Taking opportunity of the situation, Noriyuki, along with 4 Jounins, began escaping. Gin sensed it and muttered, "Do you think it'd be this easy to escape from me?"
He weaved hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground once again.
Despite the large distance between them, the ground under the feet of Noriyuki's group turned into a swamp. They immediately jumped backwards. However, several mud balls were launched at them from the swamp.
One of the Kusa ninjas weaved hand signs.
'Water Release: Water Wall jutsu'
A water wall appeared in front of them and stopped the Mud balls. However, soon the land to the right of them began moving. A second later, a large, bronze dragon head popped out of the ground. It opened its mouth and shot multiple cannonballs made of mud at the group.
The Kusa ninjas hurriedly dodged while the dragon head dived underground once again. One of the Kusa ninjas shouted, "Be careful! It will attack us from below and blow itself up!"
His words alarmed Noriyuki and the rest. They stayed on their toes and tried attacking the Dragon underground in order to make it explode deep underground. However, several spikes and needles were launched at them forcing them to keep evading and cutting off their escape routes.
Fujin sensed the attack and thought, 'Such a large range. But, why hasn't he ordered a retreat? Their losses are already too high and this situation is very disadvantageous and dangerous for him.'
Though he and Ryoichi tried to stop him, they were outnumbered. When Fujin used any Vacuum attack, Gin would move away and then place his palms on the ground once again. Finally, the remaining Kusa and Konoha ninjas made their way across the fire and debris and joined the battle.
Ryoichi instructed, "Keep their weaker ninjas busy. We will eliminate their leaders."
The Kusa ninjas immediately obeyed his command. As for Fujin's team, they had already attacked. With their aid, the number advantage was evened out. Fujin flickered towards Chiharu while Ryoichi confronted Gin.
Gin confronted Ryoichi while observing the battlefield. He analyzed, 'Despite the enemy reinforcements, we still had one more ninja. 5 ninjas are equally matched while we have the advantage in 3 fights. But…'
Though it looked like they had the overall advantage, Gin was worried. Chiharu couldn't match up to Fujin at all. He barely hung on. Gin sighed, 'I can't afford to take any more pointless losses. If I knew that someone as ferocious as he would be protecting Noriyuki, then I would have redone our entire strategy.
I didn't want to resort to this, but we don't have any other option now. I can only use my final card. Though this could put my village in some trouble, it's better than just retreating with nothing but losses.'
Within half a minute of confrontation, Fujin had gained the absolute advantage. He was about to deal the final blow when he suddenly jumped away. Numerous earth spikes assaulted his previous position. He looked at Gin.
Gin gritted his teeth and cursed, "Fine. I'll let Kagawa Noriyuki go. But you all will stay here!"
He stopped attacking Noriyuki's group and focused entirely on the existing battlefield. Immediately, Fujin and a few other ninjas were assaulted by spikes, needles, spears and other weapon-shaped projectiles from the ground. Apart from Fujin, everyone fell at a disadvantage. Ryoichi tried his best to stop him but had no success.
A frown appeared on Fujin's face as he analyzed, 'Something is off. Though the move is tactical, he should have done this long ago. And even now he isn't retreating. It's as if he is assured of his victory.'
Fujin had a bad feeling. Immediately, a massive amount of chakra was released by Fujin. Gin was alarmed as winds began flowing around Fujin. Suddenly, vast amounts of Wind were blasted behind Fujin. An Iwa ninja, who was confronting Fumito, was hit by this blast wave and lost his balance and fell towards Fumito. Fumito immediately took advantage of the opening and jabbed his tanto into his throat.
Meanwhile, Fujin disappeared from his spot and appeared behind the ninja fighting with Yugao. Before the Iwa ninja could even react, he was beheaded. Yugao watched with shock in her eyes. She thought, 'I couldn't see him at all!'
However, the one who was the most shocked was Gin. He was maintaining control over the entire battlefield. But two more of his subordinates died! He immediately concentrated on Fujin and launched multiple jutsus.
However, Fujin once again disappeared and appeared behind the ninja fighting Bunjiro and killed him as well. Before Gin could react, Fujin disappeared once again and appeared behind Chiharu. Chiharu immediately turned around and swung his kunai at Fujin. Though he wasn't very skilled at it, chakra could be seen flowing through his kunai.
However, instead of attacking with his sword, Fujin just shot a Vacuum Bullet at point-blank range. Chiharu had no chance of dodging it. The bullet pierced through his forehead leaving a huge hole in his head. He dropped dead as well!
Gin was enraged at that sight. He shouted, "Bastard! Stop running and fight me!"
He launched more spikes at Ryoichi and forced him back while he rushed at Fujin. Winds blasted behind Fujin once again as he appeared in front of Gin in the blink of an eye. Gin saw Fujin swinging his sword at him. He only had one thought, 'Shit!'
Gin's body turned black as he tried to grab Fujin's sword with his right hand. His right hand was even blacker than the rest of his body. Fujin's sword hit his right hand.
Though the Iron Skin jutsu was strong. It was no match for a sword enhanced by Wind nature chakra flow. In addition, Fujin was also assisted by his massive momentum.
The sword cut his right palm open. It cut through his right forearm. Gin gritted his teeth and endured the pain and managed to just get his body out of the way of Fujin's sword. However, he had to pay an extremely high price.
Gin's right hand was cut off. Half of his right forearm was cut off vertically! What remained just bled and hurt like hell. Gin looked at Fujin with hatred in his eyes.
Though Gin and Fujin were quite evenly matched, their strengths lay in different areas. Fujin excelled at close-range fighting and had numerous jutsus to make him lethal at mid-range and long-range. Meanwhile, Gin was better than Fujin at controlling the battlefield and fighting while keeping his enemies at bay.
Though his close-range skills were nothing to scoff at, he wasn't comparable to Fujin. Under normal circumstances, he would maintain his distance and keep Fujin away. Such a battle would only result in a draw. That is why both Fujin and Gin tried to target the weaker enemies to gain a numerical advantage while distracting the other.
Fujin gained an advantage in that aspect. He didn't care about the losses Kusa suffered and he had killed far more Iwa ninjas than the damage Gin managed to inflict on Kusa ninjas. This caused Gin to make a mistake and end up confronting Fujin head-on.
Since Gin had stopped targeting them, Noriyuki and the 4 Jounins with him left the banks and began running towards the interior. Noriyuki said, "We will run full time till we reach back to our town. Once we reach there, Iwagakure won't dare to attack us. We will lodge a complaint with Lord Daimyo and make Iwa pay dearly."
The jounins nodded. They ran a couple hundred meters without any obstruction. Since none of the Iwa ninjas chased them, one Jounin said, "Looks like your plan has worked. The Iwa ninjas can't spare anyone to chase after us."
They were relieved. Noriyuki nodded and said, "Yes, but stay on guard. We can't afford any more los…"
Noriyuki's words were stuck in his mouth as he felt extremely high heat on his right side. He and the jounins turned around to see. A look of shock and terror appeared on their faces. A massive rock covered in lava was heading straight at them.
They wanted to get out of the way. Unfortunately, it was too late. Before their feet could move, the massive lava-covered rock hit them. It crushed the 5 ninjas under its immense weight while burning them and exploded almost immediately.
