Chapter 31.5- One Thousand Hands

“Draw it” She asked, like she needed to. I was going to pull at the string that was calling me to pull at it. It wasn’t a question. I reached out with my fingers, talking hold of the string, and dragging it backwards. It took more strength than I was used to, but that was no problem. When I finally drew it more than two inches backwards, I could see a bolt of plasma form between the string and the bow wood. I looked up at her in shock.

“Raijin no ken in a bow. You’ve tried it before, but trust me, this goes beyond anything you have ever attempted” She said, and I believed her. I believed her completely. For one, the drain. The drain felt manageable. Like I could draw and loose this a hundred times before feeling the strain. It was one hell of a weapon.

When I moved to draw it fully and take aim, I was called back to reality with the pain of a cane crashing against my head. “You can’t fire that thing in here, boy” She said, and I flushed and took the correction.

“I was going to fire it out the window” I defended halfheartedly.

“The closed window?” She asked with an arched brow.

“How’d you even get close to me so quickly. Thought you had issues walking” I pointed out with narrowed eyes, and just barely resisted the urge to burst into laughter when her cane suddenly dropped to the floor and she did her best impression of a person struggling to stand as she pushed all her weight on me. I sighed and reached down to get the cane and placed it in her hand again.

“Take me to my room. I might as well go to bed now” She said, and I nodded and began to walk with her.

“You will not attempt Hiriashin without my approval” She said after we’d crossed half the manor and were about to reach her room.

“Yes Grandmother”

“I do not joke, Shorirama. I see not why you’ve been obsessed with that abominable jutsu for so long, but promise me that you will not even think of trying to use it without me going over your seal first and being there to make sure I salvage you out of whatever goes wrong” She said, I nodded.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d made my interest in the jutsu known, even as a child. Back then, Granduncle Tobirama had held me off with promises of later while Grandmother Mito replied with disdain whenever I asked. It wasn’t until I’d made Jounin that I realized the truth. Tobirama’s flying thundergod was incomplete. That was why he hadn’t been as well known for the jutsu as Minato. Each usage caused tremendous strain on his body. It was why he had not used it against Izuna until he had a literal sure killing blow. It was why he suddenly became more indiscriminate with its use when he was brought back as an edo tensei. To put it simply, it was not a jutsu made for combat. Mito’s own disdain for it came from the fact that not only did the seals fail to make sense, they also hurt their user. To her, it was a foolish jutsu and that was it.

I knew Minato would figure out some way to complete the jutsu, but I had no idea how he’d done it. It was never shown in the anime, and here the boy was still in the academy, still wet behind his ears.

“I promise, Grandmother” it was an easy promise to make. I would not see myself killed out of haste.

“Good. Now, you can leave me here. I can feel you vibrating to get back to the work station and it tires me” She said, leaning away from me and beginning to walk to her room with no difficulty. I just flashed her a bright smile and body flickered back to the room.

Tomorrow, I would go to war. Tonight, I would prepare for it.