The incoming weapons and jutsus clashed with Fujin's attack. Without any suspense, all were knocked back towards the village. In fact, the Wind current was so strong that it looked like it would uproot the entire village!
However, a massive invisible barrier appeared around the village. The winds hit the barrier and couldn't penetrate through it!
Fujin observed the barrier and thought, 'Fortunately I learnt those new seals. Looks like this is the work of a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster. I almost fell into a deadly trap!'
While it was easy to become a SealMaster, Fuinjutsu Grandmasters were very rare. The only one with whom Fujin interacted during missions was Uchiha Sora. Apart from him, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Tsunade and Danzo were the only ones he knew in Konoha that were Grandmasters for sure.
Apart from them, there was one Fuinjutsu Grandmaster who made inscribed seals for the Anbu, but Fujin never found his identity. Fujin did speculate there to be a few more in Konoha, but the knowledge wasn't publicly known. It was the same for the other villages. No information was available on who reached this level of Fuinjutsu due to how easy it was to hide.
Though Fujin had come across seals inscribed by Grandmaster previously, they were in places where he had expected them to be and without anyone actively managing them. This was the first time for him to be ambushed on the battlefield by one. So he had never experienced how the advanced seals placed by them would be perceived by his senses. Fortunately, his long training in Fuinjutsu prevented him from walking into a trap.
Fujin thought, 'It'd be great if I can see who this person is. Once the identity is leaked, he or she will be forced to stay hidden. But for now, I need to draw them out.'
While the barrier blocked the attack, Fujin and his teammates immediately retreated away from the village. Though they didn't sense anyone, they realized that many ninjas were hiding in the village. Inside the barrier, a frown formed on the face of the ninja who punched Fujin's sword.
Seeing no way to lure the Konoha ninjas in, he shouted, "Chase and kill them!"
Immediately, dozens of ninjas rushed out of the barrier. In addition, 3 squads of ninjas appeared on the flanks and behind the Konoha ninjas.
As soon as they appeared, the Konoha ninjas became very serious. Fujin wondered, 'Iwagakure ninjas? What is Iwagakure planning by kidnapping so many people? This isn't their style of action. And…'
Fujin looked at the large man that had punched his sword and thought, 'What is so important that they sent Kitsuchi on this mission? Shit, this guy is considered S rank. Though he is probably among the weaker S ranked ninjas, he will still be a very difficult opponent. We need to retreat.'
Fujin's teammates also saw Kitsuchi and had a grim expression. One S ranked ninja along with 96 Iwa ninjas was too much for them to handle. And they didn't know if anyone else was still hidden in the village.
At the same time, Kitsuchi looked at Fujin and thought, 'Suzuki Fujin… So close. Had he stepped in, I could have killed him. But such alertness…'
An old man stepped next to him and said, "This young man has a good grasp of Fuinjutsu. It's possible that he is a Grandmaster as well. Don't take him lightly."
Kitsuchi nodded and said, "He has a lot of other annoying capabilities as well. This will be a costly battle."
If Fujin was aware that Kitsuchi was aware of his identity, he would be surprised. In addition, he would also smell something fishy. Unfortunately, he couldn't read Kitsuchi's thoughts. And he had already stepped into their trap. He appeared next to his team and said, "Formation 77, Rear."
His squad immediately understood the command. They stood in a triangle formation with Fujin at the center. All three grabbed a scroll and opened it while facing outwards and made the confrontation hand seal.
Immediately, 33 Kunai with explosive tags attached were launched from each scroll.
Seeing the attack, a few of the Iwa ninjas slammed their hands on the ground.
'Earth Release: Earth Wall jutsu'
Multiple layers of walls appeared in front of them, surrounding the Konoha ninjas from all sides. The kunais hit the wall and exploded. One layer of the walls was destroyed by the explosion but the layers behind it stood. However, this was just the start of Fujin's tactic.
Four Shadow Clones of Fujin appeared around them. Without wasting any time, all flickered in front of the walls.
'Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Wave jutsu'
At the same time, Fujin's squad moved towards the enemy squad at their rear. Fumito rapidly weaved hand seals.
'Lightning Release: False Darkness jutsu'
Fujin's clones launched dozens of Vacuum blades at the walls. All pierced through the walls with ease and moved towards the Iwa ninjas. A smile formed on the faces of Fujin's clones. Hitting enemies who thought that they were safe was a tactic that had yielded him too many kills.
At the same time, the Lightning spears launched by Fumito broke through the walls and moved towards the ninjas behind them.
However, something happened that shocked Fujin's clones. As the Vacuum Blades approached the Iwa ninjas, every one of them got out of their way. And they didn't do it by just marginally avoiding them. Instead, they dodged leaving sufficient distance to not be harmed by any suction force. It was almost as if they were waiting in anticipation to dodge the incoming attacks.
The four Iwa ninjas dodged Fumito's Lightning spears as well. But the Konoha ninjas had anticipated that. Fujin followed up by shooting 8 Vacuum Bullets, 2 for each ninja, from a very close range. However, as soon as the Vacuum Bullets were shot, the Iwa ninjas immediately jumped out of the way, almost as if they knew that Fujin would attack them in this manner. All the bullets were dodged safely.
Fujin's eyes widened. He thought, 'What the hell? They dodged at such close range? Wait, I don't sense any chakra disappearing from my clones' attacks either. Did they all dodge?'
Fujin didn't understand. If he used the Vacuum bullets at such close range, only Elite Jounins would be able to dodge in such a convincing manner. But the chakra levels of the four ninjas were much lower. In addition, his clones' attacks were dodged as well. But there was no way that all the dozens of Iwa ninjas were Elite Jounins.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any time to make sense of the situation. The four Iwa Jounins facing them counterattacked. Though the Konoha ninjas managed to deal with the attacks, it provided enough time for the remaining Iwa ninjas to come swarming towards them.
He thought, 'This is bad. My tactic's success depends on killing a few enemies quickly and demotivating the rest to chase us due to the costs they would have to incur. But since neither Vacuum waves nor bullets managed to kill anyone, we will be swarmed by them.'
Fujin had a bad feeling. He properly observed the Iwa ninjas. They didn't come flooding towards the Konoha ninjas to abuse their numerical superiority. Instead, only 7 additional squads rushed at them. The others quickly began establishing a perimeter to stop any escape. But they were very close as well and could jump into the battle at any moment. It was as if the Iwa ninjas wanted them dead at all costs.
Seeing the situation, Two of Fujin's clones moved towards a couple of incoming squads and stalled them. The remaining two clones got together and faced the direction which had the maximum number of Iwa ninjas.
'Fire Release: Searing Migraine jutsu'
'Wind Release: Infinite Breakthrough jutsu'
The two jutsus combined seamlessly and a massive Firestorm was launched at the incoming Iwa ninjas. However, before they could be hit, Kitsuchi slammed his hands on the ground.
A massive Earth Wall appeared in front of the Iwa ninjas. The Fire and Wind combination jutsu hit the wall and was about to move around and over it, but the size of the wall kept increasing and surprisingly kept up with the expanding firestorm. The wall curved to properly protect all the Iwa ninjas so that the Firestorm would harmlessly pass by.
Though the attack was stopped to the clones' dismay, it stopped the Iwa ninjas behind the wall temporarily, allowing Fujin and his remaining clones a breather.
One of the clones flickered in front of the incoming squad and shot a dozen Air bullets. Once again, all the bullets were dodged. The clone stopped their counterattack while analyzing, 'They know about my skills. They move as soon as I attack. The same should have happened with Vacuum waves. But why would everyone be aware of my skills?'
Suddenly, the clone flickered again and appeared behind them. The Iwa ninjas quickly dispersed in four different directions immediately. Surprisingly, a cut appeared on the back of each of their necks. Before it could cut through, two of the ninjas hardened their bodies using Iron Skin jutsu and stopped the attack. The remaining two dropped dead.
The clone analyzed, 'Looks like they don't know all my tricks. Air Bullets, Infinite Breakthrough and Vacuum jutsus were anticipated. But Blade of Wind caught them off-guard.'
As soon as the two ninjas died, a squad from the perimeter moved and attacked the clone, keeping him busy. So despite the killing, the situation of the Konoha ninjas didn't improve.
