The two groups of bounty hunters stared at each other. Suddenly, Kido Shiro, one of the Kiri rogues sighed in relief and said loudly, "Thankfully we found them. I was worried that these morons might ambush him closer to Konoha and steal our jackpot!"
His statement irked the bounty hunters in the other group. One of them sneered and said, "Aren't you being too cocky? We outnumber you by more than two to one. Do you think you have a chance to compete against us?"
The leader of the Kiri rogues grinned. His name was Higashi Renzo. He was a large muscular guy with hideous scars all over his body. He was being trained to be the next generation of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Unfortunately, before he could complete his training, everything went crazy in that country.
Renzo said in a hoarse voice, "You may outnumber us, but do you weaklings think you have any chance against us."
A wave of killing intent washed over the other group of bounty hunters. Their expressions became very grim. Though they haven't ever experienced it, Kiri's cruel methods and the craziness of their ninjas were well known throughout the world.
Ogawa Shingo, the leader of this group exerted his chakra to snap his comrades out of the killing intent unleashed by his opponent. The Kiri ninjas were about to attack but he raised his hand and said, "Stop! If we fight here, we will alert the Konoha ninjas and will be hunted until we are all dead. Even if you are strong, against Konoha, you are nothing but bugs. Not only will you not get the bounty, but you will be hunted.
So why not team up? We will ambush the kid together and split the reward on his head. We will each get 10 million Ryo and won't have to fight each other to death."
Shiro immediately said, "Why would we split the rewards with you? As for Konoha ninjas, we will have long killed you all and that brat and left even before those tree huggers sense something is wro..."
He was interrupted by a Jounin who said, "Shut up! Renzo, let's cooperate. The Konoha ninjas are already hunting for us. A huge battle could invite all sorts of trouble."
Renzo wanted to fight. However, he couldn't disregard the concerns of the Jounin who just spoke. After all, he was the only SealMaster in their group and was his second-in-command. Without his help, bounty hunting would become much more risky.
Renzo looked at Shingo and said, "Alright, let's team up."
The two groups teamed up and set up an ambush for Fujin.
Fujin had a frown on his face. Even after travelling for six hours, no one intercepted or attacked him. He thought, 'Did they sense the trap that Shikaku laid for them? Or were their accomplices on a break when I left the village?'
He continued moving through the vast forests of the Land of Fire while occasionally activating and spreading his chakra field. Finally, after half an hour, he sensed something off.
His speed slowed down as he maintained his chakra field and analyzed, 'I can't sense 4 locations… These guys have a SealMaster within their ranks. That's annoying. I can't check how strong they are. But, this might not be entirely bad. Since they are separated, I will hunt them one by one.'
The four locations that Fujin's chakra field couldn't sense were small underground rooms constructed using Earth release. If it was a normal sensor, he wouldn't feel anything off. But Fujin himself was a SealMaster. So it couldn't be hidden from him. The four locations were all spread properly. Two were close to the path that Fujin was taking. While the remaining two locations covered the left and the right sides.
Fujin locked his eyes on the location to the left. He was about to move when he suddenly stopped. His eyes shrunk as his instincts warned him and he stayed in his location. He thought, 'Why am I having such a bad feeling? It is almost comparable to the feeling I had when we fell into Darui's trap!'
During his time in Anbu, Fujin had developed an incredible sense of danger. His instincts would warn him every time he was about to fall in grave danger. Though he wasn't completely sure, Fujin speculated that it was a result of him gaining more experience and due to him using his sensing abilities hundreds of thousands of times.
The seals in those hidden locations were more advanced than what Fujin had speculated. When his chakra field covered those locations, a few seals began emitting green light. The leader in each of the rooms frowned. They knew that Fujin was a sensor but didn't expect him to spread his chakra field deep in the forest.
However, they didn't make a move as they knew that a sensor wouldn't be able to sense them. They expected Fujin to continue forward into their trap. However, their frowns deepened when Fujin didn't move forward and the seals kept emitting the green light.
Renzo asked, "Did he discover us?"
The SealMaster answered, "That is unlikely. Unless he is a SealMaster himself or works closely with one."
Renzo quickly analyzed the situation and said, "It doesn't matter. He is just one chunin brat. Let's go out and hunt him."
He quickly broke the seal on the underground room and appeared outside. At the same time, the other 3 hideouts also received the message and soon they broke out as well.
Fujin immediately sensed everyone and began sweating. He almost cursed, 'What the fuck? 35 fucking bounty hunters? And 7 of them have Jounin levels of chakra!'
The bounty hunters ran towards Fujin at full speed. Fortunately, Fujin was over a mile away from their location. He quickly ran backwards and made a few shadow clones while thinking, 'This is the last time I'm being the bait! The smartest man and the most experienced man my ass! If I didn't know them any better, I'd think that this is a scheme to kill me!'
Four chakra fields extended towards Fujin and his clones and began sensing him. Fujin was left speechless once again. He cursed, 'Seriously, what the hell! SealMasters, Sensors, such huge numbers… Don't tell me a Kage is also hiding within their ranks!'
Fujin didn't know that two groups of Bounty hunters were hunting him together. He'd have been confident of taking one group on by himself. But with the two groups working together, he didn't want to take much risk. Hiruzen and Shikaku also didn't predict that Fujin would lure two groups of bounty hunters. Otherwise, they would have sent more ninjas along with him.
At the same time, Pakkun said, "Kakashi, thirty-five new scents have suddenly appeared!"
Kakashi's eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Thirty-five?"
Pakkun replied, "Yes. Fujin is running back in our direction but enemies are faster than him. They will reach him before us."
Kakashi said, "Everyone, we will move at our fastest speed!"
Guy grinned and said loudly, "Thirty-Five bounty hunters on your first mission as an Elite Jounin! I'd expect nothing less from my eternal rival!"
Despite talking, he was the only one in the squad who was able to keep up with Kakashi's speed.
Kakashi didn't pay attention to Guy's words as he was confused, 'Didn't Shikaku say that Fujin was incredibly fast on his feet? How are they faster than him?'
Among the bounty hunters, one of the sensors informed, "His chakra has split into four! According to the intel, he knows the Shadow Clone jutsu. I can't identify who is the real one!"
Renzo commanded, "Keep track of all four of them. If they split, we will also split and chase one each!"
Fujin's clones didn't split up. The bounty hunters moved incredibly fast and quickly caught up with Fujin. They still maintained the four groups. Two were trying to chase Fujin from the right and left while the remaining two were on his rear. The ones in the rear were led by Renzo and Shingo respectively.
Fujin looked back at them and thought, 'Alright, they are close enough.'
Fujin and his clones split into pairs of two and dispersed in opposite directions. This forced the two groups in his rear to split up and move towards the groups on their respective sides. The situation suddenly changed as now the groups on Fujin's two sides became the closest to him while the groups at his rear lagged behind.
Fujin kept observing their positions. Soon, all four groups of bounty hunters and the two pairs of Fujin's clones were in a straight line, Fujin and his clones stopped and turned around.
'Fire Release: Searing Migraine jutsu'
'Wind Release: Infinite Breakthrough jutsu'
One clone released the Searing Migraine jutsu while the one next to released the Infinite Breakthrough jutsu. The same was replicated by the other pair. The jutsus combined together perfectly and fused into one deadly attack.
The bounty hunters who were chasing at their full speed were suddenly stunned to see a massive firestorm head towards them! The attack came without any warning and they had very little time to react.
