The force of that blow was incredibly heavy; even Shamon's mouth began to bleed, clearly having suffered internal injuries.
"Damn it, why is he always targeting me!"
These two lashes not only caused him injury but also made him lose face. If Torifū had used some powerful ninjutsu that Shamon couldn't block, that would be one thing. But these were just ordinary whip strikes, merely well-hidden and undetected. Shamon was furious, and a wild wind erupted around him! Countless dust and sand particles mingled together to form a pair of huge claws behind Shamon. However, Torifū had already vanished. With nowhere to unleash his rage, Shamon charged towards Getsuji!
Mū also supported Shamon from the air, using Earth Release ninjutsu to corner Getsuji. Then Shamon slammed a heavy claw onto Getsuji's chest, but no blood appeared. Getsuji's entire body instantly disintegrated into a splash of water, and one drop splashed into the puddle formed by Raging Current earlier, reforming into Getsuji's likeness.
"How can this Getsuji be as annoying as that Torifū? He's so elusive!"
A, seeing his two 'teammates' being toyed with by Getsuji and Torifū, felt his anger intensify. Seeing Getsuji appear not far from him, he immediately grinned. Then he charged at Getsuji at lightning speed, his entire arm enveloped in fierce lightning!
"Lightning Release: Lariat!"
His arm moved like a cleaver, slashing towards Getsuji, the bursting lightning shattering the surrounding earth and rocks! A flash of blue light passed! A had already reached Getsuji, determined to utterly defeat him in one go! Facing A's assault, Getsuji didn't dodge. He exhaled a torrent of wild water from his mouth, enveloping himself and everything around him! A was naturally caught within it, but he wasn't good at water combat, and his attack was buffered by the water, unable to cause effective damage. He could only retreat first and then reconsider his strategy.
But how could Torifū let him escape such a good opportunity? Several crystal snakes burst from the ground, biting down fiercely on A's limbs! The sudden pain made A cry out, and then a large amount of water rushed into his throat. He struggled to escape this water, but his limbs were bitten by the crystal snakes, and there was no leverage in the water. A knew he was probably going to lose. His face turned ashen; if he didn't concede soon, he might be directly drowned.
Hashirama, seeing this situation, immediately spoke up, prompting Getsuji and Torifū to release their holds. Medical ninja rushed forward and took A away. There were no major injuries; a simple treatment would suffice.
Now, four people remained. The 'dumbest' one had been eliminated, but it didn't significantly change the situation on the training ground. A hadn't contributed much anyway; in fact, he was somewhat counterproductive.
"Not hiding anymore?" Getsuji asked with narrowed eyes.
Torifū nodded. In a two-on-two, Torifū didn't need to hide as much. Although doing so would make winning very easy, it might make people think the Hokage's disciple was just a ninja who relied on sneak attacks.
Shamon and Mū also became a bit more serious. They had initially thought it was just a regular sparring match, never expecting everyone to be quite skilled. Shamon exhaled countless wind bullets like needles; anything hit by them, whether rock or earth, would be left with a smooth, small hole. It was incredibly powerful. Mū released rock spears from the sky, disrupting their movements, making it impossible for them to focus on dodging the wind bullets. Soon, they had several scrapes on their bodies.
Dodging endlessly wouldn't work; they had to find a way to silence Shamon. Torifū turned and stomped hard on the ground, and immediately the earth became viscous and continuously flowed. Half of the training ground instantly turned into a sea of mud. Shamon, feeling the ground beneath him almost completely turn to mud, immediately jumped away. However, his ninjutsu continued to be released non-stop, though there were always a few blind spots when adjusting direction. Torifū seized this opportunity to fiercely attack Shamon!
A large six-pointed shuriken slowly formed in Torifū's hand, then he threw it with force. In the blink of an eye, the shuriken flew towards Shamon's face. He made his wind bullets denser to shatter the shuriken. But Torifū had infused a large amount of chakra into this six-pointed crystal shuriken, making it very hard. Helplessly, Shamon could only release a stronger ninjutsu to counter it. This nullified the wind bullet's offensive, but Torifū's attack hadn't stopped. Countless smaller six-pointed crystal shuriken were flung out, sparkling like snowflakes dancing in the sunlight.
Just as they were about to hit Shamon, Mū used Dust Release to decompose them into atoms. But when he looked back at Shamon, he found him already unconscious. Mū also realized that the previous ninjutsu was just a diversion, meant to distract him, while they used that time to forcefully attack Shamon.
Shamon was also out of the game; now, only he was left on the field. Fighting two against one was clearly impossible. After all, he couldn't even defeat Torifū alone, but he couldn't just concede, as he represented Iwagakure. Mū quickly formed hand signs, and then several earth dragons emerged from the ground, striking at Torifū. He had expected Dust Release, but it was just ordinary Earth Release ninjutsu. It seemed Mū wasn't planning to reveal more of his strength.
Torifū didn't want to waste stamina unnecessarily, so he phased into a mirror and vanished. The earth dragons suddenly lost their target and could only bite and tear haphazardly around the field.
Just then! Mū heard a dragon-like roar from behind him. He immediately tried to dodge, but it was too late! Torifū, riding a dragon, emerged from a mirror! He then leaped high, and the crystal dragon slammed into Mū's stomach, knocking him directly from high in the sky to the ground. Getsuji immediately followed up with a Water Prison Jutsu, firmly restraining him!
Mū hadn't expected his fate to be the same as A's, both essentially suffocated. And the dragon's impact earlier had been quite unpleasant. Since there was no longer any possibility of winning, he simply conceded.
This meant Getsuji would now face Torifū. His expression was serious, devoid of the earlier frivolity; it seemed Torifū had put immense pressure on him. Getsuji had been observing Torifū throughout this sparring match, but he still couldn't understand why a seven-year-old child could be so strong. He could easily defeat Mū, who was an opponent even Lord Gengetsu could only fight to a draw!
Whether it was to stall for more recovery time or for some other reason, Getsuji said to Torifū, "Kumotsuru Torifū, it's finally our turn to fight. Who do you think will win?"
Torifū scratched his head. Although Getsuji was also quite strong, at least ranking in the top three among these five, he was only average compared to Torifū. His assessment was that Getsuji was not as good as Hiruzen.