As the iron sand converged on him from all directions, Shota knew that if he did not do anything he might be skewered to death.
'This is what I get for relying on Erasure to win all my fights,' Shota thought with regret.
He knew he would not be able to run away from the iron sand because the area that the wave was covering was quite large. Behind him, Sasori had already sent a couple more puppets to encircle him completely. There was no clear path to escape on the ground. He could only think of one way that he could escape it.
Shota put all his energy into using his quirk. But not the Erasure part of the quirk. Instead, he focused on the anti-gravity field part.
His hair started floating upward. He strained his ability even more as the field expanded beyond his hair to cover his entire body. With a powerful jump, he skyrocketed into the sky and managed to rise above the entire area of the iron sand wave.
The headache that followed was intense. Shota tried hard not to blink as the strain made his vision blur for a moment. He kept his eyes open through sheer willpower.
The iron sand wave landed on the ground and Shota had successfully escaped it.
While floating high above the battlefield, he changed the nature of his chakra strings by adding fire nature to them. Like a claw, he slashed in the air with the strings reaching thirty meters in length. When fire chakra was concentrated into a single thread, each one became as deadly as a thin lightsaber.
The burning threads cut through the puppets below in clean, linear pieces. The puppets fell apart instantly, their bodies sliced into neat sections that scattered across the sand.
"Oh so you have been studying under Spider. Huh. And he taught you his tricks," Sasori said, his voice carrying clear annoyance. "And you did not learn chakra strings when I wanted to teach you but now you learn them?"
Shota floated gracefully in the air, his binding cloth and hair still suspended by the anti-gravity field. He grinned despite the headache. "Spider senpai had a better sense of art, what can I say? Adding chakra nature into threads to turn them into lightsabers — now that is called true art. Your puppets are impressive, Sasori nii-san, but they are a bit old-fashioned. My glowing fire threads look cool and they cut things cleanly. It is like poetry in motion. Very stylish."
Sasori's puppet face remained expressionless, but his tone showed irritation. "You dare call my art old-fashioned while floating there like a clown?"
Shota laughed lightly. "Clown? At least this clown is flying and cutting your puppets like butter. Come on, nii-san. Admit it. My version of chakra strings is better."
Sasori was irritated by Shota's words but he was also analyzing each ability or jutsu Shota was showing. He thought, 'So he has finally managed to use his dojutsu to fly, huh. He has grown.'
Shota's face turned serious as he pointed his palm directly at Sasori. "Since you are trying to kill me so much, I think I should return the favor, nii-san. Let us hope you survive."
Shota decided to use his self-created jutsu. Sasori had a bad feeling and immediately brought the Third Kazekage puppet in front of him. He then encased both of them in a very thick layer of iron sand for protection.
Shota muttered, "Overheat."
A hot and highly durable rope made from condensed chakra strings with fire chakra added into it shot from the palm of his hand at very high speed. It speared through the iron defense of the Third Kazekage puppet and blasted a clean hole straight through it. Sasori barely managed to move out of the way, but his arm still got caught in the attack and was destroyed.
Shota started falling down as he began feeling drained and tired from the fight. The strain of using the anti-gravity field for his entire body had taken a heavy toll on his body.
Sasori looked in astonishment at the slowly floating down boy. He started laughing. "Who would have thought... that the tiny little boy who used to follow me would give me such a troublesome fight."
He continued laughing for a moment, the sound echoing across the desert. "Back then you were just a small kid with big curious eyes, always asking questions and trying to copy my puppet work. Now you are floating in the air, cutting my creations, and creating your own dangerous techniques. Time really does change things. You have become quite the annoying prodigy."
Sasori's voice carried a mix of pride and irritation. "I never expected you to push me this far. Most people would have run or died by now. But you keep surprising me, brat. It is almost impressive. Almost."
"But did I tell you that the puppet is made of iron sand completely?" The hole in the Third Kazekage puppet got covered and repaired by flowing iron sand in seconds. The puppet looked as good as new once again.
Sasori took out a scroll and from that he fixed himself another arm. The new limb attached smoothly to his puppet body without any trouble.
Shota wanted to curse at that sight but he did not have much energy left. The only energy he had remaining he wanted to save for the fight. 'Of course it repairs itself. Why would anything be easy today?' he thought bitterly.
He landed on the sand carefully, his legs feeling heavy. The desert heat made everything worse. His body ached and his head still throbbed from overusing his dojutsu.
He forced himself to stand straight and kept his binding cloth ready. "You really are prepared for everything, huh, nii-san? But I am not done yet. I still have some fight left in me." Despite his tired voice, there was determination in his eyes. The battle was far from over, and Shota refused to give up easily even though every part of his body screamed for rest.
--------Author Notes---------
Thankyou David H for supporting me!
I have decided to increase the number of extra chapters on patreon from 15 to 20. Thankyou.
Y'all can now read the next 20 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon.
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
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