Chapter 184: A Close Call

The recoil from his jutsu helped the Priest move away from the line of Fujin's attack. However, it wasn't enough. The Vacuum Cannon grazed the right side of the Priest's abdomen and tore a huge chunk of it! His wound began bleeding immediately. His liver and intestines were damaged.

At the same time, whatever remained of the Lightning Beam rained down on Fujin. Fujin extended his left arm forward to block it. All the lightning charges hit his left arm and Lightning flowed through his body.

Fujin endured while thinking, 'Not bad. Due to my training in the lightning element, this attack doesn't feel much. Though if I took the entire beam head-on, it would have hurt. Anyways, I now see why Renjiro emphasized the importance of undertaking missions. Though deciding to counterattack was risky, the danger allowed me to perform my jutsu even faster.

I wanted to create a Wind Vacuum Beam. The center of the beam would be made of vacuum. It would be only a few micrometers wide but would be very long as it would have to extend across the entire length of the beam. Instead, I managed to create a much stronger Vacuum Bullet. I will call it Vacuum Cannon after I train it properly. Though the result wasn't what I envisioned, it is still a very good improvement.'

While Fujin was enduring the electric shocks, Mieko flickered next to the Priest while weaving hand signs.

'Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire jutsu'

She Fired 6 small fireballs at the Priest. 2 of these were headed at him while the other 4 cut off his escape routes. The Priest, who had just suffered a huge injury, now had to face another attack. She smirked, 'It's over.'

Unfortunately for Mieko, her calculations were horribly wrong! Humiliated at being injured to this extent, the Priest entered into a frenzy. His eyes turned reddish as he exerted all his chakra. A high amount of Lightning gathered on his palms. He screamed in rage as he attacked his surroundings indiscriminately. The Lightning hit the fireballs and deflected or dispersed them. The grass around him was hit and it caught fire.

Mieko was very close to him and was in range as well. She tried to flicker but wasn't fast enough. Lightning bolts hit her and made her scream in pain. The lightning electrocuted her and left multiple burns on her body. She fell to the ground in pain and was unable to control her body properly.The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

Seeing that his opponent was vulnerable, the Priest grinned. He immediately moved towards Mieko while pulling out another retractable spear and making lightning flow through it. Fujin's expression grew grim. He had just finished enduring the previous attack. He flickered instantly.

Genji nodded and said, "I healed his wounds as best as I could and left a shadow clone with him. He isn't in any mortal danger. Though we can't expect him to join the fight and might have to carry him on the way back."

Masaru replied. "Great work. I will go and aid Akihiko. You aid the two kids. They are fighting above their weight class."

Genji was surprised to hear that Mieko and Fujin were fighting against a Priest by themselves. He had observed Masaru's fight and had realized that the Priest he was facing was stronger than him. He nodded and quickly moved towards them.

Mieko was in a state of shock. She had seen Fujin's attack wound their enemy critically. She pressed on with the intention to finish the fight, but the tables were turned in the blink of an eye. A lot of her skin was burnt due to the lightning shocks. Her body couldn't move properly. And her Sharingan saw the Priest running towards her like a savage.

She desperately tried to get her body to move but to no avail. The Priest reached her and raised his spear up and slashed it down at full power. Terror spread through her mind as she realized that her life could end. Memories flashed through her mind. She thought about her mother, her father, her childhood friends, her relatives, her sensei, Hoka and Fujin.

At that very instant, Fujin appeared in front of her and slashed his sword at the spear. Mieko's eyes shined as she watched Fujin. The Priest also noticed him and the grin on his face grew wider. The two weapons clashed. Fujin expected his sword to cut through the spear once again, but unexpectedly, it didn't.

The Priest yelled loudly and exerted all the force he could on the spear as he thought, 'I knew this kid would jump in front of her. Even though these kids are ruthless, the Konoha ninjas are all softies. If they were from Kumo or Kiri, I would have worried about the other cutting my head while I cut their teammate's head. But with Konoha, the possibility of such an action is minuscule. So I have poured all my remaining chakra into this spear. The victory or defeat would be decided with this one attack. With one swing, I'll kill them both!'

Fujin realized that his opponent had focused all his chakra on the spear. The force that the Priest exerted began to push Fujin's feet backwards. But suddenly, Fujin controlled and focused his chakra. Some chakra gathered on his soles to stabilize his position. He was no longer being pushed behind. However, compared to his feet, a lot more chakra flowed through his sword. He pushed back with his full power.

A crack appeared on the Spear. The Priest's eyes widened as he saw his spear being cut into two once again. He watched as the sword continued ahead. He tried to move, but his body was too exhausted to respond in time. The sword reached him and severed his neck. His severed head had a look of disbelief as he watched Fujin. His last thoughts were, 'To think that I would die at the hands of a kid...'

The last Priest under Zankoku was killed.