Unlike what Odaka had thought, Fujin hadn't run away. Instead, he just hid his chakra signature. And thanks to the cover provided by the sand tsunami, no one could see, hear or smell him.
He immediately attacked Gaara with the intention of making him bleed. However, he was surprised as he thought, 'The air bullets breaking through is reasonable. After all, the sand that defended him was too little. But why did he get injured so much? Doesn't he have the sand armor?'
Fujin observed him properly and realized, 'I see. I guess he hasn't created that technique yet.'
He turned his attention towards the Suna ninjas on the other side of the tsunami and muttered, "Well, sucks to be you guys."
Odaka activated his chakra field once again. His eyes widened as he shouted, "That assassin is still here! Bastard hid his chakra signature."
Fujin detected the chakra field and immediately used Wind Instantaneous Body jutsu. Odaka sensed Fujin getting farther away and said, "He escaped."
Manabu asked, "Are you sure that he didn't hide his chakra again? It'll be annoying if he interferes when we are stopping Gaara."
Odaka replied, "Yes. Last time his chakra signature just disappeared. This time, I sensed him leaving. Besides, I doubt he would want to stay when Gaara is losing control."
They could still hear Gaara's screams as his body began transforming. The sand tsunami had lost its power and was settling down. But other than Eagle and the three Elite Jounins, the rest stayed away in fear. Susumu moved towards Gaara while weaving hand signs, Manabu shouted, "Don't let him fall asleep!"
Susumu already knew it. He reached as close to Gaara as he could and completed his hand signs.
'Demise of the Rebirth'
Despite being partially transformed, the Genjutsu hit Gaara. As the Genjutsu took hold, a serene sensation washed over him, like a gentle breeze on summer's eve. In an instant, his tumultuous emotions were caressed and quelled. It was as if the weight of anger, hatred, pain and panic were lifted. The world around him transformed into a dreamland adorned by Sakura blossoms.
As Gaara watched the Sakura petals floating with the wind, he felt a soothing sensation. The illusion cocooned him in a realm of tranquility, offering respite from the burdens of reality. For a fleeting moment, he found solace in the beauty of this ephemeral sanctuary.
Unfortunately, he couldn't stay in this world forever. A wave of anger burned in his heart as Shukaku transferred his chakra into Gaara's body to break the illusion and further transform the boy.
Susumu and the rest knew that the Genjutsu wouldn't hold a Jinchuriki down for long. When Gaara opened his eyes, he saw 4 puppets surrounding him. His body was tied with metal strings held by the puppets, restricting his mobility.
Gaara roared in rage as he began struggling. Odaka gritted his teeth and increased his control on his puppets to ensure that they wouldn't be sent flying. Fortunately, he wasn't alone.
Manabu jumped high in the sky and blew an intense wind on Gaara. Gaara's knees bent. He felt an intense pressure falling down on him continuously. The Suna ninjas sighed in relief on seeing Gaara being pinned down.
However, Gaara opened his eyes and stared at Manabu. Manabu immediately had a bad feeling. The sand under Gaara's feet began moving. It instantly reached Manabu! Fortunately, Manabu was prepared and flickered out of the way.
Gaara's eyes moved and landed on Odaka. Odaka immediately jumped as he felt the sand under his feet move. As soon as he jumped, multiple tentacles made of sand appeared and moved towards Odaka. Realizing the danger, Odaka opened a scroll and made a hand seal. Immediately, a huge Turtle made of wood and metal appeared between him and the sand.
The sand hit the belly of the turtle while Odaka landed on its back and immediately jumped towards Manabu. The sand tentacles were stopped. However, more sand moved and completely engulfed the turtle. Odaka's remaining 4 puppets were also engulfed and crushed by sand.
He sighed and muttered, "This is going to be a painful fight."
Manabu nodded. The cost of building high-quality puppets was quite high. He said, "Fortunately, we bought enough time."
Odaka nodded as he saw that Susumu had returned with 2 ninjas behind him.
Susumu looked at the situation and instructed, "We will hold him down. As soon as we do, use your techniques to seal him temporarily."
The two ninjas nodded nervously. They were sent along with Susumu and Gaara in case such a scenario happened. However, despite being trained, they had very little experience in sealing a Jinchuriki. After all, if something went wrong in Suna, Rasa would take care of it. They would have no reason to act.
Odaka, Manabu and Susumu began fighting Gaara again. Meanwhile, Eagle stood next to the two sealing ninjas to ensure that Gaara wouldn't harm them.
After 5 minutes of intense battle, they finally managed to pin Gaara down once again. Susumu shouted, "NOW!"
Immediately, the two sealing ninjas summoned and opened a giant roll of cloth.
'Cloth Binding Technique'
The cloth moved towards Gaara and began wrapping itself around it. Gaara struggled, but he couldn't get out of it. In a few seconds, he was completely covered by the cloth!
The Suna ninjas finally sighed in relief. Gaara was stopped. They and the city close to them were safe. Susumu grabbed a sealing tag and walked towards Gaara in order to ensure that he couldn't break free. However, his eyes widened. He looked down at his chest in fear and disbelief. A kunai that was dyed in blood had pierced through his heart!
The Suna ninjas were shocked as well. A second ago they were happy that Gaara was sealed! Now, they watched in disbelief as the strongest Genjutsu specialist in Suna closed his eyes and passed away!
However, Fujin had no expression on his face. He didn't waste any time celebrating and instead looked at Manabu and Odaka.
'Wind Release: Infinite Breakthrough jutsu'
A massive windstorm was shot out towards them. Odaka hurriedly summoned a defensive Puppet and the two hid behind it. However, both had grim expressions.
Manabu asked, "Didn't you say that he ran away?"
Odaka answered, "I definitely sensed him running away. Unless he kept hiding and sent a Shadow clone away to fool me. Or maybe he ran away and returned while hiding his chakra. After all, we were busy stopping Gaara."
Manabu didn't question any further. After all, it was pointless. He said, "This scum is very cunning. We were on guard while fighting Gaara. If he had attacked then, Susumu would have dodged or blocked him. Instead, he waited until we had won and dropped our guard momentarily."
Odaka nodded and said, "He almost reminds me of Yellow Flash. In the third war, we lost most of our Elite Jounins to his sneak attacks. Other than Tsunade, he was the main reason that we had to accept our defeat and form an alliance with Konoha."
Manabu and Odaka's expressions became even uglier. They had speculated that the assassin was from Konoha. Both thought, 'If Konoha has gained such a strong fighter who is willing to go to such an extreme during peacetime, then a war with them would prove extremely costly.'
While Manabu and Odaka were hiding from the storm, Eagle took the opportunity to flicker behind Fujin and attacked him with his kunai. However, Fujin withdrew the kunai from Susumu's heart and blocked the attack.
'Wind Release: Air Bullet jutsu'
Eagle's eyes widened as he noticed the attack. He immediately jumped out of the way. Fujin let him go and instead spat out a fire on the cloth that had sealed Gaara. The two Sealing ninjas shouted in horror, "No! Don't!"
Unfortunately, Fujin had no intention to listen to them. Eagle's eyes widened as well. He immediately began weaving hand signs and building up his chakra. However, before he could complete his hand signs, he was forced to jump backwards. A kunai grazed past his left forearm leaving a half-foot-long cut in it. He winced in pain but kept weaving hand signs.
'Water Release: Waterfall jutsu.'
Despite acting as fast as he could, the delay due to the pain meant that the cloth was already set on fire! A second later, a huge waterfall crashed down on the fire and doused it. At the same time, Manabu launched his own Infinite Breakthrough jutsu and neutralized Fujin's attack. He and Odaka appeared next to Eagle and asked, "Where is the assassin?"
Eagle said, "He is th…"
His words were stuck in his mouth as he noticed that Fujin and Susumu's dead body had both disappeared! However, before they could investigate, a furious roar was heard through the desert. The Suna ninjas looked where Gaara was sealed in grim expression as he broke out of the binding cloth!
They began fighting him once again.
[A/N : Bonus chapter on next Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones. Bonus chapter on next week's Saturday if the fic gets 2000 Power Stones.]
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