Chapter 305: Chapter 302 : Contemplating the Situation
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Roshi gathered chakra once again and shouted, "Retreat!"
'Lava Release: Fiery Rock Bullet jutsu'
He spat a single rock made of molten lava at Fujin who was falling down from the sky. Fujin gathered chakra as well.
'Wind Release: Vacuum Cannon jutsu'
The Vacuum Cannon hit the lava rock and broke through it and travelled towards Roshi. Roshi didn't dare test his defenses against the Wind Vacuum attacks. He immediately dodged. The Vacuum Cannon hit the miniature Volcano Roshi built earlier and crumbled it down.
Fujin wasn't sure whether Roshi could use the same jutsu through it. He didn't want to see whether he could or not. He landed on the ground and instructed, "Chase and kill them off."
The Iwa ninjas had already begun escaping. Fujin's allies were wondering whether they should aid him or chase the Iwa ninjas. Hearing his command, most of them began chasing the Iwa ninjas. Seeing what Roshi could do, none of them wanted to face him. Only Ryoichi and Yugao stayed behind.
Yugao looked at Fujin and recalled the words Hiruzen had said to her before she joined Fujin's team. She analyzed, 'If he kills Iwa's Jinchuriki, then it could cause a war between Konoha and Iwa. The best solution is to disengage now and let them retreat. But how do I tell him that? And what would be the optimal route if that Jinchuriki decides to keep chasing after us?'
Ryoichi had similar thoughts. Konoha could afford to offend Iwa, but they couldn't. He said, "Kagawa Noriyuki is already dead. Let's stop here and leave."
Fujin and Roshi were about to begin their battle but halted on hearing that. A frown appeared behind Fujin's mask. He pointed at Roshi and said, "Tell him that."
Roshi thought for a few seconds and replied, "Sure. Kusa ninjas can leave but Konoha will have to pay for killing so many of our ninjas."
Ryoichi was stunned by his words. He immediately fell into a dilemma. If he escaped, then the remaining Kusa ninjas would live. If he stayed and Fujin lost, then they could all be wiped out.
A frown formed on Yugao's face as she stared at Ryoichi. Fujin didn't say anything. He decided that if Ryoichi withdrew, he would run away as well. And after he gets away from Roshi, he would hunt them down and pin the blame on Iwa. After all, an entire town had seen them fighting Iwa ninjas.
Ryoichi let out a sigh and said, "Then I have no choice but to continue fighting."
He immediately left and began chasing the escaping Iwa ninjas while thinking, 'Though we can't afford to offend Iwa, they are the ones who attacked us in our country. If I escape, then we will offend Konoha while Iwa would think that they can bully us whenever they want to. In that scenario, our country will be doomed.'
Roshi frowned and was about to flicker towards Ryoichi when Fujin suddenly appeared in front of him and swung his sword at him. Roshi dodged and attacked back. Both began fighting.
Though Yugao wanted to retreat, seeing Roshi's unyielding attitude, she understood that there was no other option. She shouted, "Captain, don't forget our mission!" and left to chase the Iwa ninjas.
Fujin wondered, 'What mission? The one we are supposed to protect is already dead.'
Meanwhile, Roshi also wondered, 'Did they come here using Kagawa as a front to do a secret mission? But what mission could have a higher importance than guarding Kagawa Noriyuki?'
They entered into an intense conflict. However, both had thoughts running through their minds.
The longer they fought, the more depressed Roshi became. He thought, 'Though I have stopped paying attention to the internal situation in Iwa, I still know that the old man hasn't found any successor for him. For decades, no one who can replace Onoki has appeared in Iwa. Only me and Han came close but we were asked to take control of the tailed beasts.
But Konoha... They had White Fang who dominated the Second Great Ninja War. He was followed by the Sannins who gained fame in the Second War and dominated the Third War. And while they were still at their peak, Namikaze Minato rose to fame and took command of their forces.
Even though they suffered numerous losses after the Third Great Ninja War, their next generation is already stepping up. First Copy Ninja and now this guy... Though he isn't as strong as me, his speed exceeds mine. And his attacks are all very deadly. Even if I get hit by just one, I'll be gravely injured or dead.'
At the same time, Fujin was seriously introspecting, 'Should I kill him or just stall?'
He analyzed, 'If I kill him now, the Four Tails will die as well and will need a few years to resurrect. If I can capture and seal it inside me and become a perfect Jinchuriki, then my prowess will increase many folds. But...'
Fujin flickered to his right to dodge the wave of lava heading at him. Roshi launched another round of molten rocks at Fujin which he dodged as well while counterattacking. He further analyzed, 'But by the time the Four Tails is resurrected, Akatsuki would have begun capturing tailed beasts.
The place of resurrection will be random. And there is no way I could compete with Akatsuki in intel gathering. Unless I can build the organization in time. But, that's still incredibly tough. Not to mention, there is no way anyone can compete with Zetsu in terms of gathering information.
Besides, even if I have great luck and manage to become a Jinchuriki, I will have very little time to become a perfect one. After all, creating friendship and a deep enough bond will be very difficult after I beat him up and seal him inside me.'
Fujin let out a sigh and thought, 'Leave it. I'm not ready yet. Killing him now could result in a conflict with Iwa. It could change the course of future events. Not to mention, I doubt I could kill him unless he becomes very careless for some reason. If he transforms, then the only way I can confront him is by summoning Ryu. But that will exhaust all my chakra and I doubt Ryu can win against Son Goku. Still, this is a good opportunity to test my skills.'
Fujin's expression suddenly became very serious. Though his face was hidden by the turtle mask, Roshi felt the change in his attitude. Fujin suddenly disappeared and appeared behind Roshi and swung his sword vertically.
Roshi immediately moved to his left. A sword slash passed by leaving a deep scar on the ground. Suddenly, several cuts appeared on his arm despite dodging the attack. Roshi's eyes widened as he flickered away. He realized, 'In addition to the main slash, there were hundreds of smaller slashes surrounding it.'
Fujin followed Roshi and swung his sword 6 times in quick succession. 6 razor-sharp sword slashes streaked towards Roshi with blinding speed. Roshi's eyes widened as he thought, 'If these also have the additional slashes, then...'
He moved his body such that he would narrowly dodge all the sword slashes. At the same time, one tail appeared behind him and red chakra appeared on his body. Before the sword slashes reached him, a coating of lava enveloped his entire body!
The sword slashes narrowly missed his body while the accompanying winds hit his lava armor. Numerous cuts appeared on his armor but none reached his flesh.
Fujin thought, 'A lava armor? That's interesting.'
He immediately shot a vacuum bullet at his heart. Roshi immediately dodged. Though the armor could stop weaker attacks, it wouldn't stand any chance against attacks with high penetrating power. Fujin observed, 'I see. It's defense shouldn't be very high. At least he isn't confident of blocking my Vacuum jutsus.'
'Lava Release: Fiery Rock Bullet jutsu'
Roshi shot 3 lava boulders at Fujin. Fujin dodged them but Roshi used the distraction to reduce the distance between them. He appeared at Fujin's right, jumped above and sent a punch towards his head.
Knowing that his sword won't be cut through Roshi's fist from the previous exchange, Fujin moved backwards. Roshi's punch hit the ground causing cracks to appear in the ground. One such crack extended towards Fujin while emitting red light and a lot of heat. Fujin immediately got out of the way. Lava erupted out of that crack.
At the same time, Fujin's clothes caught on fire! Fujin was shocked. Roshi used this distraction to once again appear in front of Fujin. Fujin looked at Roshi's grin and wondered, 'When did he burn my clothes?'
Roshi sent a punch at Fujin once again. Fujin slashed at his lava-covered fist with his sword again as he realized, 'I see. The heat from his armor is so intense that my clothes caught on fire despite not being touched by him.'
Just when the fist and sword were about to clash, Roshi opened his fist and caught the sword. The sword cut a couple of inches into his palm but couldn't cut any more due to the highly concentrated chakra flowing through his arm. Roshi held the sword tightly as he raised his left fist to pummel Fujin to death!
However, before he could punch Fujin, a punch landed on his abdomen and sent him flying backwards.
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