Sajin grit his teeth, his breath coming in ragged, labored gasps. With every inhalation, a searing heat scorched its way through his airway and deep into his lungs. The agony was so sharp it left his features twisted in a grotesque mask of pain.
The burns covering his skin throbbed with a rhythmic, matching torment. He forced his heavy, sticky eyelids open, his gaze burning with a cocktail of unadulterated rage and murderous intent as he glared at the blood-soaked boy standing a short distance away.
Tatsuma pressed his lips into a thin line, his eyes fixed on the sand swirling around Sajin's body. He recognized it immediately—Sunagakure's signature Sand Manipulation. However, looking at Sajin's current output... compared to the "Sand Susanoo" of the future, this was amateur hour at best.
Despite being pushed to the brink, Sajin hadn't produced any more puppets. Tatsuma theorized that the man was truly tapped out—either he had no more, or he hadn't brought them on this mission.
Based on the timeline, Sajin had likely left the village following his master, the Third Kazekage. With the "Strongest Kazekage" by his side, Sajin probably felt he didn't need to carry an entire arsenal for self-preservation.
The Third Kazekage had clearly anticipated Konoha's ambush on their frontline base and set up a counter-strike. He had succeeded, but in doing so, he had triggered Konoha's formal declaration of war. Under those circumstances, if the Third Kazekage wanted to prevent Hiruzen Sarutobi from personally entering the fray, his only choice was to retreat. It was the only viable move on the political chessboard.
After all, a battle between Kage carried too much weight; it wasn't just about winning a fight, it was about the fate of the village. The Third Kazekage had played it smart and withdrawn.
Sajin, however, hadn't returned to the village. He had been folded into the local Suna forces. This made sense; traveling back to the village would have taken at least four or five days just to restock a few puppets—hardly worth the time in a fast-moving war.
Sajin simply hadn't expected to run into an anomaly like Tatsuma. Or rather, the "Tatsuma" he had prepared for was nowhere near as monstrously powerful as the boy standing before him now.
But life is what happens when your plans go up in smoke. And for Sajin, the "unexpected" had arrived with a vengeance.
Tatsuma observed him for a few more seconds. Confirming that Sajin truly had no hidden tricks left, he stopped hesitating. He ignited the Body Flicker Technique, chakra flooding his leg muscles to propel him toward Sajin like a golden blur.
"Damn you! Sand Shield!"
With no better options, Sajin ignored the stabbing pain in his chest and forced the sand to coalesce into a thick slab in front of him.
As a specialist in puppetry, Sajin's close-quarters combat was mediocre. By Jonin standards, he was "barely adequate"—the kind of ninja who passed his physical exams but spent all his free time in a workshop. His Sand Manipulation was equally shallow; had he truly mastered it, he wouldn't be sporting such horrific burns.
Staring down the slab of sand, Tatsuma's solution was elegantly simple: He went around it.
Using the circular footwork of Baguazhang, Tatsuma drifted past the edge of the shield. He pivoted, shifting his weight into a "Through-the-Back" power strike, burying a lightning-fast punch directly into Sajin's liver.
THUD!
His vision obscured by his own shield, Sajin didn't even see the blow coming. The impact sent him sprawling. As his charred skin scraped against the coarse, gritty earth, Sajin finally learned the true meaning of "heart-wrenching pain."
Before he could even scramble to his feet, Tatsuma was already there. Taking advantage of Sajin's broken balance, Tatsuma thrust his palm upward in a spear-hand strike aimed directly at the throat.
Panic-stricken, Sajin crossed his arms to block. He wasn't entirely defenseless in Taijutsu—you don't become a Jonin without knowing how to throw a punch—but against Tatsuma, "knowing how" wasn't enough.
Tatsuma's throat strike was a feint. The moment Sajin raised his guard, he left his midsection wide open. Tatsuma dropped into a low horse stance, lowering his center of gravity, and whipped his body around for a devastating spinning elbow.
Through the gap in his arms, Sajin saw the tip of the elbow aiming straight for his "ancestral shrine." A cold shiver ran down his spine, sparking a desperate surge of adrenaline. He forced his sand to surge downward, forming a makeshift barrier just in time.
CRACK!
The sand shattered and sprayed outward, but it held long enough to blunt the elbow strike. Before Sajin could breathe a sigh of relief, Tatsuma stuck to him like glue.
Tatsuma was short, and in a fight, reach is usually everything. This was one of Tatsuma's few physical disadvantages, so he refused to let Sajin create distance. He had to keep the fight inside his "comfort zone."
Seeing the boy press the attack, Sajin unleashed a flurry of desperate strikes to push him back. Tatsuma's hands moved in a blur, weaving through the gaps and neutralizing Sajin's momentum with Tai Chi deflections.
Tatsuma wasn't satisfied with just defending. His hands followed the flow, transitioning into a Ward Off and Roll Back maneuver to trap Sajin's wrists. Having seen Tatsuma use this exact technique to dismantle his subordinates, Sajin didn't dare let the boy's hands lock on. He threw his head back and lunged backward to escape the grip.
Tatsuma didn't miss a beat. He stepped in and shoved both palms into Sajin's stomach, lifting and driving forward to completely destroy the man's center of gravity.
Sajin hit the ground and tried to roll back into a neutral stance, but Tatsuma dived into the opening again. His palms moved like the wings of a butterfly, striking Sajin's abdomen once more. Under the constant pressure, Sajin couldn't regain his balance; his body remained hunched over.
This was exactly what Tatsuma wanted. Sajin was too tall for Tatsuma to reach his head easily—unless he was bent double.
Tatsuma's palms formed the "Butterfly" shape again, but this time, he didn't push forward. He drove them straight up. In Baguazhang, this move had a name: White Ape Presents the Fruit.
CRACK!
The double-palm strike slammed into both sides of Sajin's jaw, launching him into the air. Mid-flight, Sajin hacked up a spray of saliva and blood, seasoned with a few shattered teeth.
THUD!
He crashed to the dirt, unable to get up. His head spun in a dizzying haze; for a moment, he forgot where he was or why he was fighting.
Tatsuma arrived like a predatory shadow. He aimed a piercing kick at Sajin's neck, but at the last possible millisecond, the man's survival instinct flared. Sand surged around him, acting as a cushion.
BOOM!
The sand was kicked into a cloud of dust, but Sajin managed to roll away, narrowly avoiding a broken neck. He scrambled into a kneeling position, trying to stand, but Tatsuma was on him again.
Tatsuma didn't waste breath on words. He threw a lead-leg snap kick toward Sajin's face. Sajin raised his arms in a desperate block, using the force of the kick to help propel himself backward and finally create some breathing room.
By the time Tatsuma closed the gap again, Sajin had regained a sliver of composure. He swung a fist at Tatsuma, but his head was swimming and his strength was spent. The punch lacked any real threat.
Tatsuma batted the lead hand aside, pinned the trailing hand, and drove his heel into the side of Sajin's lead knee. Sajin tried to wrench his leg back while struggling to overpower Tatsuma's grip.
Seeing that he couldn't force the man to his knees, Tatsuma didn't fight the resistance. He allowed his foot to slide down Sajin's shin, following the man's own backward momentum, and stomped with all his might onto Sajin's ankle.
Then came the next move. Pin, trap... and hammer.
Tatsuma had two choices: a standard punch, or something more "expressive." Looking at Sajin's snarling face, he chose the latter. He planted his feet and twisted his waist, putting every ounce of his integrated STR and PHY stats into the rotation.
He didn't use a single fist. He brought both hands down like a sledgehammer. This was the Parry, Block, and Punch from Chen-style Tai Chi—traditionally aimed at the jaw and the stomach.
Tatsuma, being shorter, adjusted the targets.
The "jaw" strike became a thundering blow to the Solar Plexus. The "stomach" strike became a direct hit to... the "ancestral shrine."
CRUNCH—CRACK!
Sajin's mouth flew open, but no sound came out. It was as if the entire world had suddenly gone mute.