Chapter 78.4- One Thousand Hands

“How are things going?” I asked. Fighting the Raikage had taken my full attention. The landscape of the battlefield was all but unknown to me. If I turned my attention away from him for a second, he would take my head off and go kill everyone else.

“Too early to say. Hasn’t even been a minute yet” She said.

“Fighting him makes every second feel like hours”

“I can imagine. It’s a nightmare keeping up with how quickly you change locations.”

“Why’s he just watching us?” I asked, referring to the Raikage who just stood there, head tilted to the side, watching us talk.

“He’s not. He’s getting some sort of report. There’s a trail of yin chakra running from him into the city”

“Yeah, no. Uzume, go hunting. I’ll hold him off until you’re done” I said, cracking my neck.

“We agreed to fight him together” If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she sounded petulant. But I did know better so those words would remain in my head, better left unsaid.

“He’s not going all out for now. Probably trying to force me to tire myself out. If I’m gauging things correctly, he’s still on the first stage of that armour of his. I can do this all day. Go hunting. Prevent his S-ranks from slaughtering our army, and help Uzume kill that Sora bastard while you’re at it.” I said, leaving unspoken the instruction to prevent our friend from dying in combat.

“When you’re done, come back, and we’ll see how much punishment that armour can take” I said.

“Deal” She said, and I was off.

I jumped right back into the thick of things, knee aimed straight for his head. The height difference between us was so intense I was practically jumping to my full height and then some. Instead of dodging or blocking, the bastard looked at my oncoming knee and said bet. He swung his head backwards, meeting my force, and making my bones creak.

Well fuck.

And then his hand was around my ankle. He swung me into the ground first, the force he used hurting more than the impact against the ground as the stone parted before rock hard skin. He kept the grip on my ankle, lifting me up and swinging me into the ground again. And then again. And again. And then the next time lifted me, I contorted my body, blowing a storm of hurricane force wind into his face. He didn’t even budge, swinging me into the ground again.

I fire a kunai at his head. Two into the sky. The first clattered against his shield, did nothing. The other two flew upwards and away. He swung me into the ground, and then we were airborne. I twisted from his suddenly loosened grip. His widened eyes met mine. My wind release enhanced kunai broke against his armour as my attempt to knife him in the neck failed. He snarled, reaching for me. I teleported to the other kunai, sending four more in his direction. His eyes tracked them.

Figuring out the jutsu had taken him less time than most, but what did it matter? We’d seen this before. Hiraishin versus Raikage had only one winner.