- Gah! - Grasping the wound, the pain of which broke through even the raging adrenaline and the effects of the cover, she crouched down, pressing her injured arm against her stomach.
- Yugito, stay out of this! - growled the blond, shielding the injured jinchuriki with his body, -This is not an opponent of your level!
I landed gracefully on my feet and flicked the dust off my cloak sleeve, showing that even simultaneous attacks of such power didn't do much damage, though I was sweating cold inside - if I hadn't managed to twist away at the last moment, avoiding the hammer and anvil, at least Ai would have been able to pierce me through and through, still breaking through my defenses with his monster attack.
The involuntary pause in the battle allowed me to throw chakra into the construct, almost instantly restoring the defense to its maximum value, though the excessive strain on the tenketsu would take its toll after the battle, and allowed me to assess the situation around me with more than just my eyes, which I didn't take off my opponent for a moment.
It seemed like quite some time had passed, but in fact, the Uchiha following me hadn't even had time to engage the jinchuriki's guards scattered around, let alone begin to destroy or capture the target.
- Impressive taijutsu," the pumped-up blond said with a grin, clearly wanting to take a break, "it's been a long time since I've encountered enemies of this caliber, and it's all the more surprising that Konoha would keep such a trump card a secret, I'm impressed!
Perhaps I should take a breath, too. A discreet pulse of medical chakra into my vocal cords and there I am, speaking in my deepest bass instead of my soft voice:
- Thank you for the praise, Ai-san, I must admit, your taijutsu has achieved an amazing skill that even experienced jonins specializing in hand-to-hand combat can envy.
Despite the praise, I let a bit of sneer slip into my words, as if to imply "it's not enough to defeat me".
- You know me, monk," the jonin gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, "but what is your name? I'll remember it.
The situation was quite amusing - without glasses, mask, a luxuriant lock of hair, and with a completely different cloak that really looked like a wandering monk's garb, even a very observant person who had met me before and glimpsed me from afar in ordinary clothes (remember the exam in Konoha) was unable to draw parallels.
All that's left is to further mislead Ai, and I'm betting that Konoha will have another S-ranked fighter with a substantial reward on his head. And last chance scrolls with kage bunshins of the former kind will only solidify such a division of personalities.
It seems that creating "blanks" is becoming a professional habit of mine. What name should I choose?
I didn't have time to answer the question, but behind the swarthy jonin there was a chakra fluctuation that would have been felt by ordinary fighters without a talent for sensorics.
- I'll kill you!
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