The 7th Story Arc of the Blue Lock manga series, which centers on Blue Lock's First Selection match between Team Z and Team Y. Team Z follows along with Kuon's offensive "I'll be the Next 9!" Tactic to have their strikers rotate as the lead forward while Team Y relies on playing defensively until there's an opening to counterattack. During the match, it was believed that Team Y's leader was its ace, Hibiki Okawa, but Isagi eventually realizes that the Team Y strategist, Ikki Niko, is the shadow leader that they actually have to watch out for.
It makes up chapters 10 to 13 of the series.
Chapter 10: "I'll be the Next 9!" Tactic
A brief recap is shown after Game 3 of the V-Z strata was played. Team W having defeated Baro's Team X 4-1. Meanwhile on the Fifth Stratum field, Team Z and Team Y stand ready for their match. Kuon warning the team that their biggest opponent on Team Y is Hibiki Okawa (Rank 254), who's an incredible shooter from the Kumamoto Prefecture. Before the game, Kuon held a meeting where they go over the "I'm the Next 9!" plan. The plan being to go through a rotational position set-up on the field where ever 10 minutes, one Team Z player takes over as the center-forward to show off their weapon. Iemon and Chigiri don't take part in it given that the former's the goalie while Chigiri remains disinterested in showing off his weapon.Back in the present, the game begins with Bachira at center-forward showing off his dribbling. However, a Team Y player with bangs over his eyes manages to block Bachira claiming that he now understands Bachira's dribbling. Due to Bachira's dribbling being stalled, Isagi realizes that Team Y has come up with their own strategies by relying on a 4-5-1 defensive formation. After 10 minutes, Kunigami swaps in as the next center-forward. However, Team Y's defense holds strong, and manages to block Kunigami's powerful long range shot. As the game continues with Kunigami's shot getting blocked again, Isagi notices the oddity of Okawa having not moved yet. Eventually, the ball ends up under the control of the eye-covered Team Y player, which Okawa takes as his cue to start running. Isagi realizes too late that Yeam Y planned a defense-into-counterattack strategy as the eye-covered Team Y player, Ikki Niko (Rank 255), does a long pass to Okawa, who's speeding down the field towards Team Z's goal.
Chapter 11: Premonition & Intuition
Okawa receives Niko's pass in front of Team Z's goal, which Iemon heads out to try to stop him. However, Okawa pulls off a fake on Iemon that allows the former to perform an easy chip shot to score a goal for Team Y. Down 0-1, Isagi gets the gist of Team Y's plan, which is to just hold out defensively until the moment comes for Okawa to strike. With Team Z on offense again, Kuon takes over to take his 10 minute turn as the center-forward. His jumping power allows for headers that help Team Z get down field. However, Team Y's defense holds strong again, and they manage to steal the ball away. In addition, Team Y begins to stall out the game by just passing around since they just need to hold out with their 1 goal lead. As a result, Raichi's unable to do anything with his 10 minutes at center-forward, and Imamura's unable to do anything with his 5 minutes at center-forward that leads into the 45 minute half-time break.During the half-time break, Team Z gets irritated knowing that Team Y is just stalling out the game to hold on to their 1 goal lead. Despite Chigiri suggesting that they change tactics, Kuon advises against it as it's too much of a risk to make a sudden change now. Thus, they stick to the "I'm the Next 9!" plan with the only difference being that they need to pressure harder to get the ball back. The game resumes with Imamura having 5 minutes left of his turn at center-forward. As the casanova of the team, Imamura pictures the ball carrier as a girl he's trying to chase after, and manages to pressure Team Y's ball carrier just enough to throw him off balance, which allows for Gagamaru to steal the ball away. Gagamaru then takes his 10 minute turn at center-forward, which they manage to push offensively against Team Y to reach their goal. Isagi then passes it to Gagamaru, who performs a header at the goal. However, it ends up getting deflected in time by Team Y's goalie, which sends the ball out-of-bounds for a Team Z corner-kick.
Despite the miss, Isagi remains hyped up that Team Z's finally got something going on offense that can defeat Team Y. However, Isagi senses something off behind him, which he notices that the danger he sensed didn't come from Okawa. Bachira then sets up for the corner-kick, and everyone gets bunched up in front of Team Y's goal to receive it. Isagi thinks over the situation, and remembers how one particular player has been constantly getting in their way whenever it seemed like they had something going, which he believes to be the danger he was sensing. As Bachira kicks the ball into the bunch before Team Y's goal, Isagi runs off elsewhere having decided to believe in his instincts as to where the ball will end up.
Chapter 12: Signal
During Bachira's corner-kick in front of Team Y's goal, Isagi races off to the location where he believes that a certain someone on Team Y is going to end up with the ball. A dangerous person who isn't Okawa. Team Y's goalie manages to deflect Bachira's corner-kick away, and sure enough just as Isagi guessed, the ball ended up heading towards Niko, who was planning to start up another defense-to-counterattack score for Okawa. Isagi manages to block the ball in time from reaching Niko. Isagi having realized that the core of Team Y isn't Okawa, but is actually Niko being their secret leader who hides in the shadows. Isagi then aims a shot at Team Y's goal only for the ball to get slightly deflected by Niko. Isagi's deflected kick looks like it's going to miss to the left, but it's kicked back right into the goal by Gagamaru at the last second. Thus, tying up the game 1-1.Following the score, Niko points out to Isagi that Team Y was close to going up 2 goals had the latter not noticed that Niko was on the verge of setting up Okawa for a second easy score. In return, Isagi makes it clear that he's going to mark Niko to keep the latter from pulling anything else, which Niko taunts back that he's the one in control of the game. With Gagamaru's time over, Naruhaya takes over for his 10 minute turn at center-forward. Naruhaya's weapon that allows him to speed down the field helps Team Z push offensively. However, Team Y holds on defensively. As the play goes back-and-forth, Isagi remains marked to Niko to keep the latter locked down from doing anything, even skipping his turn at center-forward knowing that he needs to stick defensively to Niko no matter what. Niko explains to Isagi how when the former thought about what his weapon is, Niko realized that he doesn't have speed or strength. That instead, he has intellect where his weapon is the plans he sees and thinks up, and how his plans allows him to manipulate the players on the field.
Eventually, it's Igarashi's 10 minute turn at being the center-forward. However, Team Y goes back to stalling by passing the ball around since they have nothing to work with after Team Z locked down Okawa and Niko. At 1 minute remaining in the game, Niko warns Isagi how to keep the game from ending as a tie, Team Y still have one plan remaining that will be put into action once the ball ends up back in Okawa's possession. Sure enough, everyone on Team Y starts running towards Team Z's goal the moment Okawa has the ball to safeguard it. Niko revealing that their plan is a last second one-shot kill counterattack where all of Team Y pushes offensively in order to get a last second goal.
Chapter 13: The Time to Change
The final minute of the game ticks away as Team Z's caught off guard due to all of Team Y but their goalie going on the offensive to overwhelm with numbers for a last shot at Team Z's goal. As Isagi and Team Z try to rush back to defend, Team Y continues to pass to each other during their all out offensive; passing by the few Team Z defenders that stayed back. Eventually, it's just Niko with the ball vs. Team Z's goalie, Iemon, in front of the goal. Iemon stands ready to block trying to figure out where Niko's going to shoot. However, Niko decides to pass it off at the last second to Team Y's ace, Okawa, much to Iemon's shock. Despite that, Isagi manages to intercept the pass in time, and steals the ball back for Team Z.Isagi notes that Niko and him are indeed alike in the way they think. However, given what he experienced before coming to Blue Lock where he passed instead of shooting when he was in front of the goal, Isagi calls out Niko as a failure at being a striker for passing it over to Okawa rather than taking the shot himself. Isagi then kicks the ball forward for Team Z to go back on the offensive for their shot at one last goal. Team Y desperately hurries to rush back on defense as the ball gets to Kunigami midfield. Team Y's players grab at Kunigami to stall him, which forces a pass over to Bachira on the right side of the field. Bachira then uses his dribbling skills to bypass several Team Y defenders as he gets closer to the goal. He sees a certain someone open to pass to on the opposite end of the field, and passes it over.
As the ball passes by the goal, Gagamaru had raced down the middle of the field, and tries to go for the header at the goal only to miss the ball. However, Bachira's pass had another target in mind as the open teammate in front of the left side of the goal is Isagi. Once the ball reaches Isagi, his ego kicks in calling himself a striker, and lands a direct kick to shoot the ball into the left side of the net. Team Y's goalie misses the block, which results Isagi scoring the goal for Team Z to go up 2-1. Time then expires; resulting in Team Z celebrating Isagi's goal, and their victory over Team Y in the V-Z strata's Game 4. Still hyped up, Isagi walks through the defeated players of Team Y, he passes by an irritated Okawa, and steps before Niko, who looks like he's about to cry in front of him. Looking at the defeated Niko, the hyped Isagi remains confused as to why he feels so good at the moment. Meanwhile, Ego can be seen in his viewing room giving off a huge grin; heavily implied to have watched Isagi's egoism win the game.
