The civilian spectators were shocked. They looked in fear and awe. Terror can be seen on their faces. The Daimyos were shocked too. Their faces were pale on imagining being on the receiving end of this jutsu!
Some of the new ninjas were shocked as well. But the ones who had fought in the 3rd Great Ninja War weren't shocked by the jutsu. However, they were surprised to see a 10 year old genin be able to do this jutsu.
Yumi and a couple of Mist genins in the waiting room were shocked! They looked at the arena with horror on their faces! They quickly thanked whichever gods they prayed to for not being on the receiving end of this jutsu!
Fujin noticed the destruction and thought, 'Oh, it's not that bad. Those lightning-charged kunais kinda freaked me out. I thought they would pierce deep into the ground, making even the underground unsafe.
I suppose someone charged the kunais with Lightning release and sealed them up. And Mieko only summoned and used them. Tsk, the Uchiha clan is crazy rich! Spending over 300 thousand Ryo on a pointless Chunin exam match!'
As the attack was over, he left the underground and returned to the surface.
Mieko was breathing very heavily! The jutsu had dropped her chakra to under 20%. She noticed Fujin leaving the underground and grinned, 'Let's see where you hide now!'
She flickered under the cover of dust and used Fireball jutsu. Fujin sensed her coming and flickered to dodge the jutsu.
The crowd, which was still in shock, was again surprised by another explosion sound. Soon, sounds of kunai clashing could be heard in the arena. But due to the dust, they couldn't see what exactly was happening. Only the Sharingan and Byakugan wielders were able to see what was happening. Inoichi was concerned as he couldn't see exactly what was happening.
In the arena, after dodging her Fireball, Fujin created a shadow clone to confront Mieko. His clone took the lead in engaging her, while he provided support. Mieko was breathing very heavily due to chakra exhaustion.
Fujin's clone sighed and said while clashing with Mieko with kunai, "You barely have 10% of your chakra left. Just give up. Even if you somehow win, you can't fight in the final."
Mieko scowled and yelled, "As if I'll give up without engaging your main body at all!" While she yelled arrogantly, she was hoping, 'Just one look in the eye and I can turn this around!'
Fujin knew that she was still banking on her Sharingan Genjutsu.
His clone replied, "Give up trying to cast Sharingan Genjutsu on me. I'll never fall for it. Not to mention, I still haven't drawn my sword. If I use it, you won't last a second"
Mieko frowned upon hearing that. The scene of Fujin swinging his sword and slaughtering 2 waves of bandits was still fresh in her mind! However, she concluded, 'He won't use his sword here. It's too lethal. Otherwise, he would have already used it.'
She snorted and kept attacking. Fujin and his clone sighed realizing that she didn't take the bluff. Her analysis was on point. Fujin had no way to ensure that she wouldn't die if he used his sword.
He then looked at Mieko and decided, 'Oh well, time to get rough.' He immediately built his chakra up. Unlike Mieko, Fujin still had more than half his chakra. Mieko immediately became alert when she saw Fujin build his chakra.
She wanted to attack him, but his clone blocked her. Suddenly, after blocking her, Fujin's clone grabbed her right arm. Mieko tried to break free, but all her attacks were blocked perfectly by Fujin's clone.
At that moment, Fujin appeared behind his clone.
'Great Breakthrough jutsu'
Mieko's eyes widened as she realized that Fujin was hitting both his clone and her. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to do anything.
Fujin's clone was dispelled immediately. The jutsu hit Mieko with full force. She was sent flying into the arena's wall! She crashed into the wall and fell unconscious.
Fujin's jutsu also cleared the dust off the arena. Unfortunately for the spectators, a lot of dust was sent into the sitting area. Many immediately began coughing and covering their eyes, nose, and mouth.
A few ninjas knowing Wind jutsus stood up and began clearing the dust from the sitting area. While the dust was being cleared, medical nins appeared and took Mieko away.
Inoichi waited for the dust to clear and then announced, "Winner of the second Semifinal is Suzuki Fujin!"
The crowd cheered a bit. The cheering was dulled due to a couple of reasons. For starters, the crowd was very annoyed with the dust storm they just had to suffer. And most of the crowd had placed their bets on Mieko.
Fujin left the arena and went into the waiting room. As he entered, Yumi looked at him with a complicated expression.
She thought, 'His opponent was so strong, and yet he won with such ease! Even I would have probably lost against the Uchiha girl. Even the fights against Rentaro and Shin would have been challenging for me.
Yet, not only did he win all three fights, he did it without taking any wounds. And he still has enough chakra to match me at my full strength.'
She sighed realizing that the final was a lost cause. Unlike the other genins fighting there, she was being raised to become a capable team leader. While she still had her pride, she could analyze and come to proper conclusions as compared to her peers.
Just like Yumi, experienced ninjas in the crowd also took note of Fujin.
Hiruzen smiled, 'Brilliant. Renjiro wasn't mistaken. And he fought without using his sword or the Senju Taijutsu style.
Ignoring those two skills and chakra reserves, he isn't much stronger than Mieko. But the result he produced due to his tactics is remarkable. If he becomes an Elite Jounin, Konoha will gain another capable ninja.'
The judges were impressed as well. Genma commented, "Despite the destruction, Fujin won with rather ease. He knows when to retreat and attack. His usage of clones is very impressive as well."
Raido nodded, "In all 3 fights, Fujin has tactically outplayed his opponents. Though Mieko is strong as well, she lacks in this department."
Ibiki added, "Yes. But it's likely that a lot of what Mieko said was just her trying to make things easier for her. After all, for those with Sharingan, one look is enough to decide the battle.
Unfortunately for her, Fujin has very good self-control to not respond to any taunting and to not drop his guard even when winning. So despite Lightning Explosion Barrage Rain jutsu, she never got any opportunity to suppress Fujin."
The judges discussed the fight more. The finals would happen after half an hour. So some of the spectators began cleaning themselves up, crowding the public bathrooms.
The break was an opportunity for stall owners to sell their merchandise or food items. Unfortunately, those items now had a lot of dust on them. So quite a lot of merchandise and food was spoiled. Only packaged items or the ones kept in airtight containers were safe. So Mieko and Fujin were cursed secretly by all the stall owners!
During the break, a few ninjas used Earth release jutsus to fix the ground. Making the genins fight in a completely ruined arena would put Konoha in a bad light. More importantly, knowing Fujin's Great Breakthrough jutsu, they expected him to just launch the soil into the stands.
After half an hour, Fujin and Yumi were called down to the arena.