He drew a breath. The sulfur in the volcanic air left his throat dry and tight, but he folded that discomfort into his breathing rhythm too-his rhythm could accommodate more and more now. The dull ache in his ribs, the sting of sulfur, the heat in the air: all of it was pressed into a steady frequency by four seconds in, four seconds holding, four seconds out, four seconds holding.
"Tenten, use the Resonance Cage to suppress the three outer ones first.
Neji, clear a path for Tenten's ninja tools with Vacuum Palm.
Chisen, follow my route-don't run. Walk.
You said walking was all you needed."
"Walk," Chisen confirmed.
He supported himself with his cane in his right hand, while his left held the Black Velvet Bag inside his pocket.
The last fragment inside the bag rested against his palm through the velvet. It was colder than his hand, cool to the touch, like a piece of ice that body heat could never warm.
Guy took a deep breath-held it for four seconds-then charged.
Tenten struck at the same time behind him.
This time, her twelve specialized ninja tools neither shot toward the rock walls nor hovered around the vessels. They flew straight toward the surfaces of the three outer vessels' chakra fields.
The twelve kunai split into three groups in flight, four in each group, each group aimed at one vessel.
The fragments at the ends of the kunai began vibrating violently the instant they touched the chakra fields. Chisen's revised harmonic scheme was layered over the base frequency of 7.3 hertz-7.3 hertz suppressed the chakra fields, while 12.8 hertz disrupted the immunosuppressive glands. Both frequencies worked simultaneously. Every kunai was a miniature resonance bomb.
Neji released his Vacuum Palm right behind Tenten's kunai.
Seventeen Vacuum Palm pulses-more than