Fuji sensed something was wrong with the influx of chakra surrounding the Hosai clansmen. Before everyone could even notice the sudden arrival of multiple chakra, Fuji weaved hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Domes!"
Multiple domes appeared surrounding the scattered ninjas. Each dome contained more than a dozen ninjas, all Hosai clan members.
Inside the dome, the Hosai clansmen were confused, when suddenly multiple explosions occurred outside of the domes.
The ground trembled as the explosions caused havoc, and some domes didn't survive. One of the domes containing fifteen ninjas was broken through the front, and a ray of blue light penetrated through the dome, causing an explosion that killed all fifteen ninjas.
The bombardment continued for ten seconds before it suddenly stopped.
Fuji waited and finally the earth released. Once the domes dispersed, he looked around and saw two domes were fully destroyed, and more than thirty ninjas were killed. The terrain was changed, full of burnt scars and craters.
Fuji glared at Kamishiro, "You're going back on the truce?"
Kamishiro couldn't help but scoff. He knew that the so-called truce wasn't an agreement between the two clans, it was a threat from the Hosai clan, a threat and an enslavement contract.
However, to Kamishiro, he could care less. The only thing he cared about in this world is his little brother and his jutsus, nothing else.
"That was your agreement with the clan, not mine." He paused momentarily, "You stopped me, so I retaliated. Stop me again, see what happens."
"Hmph!"
Fuji didn't speak, he didn't need to.
Rushing toward Kamishiro, Fuji performed another jutsu.
"Wind Release: Gale Dust!"
A massive wind current swept the sand from the ground, creating a dust cloud with immense speed.
Kamishiro blocked his arms, but some sand particles penetrated through his arms, causing small bleeding. The block wasn't meant to block injuries from the body, it was meant to protect the eyes, as the Gale Dust was a ninjutsu known for its furious sand particles.
When Fuji neared Kamishiro, he suddenly stopped.
Boom!
A ray of blue light passed through and caused an explosion, launching Fuji back.
As Fuji lay on the floor coughing, the dust cloud soon disappeared and Kamishiro stood at the same spot, unbothered by everything.
When the Hosai clansmen saw that their elder was injured, all of them began their attack. But before they could get close, more and more tiny creatures made from wood came out of the ground.
The "creatures" resembled geckos, snakes, lizards, rodents, and mantises the size of a mouse.
Everyone halted their attack as all the puppets opened their mouths, tubes sticking out while they gathered blue chakra, the same from before.
All the Hosai clansmen's faces turned pale, as Fuji was now injured and none of them could possibly defend against this attack without him.
Fuji gritted his teeth and stood up, performing the hand signs once again, until a voice yelled from behind.
"You damn brat!"
Whoosh!
Boom!
Two tornadoes came from behind where the voice was. The tornadoes, as if conscious, moved from left to right, splitting and destroying all the puppets controlled by Kamishiro.
Fuji turned around in delight, "Clan Patriarch!"
That firm, hoarse voice could never be mistaken by any Hosai clansmen. It was their patriarch, the son of Shukaku, Mashiro the Judge.
Mashiro walked toward Fuji and behind him was a large army of veteran ninjas, all dragging prisoners of war. Besides Mashiro were his trusted officials, and one of them, Doken, was holding the corpse of the Hebidoku clan's previous patriarch.
When Kamishiro saw his dead father, he couldn't help but twitch at the sight. Although he never loved or cared for his father, it was still his father, the same person that watched him grow up, someone he saw nearly all his life.
Mashiro sneered, "So you're alive after all, Kamishiro. Everyone thought you died that day."
Kamishiro rolled his eyes, "Spare me the pointless bickering, will you?"
Mashiro tilted his head in amusement, "Where did you get all this confidence from?" He paused and looked at the now destroyed puppets, "I don't know where you got those, but it won't help you."
Kamishiro took a kunai out of his sleeves, "Let's test that, shall we?" He threw the kunai at Mashiro.
Mashiro didn't take the kunai seriously and planned to just dodge it seamlessly. But then he noticed that there was something on the kunai, a tiny puppet snake.
The snake opened its mouth and gathered chakra, then released it.
"Hmm?!"
Mashiro took the giant folding fan from his back and blocked the explosion, causing him to slide backward and colliding with some Hosai members.
Amused, Mashiro smiled, "You've grown up." He stood straight and looked at Kamishiro, "You used to be a crybaby and full of life, whatever happened to you?"
Kamishiro shrugged, "Don't know, but what happened to you after your father died?" He paused, then mocked, "You used to be full of life, but now look at you."
Mashiro frowned and gathered chakra onto his fan, releasing a wind that caused a tornado to form. The tornado was massive, easily four stories tall.
Kamishiro weaved hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground, "Earth Release: Rock Shelter."
A dome-like wall protected him from the impact by absorbing the impact of the tornado. When the tornado fully dispersed, he quickly dashed backward as he knew Mashiro would attack.
Sure enough, the rock shelter was destroyed by Mashiro's fist.
Mashiro saw no one behind the shelter and looked around, instantly spotting Kamishiro. He had long ditched his main weapon, the giant fan, for hand-to-hand combat.
From watching the earlier spectacle, Mashiro concluded that Kamishiro's main fighting style was from those puppets that blasted chakra out of their mouths, meaning that he most likely preferred long-ranged combat.
Although Kamishiro had gotten an early start, Mashiro quickly caught up to him as he had superior physical attributes.
Mashiro cocked his fist back and swung at Kamishiro's face. However, Kamishiro dodged by moving his body to the side.
Using the opportunity, Kamishiro weakly and slowly threw a punch toward Mashiro. The punch was so slow and lethargic that Mashiro had the time to scoff and lean his head backward.
However, once his head was leaned back, a lizard came out of Kamishiro's sleeve and opened its mouth.
Boom!