There were two ways to counter this technique. The simplest was to use Earth Release, which could easily break it.
But he did not know Earth Release.
The second was to seize the moment when his opponent emerged and land an effective blow.
But how could he know when his opponent would emerge? Besides, a Chunin was using it, making it even more deceptive.
Kusen was in danger.
Chapter 49: A Fierce Battle Between Two Chunin
Kusen was taking a beating.
He kicked one of the Akishimas, but his foot passed straight through him. A clone beside him punched him in the lower back, sending him flying.
He rolled onto the ground, and more Akishimas immediately rushed over, continuing their attacks.
He could barely hold them off and had no way of telling which attacks were real, so he chose the most basic method: block them all.
Fists and feet rained down on him.
"Damn it, how am I supposed to fight this?" Kusen could only retreat again and again.
The Waterfall Clone Technique was not powerful, but he had no way to counter it.
"Muyu!"
He had no choice but to pin his hopes on his subordinate. The last time an enemy had been poisoned, Muyu had finished him off.
But...
Where was Muyu?!
After looking around, he found not a trace of a living person like Muyu, nor could he even hear any fighting.
That bastard didn't just run away, did he?
Several Akishima clones charged in and continued to gang up on Kusen, forcing him to retreat again and again.
In the end, he jumped onto a tree and looked down at the many Akishima clones below.
The waterfall clones actually belonged to Earth Release, so they could not do much against trees... could they?
The group of clones turned and began attacking the tree.
The enormous tree shook with booming crashes. Soon, its massive trunk snapped in half, forcing Kusen to move elsewhere.
"This is going too far!!"
Kusen leaped straight onto another tree, but every time he jumped to a tree, the group of Akishimas smashed it.
They were no slower than he was.
This forced him to keep moving, steadily shifting the battlefield back toward their earlier location.
"Don't think you can escape!" The group of Akishimas pursued relentlessly, sticking close behind Kusen.
Kusen turned to look at the dense mass of figures. Not daring to pause for even a moment, he ran straight to a spot near their original hiding place.
Once there, he relaxed a little. How had he ended up moving the battle away from here earlier?
Now that he was here, he advanced instead of retreating, jumping straight down from the tree and charging at Akishima.
He darted through the Akishima clones. One clone leaped high, drew a kunai, and lunged at Kusen's back.
"It's over!"
By now, Kusen's stamina and chakra were both severely depleted.
With the Akishima clones' presences overlapping, he could not distinguish the real body at all.
This gave Akishima his chance. He was already behind Kusen, and all he needed to do was drive his kunai through his chest from behind to take his life.
Just then, the airborne Akishima abruptly stopped in midair. His pupils suddenly contracted, and Kusen turned around with an icy smile on his face.
Kusen leaped up and sent Akishima flying with a kick.
After flying backward for some distance, Akishima suddenly stopped and fell straight to the ground. At some point, wire had wound around his ankle, along with something that was activating...
"Explosive tags!!"
Boom!!
Kusen jumped a step back. Watching the Akishima clones rapidly disappear, he dropped to one knee and slowly exhaled a stale breath.
There were traps designed by Hyuga Akira here, and they were spread all around.
Without these traps, he really would not have been able to turn defeat into victory.
The dust stirred up by the explosion gradually dispersed. Akishima, also kneeling on one knee in the distance, frowned at Kusen.
The explosive tags had still been some distance from him. Although they had injured him, the damage was not particularly severe.
They had also blasted apart the wire around his ankle.
He no longer dared to act rashly. Shifting his attention away from Kusen, he discovered quite a few wires placed around them.
If he had not been entirely focused on Kusen earlier, he should have noticed them long ago.
But...
"Why didn't you use this place earlier?" Akishima asked Kusen.
Kusen awkwardly looked away. He had not set these traps himself. His confidence in himself, along with his petty sense of inferiority, had made him unwilling to use the traps Hyuga Akira had designed.
After that...
He had forgotten.
The fighting had been so intense that it had never crossed his mind. If he had not been utterly outmatched, he really would not have remembered at all.
"You wanted me to overlook this place? What a clever strategy." Akishima growled through gritted teeth.
One of his subordinates had already fallen into a trap earlier. He had thought that was the only one, never expecting there to be so many.
If the two of them had not fought for so long without triggering any traps, he would not have dismissed them completely.
What are you talking about?!
Do you even hear what you're saying?!
If I had brains like that, how could I still be a Chunin here?
But then again, it had indeed dealt his opponent quite a blow.
Why should it not count as his strategy?
Kusen copied Hyuga Akira's grin. He felt that Hyuga Akira's smile suited the occasion perfectly.
He stood up and charged toward Akishima. This time, he would kill him outright.
As for the traps scattered around them, he had watched Muyu set them up, so naturally he knew where they were, both the visible ones and the hidden ones.
Akishima hastily blocked with his kunai. The two kunai clashed rapidly, sending sparks flying.
The tables had turned, and now Kusen had the upper hand.
Akishima had to watch out for the surrounding traps while fending off Kusen's attacks, and for the moment, he was forced back under the pressure.
Even retreating was not that easy. There were quite a few traps a short distance behind him, and he had to keep watching them.
No, I have to move the fight somewhere else. Otherwise, I'll either die at Kusen's hands or be killed by the traps.
He looked into the trees. The light rain made it extremely difficult to distinguish the hidden wires.
But with effort, he still found a few clear spaces. As long as he broke through one of those spots, he could quickly shift the battlefield.
Akishima jumped off the ground, about to leap onto a distant tree.
Kusen saw what Akishima intended and hastily jumped up to stop him.
"You're not getting away."
If they moved elsewhere, the outcome would be uncertain. This Akishima was clearly much stronger than he was.
His kunai slashed through Akishima's body as though passing through air.
Damn it.
It was a clone.
By now, the real Akishima had already jumped beyond the trapped area and was leaping toward a tree.
Just as he was about to reach a branch, a figure suddenly arrived there ahead of him.
Hyuga Akira grinned at Akishima and asked, "Surprised? Didn't see that coming, did you?"
Akishima narrowed his eyes. It was only a Genin. Although this differed somewhat from the plan, he still had confidence in his taijutsu.
Just a mere Genin.
Gentle Fist: Mountain-Breaking Strike!
Hyuga Akira slammed his palm into Akishima's abdomen, making his eyes widen. The force transmitted through that palm far exceeded a Genin's-even a Chunin did not possess such excessive strength.
Boom!
Akishima flew backward and downward, plummeting heavily and pulling countless wires into motion. They quickly wound around his body, along with the explosive tags attached to them.
Boom!!
The firelight illuminated their surroundings.
[Experience 1869]
Hyuga Akira looked down at Kusen, who had landed on the ground and was staring at him in bewilderment.
Chapter 50: Finally, It Was Time to Silence Him
Kusen sighed in relief when he saw Akishima blown to pieces. The most dangerous enemy was dead at last.
He had not expected the shinobi Shōzō sent to be so strong. He had nearly met with disaster.
As long as he handled things properly from here, it would take Rain Shadow Shōzō quite some time to discover anything. That would give Lord Hanzo enough time to accomplish a great deal.
Everything he did was for Lord Hanzo, for Amegakure.
"What about the other three?" Kusen wiped the blood from his face, where Akishima's fist had struck him.
His desperate resistance earlier had left him with substantial injuries.
Hyuga Akira remained in the tree, showing no intention of coming down. With a light chuckle, he said, "The others are all dead. We're the only ones left now, Lord Kusen."
Kusen nodded with an indifferent expression. "It's over. Clean up this place. We're leaving right away."
This place had to be thoroughly cleaned up to prevent anyone from discovering the deaths of Akishima's squad. As long as he covered all this up, no one would discover his mistake.
But Hyuga Akira had a different opinion. Tilting his head, he said, "What are you talking about, Lord Kusen?"
"Hmm?" Kusen frowned at Hyuga Akira. "Are you hard of hearing?"
Hyuga Akira patiently explained, "No. I just wanted to remind you, Lord Kusen, that things here aren't completely over yet."
"There are more enemies?" Kusen looked around, quickly becoming alert again. He still trusted Hyuga Akira's judgment.
Hyuga Akira helplessly slapped his forehead. Was this fellow's head filled with water?
It was already so obvious, yet he still had not noticed.
He was even beginning to doubt his own decision.
"Lord Kusen, there are no other enemies here."
Hyuga Akira lightly snapped his fingers, and flames actually sprang up at his fingertips.
"But there are still... you and me."
The flames ignited the wire beside him. Like a chain reaction, fire raced along the wires and rapidly spread outward, setting all the surrounding wires alight.
It was as though an enormous hemispherical fireball covered the ground. But the flames did not last long before the falling raindrops extinguished them.
Only then did Kusen fully realize what was happening. He looked at Hyuga Akira in disbelief.
"You're going to kill me?"
Before you continue