185 Chapter 182 : Evolution

[A/N : Fell short of our 1650 goal by 103 power stones. Let's try it once again guys!]

Mieko watched the Priest's head fly in the sky. Her body and mind finally relaxed. For the first time in her life, she was genuinely grateful to someone.

Genji reached this battlefield to see Fujin cut his opponent's head off. His eyes noticed Fujin's chakra flare at the last moment and left him astounded. Fujin sensed someone rushing towards him and immediately looked at Genji. Seeing that it was an ally, Fujin relaxed.

He turned his attention to Mieko in order to check her injuries. However, he suddenly stopped. A surprise could be seen on his face. Genji flickered next to him and looked at Mieko. His expression grew grim on seeing her injuries, but suddenly shock could be seen on his face. Mieko didn't understand why Fujin and Genji were looking at her like this.

Soon, a huge smile broke on Genji's face. He exclaimed in excitement, "Mieko, your Sharingans have evolved into 2-tomoe Sharingans!"

Mieko was shocked to hear that. After a moment, the shock passed and excitement rushed in. She tried moving but the pain brought her back to Earth. Seeing her grimacing in pain, Genji said, "Don't move, I will heal you as much as I can first."

He began using Mystical Palm jutsu to treat the burns on her body.

Fujin observed them as he thought, 'I thought I had huge gains from the fight. But mine don't even compare to hers! That Sharingan is a huge cheat. Though to be fair, my life wasn't at risk. Even if my jutsu had failed, I was confident about surviving that attack without affecting my ability to fight. On the other hand, her life probably flashed in front of her eyes.'

Fujin turned his attention to his dead opponent as he analyzed, 'This guy was very good. His every move was a scheme. And he managed to reset initiative and flip the table multiple times. My attack should have finished him off and yet he managed to reverse the situation. If I didn't know chakra flow or if my chakra reserves were close to empty, he would have managed to kill us both.

Even assuming that I didn't make a move or was slow, Mieko would have died. Perhaps in that case he wouldn't have exerted all his chakra in that attack. Either way, he perfectly calculated or guessed our moves and made the right plan.

More importantly, I shouldn't underestimate someone just because they are critically injured. Even though no one will go off like Deidara, the final struggle can be very tricky. Especially when dealing with veteran Jounins.'

He focused back on Mieko and observed Genji's jutsu without disturbing him. Genji was slowly healing the burn marks on her body. Fujin realized, 'He doesn't seem to be very good with Medical ninjutsu.'

Genji noticed that Fujin was observing him. Without taking his eyes off Mieko, he said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of her. If you can still fight, you can go help out Akihiko and Masaru. They are fighting against the Grand Priest."

Fujin asked, "So Masaru won his fight?"

Genji nodded.

Fujin looked in the direction that Akihiko, Masaru and Zankoku were fighting. He could feel that an intense battle was happening there. He said, "I am very low on chakra. I won't be able to help much in the fight. And seeing the way he controls blood, I could be a burden instead."

Genji was disappointed with that answer. However, he said, "Alright. Look after Mieko after I am done healing her."

Fujin replied, "I will."

Genji stopped talking. After a minute, Fujin asked, "Are you a medical ninja, Genji-san?"

Genji answered, "No. I just copied the Mystical Palm jutsu and practiced it for a bit."

Fujin replied, "I see."

He thought, 'As I thought. I guess most of the Uchihas have copied this jutsu. After all, it should be very convenient to heal yourself and your teammates without having to depend on a medical ninja that can't fight or defend well.'

Just like Genji, Masaru rushed towards Akihiko's battlefield. He went sneakily and hid in the tall grass as he observed the fight. His eyes widened as he saw Akihiko's condition. A huge scar was visible on his right chest. His jacket was dyed red by blood! A frown formed on his face, 'How is Akihiko struggling so much? Is the opponent so skilled that he can dominate him while needing to avoid looking into his eyes?'

As he was analyzing, he suddenly realized something, 'Wait a minute, he is directly looking at Akihiko. He isn't avoiding the Sharingan at all. But why isn't Akihiko casting Genjutsu?'

He thought hard and concluded, 'The only possibility I can think of is that Genjutsu doesn't work on him for some reason. Whatever, I'll know when I join the battle.'

He stayed put in his spot waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack. Akihiko and Zankoku kept fighting, unaware of Masaru's presence. Tanto and spear clashed multiple times without anyone landing hits. In one such clash, Zankoku exerted a lot of force and pushed Akihiko backwards. However, Akihiko just used Zankoku's force to move away from him.

Tired of being stalled, Zankoku chased with full speed. Unfortunately, he moved very close to where Masaru was. As he was chasing, he felt heat on his right. He turned his head to see a long Fire Dragon heading straight at him. Due to how close they were, he couldn't dodge or defend. The fire dragon opened its huge mouth and chomped down on him.

Inside the fire dragon, Zankoku screamed loudly as his flesh burned. In a few seconds, the fire dragon exploded. Akihiko moved away from the explosion and Masaru appeared next to him. He smirked and said, "Bullseye."

However, Akihiko's expression didn't change. He said, "It isn't over. He can heal from all wounds. And Genjutsu doesn't work on him. So don't put your hopes on it."

Masaru frowned. He pulled out a scroll and said, "No wonder you have been struggling so much."

He made the confrontation hand seal. The scroll transformed into hundreds of explosive tags and rushed into the place where the explosion had happened.

All of Zankoku's skin was burnt. He was covered in blood. However, he still stood straight. The blood on his body rapidly healed him. New skin was forming. But it was horrible to look at. At that moment, he saw hundreds of Explosive tags heading at him.

He immediately formed a cocoon of blood around him. The explosive tags stuck on the cocoon and began exploding. The cocoon was destroyed. Zankoku tried running away, but most of the explosive tags exploded right next to him.

Akihiko and Masaru observed him with their Sharingan. They saw as his flesh was blasted. But the blood that poured out of his body kept protecting and healing him.

Masaru asked in an annoyed tone, "Does his body have an infinite amount of blood?"

Akihiko answered, "My guess is that he produces it with his chakra. We may have to exhaust his chakra to truly win. Or we will need Sora's fuinjutsu."

Masaru asked, "Have you tried cutting him into pieces?"

Akihiko answered, "Haven't been successful so far."

As they were speaking, they heard Zankoku yelling in anger. A few dozen blood drops formed around him and he fired them in all directions. Akihiko and Masaru dodged quickly.

Akihiko said, "That's why. Every time I manage to get an upper hand, he resets my advantage with a wide-range jutsu forcing me to evade."

They saw an intact Zankoku walk out of the smoke. However, his body was horrible to see. He had no clothes on his body and his entire body was covered in horrible scars!

Masaru said, "He looks disgusting. But this is indeed annoying. Our chakra is already about to run out."

As they were about to engage in another round of battle, Genji was done healing Mieko. He said, "I have healed your burns. They won't be harmful to you. But don't move around a lot. I can't deal with the damage the lightning might have inflicted on your inner organs. Fujin, look after her. I'll go help out Akihiko."

Fujin nodded. He saw Genji leaving. He made a hand sign and a shadow clone appeared next to him. Without speaking, the shadow clone followed Genji's path.

Mieko asked, "Why did you make a shadow clone with so little chakra?"

Fujin shrugged and said, "I'm interested in seeing how that battle ends. This guy is probably the strongest opponent we have ever faced. Other than that incident when we were returning from Hot Water of course."

Mieko said, "That's true. I wish I could see it too."

They didn't say anything for a few seconds. Suddenly, Mieko said, "Fujin, thank you. I was very scared after I got hit."

Fujin looked at her. He could feel that she was very grateful to him. He said, "Our team might have been disbanded, but we are still teammates. No need to be thankful for such stuff."

Mieko didn't reply and just smiled.

Fujin asked, "How are your injuries?"

Mieko sighed and said, "My whole body is aching. That bastard fried my body inside out!"

Fujin replied, "Yeah, he was fierce. Veteran Jounins are still too strong for us."

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

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