Chapter 63.2- One Thousand Hands

It seemed to flicker through space. One second, it was all the way over there, and the next it was in front of us, striking down with a punch that moved so fast fire seemed to gather at the end of its fist. It was all I could do to reach out to the bits of my chakra connected to Kushina, Minato, Mikoto, and Kizuru. I teleported them backwards, back into the treeline along with myself while my clone pulled at the mud around Jinpei and him to form a barrier. However, just like I feared, the punch shattered the barrier ion one blow, and before the second could land, my clone dispelled Jinpei’s summoning and teleported over to me. We felt the ground shiver and shake as the second punch hit it rather than my clone or the whale.

“Did you see that one coming?” My clone asked as we watched the Tsuchikage begin to form another of those geometric shapes with his dust release.

“Not at all, but it does make sense he’s strong enough to make our plans useless. No point planning against Kage, remember?” I said, referencing something we had seen in Tobirama’s notes. ‘There are shinobi who possess such power and might that any plan formed against them would fail, not because of a deficiency in the mind of the planner, but because their power is such that it rewrites rules of the game as they exist. My brother, Hashirama and to my displeasure, his friend Madara are two such shinobi’. His notes had read.

“So what are we going to do?”

“We trade punches until one of us wins. With how much chaos you’ve strewn in that lot, I doubt they’d make much difference in the fight” I said referencing the group of Iwa nin still reeling from my various assaults.

“As for you, take them back to the village and dispel. I can feel my nature chakra reserves running low. That boil release Rasengan took a lot out of me. Controlling that much chakra, containing it…” I drifted off as the dust release jutsu flew towards us. My clone nodded, and in a second he was gone. So were Kizuru and my team, over the protests that they were just managing to voice. I teleported to the other side of the forest before I began walking out, coming into Onoki’s full view even as I watched the area I’d taken cover in turn to nothing but dust.

“Hiding, are you? One would take you for many things, but a coward would never have been one of them” He taunted as he flew back towards that golem of his, standing on its shoulder.

“Do you know why Kokuo is the fastest of the tailed beasts?” I asked instead as I felt my clone return my chakra to me. I began to use the chakra to stoke what remained of Kokuo’s chakra within me. I had wanted to save this for the Raikage, but even this would probably have failed against I’m if Uzume’s words proved true. And I had no doubt that they would.

“Who?” He asked instead.

“Oh. You know him as the five tails. Do you know why he was the fastest.”

“I assume you will tell me whether I want to know or not” He said, sounding as uninterested as anyone had ever been in a subject.

“Because...” I began but did not finish as his golem moved then, stomping the ground I’d stood on a second later as it flickered in space to cross the distance.

“Rude” I said, as I felt my chakra finally reach a boil. I shot straight at him, steam trailing my form.