'Mind Transfer Jutsu!'
'Vampiric Gaze!'
Which jutsu was faster? Luckily, it was the one that required eye contact!
Suguru breathed a nervous breath. This was why he had been researching a miniature version of the Real Mirage Formation. His Kaisugan was a powerful tool for spying, but not so much for keeping himself safe from harm.
Thus...
Suguru gazed into Fuu's eyes, drawing the chakra that resided within his body like pumping water out from a well. A visibly heavy stream of blue poured out from Fuu's pupils. This was no longer the remote version of his Vampiric Gaze.
It was the more heinous version, useable only with Suguru's real eyes.
—Step, step, step.
Suguru drew closer with his unblinking gaze. He carefully approached Fuu and brandished his kunai.
—Fwhip!
The whistle of the wind as he swung his blade seemed so confident of its victory. However...
"Heuk!"
Fuu gulped a lot of air and pried his eyes away from Suguru's gaze. His neck muscles were tense, and his eyes were red.
'As expected of someone from the Yamanaka Clan,' Suguru's brow twitched. A burst of blood erupted from his shattered eyes.
'What powerful mental strength!'
It turns out that there was a side effect to using the real version of Vampiric Gaze. Suguru promptly took note of that fact as he lunged forward. His fist flew through the air, creating a malevolent whoosh!
Fuu leaned backward, avoiding Suguru's range. However, a burst of fire suddenly spewed out from the latter's fist.
The fireball flew swiftly, heading straight for Fuu's face. Luckily, he came prepared.
He spun, with his head dipping under just enough that the fireball grazed only his hair. His reaction time was not from someone who had witnessed this attack for the first time.
Fuu thus calmly analyzed his situation. 'Luckily, I spent enough time sparring with people who know the Blaze Battle Body.'
Its creator was a cunning one, after all.
That trick just now? It took a while for the others to come up with. In comparison, Suguru masked it as a hidden bonus from a missed punch.
'What a crazy kid,' Fuu decided it was time for him to counterattack.
"Torune!" Fuu yelled, using his previous momentum to let out a fearsome roundhouse. It approached in the blink of an eye, leaving Suguru only one option: To block.
"Keheuk!" Suguru felt the kick through his skeleton. A jounin's physique was miles above his own.
Fuu followed up with a spinning backhand. Suguru dodged it by a hair's breadth and counterattacked with a palm strike to break Fuu's balance.
However, Fuu continued with his momentum, turning his roundhouse kick and spinning backhand into a terrifying axe kick. Suguru witnessed his mistake in slow motion.
'Ah, shit.' He thought, lamenting the fact that he did not want to reveal his Sharingan.
Therefore, in a contest of strength... He would lose every single time.
—Bang!
Suguru was sent flying off of his branch. His body slammed into the roots of a fallen tree. This would be one of the first times he was truly rag-dolled by an enemy shinobi.
Furthermore...
"Roger!" A voice had replied within the same breath Suguru held.
Torune rushed towards Suguru, with his hand aiming to grasp at any part of his body. The latter desperately dodged. Suguru knew what a single touch entailed.
Fuu took this opportunity to strike at Suguru once more, but the latter parried his shuriken with a flash of his kunai. A frown formed on Fuu's face.
Suguru was trying to gaze into Torune's eyes.
"Be careful of his eyes," Fuu said. "Don't let him lock your gaze."
Seeing both Fuu and Torune after him, Suguru let out a wry smile. One jounin, he could fight. A good example of that was Raiga. Two jounins working together, however...
It was above his pay grade.
Therefore, Suguru's following actions were decisive:
He took out a smoke bomb, held his breath, and closed his eyes.
"Say hello to my little friend."
—Bwoom!
Suguru threw the smoke bomb at the ground, making a large cloud of smoke burst forth. At first, Fuu and Torune didn't think it was anything special. However, they would soon learn just what an abomination it was.
"Uweck!" Fuu was the first to gag from the smell. His eyes stung as if a thousand needles were prickling them.
Torune was a little better off, but the stench was unimaginable. For a moment, he felt his vision blur. Nausea was common when the brain was overloaded with stimuli.
In comparison, Suguru, who was ready, wasn't affected as much. He took that moment to activate his Sharingan and rapidly flicker away. Now that he used his smoke bomb, Hitomi and Kuromaru would think twice about chasing after him.
Although those two were strong, their weakness was obvious.
"Sniff... Ugh," Suguru muttered as he wiped the mucus dripping out of his nose. "Horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. Even I hate using that damn smoke bomb."
If not for the dire situation, he would rather not put his nose through such hell. It was such a powerful tool, but it was beyond being underhanded. It was straight-up disrespectful. Especially since he did not eliminate the stench with an explosion.
Now, that area of the Land of Rivers would be stained by the smell. Suguru doubted anyone would want to linger around there for a long time.
It was that disgusting.
'I've polluted it.'
Suguru shook his head and fled with all his might.
With just a glance behind him, he knew that Fuu and Torune had forced themselves to continue. The stench only slowed them down.
Although indeed gut-wrenching, the gas wasn't enough to knock them out as long as they held their breath.
—Fwish!
Several kunai streaked through the air, heading straight for Suguru's back. Although he had flickered away, the lay of the land meant that he could not easily disappear from people's line of sight.
Suguru's Sharingan flashed, and he dodged every kunai. He clicked his tongue, realizing his predicament.
'Do I have no choice but to reveal my Sharingan?' He thought, 'No... I have already revealed one of my Kaisugan's abilities. If I don't kill Fuu and Torune here...'
He put his hands together and formed a seal.
'It's time to fight with maximum effort.'
[Tiger].
Suguru's body burst into a great bonfire.
'Blaze Battle Body!'
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