Suikazan Fuguki looked at the enormous chakra skeleton giant and felt a flicker of unease.
He'd thought this would be an easy, guaranteed win. Then the Konoha fighter on the other side had suddenly pulled a seemingly impressive jutsu out of nowhere. Fuguki knew that feeling all too well.
Two years ago, when the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had gone to attack Konoha, full of confidence, they'd run into the same situation—
That time, four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been left on the battlefield forever by that bushy-browed man.
And now there were seven of them again!
Suikazan Fuguki glanced at the two squads of elite ninja on either side of him and couldn't help feeling a bead of sweat form.
"Could this jutsu be the legendary Susanoo?"
An older elite ninja murmured, his gaze wavering.
Knowing the enemy's jutsu would make it much easier to handle.
Fuguki had grown more cautious since the crushing defeat in the Land of Fire. Watching Susanoo with his sword in hand, he frowned and said:
"Ran, tell me everything you know about this jutsu. Quickly!"
"When I was little, I heard the Second say..." The elite ninja named Ran looked wistful.
"When he was young, he crossed the sea westward with the First to challenge the 'Demon,' Uchiha Madara. After a long, hard battle, he was defeated by this jutsu.
"He didn't tell me much about what it could do. He only said it was a perfect jutsu, with the strongest defense and the strongest attack!"
Are you sure you're not a spy? Why are you just singing the enemy's praises?!
Seeing the Mist Ninja on his side grow increasingly panicked, Suikazan Fuguki glared and shouted:
"Don't be afraid! He's all alone. We'll hit him with everything we've got—we can definitely drag him out of that shell!"
For a moment, ninjutsu and Kunai flew together, yet not one of them could so much as shake Susanoo.
"Samehada: Energy Devouring Slash!"
The muscles in Suikazan Fuguki's arm bulged as he poured all his strength into the blow. With a Body Flicker Technique, he suddenly appeared above Susanoo and brought the great sword Samehada crashing down on its skeletal head.
Thud!
The muffled impact of the sword against Susanoo made Fuguki's heart sink.
As he'd expected, the slash—more destructive than most A-rank ninjutsu—hadn't left even the slightest crack in Susanoo.
But—
The spikes on Samehada stood on end.
Fuguki could feel it struggling to absorb some of the chakra that had taken solid form. The skeletal head of Susanoo paled a little.
Boom!
A skeletal arm slammed down on the head. It squeezed with all its might, but only a trickle of water slipped through its fingers.
Suikazan Fuguki retreated behind the others. His brow furrowed as he stared at Uchiha Chen, surrounded by Susanoo's ribs.
Uchiha Chen stood in place with his arms crossed over his chest, too lazy to move. When Fuguki looked his way after escaping, Chen smirked and crooked a finger at him.
What an arrogant Uchiha brat!
Fuguki looked furious, but inwardly he believed his test had revealed Susanoo's weakness:
If it's chakra, Samehada can swallow it all!
In just a minute, Susanoo had swept from side to side, grabbed, struck, and smashed, already causing nearly twenty casualties. Fuguki didn't care in the least.
"Ran, the three of you prepare a Combination Jutsu. I'll create an opening for you. Luo, take everyone else and keep him occupied."
As he absorbed the vast amount of chakra Samehada fed back to him, Suikazan Fuguki quickly formed a few Hand Seals. Grinning viciously, he shouted:
"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
He spewed a vast flood of water from his mouth, as boundless as the ocean, surging toward Susanoo. Yet even a torrent nearly as powerful as a tsunami couldn't make Uchiha Chen move a single step.
But Suikazan Fuguki had already achieved his goal. The jutsu created a body of water nearly a kilometer across, turning the area into a battlefield tailor-made for Water Style users.
Samehada: Fusion.
Suikazan Fuguki's appearance changed dramatically. A shark's tail grew from his tailbone, and he soon became a horrifying half-man, half-shark monster.
He plunged into the water. Like a fish entering the sea, he was no longer constrained by anything, and vanished in an instant.
"So that's the move!"
Uchiha Chen licked his lips and laughed aloud, bloodlust in his voice.
"Ha! The gap between our strength is like a chasm!
"Give it everything you've got, then die in despair and terror!"
"Water Style: Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
In an instant, countless translucent sharks filled the entire body of water and began their bloodthirsty hunt.
Hundreds, thousands of transparent sharks rushed toward Uchiha Chen like moths to a flame. They shattered against Susanoo, each one devouring a trace of the chakra that formed it before being pulverized.
Now!
In the distance, the three elite ninja formed Hand Seals at the same time.
"Wind Style: Wind Tornado!" "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" "Lightning Style: Thunder Blast!"
[Combination Jutsu: Lightning Water Tornado]
A water dragon tens of meters long burst from the surface of the lake, wrapped in a raging wind and dazzling lightning, and hurtled straight at Uchiha Chen.
The Thousand Feeding Sharks had eaten away at Susanoo's chakra, leaving its surface pitted. Ran and the others had deliberately aimed the Lightning Water Tornado at the most heavily damaged spot.
But—
"It's no use. Absorbing chakra was a creative idea, but a jutsu like that still isn't enough to destroy Susanoo."
Just as Uchiha Chen had said, the massive Lightning Water Tornado soon began to lose momentum. But then, just as it was mostly dissipated and the Mist Ninja were sinking into despair, a blue-skinned, half-shark man leapt from the tail of the water dragon.
"Didn't expect that, did you, Uchiha Chen? This is my real attack plan!"
Samehada: Water Leap Splash.
Suikazan Fuguki opened his enormous shark mouth and bit down hard on the outside of Susanoo, where half its body had been damaged. He gulped down the chakra flames covering Susanoo as if they were flowing water.
Crack!
The strange skeleton surrounding Uchiha Chen developed a fracture.
Seeing this, Suikazan Fuguki sucked even more eagerly.
"You're sucking it down nicely, Fuguki."
Uchiha Chen uncrossed his arms, which he'd kept folded over his chest since the battle began, and slowly clapped. His face held the pity of someone looking down on the lowly, as though Fuguki were no more than an insect.
"Just a little more." Uchiha Chen made a gesture that would have enraged any South Korean.
"For a mere mortal, you've done your best!
"But do you know? This is only the first stage of Susanoo."
Uchiha Chen slowly raised one finger, then lifted his middle finger, ring finger, and little finger in turn. A disdainful smile curled his lips.
"Before the true Perfect Susanoo, there are four stages in all."
Uchiha Chen clenched both fists. The eerie light in his eyes blazed brighter, and a deafening rumble suddenly erupted. Suikazan Fuguki had no time to think before an irresistible force sent him flying.
The pits in Susanoo filled in. Veins and flesh rapidly grew along its bones, and a long, dark-red katana twisted into shape amid the blazing chakra.
"So, facing the second stage of Susanoo, how far can you go?"
"Ahhh!"
The three ninja in the distance who'd unleashed the Combination Jutsu broke down. Ignoring their comrades and the Mist Ninja's ironclad rules, they turned and tried to flee.
Yasaka Magatama.
Susanoo's red chest suddenly opened, and a chakra mass shaped like a Tomoe shot out.
Boom!
A tremendous roar echoed across the land. The expanding shockwave swept countless trees up like leaves in a gale, hurling them in all directions to crash down across Dayu Mountain.
"Ha ha ha ha! What filthy fireworks!"
Uchiha Chen laughed like a madman.
Susanoo grabbed Suikazan Fuguki with one hand and lifted him up before Uchiha Chen, his mind already lost in despair.
"Can you keep entertaining me?"
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