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Yagura vs. Hōzuki Gengetsu
Yagura eyed his opponent's moves very carefully. Hōzuki Gengetsu was undoubtably one of the strongest shinobi that Kirigakure had ever produced, if not the strongest, Yagura would not take this man lightly.
Yagura pulled up the sleeve on his right arm and channeled chakra into the seal that was on his wrist, summoning his favored weapon, a large, hook-ended staff with a green flower on the end.
Gengetsu recovered from the hail of kunai and charged at Yagura once more.
Yagura knew that he wouldn't last long in a taijutsu confrontation, due to his rather child-like body and shorter limbs, but he would be able to make up for it with his use of bukijutsu. Originally, he had believed that a close quarters match wouldn't be a good option, but that was before they had split up to take on their opponents. Right now he only had to deal with the Kage in front of him.
Hōzuki Gengetsu was a specialist in the field of genjutsu. This gave Yagura the advantage because he was a perfect jinchūriki and therefore was almost immune to genjutsu.
Yagura brought his staff forward to block the oncoming kick from Gengetsu. He then shifted his weapon to to the left to cut off a punch from the right side. Isobu, from inside Yagura, immediately flared its chakra to dispel the genjutsu that had been discretely placed on its host.
Gengetsu charged at Yagura once more, forcing him on the defensive. The former Mizukage brought a kick towards Yagura's head, using his momentum to put more force behind it. Yagura ducked under it, but was caught off guard with a second kick that sent him back a dozen yards.
Gengetsu jumped back from the smaller Kage and placed his palm on the tiled roof below them. There was a large burst of smoke before a giant clam appeared on the rooftop with Gengetsu standing on top of it.
It seemed that those who had been revived with this particular jutsu retained all of the abilities they had in life, even summoning contracts.
The giant clam slowly opened its shell and began exuding a thick mist that quickly covered the battlefield.
Yagura was no stranger to fighting in the mist and the silent killing technique, he was from Kirigakure after all, but he was still rather young for a Kage and his predecessor no doubt had more experience than him, even if the man wasn't in control of his own actions right now his body and mind still retained the memories of when he was alive.
Yagura closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Every movement of the air, every small sound, all of the scents in the atmosphere, Yagura focused on all of these, as well as focusing on his own chakra network. Hōzuki Gengetsu's giant clan summon was famous for being used in conjunction with his Yin-release genjutsu, even as a perfect jinchuriki and Isobu helping him from the inside he would need to keep a careful eye on his own chakra system to be sure he wasn't under a genjutsu.
That wasn't the only thing he was keeping an eye on though. Gengetsu was a dangerous man and was incredibly skilled in the art of silent killing. The man was a sensor, so he was in complete control in the situation. In fact, he was probably already waiting until he let his guard down or was preparing his assault. Neither option were good for Yagura.
Sensing a surge in chakra, Yagura immediately jumped to the right of his current location, and it was just in time too. The current Mizukage looked back to where he was a minute ago and saw a large number of bubbles impacting the ground with enough strength to turn the tiles into rubble.
Now Yagura was quite familiar with the history and clans of Kiri, so he knew exactly what Gengetsu had just done. The former Mizukage had used the Suika no Jutsu (Hydrification Technique) to produce bubbles from his body, those bubbles then floated upwards into the air and rained down on the roof at high speeds, intent on breaking a few of his bones. That was a rather clever strategy, using the Mizu Fūsen no Jutsu (Water Balloon Jutsu) as the finisher to gain an edge in the battle.
He was lucky to have reacted as soon as he did, had he been unprepared for that jutsu then he would have been in a world of trouble. Though, he wasn't out of the woods just yet.
Yagura forcibly dispelled another genjutsu that was cast upon him through the mist, this was becoming quite an annoyance, he didn't have the luxury to keep worrying about whether or not he was under a genjutsu. He needed to get rid of that giant clam and quick. Though, that was easier said than done as once the mist was produced from it, the clam was camouflaged within an illusion, while it produced dozens of copies of itself. And those copies littered the battlefield, he had already managed to dispel quite a few of them, but he needed to find the real one.
The only way to disperse the mist and these illusions was to find the clam's real body and force it back to its summoning realm.
It seemed that he would need to step up his game a bit.
Yagura got down on all fours as a dark red, nearly black, layer of chakra enveloped his body, turning his eyes pure white and making him appear as a minature version of the Sanbi. Behind him, two tails could be seen swaying in the air.
This was the Yagura's version two jinchūriki state. This was the highest he could go without transforming into the full Sanbi. If he were to do that then the entire roof would be destroyed. Yagura was the only person to be able to claim to be a perfect jinchūriki besides Killer B from Kumogakure. He had first mastered Isobu's power at a very young age, so he actually trumps him in that regard. Even a former Kage will have dealing trouble with a perfect jinchūriki.
Yagura slammed both his claws into the ground, sending a shockwave across the battlefield, and shattering a majority of the roof in the process, successfully dispersing the mist and thus revealing what was hidden within it.
Over twenty giant clams littered the battlefield with Gengetsu nowhere in sight. Yagura let loose a massive pulse of chakra, disrupting the chakra and illusions in the surrounding area. All of the imaged of the clam slowly dissipated into nothing but air, while the real clam came into existence about twenty yards away from Yagura.
This was the best chance he was going to get to turn the tide in his favor.
Yagura began gathering positive black chakra and negative white chakra at an 8:2 ratio into a small purple sphere. Keeping its spherical form instead of compressing it, Yagura fired the ultimate technique of the Bijū at the giant clam, so he would be able to find Gengetsu's real body.
"Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Ball)!"
The medium sized purple flew through the air at high speeds, intent on eradicating the clam summons. This version of the Bijūdama was far weaker than when a Bijū would perform it, or when it is compressed and swallowed to form a beam from a jinchūriki, but this jutsu was only meant to rid the battlefield of the clam, nothing more.
Gengetsu's personal summons opened its mouth to catch the purple sphere and trapped it within its mouth to stop the jutsu from harming its summoner. A moment later, the Bijūdama exploded within the confines of the clam's mouth, forcibly causing it to dispel in a burst of smoke.
There was no time for Yagura to celebrate as from the smoke, emerged a chibi-like clone of Gengetsu, however its skin was a pale white and was much larger than Gengetsu himself. Gengetsu was standing a good distance away from the clone, as the use of it leaves him in a severely weakened and vulnerable state.
Yagura silently cursed to himself at the appearance of this particular clone. This was a jutsu that Hōzuki Gengetsu was renowned for, and it was his personal favorite, the Jōki Bōi (Steaming Danger Tyranny).
This was quite the predicament indeed. Even while Yagura was in his version two jinchūriki state, he would have trouble keeping up with its speed and strength. The only good thing about its appearance is that it left the Nidaime Mizukage wide open for attack once it was dealt with or when he got an opportunity to strike, whichever came first.
A large axe-shaped blade forged from water formed from the clone's right forearm before he rushed at Yagura with incredible speeds.
Yagura, still in his version two cloak, swung his staff to counter the blade of the water and oil clone before him. However, that didn't stop Gengetsu's creation as it continued to strike out towards Yagura at high speeds. They were locked in that pace for several minutes as Yagura was forced to remain on the defensive.
He leaped back to gain some distance between them and to bring the speed of the battle to his pace.