Chapter 83.1- One Thousand Hands

XXXXX- SHORIRAMA SENJU

I looked at the ground beneath me, and then far in the distance. I couldn’t see the end of the trench my jutsu had carved into the ground, so I pushed off, jumping to the end of my range in a matter of seconds, and then I could see it. The Raikage was back on his feet again. He had already wrestled his way out of the mass of rubble my jutsu had smashed against Iwa’s walls. From the centre of the village to its walls. I hadn’t intended for the jutsu to be that powerful. I hadn’t intended to use half my chakra in that thing either.

But hopefully I wouldn’t have to use any ninjutsu again. The sludge that my chakra had become almost seemed to rebel at the thought of being controlled outside my body. I pushed it into the jutsu, and it just went. More of it— far more of it than I intended had just gone into the jutsu, and turned into wind.

I flared my chakra, waiting for my opponent, and he didn’t waste any time. He was in front of me in the time it would have taken most to blink. With my eyes, I spotted several familiar chakra signatures at the edges of the trench, watching us from above. We would have an audience, it seemed. The Raikage turned his own eyes towards them, and the second his head was not facing me, I pushed against the ground.

He caught my punch, barely. The ground around us shattered even further. I lashed out with my foot aiming to take his head off. He released my hand, and bent at the waist to allow the kick miss. His legs arced out, sweeping mine out from underneath me. I spun with the motion, moving into a handstand. I formed a single hand seal, and just as expected, the Raikage dodged out of the way. I returned to my feet, not having fired any jutsu.

He scoffed at being caught out, and we met again. His fist came first. I dodged it, and instead of attacking his body, I stabbed three chakra lances into his arm before he could snatch it back. Only two had managed to close the tenketsu I had been aiming for. He stood still, clearly about to spike chakra through the limb to return feeling to it. Not on my watch.

I pressed the attack, stepping into his guard, and forcing him to keep dodging around my attacks. We were close enough in speed in this state of mine that I was forcing him to move at full speed and he was still only managing to dodge my attacks by the thinnest margins. One downside of this form of gentle fist that could penetrate his armour was that I needed a really good hit— like I needed to dig my fingers in if I wanted it to have any chance, so with him dodging as he was, it was near impossible to land a hit.