MTLNOVEL Chapter 41: Almost there.
I watched as Mukade reformed again after being hit by my Water Dragon Jutsu, he had left his... Shell? Skin? To dodge my Great Fireball and was now jumping around in his spider body, I wonder if he really liked spiders because having the choice to make yourself into anything and picking a giant spider was kinda weird.
"Do you think yo-" His rant was interrupted by Minato smashing a Rasengan into him, destroying him once again.
Hey, good job Minato, I gave him a thumbs up before weaving some hand signs.
"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"
A beam of water cut the floating pieces of Mukade apart before they could converge again.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"
Seems like Minato is picking up what I'm putting down, as the Mukade pieces tried to gather again, a bolt of lightning struck them before they could get close enough.
We continued this little dance for a couple more times before Mukade realized he was just getting picked apart, all the broken puppets in the room split apart into smaller pieces, creating a storm of wood and metal around Mukade's spider body.
It assembled himself a giant wooden centipede thing, a humanoid upper body with 2 thick arms attached to a segmented lower body, basically a centipede centaur.
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT GNATS! STOP INTERFERING!" He roared out as the massive thing turned towards us. "YOU'RE JUST DELAYING THE INEVITABLE!"
"Chōza!" Minato yelled out.
The Akimichi responded immediately, jumping off from a pillar nearby and using his Partial Expansion Jutsu on one of his hands, slamming down into the puppet with earth-shattering force. It didn't really do much besides slightly crack the surface of it.
I yelled out to Minato.
"Can you stall him for a few minutes? I have something that will stop him!"
He nodded sharply, and then he disappeared in a flash of yellow light.
I immediately sat down.
And did nothing.
Actually, I summoned some lights around my sitting body, wouldn't want Minato to think I'm just sitting here doing nothing.
Come on, Minato, show me that good stuff.
***
About five minutes later, and I think I saw everything I needed to see.
Shibi and Chōza had joined in on the fighting again after a short break, using their respective abilities to distract Mukabe and stop his attacks.
Naruto and Sara were done with freeing all the people, and they were both running towards something now, guess they were going to close the Ryūmyaku?
The important thing, though, was that Minato really did show me what I needed.
I got a good look at the Rasengan and a good variety of elemental Jutsu.
I recorded it all, of course, once I get back, I'll transcribe it into scrolls and add it to Wave's Jutsu library.
Sadly, not truly destructive since Mukade wasn't allowing anyone time to prepare, but I was happy with Jutsu he used, it would give me some much-needed kick to my Jutsu, once I practiced them, of course.
Time for me to actually do something.
I clasped my hands together and prayed out loud.
"O' Watcher Behind The Stars, please allow me to wield your divine weapon."
"O' Watcher Behind The Stars, grant me your might!"
"O' Watcher Behind The Stars, guide my hand!"
A starlight spear appeared in my grasp, void black with golden stars dotting its surface.
It didn't actually have any powers, it just looked fancy.
I just needed something that looked distracting so anyone watching didn't realize I could just do things at will.
A good inspirational story doesn't have the problem be wiped away with the wave of a hand.
It needed a bit of drama to really stay in peoples minds, it would hit all the harder.
With that, I jumped towards Mukade, screaming out and order to Minato.
"Keep him still for a moment!"
The future Yondaime disappeared in another flash of yellow light before reappearing next to Mukade, thrusting a Hirashin Kunai into his giant wooden chest. Writing in the sealing language started to spread over Mukabe.
The puppet froze as the seal took hold, not allowing him to move an inch.
I threw my spear straight at him, the tip piercing through the giant puppet and nailing Mukade himself through his smaller chest.
The seal broke immediately afterwards, but Mukade still didn't move, I was using some DP to make sure he stayed put.
This time I didn't use an illusion, or directly restrain him, just made the layer of air around him as immovable as possible, if he wanted to break free, he would have to lift the equivalent of a building with one arm.
Since this only applied to his small body, it probably wasn't possible, I wanted to know what kind of bullshit wood he used if he really could lift a building with an arm without it snapping, of course, he could still technically use puppets, but I made sure his connection to his strings was cut too.
I had spent a pretty good amount of DP by this point, this little side adventure was turning out to be more expensive than I thought it would be. But it would still be worth it if my plan worked.
Still, I'll have to keep an eye on my stores until I get back and can restock.
"Keep an eye on him, I don't know how it will interact with the massive amounts of Chakra he can channel, until Sara closes the Ryūmyaku, we need to make sure that Mukabe is contained." I told Minato once I landed next to him. He nodded in reply.
Well, would you look at that, somehow my voice carried just the right way, and Mukade heard it. Wonder how that happened.
And after a minute of struggling without effect, his Chakra strings were no longer being cut as soon as they appeared, wonder why.
Guess we will have a climatic final stand in front of the Ryūmyaku, the noble Princess barely succeeding in closing it with the help of an inspiring sacrifice by me, how unexpected.
The giant puppet twitched.
"Get Back! He's overpowering my spear!" I yelled out as I jumped back, the others quickly following my lead.
Mukade giant form started moving, trashing around, I was only allowing him to use a few strings to sell the illusion, so his movements were erratic and jerky, but he still managed to turn around and smash through a wall.
He would 'slowly' break free thought, he needed to be in top shape for the finale after all.