He used it twice more, completely escaping the range of the deadly Ninjutsu, and at the same time, he asked in confusion.
"Why did he attack me?"
Time rewound to two minutes prior—
Feng Zheng thought for a few seconds and came to a conclusion.
"Under normal circumstances, attacking Mieko is the best option. Unless there might be a problem. Although Mieko is tactically smarter than Hodaka, she is still too overconfident."
"On the other hand, Hodaka will likely help Mieko if she gets injured and prevent me from defeating her. Even if he doesn't, his Byakugan will give him all the information, and he will have the initiative to attack or observe."
"So this means my target should be..."
After reaching his conclusion, he quickly used Wind Body Flicker Technique to approach Hodaka.
Although Hodaka ran underground, Feng Zheng easily sensed him.
He flickered and followed him. Hodaka also realized that Feng Zheng was indeed tracking him.
"As expected, he can easily track me. I need to get out and engage him in close combat. He shouldn't be able to use such strong Ninjutsu in close combat."
However, before he could even leave the ground, Feng Zheng had already landed at Hodaka's location and slammed his fist, imbued with all his Chakra, onto the ground!
Ever since Hodaka sensed Feng Zheng gathering Chakra, he hadn't completely left the ground.
But how could he have imagined that Feng Zheng would actually punch the ground?
The impact generated a shockwave that traveled through the ground towards Hodaka's location.
Although the shockwave caused no harm, it threw the entire underground into chaos.
While Hodaka was underground, the random movements of the ground hit him multiple times, even injuring him.
He tried to use the Earth Body Flicker Technique again, but due to the chaos underground, he couldn't execute it.
Finally, he reinforced the adjacent wall with a rock shield. This provided him with some cover, but he was already injured.
His right elbow and shoulder were impacted. Many stones also hit his chest, abdomen, and back.
Later, despite the protection of the rock shield, his left ankle was injured, and the injury was quite severe.
Finally, the vibrations subsided, and Hodaka successfully emerged from the ground.
This was exactly where Feng Zheng was, but unfortunately, he had no other choice.
As soon as he emerged from underground, a kunai was placed at the back of his neck. He saw Feng Zheng standing in front of him. Feng Zheng said.
"Give up, you've already lost."
Hodaka reluctantly accepted his defeat and said.
"I lost."
As soon as he said that, Feng Zheng's Shadow Clone dispersed.
This battle involved only 2 attacks. One was Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Technique, and the other was a punch.
Mieko noticed a breeze and heard the loud sound of Feng Zheng punching the ground.
Unfortunately, she was too far away to know what happened. She was very curious.
"Are Feng Zheng and Hodaka fighting? Should I go and see? No, I'm injured, I'll wait a bit. The Chakra points will open soon."
As soon as Hodaka surrendered, Feng Zheng flickered towards Mieko.
He noticed that Mieko was now standing in an area with no trees around, and he thought.
"Good. She knows that hiding is pointless. So she stays in the open, giving no opportunity for a sneak attack."
"Actually, I can still ambush her from behind. However, I'm quite sure she deliberately left this opening. Her surroundings should be filled with traps."
Having figured out his strategy, Feng Zheng began to create Wind Clones. Twenty Wind Clones appeared around Feng Zheng.
Feng Zheng immediately suppressed his Chakra and hid behind a tree.
His Wind Clones dispersed into the forest, surrounding Mieko from all directions, while his main body remained hidden.
A Wind Clone walked along a path that allowed him to approach her stealthily. Along the way, the Wind Clone noticed many thin strings on the ground.
He smiled; his guess was correct.
Feng Zheng's Wind Clone tried to quickly flicker behind her while avoiding all traps, but Mieko became aware of it and quickly turned around.
As she turned, Feng Zheng's Wind Clone noticed Mieko holding two thin strings in her right hand.
Seeing Feng Zheng approaching her, Mieko smiled.
"I knew it."
She released the strings while flickering backward.
As soon as the strings were released, dozens of Shuriken rained down on Feng Zheng's Wind Clone.
At the same time, Mieko activated her Sharingan, observing Feng Zheng. She frowned, noticing that Feng Zheng's Chakra level was very low.
"It's a Wind Clone. This guy never fights head-on!"
Feng Zheng's Wind Clone easily dodged the Shuriken, chasing Mieko while using Wind Blast Technique, firing it at her.
He launched seven Wind Blast Techniques at her consecutively. Mieko dodged each time. But she grew increasingly worried.
"I need to be vigilant for any sneak attacks. He likely has more Wind Clones hidden nearby."
Renjiro observed the battle, thinking.
"His control over Wind Release is truly impressive. The Wind Clone is the weakest elemental clone. Due to the instability of Wind Clones, any capable Sensor Ninja can easily distinguish a Wind Clone from the original body in an instant."
"However, the fragility of Wind Clones allows anyone to create a large number of them. And the unstable Chakra of a Wind Clone makes it immune to Genjutsu. Since Wind Clones are made of wind, they are usually more mobile than the user."
He then looked at Feng Zheng's hidden main body and smiled.
"How conceited, thinking he's already won. Although he will win, if he thinks victory will be this easy, he should learn a lesson. After all, Hodaka and Mieko have also made great progress in the past 3 months."
The Wind Clone's Chakra finally began to diminish. Feng Zheng analyzed.
"Hmm... I need to inject more Chakra into two to three Wind Clones so they can last longer. The others can be created with minimal requirements, as I need quantity."
Seeing that it was about to disperse, the Wind Clone injected most of its Chakra into another Wind Blast Technique. Then, he Body Flickered closer to Mieko.
Mieko Body Flickered away, but the Wind Clone Body Flickered after her again, throwing a Wind Blast Technique at her. After completing this, the Wind Clone dissipated.
Mieko hastily threw a kunai with an Exploding Tag attached towards the incoming Wind Ball.
The explosion from the Exploding Tag easily overwhelmed the Ninjutsu and dispersed it, but Mieko had to jump backward to avoid being hit by the explosion.
However, this explosion, along with the previous Wind Blast Technique, activated or destroyed most of the traps she had meticulously set.
Unfortunately, as soon as she jumped backward, two more Wind Clones appeared behind her, launching Wind Blast Techniques at her.
Since she was in mid-air, she couldn't Body Flicker away!
In a panic, she threw a Shuriken with a string attached to a nearby tree, then used it to pull herself away.
But some of the wind from the explosion still hit her, causing many small cuts on her body, which immediately began to bleed.
The two Wind Clones immediately continued their attack, giving Mieko no time to think.