Nineteen: How About This? Make the Spider Blue-Silver and Cosplay the Tang Sect's Thousand-Armed Asura

What the hell was this Uchiha brat talking about?!

Tsunade's face turned red as a monkey's bottom at Sakuya's words.

The arm she had wrapped around Sakuya's stiffened instantly.

What did he mean, "because I'm here"?

Was... was he confessing to me?

Would it be bad if I accepted? Shouldn't I play a little hard to get or something...?

No, no, no!

I'm nine years older than him!

Can people with a nine-year age gap even be together?

Wouldn't people laugh at us?

Even if he didn't care about the age difference, I'm a Senju, and he's an Uchiha!

The thousand-year feud between our clans was right there in front of us.

We were sworn enemies!

Though we were now comrades in the same village, those old Senju folks wouldn't approve of us being together, would they?

Besides, hadn't he been so strongly opposed to me before? He'd even gone after me like that during the Hokage meeting!

What he said had been right, sure, but he'd been awfully harsh about it.

If he liked me, why say those things and make me hate him?

Unless... unless he was trying to get my attention?

The girl, who had read countless romance stories, suddenly got it.

Granduncle had once said that the Uchiha were a twisted bunch. They didn't show their feelings for their comrades openly, but expressed them in their own way.

Could he have had a crush on me for a long time?

Had he said those things at the Jonin meeting just to get me to notice him?

That would explain everything.

No wonder he'd looked after Nawaki so much on the way here. Now he'd noticed I was in danger at once and rushed over to save me, risking his life. He'd even taken so many attacks for me just now and given me his gas mask.

He... he... he...

If Sakuya had been a dating sim system, he would have seen Tsunade's affection for him skyrocketing as her imagination ran wild.

But he had no time to care about that.

The smoke in the air gradually cleared.

It revealed Kidoyun's current state.

He had clearly destroyed three of his Kirin Arms just moments ago. By rights, that should have greatly weakened him, and the Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique Sakuya had used to follow up should have been enough to finish him off. But why did it seem like...

As the dust settled, Kidoyun's hideous figure gradually emerged from the flames that had engulfed him.

His entire body was covered in golden armor.

"Ninja Art: Spider Sticky Gold."

Kidoyun panted heavily as he named the golden armor covering his body.

"It's the same substance as the one you attacked with earlier. Is it another creation of your secret technique?"

Sakuya tightened his hold on Tsunade's back and glanced around. He saw the other jonin gradually catching up, and there seemed to be more and more of them.

These jonin weren't particularly strong. Kidoyun was the only truly powerful one, but there were just too many of them.

And on top of that, they were fighting in a poisonous fog.

It was like playing a Pokémon battle where the other side's Groudon had Primal Reverted and set the weather, while you were still stupidly using some damn Water move.

With neither the time, terrain, nor people on your side, insisting on staying in the fight and throwing out more moves would be insane.

"Let's get out of Tea House City first."

Sakuya turned his head. "Tsunade, are you okay?"

"I'm holding up. What about you?"

With Sakuya's gas mask, the poison in Tsunade's body hadn't gotten any worse. She'd also found a chance to take a Military Ration Pill earlier, and her chakra was gradually recovering. All she had to do now was keep using Medical Ninjutsu to suppress the poison in her body. Given a little time, she could force out the Ibuse poison that had left her numb and aching.

But she was only holding up for now. What about Uchiha Sakuya?

She could see that since he'd started fighting Kidoyun, his face had grown increasingly blue.

It was a sign that the poison in his body was getting worse.

"Don't worry, I can still hold on."

Sakuya knew he'd been poisoned, but unlike Tsunade, he had options.

Tsunade specialized in Water Release, Earth Release, Taijutsu, and Medical Ninjutsu. Without understanding the poison, she could do next to nothing against a deadly toxin in the air.

His specialty, on the other hand, was Fire Release. In a way, it was the best way to deal with the poisonous fog right now.

Fire grew stronger with the wind.

Every time he used a Fire Release Ninjutsu, he burned away the air around him.

As the flames devoured the oxygen, they also burned up the poison drifting through the air.

Though a new wave of poisonous fog soon blew in with the air and entered his body as he breathed, his poisoning had slowed down considerably compared to Tsunade's.

"Hold on tight. We're going!"

Sakuya clamped Tsunade's legs under his arms and pressed her body firmly against his back. His gaze swept across the area, and the Sharingan in his eyes flashed with a fierce, crimson light.

The genjutsu from his Sharingan caught two charging jonin at once. He kicked them both, then used the hand of one of them to form Hand Seals as he leaped high into the air.

Fire Release chakra gathered in his mouth again. Sakuya opened his mouth and unleashed another surging wave of flames.

Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!

The wave of flames swallowed three or four of the pursuing ninja. But soon, several kunai-shaped projectiles made of Spider Sticky Gold shot toward them, controlled by Kidoyun and several other Tsuchigumo Clan ninja.

"Watch out! There are Explosive Tags on them!"

Tsunade shouted.

"I see them!"

Sakuya slammed his foot against the city wall and leaned back with Tsunade. The instant his left hand caught the top of the wall, the Spider Sticky Gold projectiles, with Explosive Tags attached, struck the spot where they'd just been. The tags flashed, then detonated with tremendous force.

But that was exactly what Sakuya had been waiting for!

A huge fireball gathered in front of his lips. He spat it out, then used the enormous recoil from the fireball and the Explosive Tags' detonation to carry Tsunade over the wall. After sprinting for a short while, he stopped beneath a tree some distance outside the city.

"We finally made it out!"

Sakuya gasped for breath.

Only after leaving the poisoned area could he appreciate the taste of fresh air.

But this was no time to rest.

Watching the ninja leap over the wall and pursue them relentlessly, Sakuya set Tsunade down beside the tree.

"Sakuya?!"

"Rest here for a bit."

Sakuya gave Tsunade a reassuring word, the Three Tomoe in his eyes spinning faster and faster.

In just over ten seconds, the ninja had surrounded them again.

But after being chased for so long, even a clay figurine would have a temper. Now that he was free of the poisonous fog, Sakuya wasn't going to run anymore.

He pulled the remaining spider threads off his left hand and stared expressionlessly at the people around him.

At last, his gaze settled on Kidoyun, who had only three arms left.

Unlike before, he was standing atop a massive spider summon, his face fierce and menacing.

All these spiders and webs to bind people. If you made the Spider Sticky Gold blue-silver, you could cosplay as the Thousand-Armed Asura from that Tang Sect next door.

Sakuya grumbled to himself.