The Kumo ninja was so horrified by the black lightning panther, that he didn't register the pain in his legs as he fell down. To his relief, the black panther changed its direction and tried to go around him. His relief instantly changed into horror as Fujin picked him up and continued using him as a shield! The poor guy experienced a roller-coaster of emotions in a single second.
Seeing his state, the other 8 Kumo ninjas were terrified. None of them wanted to be subjected to such torture. All of them only had one thought, 'What a terrifying monster!'
Darui frowned and changed the direction of the black panther again. Realizing that Fujin would continue using that ninja as a shield, he just diverted it into the ground and charged towards Fujin with his sword.
However, to Darui's surprise, Fujin flung the ninja at him. Once again, Darui felt the absurdness of his opponent's fighting style. He had never been in any such battle in his entire life. He was forced to stop his attack and catch the poor ninja.
As soon as he did, his eyes widened as he felt something burning on that ninja's back! The remaining Kumo ninjas saw it as well and shouted, "Darui-sama! Stay away!"
A dozen explosive tags were stuck on his back. Darui tried to use his Lightning to disable the tags, but it was too late. The explosive tags exploded! Darui barely managed to retreat half a meter before the ninja's dead body crashed into him with great speed! Even though he stopped his torso with his hand while retreating, he was drenched in the dead man's blood!
Darui looked at Fujin hatefully. However, he didn't have any time to let his hatred out as he quickly dodged several lightning-charged senbon coming straight at his vital organs. The remaining Kumo ninjas tried to attack Fujin since they were surrounding him. However, their attacks hit thin air as Fujin flickered in front of Darui and slashed his sword down at him!
Lightning flowed through Darui's sword as he blocked Fujin's sword. Unfortunately, Darui was slightly overwhelmed by what was happening. In addition, Fujin's momentum was truly great. His sword pushed down on Darui's sword, putting Darui in a very vulnerable situation.
Fujin's sword was barely a few centimeters from Darui's forehead when his eyes widened and he stepped to his right. Moments later, a lightning-charged tanto passed by from just next to his cheek! Fujin glanced behind Darui and saw Samui running towards them at full speed. The two other Elite Jounins were moving in from the flanks while Yugito, C and Jin were in the rear.
Darui took advantage of the distractions and kicked Fujin. Fujin used his feet to block his kick and jumped backwards. He was about to flicker away and retreat again when Yugito's chakra exploded once again.
However, it was different this time. Instead of taking Matatabi's form, the blue flame-like chakra branched into two and moved through the forest. In the blink of an eye, Fujin and the other Kumo ninjas were surrounded by blue flames!
Fujin was surprised. He thought, 'Her control over Matatabi's chakra is this good? Even Roshi's control wasn't this good… It's hard to believe that she still isn't a perfect Jinchuriki. Still…'
A peculiar expression appeared on Fujin's face as he realized something very odd. He thought, 'It was Hashirama who captured all the nine Tailed Beasts and distributed them among the villages. The ideal way to control the Tailed Beasts is Fuinjutsu and Konoha is a step ahead of other villages in this aspect. The only two other methods that are better at suppressing the Tailed Beasts are the Sharingan and Wood Release. Both belong to Konoha. And yet, Konoha is the worst in terms of utilizing the Tailed Beast!'
Kumogakure had a perfect Jinchuriki and a near-perfect one. Iwagakure had two who were close to being perfect as well, even though one of them was now dead. Kirigakure had a perfect Jinchuriki. Sunagakure, despite having a terrible seal, could still easily set Shukaku loose on their enemies.
By comparison, Konoha never had the ability to unleash Kurama on their enemies. In fact, the only time Kurama was in a battle since Hashirama captured and sealed him was when Obito used him to attack Konoha.
Even though there were several other factors, the end result was the death of Minato, Kushina and a good portion of veteran Jounins of Konoha! Despite having all sorts of resources at their hands and extremely shrewd and cunning leaders, Konoha completely lost to other major villages in this regard.
Fujin didn't spend much time thinking about it and just muttered to himself, 'What a waste… Anyway, do they really count on these flames to stop me? Hmm? I see… So that's their plan.'
As Darui's group had predicted, Fujin wasn't afraid of the flames and was about to move straight through it. Hence, the two Elite Jounins, who were on the flanks, attacked with False Darkness jutsu to cut off Fujin's retreat!
Of course, even that wouldn't be enough to stop Fujin. The Kumo ninjas were well aware of it. However, it didn't matter. The jutsus had slowed Fujin down just enough for Samui and Darui to attack Fujin from the back! Fujin glanced behind and saw Samui and Darui closing in from his right and left.
Realizing his precarious situation, another sword appeared in Fujin's hand and lightning began flowing through it as he swung them to block both Samui and Darui. In the blink of an eye, their swords clashed several times as Fujin managed to keep both of them at bay.
Even so, a frown appeared on his face as he ducked to dodge a Lightning spear launched by an Elite Jounin. Moments later, the remaining Kumo ninjas attacked Fujin with ranged jutsus and weapons to help Darui and Samui while C attempted to place Fujin under a Genjutsu. Darui and Samui increased the intensity of their attack to ensure that Fujin couldn't use his swords to block their attacks, forcing Fujin to dodge them while he faced their blades.
Fujin thought, 'Impressive attack plan. I wonder how long I'll last against such an attack combination...'
One of the main reasons why Fujin attacked Darui's group was to get fighting practice with his Lightning Combat system. In fact, it was an even greater reason for Fujin than stalling their retreat to Kumogakure. After all, even if he didn't stall, he'd still have a lead of at least a couple of hours over them.
Even though Fujin's Lightning combat system was very good, it had a major drawback. Fujin hadn't used it much in combat. For any combat system to improve, it had to undergo several intense battles. Only then could Fujin realize any weaknesses he might have overlooked and the improvements he needed to make. Hence, Fujin didn't do anything to get out of this clutch position and continued battling.
As they battled, a frown appeared on Jin's face as he wondered, 'What's going on now? Why is he fighting directly and in such a disadvantageous position?'
They had a plan for when Fujin acted unscrupulously again. However, the Kumo ninjas were caught off guard by the change in Fujin's fighting style. Since the situation was advantageous to them, they continued attacking.
Fujin hung on for two whole minutes in such an intense situation before he finally made a mistake! A shuriken hit his mask, very close to his left eye, before bouncing off. Thanks to the seals on the mask, he wasn't harmed but Darui's kick landed on his chest at the same time, sending him flying backwards.
Fujin quickly flipped in the air and landed on his feet, but the two Elite Jounins used False Darkness yet again while C backed them up with Lightning Release: Flash Pillar. Excitement appeared in the eyes of several Kumo ninjas as they were finally about to land a critical blow!
What they couldn't see was that there was a smile behind Fujin's mask. He thought, 'Not bad. Now that was a good fight! Maybe I should visit the Land of Lightning frequently in the future. I'll improve rapidly with such battles.'
Just before the attacks could land on him, Fujin's cloak moved and formed a dome around him. The three attacks landed on the cloak. The eyes of Kumo ninjas widened. Even Darui couldn't help but mutter, "What in the hell?"
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