Chapter 64.1- One Thousand Hands

As I stared down the metaphorical barrel of a gun, I felt my options count down until there was only one remaining. Teleport back home and let Tsunade and Mito deal with this. I could already think of a basic ritual to flush my chakra system that had a good chance of working. Between the two of them, hey’d come up with something guaranteed to work for sure. But that felt too much like giving up, like throwing in the towel, and the very thought of it was making m want to retch. Against Hanzo. I’d had no choice, and it felt like it was much the same here. But I just didn’t want to. Was it pride? Maybe. Scratch that, hell yes it was. But was that a bad thing. All my hard work and I still couldn’t beat this dude? I was stronger than him, I had to be. I’d just been outmaneuvered and now I was going to lose this fight because of that.

I could feel the earth beneath my feet as the jutsu above me fully formed itself. I couldn’t move. This was the last hiraishin marker I had on the battlefield. Any further teleportations meant retreating. I didn’t want to fucking retreat. I wanted to fight this to the bitter end. I wanted to fucking win. But how could I do that? I couldn’t even move a fucking thing.

“You have two options” I heard Kurama’s growl in my ear.

“What are they?”

“Am I here to hold your hand? Solve it for yourself or die” I felt him close his eyes within the seal like whatever happened next was not his concern. I had to fight without moving. It was impossible. But Kurama said it was possible. How could I do it? There was something, definitely something. I could feel it at the tip of my tongue. What were my advantages? Boil release, Kurama’s chakra, sage mode, mud— fucking mud release, I thought as the dust release technique finally fired.

The ground around me turned to mud and ferried me over to the right, allowing Onoki’s jutsu to miss thoroughly. I still had my chakra. And I was being forced to stay still.. Mud release didn’t need any handsigns from me. Just focus and a connection to the earth. I could do this. I could fucking do this.

“Why do you insist on prolonging the inevitable? Let’s get this over and done with, boy” He said.

“You’re going to die today, Fencesitter. I will take joy in that” I said, and began to focus and pull in natural energy even as half my attention was left to the battlefield, turning the ground to mud and overwhelming whatever control Onoki attempted to assert over the earth. Earth release was my thing. Mine.

“The last gasp of a dying man. How quaint. Bring your best, Shorirama Senju. I hope your Grandfather is bearing witness to this” He said with a malicious smile. I had this. I fucking had this. I just had to deliver.