Chapter 60.5- One Thousand Hands

“Tsuchikage-sama, Father, I beg you. Give me command over the forces that will take Suna. I will bring you the head of Shorirama Senju and both the eight and ninetails. I swear it.” Kitsuchi said. And Onoki wished he had not spoken. Now he would have to refuse his son here. In front of these grasping snakes and serpents. But to do it in private would be just as damning and much less efficient. Besides, maybe this would be a lesson on not trying to pressure him into action. Maybe he hoped his mother’s presence would dissuade Onoki from refusing as he ought.

“One day, you will be ready to fight anyone in he world and walk out of the other side. But if you faced Shorirama Senju today, you’d come back in a black scroll” if he even got to come back at all. Shorirama Senju was just the kind of person to keep his son’s body as a trophy.

“Besides, conflict with Ay is all but guaranteed. You are strong, boy. But not strong enough to face Kage. There’s a reason there are only five of us in the world”

“So how would we deal with them?” Kitsuchi asked next, brows furrowed.

“I will lead them of course” He said like it was obvious, and in truth it was. He’d seen Shoriram fight as a child, and even back then he had all the things that could come together to make a dangerous shinobi.. Prodigious chakra control, elemental affinity, taijutsu, and then there were the chakra reserves and fuinjutsu. The only things lacking had been the judgement skills that could only come with experience, and the ability to seamlessly pull disparate skills together to create a coherent fighting style. Two things that had probably come with time considering the fact that he had killed Han.

“But Tsuchikage-sama, we agreed that after what happened to Lord Second, the Tsuchikage would only be called to the front lines as a last resort. We can’t lose you” He scoffed. As if he would die. He was stronger than his Master ever was. And with the things he’d been working on, the world would be in for a nasty surprise.

“This is the last resort. We have lost both our jinchuriki and now stand at a crossroads. This is our last desperate gambit” He said gravely, trying to drive home the seriousness of the situation. Just how dire things were. Either they won here, or they lost everything.