Chapter 135: Mission Incomplete
While Renjiro and Mitsuzuka clashed, Renjiro's clone and Tokuhei also clashed with their opponent. Tokuhei's opponent was Arihyoshi Juichi. They stood face to face on the sea.
Juichi taunted, "Tokuhei, we have heard about you. You are a strong Earth Release user. But…" He smirked and continued, "But, we are at sea. How will you fight me here?"
Tokuhei wasn't affected by his opponent's attempt at disturbing him. He calmly said, "You ninjas from the big 5 villages need to stop underestimating us."
He made a hand sign, "Since I dared to chase you, it means that the result of this battle will only be your death!"
Tokuhei opened his mouth wide. He spat out rocks and mud from his mouth. Soon, a small, 5-meter radius island formed in the middle of the sea.
Juichi was surprised at Tokuhei's skill! He thought, 'He is very good. No wonder Mitsuzuka asked us to not fight against him on land!'
Tokuhei made a few more hand signs.
'Earth Release : Rock Dragon jutsu'
He spat out a 20-meter-long Rock Dragon!
Juichi was surprised once again. He quickly moved backwards and made a few hand signs.
'Water Release : Water Bullet jutsu!'
He spat a few dozen water bullets at Tokuhei and the Rock Dragon. But the Rock Dragon moved and got in front of Tokuhei. All the Water bullets hit the Rock dragon. But, apart from a few scratches, no damage was done.
Juichi swallowed his saliva, 'Such strong defense!'
Tokuhei smirked on seeing Juichi's reaction. He controlled the Rock Dragon to move towards Juichi. Juichi instantly dived underwater. Tokuhei jumped on his dragon and followed him.
Inside the water, Tokuhei again made a few hand signs. The Rock Dragon opened its mouth and spat multiple mud bullets at Juichi. Juichi was surprised, but he dodged them all.
Juichi made a few hand signs while running.
'Water Release : Water Dragon jutsu'
A water dragon formed and moved towards Tokuhei. The Rock and Water dragons clashed. The Rock Dragon just moved through the Water Dragon, completely crushing it. Juichi was dumbfounded!
He screamed internally, 'What the hell is this thing made of?'
This matchup was very unfair for Juichi. The Earth element is strong against the Water element. Of course, Juichi himself isn't strong enough. Unlike Renjiro and Mitsuzuka, he couldn't make his Water Dragon explode on contact. So the damage output of his jutsu was quite low.
Juichi was very annoyed by the battle so far. He immediately made a few hand signs.
'Water Release : Water Clone jutsu'
Four water clones appeared around him. They immediately dispersed and surrounded Tokuhei. Juichi made more hand signs.
'Water Release : Great Current jutsu'
A water current formed in front of Juichi. It engulfed Tokuhei and his Rock Dragon. They began getting dragged backwards along the water current. Tokuhei exerted more chakra on his Rock Dragon to get out of this current.
This provided an opening for Juichi's clones. They immediately used Water Bullet jutsu on Tokuhei. Each clone shot a dozen bullets. Despite the strong water current around Tokuhei, each bullet hit its target!
Tokuhei saw the incoming attack and made a hand sign.
'Earth Release : Iron Skin jutsu'
All 48 water bullets hit him. However, he didn't suffer any damage at all! Juichi and his clones were speechless!
Juichi's eyes went red in anger. He screamed in his mind, 'You know what, Screw you!'
He made eye contact with his water clones. His water clones moved and made hand signs.
'Water Release : Great Current Jutsu'
All four water clones poured all their chakra into the jutsu. They created four more water currents. And each of these water currents joined up with the current created by Juichi. It was like tributaries joining up with the main river.
As a result, the force of the water current increased exponentially! Tokuhei tried his best to break out of this water current but to no avail. Both Tokuhei and his Rock Dragon were washed away for a couple of kilometers!
Juichi watched Tokuhei getting washed away. He thought, 'That wouldn't be enough to kill him. But screw him! I don't want to fight that turtle!'
He created four water clones. One clone ran towards Tokuhei. One stayed where he was. Juichi and the remaining two clones ran in different directions.
Tokuhei was livid at getting washed away in this manner. The strong current also damaged his Rock Dragon to a certain extent. Its Rocky scales had been crushed and there were cracks all through its body. Tokuhei decided to dump it and moved forward at full speed.
A few kilometers from where Tokuhei and Juichi clashed, another clash took place. Renjiro's clone had caught up with Fumimaro. Renjiro had put around 25% of his chakra in this shadow clone.
No words were exchanged between them. They directly attacked each other. Knowing that his opponent was just a clone, Fumimaro began attacking with low-power but large-scale water jutsus.
Renjiro's clone knew that defeating a jounin with just a clone would be close to impossible. He stayed on defense. After all, he only needed to stall his opponent until his main body was done with his fight.
Unfortunately for Renjiro's clone, he didn't have enough information regarding Fumimaro.
While Renjiro's clone kept his distance from Fumimaro, Fumimaro too didn't try to close the distance between them and instead stayed far away.
He just used a combination of Water bullet, Exploding Water Colliding Wave, Water Dragon and Water Gun jutsus. Renjiro's clone managed to block everything perfectly with Water Wall and Water Prison jutsus.
After fighting for 4 minutes, Fumimaro made a hand sign.
'Hidden Mist Jutsu'
Renjiro's clone frowned as the mist began forming. This jutsu was very good for running away. He immediately made a few hand signs.
'Wind Release : Great Breakthrough jutsu'
The jutsu immediately dispersed all the mist. However, Fumimaro secretly smirked. While the Winds were travelling away from Renjiro's clone due to the Great Breakthrough jutsu, one small wind travelled across the flow towards Renjiro's clone.
Renjiro's clone felt that something was off, but he couldn't understand what. He focused chakra into his eyes. They began glowing. He was surprised. A Wind clone was disguised as the wind itself and travelling towards him.
Seeing that he was noticed, Fumimaro's Wind clone appeared in front of him. He was only 10 meters away from Renjiro's clone. Immediately, a Water Wall began appearing in front of Renjiro's clone. However, it was too late.
Fumimaro's Wind clone exploded. The winds sent by the explosion pierced through the thin water wall. Renjiro's clone flickered, but he still got hit. A small cut appeared on his face.
He looked at Fumimaro and said, "I underestimated you…" and got dispelled into smoke.
Fumimaro looked at the spot where Renjiro's clone was. He thought, 'Shadow clones are known to transmit memory. If he defeats Mitsuzuka, he will come after me.'
He created a few water clones and they all dispersed in different directions. As he left, Fumimaro thought, 'It was a mistake to come here. I had advised Mitsuzuka to not create any chaos. Unfortunately, he enjoys killing and torturing just as much as swearing.
Even if Mitsuzuka survives, I shouldn't go back with him. He will just attract another calamity. But where to go without him? If I stay in the vicinity of Hidden Mist, I will attract those dogs of Mizukage. I can't join the rebel faction either due to how many of them I killed.'
He thought for a bit, 'The best place to go would be to a country that doesn't border any of the big 5 countries. Unfortunately, such a country doesn't exist… I guess I will move to the distant Land of Snow. Perhaps there I could find clues on how to fuse my Wind and Water elements into the Ice element.'
With no one pursuing him, Fumimaro quickly escaped from the battlefield. Since he ran on water, there wasn't any trail left behind.
Renjiro, who was assaulting Mitsuzuka along with his summons and clones, got the memories of his defeated clone. He was surprised, 'I had heard about him. But there was no intel on his Wind nature capabilities. He hid it deep!'
However, he ignored it and focused on Mitsuzuka. Both Renjiro and Mitsuzuka had returned to the surface of the sea. Mitsuzuka's state was terrible! His clones had all been defeated. There were a lot of small injuries on his body. There were 9 huge claw marks on his body. And his left arm was missing from the elbow!
Knowing that his death was imminent, he shouted, "RENJIRO! Let me go! Or I'll haunt you even after I become a fucking ghost!"
Renjiro was surprised by this threat. He thought, 'Well, that's a new one.'
Mitsuzuka's expression was full of anger. However, he was thinking, 'Damn it! How do I distract him for a moment to get away? Even something crazy like that doesn't make him even blink an eye! Am I going to fucking die here?'
Mitsuzuka was on his last legs. Renjiro's clones launched a fresh assault. Mitsuzuka dodged desperately. However, after such a long fight, he finally gave an opening to Renjiro.
Renjiro immediately flickered behind him and swung his sword at his neck. Mitsuzuka noticed and ducked down as quickly as he could. The sword barely missed him and only cut his hair. Renjiro followed with a kick.
Mitsuzuka noticed it as well and tried to move ahead to avoid getting hit. However, it resulted in his ass getting kicked and he was launched up into the air. Unfortunately for Mitsuzuka, Renjiro's kick was a part of the Senju Taijutsu style.
His kick was infused with a lot of chakra. Mitsuzuka's entire skeleton was shaken due to that kick! Many organs began bleeding internally. His Sitz bones were cracked.
Seeing him in the air, Renjiro's clones immediately attacked him with Water Bullet jutsu. Surprisingly, even in this terrible shape, Mitsuzuka made a hand sign with his remaining hand.
Water Walls rose around him. The water walls were too weak to block the water bullets. However, they managed to divert the direction of the water bullets slightly. Not a single water bullet hit him!
Renjiro watched with praise in his eyes. He thought, 'This is a real Jounin! Unfortunately, this is the end for him.'
Renjiro didn't attack anymore. Mitsuzuka started falling. He was falling straight where the Sloth was! The Sloth swung its huge claw down at Mitsuzuka. Mitsuzuka noticed it, but he had no way to move out of the way. He grabbed a kunai and raised it to block the beast.
However, the Sloth didn't even feel the kunai. Its claw hit Mitsuzuka's head and cracked it open! He became the fourth Jounin from Kiri to fall to Renjiro and his students in the span of four days!