It was time for the final showdown.
Dodai and the fire release jonin could not do much to defeat Tsunade but they could effectively pin her down and prevent her from assisting in the other two battles by taking advantage of the elite jonin's rubber jutsu which could nullify the Senju princess' monstrous strength.
The fire release jonin, under Dodai's protection, only attacked when the Konoha kunoichi attempted to disengage, creating a frustrating stalemate for her.
This was precisely their intent.
They were placing their hopes on one of the other battles turning in their favor while they kept the Senju princess occupied.
Inori, now having to deal with a lot less opponents, despite not being at full strength, still managed to keep a significant but not decisive advantage over her two opponents.
Due to lacking the powerful Lightning Chakra Mode of Zee, only using Lightning Release: Overdrive, they were not totally immune to the Violet Rose's specialty jutsu.
And so, with expertly cast disturbance jutsu, the Yamanaka was effortlessly preventing her opponents from capitalizing on their advantages while creating opportunities for herself.
The combination of the two kept her from victory since with their resistance, Inori could not stop the two long enough to guarantee she would not be trading a blow for a blow.
And so, perhaps intentionally by Kumo, perhaps not, [Shiki]'s once on one with Zee had turned into the deciding factor.
But that was not at all good for the Konoha trio.
The Kumo kunoichi ruthlessly attacked the boy, shrouded in her Lightning that amped her strength and speed while simultaneously protecting her.
All [Shiki] could do was to use his aberrant and hypnotic movement patterns to limit her to glancing blows.
The damage to his arm was not as bad as he feared and he would get use of it back soon but his situation remained precarious.
His Art of The Dragon's Scales hardened his body against elemental attacks too thanks to his clan's history of fighting against the forces of a certain ancient empire.
This allowed the boy to almost fully mitigate the damage he received so long as there were no direct hits.
'That said . . . I'm trapped in a cycle that will end badly for me.' [Shiki] thought to himself.
Zee was precisely that type of shinobi he was most ineffective against, it was even worse than Dogan.
Him, the boy could at least keep up with.
But despite her defenses only being marginally weaker, Zee was much faster than her former lover and hit just as hard. The elemental damage received from blocking her hits and striking her armor also made things much worse.
As he expertly deflected blow after blow from the Kumo kunoichi, [Shiki] accumulated more and more damage, little by little.
At this rate, it was just a matter of time before he was worn down.
But Zee was too fast to counter.
Even if he traded a blow for a blow, the kunoichi's Lightning armor would most likely mitigate the damage enough to keep her in the fight while he would be out of commission after taking a direct hit.
[Shiki] rapidly planned a way out, even as his body was worn down from the lightning zapping him with each of Zee's blows he deflected.
'I need to break the limits of my body further and risk permanent damage to take her out in a single strike.' The boy thought.
'If I can spread out the force of the recoil my body should be able to take it. I can't use the true version of that move but the lesser variant should suffice.'
'Now I only need to press up against her, the move can only be used at extremely short ranges but it hits nearly instantly with no preparation.'
[Shiki] finally had a plan to break the stalemate but despite having the advantage Zee believed she could not give the boy time for new tricks and so she too had done some thinking of her own.
Channelling lightning to her hand in what seemed to be a watered down version of her uncle's Hell Stab, Zee charged in even more fiercely.
'Can't even touch that one!' [Shiki] thought with alarm making the utmost effort to dodge.
Strands of his snow white hair floated in the air from the close shave but he had evaded the attack.
Alas, that was Zee's plan the whole time.
Having made a large movement to dodge since he could not deflect, Shiki was unable to recover fast enough, it was not an error on his part, his ability was simply limited in this regard.
The result?
A thunderous kick smashed onto his guard and the boy was sent flying, digging a ditch in the earth with his face before righting himself.
It was not over yet however.
Another Hell Stab forces Shiki into a full dodge.
'Lateral Bolt of Pain'
Zee's hand smashed into [Shiki]'s raised left arm in a ferocious chop, the boy's right arm still hanging limply from the fist he planted in her stomach.
If her Lightning Armor didn't make him unable to use spear hand strikes against without shattering his fingers, he would have dug out her entrails with that first blow instead of just punching her in the gut.
Yet another Hell Stab came.
'Elbow Bolt'
And another.
'Guillotine Drop'
And another.
'Lightning Tornado'
Lightning enhanced taijutsu smashed Shiki around again and again but the other Konoha shinobi were being blocked from helping.
'I'm going to die.' [Shiki] thought, his mind still hollow, devoid of emotion.
He was too battered to dodge the next Hell Stab and Zee was not going to give him the chance to recompose himself.
But with [Shiki] and the jonin all focused on their battles, certain there would be no additional combatants in play, an opportunity for outside intervention arose.
*
You see, while Aburame Shinka, still confused and hoping for guidance and help, headed to town to try and find one of the emergency contacts she was given for the mission, Uchiha Mei fell victim to the burning emotions her clan was plagued with and made an illogical choice.
Triggered by all the blasting Shiki did, Mei finally chose to turn around and rush back, even if she knew there was a chance that her presence would only make things worse for her sensei and teammate, she simply could not stand the idea of abandoning them to their fates.
And so the young Uchiha ran back with all her might.
She had made it out of the valley for a while though and by the time she arrived at the site of Shiki and Dogan's fight, Zee's group had already come and went on their way.
But yearning to help, to be useful, to make her clan proud with her achievements and not be treated as a coward who ran from a fight despite belonging to the mighty uchiha clan, the young bespectacled kunoichi ran deeper and deeper into the valley.
Her heart raced more and more as the sounds of battle reached her ears from the distance.
Knowing the best chance someone of her skill level had to be useful was through a well timed sneak attack, Mei smothered her chakra presence, just like how their master sensor sensei Inori had taught her and cautiously approached the battlefield.
And when she did, the first sight the bespectacled girl was met with, was the sight of [Shiki] being thrashed.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -