Chapter 29.3- One Thousand Hands

I jumped right at her, even as I could see Kubo jumping at me from the other side. It didn’t matter. In a race like this, I could allow my wind armour carry me through the distance. As expected, the Yonbi jinchuriki saw the missile head9ng for her and decided to get the hell our of dodge, I smashed right through the tree she’d just been standing on, flipped in mid air to place my feet against the one behind it and then pushed off to catch her in mid air. “Lariat” I proclaimed to the world, using my stolen jutsu with aplomb. Of course, the body I’d been chasing erupted in wood. I’d seen the substitution jutsu take hold a second before I struck but I allowed myself finish the strike either way because I knew exactly what the distraction would cause.

The puff of chakra smoke and displaced wood acted to obscure their attacks from me. Or at least it would have if I had a regular byakugan and not one that could perceive the flow of chakra down to an atomic level. Multiple lances of blue flame forced me to dodge deeper into the treeline but I could tell they were hemming me in a particular direction. Of course it didn’t take a genius to know what was waiting for me in that direction. I sped up, rushing at him even as I could see him beginning to slow down.

He was on his third hand seal when I reached him and whatever he’d been planning dried up in favour of staving off my relentless attack. I swept into his guard, almost bullying him with my slightly taller frame. He had elk on his side but I’d grown up with Tsunade Senju. I knew what true strength looked like, and he did not have anything even close to it. I didn’t have her chakra enhanced strength down pat, but I was no slouch when it came to using my chakra to bridge the gap of physicality. He stepped backwards, moving along the branch with sure feet. He did a good job of pretending like he wasn’t leading me by the nose to a part of the forest that was surrounded by explosive tags. My guess? He was going to use some sort of high speed movement technique to make his way out of there. Of course, all it would take was me adding my own element to the thing to create a fitting burial ground for one of Kumo’s S-rankers.

I sent a jab at his head that he backpedaled from. He jumped backwards to a different tree, and just like the hot headed shinobi he expected, I jumped after him but not before placing a hand on the tree trunk to increase the force I used and place a seal behind. In mid air, I waited for him to take his eyes off me for an instant to take another step and I used that opportunity to form a clone that instantly cloaked itself in the chameleon jutsu and began skirting the boundary of the trap I was being led into.