Under Baki's gaze, Furina's body was instantly torn apart by the wind blades, leaving it riddled with wounds. Upon seeing this, Baki's smile became even more pronounced.
But his joy did not last long. The next moment, the smile on his face froze, because Furina did not burst into blood as he had imagined. Instead, she turned into water and scattered onto the ground.
"Water Clone!" After witnessing this scene, Baki instantly realized he had been tricked. His rich experience told him that he was not the only hunter the other party also had thoughts of taking him down.
But realizing this now was far too late. Furina, hidden in the shadows, naturally would not miss this unexpected opportunity. The instant Baki reacted, a high-pressure water jet had already shot toward him silently.
However, no matter how concealed it was, the sharp momentum of the Water Severing Wave could not be hidden. As an accomplished jōnin, Baki of course sensed that he was being ambushed.
Facing the sneak attack, Baki did not panic. Having fought in countless battles, he naturally had ways to deal with it. Hardening his entire body was enough to ensure his safety. Earlier, Gekkō Hayate had been unable to threaten him once he used this technique.
"No, something's wrong." After deciding to take it head-on, Baki suddenly felt a growing sense of approaching death, as if truly blocking this move would kill him outright.
His intuition had saved him from the brink of death multiple times before, so he naturally trusted it. He immediately abandoned the idea of tanking it and leaned back to dodge.
Baki's change of mind happened in an instant, but Furina's Water Severing Wave only needed an instant to hit him as well. With the advantage of striking first, since he had not dodged from the very beginning, there was absolutely no way for him to escape unscathed.
"Ah!"
The water jet sliced through, blood sprayed, and several severed fingers fell to the ground, proving that Baki's intuition moments ago had been correct. But right now, Baki felt no joy about it whatsoever.
Missing several fingers would definitely affect his hand seals, and the opponent would surely not let up. Things were about to get dangerous.
"A so-called ninja of the great Konoha Village only knows how to sneak attack? If you have the guts, come out and fight me head-on. Don't make me look down on you Konoha ninja."
"Idiot."
Seeing Baki trying to guilt-trip her now, Furina inwardly gave her most honest evaluation. Why didn't you say that when you were the one sneaking up on me earlier?
Though she felt quite annoyed inside, Furina had no intention of continuing to hide. From her earlier attack, the opponent could surely deduce her approximate location, yet instead of attacking, he was spouting moral nonsense.
At a time like this, the opponent definitely would not make useless moves. Delaying time must serve some purpose of his. In that case, she could not let him have his way.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique."
Countless streams of water continuously surged from around Furina, overwhelming and covering the sky as if they intended to devour everything ahead. All obstacles in their path were swept up and carried straight toward the enemy.
"As expected, it's the Blade of Wind. I knew it." After noticing that the waves were suddenly sliced several times midway, Furina's guess was confirmed.
Saying hypocritical things to draw attention while secretly using Blade of Wind for sneak attacks if she had not known about the opponent's abilities, she might have actually fallen for it.
But so what? When one had not yet reached another level, a ninja's battle was a battle of information. Since this sneak attack had revealed his ability to her, he could just obediently wait to die.
And upon seeing this, Baki's expression grew much uglier. Now it was so obvious unless the opponent was stupid, she would definitely realize the function of Blade of Wind. He was truly in trouble now.
Just as Baki had anticipated, several water dragons slowly rose from the water on the ground. Besides the ones attacking him, two more kept rotating around Furina, giving Blade of Wind no chance to hit.
Noticing Furina's steady and cautious approach, Baki began calculating his escape route in his mind. His strongest killing move had been countered, and other ninjutsu would be hard to use effectively. If he did not run now, he would really end up dying here.
Baki was not afraid of death, but he did not want his death to be meaningless. And dying at Furina's hands would be a completely worthless death.
Although Baki showed no signs of trying to flee, Furina could tell that the opponent no longer had any desire to continue fighting. Once the thought of escape arose, it was hard to maintain fighting spirit this was difficult to conceal.
"You came all this way, so why not just stay?"
Watching Furina gradually draw closer, Baki could not help but frown. He knew his intentions had probably already been guessed by the other party. With the opponent on guard, the success rate of escaping was very low especially since the surroundings were Furina's home territory.
"Looks like running isn't possible anymore." Glancing at the large areas of accumulated water all around, Baki's heart gave rise to a resolve to fight to the death. He now regarded the other as an opponent on the same level.
If their roles were reversed, Furina would have absolutely no chance of escaping from him. Correspondingly, it would be very difficult for him to escape from her hands. In that case, still clinging to thoughts of escape would be disrespectful to both sides.
"The opponent has been using ninjutsu to attack from the start until now. Combined with her age and gender, taijutsu should be her weak point. If I attack from that angle, there might still be a slim chance."
As Furina drew even closer, a glimmer of hope rose in Baki's heart again. Since the opponent was giving him an opening, he would not hold back.
"Little girl, let me teach you one more lesson: never let your guard down until the enemy is dead."
With that, Baki stomped the ground hard, bursting forth at his maximum speed toward Furina. At the same time as he charged, he fully unleashed his chakra, using the most powerful Blade of Wind he had ever performed.
Baki felt that this strike had surpassed his peak. And this strike, carrying his hopes along with the wind blades, did not disappoint him the two water dragons rotating around Furina were both cleaved down by this attack.
"Heh." Looking at the now unprotected Furina, Baki revealed a smile. Although the massive chakra consumption from using the maximum-power Blade of Wind just now made it hard for him to use it again immediately, at this distance, taijutsu alone would suffice.
By now, the two were mere inches apart. Baki's other uninjured hand had already drawn a kunai, poised and ready. As long as he closed in, he could...
"Bang." Seeing Furina also holding a kunai and locking him in place, Baki could not help but widen his eyes in shock. Although he was not a taijutsu specialist, his taijutsu was still at jōnin level. How could a little girl block it so easily?
"What the hell?!"