Chapter 384: Chapter 381 : Second Clash with the Akatsuki!
Yugao had just completed her second round of attack when she sensed a grave danger. She swung her sword to her right, clashing with a much larger sword coming her way.
The force behind Juzo's sword forced Yugao back, but she managed to hold on and not let go of her sword. At the same time, her eyes widened when she saw Juzo's face. She thought, 'One of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist? But hadn't he gone rogue? Don't tell me that it was a lie as well!'
The Kiri ninjas, who were in a clutch, were surprised as well. They recognized Juzo in an instant. A few of them thought, 'Juzo? Why is he here to help us? Does he want to take this chance to return to the village? But didn't he hate the village a lot?'
Fumito and Bunjiro were surprised as well. Neither saw nor sensed Juzo's movements. They wanted to help out Yugao but the Kiri ninjas attacked and stalled them.
A wide grin appeared on Juzo's face as he felt Yugao struggle. Yugao's eyes widened while the others on the battlefield were stunned as they felt Juzo's intense bloodlust! He said, "Not bad! You should be able to keep me entertained for a while."
He suddenly applied a lot more pressure on his sword, forcing Yugao to her knees. At the same time, he formed his left hand into a claw and was about to attack Yugao.
However, he stopped and leaned backwards. Multiple Vacuum Bullets tore through the space he was previously occupying. Since he was too close to the bullets, the bullets tore through his cloak and left a few small cuts on his chest and upper arms.
Juzo's eyes widened as he immediately stepped away from Yugao while thinking, 'Vacuum attacks? I didn't even sense them. Who is it?'
Yugao immediately took the opportunity to move away from Juzo.
Juzo, who was now on full alert, turned around and swung his sword behind him. As he did, he noticed chakra flowing through Fujin's sword through the corner of his eyes. In an instant, chakra began flowing through his sword as well.
The two swords clashed, producing a loud sound. Both were equally matched. However, instead of engaging in a sword fight, Fujin forced his sword out of the way and punched Juzo with his left hand. Noticing the chakra concentrated in his hand, Juzo concentrated some chakra in his feet. He used the force of Fujin's sword to step away from him and kicked the incoming punch.
Unlike the swords that were equally matched, this time Juzo was sent flying for a few meters. He winced as he felt a pain in his foot. However, he ignored it and flipped in the air to land on the ground while staring at Fujin. His entire attention was on Fujin.
Seeing Fujin take action, his teammates sighed in relief. They didn't have any confidence in taking on one of the few remaining Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist. At the same time, the Kiri ninjas were shocked once again. They were already surprised to see Juzo. But seeing him getting forced back so easily was an even greater surprise.
Fujin didn't continue his attack. He was in an even more serious mood as compared to Juzo. He cursed internally, 'What the hell is Juzo doing here? And since he is here, does that mean Itachi is here as well? Shit...'
Fujin activated and spread his chakra field over a radius of 3 kilometers. However, other than Juzo, his team and the Kiri ninjas, he didn't detect anyone. However, a frown existed behind his mask as he analyzed, 'I can't fully trust my sensory skills. Itachi might be able to stay hidden. Though I will sense him if he uses his chakra.
Another one I need to look out for is Zetsu. I can't use the skills I want to keep a secret if he is spying on me. But without them, defeating Juzo would be very challenging.'
Since Fujin didn't press on the offence, Juzo managed to get a breather. Fujin's team and the Kiri ninjas were on alert as well. The battlefield entered a deadlock as no one made a move.
Juzo broke the silence as he chuckled and said, "I thought I was only attacking some small fries from Konoha. To think that I would draw out the Spectral Swordsman. Haha, what a lucky day."
Though Fujin was wearing his mask, using the Vacuum jutsus gave away his identity easily.
Juzo thought, 'This bastard has a higher bounty than all these Kiri ninjas combined. Kakuzu would be pissed at missing out on such a bounty. Hahaha.'
Hearing the name, the expressions of the Kiri ninjas became grim. However, they soon recovered as they had Juzo who looked to be on their side. But they weren't too sure as everything happened too suddenly.
Fujin instructed, "Leave this guy to me. Hunt down the rest."
Yugao, Fumito and Bunjiro immediately flickered. Juzo didn't move. Unlike what the Kiri ninjas thought, he was here to collect their bounties. It didn't matter to him whether he killed them himself or collected their dead bodies from the Konoha ninjas.
The Kiri ninjas immediately retreated leaving only Fujin and Juzo facing each other. Fujin continued scanning everything in his surroundings properly and talked with Juzo to buy some time. He asked, "Haven't you gone rogue? Why are you getting in the middle of my mission?"
Juzo replied, "If you let me kill you, I will let your team complete the mission and go back to Konoha. Otherwise, all of you die."
As he said, he once again unleashed his bloodlust. Fujin was unaffected by his bloodlust. He muttered in a soft but audible voice, "Juzo Biwa, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist, known throughout the world for your inhumane brutality and slaughtering the weak without any reluctance."
A grin appeared behind his mask as he unleashed his killing intent as well and said, "It's not often I meet someone with a more intense bloodlust than mine. I wonder whether you live up to your reputation."
Though Fujin had killed a lot of people in the past 3 years, it still paled in comparison to someone like Juzo who was known to inhumanely slaughter for a longer time than he spent in this world.
Fujin flickered and appeared in front of Juzo, swinging his sword at full power. Juzo replied in the same manner. The two swords clashed. However, the result was different from the earlier clash.
Juzo's eyes widened as he noticed the large amount of force behind Fujin's sword. In addition, a crack appeared on his Kubikiribucho sword. However, even before he could react to that danger, he noticed another grave threat.
Instead of engaging in a pure swordfight, Fujin shot a dozen Vacuum Bullets at a close range. Juzo immediately retreated and barely managed to dodge the incoming Vacuum Bullets. However, several more cuts appeared on his body.
At the same time, he became very serious as he realized, 'His reputation isn't fake. This will be a tough fight.'
Fujin didn't give Juzo any time to rest. He flickered behind him and shot a Vacuum Cannon at Juzo. Juzo immediately got out of the way and counterattacked with Water Bullets, forcing Fujin to dodge as well.
As for the Vacuum Cannon he dodged, it kept travelling through the forest. Weirdly, it didn't hit a single tree and kept moving in a straight line for 200 meters, as if Fujin had aimed it in a manner to avoid all the trees in its path.
Finally, it was about to hit a plant that had a weird shape and was made of two distinct colors, unlike every other plant in the forest. In an instant, that plant moved and went underground.
As soon as it did, one of its halves exclaimed, "That was scary! That attack nearly killed us! But how did he know that we were here? Or was that attack just a fluke?"
The other half, which was completely black, said, "He was sensing the entire area earlier. I felt his chakra field at our location a few times, but he didn't focus on us. So I thought that he couldn't sense us. His information in the Bingo book isn't accurate. With such sensing abilities, he is among the best sensors out there."
As soon as the Zetsu moved, Fujin sensed their chakra fluctuations. A smile appeared behind his mask as he thought, 'That area felt a bit off for some reason. My guess was right. That bastard Zetsu is keeping an eye as usual.'
Juzo didn't notice that Fujin's real attack wasn't aimed at him. He continued attacking. Several Water Dragons formed in front of him and moved towards Fujin. Fujin moved back and jumped on top of the trees. Several Vacuum Bullets formed in his mouth and he aimed at the heads of the Water Dragons.
The Vacuum Bullets pierced through the Water Dragons and dispersed the jutsu. Juzo ignored them as they weren't heading at him, but they kept travelling and pierced the ground a long distance away.
[A/N : Bonus chapter on next Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones. Bonus chapter on next week's Saturday if the fic gets 2000 Power Stones.]
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