Seeing Darui splitting off from his group and charging ahead, Fujin wasted a few seconds toying with the two Kumo ninjas facing him. Right when he killed them, Darui caught up with Fujin and swung his blade at Fujin. He shouted, "Shameless old man! Stop targeting them and fight us!"
A sword appeared in Fujin's hand. Lightning flowed through it as he slashed it at Darui's sword while replying with a chuckle, "There is nothing shameless about it. What you're seeing is one of the greatest war strategies since ancient times!"
His words infuriated Darui even more. However, he didn't drop his guard and noticed something off. Instead of clashing their swords, Darui stopped and stepped to his right. Three lightning-charged senbon passed through his previous position, barely missing him by a few centimeters!
Darui immediately realized, 'Shit! I nearly fell for his tactic! He is targeting them so that we would be restrained and might make a mistake!'
Fujin threw a few more lightning-charged senbon at him before attacking him with his sword. Their blades clashed several times in a few seconds as Fujin said, "Always finish off the weaker enemies before targeting the stronger ones. A simple tactic that reduces several complications and uncertainties. However, if it is done right, it can have a devastating effect on the battlefield. Hehehe…"
Darui's eyes widened as he heard Fujin claim absurdly, "During my era, several kingdoms locked their armies in their pretty castles due to the fear of me using this tactic against them. Eventually, that became unsustainable and many had to disband their armies!"
Darui recalled all of Fujin's previous words and concluded, 'There has never been any such incident for the past few decades. And considering how he speaks, he has no doubts in his words. Could he really be some ancient ninja who somehow still survived?
But how? How can one live for so long? And how strong was he at his peak? Regardless, since he isn't at his peak, this might be the best time to capture him. We could gain a lot of information from him!'
As their swords clashed yet again, Darui said, "Even if you put it in such a fancy way, there is no doubt that you are acting shamelessly and cowardly by picking on the weaker ones!"
'Lightning Release: Black Panther'
Black Lightning appeared on Darui's left hand and pounced on Fujin while taking the form of a panther. Lightning appeared in Fujin's hand as well as he waved his hand in front of him creating a small electric field. The Black Panther changed its direction and discharged into the ground.
Darui used this distraction to swing his sword at Fujin with full strength once again, but Fujin blocked his attack with his sword with ease. At the same time, he launched several Lightning spears behind Darui to stall his teammates and asked, "Cowardly?"
He chuckled and continued, "Have you forgotten that you fellows are the ones who attacked me? More than four hundred ninjas attacking someone who wasn't in the mood… Not to mention, those weaklings tried to sneak attack as well not too long ago. Instead of regretting and accusing pointlessly, pick your opponents more wisely if you survive today."
Using the force of Darui's sword, Fujin moved a few steps behind before flickering away. At the same time, Yugito and the rest appeared next to Darui. Even though the Lightning Spears didn't do any damage, they were stalled just long enough for Fujin to retreat easily.
The Kumo ninjas chased after Fujin again as C cursed, "He is heading towards another group and there are 12 ninjas in that group! We can't continue in this manner. Our losses would be too heavy…"
Samui asked, "But how can we stop him? Among us, only Darui's speed is close to his. Even though Yugito can keep up, his tactics restrict her perfectly. How could we force him to fight us?"
Everyone became silent. No one had any good answers. A few seconds later, Jin finally sighed and said, "There is only one way. We will have to make a sacrifice."
Everyone else was surprised and glanced at him. Jin explained, "His tactics depend on the fact that we care about the lives of our comrades. We need to disregard the lives of the next group and focus just on killing him. Only then do we have a chance of catching him off guard. Otherwise, our chances of victory are very slim."
His words made everyone's expressions grim. It was one thing for Fujin to kill them, but sacrificing their ninjas in this manner would leave a bitter taste. Even Darui, the leader of the group, went silent.
Jin sighed and said, "I understand your feelings. However, this is what both Lord Third and Lord Fourth would have done. Even if we don't sacrifice them, he'll still kill them. And, he'll move on to the next group. The result would be worse. As the leader, you need to make tough decisions."
Darui nodded and said, "I know, don't worry."
He glanced in the direction of the group Fujin was targeting and muttered, "Sorry, I won't be able to save you."
As they hurried after Fujin, they quickly made a plan. In the group Fujin was about to target, a sensor said, "Be on guard. I sense someone coming towards us at a rapid speed!"
His words caused the remaining 11 ninjas to become very alert. They looked in the direction the sensor was looking at and saw Fujin's silhouette in a few seconds. Everyone immediately had grim expressions.
Without a word, ten ninjas threw kunai with explosive tags in his direction! The remaining two rapidly weaved hand seals.
'Water Release: Water Dragon jutsu'
'Lightning Release: Lightning Python jutsu'
Fujin effortlessly dodged the explosions as he watched the Lightning Python deform inside the Water Dragon, creating a combination jutsu. The electrified Water Dragon moved towards Fujin at twice the speed of a normal Water Dragon.
To the surprise of the Kumo ninjas, Fujin didn't change his direction. Instead, a lightning charge covered his entire body. It wasn't a Lightning cloak like what Ay could do and was instead a slightly advanced application of Raiga's Thunder Armor.
Fujin directly moved through the Water Dragon. The electricity inside it was neutralized by the charges on his body, making him immune to it. To the shock of the Kumo ninjas, Fujin moved through the electrified Water Dragon in the blink of an eye and appeared in front of them!
The two ninjas instinctively raised their kunai in a defensive posture. Unfortunately, both were too slow and their head were sent flying as Fujin's sword slashed through their necks in a single motion!
Without wasting any time, he moved towards the ninja on his left. Since there were twelve ninjas in this group, Fujin didn't need to stall for Darui to catch up. Not to mention, their attacks had already slowed him down by a few seconds. Fujin was about to kill the third ninja when a look of surprise appeared on his face as he exclaimed, "Huh?"
The ninja Fujin targeted had a resigned look on his face. As he saw Fujin merely a meter away from him, he thought, 'It looks like this is the end… Sigh, I had a bad feeling from the start. However, if I'm going to die…'
A hint of craziness appeared in his eyes as Fujin sensed several tags activating on his body. Fujin couldn't help but think, 'Impressive and admirable… A shame that his strength doesn't match his resolve…'
Fujin sensed 16 explosive tags activating on that ninja's body. He intended to take Fujin along with him. Unfortunately, he was still too slow. Fujin's kick landed on his chest and sent him flying through the forest. By the time his explosive tags exploded, he was already 50 meters away!
The difference in their strength was too big to be compensated by courage and bravery. Fujin couldn't help but think, 'While courage and bravery are respectable, they can't necessarily compensate for tens of thousands of hours spent on grueling training.'
He glanced behind him, watching a black lightning panther moving towards him as he continued thinking, 'Without the discipline to train for years or even decades, courage would only get you killed. He didn't even have a plan to deactivate the tags in case his attempt wasn't successful.'
Fujin disappeared and the black panther changed its direction as well. Darui's eyes widened as he realized, 'As I suspected. He plans to use them as human shields!'
Fujin had appeared behind another Kumo ninja and attacked with a sweep kick. The chakra-enhanced kick immediately damaged the poor ninja's legs, temporarily disabling him. Due to how quickly it happened, his brain didn't register the damage his legs had just taken. Instead, what horrified him was that Darui's black panther was heading directly towards him!
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