Chapter 116: Crippled!
Genjutsu: Mirror Flower, Water Moon!
Biwa Jūzō and the four Mist-nin charging alongside him were simultaneously plunged into an illusion. The four ninja immediately turned on Jūzō, mistaking him for Kinoshita Genichi.
"It's a genjutsu!" Jūzō swung his sword to defend himself, with no time to form hand seals to release his comrades from the illusion.
Fortunately, there were enough Mist-nin. Others immediately began forming seals to break the genjutsu on their four comrades. Meanwhile, Kusa Nobuyuki and the other Mist-nin were still searching for Genichi's tracks. Hōzuki Chigetsu, in particular, was staring intently at the kunai at the bottom of the water.
However, he wasn't there.
"Jūzō, watch out below!" Chigetsu shouted. The Flying Thunder God had distracted their thinking. Genichi, being a master of Water Release, didn't necessarily need to use it.
Just as Chigetsu finished his warning, jets of water shot up from below. The four Mist-nin who had just been released from the genjutsu had no time to react and were pierced through by the water blades. Jūzō leaped into the air, dodging one jet, but he couldn't avoid the second. He quickly brought his sword down to block.
The next moment, the Executioner's Blade was pierced through, and a large hole was blown through Jūzō's upper left arm.
"Found you!" Hōzuki Chigetsu pressed his hands onto the water's surface. The entire lake began to churn. With him at the center, the water began to spin, pulling currents from all directions inward.
The Mist-nin on the surface all leaped away, leaving the water. Underwater, Genichi found himself unable to control his body, being pulled toward the center of the vortex. Of course, he could use the Flying Thunder God to escape, but he didn't.
Taking out a Flying Thunder God kunai, Genichi activated the formula. Black seals immediately spread out from him, and space-time warped. The surrounding water instantly began to pour into the formula.
Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!
Genichi directly teleported the water away.
"What?!" Hōzuki Chigetsu watched the water spiral out of control. He immediately gave up on the technique and leaped from the water's surface. The water level dropped, and the current quickly vanished.
On a fallen tree, Kurosuki Raiga crossed his twin swords. A ball of lightning condensed between them, which he then fired at Genichi. "Die!"
Genichi threw the kunai in his hand at Raiga, then clapped his hands together and spat out a stream of water that swirled around him at high speed.
Boom!
The lightning ball collided with the water wall, creating a massive splash, but it didn't break through.
Just then, Munashi Jinpachi, wielder of the Blastsword, appeared above Genichi, dropping a scroll covered in explosive tags.
"Fly! If you don't, you'll be blown to bits!" Jinpachi stared at Genichi. At that moment, all the other Flying Thunder God kunai were surrounded by Mist-nin. If Genichi appeared, they could attack immediately. This was the advantage of numbers. If one person wasn't enough to watch a kunai, then three or four would be. No matter how fast your reactions were, could you dodge the attacks of three or four people at once?
At the same time, Kurosuki Raiga watched the kunai fly past him. The lightning on his twin Kiba blades surged, wrapping around his body to form a suit of lightning armor.
"Come on! Attack me!" Raiga's body spun.
At that moment, the flow of time seemed to slow. By the time the kunai had flown past Raiga's back, his body had already turned halfway. Genichi appeared, a Wind Release: Rasengan in his hand, and slammed it into Raiga's spine.
"What?!" With a look of utter disbelief, Raiga was smashed into the ground. Cracks spread across the earth before it collapsed with a boom.
"Gah!" Raiga spat out a mouthful of blood. The lightning armor on his back had vanished. His clothes were shredded, his flesh was a mangled mess, and his cracked spine was visible.
Wind Release was strong against Lightning Release. Although not an absolute counter—like how Temari's wind couldn't do anything against the Third Raikage—Genichi's wind nature transformation was no weaker than Raiga's lightning. The Wind Release: Rasengan directly broke through his lightning armor, and the terrifying wind power exploded, almost tearing his body in two. Raiga was instantly on the verge of death.
Genichi had targeted Raiga first precisely because Lightning Release was the biggest threat to him.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
After the successful hit, Genichi flickered continuously, dodging the incredibly fast Longsword: Nuibari, then clapped his hands together.
Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
Genichi's cheeks puffed out like a toad's, and he spat out a torrent of water. Hōzuki Chigetsu had used this jutsu before. However, the water Genichi created was not ordinary water. It was the acidic water from the Water Dissolution Technique he had developed earlier, possessing high corrosivity.
Furthermore, the way he performed the jutsu was different. Chigetsu's version accumulated water beneath him, while the acid Genichi spat out spiraled upwards around his body like a water vortex, continuously expanding. It looked like a much stronger version of the jutsu. The advantage of this was that he was in a defensive state while casting. After all, even though he could cast jutsu extremely quickly, it still took time, and he could be attacked when facing numerous enemies.
Such was the case now. A large number of shuriken flew at him, many of them carrying explosive tags. The Longsword: Nuibari also tried to pierce through the swirling water to attack him. But they were all deflected by the high-speed rotation of the acid.
A series of explosions rang out. Steam hissed, and a pungent smell spread.
"Be careful, the water is corrosive!" Chigetsu warned.
Kusa Nobuyuki, wielder of the blunt sword Kabutowari, arrived in front of the swirling water. He slammed his sword into the current, and his hammer immediately struck the back of the blade. "Open!"
A terrifying force erupted, actually managing to smash open the rotating water, causing the spiraling column to collapse. Kusa quickly retreated. Chigetsu released his Twin Swords, Hiramekarei, again, swinging them to slice apart the scattering water, cutting the Genichi inside in half. The body then dissolved into water.
"Be careful, he's in the water!" Chigetsu scanned the area, searching for Genichi. The spreading acid water quickly corroded the grass and trees, creating hissing sounds and plumes of green smoke. The numerous Mist-nin all leaped into the trees. Kusa, who was retreating, stepped on the water's surface, and his shoes were immediately corroded.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Suddenly, several streams of water shot up, wrapping around the ankles of Kusa, who had just leaped from the surface.
Water Release: Water Current Whip!
Green smoke rose from his feet. Kusa cried out in pain and swung his sword, dispersing the water. Behind him, the water surged up and condensed into Genichi. The water's surface exploded, and Genichi launched into the air. Kusa sensed him and swung his sword, turning to sweep it behind him.
Konoha Strong Whirlwind!
Genichi's leg swept out, kicking the back of Kabutowari's blade. The terrifying force was too much for Kusa to handle, and the sword was knocked from his hands. But his other hand still held the hammer, which was connected by a chain, and he was dragged along by the flying sword.
Genichi was still in the air. Behind him, the Longsword: Nuibari shot out of the water, aiming for his back.
Boom!
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, a column of water shot up from below, knocking Nuibari away.
Landing on the ground, Genichi sped across the water's surface, dodging numerous attacks from the Mist-nin and catching up to the flying Kusa Nobuyuki.
"So fast!" Kusa was shocked. He swung his hammer, but it hit nothing but air. Genichi used a water-based Body Flicker to get behind him and brought his leg down in a powerful axe kick, smashing Kusa into the water, never to rise again.
Landing on the turbulent water's surface, Genichi looked around and saw four giant water walls closing in on him from all sides with a deafening roar. It was Hōzuki Chigetsu, who had taken the opportunity while Genichi was fighting Kusa to gather the other Mist-nin and attack him from all four sides. This move was not just an attack, but also meant to neutralize the acidic water.
Dodge with the Flying Thunder God?
Genichi simply clapped his hands together. The next moment, the water around him surged upwards and began to rotate, growing thicker and heavier.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
Then, the four water walls crashed into him.
BOOM!
There was a massive roar. The rotating water wall stalled for a moment, then collapsed along with the crashing walls, the water pouring outward. Genichi formed a hand seal, and three shadow clones appeared. Each faced a different direction and clapped their hands together. The outflowing water immediately surged upwards again, forming a huge, hollow pillar of water. From within, four giant water dragons emerged, facing the Mist-nin in all four directions with their mouths open wide.
Water Release: Great Water Dragon Cannon!
The four dragons simultaneously spat out highly condensed water spheres, each over five meters in diameter. And they fired in succession, three massive spheres each. The firepower was almost no different from when Gamabunta fought the One-Tail Shukaku.
To the north, Hōzuki Chigetsu, seeing the giant water spheres roaring toward him, had a grave expression. He released his Twin Swords, Hiramekarei, again. With a swing of the blades, the chakra sword expanded and actually managed to slice through all three spheres. The spheres exploded, and water splashed everywhere like a torrential downpour.
To the east, Munashi Jinpachi used his Blastsword to create a defense, using its powerful explosions, along with various attacks and defenses from the other Mist-nin, to block the three spheres.
To the west, the one-armed Biwa Jūzō swung his sword, colliding with the first sphere, but he was smashed into the ground, his internal organs almost squeezed out of his orifices. The next two spheres easily broke through the Mist-nin's various water and earth jutsu. Seven or eight of them screamed as they were sent flying. Some were severely injured, others died on the spot.
It was the same to the south. Their defenses couldn't hold. They scattered to dodge, but even if they avoided a direct hit, it was difficult to avoid the second wave of impact from the spheres hitting the ground.
The aftermath was a scene of utter devastation. On the south side, besides Kuriarare Kushimaru, who was holding the Longsword: Nuibari, only two other Mist-nin were left standing. The rest were either floating on the water or hanging from fallen trees.
"Bastard!" Hōzuki Chigetsu was both furious and shocked. Of their six swordsmen, only three were now in fighting condition. The other three were either dead or dying. Counting Suikazan Fuguki, who had died earlier, more than half of them had been wiped out. They had set out with 76 people to ambush him, and now, less than 20 were left standing. They had been so confident when they came, but now…
The thought of retreat had already entered Chigetsu's mind. But Genichi wasn't going to stop.
The moment the water fell, his real body and his three shadow clones formed hand seals again.
Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!
Genjutsu: Silent World!
Genjutsu: Flawless Fallen Body Technique!
Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!
Each of the four Genichis cast one of the genjutsu, covering all the remaining Mist-nin, simultaneously robbing them of their sight, hearing, and touch, while also binding them with the Tree Binding Death. Even though the precision was low when covering everyone, the four genjutsu hitting them at once was enough to stun most of them.
After casting the illusions, the four Genichis charged out in all four directions, sliding across the water at high speed toward the enemy.
(End of Chapter)