Roshi flipped in the air and landed back on his feet but was still dragged backwards for another dozen meters. He looked at Fujin who was standing in the same spot. However, his left hand was lit on fire. Roshi chuckled and said, "Since you dared to punch my lava armor, you can say goodbye to your ha…"
His words got stuck in his throat as he saw Fujin wave his left arm in the air and the fire dissipated. He noticed that Fujin's left arm was completely black in color. A frown appeared on Roshi's face as he realized, 'Iron Skin jutsu. He can use rank B Earth jutsus as well? Though it isn't enough to resist my armor for a longer period but should enable him to be able to punch or kick me.'
The cut on Roshi's right hand stopped bleeding and began healing slowly. Suddenly, Fujin's entire body became covered in the same color. The fire on his clothes was extinguished as Fujin flickered and appeared behind Roshi. He slashed his sword at his back. Roshi immediately escaped. A sword slash was released from Fujin's sword. It hit the river and left a deep scar across it.
Fujin chased after Roshi thinking, 'I can't maintain Iron Skin jutsu for too long. I need to deal some critical blows quickly.'
Just when Fujin was about to reach him, Roshi turned around and spat out a large amount of lava. Fujin's eyes widened as he flickered away in an instant and landed on top of the river.
The lava covered the entire area. Waves of lava surged towards Fujin like a Tsunami. Fujin frowned and wondered, 'Does he want to massacre the entire town behind me? Even if it silences the ones who heard my roar, there is no way Iwa can get out of this mess without suffering any major diplomatic consequences. '
Fujin swung his sword at the river. This time, he didn't focus on the penetrating power. Instead, he created a 100-meter-long wind slash. The wind slash hit the river vertically along the length of the river. It caused the river water to gush out towards the lava wave. The water and lava waves clashed, covering the entire area in mist. The lava wave broke through the water wave but lost a lot of its momentum. It still continued forward and entered the river.
Knowing that it won't be able to harm Fujin, Roshi appeared on the river bank and ran across the river to fight Fujin. Fujin was about to attack when he sensed a chakra build up behind him.
'Water Release: Raging Waves jutsu'
'Water Release: Raging Waves jutsu'
'Lightning Release: False Darkness jutsu'
Bunjiro and Yugao spat a large amount of water. The water in the river mixed with their attack and it rushed towards Roshi like a waterfall. At the same time, Fumito released a strong Lightning current in the waterfall.
A frown formed on Roshi's face. He spat out a large amount of lava once again while he retreated back to the river bank. Fujin swung his sword at the lava wave and flickered next to Yugao on the river bank behind him.
The wind slash hit the lava wave. It slowed down the momentum of the wave by more than 70%. A moment later, the combination jutsu of Water and Lightning hit the lava wave! It forced the lava wave back to the other bank.
Roshi slammed his hands on the ground. 3 layers of walls formed by molten rocks appeared in front of him. The combination attack broke through the first wall but was stopped by the second wall. The third wall broke down by itself and molten rocks were fired at the Konoha and Kusa ninjas on the other bank.
Fujin swung his sword at the incoming rocks and asked, "What's the status?"
The slashes hit the molten rocks. The smaller rocks were split into two, while the larger ones had a deep scar in them. They lost their momentum and dropped into the river.
Yugao replied, "We tried chasing them, but they retreated below the ground. Chasing became very risky due to their constant and unpredictable attacks from underground."
Fujin was surprised. He thought, 'I see. I guess taking off one arm wasn't sufficient. Sigh, I should not underestimate anyone who managed to gain the Elite Jounin rank. Though I guess that others might have helped him.'
He said, "Alright, you guys retreat. I'll retreat soon as well. We will meet up in the same town."
His subordinates nodded while the Kusa ninjas sighed in relief. They had seen the terrible devastation caused by Fujin and Roshi's fight. The entire landscape on the other side of the river had changed. There was no longer any grass on the land. Instead, the entire land had turned into volcanic terrain covered in long scars.
Even the river wasn't spared. They could see a slash cutting across the river. In addition, though most of the lava was washed along by the river, some of it was still left behind and solidified. It had decreased the width of the river by 20-35% in some places.
Yugao wondered, 'Why do these cuts on the land look like sword attacks?'
The Konoha and Kusa ninjas began running along the river to get away from them. Roshi didn't pay any attention to them as he analyzed, 'Gin should have kept them safe. Even without Gin, they would have a very difficult time chasing them successfully. No other village can compare with us when it comes to making an orderly retreat.
Though I could try to kill them, I'm afraid that this guy will allow me to kill them so that he can get an opportunity to sneak attack me.'
He said in a loud voice, "You must be the rumored Spectral Swordsman who gained fame recently. As expected, you are from Konoha."
The retreating ninjas heard him and were surprised. Yugao looked back at Fujin and thought, 'He is the Spectral Swordsman? No wonder his swordplay is so good!'
Bunjiro wondered, 'Spectral Swordsman? What's that?'
Meanwhile, the Kusa ninjas had a grim expression. After all, the number of Kusa ninjas that fell to the Spectral Swordsman's blade wasn't small.
Ryoichi looked at Yugao and asked, "Is he the Spectral Swordsman?"
Yugao shook her head and replied, "I'm not aware of him having any such title."
A frown formed on Ryoichi's face. Though Yugao was wearing a mask, he could sense from her words that she wasn't lying. He looked back at Roshi and wondered, 'Is he lying? Or is that Konoha Anbu the Spectral Swordsman but his subordinates are unaware.'
Suddenly, his eyes widened. So did the ones of other ninjas who were watching them.
For the first time since they began fighting, Fujin grabbed his sword with both hands and pulled it to his right side. An immense amount of wind chakra flowed through the sword. In an instant, he swung his sword forming a proper arc.
A gigantic wind slash was released from his sword. Alongside it, extremely sharp and strong winds were released. The winds under the slash hit the river water. Several cuts appeared in the river. And all the river water for around a hundred meters was sent rolling to the other side of the bank!
The Kusa ninjas were horrified by the attack. Bunjiro was starstruck while Yugao and Fumito had serious expressions. Though they had realized that Fujin was stronger than them, they never imagined that the difference between them would be so high. Despite their emotions, they, like the Kusa ninjas, doubled their speed and escaped.
Of course, the one who was the most serious was Roshi. The lava armor on his body began burning brightly as he jumped up immediately and dodged the main wind slash. At the same time, he spat out molten lava and swiftly shaped it into a half-spherical shield. In an instant, it solidified.
Hundreds of small cuts appeared on the shield, but it held on as Roshi kept pouring more chakra and lava into it. A second later, it was hit by the water wave. Roshi wasn't concerned about the water. After all, Fujin couldn't control it. But he was on high alert.
Though his shield stood strong, he abandoned it and moved to his left. A moment later, a Vacuum bullet streaked through the water and hit the shield, piercing it with ease.
The river water travelled a long distance along the banks. Due to the heated ground, which was mixed with Lava, a lot of it was turned into steam. In a few seconds, the entire terrain was covered in steam and it became very difficult to see. Roshi's frown deepened.
A second later, he gathered a lot of chakra in his right fist and punched towards his left. His fist hit Fujin's sword and stopped it. He noticed that Fujin's body was covered with the Iron Skin jutsu once again. Instead of attacking again, Fujin took a step back and disappeared from Roshi's eyesight.
