Chapter 42: The Hyuga Clan's Most Troublesome Enemy
Stone Drum Mountain, the gently sloping forest below the summit.
Blades flashed, killing intent pierced the sky.
At Suikazan Fuguki's command, over fifty Mist shinobi charged fearlessly toward Hyuga Ritsu and Uchiha Shisui.
Uchiha Shisui's Body Flicker Technique had truly reached a level of divine mastery. His speed rivaled that of the Yellow Flash who wielded the Flying Thunder God Technique. After slitting the throats of two Mist shinobi with his short sword, he evaded the blades thrusting toward him and appeared behind Hyuga Ritsu in the blink of an eye.
His crimson eyes moved nimbly, and wherever his gaze passed, the Mist shinobi avoided eye contact. No one dared meet his stare.
With a somewhat joking tone, he complained, "Ritsu-senpai, there are quite a few of them!"
"Even Shisui of the Body Flicker gets scared?"
Ritsu asked with a smile while simultaneously striking with an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. The attack sent a Mist shinobi flying backward, coughing blood. Two white bones protruded from his shoulders, deflecting the blades attacking from left and right.
"I'm not scared, but it'll be tiring! Forget fifty people—even killing fifty pigs would take considerable effort!"
Uchiha Shisui caught an unlucky soul who hadn't averted his gaze in time. The moment their eyes met, he cast a genjutsu, directly dragging the man's consciousness into the abyss. The body that had just launched into the air lost control and crashed to the ground with a thud.
A Mist shinobi reached out to drag his companion back at high speed, attempting to dispel the genjutsu. But ordinary methods of disrupting chakra flow were completely ineffective against Sharingan genjutsu.
"Then slack off a bit. Help me watch that Hozuki clan prodigy and don't let him interfere. The Hydrification Technique is too disgusting for me to deal with. In exchange, I'll handle the rest of these Mist shinobi!"
"Eh? Can you manage?"
"What? Worried I can't handle it?"
"Since you put it that way, Ritsu-senpai, I'll follow your orders."
Uchiha Shisui still felt a tiny bit concerned, but since Hyuga Ritsu had made the request, after thinking it over, he didn't refuse. After all, his senpai was no longer the same person.
If it were the Ritsu-senpai he'd known before, facing this many Mist shinobi in encirclement would probably have been too much. But now, having obtained the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit, he couldn't quite gauge how much stronger Ritsu had become.
Therefore, he might as well follow his senpai's instructions and help watch Hozuki Mangetsu—an enemy with the absolute worst compatibility for Ritsu.
When he first heard Ritsu's proposal, he'd almost burst out laughing.
Because the Hozuki clan's Hydrification Technique was truly the most disgusting enemy for Hyuga clan shinobi. The Hozuki were a prominent clan in the Hidden Mist Village, inheriting the secret Hydrification Technique. The core mystery of this technique was transforming the body into water, thereby becoming completely immune to all physical attacks.
This was undoubtedly the Hyuga clan's most troublesome enemy type, because the Hyuga's Gentle Fist style was purely physical attacks. Pressure point strikes were completely meaningless against Hozuki clan members whose bodies could become water.
Even more frustrating was that Ritsu-senpai's Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit also relied entirely on physical attacks, having no countermeasures whatsoever against the Hozuki clan's Hydrification Technique.
"Shisui, thanks for this."
Ritsu expressed his gratitude.
Though his plan coming here had been to let Uchiha Shisui charge into battle while he provided support and stayed on the sidelines, who could have predicted encountering Hozuki Mangetsu—someone who seemed specifically deployed to counter him, that disgusting bastard.
This deliberate targeting stirred killing intent in his heart. After confirming there were no more Mist shinobi lurking in ambush within a ten-kilometer radius, he changed his mind. He'd put in some real effort, vent his frustration on these bastard Mist shinobi, and incidentally use this high-intensity combat to discover where his limits lay.
Ritsu and Shisui's conversation wasn't deliberately kept quiet. While they talked, they continued fighting and killing the numerous Mist shinobi. The distance between them fluctuated, so they could only communicate by raising their voices.
Then, their conversation sounded extraordinarily arrogant to the Mist shinobi's ears!
Hozuki Mangetsu's mood was actually quite good, because the enemy's disgust and wariness toward him was equivalent to acknowledging his threat level. In his view, this was undoubtedly a form of praise!
He rolled his beautiful amethyst-like pupils and glanced sideways at Suikazan Fuguki, teasing with a smile, "Fuguki, what should we do? The enemy just said he'll deal with all of you except me!"
"Hmph! Does he really think possessing two bloodline limits makes him invincible?"
Suikazan Fuguki snorted coldly in displeasure. He was also dissatisfied with this brat Hozuki Mangetsu's provocation. He said irritably, "Mangetsu, stop trying to goad me. You'd better worry about yourself! Shisui of the Body Flicker isn't so easy to deal with!"
With that, he removed the Great Sword Samehada wrapped in bandages from his back. His muscles tensed slightly as he prepared for battle.
Because Uchiha Shisui, phantom-like, had broken through the encirclement of over forty Mist shinobi using his Body Flicker Technique. Though it looked like he was charging toward Hozuki Mangetsu, Suikazan Fuguki had seen plenty of feints!
"Sharingan! So disgusting!"
Hozuki Mangetsu's face showed distress as he cursed.
Just as Ritsu struggled against the Hozuki clan's Hydrification Technique, Mangetsu likewise had a splitting headache over the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. Or rather, not many people in the shinobi world could remain fearless when facing the Sharingan.
The Sharingan's genjutsu was truly terrifying. His Hydrification Technique could defend against physical attacks, but he really had no way to deal with genjutsu.
"Fuguki, let's switch! I'll help you kill Hyuga Ritsu, and you lead people to gang up on Uchiha Shisui!"
"Stop your nonsense—Uchiha Shisui is already here!"
Suikazan Fuguki roared, refusing Hozuki Mangetsu's suggestion to switch opponents. He likewise had a massive headache over the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. Fighting Uchiha clan members meant constantly restricting his movements—utterly miserable. Let this brat Mangetsu suffer that torment first.
Once he finished off Hyuga Ritsu on this side, he'd come help surround and kill Uchiha Shisui—though of course he knew this idea was somewhat wishful thinking. By the time they killed Hyuga Ritsu, Shisui would probably flee at the first opportunity. With Shisui of the Body Flicker's speed, they might not be able to catch him at all.
"Fuguki, you bastard!"
Hozuki Mangetsu cursed furiously.
He'd originally come on Mizukage-sama's orders to investigate what the hell Suikazan Fuguki was scheming. As a result of all this back and forth, he'd inexplicably become Fuguki's helper and now had to face a terrifying enemy like Uchiha Shisui directly.
This was truly depressing!
What was even more depressing—enough to make him cough blood—was that he had no choice but to steel himself and fight Uchiha Shisui. Because if he abandoned the situation now, Suikazan Fuguki might escape with his life, but the other Mist shinobi would definitely die here in vain.
"Flounder: Release!"
Hozuki Mangetsu wielded twin blades that when joined formed the shape of a flounder, blocking Uchiha Shisui's sharp blade wreathed in lightning.
"Damn it, Lightning Style too!"
This prodigy beloved by all seven of the Hidden Mist Village's ninja swords looked at the blade dancing with electrical arcs and couldn't help cursing again. The Hozuki clan's Hydrification Technique was most vulnerable to Lightning Style techniques.