Rian's walking down one of the less populated streets, chattering lightly with her teammates, Sakura and Mariko. It's a clear day in Konoha, and they're wondering if they have a new mission, since their sensei was called away to a meeting. There's some speculation over what it could be.
Mariko offhandedly insults Sakura, resulting in a brief chase between the two of them as Sakura tries to punch her teammate. Rian just snickers when Mariko tries to hide behind her.
She curls into a ball at the last second. It's a lot of explosion. It hurts.
But this is not how she will end. Not like this. They think they can win with more? She has been alone, always. She has survived by her own hand. And she. Will. Not. Die.
A column of sand rises in thunderous fury, far more than should be present.
...Yeah.
Fuck.
That thing is big. Her usual go-to, 'stab it' and then 'set it on fire' probably won't help here.
She cuts her thumb and flashes through handseals, putting most of the rest of her chakra into the technique, before slamming her hand down onto the branch below her. The resulting cat, Kasha, isn't nearly as big as the monstrosity in front of her, but he's about twice the size of a horse and the biggest hitter available.
The cat narrows his eyes, lashes his tail, and says, "If I'm not mistaken, that is Shukaku."
"You know it?" Rian asks, mildly surprised.
Kasha nods his great head. "This... Will be a tough fight."
He crouches, then darts towards Shukaku, mouth, claws, and tails brimming with blue fire.
Mariko flares her chakra, drawing on the reserves deep within her, and thick chains burst from the ground at the monster's feet, aiming to wrap around limbs. She holds the equations firm in her mind - these should be harder to burst.
They all dodge, Mariko's concentration on the chains wavering for long enough that they vanish. She curses and aims one to wrap around the mouth.
She gets behind it, flares her chakra, pulling deeply - and bursts as many strong chains as she can from the ground, aiming first for the limbs and then for the muzzle.
(free me crush them)
Yeah, okay. She's angry enough to give that up.
Elieyha, perched in the beast's snout, half immersed in sand, forms a tiger seal and focuses. Then slumps, head lolling, eyes closed.
The beast roars again, its chakra palpably strengthened. The chains all shatter like so much glass.
"We need to wake up the host!" Kasha shouts.
Rian nods, and looks to her team. "Mariko! Help me distract Shukaku. Lee, you and Kasha try to close in."
"Right!" Lee calls back.
Easier said than done. The beast seems to be whipping up a sandstorm at its feet.
Lee jumps on Kasha's back, who positions himself to leap at Elieyha.
Rian keeps back, analyzing the sandstorm with her Sharingan, looking for openings.
They dodge, Kasha sending a blast of wind to scatter the sand; Kasha's fast, and nimble in the air.
Chains burst from the ground again, multitudes in waves rather than a few strong ones, aiming to bind Shukaku's chakra.
The sand changes course to hamper the progress of the chains, and the beast spits another barrage of air bullets.
The chains arc, some of them bursting through thinner portions of sand.
Kasha, Lee, and Rian all dodge the air bullets.
Three streams of sand suddenly shoot up from behind, whipping around to catch the jumpers.
Those two get slammed into trees.
The strand chasing Lee veers sharply, increasing in speed.
Rian is more hurt than Kasha, who simply shrugs off the attack.
Lee stands still for a moment, fists clenched, as the air around him ripples. He vanishes just before the tendril reaches him, taking a testing run at Shukaku.
He backs off, out of the so-far-demonstrated range of the sand, and -
"Lee, it's worth going all out!" Rian calls, picking herself up off the ground.
Lee nods, and the air whips around him as his skin starts to turn red. He yells, then he's off, just as more chains than ever before erupt around Shukaku. He's too fast for her sharingan to ever see a blur; hopefully he'll be too fast for Shukaku.
Shukaku growls and swats at the chains.
Part of its head rushes up in a sand shield to block Lee's attack on Elieyha's body at the last moment.
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