Chapter 889 : A Stratagem

'Ice Release: Needle Rain jutsu'
'Storm Release: Lightning Snakes jutsu'
'Water Release: Water Dragon jutsu'
Wind Release: Air Bullet jutsu'
Ice Release: Ice Chain jutsu'

Sayaka started the offensive by launching a deadly, wide-range ice needle rain, not only blocking Hoka from escaping in her direction but also forcing him to defend or dodge while keeping an eye on the remaining attacks. Next to her, Takeshi launched an Air Bullet barrage, creating a similar effect as Sayaka and completely blocking off one side. Jumping above wasn't an option either for Hoka as that would put him at a greater risk.

From the other side, Hikari shot a massive Water Dragon at Hoka, while Shoma created ice chains which slithered towards Hoka's feet to restrict his movement further. Standing between them, Yuji launched Lightning arcs from his fingertips, which slithered like snakes. Instead of directly targeting Hoka, his attack spread over a wide range.

A portion of those lightning snakes entered the water dragon, creating a combination jutsu spontaneously. Another portion slithered alongside Shoma's lightning chains while the rest moved straight at Hoka, albeit at a lower speed so that all 5 attacks would hit him at the same time.

Despite being attacked from all 360°, Hoka properly observed all attacks thanks to his Byakugan. He thought, 'Not bad. Their teamwork was always good, but they have improved even further in the last month. If this is their opening act, I'll have to stay on my toes. Anyway, time to remind these kids to not underestimate their opponent.'

Hoka released chakra from every chakra point on his body and spun around. His chakra spread over a radius of 3 meters around him before rotating vigorously along with him, forming a massive rotation jutsu.

The air bullets hit the rotating chakra first, most of them crumbled while a few were diverted away. The ice needles met a similar fate, with most of them sent back towards Sayaka and Takeshi. The lightning snakes were sucked into the sphere, taking control away from Yuji. The electrified water dragon lost its form as well, with some of the water being sucked into the sphere while the rest was sent flying due to the rotation force.

Hoka's rotation suddenly changed from only chakra to chakra mixed with electrified water and several lightning arcs. Shoma's ice chains, which was the only attack that snuck into Hoka's Rotation, were bombarded by the lightning arcs, crumbling them into ice crystals.

Spinning at the center, Hoka was untouched by the electrified water. He thought, 'Right back at you.'

Moments later, large water droplets, a meter in diameter, hurled in all directions. At its center, each droplet held a lightning charge. Observing the battle from the air, Fujin thought, 'That's surprising. I didn't think someone so obsessed with Taijutsu would develop such a deep understanding towards Ninjutsu. First, he reflected the jutsus he couldn't control and then he used their jutsus by transforming them into a different form before sending them back at his opponents. All this cost him no chakra as he used the same chakra he used in his rotation.'

Sayaka, Hikari and Shoma rapidly weaved hand seals and slammed their hands on the ground.
'Ice Release: Ice Wall jutsu'

Large ice walls formed in front of them, also covering Takeshi and Yuji who didn't excel at defensive jutsus. The water droplets hit the ice walls, before the lightning energy inside them exploded. The large water droplets failed to damage the ice wall. On the contrary, a small part of it froze, increasing the thickness of the ice walls slightly. However, the lightning explosion that followed created several deep cracks into the ice walls.

Hoka finally stopped spinning, the chakra still remaining in the rotation concentrated towards his palms. At the next moment, he shot 5 powerful vacuum palms at each of Fujin's students. Feeling the powerful incoming attack, all 5 kids immediately flickered.

The powerful vacuum cannons obliterated the ice walls, sending ice shards flying around dangerously. A few even headed towards Fujin, but their speed slowed as they were engulfed in wind. They harmlessly fell to the ground.

The kids dodged the onslaught but instead of retreating, headed straight towards Hoka. Yuji took the lead, reaching the closest to Hoka. Hoka observed their movements suspiciously, 'Weird... Their Taijutsu is undoubtedly good, but do they dare to engage me in close combat?'

Hoka's Gentle Fist Style was among the best in the Hyuga clan. In addition, he also made several modifications to it to suit his style. Only top-tier Taijutsu masters would dare to confront him head-on. Fujin's students were obviously far from that level.

'Hmm?' Hoka concentrated chakra in his palm as he noticed Yuji preparing a jutsu. When he was four meters away from Hoka, Yuji launched several Lightning spears at him. Hoka fired another Vacuum Palm in response. The vacuum cannon tore through the lightning spears, dispersing them and moving towards Yuji.

However, Yuji had already moved away instead of maintaining the pressure. Unfortunately, Hoka couldn't lower his guard. Sayaka was merely a few meters behind him, preparing a powerful water jutsu.

Hoka countered her attack as well, but was soon faced with another round of attacks from Hikari and Shoma. Not far behind them, Takeshi was preparing a Wind jutsu.

Hoka managed to ward off all of the attacks, but that was merely the beginning. Fujin's students continued getting close to Hoka, but staying sufficiently away so that Hoka couldn't hit their chakra points, and used mid-range jutsus at close range.

Even though Hoka possessed a decent array of Ninjutsus, he was majorly focused on his Taijutsu. The Ninjutsu he learnt was to make up for the restrictions of Taijutsu, which meant he focused on mid and long-range Ninjutsu along with defensive Ninjutsus.

Due to their constant spars, Fujin's students had figured out Hoka's battle tactics. So, they devised a way to counter him. By using powerful mid-range Ninjutsu at very close range, Hoka was heavily restricted. His Ninjutsus wouldn't be very effective at this range. In fact, he'd lose the battle easily if he were to switch to Ninjutsu. However, due to the few meters distance maintained by Fujin's students, he couldn't use his Taijutsu effectively either. His only options were using Vacuum Palm, to meet their jutsus head-on, and Rotation, to defend himself in the event he couldn't keep up with his Vacuum Palms.

Of course, Hoka tried various other tactics. The one he tried most was to close their distance forcefully and engage them in Taijutsu. Since he was faster, this shouldn't have been too difficult for him. Unfortunately, he was fighting against 5 opponents who had excellent teamwork. They always interfered, not allowing Hoka to implement his plan.

His other tactics, such as moving away from all 5 of them, met with similar interferences. Being forced to endure such a disadvantageous situation, Hoka decided, 'Since I can't break this situation, I'll endure this barrage. Even though I'm at a disadvantage, they are burning a lot of their chakra to use such powerful ninjutsus. Even with a numerical advantage, each one of them is burning more chakra than me. Not to mention, my chakra reserves are already greater than theirs. As long as I hang on, I'll have the upper hand.'

Floating in the sky, Fujin observed the same. However, he wasn't too concerned about it. After all, Hoka could already be considered a veteran Elite Jounin. Not only did he have vast mission experience, but he had also led an army to war. By comparison, the only mission experience of Fujin's students was when they tagged along with him into the massacre in the Land of Rice. So, it wasn't reasonable to expect them to make a perfect plan especially due to Hoka's interferences.

Fujin's attention was focused more on their individual strengths. He analyzed, 'Though they're still rough on the edges, they have grown splendidly. If they survive a year or two in the Anbu, they'll be excellent ninjas.

Among these 5, Takeshi is the most similar to me. Thanks to my guidance, his Wind Release is already better than what mine was during the Chunin Exams. Hmm, I should teach him the Wind Vacuum Technique. If he learns it, his Wind Release will reach the next level, a terrifying level.

Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to learn. Only 3 ninjas in Konoha learnt it while not a single ninja in Sunagakure from this generation managed to learn it. Whether he can learn it or not will decide the type of ninja he'll be.

Of course, it won't hamstring his progress even if he fails to learn it. After all, his core strength is his Scorch Kekkei Genkai, which he hasn't used until now for some reason. I wonder how far it has progressed by now...'

[A/N: I'm like 2/3rd way done with the next chapter. Crossed a thousand words I think. Gonna have to eat soon and have some other tasks. I'll get back to writing in maybe 2-3 hours. Expect it in around 4-5 hours.]