Chapter 49.6- One Thousand Hands

The adamantine staff won the exchange as the unstoppable force was forced to take a step back to prevent his chest caving in. Hiruzen Sarutobi saw his advantage, and credit to him, he took it better than most could. He formed the seal with the hand obscured by the staff and moved his chakra in a way that Uzume had never seen before to create a unique type of wind release. It wasn’t wind release made of compacted or concentrated air, but wind release made of the absence of air itself. Like it pushed air out of its way to make its presence known to the world.

Once again, the Raikage opted to take the attack rather than dodge it, and this time the wind release exploded when it hit his body, sending the usually unflappable man sailing backwards in the air. Not allowing the advantage slip for a second, Sensei pulled out one of his trump cards. She watched his chakra spike as he opened the first of his eight inner gates and in a flicker of pure speed, he appeared behind the horizontal form of the Raikage. He unleashed a kick so powerful it caused a shockwave as it sent the Raikage flying into the air. He followed from behind, kicking against the air itself with legendary chakra control that would have put even the best medics to shame. Bandages from a sealing scroll began to wrap around the man as Sensei guided them with chakra threads so thin that none without eyes like hers would have been able to understand them.

Enclosed and bound, the Raikage could do little as he was spun through the air and planted into the ground like a seed from a seed planter. Sensei landed on the ground a few steps away, facing away from the explosion just like Shori always insisted cool guys do. The dust began to clear, and it became apparent that celebrations had been far from warranted.

The man dusted his broad shoulders by tapping at them with each arm— never mind that each tap looked like it could have removed a regular man’s head from his body. He was unscathed. Not even a scratch on him. His lightning cloak had died out but there was no damage sustained. Nothing. Not even a damn bruise.

“That almost tickled, Monkey” he said with a laugh, directing his words at Sarutobi rather than Sensei. He wasn’t even considering Sensei as a threat, and that rankled at her. Was it pride? It had to be. Even with all the power she’d gotten recently, she couldn’t imagine being able to just casually disregard a man like Sensei. His bag of tricks was endless, and his mind was somehow even craftier than his tricks plentiful. He didn’t know a thousand jutsu or anything, but he could use every jutsu he knew in a thousand ways.

Sensei was the first to break the seeming deadlock, speeding into the Raikage’s space with the first gate open and moving to remove his head from his shoulders— Sensei never failed to aim from the head, he was efficient like that. The dark skinned hefty man stopped the blade with his fingers stretched to, catching it so precisely as if to say that Sensei’s speed did not compare to his. An arc of white chakra flowed from the blade but broke against the Raikage’s body without effect.

“That’s a nifty trick with the staff. The monkey is a sage, huh? I would not have expected to find another practitioner of the ancient rightful arts in a place like this one, but well enough. We shall see whose traditions reign superior, Sarutobi” The Raikage proclaimed to the world and his body exploded with a new chakra cloak. Black lightning encased him from head to toe, and in a blur she failed to track, he sent Sensei flying with half his ribs broken and his chest caved in.

“You might know some tricks, monkey. But you've never had black lightning before.”

A/N: Guess what Monkey Sage mode does? In this story (and kind of in canon), every form of sage mode will come with other collateral advantages. Snake Sages can animate and manipulate inanimate objects, Toad sages have Frog Kumite, and as for Whale Sages, I guess we’ll see. Is black lightning senjutsu? Sasuke’s lightning release turns black when he uses it with the curse mark and we know that involves nature chakra in some way. Kakashi’s lightning turned black under Sage of six paths power amps so who knows? It’s Senjutsu in this story, deal with it. And yeah, I couldn’t resist the meme.