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Just like others before them, this group too was shocked by what they were witnessing. The Land of Hot Water forces didn't dare to approach this place after confirming Kumogakure's presence. Though they heard the news of floods coming out from here, they stayed away from Kumogakure ninjas. So they never knew about the destruction of the mine.
Even Kakashi was unaware of the truth as Hiruzen didn't inform him about Jiraiya's actions. Tokuhei analyzed the entire landscape and cursed, "The entire mine has been destroyed by those bastards!"
Mifune and Kakashi didn't say anything as they too reached the same conclusion.
Mifune sighed, "We will first have to clean up this place and make new arrangements. Though the surface of the mine has been destroyed, the valuable materials inside it should be safe."
However, he frowned and said, "But Kumogakure has crossed all limits this time. Not only did they mine illegally, they even destroyed the mine before leaving."
Tokuhei looked at Mifune and requested, "Lord Mifune, we have to make Kumogakure pay for their actions. Otherwise, they will keep behaving like this!"
Mifune thought for a bit before shaking his head. He said, "It won't be easy. I believe that they destroyed this mine to clear all their traces. Without any proof, we won't be able to take any action. Besides, though we have threatened Kumogakure, I doubt any of us want a war with them."
Kakashi nodded, "Yeah. It's best if war is prevented. Otherwise, everyone's losses will far exceed the value of this mine. But, we could still make them pay economically."
Mifune replied, "True. But let's leave that to the Daimyos."
He looked at everyone behind them and instructed, "Begin cleaning this place. Also, see if you can find any evidence to prove that the Kumogakure forces were here."
The Samurais and the Ninjas got to work. Mifune said, "Clearing up this mine will take a lot of time. I can't wait here that long. I will wait here until all the countries reach an agreement. Once all countries have signed up, every major village will deploy 50 ninjas to protect this mine and I will leave 200 Samurais here for the same."
Tokuhei and Kakashi nodded. Everyone got to work. However, they didn't find any clues that could be linked to Kumogakure.
With A dropping plans for the invasion, all villages agreed to share the mine. The Land of Iron will be responsible for mining and distributing the chakra metal and other precious metals at the same level among the villages that protected the mine.
So Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure and the Land of Iron would get those metals equally. Kirigakure couldn't provide the troops and hence was left out. All these 5 countries would pay half the price of chakra metals to the Land of Hot Water. In addition, Land of Hot Water will get all the normal materials mined from the mine.
Later on, A would come to know that everyone blamed him for destroying the mine to cover his tracks. However, since no one had any proof, no one spoke out loud. The realization that he was being held responsible for the enemy's actions sent the Raikage into a seething fury!
Not only did he lose more than 260 capable ninjas, he even had to take the blame for Hiruzen's actions! And the worst part was that he couldn't defend himself. To defend himself, he would first have to admit the fact that Kumogakure was mining illegally inside another country! So A couldn't do anything but suffer in silence!
While the countries were busy discussing the Mine, Fujin was busy training. He had met up with Tamotsu once but spent the remaining time on training. In a week's time, he had already learnt Iron Skin jutsu and Bringer of Darkness Genjutsu. However, he hit a wall.
Fujin was sitting on the training ground with his back against a tree. His chakra was almost exhausted. A frown could be seen on his face. He analyzed, 'What is the issue? I have been trying this jutsu for over a week but have made no progress at all!'
After learning the 2 jutsus, Fujin began learning Wild Lion's Mane jutsu. This was the same jutsu that Jiraiya frequently used. It could grow hair and allow the caster to freely manipulate them. Unfortunately, Fujin was stuck at the very first step. No matter how he manipulated his chakra, he couldn't get his hair to grow at all.
Fujin analyzed a lot before sighing, 'It's no use. I guess that there are more complexities involved before I am able to use this jutsu. I am not sure what those are, but the most likely possibility could be that I would need a medical ninja to artificially enhance whatever promotes hair growth.
Only then I might be able to cast this jutsu. Considering that Jiraiya had Tsunade and Orochimaru in his team, it could explain why he could do it easily and why I haven't seen anyone else use this jutsu.'
Fujin let out another sigh, 'It looks like my plans to have a triple-layered defense with Rashomon, Wild Lion's Mane and Iron Skin will need to be stalled. Though it's fine. Just Rashomon and Iron Skin combined with Wind jutsus is quite strong.'
Fujin decided to give up on Wild Lion's Mane and Needle Jizo jutsus for the time being. He left for home and decided to continue learning Lightning jutsus.
The next day, he did his physical workout and returned to his basement. He made a few hand signs. Lightning appeared on his body and immediately transformed into needles. He made another hand sign and over a hundred electric needles were launched from his body.
Fujin analyzed, 'Good, l will have to improve the speed of this jutsu but otherwise it is learnt. Now I have only two jutsus to practice. Unfortunately, one will require a partner or at least a victim, so I can't learn it for now. It leaves just one. Though this one is very strong.'
Fujin made a shadow clone. The clone positioned himself opposite Fujin. Fujin weaved hand signs. The air around Fujin suddenly became heavy as he began exerting a huge amount of chakra. He extended his right arm ahead and pointed his index and middle finger at his clone.
Lightning appeared around his two fingers and a huge portion of his chakra began transforming into Lightning and gathered in his two fingers. After 40 seconds, around 24% of Fujin's chakra had been transformed into Lightning and concentrated in his hands. He shouted, "NOW!"
His shadow clone immediately bit his thumb making it bleed, made a snake hand seal and slammed his hands on the ground.
'Summoning Jutsu : Rashomon'
At the same time, Fujin launched an arrow made of lightning straight at the Rashomon gate. The Arrow hit the gate and created a huge explosion!
The force of the explosion immediately pushed Fujin backwards. Fujin covered his face and tried to look at the spot of the explosion. Chakra gathered in his eye as he tried to observe through the intense light.
He couldn't help but think, 'The scroll was right! Luckily I took the warning seriously and decided to use Rashomon. Otherwise, my house would have been heavily damaged despite all the seals!'
After a few seconds, the explosion died down. Fujin could see the Rashomon Gate. It still stood but its surface was filled with cracks.
Fujin stepped closer and observed the gate. His eyes widened as he realized, 'Incredible! The cracks go up to halfway in the gate. It's even more impressive compared to the damage from my Vacuum Canon.'
Fujin analyzed for a minute and concluded, 'In terms of pure destructive power, this is my most powerful jutsu. But, in terms of usability, it is one of the worst. Though the destructive power is high, the chakra it needs is more than ten times that of the Vacuum Cannon jutsu.
Worse is the preparation time. The scroll stated that this time can be reduced with training, but it will still take a long time. At the very least, this jutsu will require 5 seconds of charging time. So in a normal situation, it will be quite useless.
I guess this jutsu is most effective when there are teammates to provide that time. But considering that I plan to use Lightning jutsus while in disguise, I don't have that option. Though I guess that I could still use shadow clones for that purpose.'
Fujin analyzed the pros and cons of the jutsu and decided, 'If I train this jutsu, my training will be over in 4 attempts. I won't be able to train anymore on that day. So though it looks cool, it will be harmful if I waste months trying to slowly master this jutsu. I can think about practicing this jutsu once my chakra has multiplied a few times over. For now, I should focus on mastering other jutsus.'
Having made his decision, Fujin decided to master the Iron Skin jutsu.
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