Chapter 177 : A Bloody Battle

Zankoku observed the two kids as he thought, 'Hidden Leaf headbands… And that girl is an Uchiha. There should be more. No wonder that old buffoon's followers betrayed him.'

As he was analyzing, Zankoku immediately looked at the ground below. He muttered, "As I thought."

Wanting to take advantage of the combination jutsu, Akihiko and the rest decided to do another surprise attack from the underground. However, due to having meditated in this room for several days and due to the preparations he had made for the ritual, Zankoku noticed a few ninjas infiltrating from the ground.

He focused chakra on his right leg. His leg was covered in a red aura. He raised his right leg and slammed it down with all his power. He decided, 'It's impossible to conduct the ritual here. They will keep coming like flies no matter how many I defeat. But, I am definitely killing these fuckers who destroyed my ritual!'

He shouted, "Escape the cave!"

Zankoku kicked down at the center of the cave. Cracks began appearing. They expanded without slowing down. A shockwave was also sent into the ground towards Akihiko and company. They all were hit by the shockwave.

Fujin and Mieko watched as the cracks moved towards them. Both flickered and entered into the walls at the same time and used Earth Instantaneous Body jutsu to escape the collapsing cave. Akihiko and the rest were hit by the shockwave but weren't much injured. They too employed means to escape the cave.

As the cracks spread, they also reached the 5 rooms where the children were held. Sora and Haru and their clones watched with grim faces. Sora had only created one barrier to stop any random attacks from entering there. Fujin and Mieko's combination jutsu hit all the barriers that he had created. But, this barrier won't protect the kids if the entire cave was collapsing!

Sora, Haru and the kids noticed as the ground began cracking. The children immediately began crying loudly. Sora and his clones desperately made hand signs. After making hand signs, they slammed their hands on the floor. A barrier appeared along the floor, barely protecting the kids from any harm.

However, at that time, the walls had begun cracking. Haru and his clones immediately placed their hands on the walls and poured Earth chakra into the walls to strengthen them slightly and prevent them from collapsing. Sora and his clones used this window of time to create more barriers.

They first made a barrier along the ceiling to prevent any rocks from falling on the kids. They followed by creating more barriers to protect the children from all sides and ensure that the floor and the ceiling were connected properly.

Right when the last barrier was erected, the entire cave collapsed! Fortunately, due to the barriers, the children were safe. Sora and Haru were breathing heavily. But a smile could be seen on their faces. The kids were sage. However, despite being safe, the kids were still wailing loudly. After all, the experience was very scary.

Sora and Haru looked at them. Haru and his clone made a hand sign. They cast genjutsu on all the children and made them fall asleep.

When the kids fell asleep, he and his clones all fell to the ground. Sora looked at him and said, "You have lost a lot of your chakra."

Haru replied while breathing heavily, "Yeah, I poured almost all my chakra into the walls."

Sora said, "Yeah, good job. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have managed to complete the barriers in time. Anyways, take a rest. The soldier pills should begin recovering our chakra, but we won't be able to participate in the fight above. We will ensure that the kids stay safe."

Haru nodded and sat in a meditative pose. Sora too joined him. While meditating, he thought, 'That chakra spike just before the impact was different. I guess there is more depth to this god after all. That said, he will be no match against the Sharingan. This mission is over.'

Fujin and Mieko were the first ones to leave the cave and appear outside. They saw as the Mountain in front of them crumbled.

Fujin said, "That guy is much stronger than I expected."

Mieko nodded, "Yeah, his chakra is almost as high as Sensei. And it doesn't seem humane!"

Fujin agreed, "Yeah, his chakra makes me feel sick. I wonder why that is."

At that time, Akihiko and his group emerged from the underground. There were no casualties in their group. A few seconds later, the Jashinists also began appearing. Every Jashinists who was at the lowest level survived. However, in the above layers, all the servants died. Only the 7 devotees made it out alive. Their group now contained 1 Grand Priest, 2 Priests, 8 devotees and 20 servants

Akihiko looked at the Jashinists and said, "Mieko, save your chakra. Fujin, give me a big one."

Without a word, Fujin used another Infinite Breakthrough jutsu at the Jashinists. Akihiko followed by expelling a huge amount of fire into Fujin's jutsu. Though their combination wasn't as good as Fujin and Mieko's, it was still very threatening. The wide range meant that it couldn't be dodged.

Zankoku snorted, "How many times will you use the same trick?"

He joined his hands together, almost as if he was praying. His chakra suddenly spiked! A few gallons of blood appeared from the ground and began floating in the air.

'Bloody Shield jutsu!'

'Bloody Death jutsu!'

The blood immediately took the form of a large screen to block the incoming jutsu. The Konoha ninjas thought that would be it. However, small needle heads formed on the surface of the screen. Thousands of needles made of blood were launched at the Konoha ninjas.

Fujin expected the firestorm to deflect all the blood needles. However, they just pierced through the firestorm with ease without changing directions. Masaru stepped forward and slammed his hands on the ground.

'Earth Wall Jutsu'

A giant Earth Wall appeared in front of the group. However, the blood needles pierced through them as well. The Konoha ninjas were surprised. Fujin immediately flickered out of the way. So did the rest except Shunko. He was slow to react. His eyes saw the Wall being penetrated, but his body was slow to react. His sharingans watched the dense blood needles coming at him and he barely moved to dodge the attack.

A bunch of blood needles scratched his body, leaving him with 10-12 cuts.

Fujin wondered, 'What the heck is with this blood? It's almost as penetrative as my Wind Vacuum Technique jutsus!'

A similar thought ran through the minds of the Uchihas as well. The jutsu was very lethal. Akihiko quickly scanned Shunko with his Sharingan. The wounds on him weren't lethal. He looked at Zankoku and had a bad feeling. A huge grin could be seen on Zankoku's face as he made the Seal of Confrontation with his left hand.

Akihiko followed his gaze and looked at Shunko. His eyes widened as he saw the chakra gathering on the spots where the cuts had appeared. He yelled, "Shunko, move away!"

Shunko didn't understand why he said so but still jumped backwards. Unfortunately, 12 explosions took place on his body at the same time! His loud shriek could be heard! Akihiko immediately flickered next to him but stayed at arm's length. He created a shadow clone to check on him.

The Jashinists smirked at seeing their leader handling the enemies by themselves. Their morale was raised. They all got on the attack. However, even before they could get on the attack, Fujin, Masaru and Mieko got on the attack. They didn't know what had happened with Shunko. So they stayed clear of all blood controlled by Zankoku.

Fujin attacked them with the Air Bullet jutsu from a range, while Masaru and Mieko used Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu. Their aim was to restrict the movement and kill off the weaker enemies.

Unlike the earlier instance, this wasn't a large-scale jutsu. So Zankoku didn't waste his chakra to put up a huge defense. Without his help, the Servants were sitting ducks for the Konoha ninjas. 12 Servants died in this attack. The Devotees and Priests were safe, but their jutsus were disturbed.

Akihiko and Genji looked at Shunko in this short window of time. They examined his injuries. Fortunately, his life wasn't in danger. He was still conscious.

Akihiko said, "It looks like when he was cut, some of the blood that guy controlled was left on Shunko's body. Only that blood exploded. That's why the injuries aren't lethal."

Genji nodded. He agreed with the analysis.

Akihiko said, "Carry him away from here. He is in no condition to fight."

Genji nodded, "Alright, I'll take care of him."

He carried Shunko and flickered away.

Akihiko looked at Zankoku with a serious look on his face as he wondered, 'What the heck is his jutsu? I thought he controlled external blood similar to Water. But this looked more like the explosion release than a variant of Water release.'

He noticed Fujin, Mieko and Masaru keeping the enemy busy and decided, 'It doesn't matter. This farce has gone on too long. Time to end this battle!'

[A/N : Additional chapter on Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones.]

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