The fact Katsuro was taking the battle they went into ready to die with such lightheartedness caused them immense irritation.
Of course part of the aura farming he was doing was also Katsuro's plan, so his smile grew wider when the Raikage rushed out by himself.
The Wind Chakra mode formed as naturally around him as the Lightning did for the Raikage, and they clashed head on. To his credit, despite his injuries and trauma from recent events, the Raikage did not shy away from the fight. That alone was worthy of respect.
"Wind Style: Breath of the Wind Emperor."
Katsuro brought his hands up to his lips as he unleashed a sweeping cannon of highly pressurised wind. It was an A rank Jutsu that was enhanced by his S rank Wind Chakra mode, and with the scale could even reach S rank levels. Thus even the Raikage in his impenetrable armour had to raise his hands to block as he kept charging forward. Small numerous nicks caused by wind blades appeared on his arms as the rest of the Jutsu swept behind him and forced an Earth and Lava style response out of Onoki and Roshi.
But within milliseconds the distance between that Raikage and Katsuro was closed, and the clash was going even worse for the Raikage than before. The wind ate away at his armour, and he was still clearly not in his best condition. On top of this, Katsuro had the experience of facing him once before, and as the fairly one dimensional fighter he is. And thus with his overall superior parameters, he was running circles around the Raikage.
But he wasn't alone, soon Roshi emerged from his defences in his full Lava Chakra cloak, and Han also appeared to Katsuro's left rapidly. His speed was impressive and worked off the Raikage to force Katsuro to block his kick. Han was using his Boil Release to boil his chakra in combination with the furnace at his back and his steam armour. This caused pressure to build within it and helped him gain far superior speed and strength. The time Katsuro had spent doing other things had allowed him to reach his optimum levels that his body could handle, and it meant that he became the second biggest worry after the Raikage in a direct confrontation.
As Katsuro skidded back, he evaluated Han's strength realising he had to be more wary. Soon it became a 1 v 3, and Onoki even began floating clearly intending to provide aerial support.
It was a flash of colours, and the very peak of Nintaijutsu. All 3 of them were likely at the very best to have done it, and it showed. Their clashes caused and collisions caused vibrations and scars in the Earth around them. Katsuro would occasionally use his now unveiled wood style to either defend from lava, Onoki's ninjutsu or even just to create cover and manipulate the battlefield.
Onoki mainly stuck with his less chakra exhaustive Earth style, but still used the Particle style where he could, mainly trying to control the battlefield and where Katsuro would move and attack.
But no matter what they did, it didn't work. He was too fast, it cost them far too much and too long to be able to trap him to land a blow just for him to teleport out to one of his Kunai. They couldn't even predict it either because Katsuro would constantly throw new ones, or use his branches to change their position. It seemed like their only goal was to exhaust him, because at the end of the day he was one man fighting 4.
But the journey before then would be long, Katsuro was adaptive, and as he began using his other Ninjutsu and Flying Raijin more Onoki's role became obsolete. It was a welcome sign nonetheless, it meant that his chakra was being used up quicker and Onoki too adapted and used his Rock armour to engage in melee. But this ramp up in ninjutsu also meant that those who faced him would also bear the brunt of the damage.
As a man who had expertise in 5 chakra natures, he had an answer for everyone. Wind style for the Raikage, where stronger A rank Jutsu's would become cause for concern and S ranks would pierce through his shell. As the strongest of their force he also fought the most and took the most damage. Old wounds reopened and new ones appeared. For Roshi, Katsuro's plethora in Water Styles that had recently taken a back seat became the key piece in dousing his flames. Han instead faced Fire Style Jutsus, a strange choice considering his expertise in Boil Release which made Han more resistant to heat than many. But Katsuro had figured out how his 'Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength' worked, and realised that heating him up further increased the pressure. This was normally good, but Han was already at his maximum, any more causing significant strain on his body - and it showed. His body began failing, and he would be forced to reduce or stop the Jutsu and be temporarily taken out of the fight.
And of course for Onoki, Katsuro's Lightning Style pierced through his rock armour just fine. He countered them all, and unfortunately they couldn't encounter him. His Susanoo no Mikoto was made up of Lightning and Wind Style, which needed wind and fire to deal with them. Even if Roshi could cover the fire aspect, no one was skilled enough in Wind Style, and Roshi also often found his flame snuffed.
And so the battle continued with the one man by himself in the driver's seat. Katsuro was somewhat disappointed, concluding that their plan was simply to exhaust him. But they had overestimated themselves. The Raikage and Han were forced to take a backseat for a while leaving the slowest Onoki who had avoided much of the fighting because of it, and Roshi still fighting. It was much easier for Katsuro with just them 2, and he targeted Roshi unlike what they wanted. Roshi was far less durable, and thus joined the others by Onoki's saving grace, covered in his own blood. It was just Onoki directly before him, and Katsuro who had intended this spoke.
"Answer a question for me, Tsuchikage." Katsuro firmly said. Onoki didn't reply, but harrumphed with hubris but also fatigue.
He's probably going to try to get me to surrender by saying a big speech. Onoki predicted. Keep being arrogant, and it will become your downfall.
"How did you create those shinobi "clones" of yours? They seem to be awfully realistic. In fact, they can even use the Hiding in the Surface and concealment technique incredibly well."
That's right, the second one likely took Obito's body with it… Does Iwa want to artificially transplant the Sharingan? But it doesn't work like the Byakugan that one-eyed Kiri Jonin tried to steal, the Sharingan is often a hindrance to those that aren't Uchiha… Even for Kakashi, in the long run, he will struggle. His talent alone is what is keeping him afloat. Katsuro remembered.
"Shinobi clones? Secret technique?" The Raikage asked, incredulously, raising his guard.
Onoki has some sort of secret weapon? Shinobi clones with in-built weird techniques we haven't seen before? What sort of technology does the Stone possess? They might try to use it on us after we've dealt with Senju Katsuro!
"I have no idea what you're talking about boy!" Onoki stubbornly declared, confused by the accusation.
What is he saying? Our village doesn't have that sort of technology, and I haven't heard of any reports about it. Is he delusional? What's he trying to do here, is he throwing us off? No. He's not that sort of shinobi. He wouldn't use such underhanded tactics in a fight like this. But, what is he saying?
Katsuro and the injured A both had the same thought. If Onoki was able to produce clone shinobi, then his army's numbers would be far too large for their own armies to fight against, however, Katsuro concluded that these "clones" were definitely not human. He wondered how Onoki could produce them, they were like biological puppets that also seemed to act independently. And if this was true, then it couldn't be easy at all. And he questioned if the Stone had really achieved this level of technology or strange secret technique. It seemed unfathomable.
"Are you really trying to deny it? I struck down one of your "clone" shinobis myself, then it turned into some odd, pale white, plant-like humanoid." Katsuro began to grow suspicious.
Does he really not know about it? Is there a third-party involved? He analysed Onoki's and the Jinchurikis' faces. They seem to be confused by it as well. Onoki doesn't seem to be lying so they aren't from the Stone. Does that mean they simply infiltrated them? But how? Without anyone noticing it seemed impossible. His thoughts were cut off.
"Boy, you're making no sense to me! Raikage, he's trying to distract us! I swear by the Will of Stone, The Hidden Stone Village does not and cannot produce these absurd "clone" shinobi that you're rambling on about! Whatever the case, this has nothing to do with the fight we have right now!" With that, Onoki resumed their fight. The Raikage could only join him.
Whatever it is, it sounds serious! If the Stone or the Leaf possess this type of technology, it will be very bad for the Hidden Cloud Village! I will get to the bottom of it, but for now we still have to deal with this Senju demon!
Soon after a short respite, Katsuro was surrounded by all 4 once again. But this time they shared looks, and despite how badly they had been losing, hope was still lit within their eyes.
It made Katsuro somewhat wary, he thought he had hid it well, but his chakra was draining. Using nearly half of it at the very start wasn't exactly good for it, but he had all those jutsu which made up of numerous B, A and S ranks, not even including his constant use of Flying Raijinn or even his draining Susanoo no Mikoto. He only had less than 15% left, of course 15% for him was several times that of normal Kage shinobi, but it was getting more dangerous. But luckily he had his fall back, a way to escape any situation, and frankly it made him a bit arrogant.
It was within this arrogance that they would strike.
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