Arc XII Chapter 20

    XII

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    Arc XII Chapter 20

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    “...” Asami came to rely on her trusted umbrella, deflecting each of his strikes in a swirl of purple and red. Faster, faster, ever faster. The waltz continued. The rhythm accelerated. The pace increased. Left. Right. Centre. Right. Up. Centre. Left. Down. Right. His punches connected, yet every time, they found their match, biting on purple chakra, unyielding like granite.

    “Aarrghhh!!!” Naruto rushed her, another careless attempt. Ill conceived and ill advised in nature.

    “...” Asami smirked, her left hand angling her umbrella diagonally. Her barrier stood, easily deflecting him, making him ricochet past her. It was a trick that never grew old. Naruto stumbled. He tripped.

    Asami spun, striking from behind, striking from above like the hammer of the gods. Brutal and merciless. Her fist accelerated, driven by her abundance of chakra despite the limitations of her delicate physique. He never saw it coming.

    “Huh ... Huh ... Huh ... Huh ... Huh ... Huh ...” Kakashi panted, tired, winded, exhausted, destroyed. Yet his eyes never left her. He observed her. He monitored her. Kakashi knew what was at stake. He knew better than anyone else that the line between the triumph of victory and the jaws of defeat was thin, fleeting in nature. It only took a single lapse of judgment, a mere moment, to lose everything. It was a lesson that he took to his heart, unlike a certain other individual present.

    “Huh ... Huh ... Huh ...” Temari followed his example. Her tired, heavy body was leaning on her folded war fan, rammed into the ground to support herself.

    “Aargh ...” Naruto groaned in pain, barely able to stand, staggered, shaken. His hand reached for his shoulder. Stubborn as usual, Naruto forced himself to rise after having taken another beating. This time, however, her lesson appeared to have more enduring effects. Especially, now, after disrupting Naruto’s chakra. A small dose of hers sufficed to make him understand. The chakra of the Kyuubi weakened, and his influence receded. Naruto’s initial fury had subsided and a glimmer of sane thought returned.

    Naruto took his time, but the boy started to learn, even when it was unclear whether his progress was owed to her knocking some sense into him or due to some natural learning process on his part. Personally, she suspected the former, but the undeniable fact remained, though, he had learned. He didn’t charge her. He didn’t attack her like the wild, unhinged beast from before. He had come to realise that he couldn’t take her on head on. And now Naruto stood there, before her, licking his wounds, his raging red eyes glaring daggers at her from afar with all their might in an attempt to murder her on the spot. She was left scarcely impressed. If looks could kill, she would have been dead ages ago.

    “...” A conceited smirk crossed Asami’s face, her trusted parasol coming to a rest on her shoulder with the blue blooded grace of a true imperial princess. “Unless I am mistaken, I think your lot has seen better days ...”

    “...” Her heart ... Her chakra ... The pain ... Asami gripped her chest, her heart, her breathing intensifying. Yet she retained her countenance, her composure, ever a true princess down to the bone. No matter how strained her smile, no matter how thin the veneer of her fac?ade might be, she endured.

    Her chakra wavered, disturbed, disrupted, impossible to stabilise. This poor excuse of a body had reached its limit. It had lasted longer than initially anticipated, but the moment had finally come. Her liberal use of chakra combined with the fatigue of battle had taken its toll. This body had reached the tipping point with catastrophic results. This body was collapsing, withering, disintegrating, like the snow under the summer sun. It wouldn’t last much longer.

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