Chapter 413: Hope Arrives
Chapter 413: Hope Arrives
Smash…
“Argg!”
Plop…
In the thick cover of mist, Suijin vs Kiri was going on. Since Suijin’s objective wasn’t to kill the Kirigakure Shinobi, therefore, he focused on beating the hell out of them but also made sure to not kill them.
Ding… Ding…
‘Ice Release: Ice Breaking Fist!’ Suijin covered both his hand in hard ice and smashed them in a Shinobi’s guts.
“Argh cough-cough…!” another one fell unconscious while coughing out blood.
Mei asked from Ao, “That’s the fourth one already… where is he, Ao-san, Chukichi-san, do you sense him?”
“Yes, I see him, but his speed, his speed is too fast. At one instant he is at one place, and the next instant he disappears and appears near another shinobi.” Ao said with faint traces of sweat on his forehead. Even though the temperature of the surrounding has fallen to the freezing point. He still can’t help but sweat.
Tsurugi said, “Ao San, the density of mist is too high, I think this is too much for even us.”
Ao nodded with a solemn expression, and said, “I did not intend to make the density of mist this high, Suijin must have used his own chakra to cast the same Jutsu in order to make mist this dense.”
Chukichi said, “And the fact that he is able to move perfectly in such a dense cover of mist means that he is also a sensor-nin with very good abilities, on my level, or perhaps even better.”
Ao nodded, he couldn’t agree more.
Ao’s intention of using ‘Hiding in the Mist Jutsu’ may have been to hinder Suijin’s vision but he as well as others soon realized that his move was a big mistake because not only was Suijin perfectly capable of seeing, reacting, and acting in the cover of the mist, he was, in fact, using the cover of mist to his advantage. In several instances, he used Kirigakure’s Silent Killing Technique to deal with the shinobi of their squad, this was beyond even Ao’s expectations.
“Hahaha… It’s too late for regrets.” Suijin said and knocked another one out cold.
Having Byakugan obviously made the thick cover of mist quite useless, so locating the Kiri shinobi trying to hide themselves using the cover of mist proved to be quite easy for Suijin, as such, Suijin made short work of them quite easily.
“In any case, we have to clear the mist and use another strategy.” Harusame said, and after printing hand seals, he breathed wind out of his mouth in an effort to clear away the mist.
‘Futon: Daitoppa!’ (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!)
With Harusame’s Jutsu, the mist slowly cleared to reveal Suijin standing at the center of the field, along with several beaten up and bloodied bodies lying all over the field.
“So, who’s going to be my next prey?” Suijin questioned with a bland tone, his manner of speaking depicted that he could easily defeat all of them here without any effort.
“Damn it, six of us have already been defeated? And yet, there is not even a scratch on him.” Tsurugi cursed in frustration upon noticing that six of their men were already lying bloodied on the ground, yet there was not even a single scratch on Suijin’s cloak.
Mei asked Ao with a serious expression, “What is their state? Are they ali-…?”
“They are alive, their chakra signs are weak but they are indeed alive. He did not kill them. It appears that Amatsukami truly is as they say.” Ao said with a solemn expression. He was also pondering over what to do from here on.
Mei was now in a tough situation, ‘Should we withdraw? But if we withdraw then Amatsukami might be able to get their hands on Utakata… And if they reach Utakata before us then not only will Amatsukami obtain Rokubi, but it would also mean that I failed the test given to me by Yondaime sama.’
“Plan-C.” Even if she was considering whether to withdraw or not, it did not stop her from issuing instructions to the squad of shinobi around her in order to stall Suijin.
Harusame nodded, after printing hand seals, he slammed both of his hands on the earth, and shouted, ‘Doton: Chidokaku!’ (Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!)
Under Harusame’s control of Earth, a section of the earth beneath Suijin’s feet sank suddenly, and because he had instantly lost his footings, Suijin fell inside.
Mei did not waste any opportunity provided to her by Harusame, and started to print the hand seals, ‘Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu!’ (Lava Release: Lava Monster Jutsu!)
Instantly, Mei spat out viscous fluid from her mouth. The fluid spat out by her filled the hole created by Harusame, the objective was to drown Suijin inside the highly corrosive fluid and kill him, or at least stall enough time so that they can retreat along with the injured ones.
The hole was filled as she intended, and for a while, there was no movement from Suijin’s side, it felt as if the attack succeeded in killing Suijin, and Mei started to instruct the order for them to retreat.
“I am not sure how long will it hold him, everyone, pick up the wounded and retreat!”
But Ao knew better, “Don’t relax your guard, his chakra has not faded in the slightest!”
Ao’s words here not finished, and instantly a cylindrical ice pillar about the same thickness as the trunk of a giant tree rose from the hole. Upon further inspection, the shinobi of Kirigakure could see that Suijin was standing on top of the pillar, completely unharmed and unfazed by Mei’s attack.
“Hahaha! Retreat? Do you think I would allow it?” Suijin smirked and jumped off from the Ice pillar, the pair of divided Hiramekarei was still in both of his hands and he dashed towards their group, “Come on, now show me what you people can do, the shinobi of the Village of the Bloody Mist entertain me, show me what you people are capable of!”
Harusame said with a solemn expression, “We have to overwhelm him with numbers.”
The others all nodded and under Ao’s lead rushed towards Suijin for close-quarters combat.
Ao is very good at close combat, more so after he got himself the Byakugan. Tsurugi is also not bad either, after all, he is the commander of the Hunter-nin of Kirigakure for a reason. Then there are Genryu, Gonbee, Heki, as well as two other Kunoichi so together they truly have the potential to hold any Kage Class shinobi.
Or at least that should have been the case, but unfortunately, Suijin’s Nintaijutsu and Kenjutsu proved too much for them, and within a few minutes, most of them were collapsed on the ground, beaten up and bloodied with cuts and bruises and frost all over their bodies.
Now the only people standing were Mei, Ao, Harusame, and Chukichi.
Chukichi looked at Mei and said, “Mei sama, what should we do, if we were to try to retrieve carry the injured with us, then we wouldn’t be able to retreat, we have to do something, and find some other way to get to Utakata! This guy is a monster we don’t have enough strength to defeat him.”
Mei was about to nod, but suddenly she felt something touching her back, ‘A hand?’ was a thought, the next moment she heard a voice from behind her, ‘Hyoro no Jutsu!’ (Ice Prison Jutsu!)
As soon as she heard that voice behind her, she wanted to turn around and back away but suddenly felt extremely cold, so cold that her blood would have frozen solid in an instant.
It didn’t take her long to realize that everything below her neck was encased in ice, ‘Shit!’ was all she could think as she was frozen solid, and all she heard close to her ear was a heavy, ruthless, and, cold voice, “What’s the hurry? How about we have a dance?”
‘Dance? Does… Suijin wants me to be his dance partner? Does that mean he wants to date me? A… and marry me? Now that I think about it, he is indeed manly, I would give him that. But I don’t know what he looks like beneath that mask. However, my instincts tell me that he is definitely good husband material.’ was a momentary thought in her brain and she blushed at her thought.
‘Sigh, if only he wasn’t a criminal, our relationship could have blossomed.’ but she instantly pushed that thought aside by shaking her head and started to release her Lava Chakra in order to melt the ice.
However, the ice was too cold, and too hard, so the speed at which the ice melted was too slow.
Being subject to such low temperatures generally means instant death, but Mei managed to stay alive thanks to her circulating Lava Chakra around her body to keep her body warm.
Ao, Chukichi, and Harusame reacted instantly as soon as they realized that the one standing before them was a mere Ice Clone and the real one has put Mei in an Ice Prison.
“Mei sama!” At the first moment, Ao and Chukichi took the initiative in confronting the real Suijin, while Harusame tried helping Mei remove the ice.
“You have guts I will give you that, you both are also not half bad either but… the enemy the two of you are facing is just too strong for you both.” Said Suijin as he started to cover his hands in Ice Chakra.
‘Ice Release: Ice-Breaking Fist!’
‘Ice Release: Ice-Breaking Fist!’
With both of his hands encased in cold ice, Suijin started another round of Nintaijutsu battle, but this time, the battle was more dominated by him, and the opposite two were one-sidedly crushed by him.
Taking advantage of Ao and Chukichi’s tiredness and breathlessness, Suijin instantly flickered towards them while printing the hand seals.
They did notice Suijin coming towards them, however, they were unable to react to his speed.
“Now then… let’s end this, shall we?” Suijin said and slapped both his hands on Ao and Chukichi’s chest.
‘Ice Release: Chakra Locking Cuffs!’ on Ao
‘Ice Release: Ice Collar of Subordination!’ on Chukichi
Instantly, a few accessories made out of ice appeared on Ao and Chukichi’s bodies.
“I.. can’t mold my chakra…” Ao muttered in panic upon realizing that as soon as these Ice cuffs appeared over his hands and feet, his chakra also seemed to have been sealed.
And there was no reply from Chukichi because he has become a puppet because of the Ice Collar around his neck.
Suijin smirked, “This is just the best part, now then… since I have already defeated all of you, I shall reap the reward of my efforts… Hmm, but before that, Chukichi kun, would you mind keeping away that companion of yours away so that he does not interfere in this ordeal.”
Chukichi who has become a puppet because of the Ice collar around his neck nodded with a dull expression and after turning around, he started fighting Harusame to make sure that the old man does not interfere with what Suijin had planned to do.
On the other hand, Ao’s face turned pale upon seeing Chukichi become a puppet, and because of hearing Suijin’s words, he knew exactly what reward Suijin was talking about. He still hoped that it wasn’t what he thought it was.
But his hope was proven useless, and his guess was soon proven correct when he noticed Suijin’s right hand coming close to his right eye, the same right eye that is covered with an eye patch, and the very same right eye in which Ao transplanted the Byakugan stolen from a Hyuga he defeated during the third great shinobi war.
Ao wanted to stop Suijin from gouging out the Byakugan, but given the fact that his Chakra was sealed by these handcuffs and leg cuffs, neither could he mold chakra, nor could he run away. He had become a helpless duck at the mercy of Suijin, the other party can do whatever it wants to him, and he cannot pose any resistance, and from the looks of it, he won’t be able to get any help.
‘I just hope that he is unable to break the seal I have placed.’ This was his only thought as Ao tried to figure out a way to save himself and the Byakugan to fall into the hands of Suijin.
But it appeared that he expected too much from himself, and too little from Suijin because Suijin instantly deactivated the talisman seals on Ao’s earrings.
Ao was shocked, he was shocked for two reasons, one is that Suijin easily deactivated such a complex Fuinjutsu in less than a second, and second because at this very moment, Ao also noticed a familiar Chakra coming towards Suijin and him, and the speed of this familiar chakra was fast speed, almost or perhaps even faster than Suijin himself…
‘From the looks of it, from how Suijin’s back is in that direction, he doesn’t seem to have noticed this Chakra.’ Thought Ao.
This gave Ao some hope, ‘Please hurry… you are our only hope.’
The speed of the other party was too fast, and by the time, Suijin’s right hand touched Ao’s Byakugan, he suddenly heard a sharp whistling sound, which alerted him, but he didn’t seem to have had enough time to react as following the sound, Suijin felt a sharp stinging coming from his back.
Puff…
Two sprays of blood spurted at the same instant.
“Y…you are…!” Suijin muttered in surprise as he looked at the iron hook piercing through his chest.
Plop…
Unable to stand any longer because of the lack of energy because of being pierced through the chest, Suijin soon collapsed to the ground.
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