Juzo felt a chill in his heart. He turned around while swinging his sword with full strength.
Fujin chuckled internally while attacking with his sword as well. He thought, 'Though the Hiding in Mist assassination technique is impressive, how can it compare to Tobirama's Bringer of Darkness? It even counters the Mangekyou Sharingan to a certain extent. In order to prepare myself for any future fights with Itachi, Obito or Madara, I have trained a lot in that darkness. Compared to it, fighting in this mist is a child's play.'
The two swords clashed. Fujin's sword hit the largest crack in Kubikiribocho. The crack immediately began enlarging and moving across the blade.
At the same time, Fujin shot several Vacuum Bullets at Juzo. To his surprise, Juzo didn't flicker away like before and instead dodged them without using any jutsu. At the same time, he disrupted his own chakra flow.
Due to the close distance and being taken by surprise, Juzo couldn't dodge by a large distance. In fact, one Vacuum Bullet grazed past the right side of his abdomen. Several new and deeper cuts opened up on his arms and legs. The Vacuum Bullet that grazed past his abdomen took out a large chunk of flesh as it passed him, causing it to bleed profusely.
However, Despite injuring him, Fujin wasn't happy. He thought, 'He realized that my Wind chakra was infiltrating into his body and hence didn't flicker. Tsk, so much for keeping it a secret. I was hoping to kill him or at least fatally injure him.'
Juzo flickered away and disappeared within the mist. Though Fujin couldn't see him, he could hear Juzo's voice from all directions. Juzo said, "You know Susumu's Wind Style Genjutsu? So you were the one who made that mess in the Land of Wind."
Though Akatsuki wasn't interested in the affairs of Sunagakure, they were forced to look into it when they received the news that Suna's Jinchuriki was injured. So Juzo was aware of the events that occurred back then despite not interfering in it.
Juzo's remaining two Water Clones moved towards Fujin. Two Wind Clones formed around Fujin and moved to intercept them. As for Fujin, a dense wind chakra began flowing through his sword once again.
Suddenly, a sound of metal hitting the ground was heard. In an instant, Fujin flickered to that spot. The large crack that he had created in Kubikiribocho expanded along the length of the sword as it snapped into two. Though Juzo was aware of his sword's state, his attention was more towards the injury on his abdomen. This created a temporary opening.
As soon as Fujin appeared, he attacked with his sword while preparing more rounds of Vacuum Bullet. Despite having just half of his sword, it was still larger than Fujin's sword. Juzo's chakra flowed through Kubikiribocho as he used it to block Fujin's sword and flickered away to dodge the Vacuum Bullets. At the same time, he constantly disrupted his chakra to not be affected by any Genjutsu.
Fujin gave chase and the two engaged in high-speed combat once again. The two Water Clones were dispelled by kamikaze attacks by the Wind Clones. Due to how evenly they were matched, Fujin knew that the clones would be in a deadlock as well. So Fujin chose to explode his clones to finish their battles in a rush and gain an advantage. After all, if both of them consumed their chakra at an equal speed, he would get the advantage.
While Fujin and Juzo were fighting, Yugao and the rest chased down the Kiri ninjas. Though the Kiri ninjas put up a good resistance, the poisoning kept worse as time passed on. So they kept on getting weaker and had difficulty in dodging and controlling their chakra. Eventually, despite reaching the sea, they were still all killed by Fujin's team.
As they sealed and stored the bodies, Bunjiro said, "Getting poisoned with an unknown poison before a battle is extremely disadvantageous."
Fumito nodded and said, "We would have lost easily and the Captain would have to step in if they weren't poisoned. But the situation was completely reversed."
Yugao sealed the last body and said, "We still have to help our captain. Juzo is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He is incredibly strong. Though we have to be careful about not getting in his way."
Fumito thought for a bit and replied, "I don't think Mind-Body Switch will work on him if we can't pin him down first. Even if I succeed, maintaining it will be very difficult."
Yugao nodded and said, "Yes. Let's go back and observe the situation firs… What happened?"
As Yugao was talking, she noticed Fumito's eyes widening all of a sudden. A look of shock appeared on his face. Fumito looked towards the sea and thought, 'What an immense chakra! Who is it?'
He quickly said, "Retreat!"
In an instant, all three flickered and began moving towards Fujin. En route, Fumito explained what he had sensed.
Fujin and Juzo continued fighting without any external interference. As the two fought, Fujin's expression became grim. Despite his injuries, the only effect it had was that Juzo became more and more bloodthirsty. He became far more aggressive and his fighting style. Fujin didn't mind that and wanted to take advantage of any opening he might get due to over-aggression. However, Juzo didn't give him a single opening.
Fujin analyzed, 'His resilience is mindblowing. Despite those injuries and the blood loss, he is fighting as if he hasn't been injured at all. He is also constantly disrupting his own chakra to eliminate any chances of me casting Genjutsu on him.'
Despite the bloodlust he was projecting on Fujin, Juzo's mind was calm and serious. He analyzed, 'Not good. Despite having an advantage, this kid isn't getting cocky and seems content to slowly whittle me down. I can't deal him a fatal blow if he maintains such a guard the entire time. More importantly, my sword is almost completely ruined!'
Juzo was no longer uncaring about his sword. Due to their frequent clashes, it was completely covered in cracks and it was only a matter of time before it crumbled entirely. Though he could repair his sword later, Juzo understood that he would be in deep trouble against Fujin without his sword.
As they were fighting, Fujin's eyes suddenly widened. Juzo noticed that and instantly attacked Fujin's wrist with his free hand as their swords clashed once again. Fujin saw the attack and hardened his right arm with the Iron Skin jutsu while kicking Juzo's elbow.
Despite hardening his arm, the strike on his wrist caused Fujin to open his hand and lose his sword. Fujin's kick did the same. It knocked the sword from Juzo's hand and worsened the cuts on his right arm.
Fujin ignored his dropped sword and unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks on Juzo. Fujin knew that if he concentrated chakra in his fists, Juzo would run away. So he didn't bother doing it and focused entirely on the speed of his punches.
As he didn't sense any Chakra Concentrated on his fists, Juzo fought back as well. However, to his surprise, he was outmatched once again! Though he defended himself well, Fujin's fists landed on his chest and abdomen several times. He had to use his bleeding arms to defend himself several times, especially because Fujin kept targeting the injury on his abdomen.
Even though none of the hits were fatal, Juzo felt the impact of every punch, causing him to cough blood as he fought. Finally, he raised his leg to block Fujin's kick and used it to get away from him.
At that moment, Yugao and the rest arrived and landed next to Fujin and shouted, "Captain!"
However, Fujin ignored them and fired a few Vacuum Bullets at Juzo who was still in the air. Juzo immediately shot water from his mouth into the air and used the force to fall back to the ground. He barely managed to avoid the bullets, but he crashed into the ground and was dragged due to his speed.
Fujin flickered and summoned his other sword in his left hand. Juzo quickly recovered and got onto his feet. He saw Fujin appearing in front of him and swinging his sword vertically, aiming to hack him in two. Without his sword, he had no method of defending against the sword. He moved back while building up his chakra and weaving hand signs.
'Water Release: Water Prison jutsu'
A water bubble began covering Jozu in order to provide him with some defense. At the same time, he concentrated chakra on his chest, neck and head to slow down Fujin's sword.
Despite the dense water, Fujin's sword easily pierced into the water prison. Juzo gritted his teeth and weaved hand signs. He thought, 'I'll endure this hit and use my body to slow him down. Once his sword lands on me, I'll kill him!'
Fujin understood Juzo's thought but he wasn't concerned about his counterattack. He was confident in cutting him in two before Juzo could attack. He kept going. However, at that very moment, another figure broke into the Water Prison and appeared in front of Juzo. A large white sword blocked Fujin's sword and began sucking the chakra flowing through it.
