I had this mont of indecision about what to tackle first: in practical terms, I had to help Tsunade, even if the slug princess might not need it, but I also wanted to keep the people from being taken. The indecision lasted just long enough until I heard Karin’s yell.
“Nerugui!”
I looked back. The ferret had escaped Karin’s arms and was running toward the fight. What the heck, wasn’t it supposed to be a shy pet? Why the hell was it running toward trouble? But this wasn’t the ti to worry about that. In the monts I stood there trying to decide what to do, Tsunade splattered another golem, and another person was taken.
I had a hunch, maybe from experience, that if we drove away the two leading this attack, we could push the golems back. With one last look at my team, I signed my plans, then dashed forward. Not toward the slug princess – Tsunade could look after herself, more so because the golems didn’t bleed – my target was the werewolf woman.
From what I could see of the fight, Tsunade would be fine if I managed to distract one of the two. The werewolf looked more dangerous than the guy with the sword and the werewolf lady. She attacked indiscriminately, while the guy seed more controlled in his attacks.
Which was fine for . I flickered forward, threw an explosive among the golems. No civilians were there, and since the golems were not people, there was no need to worry about collateral damage.
The explosion shook the battlefield, pausing the battle for a mont. Like I had intended, all eyes were on .
“Hey, mangy mutt, I’m gonna kick your ass,” I did my best Naruto impersonation. If the sunshine brat could spout nonsense and still co up on top, I could too, right?
My taunt worked, maybe better than I hoped.
The woman howled, the sound buzzing through my bones, then she charged . “I’ll show you who’s the mutt.”
She was fast. Faster than the bat woman, but for all that, her attacks were wild and more power than form. Which made it easier for to counter. It was sothing I had trained against for years while in the academy. How to redirect the enemy’s force against them. She made it easier because her attacks were simple. It was strange, but maybe because I was faster and more experienced now, I could see things in my taijutsu that I could improve.
Not to say it wasn’t dangerous. The more I dodged, deflected, and hit back, the angrier she beca, and wilder her swings. Like the other woman we fought, this one didn’t stay down. Stabbing her with a kunai, breaking an arm, plumting her head did barely more than slow her for a few monts, serving only to make her angrier and consequently, more dangerous.
At so point, we had stopped a few paces from each other. My breathing was sowhat ragged, but I wasn’t that tired. The woman pulled her arm back into place, the sa arm that I had shattered the bone. Blood spilling from her maw, there were a few kunai stuck to her, blood slowly seeping from the injuries, but for all the animalistic facial features, she looked like she was grinning, an angry, deranged grin.
“I will enjoy breaking you,” the woman said.
Behind us, back at the caravan, the battle still raged on. I felt, more than I saw, a lot of explosives going off. It was nice to know my team wasn’t pulling their punches either. That and Tsunade’s absurd punches, creating craters whenever she hit sothing.
I didn’t want to be hit with that. No, thank you.
“Fugai,” a voice cut the stand off. “We have what we need, we’re leaving.”
“Fuck off, Temujin.” Fugai snarled, never taking her eyes off .
From the corner of my eye, I saw the blond guy carrying an unconscious old man. “Haido-sama won’t be happy.”
“Fuck off,” she growled again.
Temujin just shrugged, then turned to leave.
Why were they taking the old man? Was this whole attack because of him? Sohow, I knew I couldn’t let them. If that was their objective, I had to do sothing.
I prepared to flicker forward, but maybe Fugai was learning from as much as I was learning from her. Before I could flicker, the woman howled.
It wasn’t like the first ti. The noise hit like a sledgehamr. Not enough to stop from activating the jutsu, but enough that I arrived in a crumpled ss. I couldn’t stay standing. My stomach rebelled, and the small lunch I had eaten t the open air.
For a mont, I thought a genjutsu had hit , but soon I felt liquid flowing from my ears and noticed the constant ringing. A sound attack? I didn’t have ti to contemplate what was happening. Fugai was on again, but she had changed. She was now more wolf than woman, with wicked, sharp claws and even bigger fangs. Her armor had disappeared, and she was taller and faster.
She swung at . I tried to dodge, but my balance was shot. Claws tore gashes on the arms that I barely managed to raise to defend myself.
Fugai didn’t let ; she dashed closer, kicked . I doubled over with the force of the attack, flying until I hit sothing hard. I felt sothing give and break. I hadn’t regained my bearings when the woman was on again. Clawed fingers grabbed by the neck.
Her monstrous mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear the words. Her other hand pulled back, and even still dazed and nauseated, I could predict the movent. The claws would rip my guts. I guess I really pissed off Fugai if she wanted to leave with a gut wound.
Weren’t those supposed to be the most painful type of injuries to die from?
Like it was slow motion, I saw the attack coming. But I wasn’t defenceless, was I? I could teleport away, but I had another idea.
With Fugai keeping in place, I didn’t need to rely on my disabled senses to find her. Threads exploded from , wrapping around the monstrous woman. At the sa ti, a few pushed through her, and I activated Ino’s family jutsu. The one used to paralyse others.
The claws were a few centiters away from my stomach when it stopped. Imdiately, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this forever. The woman was strong, and I hadn’t mastered the jutsu, nor was I used to immobilizing people with my threads.
But with all that, I noticed sothing else. With my threads touching her, I could feel the strange chakra. Most of it was concentrated near her throat. It was there, but it wasn’t at the sa ti.
Before she broke free and gutted , I gambled. My threads dug inside her throat and pulled the source out. It wasn’t difficult. It took just a small amount of effort to dislodge and remove the thing. There was no resistance when it left the woman’s body. It was an oval crystalline stone, maybe the size of an egg. Now out in the open, the strange chakra signature was unmistakable.
The effects were imdiate. The woman morphed back to a human-looking appearance, still wearing her armor. And all the injuries I had inflicted while she was a wolf were still there.
Fugai’s fist collided with my stomach, but it didn’t have any force behind it. Her hand let go of my neck, and toppled on top of , blood splashing on from her many injuries. Her eyes were vacant, and the last look on her face was a mix of surprise and despair.
I pushed the still bleeding corpse away, tried to stand, but my balance was still not back to normal. I fell back on my behind, unable to walk. I looked back toward the caravan.
It was hard to see when it still felt like the world was spinning around , but the battle was dying down, with most of the golems defeated or fleeing. I checked on Karin, Ino, and Tenten through my chakra sense. Their reserves had depleted a lot, but they were closer together. Hopefully not hurt.
I looked back at the stone in my hand. Oval-shaped and bluish-green in colour with the appearance of sowhat white bluish tentacles inside it.
Movent from the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked away from the stone to see the ferret running in the sa direction Temujin had fled to.
What the heck.
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