a few seconds where she could play with the blonde girl some more.

As for Mabui's attacks... Ringo was fully encased in her own Lightning Armor. She didn't really have to pay attention to the dark-skinned secretary no matter what the woman threw at her. It was visibly frustrating the secretary and most likely made her feel useless but... meh, Ringo didn't care.

Turning back to Samui, the woman was already finished with calming her vibrating arm and prepared to go again, her cold blue eyes or stony expression not betraying any emotion at all. There was no frustration at failing her attacks nor any fear at facing an overwhelming foe.

It really endeared Ringo. She could see her younger self in the woman. Just... a much weaker version that didn't have the luck to meet Rei.

Samui tried to use an interesting move where she quickly slashed at Ringo, putting only half of her strength behind her slashes and depending more on speed... and Ringo humored her, matching her slash for slash, putting only as much power into it as Samui did behind her own slashes.

The swords of the two women blurred, releasing sparks all around every time they briefly met in a clash. Samui tried to angle her clashes in various ways, left, right, center, downward, upward, she tried everything in order to get her blade past Ringo's but it was futile.

The fight went on, Ringo continuing to battle with both A and Ringo, turning the two versus one into two separate one versus one through her sheer skill alone all the while judging Samui's performance.

She was not interested in the girl's current power. Instead, she was measuring her sword techniques and her improvisation. By now, Ringo was reasonably sure she pushed the blond girl to use every sword technique in her repertoire. She also occasionally stopped mid-attack, only to redirect her slash and force Samui to improvise to adjust to the sudden unpredictable change.

Admittedly, she almost killed the busty blonde a few times... but what would be a test without a few close brushes with the afterlife?

In the end, Ringo liked what she saw. The girl was not as good as Mist's Swordsmen but she was talented when it came to sword-wielding.

After her impromptu testing, her decision was only reinforced so...

"I have decided. You will be my apprentice, Kumo girl!" Ringo exclaimed with a pleased grin, dropping a staggering bomb at the three Kumo ninjas.