Chapter 23.1- One Thousand Hands

XXXXXXX- UCHIHA UZUME

Two seals. She finally managed to get it down to two seals without making any compromises as to size or intensity, and she cold not even enjoy the win for more than a second as multiple waves of water crashed through her fireball, dispelling it and forcing her to jump backwards. She stared at Izuku’s position for a second as she waited for him to engage. It galled her to admit it bt after three weeks of sparring with him like this, she was thoroughly disabused of any notion of her and Shori being equals for the time being. Somehow, while she’d been running missions and growing stronger at what she felt was a rapid pace, he’d leapfrogged her so completely that now even working together with Izuku was not enough to ensure that she’d manage to scratch him when they sparred.

Shori rode a large wave of water like he was surfing and she blinked as in a second, Izuku appeared in the corner of her gaze and began weaving seals. She joined him, forming the same jutsu and firing at their opponent at the same time. “Lightning release: Thunderbolt scattershot” She said, weaving her chakra into a deliberate net of electricity that sent multiple charges flying right into the water, electrifying it. From his end, Izuku did the same, amplifying the voltage a second after her jutsu had hit. The combination made it too unstable for Shori to just force the electricity to bend around him as he usually did.

He saw it coming and jumped off of the wave and into the air. Both she and Izuku jumped in the air to match him, from different directions. His gaze was fixed straight ahead, but she knew he could see all around them in detail that she would never be able to match. It was the gift of the byakugan, after all. Konoha’s second strongest doujutsu for a reason. He turned to face her fully, and she prepared herself, knowing that she was the one he would be facing.

She readied her Gunbai in her grip as they sailed at each other in the air. And then he smirked at her while forming a single seal. She brought the flat of the gunbai to bear, using it to tank the force of the wind release technique sent at her even as she felt her momentum come to a halt. When the jutsu had run its course, she returned the gunbai to its previous position and got to watch her cousin and teammate crash into the ground while engaged in a furious taijutsu exchange. Rather, Izuku crashed into the ground while Shori brought himself to a sudden stop only a scarce few centimetres from landing on the ground himself.

She weaved a series of handseals, and deliberately unleashed about two dozen fireballs with the same breathed. They spread out like the blooming flower the technique was named after before consolidating as they approached their target. He body flickered backwards, but all it took was a simple flex of her will, and the fireballs continued to chase after him.

A/N; Progress