Chapter 83.2-One Thousand hands

We danced around the trench, me trying and failing to land a hit while he also dealt with a failure of his own— his inability to mount any sort of offensive. The second he turned his attention away from dodging and avoiding my attacks, I would pounce with all the force of a thousand stars, and since I had proven able to bypass his armour, he was now less than keen to allow me as many openings as he did earlier.

So we continued in our stalemate, neither of us managing to harm the other. It was turning into a battle of attrition, and I was very cognizant of just how quickly the chakra that enabled this form was running out. But there was one thing I had going for me that he didn’t. I wasn’t alone. I tried to strike his chest, and he slid backwards only for him to suddenly be sent flying right back at me. I noticed the purple specter form behind him as Uzume’s sussano’o tossed him back into my grip. I lanced into his chest, closing the tenketsu there. He stepped back, coughing up a small amount of blood, But that was my opening.

I felt my body slow a tad as I felt my chakra coils scream in protest at the abuse I was putting them through. They were built for my water-like chakra that flowed like air when it could, not for this sludge that I had turned my chakra into. Just a little more, I consoled myself as I erupted at him.

“Two palms” I muttered, feeling like a child again— it had been so long since I’d used this.

“Four palms”

“Eight”

“Sixteen”

“Thirty-two” Each one was like a lance of chakra digging into the Raikage.

“Sixty-four”

“One hundred and twenty eight” I near stumbled at that one, seeing light creep into the edge of my vision. I pushed through it though. This was it.

“Sage Art: Two hundred and fifty six palms” I announced my newly developed jutsu to the world as I landed a final series of one hundred and twenty eight strikes so quickly that someone else would have mistaken them for a single strike. The Raikage was sent flying backwards. I couldn’t follow, finding myself on my knees in a matter of seconds. My byakugan had deactivated itself— was it protesting?

Then I realised that my chakra itself had retreated from me. I could still feel it, but it was a positively infinitessimal amount compared to what I had just been working with. Kurama’s chakra and the sage energy had all been expended in forcing my body to become fast enough to deal with the requirements of my new creation.

I felt the strain of remaining upright become too much and decided to just take a quick nap. I flopped to the floor, but instead of the cold soil of the earth, it was a pair of laps I found myself falling into.

“You fool. There’s a reason no one goes above one hundred and twenty eight.”