While the stone shinobis were being toyed with Yami and the other leaf jonins, Jiro along with 28 of his men was trying his best to break the genjutsu and clear the mist.
And he was successful but not before losing the rest of his 52 men. After a few minutes of the genjutsu spreading, Jiro broke the genjutsu and saw that the mist was dispersing. This also caught the attention of Ji and the bloodline leaders who were still on the battlefield.
As the mist completely dispersed, they saw Jiro standing with 28 of his men on one side while the 4-leaf jonins standing on the other side. That wasn't the most surprising part though. In the middle, to the extreme left were nearly 40 stone shinobi corpses with holes in their bodies. In the middle were a few hands that were protruding from the ground trying to claw their way out and on the right were corpses of burnt shinobis. Everyone could see the pain the burnt shinobis had gone through as they had become rock-hard-like statues of charcoal. They were black inside out.
"You lot have been too brutal with my men. So don't expect any kind of mercy from me." Jiro said.
Kakashi raised his hands showing his palms and said "Yami killed most of your people so blame him not me."
Jiro was confused about whether Jiro was trying to throw Yami under the bus but Yami and the rest of leaf jonins knew that it was Kakashi's way of giving Yami more practice.
Before Jiro could look at Yami and spew a threat at him, Yami whose sword was sheathed started running at Jiro and his men. Jiro and his men pulled out their weapons ready to attack as soon as Yami comes closer. Some of them were even ready to unleash their jutsu once Yami comes in range.
Surprisingly, instead of going straight at them, Yami turned left toward a few trees. It wasn't any kind of jungle just a few isolated trees. Jiro and the others were confused when they saw that.
"Kakashi what is Yami doing?" Asuma asked to which Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and said "Beats me...I thought he will attack with his sword but he seems to have some other plan in mind."
The next second, Yami took a turn from the tree but not after going around the tree twice. He bolted toward the back lines of the 28 shinobis.
Jiro didn't waste any time and quickly instructed his men based on Yami's movements. "He seems to be headed for the ones at the back. Protect the jutsu casters and don't let him attack them directly."
Jiro's men nodded and placed themselves between the people who were ready to cast earth-style jutsus. Just as Yami came in range, a few shinobis released their jutsus on him.
Earth style : Rock thorn jutsu
Earth style : Boulder throw jutsu
Earth style : Earth holding jutsu
The first jutsu launched close to 20 small pointed stones at Yami in the direction where he was coming from. This was so that he would lose his momentum and be forced to change the direction he was coming from.
And the jutsu served its purpose as Yami quickly stopped and stepped a few meters to the side and again started running toward the stone shinobis.
"Like in the palm of my hand...haha" Jiro laughed as Yami reacted just as Jiro wanted him to.
Then the remaining two jutsus were activated together. Rock boulders started rolling toward Yami from both sides leaving only a small amount of space for him to go. And that small amount of space was where the last jutsu was activated. The ground there felt alive somehow.
"What jutsu is that?" Mei asked Asami who was standing beside her.
"The earth holding jutsu encroaches on the bodies of those who step on it. It doesn't just hold that person in place but also compresses it to the point that a person's bones can break. This jutsu is not used unless it's necessary and it's rare for someone to even practice it so I won't be surprised if Yami doesn't know what jutsu that is and steps on it."
Jiro and his men were sure that Yami would have never heard of this jutsu so he will step into the empty space thinking it's just a jutsu that slows his moment. But the next second, they saw Yami disperse into multiple bats. The surprising fact was that the bats didn't fly away like always but just flew a little higher enough to let those rolling boulders pass under them.
"Why aren't those bats flying away...What does Yami gain from those bats still flying toward the stone shinobis?" Kurenai asked but Asuma and Kakashi had no answers.
When everyone expected Yami to materialize back in his original body and continue his run toward Jiro and his men, the bats started flying around the group. Jiro's men continued to look around as the bats flew from their left and right without even touching them.
"Don't panic hold your ground. He is trying to find an opening." Jiro shouted at his men. He was sure that Yami was just trying to find the weak link among them so that he can exploit it to kill the others as well.
After flying among the stone shinobis for a few seconds, the bats flew to the opposite side of the tree with Jiro and the stone shinobis in the middle. The bats then materialized back into Yami.
"Looks like you weren't able to do anything, Genjutsu demon. You may have escaped the boulders and earth holding jutsu but now you don't have cards to play." Jiro smirked. Everyone else thought the same Yami had tried to find an opening but was unsuccessful and that's why he came here to think of another plan.
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Yami said with a smirk on his face. Everyone except Kakashi was confused by this statement. And the only reason he wasn't confused is that amid Yami's bats doing all that, Kakashi had activated his Sharingan.
Just then Yami placed both of his hands in front of him near his chest in a claw position and pulled them down a little in a diagonal direction. Everyone looked at him with confused expressions until they heard a choking sound from the stone shinobis.
All the heads turned toward Jiro's men who had their eyes and mouths wide open and both their hands on the neck.
"What are they doing?" Riko asked.
"I don't know...are they choking themselves? Is it a genjutsu?"Asami asked.
The old man shook his head and said "No...look closely blood is seeping out and it looks like its floating."
They all stepped forward subconsciously and narrowed their eyes to look at the blood.
"T-That looks like a thread." Asami said in a low tone.
That's when Yami moved his fingers a little more. This caused the choking shinobis to become more desperate. Now everyone could see the thin thread shining at different places among the 28 people.
Jiro looked at Yami and Yami stared back at him and said "Good Riddance." Yami then pulled both his hands down diagonally making the heads of all 28 stone shinobis pop out from their body at the same time.
The horrific death of so many of his men had shocked Jiro to his core. He wasn't able to react at all to all this. Asami looked the other way as she had never seen such a gruesome sight.
"How can a kid be capable of creating such bloodshed?" Yoshiro asked in a daze loud enough for the old man to hear.
"I thought the new generation was weaker...but if that's the case then what is he?" the old man sighed.
Taking advantage of Jiro's carelessness, Yami pulled out his sword and body flickered toward Jiro. Jiro was caught off guard by this and just as Yami was about to hit him, the monster's tail appeared to his side and blocked Yami's attack. The force of the tail was so much that not only was Yami's attack blocked but he has pushed away back several meters away.
Even though it looked like a small flick, they could see that it was a powerful slap. Some thought that Yami would even get some injuries or broken bones due to it and he would have if not for his mastery over the element of air.
Yami quickly created air cushions to slow his momentum gradually and land back on his feet.
Jiro who had just been saved by the monster looked up at the monster first and then at Ji.
"I won't let you die like this Jiro." Ji smirked.
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