Chapter 22.5- One Thousand Hands

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I leaned out of the way of the kick and stepped further into his guard. His attempt to gain distance failed as I blocked an instinctive liver shot and retaliated with two quick punches to his head. He stepped back with each punch, trying to let the force move him to bleed out some of the momentum but that was a last ditch effort as best, and I snapped a side kick into his rib cage that sent him flying in that direction. He managed to land amongst the trees and I smiled at the fact that he wasn’t down yet. Izuku was the only one my age that I found the time to spar with on a regular basis, and that also made him the greatest victim of the time I spent with the Sannin and their Sensei. Training with them for only a few months was like a booster shot in all respects.

I hadn’t really learned any new techniques but the ones I did know worked so much better and I was so much better at using them at the right times now. Izuku had taken advantage of the distance to weave the seals for a great fireball and where before I would have given into the temptation to fight fire with fire, now I just shuddered at how wasteful that would have been and the feeling of Enma slapping me upside the head when I tried foolish shit like that whenever he showed up randomly to watch the sparring matches. Now, I formed a single ram seal and spat out two thin lances of water that shot through the fireball and made their way to Izuku’s position. View obstructed by his own technique, Izuku never saw the lances coming until it was almost too late for him to dodge.

He panicked, body flickered, and ate a flying knee to the face for his efforts. I resisted the urge to chuckle as he rolled across the ground from the force of his hit. Even the regular byakugan could track something like the body Flicker in real time so pulling that psrticular jutsu out against me was quite stupid. Of course, that was ignoring the fact that the action had been reflexive and he’d had not much of a choice in trying to get out of the way.

“Okay. I give.” He said when he finally came to a stop against the trunk of a tree. I wasted no time in running towards him with glowing green eyes. Looking at the path he’d taken made me wince as I saw a few notable spots of white. I’d knocked more than one tooth out at the very least.

“So sorry, man. I think I put in too much force in that one” I said as I began healing. He just grunted in reply, clearly overwhelmed by the feeling of the medical chakra on his swollen mouth.

“Next time, no body flickers please” I told him and he nodded with a chuckle.

“Did we do it at least?” I asked, and whatever good humour he felt was drained as he shook his head. He looked right into my eyes, and in a display of trust, I met them unblinkingly. Three tomoe in his left eye, but still two in his right. Fuck.