The Wind clones tried dodging the incoming water needles, but there was no room as they were too densely packed. The Shadow clone escaped underground. Mokuami weaved more hand signs and slammed his hands on the lake.
'Water Release: Corrosive Liquid jutsu'
The water from the lake began spreading above the ground for hundreds of meters. This water was corrosive and harmful. If it came in contact with a ninja, it would begin feeling an itch over their body. However, if it hit a clone, the clone would be dispelled.
Mokuami observed as he thought, 'Though we made this jutsu to counter the ninjas who hide underwater, it also works for those who hide underground. Now that clone will be trapped there.'
He began planning his escape. Meanwhile, Fujin's clone frowned. He thought, 'What a troublesome opponent! He managed to neutralize my clones very easily. Still, all his fighting plans are based on the assumption that I don't know Lightning jutsus. A strong current through the water will reverse the battle situation. Unfortunately, I have to keep it hidden.'
The clone made a hand sign. A Wind clone appeared behind it containing half his chakra.
The remaining half of his chakra gathered on the clone's fist. He punched the ground above him diagonally.
A shockwave was sent through the ground. It hit the underwater walls of the lake and sent stones flying at Mokuami who had just relaxed his guard slightly. Around 4-5 stones hit him.
Unfortunately, the speed of the stones wasn't fast enough to make them lethal. Their speed was further reduced by the water.
Though the stones barely hurt him, his instincts were screaming. He quickly made a barrier in the direction from where the stones came.
The Shadow Clone's punch had created a small but linear hole. The Wind clone used Infinite Breakthrough jutsu and poured all its chakra into it. However, unlike the usual Infinite Breakthrough jutsu that spread for dozens, even hundreds of meters wide, this one travelled in a narrow hole. It almost looked like a Wind Spear.
The Wind jutsu hit the barrier hard. As the impact was only on a small area, the entire barrier was pushed back.
Mokuami controlled the barrier and made it turn slightly to divert the direction of the jutsu. However, the wind spear pierced through the barrier.
Fortunately, he managed to change the direction slightly. The spear passed through the side of his abdomen, cutting a half-inch semicircle through his right side.
Mokuami watched in shock as the left side of his abdomen began bleeding profusely! He thought, 'Who the fuck is that kid? And which jutsus did he use to do something like this?'
However, he stopped thinking about Fujin and began thinking about his own vulnerable situation, 'They have an Inuzuka! He will smell my blood. Hiding has become a hundred times more difficult now!'
He removed all his clothes as they all had some blood on them. He used the water to clean the wound. Once the wound was cleaned, he lit a fire and burned the wound to stop the bleeding. He gritted his teeth due to the pain. The fire cauterized the wound and stopped bleeding.
He applied some bandages over the burned area and made a hand sign. Four water clones appeared around him. Each of them picked up some of the bloody clothes and ran in different directions.
Mokuami ran in another direction without bothering to wear any clothes. He ensured that he left no trail behind. After moving some distance, he hid underground and used seals to hide properly.
The last set of clones clashed with Korenaga, but they were defeated promptly. Fujin, who was chasing Rikyu, received the memories of his two shadow clones. He analyzed, 'These guys are tough. I don't think this mission is rank B anymore.'
Rikyu also managed to dispel the last 2 Wind clones. They were escaping with confidence when something happened. Both Rikyu and Korenaga suddenly lost their footing! They fell to the ground and vomited blood.
Both were shocked, 'What the heck? What happened? Did I get poisoned again? How?'
Both were confused. They didn't understand. Other than Katsumi, the remaining Konoha ninjas were also in the dark about this. They were aware that the rogue ninjas were poisoned. However, they never saw the rogue ninjas use antidotes.
The sudden flaring of the poison in Rikyu and Korenaga was a hidden strategy of the Aburame clan. The entire clan used the same bug to poison the enemies. Hence, every major village had readymade antidotes available for that poison.
However, in reality, the Aburame clan had a large variety of poisonous bugs. One of those bugs had poison similar to the normal poisonous bugs. However, instead of being neutralized by the antidote, it would be temporarily suppressed and flare up a few minutes later.
The Aburame clan keeps this a secret by only using it against enemies when they are confident that they will kill the enemies. Otherwise, they wouldn't use it. Due to this reason, no one was aware of this. And due to this reason, the Aburame clan would always be considered a clan that Konoha's enemies hated to fight during wars.
Rikyu and Korenaga stopped escaping and tried to inspect themselves. They both speculated that they were poisoned with a different poison. So their Antidote wasn't effective. However, even after speculating correctly, they couldn't do anything about it.
Rikyu decided to stop escaping and hid behind a tree as it was very difficult for him to move. On the other hand, Korenaga turned around and rushed back to where the Konoha ninjas were.
Around half a minute later, Korenaga encountered Tamotsu, Katsumi and Ryota. A vicious look could be seen in his eyes as he looked at Katsumi. He threatened, "Give me the antidote for your poison. If not, I will kill you all!"
Tamotsu chuckled and asked, "Do you really think that we would just hand you the antidote?"
However, he and Ryota were on alert. They had the same thought, 'Why did he escape if he didn't have the antidote? Did he set up any trap here?'
Unlike them, Katsumi wasn't that worried. They began fighting.
Fujin and Tadashi caught up with Rikyu as well. His blood was very easy to smell for Rikyu. While Fujin could sense him when they entered in range. They stealthily approached him from behind. They could hear him coughing.
Tadashi grabbed a shuriken that had a string attached to it. He threw it around the tree from behind. It went around the tree and trapped Rikyu.
Though Rikyu had stopped moving, his condition worsened. He vomited blood multiple times. Even moving had become difficult. Tears had formed in his eyes as he realized that he would die in that unknown place.
He saw the shuriken and the string. But it was too late. He didn't have any energy to move. The string tied him to the tree. He tried struggling, however, 2 Vacuum Bullets hit him. One pierced his heart and the other pierced his neck. He died without troubling Fujin and Tadashi much.
Tadashi said, "That was easy."
Fujin nodded, "Yeah. Katsumi's poison is very strong."
Tadashi grinned and said, "Yeah, it is. He bailed us out multiple times thanks to it."
He went forward and stored Rikyu's body in a scroll. They began moving towards Tamotsu and company. Tadashi asked, "Any idea what's happening at other places?"
Fujin shook his head and said, "No. They are both strong. They managed to defeat my clones. I think my clones managed to injure that Water user, but I'm not sure."
Tadashi replied, "Alright. Anyways, that Jounin is also poisoned. So Tamotsu and others should be able to win easily."
Fujin nodded.
They moved quickly and arrived where Korenaga was fighting in a few minutes. The scene surprised them. Tadashi quickly rushed towards Tamotsu and Katsumi and asked, "Are you guys fine?"
Fujin also followed him.
Both were bleeding. Katsumi's left leg was dyed in blood. Tamotsu's right arm also seemed to be bleeding in multiple spots. Korenaga's dead body was lying a few meters away from them.
Tamotsu said, "It's fine. He was stronger than we expected. And the poison made him very desperate."
They began applying first-aid to them. Katsumi's left leg had multiple nails embedded in it. Korenaga had charged the nails with Lightning and used them to attack from range as Katsumi always maintained a distance from him.
Meanwhile, since Korenaga was targeting Katsumi, Tamotsu decided to engage him at close range. That resulted in 2 long and deep slashes on his right arm with the chakra sword.
While applying first-aid, Ryota said, "This guy was very strong! Especially with the chakra sword. It's lucky that he was poisoned, else we might have been in severe trouble."
Tamotsu agreed, "Yeah, I thought I could take on him. Unfortunately, he was stronger."
While the first-aid was being applied, a few of Katsumi's bugs were moving inside Korenaga's dead body. They were cleaning all traces of the poison in his body. Due to this, if anyone inspects his dead body, no one would find the poison that was used. Hence, they won't be able to make the antidote.
All Aburame clan ninjas who used this poison would use this method to keep their poisons a secret. If they weren't sure about the kill and the fact that they would get access to their dead bodies first, they would only use the normal poisonous bugs.
