Chapter 348: Becoming Stale!

Fujin analyzed, 'They should have started planning right after I clashed with Roshi. These ninjas should be trained with the help of Roshi so that they can anticipate my attacks and movements and take preventive measures to avoid being killed by me.

Training a hundred ninjas just to kill me... What a freaking overkill! I'm not even an Elite Jounin officially! Though it might not be just for me. The skills they develop will help them survive tough battles against others as well.

With such a good trap, there were only 3 ways for me to counterattack. The one that I used was my summon. Another way was using Lighting release. But I don't think it would be as effective as Kurogane. Though my Lightning Release is good, it is a far cry compared to my Wind Release. The last method was Wind Style Genjutsu. The three skills they didn't know about.

Of course, the simplest option was to just run away with Wind Instantaneous Body jutsu. Had I been alone like I was in the Land of Wind, I'd have directly left. The plan would have been nullified without much effort. So despite being in a difficult spot, my life wouldn't have been in any danger had I abandoned these 3.

I guess since I disappeared using Reverse Summoning jutsu, Roshi and the rest don't know about my skill with that jutsu. They should have some speculations, which is why that barrier was probably placed around the village. But they should be unaware of the specifics.

Regardless, this makes my life incredibly difficult. If they provide this training for more ninjas then all my future confrontations with Iwa will prove to be a challenge. And what if they provide my information and the training plan to other villages?

If that happens, then there will be special forces in all major villages just to counter me. Maybe others might come up with even better tactics in the future and create even more devious traps for me.'

Fujin sighed at that thought. He began analyzing why the trap was so successful against him. He thought, 'The main reason why I fell in such a position is my actions after I clashed with Roshi is that most of my skills were exposed in that fight. So I knew that Iwa would have a lot of information on me. Despite that, I made no effort to upgrade my skills or learn newer ones. Due to this reason, Iwa's plan was so effective.

In another way of speaking, my power has become stale... Though I can't be entirely blamed for that as I spent most of my time on Fuinjutsu, it still left a flaw. A flaw that I was aware of but didn't act on as I never expected anyone to make use of it.

After all, if the information about a ninja is available, no matter how strong that ninja is and how well-rounded his abilities are, this world has enough smart and intuitive ninjas to come up with ways of defeating that.

Though the performance of these Iwa ninjas against me can be considered remarkable, it isn't even comparable to Shikamaru defeating Hidan. The two were leagues apart in strength and abilities.

And Hidan was still someone with a lot of weaknesses. Even someone with no visible weaknesses like the 3rd Raikage was defeated by Naruto's clone after he received information from Eight Tails.

Everyone nodded and got to work. After leaving the room, one of the advisors sighed and muttered, "He is so cowardly."

Another nodded and said, "Yeah. He reminds me of his father in all other aspects. But in terms of courage, he is the complete opposite. The time needed to dispatch our forces and have them confront Iwa would have been sufficient for the Konoha ninjas to arrive."

He sighed as well and said, "Leave it. He is still a very good leader."

Everyone nodded and began working.

Thanks to Shibuki's inaction, Kitsuchi gained valuable time. In the village where they were staying, the Iwa ninjas who weren't injured placed the people back in their homes. The people were still asleep due to Genjutsu. Similar actions happened in the other villages with missing people.

Thanks to Yoshiki's Fuinjutsu, he had kept all the people in those villages in underground basements, hidden from the eyes of anyone who tried to inspect the villages. They deployed some ninjas in those villages to ensure that the villagers could be kept under Genjutsu and not die of thirst or hunger.

As for other people they had randomly kidnapped, Iwa didn't have any choice but to kill and bury them silently. Though they sent a considerable force, they couldn't handle so many people properly. So keeping them alive would have created some chances of their operation being exposed.

After moving the villagers, the Iwa ninjas destroyed the underground basements and filled them up using Earth Release jutsus while the SealMasters destroyed all the seals. They removed every trace of their involvement. After confirming that no evidence was left, all the Iwa ninjas in the Land of Waterfall began stealthily moving towards the village where Kitsuchi was at.

Though Fujin inflicted a lot of damage on the ninjas that attacked him, the remaining Iwa forces didn't have any casualties. Kitsuchi waited until everyone had returned to the village and then retreated to the Land of Stone along with everyone else. Only Sho was left back to continue spying.

Konoha :

It was late at night. Hiruzen had wrapped up all his work and was sleeping peacefully at his home when his sleep was disturbed. An Anbu woke him up and handed him the high-priority message scroll!

Hiruzen opened the scroll and began reading. His eyes immediately widened before going back to their usual size. He said, "Call Shikaku to my office."

The Anbu nodded and flickered away.