Chapter 17.4- One Thousand Hands

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“So what did you do wrong?”

“Choose to have you as a sensei” She said immediately without even a second’s thought. Enma, from his position sat atop Jiriaya’s struggling form, burst into laughter. All three of them were tired beyond belief. Sensei’s golem had basically brought the fight to an end. Whatever ninjutsu they tried failed to do more than essentially scratch the giant stone creature. It became comical when even Orochimaru’s powerful lightning release could manage little more than slowing it down for a second or two.

“A non snarky response please?” He asked next.

Jiriaya was busy being tormented by the monkey king so it fell to her and Orochimaru to answer, but they really could not come up with anything between them. Sure, they weren’t perfect. They’d lost in the end. But she could not think of anything within their abilities that they could have done that would have had any chance of meaningfully affecting the outcome.

“We fought a superior opponent” Orochimaru finally said.

“Precisely. To be completely honest, each of you were excellent today. You used your unique skills and abilities to take things in hand. You adapted well top the changing circumstances. You moved to cover up for each other and handle each others weaknesses well. The only issue was that I was the one you faced and not any other” He said, making Jiraiya grin from ear to ear. What a sweet sweet boy. He really thought Sensei as complimenting them, didn’t he?

“But then again, that is a flaw in and of itself, is it not, Enma” He turned to the Monkey King, and the summon was grinning. She felt her heart drop into her stomach at that. This was not going to go well, she could already tell.

“Hmph. Three of them and they couldn’t even make you sweat, Saru. What a disgraceful bunch you’ve trained here” The Monkey King said, and the feeling of dread got even worse. She wanted to speak up and point out that it was more like three against two, but she knew that would not get her anywhere. The last time Jiraiya had complained about that particular fact, Sensei had chosen to face them without Enma the next day, and they’d been left with no shortage of broken bones, burnt skin and bruises. Whether she liked it or not, using the Monkey King in the way he was was actually their Sensei’s attempt at giving them a handicap.

With the Monkey King fighting within their midst, it meant that he could not bring to bear his wide range of ninjutsu against them. Of course, it wasn’t solely for their benefit. It was more likely training for her sensei as well to get him used to fighting with allies on the field so he was sure he could adapt his tactics and methods for that.

“I know. I feel so disappointed in myself as a teacher and mentor” He replied his summon, continuing the farce.

“So how could I rectify this?” He asked, turning towards the sky.

“Remedial training” The glare she tossed at Enma was proof that the damn monkey was immortal because that gaze should have killed any other creature.

“Remedial training it is, then” He said with a savage smile.

A/N; Work, work, work