An eerie silence descended on the scene.
"Are you starting to understand?" Arthur asked in a monotone voice. "The more you continue this, the more you're gonna get hurt."
There was a strange resolve in Jada's eyes as she stared at him.
'Is she trying to activate the Tsukiyomi?' he thought to himself. 'No, I can't sense the chakra building up in her eyes.'
Whether she was trying to or not wouldn't matter since he was in Sage Mode.
"Arthur… You think this is enough to stop me?!" She then summoned every ounce of resolve she had. "I won't ever lose to you!"
"How shameful… You should know that I only recently entered my Sage Mode."
What he was saying was that the time limit for his transformation had just begun. Meanwhile, there were a plethora of visible cracks showing in her Susanoo, reducing it to its skeletal form. Even if she repaired them, who knew how long she could maintain its shape?
When she tried to take a step, she found it almost impossible. Arthur wasn't going to let this chance slip, so he dashed forward and closed the distance. Then, at close range, he launched a flurry of Sage-enhanced punches.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
She tried to fight back, but whenever she tried to hit him, he'd merely change his position faster than her Susanoo could move.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The cracks grew larger as she tried to keep its form up. She could barely think due to the amount of stress on her body.
"Get lost!" she cried, spinning her Susanoo with the Totsuka Blade.
But Arthur was quicker, dodging under the blade with agile finesse. He then used his momentum to pivot and drive his elbow into her Susanoo's side.
Bang!
The blow connected, sending a shockwave through her body that vibrated in her very bones.
Even then, she managed to regain her footing and shouted his name at the top of her lungs. "Arthur!" Totsuka Blade raised again; she brought it down with a force that threatened to cleave the earth in two.
Arthur, unfazed, merely stood there. And before the weapon could reach him, he substituted himself with a cluster of grass.
The ethereal weapon absorbed the harmless vegetation as he calmly emerged from the foliage.
The insult was obvious. Jada was using her ultimate weapon, only to be met with such a mundane counter. It was as if Arthur had spat in the face of her status as a ninja, a mockery of her role and the sacrifices she'd made to get to this point.
The sounds of the grass crunched beneath.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
This couldn't be happening, she thought. No, just seeing him come back from that sent a chill down her spine. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and her body screamed for respite. Just then, her Susanoo gave a loud roar before dissipating, leaving her fully vulnerable.
Her chakra reserves were now close to zero, her physical strength waned, and her eyes reverted to normal.
It was over; Jada, the now-well-favoured Uchiha, had lost.
Arthur halted a few paces away as his eyes scanned her from head to toe. "Impressive. You're the first to last this long in a fight with me, so I commend your efforts."
She gritted her teeth; she did not want to give up; she did not want this to be the end. But what was she going to do? Reach for her a kunai and use that as a weapon against his Sage Mode? The Totsuka Blade failed more times than one, and she wouldn't be able to summon her Susanoo again. Not if she wanted to go blind.
What won Arthur this fight was that he knew of her inexperience in truly wielding her Susanoo in a real fight. It was, as far as he knew, the first time she had used the Uchiha's greatest technique in battle.
From the moment that it was unleashed, it was evident that her control was great, but her physical body wasn't going to maintain it for long. And during their earlier clashes, he had a clear advantage in strength and speed.
Arthur, who had honed his body since his arrival in this world, was constantly at his physical peak. Jada, however, had only been training her chakra-based techniques.
Those same techniques were strong, no doubt. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to translate them so effectively in this fight. But ninjutsu alone was only part of this world's system. One needed to excel at everything to be considered a real threat to Arthur.
Perhaps if he were facing someone like Itachi's Susanoo or Kakashi's borrowed Susanoo, the results might have been drastically different. But Jada, an earthly woman in a twelve-year-old body, wasn't at the level of seasoned shinobi who've seen war and death firsthand.
"Looks like that's all you've got left?" Arthur said.
Jada ignored him, knowing that he was trying to get in her head again. She had tried her hardest, using almost everything she had. Now her chakra was practically at zero, and she truly did seem to be all out of options.
Suddenly, she dropped to both her knees and lowered her head down, causing a shadow to obscure her features. Arthur just watched her, feeling no pity for the woman.
"Can I ask you something?" she whispered.
Arthur considered if she was trying to buy time or pull another trick. Her chakra might have been very low, but that didn't mean she couldn't have something up her sleeve.
"Unless it has to deal with you begging for mercy," he answered, "I don't want to hear it…"
"The least you can do… is grant me this request," she struggled to say. "Your opponent's low on chakra, and I'm sure you can already tell I don't have anything to help heal my injuries like you."
If that didn't sound like a woman asking for mercy, Arthur may have already walked away. So he decided to hear her out.
"I used to actually think you were cool," she confessed. "Like the someone that just got the wrong end of the stick." She was referring to his "Clan-less" character. "But I was wrong about you, Arthur… I was wrong to think you had good intentions."
Her words began falling on deaf ears. Insulting him was serving no purpose since he knew full well who he was and what his goals were—goals that were never going to change.
If he wanted, he could snap her neck or cleanly chop her head off before she could even blink. But doing that would make him a hypocrite. Arthur was and still is a Christian, a follower of Christ. Meaning, they didn't kill others with a soul.
So he stared her down and said, "Answer me this: how did you learn the flying raijin, and who gave you Itachi's weapon?"
She was quiet for a second with her head still facing the ground. Then, in a soft, quiet tone, she confessed, "What good will it do you knowing that…? I'm already beaten, so if you're gonna finish me, make it quick."
"No…"
"What?" she asked in surprise, raising her head.
"You heard me… I said no. Not because I can't, but because I choose not to. I play by my own rules, and killing you isn't part of that."
"I… I see," she acknowledged, slowly returning her gaze to the floor. "Arthur… I thought I could handle you alone. I was wrong. You're strong. Too strong for your own good, even."
Arthur was indeed strong, a deadly adversary worthy of being considered this world's villain. Her coming to that conclusion didn't at all satisfy him, though. Moreover, he didn't need anyone's validation of those facts.
"The others," she asked in a low tone, "what exactly do you think about them?"
"What does that matter to you?" When she didn't answer, he scoffed. "Fine. Since you're asking me to judge, I'll tell you what I think of them. William, he's childish and acts like a fanatic; Alice, she's got secrets that I'd prefer not to get involved with; Margaret, her anger issues will get the better of her one day; Jasper, he's condescending and quite arrogant; and Alex? He's someone you should never trust."
The moment Arthur finished, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and leapt back a few paces.
'What was that?' he asked himself.
A slight tremour of chakra had been felt, pulsing from Jada's right eye. As she slowly lifted her head, he saw the swirling patterns of her Mangekyō Sharingan active.
"Arthur… there's something you didn't know… I deeply care for those around me and only wish for their best…" The air then quaked slightly. "That's why I was given this specific ability in my Sharingan."
Right then and there, Arthur could sense the new arrivals' chakras before they even appeared.
Energy erupted from the ground, pillaring to the sky. When it ceased, four figures had materialized in the clearing: William, Alice, Margaret, and Jasper stood right behind Jada!
"What in the world happened here?" Margaret commented with an awed expression.
They all looked around and saw the destruction. Only a great battle would have caused this since the clearing was turned into somewhat of a wasteland.
This made the redhead whistle while the others continued to survey the scene with equal interest.
Arthur paused. He had not expected reinforcements, let alone these reinforcements. But how did they come here? Not once were his senses so dulled that he wouldn't have known how to act in time.
Jada had not used the Flying raijin nor had she used the summoning technique. She couldn't have; her chakra was far too low to be able to summon so many people at once, and she didn't use any hand signs.
Before he could consider things, Alice quickly took a knee beside Jada.
"Jada, what happened to you?!"
"Glad to see you, too, mom…"
While the two were talking things over, Margaret whistled in Arthur's direction once more and said, "Is that Arthur in Sage Mode?! Wow, that's so cool! I wonder if it's Snake Sage Mode like Kabuto's!"
Arthur could tell that her comment was more akin to sarcasm than praise. She, unlike Jada, did not seem remotely fearful when the latter first saw it.
Jasper grinned and said in a lighthearted tone, "Don't go comparing this wannabe to Kabuto." Then he sighed. "Looks like we missed all the fun. Jada, ya should have called us here sooner when ya knew he was here."
"Where are we anyway?" William asked, unsure of himself.
"We're… in the Tea Country," Jada struggled to answer.
This revelation shocked William as he quickly asked the status of Team 7, knowing that they were sent here for the escort mission.
Jada looked forward at Arthur. "They're safe for the most part, but they'd be better off if it weren't for him."
"What the heck, man!" screamed William. He was clearly enraged. "If I found out you hurt my cousin, you're gonna get it!"
Arthur ignored the outburst, not wishing to think about any of their disturbing comments. No, he had to absolutely remain calm to think of what was truly taking place here.
Genjutsu? No, not likely. A fail-safe seal within a piece of parchment? Not possible without activation first. Shoot. Arthur couldn't piece things together.
"Where's Alex anyway?" Jasper asked.
"I last left him with Jiraiya-sensei," answered William.
"Screw him," Margaret said. "Besides, Jada should be happy that at least I answered the call. Almost chose not to come."
'What call?' Arthur wondered. That didn't matter now. This was his moment to escape. 'Flying—' "Ugh!"
Suddenly, he found himself completely frozen!
"Don't even think about it," Alice said, staring him down with glowing cyan-coloured eyes.
The chakra was clearly emanating from her, but just what was this technique, and why was it so strong?
"Wow, mom," Margaret praised, "Ya caught him just like that?"
"Arthur, none of us thought you'd actually best Jada in a fight," Margaret added. "Still, beating her this badly isn't that impressive. She's kinda weak. Ugh! No offense, girl."
"None taken…"
Arthur was lost. First, he was bound tightly and couldn't concentrate to teleport away. Then there was that comment. What did Margaret mean when she said that Jada was 'kinda weak'? An Uchiha with the Susanoo, the Mangekyō Sharingan, the Totsuka Blade, and the Flying raijin weak?!
"Haha!" Jasper laughed, sensing Arthur's helplessness. "The little prick actually can't escape?" He then shrugged his shoulders. "I thought you had some talent when I saw the damage dealt around here. Guess I was wrong."
"Jada," Margaret said with a quirky smile, "if ya'd just listen to me and train like I said, ya wouldn't be in this mess."
"Sorry... He just caught me off guard, is all."
The situation couldn't be more horrible for Arthur. He was outnumbered with little options in front of him. How could things have possibly ended up this way?