"Nawaki!"
Tsunade's voice finally tore through the air, but it was thick with frantic terror.
Ignoring the unconscious Dan Kato, she practically hurled him to the ground in her haste. Driven by raw instinct, she lunged toward Parashia like a mother bird shielding her nest from a predator, her arms spread wide. In her panic, she had completely forgotten to weave a single hand seal.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Parashia, however, was the hunter here. He considered the situation firmly under his control and had no intention of being careless. Seeing Tsunade charge, his hands blurred into a series of seals, and a violent gale erupted from his mouth. He intended to blast her back and keep her away from his true objective.
Nawaki, the target of this tug-of-war, stood perfectly still. He looked petrified, his face blank and his body rooted to the spot as if he had been scared out of his wits.
"Haha!"
Caught in the whirlwind of her own desperation, Tsunade tried to push through the gale. Despite her monstrous strength, the sheer force of the wind sent her staggering back several meters, nearly knocking her off her feet.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The blast of wind finally forced her brain to cool down. While still skidding backward, she bit her thumb and slammed her palm onto the ground.
"Katsuyu: Spatial Transformation!"
The moment she touched the earth, a massive cloud of smoke erupted. With a soft poof, Katsuyu appeared directly in front of Nawaki, acting as a living shield.
"Block him!"
Tsunade managed to bark out only those two words before charging at Parashia once again. With her chakra reserves nearly depleted after the summoning, she funneled every remaining drop into her feet.
"Heaven Kick of Pain!"
"What a troublesome woman," Parashia muttered, his brow furrowing as he looked at the slug blocking his path.
"Wind Style: Wind Slaying Bind!"
To an elite Jonin like Parashia, a slug the size of a grown man was a minor nuisance at best. He wove his signs with lethal efficiency and exhaled another torrent of wind, aimed squarely at Katsuyu.
But before the wind could even reach the slug, Parashia's eyes narrowed. Several yellow slips of paper had been kicked up from the mud, swirling into the air within the gust.
"Detonate!"
Nawaki's petrified expression vanished. His eyes sharpened with a mix of anticipation and weary resignation as he formed a single-handed seal. With a low shout, the paper bombs caught in the wind exploded in a synchronized roar of fire and light, the heat instantly flash-steaming the rain around them.
Nawaki had been faking his shock. Even his initial shout to reveal their position had been a calculated move to bait Parashia into a trap.
Unfortunately, Tsunade's frantic intervention had ruined the timing. If she hadn't interfered, Parashia would have likely advanced another two meters—placing him at the absolute center of the blast zone. At that range, the explosion would have at least cost him a limb.
But now, with the Wind Slaying Bind prematurely exposing the hidden tags, Nawaki had been forced to detonate them early. Against an elite Jonin who was now fully on guard, a dozen paper bombs were impressive to look at but hardly lethal.
As the flames erupted, Parashia had already finished a Substitution Jutsu. He bypassed the blast wave and Tsunade's Heaven Kick of Pain in a single fluid motion.
"Nee-san!"
After forcing Parashia back, the siblings finally stood side-by-side.
However, as Tsunade looked at her long-lost brother, she felt a pang of intense embarrassment. She realized that her "rescue" had actually sabotaged a perfectly good tactical ambush.
"Nawaki, I'll hold him off. You have to run," Tsunade said, her urgency overriding the awkwardness. She stepped in front of him, her voice tight. "Take this. Head North for about ten kilometers and fire this signal flare. Jiraiya might be in the area. If you find him, you'll be safe."
She shoved a signal flare into Nawaki's hand, speaking at a breakneck pace before giving him a firm push to send him on his way.
"Hmph! Do you really think you have a chance to escape?" Parashia sneered. He didn't wait for them to respond; his next jutsu was already prepped.
"Wind Style: Gauze Net!"
A transparent web of pressurized air manifested instantly, sweeping toward the siblings like a literal net from heaven. Simultaneously, Parashia lunged toward the spot where Tsunade had dropped Dan Kato.
Dan Kato was Tsunade's long-time companion. Even if she wouldn't surrender for him, Parashia knew he could use the dying man to shatter her composure even further.
"Coward!"
Tsunade's eyes flared with rage, but she was too far away to intervene. She could only watch helplessly as Parashia closed in on the defenseless Dan.
"Nee-san, help me out!"
Beside her, Nawaki's eyes were wide with indignation at Parashia's move. He dropped into a low crouch in front of Tsunade and yelled.
"No!"
Tsunade knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted her to use her Monster Strength to hurl him like a projectile at Parashia. It was a game they had played countless times since he was a toddler.
But this wasn't a game. She wasn't about to toss her brother into the jaws of a tiger.
"Nee-san, my teammate is right there! If you hesitate any longer, it'll be too late!" Nawaki hissed. His voice was low, but it carried a sharp edge of accusation.
He saw Parashia's hand reaching for Dan. He also knew that Namikaze Hatani, who was lying in wait in the shadows, was about to make his move. Nawaki just needed to create the opening.
"Teammate?"
Tsunade froze. She had assumed Nawaki had escaped alone. Her eyes scanned the area near Dan Kato, searching for any sign of another ninja.
"Did you already forget how you just ruined my last tactic? Are you going to ruin this one, too?!" Nawaki barked, his voice a harsh, desperate whisper.
"Fine... just be careful!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth. She grabbed Nawaki, funneled her monstrous strength into her arms, and with a guttural roar, she launched him like a human cannonball.
"Die!"
Nawaki soared through the air, bypassing the Gauze Net easily. He spread his limbs mid-flight, six shuriken clutched between his fingers, and hurled them at Parashia with a roar.
"Hmph. Foolish child."
Parashia glanced back at the incoming shuriken and the boy flying toward him. A look of genuine delight crossed his face.
He had been wondering how to get past Tsunade to grab Nawaki; using Dan Kato as bait had been a desperate ploy to draw her out. He never expected the target to hand-deliver himself.
This was an unexpected windfall.
Brimming with arrogance, Parashia didn't even bother to dodge. He reached out and plucked the shuriken from the air with his bare hands, his face twisted in a cold sneer as he watched Nawaki land nearby.
At that exact moment, behind him, a branch from an Umbrella Tree suddenly snapped. Carried by an invisible current of wind, it streaked toward the back of his head with lethal velocity.