Around 100 meters away from the tower, the Mist genins were still being chased by Fujin's clones. They soon noticed that Hoka and Mieko were missing. Yumi wondered, 'Where are they? Are they planning a sneak attack?'
She focused Chakra in her eyes once again and observed. However, she couldn't sense any of them nearby. This made her worry a lot. She tried again and again to sense them, but couldn't see either of them. Unfortunately for her, the tower had all sorts of anti-sensor seals on them. So she couldn't see their chakra signatures inside the tower.
She kept her guard the whole time, till their team met the other Kiri squad. On seeing them, Yumi immediately shouted, "Rentaro. Aid us!"
Rentaro was close friends with Yumi. He nodded and commanded his teammates, "Clear out those clones."
On his commands, all 6 Kiri genins attacked Fujin's wind clones. Fujin's shadow clone sighed, 'My Wind clones are almost out of chakra. Or I'd have been able to gather their information.'
When the Kiri genins began, Yumi shouted, "Be careful. Two of his teammates are probably hidden nearby. I can't sense them." That made them stay on guard.
The Wind clones knew that they didn't have enough chakra. They had already sensed Fujin flicker away with Hoka and Mieko. So this was just supposed to check their skills.
6 Wind clones suddenly stepped back and dispersed, while the remaining 6 clones attacked them head-on.
When the clones and Kiri genins reached each other, Yumi, Satoru, and Kohaku were prepared for the incoming Wind Explosion jutsus. But the other 3 Kiri genins weren't aware.
As soon as the clones were around 10 meters away from them, they instantly launched a couple of Wind Explosion jutsus.
Yumi countered with Water Bullet jutsu.
Satoru created a Water Wall and followed up with Water Shuriken jutsu.
Kohaku used Rock Shield jutsu and followed up with Rock spear jutsu.
Rentaro had grabbed his sword and was moving in for attacking with his sword, but he was surprised at how quickly the jutsu was formed and launched. He dropped his sword and made a hand seal. Just before the jutsu hit him, a water wall appeared in front of him. However, it was a very thin layer, and the winds splashed all the water back at him. The water wall did dull the sharpness of the winds. However, one sharp wind still passed through and cut Rentaro's right forearm. He was infuriated!
Rentaro's teammates also moved close to Fujin's clones and were hit by Wind Explosion jutsus. They both received 4-5 small cuts.
Soon, everyone counterattacked Fujin's clones. The clones didn't have any chakra left. So they just tried dodging and closing in the distance further. By observing each other's locations, all 6 clones got hit at the same time.
And right when they were hit, the remaining 6 clones suddenly appeared and surrounded the Kiri genins and used all their chakra to use Breakthrough jutsu.
Unfortunately, not much chakra was left to make it lethal. The Kiri genins immediately gathered together and built defenses around them to protect themselves.
After performing the jutsu, all the Wind clones dispersed. Only Fujin's shadow clone was left. He looked at the defenses. One side was covered by Rock shields, while the other 3 were covered by Water walls.
Fujin's clone smirked and flickered, 'It's a shame I don't have a devastating Wind jutsu. I'll need to get it soon.' The clone flickered right outside the Water walls and swung his sword with all his strength.
Yumi, who was observing the clone, noticed him flickering towards them. She quickly noticed that Fujin was about to send another sword slash towards them. She shouted, "Everyone jump!" She quickly jumped and suddenly had a thought, 'Huh? Why did I say to jump instead of ducking?'
To avoid the incoming slash, they could either duck under it or jump above. Usually, ducking is the best choice as you would still have mobility. But for some reason, she instinctively chose to jump.
The other 5 Kiri genins followed her advice and jumped as high as they could. While in the air, both Yumi and Rentaro launched Water Bullet jutsu at Fujin's location.
Fujin's sword slash cut the water wall with ease. The accompanying winds around the slash destroyed the water wall. All 6 Kiri ninjas had jumped out of the slash's path. They had jumped high enough that even the winds weren't really lethal. However, the winds still hit them. Yumi and Rentaro's water bullets were stopped by the winds. And the winds caused deep cuts to all of them.
On seeing the damage, Yumi was horrified, 'If we had ducked instead of jumping, we all would have been dead!'
The damage, though not lethal, scared them. What horrified them was the fact that Fujin sent another such slash their way.
Fujin wondered, 'So, will this kill them, or will they survive once again?'
Suddenly, Rentaro's chakra exploded. He made a few hand seals quickly and spat out a huge amount of water. At the same time, one of his teammates made hand signs rapidly. The water released by Rentaro quickly began freezing.
The sword slash initially hit the water and easily split it. But soon, the water began freezing. The sword slash hit the ice. It still went through it, cracking the ice. However, it slowed down. It cut through 80% of the ice before it lost power. The Kiri genins freaked out on seeing that even ice was being cut. They finally sighed in relief and dropped to the ground on seeing the slash being stopped.
The winds accompanying the slash were also blocked. Fujin was shocked, 'Ice Kekkei genkai? Aren't the bloodline clans being hunted in Kiri? Does that mean that these guys came from Mei's faction?'
He quickly analyzed while keeping an eye on them, 'Is Mei trying to get some help from Hiruzen? Also, has she begun the rebellion so soon? No, since she has Kekkei Genkais, it makes sense that she would have already begun the resistance. Though it should be a long war before she wins.
I don't think Hiruzen would help out though. There's no mention of this in the manga. And Konoha is suffering from less manpower. So joining a war will be stupid. Not to mention, Uchiha and the Hokage faction are in a power struggle. So Konoha shouldn't have any resources to spare.'
While he was analyzing, the Kiri genins finally landed back on the ground. Rentaro's face was ugly. He said, "I didn't expect Konoha to have such a strong genin!"
Fujin replied, "I didn't expect Kiri to send an Ice Kekkei Genkai ninja. I wonder if any more of you have Kekkei Genkai." While speaking, he looked at Yumi.
He continued, "Nor did I expect you guys to survive despite being in a crunch so many times. You guys are strong too."
Yumi asked, "Do you want a truce? We won't attack you guys during this 2nd phase as long as you won't attack us. That way, we will all have a good chance to proceed to the next round. Otherwise, we will just injure each other."
Rentaro frowned on hearing it. Fujin was surprised as well, 'Not only do they have excellent survival skills, but she is also smart enough to ask for a truce. I wonder if they have already participated in some war.'
Fujin's analysis was on point. All 6 of them had engaged in multiple clashes with the 4th Mizukage faction. They had real war experience. And a lot of it. Which is why they managed to survive the onslaught. Yumi was someone they were trying to develop into a leader.
Fujin smirked and said, "My teammates wanted to fight even the six of you head-on. So a truce is out of the question." Hearing that, Yumi sighed, 'I am worried that they will ambush us again and again. Also, where are his two teammates?'
Fujin continued, "Anyways, I'm out of chakra. See you later." And the clone dispelled himself. The Kiri genins were shocked to see that they were fighting a Shadow clone!
[A/N : Mass release at the end of February if we reach 300 Power stones every week in the next month.
We reached 282 last week (kinda my fault for posting the message on Tuesday as pointed by a few comments). Let's get the remaining 18 this week!]
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Can read upto 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.
Thank You Mitchell, Stephen, Seba, AJ and Shubham for supporting me on P@treon.