Chapter 884 : Awkward Situations!

Fujin observed Yugito for a minute, but Matatabi didn't break out. Fujin sighed, ‘A shame. Though sealing her inside my body would have been risky, I could still have sealed her elsewhere had she broken out.
Anyway, even though I gained 14% of Matatabi's chakra, Kumogakure gained a perfect Jinchuriki. Looks like you still owe me some karma, hehehe.’

He was about to leave, when a figure suddenly stood up. Breathing heavily and barely being able to move her body, she pointed her tanto at Akuro and said, “You'll have to kill me first before you harm her!”

Without turning around, Akuro said, “Choose. Do you want to be knocked out like the rest of your comrades in the middle of this forest, or would you like to stay conscious?”

Samui didn't expect her answer to have any impact, but answered anyway, “The latter.”

Akuro chuckled. His figure disappeared leaving a whisper behind, “Not a bad choice…”

Samui was surprised. She quickly checked her surroundings but found no traces of Akuro. She analyzed, ‘Did he really just leave? Hmm, this is consistent with his personality. Luckily I decided to humor him. Though our ninjas should arrive soon, being unconscious here would have been dangerous.’

She took a step, nearly tumbling in the process. After taking her moment to catch her breath, she moved her heavy feet to check on C and Yugito before going to find Darui and bringing him to them.

While Samui ensured the safety of her teammates, Fujin appeared in a hidden base inside the Land of Frost. The moment he arrived, an icy chill enveloped him, seeping through his cloak and biting at his skin. The air was heavy with the scent of damp stone and lingering frost, a testament to how long the base had remained untouched. Thin layers of ice clung to the walls, glistening faintly under the dim glow of chakra-infused lanterns.

His breath turned to mist as he muttered, “It's been a long while since I used this base. The base has become an icy hell…”

Fujin released chakra from the chakra points around his body. It instantly transformed into hot air, changing the temperature to cozy levels. Removing his mask and cloak, Fujin thought, ‘This isn't the reason I mastered the Scorch Release, but…’

A few months into his journey, Fujin finally got a hang of Scorch Release. The core reason for his success was undoubtedly his affinity towards Wind and Fire, but Takeshi was the reason Fujin managed to get a hang of it so quickly. Had Fujin's soul not entered Takeshi's body and experienced how Fire and Wind merged, who knows how long it would have taken until he reached the correct combination.

However, Fujin was in an awkward situation. Fujin wanted to master Kekkei Genkai for a long time, ever since Renjiro informed him that bloodline wasn't an absolute necessity. Though he did eventually master Magnet Release and Scorch Release, he only did so when he was already a top tier rank S ninja. As such, both the Kekkei Genkai added very little to his strength.

They weren't weak by any means, but they fell considerably short compared to his Wind Combat System, which revolved around his Wind Domain and was backed by extremely fast and penetrative Wind Vacuum jutsus, and his Lightning Combat System, which was initially powered by his special blades and was recently strengthened by the Lightning Chakra Mode.

Not to mention, Fujin was still refining his Wind and Lightning techniques through Yin-Yang manipulation, continuously pushing their limits. Compared to these ever-evolving foundations of his strength, both Magnet and Scorch Release had become more of a secondary asset, useful in certain situations but ultimately just complementary tools rather than defining aspects of his power.

For example, the reason why Fujin could fly without using Winds when facing Onoki was because of the iron plates he installed in the soles of his shoes. He had also changed his wrist bands and the metal plates on the backhand of his gloves to iron to aid with the same. So, instead of using Magnet Release like the Third Kazekage could, Fujin had been merely using it to float.

Making himself comfortable, Fujin thought, ‘Whatever, I'll eventually find better use cases for them. For now, I'll focus on the bigger prize.’

A glint appeared in his eyes as he transferred Matatabi's chakra to a pot, similar to how he once stored Shukaku's chakra. He carefully observed it for a few minutes before concluding, ‘I see… So, even 14% of a Tailed Beast's chakra isn't sufficient to develop sentience. Also, her chakra's presence is significantly different from Shukaku's chakra. Despite being much weaker, Shukaku's chakra was far more vile. By comparison, Matatabi's chakra is fierce instead of being vile.’

Having stolen the chakra of a second Tailed Beast, Fujin's understanding of a Tailed Beast's chakra improved slightly. He calculated, ‘Absorbing Shukaku's chakra increased my Wind affinity further while giving a huge boost to my Earth affinity. Matatabi's chakra should boost my Fire affinity to a whole new level. I might even exceed Hiruzen's fire affinity. Hehe, this should be fun.’

Fujin couldn't wait to absorb Matatabi's chakra, but he controlled himself, ‘I don't want to wait for over a month like last time. I can conduct that experiment later. However, I should still give it a few days to absorb some nature chakra. I want to see if having more chakra would enhance the speed at which it grows.
Besides, I just messed with two of the Great Ninja Villages. If there's a backlash, I might be called. Considering it took me 5 days to absorb around 7.5% of Shukaku's chakra, who knows how long I will be out while absorbing 14% of Matatabi's chakra?’

With nothing else to do, Fujin decided to wait in the hidden base. He spent his time observing Matatabi's chakra while also studying the Earth Release jutsus gifted to him by Iwagakure.

After observing Matatabi's chakra for a couple of days, Fujin analyzed, ‘My guess was incorrect. I thought the more pure the Tailed Beast's chakra is, the more efficiently it would absorb nature energy to strengthen itself. Instead, it has been growing at snail's pace. It's even slower than what Shukaku's chakra grew by in the last few days. Sigh, a shame. I wonder if it had consciousness, would it have increased more rapidly?’

Fujin thought for a minute before shaking his head, ‘No, it can't be said for certain. The half Kurama sealed inside Naruto never grew. Then again, his other half is inside the abdomen of some God of Death. And, he himself was sealed and not free like this chakra. Hmm, I should measure Matatabi's chakra when we meet again.

Would she recover the chakra I stole from her? Or, will this chakra forever be gone from her? Another interesting aspect is what will happen once she dies. Will she revive with her full strength? Or, will she only revive with 86% of her chakra, assuming no one steals more chakra from her?’

Fujin couldn't calculate the answers for these questions, but they fueled his curiosity. Suddenly, Fujin's attention moved to one of his tags in the base. It had started burning!

Fujin got up and grabbed the tag, before thinking, ‘As I expected… Sigh, I shouldn't have given this seal to the village. Anyway, I wonder if Hiruzen will finally give that to me…’

——

A few minutes ago, Tsunade received the highest priority message from Iwagakure. A myriad of expressions appeared on her face as she went through it. Concerned, Shizune asked, “Lady Tsunade, did something happen?”

Tsunade thought for a few moments on how to answer her question. Unfortunately, no words formed in her mouth. Helplessly, she handed the scroll over to Shizune. Shizune's eyes widened as she read the message. She loudly exclaimed, “Danzo and Fujin worked together to create a mess in Iwagakure? How is that possible?”

Tsunade muttered angrily, “How am I supposed to know?”

With a frown on her face, Tsunade analyzed, ‘Even though Sensei kept Danzo in check, he's getting restless. However, how did he gain enough forces to do something as big as this? As for Fujin… No, that's impossible. Fujin won't cooperate with Danzo. From what Sensei said, their relationship is terrible. But, there's a chance that Danzo made use of Fujin…’

There were still several doubts in Tsunade's head, from something as basic as how Danzo was able to track Fujin, to Danzo's intention behind such an incident. Of course, she didn't blindly trust Onoki and believed there was a chance the report was fake.

After contemplating, Tsunade said, “Shizune, send a messenger to Danzo and call him here. Also, burn Fujin's communication tag! Call him here immediately!”