Chapter 51.5- One Thousand Hands

She chose to attack me rather than defend against the attack and so sent a storm of senbon that tore through the clone, turning the body into mud. From my actual position where I had been standing still and trying to do do something for the first time, I disappeared and appeared next to one of her puppets— right where one of my kunai had landed. The serpent-shaped puppet tried to wrap itself around my body, but I felt the nature chakra I’d been drawing in click in place. It was a paltry amount. When combined with my own chakra at the 2:1 ratio that the hero’s water did by default, it was scarcely enough to last me more than a few seconds.

Still, I felt my body swell with power. I dodged the snake’s darting strike and grabbed a hold of its head with one hand. The other hand took a hold of its tail and I dragged both ends away from each other, ripping it in two with one motion. The puppets guts were scattered every which way. The canisters that contained explosive force that surrounded me as Chiyo attempted a retreat exploded with their target far away. I had gone straight for the one producing the explosions.

Chiyo attempted to protect it with the spider shaped one, but I continued my motion like it hadn’t even appeared in front of me. Senbon hit my skin and bounced off as I tore through it with an outstretched punch. The puppet that had been producing the explosions tried to fly backwards but I reached out, forming my own chakra strings that held it in place for the rasengan that crushed it to pieces. I felt the senjutsu chakra coursing through me begin to flicker as I ran through it like a man in the desert guzzling down water. The next thing I did was track down the puppet that had forced me to disconnect my hearing and nailed him with an arrow from my bow. This arrow, just like the first was etched with my hiriashin seal so I appeared right in front of it and tore it top pieces with strength the sort of which would have made my cousin jealous.

Sage mode fell away immediately after and I breathed out. Chiyo was basically done with. Her threads into the ground still remained connected and she had her shield still, but beyond that, I had destroyed most of her puppets. That was why I wasn’t too surprised when the area around me exploded in purple gas. I held my breath instantly and tapped the neck of my flak vest to unseal a gas mask I stored there. I placed it over my face before I used a sealless wind technique to blow the poison gas away.

When it cleared, Chiyo was nowhere to be seen. Even my byakugan had no luck spotting her where she’d run to.

“I guess we’ll call that one my win” I said to myself.

“You didn’t kill her. It’s a tie” Kurama growled from my mind, clearly still irritated that I’d shoved his chakra back instead of letting loose.

“I didn’t have to kill her, because she came here trying to kill me and since she failed, then that means I win” I corrected.

“She gets to try again later and now she has more information about you and how you fight. It’s her win” He argued.