"Kid, remember my name, En no Gyōja! Next time you see me, hide! Hahahaha."
By this time, countless thorn vines covered the water's surface, intertwining, crisscrossing, twisting, and coiling as they assailed Torifū. Torifū didn't panic. With a gentle wave of his left hand, a faint blue halo spread out from beneath his feet. Everything it touched was instantly frozen solid. The water thorns, struck by the halo, immediately froze and shattered. But the halo didn't stop; it continued until the entire lake was completely frozen, then dissipated.
En no Gyōja stared incredulously at the young boy before him. To freeze an entire lake in an instant—what immense power did that require?
"Ice Release! He's from the Yuki clan of Kirigakure! Damn it! When did the Yuki clan produce such a genius?" En no Gyōja thought Torifū was a pursuer, and upon seeing the Ice Release, he jumped to the conclusion that Torifū was from the Yuki clan. Torifū was too far away to hear En no Gyōja's muttering. He simply remained wary of En no Gyōja's movements, while also recalling the Naruto plot. Nothing more than a feeling of déjà vu.
En no Gyōja was skilled in Water Release, but the advantageous large lake was now frozen, so he didn't rashly attack again for the time being. His earlier arrogance was simply because he thought Torifū was just an enemy scout. Now that he knew Torifū's strength, he naturally had to take him seriously and couldn't be reckless.
En no Gyōja stood on the ice with his long hair flowing and dressed in a grey-white robe. This posture was somewhat similar to Torifū's. The two stood in a stalemate for a long time. Seeing that Torifū made no move, En no Gyōja made the first move. His aura solidified around him! Then, he began to gather chakra in his hands, and a violent shockwave erupted from his body! In an instant! The thick ice on the lake was shattered into dust, dissolving into the depths. The calm lake water turned turbulent, with waves surging everywhere, but En no Gyōja stood steadily in the middle of the lake, letting the spray drench his robes.
The massive waves created by the shockwave were now rushing towards Torifū! The towering waves were four to five meters high; being swept into the lake by them would certainly not be pleasant. But Torifū didn't seem to want to dodge. He lightly leaped, landing steadily on Aokumo's back, flying into the air. The giant waves crashed onto the shore, uprooting thick trees with their force and the shockwave! Cracks appeared on the ground. The power of this technique had definitely reached S-rank ninjutsu level.
"This guy's pretty strong, Torifū," Ryūfū commented. "Do you sense natural energy on him? I have a feeling this place's oddity might be connected to him."
Before Aokumo could reply, Ryūfū said, "The surrounding natural energy is gathering at his back. He's the cause of this place." Since even Ryūfū said so, Torifū's feeling was correct. He had initially thought he was mistaken due to his incomplete training. From this, it seemed En no Gyōja was no simple foe.
"Aokumo, Ryūfū, go and meet him."
With that, Torifū transformed into a cloud crane and flew off Aokumo's back. The two Cranes looked at each other, then nodded. This was their first actual battle; they couldn't afford to be disgraced.
En no Gyōja was greatly displeased to see his technique so easily dissolved. And the person had vanished into the sky again. Just as En no Gyōja was searching around, two swords formed from cloud mist pierced towards him from the sky! Feeling the danger, En no Gyōja immediately dodged. He had just been ambushed by this unknown ninjutsu, and he wouldn't fall for it again. If he couldn't block it, then he would dodge. He had intended to follow the direction of the ninjutsu to find Torifū's figure, but he only saw two large cranes circling in the air.
"These are that guy's summoned beasts, could it be..."
A disturbing thought formed in YEn no Gyōja's mind. Immediately, he saw the two cranes dive towards him!
"Perfect!"
En no Gyōja chuckled inwardly. He was just fretting about not being able to catch them in the air, and now they were delivering themselves to him. With a powerful leap, he ascended into mid-air and threw a punch at Aokumo and Ryūfū. However, there was no sensation of hitting flesh; it felt like punching air. En no Gyōja cursed inwardly! He quickly held his breath, but it was too late. The moment he was struck, the cloud mist had already entered his lungs. However, because Torifū seemed quite interested in this person, Aokumo and Ryūfū didn't aim for a kill. This amount of cloud mist would only cause him difficulty breathing and pain.
"Damn it... what kind of ninjutsu is this?!"
They clearly looked like those two cranes, yet they were actually cloud-formed projectiles. No wonder they dared to dive so recklessly. En no Gyōja knew nothing about this cloud ninjutsu. At first, he simply thought it was a Hidden Mist Technique, but now he realized it wasn't. Hidden Mist Technique didn't have so many variations.
En no Gyōja landed back on the water's surface, while the cloud mist he had just struck reformed into the shapes of Aokumo and Ryūfū. The two cranes let out a long cry, then erupted into a large mass of cloud mist. The mist instantly condensed into over a dozen Cranes, identical in appearance to Aokumo and Ryūfū. They flew together in the sky, reflected in the mirror-like lake, an incredibly beautiful sight.
But En no Gyōja didn't see it that way. He was in a pathetic state, clutching his chest tightly to alleviate the pain in his breathing. His lungs felt as if they were frozen, and he could even exhale ice shards. This bizarre ninjutsu was absolutely deadly. While it couldn't kill, it severely impacted his abilities. However, what would he think if he knew that his current predicament was Aokumo and Ryūfū holding back?
The Cranes circling in the sky dove down one by one, their sharp beaks like steel blades, capable of easily piercing a human skull. But En no Gyōja couldn't distinguish which two were the real cranes and couldn't land a blow. If he were to be infiltrated by that cloud chakra again, he feared he would truly die. Dodging while using low-cost ninjutsu to attack the airborne Cranes, he attacked whenever they were unable to dodge during a dive, hitting them every time. He had struck every single crane, only to find that each one seemed to be fake.
En no Gyōja, losing his patience, immediately stabilized himself after dodging another dive attack. He stood firm on the lake's surface and began to gather chakra. As he moved his hands, the flow of the surrounding air seemed to slow down. Even space itself began to warp. Before long, a white orb of light appeared in his hand. It looked ordinary, yet it contained destructive energy.
En no Gyōja let out a loud laugh and then declared: "This technique will send you and your summoned beasts on your way! I hope you don't covet other people's things in your next life!"