The bodies of six Oto ninjas began transforming as they activated stage two of the curse seal. Unfortunately, even before they could complete their transformation, a red line appeared on their bodies, starting at their forehead and ending below their abdomen. All 6 ninjas were sliced in two even before they had a chance to make a move!
Baki cursed, 'What in the world is that speed? He's even faster than when he saved that girl! Don't tell me that Wind Cloak enhances his speed! And he can even fly! Shit! Where in the fucking hell are the arrangements that Kazekage-sama said he has made?'
While Baki just felt that they were at a massive disadvantage and in great danger earlier, he now understood that they were done for sure. If Fujin was left alone for a few minutes, not a single Suna or Oto ninja, including him, would be left alive. He had no doubts regarding that.
Seeing Fujin cleave through the Oto division with such ease, the Suna ninjas, who were still in denial, accepted the reality. The morale of the entire army dropped in an instant! More than half of them wanted to retreat. However, knowing the punishment for betrayal and not wanting to leave their absent leader to fight alone, they continued defending against the spirited assault of the Konoha ninjas.
On the other hand, Fujin's presence raised the morale of the Konoha ninjas fighting against the Oto ninjas. They immediately intensified their assault while shouting, "Councilman Fujin is leading the charge! Follow him and kill these bastards!"
"Show these fools what fate awaits them!"
"Leave no one alive!"
Sakura, Naruto, Lee and Shikamaru heard their shouts and glanced at them. None of them saw Fujin's silhouette but only saw wind blades cutting down the Oto ninjas. Naruto immediately realized, 'Wind blades? Is this how big brother Fujin fights? Woah!'
For a moment, Naruto's mind went blank. He calmed himself down and thought, 'Those guys are completely helpless! They can't even resist Fujin. Not to mention, Fujin is so decisive. He isn't giving them any chance of survival and is killing everyone so mercilessly!'
Seeing the bloodshed, Naruto felt conflicted. Fujin had cut down the enemies with zero hesitation. Had it been him, Naruto knew he wouldn't have been able to do that. In fact, he wasn't even sure whether he'd want to kill people like how Fujin did. He glanced around and saw everyone else was doing the same.
Kakashi and Guy had killed a few enemies while keeping Kabuto at bay. Some distance away, Anko and Ibiki were fighting as well. A few dead bodies lay around Asuma and Kurenai too. Everyone who Naruto recognized was busy killing the attackers.
He thought sadly, 'So, this is a war? Where ninjas cut each other down so mercilessly? Why did Sunagakure and Otogakure attack us and start a war?'
His chain of thoughts was cut by Sakura, who said, "Naruto, stop looking there. We need to take advantage of the opening Fujin provided and chase after Sasuke. He is chasing after Gaara's squad by himself! We need to bring him back!"
Naruto nodded. The five of them were about to leave when their attention was once again attracted towards the arena.
Fujin, who had cut down nearly half of the Oto ninjas, suddenly glanced towards his right and moved backwards. Moments later, a massive crystal wall appeared in front of him, separating the remaining Oto ninjas from him and the Konoha ninjas!
Fujin looked at the crystal wall and the kunoichi behind it. He thought, 'Guren… So, Orochimaru decided to bring her here. However, is this all? He should know that she can't stop me. Is she supposed to stall or distract me while my real opponent sneak attacks me?'
In truth, Fujin could have eliminated all the Oto ninjas before Guren appeared. Even though he couldn't use large-scale jutsus due to the Konoha ninjas nearby, cutting down the Oto ninjas wasn't too difficult for him.
However, after cutting down two hundred Suna ninjas, he slowed down purposefully. Instead of focusing on killing the weaker ninjas, he was on the lookout for a sneak attack on him from a rank S ninja, irrespective of whether that was an alive or a dead rank S ninja. He didn't believe that Orochimaru would make a move on Konoha without making arrangements for him.
However, even after cutting down half the Oto ninjas, only Guren and a few more ninjas showed up. Fujin couldn't view any of them as a threat. He decided, 'Oh well, let me see how much patience they have.'
Seeing Fujin finally stopping, the Suna and Oto ninjas sighed in relief. However, Baki's expression was still ugly. He thought, 'So, Orochimaru made some arrangements. However, she didn't make a move until Fujin targeted their ninjas. As expected, Orochimaru wants to hurt us as well. We can't trust that snake!'
Behind the crystal wall, Guren shouted, "Stay clear of him. We will deal with him. All of you focus on clearing the remaining Konoha ninjas. Don't hold back anymore!"
Following Guren's orders, a dozen ninjas from the division activated their curse seals. In addition, the four subordinates who followed her also did the same.
Seeing their appearance change and their chakra rile up, the Konoha ninjas became serious. A Senju Jounin appeared behind Fujin and tried to ask, "Lor…"
Before he could say anything else, he felt a sharp chakra flowing through Fujin's Kazekiri. Fujin arched his arm behind as a Vacuum core formed along the edge of his blade. He thought, 'Oh well, let me see how good this sword is.'
He swung his blade horizontally at the crystal wall with his full strength! A massive Vacuum Slash was unleashed from the sword, and accompanying it were extremely sharp winds.
Guren was surprised by Fujin's action. She thought, 'Foolish! Even Orochimaru-sama's Sword of Kusanagi can't cut my crystals!'
Baki and the other Suna ninjas looked nervously. Even though they hated Guren for acting this late, they prayed that she could stop Fujin!
'Water Release: Slicing Waves jutsu!'
Inside the barrier, Orochimaru spat out a large amount of water once again. He controlled them to unleash a barrage of water blades at Hiruzen. Hiruzen rapidly dodged each one of them as Lightning appeared around his hands.
He released a chain of lightning, which transformed into a net and blocked the incoming water blades. From the center of the net, dozens of Lightning spears were launched at Orochimaru every second!
Orochimaru slapped his hands together while thinking, 'He wants to electrocute me through the water. Do you think I'll leave such an obvious weakness, sensei?'
Wind chakra appeared on his palms. He placed his palms into the water in front of him and released the Wind chakra into the water. Winds appeared around the water he had released. Just before the Lightning spears could hit the water, winds intercepted them.
Hiruzen's eyes widened. He analyzed, 'His Ninjutsu has improved to this extent? Sigh, he isn't too far from my level.'
Orochimaru chuckled on seeing the surprised look on Hiruzen's face. He immediately controlled the water and the winds and flooded them towards Hiruzen while loudly shouting, "I want to see how you defend against this, sensei!"
For the first time since their battle began, Hiruzen weaved a hand sign and replied, "You don't think such a lousy combination can stop me, do you?"
'Fire Release: Undying Flame jutsu!'
Taking a deep breath, Hiruzen exhaled an intense fire! However, unlike the normal fire, this Fire jutsu had so much Yang chakra mixed in that the color of the fire had changed to black!
The black flames expanded towards the incoming flood. Orochimaru immediately controlled the winds and let the water engulf the winds to prevent the winds from assisting the flames. At the same time, he began fusing large amounts of Yin chakra into the water.
The two jutsus collided, filling most of the barrier with steam. The Sound Four and the Anbu Guards, who had the front row seat to watch this epic duel, wondered in disbelief, 'How could fire overwhelm water with such dominance?'
The only one who wasn't surprised was Orochimaru. After all, fire was what Hiruzen was known for. If anything, Orochimaru was disappointed that Hiruzen's fire wasn't as hot as it was decades ago.
Hiruzen sighed as he realized, 'To think that my old age would cause this jutsu to be doused for the very first time. How embarrassing…'
Even though the fire was overwhelming the water, Hiruzen knew that he couldn't sustain the momentum. Eventually, Orochimaru would gain the upper hand. Thankfully, there was still quite some time before that could happen.
The Lightning net around Hiruzen suddenly collapsed and transformed into large Lightning Dragons. They flew through the flames and hit the water!
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