"Cough, cough." Yugito was being carried on A's shoulder, and the pressure seemed to be compressing her lungs, triggering a fit of coughing.
"A-sama, that Mitsuki… he can reflect all chakra-based attacks. The earlier Tailed Beast Balls were probably sent back by him."
A had already suspected as much. That was why, during the previous exchange, he relied entirely on Lightning Release Chakra Mode to boost his speed. The moment he launched an attack, he dispersed the chakra around his arms and used only pure physical strength for taijutsu.
But A knew very well that continuing like this was not a real solution.
His current fighting style was like dancing on the edge of a blade. The moment he was struck while a part of his body had exited Lightning Release Chakra Mode, given the opponent's kekkei genkai-level power, a single hit would likely burn straight through his flesh.
On top of that, he still had to protect Yugito on his shoulder.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Two more crescent-shaped Fire Release sword waves swept toward him.
A had no time to think and could only barely evade them.
"He really can run. Shukaku, full output."
"Got it, partner."
Shukaku let out a strange laugh. It had been a long time since he and Mitsuki had coordinated an all-out assault like this. Today was pure satisfaction.
Both of his claws formed seals at extreme speed.
The ground within the canyon began to change violently as an overwhelming amount of sand surged forth.
In just a few seconds, it nearly filled the massive crater left behind by the Ultra Big Ball Rasenshuriken.
"Damn it, he even changed the terrain?"
Charging through a sea of quicksand stretching over a kilometer, A did not have a single foothold where he could fully exert force. Yugito on his shoulder further slowed him down significantly.
Worse still, countless sand tendrils rose up around him like reapers chasing souls, trying to tightly bind his body.
Bang, bang, bang.
A's extreme-speed movement kicked up towering curtains of sand across the sand sea.
Each step he took was a gamble with his life. If he failed to complete a jump within a fraction of a second, the sand beneath his feet would mercilessly extend tendrils and seize him completely.
Barely dodging several Fire Release sword waves, A looked toward the solid ground less than a hundred meters away and thought to himself,
"Almost there."
At this distance, before his last reserves of strength were exhausted, he could definitely break out of this sand sea.
But Mitsuki was not about to give him that chance. Forming seals with one hand, chakra surged at high speed.
"Sand Burial."
At the edge of the sand sea, countless grains of sand flowed upward against gravity, forming two gigantic hands dozens of meters tall that clapped together toward A, who was about to escape the sand sea's range.
Only the final few dozen meters remained, yet it felt like an insurmountable chasm.
As he watched the sand bag hands closing in, Mitsuki spoke softly, as if delivering a verdict.
"Lightning that falls within the sand sea, you have nowhere left to run."
A knew that with his speed, there was no way he could escape before the massive hands closed. He glanced at Yugito on his shoulder, his eyes sharpening.
"Sorry."
The next instant, a massive impact rang out.
The two sand giants' hands clapped together, sending powerful shockwaves rippling outward. The sand sea was blasted into rolling waves, just like a real ocean.
Several black, tadpole-like sealing formulas rapidly spread across the surface of the giant hands.
Clang.
Two black lock-shaped patterns snapped together, the sealing technique fully activating and completely suppressing the azure lightning that tried to break through the Sand Bag Technique.
"Eternal Golden Seal."
Riding atop a cloud of sand, Mitsuki leapt across the sand sea and immediately spotted Yugito, who had been thrown out of the sand sea by A at the very last moment before the hands closed.
She lay helplessly on the hard rocky ground, her chest rising faintly, blood slowly spilling from her mouth. She could not even manage to move.
Mitsuki flipped lightly and landed beside her.
"Worthy of a jinchuriki. You survived injuries like this."
To ensure Yugito escaped the sand sea, A had not held back much with that throw.
Just like with Darui earlier, Yugito had probably suffered at least several broken ribs.
Mitsuki suddenly realized that after using so many techniques, his total damage output still did not seem as high as A brutally throwing his own teammate.
This was completely ridiculous.
"Please…"
"Hm?" Mitsuki had not expected Yugito, lying at his feet, to still be conscious enough to speak.
With great difficulty, Yugito shifted her unfocused gaze toward the sand giants locked together in the distance. She could sense that A was still alive.
Her blood-soaked lips parted slightly, and a trembling voice escaped.
"Please don't… don't kill A-sama."
Mitsuki raised an eyebrow and replied, "Do I really look like some kind of great villain?"
For Konoha, and really for any faction, capturing an important enemy figure alive was always more effective than killing them. Of course, there were pros and cons. Capturing someone alive yielded greater rewards but also came with greater difficulty.
As long as the enemy surrendered quickly enough, Mitsuki usually would not go for the kill. Naturally, Kirigakure was an exception.
Once A was escorted back to Konoha, they might even be able to study the training method for Lightning Release Chakra Mode from him.
That was a priceless treasure. Mitsuki even had to worry whether A might pull a Xiang Yu-style suicide in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.
Besides A, Yugito herself was also excellent loot. Of course, there was no misunderstanding here. As the Two-Tails jinchuriki, Yugito held extremely high value for Konoha.
Hearing Mitsuki's words, Yugito's tightly wound nerves eased slightly. It seemed this guy was not as brutal as the rumors claimed.
Although being captured alive and taken back to Konoha would certainly mean extensive torture and experimentation, at least after this defeat, Kumogakure could pay a price to exchange prisoners. After all, they had also captured quite a few Konoha shinobi from secret technique clans.
As for herself, honestly speaking, she felt like she might die here.
Severe burns across her back, multiple fractures and internal bleeding. Just speaking that short sentence earlier had nearly sent her heart into arrest.
If a jinchuriki died, the tailed beast inside would perish as well.
Mitsuki had no intention of letting the results of all his hard work vanish like a cooked duck flying away.
Half-crouching, he sheathed Mistcutter and formed hand seals, releasing the medical ninjutsu to slightly treat Yugito's internal injuries.
For a jinchuriki, this level of treatment was already sufficient. The rest depended on her own recovery.
"Thank you, Shukaku's jinchuriki."A deep female voice echoed from within Yugito.
Mitsuki was startled for a moment, then realized it was Matatabi speaking.
Exchanging a glance with Shukaku, Mitsuki spoke first. "Your relationship with her is pretty good."
"Little Yugito is a good child. What really surprised me is your relationship with Shukaku. To be honest, Shukaku's temperament is much harder to deal with than mine."
"Hey, don't lump me together with you two," Shukaku said smugly. "My partner and I are not in some shallow relationship like yours."