Chapter 11.3- One Thousand Hands

Sakumo knew that something was wrong the moment that his student placed the seal on the Iwa boy. Perhaps it was simply a bad feeling, but one did not survive as a shinobi by ignoring bad feelings. That was why he was already moving before disaster truly struck. When the red chakra surrounding Roshi of Iwa was cut off, he hesitated. That hesitation almost coast Shorirama his life. The other boy stumbled backwards, dropping his student from his grip, and the fell to his knees. Some sort of pain causing seal? Sakumo asked himself as the boy curled in on himself holding his stomach.

But that turned not to be the case. The boy’s skin turned red, and in less than a few seconds, he had jumped into the arena, grabbed his student and jumped out. He noted Tsunade Senju also on her way into the arena as he left, but she aborted the movement once she noticed him. His actions proved to not be a second too hasty as right behind him swelled a body. He could feel the malicious chakra behind him but dared not turn around. He carried cargo more precious than most things in Konoha. The heir to the Senju clan. Speaking off, he moved to the other Senju he was familiar with and dropped her cousin in her hands. If there was anywhere for Shorirama to be, then the custody of the greatest medical ninja in Konoha who also happened to be his cousin was the undoubted best choice.

No longer burdened by his unconscious student, he returned his attention to the arena. He’d heard the roars and the screams earlier so he’d thought he would have been prepared for what he saw, but the sight of a massive monkey with four tails and bright red fur was not one that he was ready for. Especially not when he could feel the being’s malicious chakra pressing down on him. He warded it off well, shrouding himself with his own chakra, but he had to spread that shroud further to cover the chunin near him that had almost collapsed to the floor from the force.

“Thank you, Hatake-san” One of them said. He nodded. He knew that man. He had been one of those who had claimed that Sakumo was too young to have been promoted to Jounin back when he was. Oh, how things changed.

He maintained his stare at the beast. Tsunade was busy healing her cousin. He could already tell that she would be occupied there for a while. The boy’s wounds had not been pretty to see, and there had been something very wrong in his chakra network. Sakumo could not diagnose what it was, but he could tell a problem when he saw one. He noted Orochimaru from the corner of his eyes, making a very hasty retreat from the field, not gathering any of the beasts’s attention. Jiraiya stood at the edge of the commentator’s box. If Sakumo did not know better, he would have thought that he had some plan that involved jumping down and facing the creature.

Sakumo took his attention to the Kage box next. The Raikage had left in a huff after his Jinchuriki had lost today, and both the Mizu and Kazekages had not bothered staying for the final round with all their shinobi eliminated. That meant that there were only two kage in the box, and if this wasn’t an accident, then the Hokage could be in danger from the Tsuchikage.

He spotted the Tsuchikage’s small form fly out of the kage box as the Hokage jumped down to the ground in front of the tailed beast. Sakumo took a deep breath and prepared to jump down as well. He would not let his kage fight alone.

“Don’t” He heard. It was Tsunade’s voice.

“What?”

“My Granduncle has it more than handled. If you jump into a fight like that, you’d just be getting in the way” She said.

“No Konoha shinobi worth anything can watch his Kage fight alone and not step in.” He replied.

“Well, this is an exemption to the rule. Just stand and watch” He nodded at her. She would know better than he. It was her Grandfather who had captured all the tailed beasts in the first place. And wasn’t that just one hell of a feat? Now that he’d felt the chakra of the Four-tails, he was beginning to reconsider all that he’d thought about the First hokage. He’d thought at least some of the famed power he was said to have must have been exaggerated, but to be able to capture Nine such creatures as this one, and to then be capable of giving those creatures out like sweets at a store showed a level of power that went beyond Sakumo’s imagination.

And now he watched that same man’s brother prepare to do battle. Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage of Konoha, shared some similarities with his Grandnephew, Shorirama. One of them was their affinity for water release, but when Tobirama brought his own water release to bear, he made it clear that the difference between a grown Senju and a child was night and day.

He formed a single handseal. One seal. He didn’t even announce the name of the jutsu out loud, but Sakumo knew it was the same jutsu that his student had used earlier. Instead of enough water to overwhelm a firestorm, the Hokage made a tsunami. A Tsunami! With no water supply. Just how own chakra. And all this with a single handseal. He maintained the seal as the massive wave of water bore down on the tailed beast.

A/N; Really considering not showing this fight and just cutting to Shori waking up.