Chapter 46.1- Gamer of the Desert

She finished her jutsu first. Sasori was not surprised. Noel was skilled, but she weaved seals faster than anyone he’d seen except from Itachi and Kisame. That team of absolute monsters could weave seals so quickly it was like their fingers were blurs even to his eyes. Nii Yugito was only a bit slower than that. Several balls of fire were sent flying at his partner. 

Unlike Itachi’s flames, these ones were a bright blue that bathed the hall in an eerie blue glow. His partner’s voice rang out next, “Sutton:Suijinheki” he said as he spat out a massive wall of water. Both jutsu clashed with a hissing sound, and in the end of the day, it was the fire that won. The water was transformed into steam that spread  quickly while the fire still shot at his partner. Noel was able to dodge them with ease, but she showed that she was more crafty than that as her jutsu curved in the air to target him right at his blindspot. 

Of course, that wasn’t enough to end him as he spat a tight, compressed lance of water that drilled straight through the fireballs one after another. A ninjutsu master with little in the way of peers, was the language Leader-sama had sed to describe him on his introduction and Sasori could see it. Clear as day. 

There was a telltale feeling of static in the air and he could barely trace what happened next. Nii Yugito dove to the floor with no hesitation, and where there had been previously castle walls behind her, there was now nothing but a view of the outside world. Noel now stood with his right hand pointing forwards and a crazed smile on his face. Again, there was static in the air, and again the woman jumped out of the way. Once again, there was nothing where there’d previously been something. 

“I’ve gotten much stronger, Yugito. Don’t underestimate me” He said with laughter in his voice. 

“Hmph. A hundred times zero is still zero, Noel-chan.” She smugly replied before closing the distance, not giving him the time to reply to her barb. He dodged out of the way of the first swipe, except this time, with the blue chakra that surrounded her getting more intense, it was like her speed had doubled. Where before, he might have had an easy time keeping ahead of her attacks, Noel was not thoroughly on the Blackfoot. It was all he could do to stay ahead. That was why this time, he was the one to retreat from close quarters. He did it with style as well, planting his hands on the ground before thrusting at her with a mule kick that she blocked. In the same movement, he executed a swift backflip that took him out of her range. 

Even before he’d landed, there was a stream of pure blue flames heading for him. I watched as instead of forming multiple seals, he formed only a single one as his chakra output nearly tripled. The fire washed over him a second later, and when it all cleared, I was left with a view of my partner in his undersuit, and a clear cloak of lightning natured chakra surrounding him. 

“You dare use that jutsu? After all you’ve done” Yugito was the one who sounded furious now. Not furious, Sasori amended, apoplectic. The blue chakra surrounding her thickened as an intangible weight began to settle on the room. The fire shifted, moving into the appearance of a cat’s head before it swelled and began to rise from the floor as the rest of the Nibi’s body began to form. 

“I don’t know what organisation you belong to, but you both die here and now” She said before she moved.  He’d been wrong with his previous descriptions. She wasn’t fast before. Now, this. This was speed. She moved faster than he could track, and both her and Noel clashed in the middle of the hall. The force of their bodies hitting each other was enough to cause a shockwave that sent everything that wasn’t bolted to the ground flying. It also caused a spiderweb of cracks on the floor. Sasori could already tell that there wouldn’t be much of a castle left by the time they finally finished with each other. 

The cracks spread as they hit each other again, with one tails of the Nibi slamming right into Noel’s outstretched fist. With his cloak gone, Sasori could see the musculature that the Akatsuki cloak had hidden from view. Noel Yatsuki was absolutely massive, with a body that reminded one of the Raikage at their fittest. It was impressive how he’d managed to achieve such a constitution, especially considering the Raikage had genetics to help them get there. Sasori had needed to study the human body to a startling degree to perfect his human puppet project, and those studies told him just how much effort would have been required to build a body like that. 

Sasori enjoyed the view as both beast and man clashed over and over again. He could already tell that while he was putting up a valiant fight, his partner was already being pushed back slowly but surely. Man was not made to strive against tailed beasts like this. He could already see what would happen soon enough and began to execute his plan. Within Hiruko, his fingers twitched with muscle memory even though he no longer needed them so. He guided multiple balls across the room, making sure that everything was done when both beast and man were distracted. And then he pulled with his chakra, triggering the trap. Nothing happened. Nothing that either of the fighters would notice, at least. 

The poison that was spreading across the air was virtually undetectable. He might have been more hesitant about using this particular poison if he hadn’t gotten to use the time they spent in close proximity to each other during the journey to help his partner build a resistance without his knowledge. 

A/N; New chappy, huh?