You would think that I would be prepared for such a surprise attack, especially after knowing about the unstable nature of Jugo's clan.
I didn't need to. Well, I did prepare. But not an elaborate plan filled with all my paranoid nature, like I usually do. The reason was apparent even as I stepped back to avoid the claw strike, giving a generous gap of an inch between the sharp claws and my face.
In response to the gap I created, she let out an animalistic roar.
"Arrr!!!"
I frowned as her newly grown fangs aimed for my throat. A bite while closing in for an attack makes sense for an animal. Not for a human. It simply won't do because the animals are four-legged, and their head being the most forward makes the bite a practical attack when closing the gap between combatants.
But for a shinobi, her attacks were like an awkward tantrum of a kid. All it took was one more step back to dodge the attack, making the entire attack a waste of energy and effort for her.
A waste of energy when considering that such a bite attack was meant for closing the distance: here, it didn't. In fact, it widened.
"Crunch."
I ignored her clawed hand, which rose beside her as the bite failed.
If it were a shinobi in her position, they would have fallen back on ninjutsu, but it would be too much to expect that from this isolated village.
I didn't even need to concentrate to dodge the messy, telegraphed attacks. It showed how much difference a lifetime of fighting made. I had to acknowledge that she was strong. Her body, senses, and even her chakra could easily rival a chunin.
But she was no match for a shinobi. Especially, especially not me.
While I was no master, I could be considered a jack of all trades in shinobi arts. Well, except medic ninjutsu. In which I could be regarded as the leading figure.
In essence, I was a versatile jonin with no direct weaknesses. Even when facing genjutsu, the field in which I was lacking, I could disrupt my chakra with ease to dispel the genjutsu.
"StaY StilL!"
I couldn't even be bothered by her rage-filled growls. While she was talking, I clearly felt that she was more of an animal than a human at this point.
In the periphery of my vision, I noticed that the villagers felt the same, as they began to run away.
But the following sequence of events was something straight out of a horror movie.
RATTLE RATTLE
The loud sounds of a toy rattle falling stopped the beast's rampage. For a second, I thought the woman had returned to her senses. Especially, as she turned her head to look at the child who had fallen.
The child with a rattle toy, a 5- or 6-year-old pig-tailed girl, stammered out when facing the sudden attention from the woman, "R-Rei –nee."
I thought the woman was calming down until her foot made a mini crater as she ran at the child.
"What the fuck?!"
My chakra rumbled out of sheer adrenaline as I chased the woman. It was at this point that I noticed she was as strong as I was. At least, her body was. Seeing the gap not decreasing, I weaved the signs of body flicker jutsu.
The hand signs helped my leg bear the additional chakra, augmenting it at a level much higher than pure chakra control alone could achieve.
Unfortunately, the reason why the body flicker jutsu was obsolete in shinobi combat revealed itself.
"Little Rei! Look over here."
A man's shout from the crowd made the woman change her path towards him. Three things happened at once. The child crying out for her father, me being forced to watch as I uncontrollably passed the woman as she changed path, and finally, the woman's claw ripping apart the man.
Blood rose, following the trajectory of her claws, as she accompanied the man when he was sent flying into a hut.
I felt like cursing even more when I saw the child running towards her father. If you wonder why, it was Simple.
The woman was positioned between the father and daughter pair.
"Papa, papa, PAPA!"
Despite the shouts and exclamations from the villagers, the sheer cries of pain and agony of the child drew the woman's attention towards her. Hence, once more, the woman targeted her.
She didn't even need much time; due to her brute strength, she arrived in front of the girl with a single step. Her mouth stretched wide open to bite the small head off.
"NOOOOOO!"
The loud sounds of terror from the collapsed hut echoed as the shadow of the claws hovered over the shaking child. Perhaps it was the blessing of Kami, but it didn't follow through its course.
"Phew! Thankfully, I arrived on time."
"Grhhh!"
My leg, throbbing from the accumulated chakra, got its relief as I kicked the demonic woman away.
CRACK
I literally felt and watched as the kick's impact bent the woman's body like a bow before sending her crashing through the huts.
Boom boom booom
Thankfully, she was flying out of the village. The sheer sudden nature of the events didn't leave me time to aim my kick.
Like I said, I was thankful for the little luck I had been graced with. Using the opportunity, I summoned extra help.
POOF
"You know what to do."
The two water clones, carrying over 50% of my chakra, went to their duties while I chased the woman.
Even as I ran, I heard the Clone enquiring with the villagers, "Where is the source of water for the village? Is it a Well or a river?"
Whoosh
Whoosh
As the surroundings passed by me, I felt the flaring of chakra from my clones as they found the location of the water source.
Pulse PuLLsE
AI, combat protocol for three clones.
[Ding.
Activating protocol.]
It was times like this that showed fuinjutsu's disadvantages. No matter how proficient one becomes in fuinjutsu, due to the inherent nature of the art, it always requires an extra step beforehand.
The crazy woman wouldn't let me set up my hundred transformations. Either she claws me or the villagers in the brief time gap.
BANG
My arm guards creaked as the women met me halfway through my trek, with a solid return kick.
"You have some good strength, but you waste it."
The response I got was another bite on the neck. It made me frown. Her unpredictable nature aside, her fighting skills were shit. Case in point, I easily dodged her once more, continuing this repetitive dance of claws, bites, and occasional kicks.
Pulse pulse Phe
"About time."
In response to my Clone's message, I got to my duty.
While jumping back continuously in a zig-zag manner, I created enough distance to perform my ninjutsu. Even as she tried to follow me, it wasn't enough.
With a deep breath of air and the hand signs weaving for the only wind ninjutsu I knew, I exhaled right into the woman jumping onto me.
"Wind style: Great breakthrough."
WHIRL
WHIRL
The small whirlwind I blew up managed to drag the woman named Rei with it.
However, the woman showed brute strength had its place in the world by bunkering in place with her clawed legs.
AI, plot the route.
[ Northwest: 30 degrees
Increase the wind force by 33%.]
33%, as if I had such control over my wind chakra.
Knocking away my newfound discomfort with AI suggestions, I blew harder with loads of chakra burning behind it.
As I dragged my head northwest, the woman got sent flying due to the sudden increase in power. She was accompanied by sand, stones and even parts of huts.
I immediately ran through the desolate path I had created. Inwardly, I commended my clones for clearing the path free of the villagers. Otherwise, the innocent blood would add to the extensive list of nightmares I had.
Whoosh whoosh
It didn't take long for me to see the woman blowing her way out of the wreckage. Not even giving her a chance to act wild, another chakra augmented kick sent her flying once more.
The sand rose as she crashed, blocking my vision. But as I neared the river shore, I was relieved.
Thank God! My Clone received her.
Bam Thuck Bam
The movements of my Clone as he fought with the woman alerted me [AI] to the combat protocol for the current situation.
[Tackle from 20 degrees south.]
I followed the protocol while my Clone changed the woman's face so that she faced him, but she was still completely facing south.
As my shoulder tackled from the back, her blind spot, my clone ducker under her claw sweep and punched her in the stomach.
"Aghhh!"
I literally smelled the scent of the garlic she had eaten as the combined attack from the punch from the front and the tackle from behind made her puke.
But we didn't stop there.
The AI gave the next set of commands to me. I really wish my AI were shared with my clones. But it seemed too unique to me. Anyway, it helped me be the perfect ally to my Clone.
My AI had a lifetime of data on my fighting style. So, it knew how my Clone would deal with a retaliatory claw to the chest, especially when the attack was full of openings.
[Punch under left armpit.]
I followed through with my part.
It was accompanied by my Clone catching her left wrist and pulling it up.
Hence, the combined force dislocated her left shoulder.
Crackkk
"Noooo."
Oh! It seemed the pain knocked some sense back into her. Good to know. It would be helpful when training her in the future.
Perhaps, due to her newfound sense, she jumped sideways and turned her body. Even as the dislocated left arm hung like a rope swaying in the wind, she pushed past through the pain to keep both me and my Clone in her line of sight.
Unfortunately for her, she was greeted by two fists that sent her flying once more.
[Punch forward]
Boom
Splash Splash Splash
The sound of her body hitting water like a skipping stone was music to my ears because my second Clone was waiting for her there.
"Water style: water prison jutsu!"
The iconic b-rank water style ninjutsu rose from the river to catch like a glove used to catch a ball in my past life. As its name suggests, the jutsu imprisoned her by forming a 360-degree prison of compressed water.
"Argh- *cough * cough *!"
Even as I was weaving the hand signs and moulding the lightning chakra, I noticed the water prison further condensing to restrict her movements.
Despite its lesser rank and drawback of immobilising its own user, this jutsu was one of the best for imprisoning, especially when I couldn't afford to use fuinjutsu on her. Not when it interferes with the seal that suppresses evil.
That's right!! The evil suppressing seal was one of the best seals for restricting yin chakra maladies and chakra imbalances, and I believe, sage chakra. At least, I knew it worked when Kakashi sealed away Sasuke's cursed seal.
"Roar!"
As the lightning surged in my hand, I noticed that the woman was transforming further. In addition to the horns already present on her head, another smaller pair grew.
"Noooo."
It turned out freaky as she clawed herself on the legs, stomach and even on the neck. The resulting blood loss turned the water red.
Not just that, a blood-red mist seemed to spew from her reddish skin, which had turned black, and was definitely rich in sage chakra. Unlike what I had initially expected, the mist didn't dissolve into water. Instead, it clung tightly to the woman like a covering.
"Damn, that sure isn't a normal mist."
The blood mixed water held a red mist humanoid figure that was morphing rapidly. It was the sounds of pain, self-loathing and claws ripping into flesh that made my hair stand on end in fear.
It was my chakra sense that hammered into me that the rising levels of chakra surpassed even mine.
No way.
I was not a sitting duck to wait for her transformation to complete.
"Fucking Kekkai Genkai and their bullshit!"
Feeling peeved at my lifetime effort being surpassed by the momentary rage of a village girl, I ran forward with my electromagnetic murder (b-rank) and slammed it into the water prison.
Crackle Crackle
"Growwwwlll * Sizzle *Roarr* Sizzle!"
Crackle crackle Crackle.
The beast woman let out a deafening roar, mingled with guttural growls, as bolts of electricity surged through its body, crackling and searing its flesh.
Crackle Zap.
As my jutsu fizzled out, I thankfully noticed her returning to normal. Considering my lack of chakra, I was prepared to start on the lethal options if her transformation persisted. So, I put the custom-made exploding tags of Yoshime back into my Kunai pack.
As the vapour that rose from the immense energy released cleared, I observed that the second water clone dissipated into water due to the depletion of the chakra.
Splash
Shaking my head at the fragile nature of my water clone when compared to the shadow clones used by Naruto, I started dragging the woman who was probably named Rei, towards the shore.
Thankfully, my first water clone had already started with preparations, drawing the large concentric circle of fuinjutsu seals to be imprinted on the woman.
I praised it, "Good work! Especially with the combination Taijutsu."
The water clone gave a simple nod in exchange, showing me that my mastery of clones, especially physical ones, was not enough. It was possible to create a clone with my entire personality, but I haven't yet reached such proficiency. Hopefully, I will master this aspect of Jutsu by the time I get my hands on Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The current clones were far too robotic for my taste.
I patiently moulded more chakra to fill my depleted reserves while the Clone focused on the last steps of preparation. Feeling the fatigue and dehydration from excessive chakra moulding, I swallowed the prototype 'soldier pill' I made.
The pill's creation and testing made me develop an immunity to hundreds of toxins. And it was worth it.
The flood of calories helped in shaping the physical energy aspect of the chakra. As for the mental energy, I couldn't find anything to help on that regard. Limiting the use of this pill.
"Ah!"
The sound from the woman made me turn towards my Clone, who was mapping the chakra pathways of the woman for the sealing. His greenish chakra-clad hand searched her body thoroughly.
It didn't just end there; he cut small parts of her hair, flesh and blood to test for the chakra rejection. It was something most anime watchers don't see or understand. The patient's native chakra would always reject the foreign chakra of a healer. Only the degree of rejection varies. Based on that fact, it showed how impressive Naruto's feat of sharing his chakra with thousands of shinobi was.
"My job is done."
As per my Clone's comments, I noticed the expensive chakra ink being reformed into lines and lines of data on a big scroll.
I just looked at my first Clone with an approving nod as it also disappeared into a splash of water, like the second Clone.
Splash
AI.
[ Ding.
Accessing the Host's sight.
Scanning the data.
Processing the chakra pathways...]
Now came the tricky part. The evil-suppressing seal required the user's will to function. Meaning, the soon-to-be user of the seal must be awake and willing to connect with the seal every step of the way when it is imprinted on her.
Trust me, a seal being grafted into your chakra paths was much worse than a tattoo. Much, much worse.
Rather than a tattoo, it was better compared to transplant grafts, such as skin grafts, tendons, or even organs. Especially the one I was about to perform without anaesthesia.
"Hey, woman! Wake up! Hello."
Feeling the ache from the bruises, I felt petty and started getting handsy with my approach to wake her.
My hand inched forward and started their action rhythmically. Initially slow, but not for long. They soon held weight behind them, until the slaps on her face resounded on the shore.
THAP THAP
"What? *SLAP*."
Looking at the red cheeks, I was sure they would swell up like a possum. Not wanting to risk it, I asked her, "Any chance you would turn into a monster again?"
I was not famous for my tact. It showed when I asked her, "Please tell me now, if you feel peevish enough to claw out a child?"