While Fujin was fighting, the remaining forces reached the castle walls. The fight had begun. However, with Sotan holding back the 2nd Jounin, the Konoha chunins began cutting through enemy ranks with ease.
After dodging Fujin's attack, the Jounin opened a scroll and made a hand sign. The scroll opened in a way that it circled around him. Soon, dozens of kunais with explosion tags were launched from the scroll.
Fujin immediately used Infinite Breakthrough jutsu while his clone hid underground. The jutsu stopped all the kunais heading towards Fujin. They all exploded. The explosion, however, also dispersed Fujin's jutsu and created a lot of dust cover.
The Jounin took the opportunity of the dust cover to run away from Fujin. He thought, 'Is that a kid or a monster? How does he know so many jutsus? I don't want to fight him. This attack can fail for all I care!'
Fujin noticed him running and thought, 'Did he really not figure out that I am a sensor? And why hasn't he used any jutsus?'
As he was running, he suddenly jumped. But, his legs were still caught by Fujin's clone. He lost his balance and was about to fall on his face. However, to Fujin's surprise, he managed to get a hold of himself immediately. He pointed his right arm towards the ground to ensure that he didn't fall on his face. At the same time, he threw a kunai at Fujin's clone with his free hand.
Unfortunately for him, the clone had caught his legs with just one purpose. The clone immediately exploded. The majority of the force of the explosion was focused on his palms.
The explosion completely ruined his two legs. His left leg was blown into two. His right leg was burned to the bone and was barely attached. He yelled hoarsely in pain. His yells stopped the next second when an Air Bullet pierced through his heart, killing him.
Fujin made a clone to collect his body as he thought, 'What a strange opponent! His survival instinct was top-notch. He could dodge deadly attacks from blind spots with ease. The only reason why my clone managed to grab his legs is that that act itself didn't have any possibility of harming him, which is probably why he was slow at jumping.
But, he didn't use any jutsu at all other than summoning those exploding kunais. Could it be that he didn't know any good jutsu at all?'
Fujin analyzed for a few seconds before concluding, 'Yes, that is probably the case. I have to admire his perseverance to train to this extent without any proper system. If he was a part of any of the major villages, he might have actually become a famous Jounin.
Sigh, I should be glad that I transmigrated to Konoha. If I wasn't a part of the major villages, then I would only have the knowledge of learning Wind Manipulation, Rasengan and Chakra Control exercises. Even becoming a ninja would have been difficult!'
Fujin spread his chakra field to observe the battle happening on the walls. The battle had just begun and was at full force. Fujin unsheathed a sword. Chakra began flowing through it as he thought, 'Oh well, time to harvest some lives!'
'Wind Instantaneous Body jutsu'
Fujin appeared close to where the fighting was happening. He had already eliminated 11 enemies, bringing the total numbers close to equal.
A Chunin from the Land of Noodles was engaged in an intense battle against a rogue Chunin. However, he was shocked when he saw a sword cut off his opponent's head in one swing. But, before he could see the face of the swordsman, he had already disappeared.
The same scenes began happening all throughout the battlefield. 16 ninjas fell to Fujin's sword with this tactic.
With the Land of Noodles ninjas getting free, they began ganging up on the enemies. Soon the rogue ninjas were at a complete disadvantage. The leader of the rogue ninjas frowned upon noticing this. He didn't understand how this was happening.
Seeing the tides of the battle change, all 5 Konoha chunins focused on the enemy leader and appeared around him. His face became very ugly.
He thought, 'How the fuck did I fail so badly?'
He stopped fighting and said, "I surrender."
Sotan was surprised. He stopped attacking and said, "Alright. Don't resist."
He knocked the enemy out and restrained him. Soon after, the other rogue ninjas were killed as well.
Sotan sighed in relief. He looked at Tamotsu and said, "Thank You. Without your warning and help, we would have been in a very difficult spot!"
Sotan was fully aware of the capabilities of his subordinates. He had prepared himself for a loss and prayed for a miracle when he heard the enemy numbers. Seeing how easily they won, he figured that the Konoha ninjas won him the war.
Tamotsu chuckled and said, "You need to thank Fujin. He was one who sensed and reported them to me."
Tamotsu said this intentionally as he was aware that Sotan was dissatisfied with Fujin. Sotan was surprised. He recalled how he was angry at Fujin. He thought, 'Thank God I didn't say anything and asked the chefs to ensure that he got our best food!'
He bowed to Fujin and said, "The Land of Noodles will remember your assistance. Thank You, young man. We are in your debt."
Fujin was surprised. He thought, 'Wow! A 180° turn! And even faster than Sasuke! Looks like he really loves his village. Makes sense I guess considering that he stayed behind to defend.'
Fujin said, "You are welcome. There are 10 dead bodies in the forest. Preferably have your subordinates clear them. If the civilians see them, they might freak out."
Sotan was about to nod when he realized what Fujin had said. He thought, 'TEN?'
Fujin's teammates were shocked as well. Tamotsu asked, "Fujin, did you kill 10 enemy ninjas in the forest before the attack reached us?"
Fujin replied, "Well, eleven. One of them was a bit strong. So I stored his body in case he has a bounty."
Hearing Fujin's answer left them speechless. Unlike the Land of Noodles ninjas, the Konoha ninjas had noticed Fujin cutting down the enemies. Though they didn't see all his kills, they all had only one thought, 'Did this eleven-year-old kid kill more than us four combined?'
Sotan was the first one to overcome his shock. He said, "Show me the body. I'll tell you whether he has any bounty."
Fujin looked at Tamotsu who nodded. Fujin summoned his body from the scroll. When Sotan's eyes lay on the dead body's face, he was terrified!
He yelled, "THE NOODLE THIEF!"
His shout attracted attention. The Land of Grass ninjas were very surprised on hearing it. On the other hand, the Konoha ninjas thought, 'The what?'
Sotan looked at Fujin with a terrified expression on his face. He said, "He is the Noodle Thief! He is a terrible rogue ninja. How did you manage to kill him?"
Tamotsu and others watched Fujin. However, Fujin was dumbfounded. He thought, 'Terrible rogue ninja? He really was terrible, but I don't think he means the same. How the heck did this weakling get such a response from him?'
Fujin asked calmly, "Can you give details about him?"
Sotan said with some fear in his voice, "He is a rogue ninja from the Land of Tea. He was expelled from the village when he was only a genin. Apparently, he trained by himself to reach the Jounin level without any guidance. He migrated to this country and began stealing our Caravans when they exported Noodles.
He used to only attack caravans that weren't guarded by ninjas or only guarded by Genins. We were forced to issue a rank B protection mission for every Caravan we set. We issued rank B, rank A and even rank S missions to hunt him down. Unfortunately, no matter what we did, no one ever managed to find him! He was so good that we never even received any information on the jutsus that he specialized in!
Due to him, we lost noodles worth tens of millions Ryo and have to spend millions on protection every year. In the end, our Daimyo issued a 13 million Ryo bounty on his head hoping that someone might kill him."
Fujin was shocked, 'What the fuck? This weakling has a 13 million bounty? And how the fuck did he survive against Rank S missions? Don't tell me that his freakish survival instincts warned him every time and enabled him to hide properly from the hunters. Or did he just find a perfect hiding spot?'
Fujin's analysis was on point. The Noodle Thief had found an old base created in secret by the Land of Water during the Third Great Ninja war. The base was difficult to spot naturally and was made to be a perfect hidden base with the help of Fuinjutsu.
Post the war, Kirigakure got embroiled in a civil war and the base was forgotten. In addition, his survival instincts always alerted him when someone very strong was out to hunt him, ensuring that he stayed hidden. Due to this, his reputation got built rapidly. Unfortunately, his instincts didn't kick in this time until he was attacked by Fujin and his lucky run was over!
Seeing that Fujin wasn't saying anything, Sotan stopped asking and said, "Lord Daimyo will be thrilled to know that you managed to neutralize him. Wait here for a day. Lord Daimyo should arrive at the castle by tomorrow morning."
Tamotsu agreed to stay back another day as they needed some rest as well.
While Sotan was talking with them, the ninjas from the Land of Noodles were talking about their fights. Soon, they all began talking about the Ghostly Swordsman who helped many of them! For years to come, the Legend of the Ghostly Swordsman will be spoken in this country. Many would speculate that Fujin was the Ghostly Swordsman, but none would be sure as they never saw the face of the Ghostly Swordsman.
