Chapter 302: A Fateful Storm
Riko looked at the old man and said "Old man, Ji is right. Now that Yoshiro isn't here, our strength is even lower than before and many of us don't have much chakra left. The monster does have plenty of injuries from time to time he eats a corpse and heals the deeper wounds. Now there are most of the only superficial wounds."
The old man nodded and said "Yes, although Yami and Kakashi have been destroying the corpses whenever they make a move, the number of corpses here is too much. It already looks like a graveyard full of dug-up corpses. We need to end this fast and try to use our strongest jutsu now."
Asami stepped closer to the old man and said "But if we do that then we won't have any other way to attack the monster and Ji if even one of them survives. The 5th Hokage said in the letter that only Nature chakra can be used to easily deal with someone like Priest Ji but if we use all our strength on the monster then what about ji? We won't have enough strength to contest with him."
The old man nodded and said "I understand what you are saying Asami but if we hold back now then now only will we die but the civilians who are relied on us to keep them safe and our army who are now protecting the hidden leaf from all sides against an army twice or even thrice their size. We can't let their sacrifice go to waste now."
Riko go and tell Kakashi and Yami the plan and have Yami leave the area while we are holding the monster. He is just a kid and has his entire life ahead of him. He shouldn't die here in fact tell him to leave the hidden mist with the genin teams. We can't fight in groups anymore if we want to surround the monster completely. Remember don't falter in your steps or else the monster will sprint toward the nearest civilian village. Even though eating them won't give him any healing or strength, he will do it just for fun."
Asuma nodded and said "I agree with you but I don't think it will be this easy to tell him to leave. It might tempt him more to stay here and even guard a front alone."
Riko nodded and bolted toward Kakashi and Yami. He ran in a zigzag pattern just to be sure that he won't become an easy target for the monster or Ji.
"Kakashi, Yami the old man wants us to use our most powerful jutsu and Yami you should leave the area now. You are still a kid and have your entire life to live. Go with the genin squads of Kurenai and Asuma." Riko said as he put his hand on Yami's shoulder.
Yami swatted Riko's hand away and said "I am a leaf Jonin and so you cannot order me nor can the other leaf jonins. I have never lost a fight and I don't intend to lose one today either...hmph"
Riko wanted to convince Yami but Kakashi shook his head indicating that no matter what Riko says, it would be in vain.
Asami looked at Asuma and said "Wow, you nailed it on this one Asuma. How did you know that Yami would reply like this?"
Asuma chuckled and said "No matter how strong or smart he is, he is still a kid. And when you tell him to not do something, then it's the first thing he will do."
Within seconds, everyone spread out according to the old man's plan. Ji and the monster could interfere if they wanted to but after Yoshiro being out of the equation, Ji had gotten fairly confident that the chances of him winning this battle were more than 99%.
"Make the last effort as much as you want but I promise you that you won't be leaving this battleground and will end up in this monster's stomach." Ji said as he looked at them spread all around him. Jiro also jumped on top of the monster as he knew that even if one of the spells hit him then he won't survive.
RAWRRRR
The monster roared loudly but not at Yami and the others but while looking at the sky above him. At first, everyone thought that he was doing that out of anger and frustration but they saw changes happening in his body. The wounds on his body healed at a faster pace, his teeth became bigger with two large canines appearing on both sides and the nails on his claws became bigger with thin black spoke appearing from them. The stinger on his tail which looked like a crystal also started to glow a little.
"Looks like the monster's powering up as well. Let's hope that everything we do now is worth it." Riko said as he started preparing his most powerful jutsu.
"NOW" the old man shouted and everyone cast their jutsu at the monster in the middle. The first jutsu that took effect was Asami's.
Water style : Dome of protection
"This jutsu was made to protect a large area in case of an attack on the clan estate but this will stop the monster from jumping outside to avoid the other jutsus." Asami said.
"Quite an innovative use of a protection jutsu." Riko said and cast his jutsu as well.
Water Style: Sword of Mist
A huge sword appeared just above the monster's head as he said that. The sword was covered in mist and had detailed carvings on it.
"Good one Riko...hold it there while mine takes effect." The old man said as he cast his jutsu.
Water style : Poison mist cannon.
The old man created a ball of mist in front of him with something green in the middle which everyone recognized as some kind of poison.
Mei and the others also started casting their jutsus one after the other.
Lava Style : Lava Wave
Ash Style : Fire tomb
Lightning style : Raikiri
Fire style : Majestic Destroyer
Seeing such powerful jutsus around him scared Jiro to no end "Will we really be able to come out of this alive Ji?"
Ji who had sweat trickling down his forehead gave a nervous laugh and said "I didn't know these people still had it in them to cast such powerful jutsus. But as they say, where there is a will, there is a way."Ji gave an evil smile as he said that in the end. Jiro felt a chill run down his spine as he heard that. He understood that Ji must have devised a plan to get out of this mess somehow. That's when he saw Ji crouch and whisper something to the monster.
Before Jiro could ask what he said, the jutsus were cast and were coming toward him and the monster. Tattoos started to appear on Ji's entire body as he spread his hand upwards creating a kind of chakra shield to block the sword falling from above.
Just as Mei and the others thought that the monster was going to stand in the middle and take all the attacks head-on, the monster turned to face Yami.
"Oh crap" Yami muttered.
The old man's eyes widened as he saw this and shouted "THE MONSTER IS GOING TO LUNGE TOWARD YAMI...SAVE HIM"
Kakashi who was standing a few meters to Yami's left and Asuma who was standing a few meters to his right, both looked at Yami who was now staring up at the monster. The explosions that were going to happen in the middle were supposed to happen only upon impact but now that the monster was going to go close to Yami, the impact will be suffered by him as well.
For a second Yami felt that the monster was smirking at him and then he lunged at Yami. As Kakashi and Asuma were running to get Yami away, the jutsus collided with the monster and each other.
Kakashi and Asuma were thrown back just by the shockwave all those jutsus had caused. Everyone knew that the epicenter of this explosion was the same spot where Yami was standing a few seconds ago and Yami didn't run left or right or else Kakashi or Asuma would have seen him. He didn't run forward as that's where the monster lunged from and he couldn't jump back because of the dome that Asami had cast.
"NOOOOOO YAMIII" Kurenai screamed and attempted to run toward the explosion. A terrible storm was created due to the explosion and no one could see anything.
Seeing her attempting to rush inside the center of the explosion, Riko quickly stopped her.
"L-Let me go...He is in there." Kurenai said trying to push Riko away. Kakashi and Asuma also got up and found themselves thrown quite far away. They were sure that they had even lost consciousness for a few seconds.
"N-No Yami...you c-can't" Kakashi's said in a shaky voice. A man who had lost each and every person he was close to. One who had learned how to live with a smile on his face no matter how turbulent the heart is, his hands shivered, and body froze.
(Things are starting to quiet down and we are all set for the timeskip and have a look at the teenage Yami. Do subscribe to my Patreon to know more.)
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