The Konoha ninjas got closer. Hisao activated his Byakugan. He said, "There is one person in front of us. Around 1.5 km ahead. He isn't moving, but he isn't Hidan either. He..."
Suddenly, Hisao's eyes widened. A look of shock appeared on his face. He said, "His body is very weird! It is as if there are multiple sources of chakra on his body."
Fujin acted as if he was surprised and said, "Be careful. I recall fighting one such person before. He was very strong. If I say retreat, do so without any word or hesitation."
Fujin's teammates were surprised. However, hearing the seriousness in his voice, no one dared to oppose him.
They continued moving forward. At one point, Shiro confirmed Fujin's suspicions by saying, "I can smell him. He is one of the three from the last group."
Fujin nodded in response. A few seconds later, they appeared in front of Kakuzu, who was waiting to see who was pursuing him. His eyes widened momentarily on seeing Fujin. So did Fujin's eyes. However, unlike Kakuzu, he was just acting.
Kakuzu said, "The Spectral Swordsman from the Hidden Leaf. I didn't expect to see you here."
It hadn't been a long time since Fujin cut down Jozu. As a result, Fujin was still very fresh in the minds of Akatsuki members. That was especially the case with Kakuzu who was very tempted by the bounty on Fujin's head.
Fujin replied, "Kakuzu, a rogue ninja from Takigakure. What are you doing here?"
As he spoke. Fujin's eyes landed on a couple of paper butterflies on Kakuzu's shoulders. He immediately realized, 'Paper butterflies? That should be Konan. Hmm, Itachi, Konan and Kakuzu… What a weird team structure. Oh well, as long as it isn't Obito or Nagato, I don't care. I'll run as soon as I sense Konan or Itachi.'
From the words exchanged, Fujin's teammates immediately understood that Fujin knew the opponent. At the same time, they took a second look at Fujin. They wondered whether Fujin would accept the title. Though the majority of Jounins in Konoha believed that Fujin was the Spectral Swordsman, no one had heard him admitting it openly. However, they would be left disappointed as Fujin neither accepted nor rejected the title.
Kakuzu chuckled and asked, "Do I need to inform Konoha about my whereabouts?"
Fujin didn't particularly care about his sarcasm and directly said, "Seeing the route you are taking, it looks like you were chasing after Hidan as well. I wonder what Akatsuki has to do with that rogue ninja."
Kakuzu replied, "You should be more concerned about yourself. 50 Million Ryo… Your bounty is very tempting."
Kakuzu prepared himself for a clash. Fujin's teammates quickly grabbed their weapons sensing the change in his temparament. However, before the battle could begin, Fujin said, "You guys aren't his match. This mission ends here. Leave and report the mission to Yugakure and then retreat back to Konoha. I'll hold him back and directly return to the village."
Fujin's words surprised them. However, remembering his previous warnings, all of them retreated in a flash, leaving Fujin and Kakuzu alone in the snowy forest. Kakuzu was surprised by the sudden development.
He said, "That's rather courageous of you. I never imagined that the boy who escaped on seeing me would have the courage to face me in a battle so soon."
Fujin chuckled and responded, "That's surprising. I didn't think you'd remember me. Where is Kaminari? I wanted to have a rematch with him."
Kakuzu replied, "You did make quite an impact. Unfortunately, Kaminari has long been dead."
Fujin replied, "That's a shame. Anyway, are you sure you want to fight me? If we both fight, Hidan will manage to escape."
Kakuzu said, "As I said, you should worry about yourself. Enough chit-chat. You subordinates have gone far enough."
Fujin was merely chatting to waste some time. While he was confident in holding Kakuzu back, he had no confidence in ensuring the safety of his subordinates if a second Akatsuki member arrived.
On the other hand, Kakuzu expected a tough fight. He wanted to be sure that Fujin's subordinates left instead of hiding and sneak-attacking him while he was in combat. Though they were much weaker than him, the clans in Konoha were famous for having peculiar jutsus that could turn the battle in an instant.
As soon as he was done speaking, Kakuzu's fist hardened. He suddenly appeared in front of Fujin and punched towards his face. A sword appeared in Fujin's hand. As he slashed at the incoming fist, wind chakra began flowing along the blade. The sword and the fist clashed. To Fujin's surprise, his sword wasn't able to put a scratch in Kakuzu's fist.
Fujin thought, 'Damn! How much did he practice the Iron Skin jutsu to raise it to such an insane level? This is the first time I have failed to even scratch with my sword!'
Fujin had fought Kitsuchi and Roshi earlier. Kitsuchi could use the Iron Skin jutsu as well whereas Roshi used a Lava Armor. However, neither of them could block his swords without taking any damage. It was the first time his sword was completely blocked when he was using chakra flow.
Kakuzu followed up with a flurry of punches. Fujin used his sword to block some and his left palm to block the rest as he retreated continuously. A deep frown could be seen on his face as he struggled to defend against Kakuzu's onslaught.
In terms of speed and strength, Kakuzu appeared to be slightly superior to Fujin. And since Fujin's blade couldn't hurt him, Fujin fell into a disadvantageous position. Kakuzu had complete momentum. Fujin was struggling to keep up. Eventually, a few punches made it through Fujin's defenses. Fortunately, he was able to barely dodge them and avoided getting pummelled.
Suddenly, Kakuzu stopped attacking and jumped behind, puzzling Fujin. Kakuzu looked at the spots on his body that Fujin had touched while defending himself.
He looked at Fujin and said, "It looks like the information was right. You are a Grandmaster at Fuinjutsu. And a pretty good one as well. Even I wouldn't have been able to notice them if I wasn't anticipating them. No wonder Juzo died to you. His death wasn't unjustified."
The main reason why Kakuzu attacked Fujin with Taijutsu was because he wanted to see whether Fujin could apply seals as Zetsu had speculated. He had intentionally given Fujin an opening and as he expected, Fujin took the bait.
Fujin's eyes widened. This time, it wasn't an act. Every time he touched Kakuzu's body, he applied a seal. Kakuzu's fists and arms had several Explosion seals and Self Cursing Seals inscribed on them. To keep stacking on the seals, Fujin even acted like he was struggling to keep up with Kakuzu.
In an instant, Fujin activated every single one of those seals. However, Kakuzu was faster. He released Chakra from his body and eliminated every single seal on his body with perfect accuracy.
Fujin cursed internally, 'This old fossil! He is an expert at Fuinjutsu as well. It shouldn't be a surprise considering how long he has lived or what state his body is in. Oh well, since I had already exposed this against Juzo, I wasn't expecting this to work against any other Akatsuki member anyway.'
Fujin had already exposed his mastery with Fuinjutsu against Juzo. As such, he didn't expect to trap any other Akatsuki member as easily as Juzo. It was only because Kakuzu gave him the opening that he decided to use them and put up an act.
Fujin immediately riled up his chakra and shot a dozen Vacuum Bullets at Kakuzu. Since he couldn't trap Kakuzu with seals, he didn't need to put up any act. Kakuzu immediately got out of the way. A few bullets grazed past his cloak, causing it to tear in various spots.
Fujin flickered and slashed his sword at Kakuzu as if he wanted to cut him into two halves! Kakuzu raised his arm and hardened it. The sword hit his arm and was stopped as Kakuzu expected. This time, he was neither slower nor weaker than Kakuzu. Both were equal.
Not wanting to allow Fujin to take the momentum, Kakuzu counterattacked instantly with his other fist and tried punching Fujin. Fujin's left palm was already moving to block the incoming fist. However, Kakuzu felt something odd. Instead of blocking normally, the wind was flowing in a peculiar manner at Fujin's fingertips. Kakuzu's eyes widened in shock as he understood what was happening.
He immediately moved backwards while hardening his entire body. However, Fujin had no intention of letting him off that easily. Though Fujin didn't expect to kill Kakuzu and was neither interested in doing so, he would be terribly disappointed in himself if he didn't cause Kakuzu to lose any hearts.
