Red Butterfly

Chapter 73, Fire And Wind

"S-she can't even see, how's that possible?!", a Root underling bellowed in frustration. I let the body of the injured man collapse on the bridge before I sigh. Perilously, I whip my head in the direction where the voice of the man had emanated. With a steady stride, I narrow my grip on the remaining kunai and hasten my feet in his direction.

"You can be so unpredictable when people are unable to see past your flaws", I smirk, positioning my kunai as I heard him gasp in terror when he tried to comprehend what had just happened.

The sharp blade was deeply grazed into his intestines as I grit my teeth together before forcefully twisting the kunai a good ninety degrees, making him scream out in agony.

I hauled my blood-stained kunai rapidly, making his wound gush out warm blood on me. This was all happening so fast and rapid, which gave me the upper advantage.

I didn't even give the wounded man the chance to collapse to his death, because that's just how cold my heart had gotten. Which is why I channel my might into the next kick, where I strike his fresh wound forcefully, making him choke on his voice.

He tumbled back by himself and I heard him lose his balance, thus, falling off of the bridge. His scream of agony didn't distance much from my ears as some other underling stepped up.

I have to admit that if I was a little late to block his strike, then I'd be wounded by now. Without knowing it, I'd held my breath from the anticipation and pounded my teeth against each other.

This underling is either naturally fast, or he took advantage of the split second when I was busy with the previous guy.

Our hands were slightly shaking from pushing our blades against each other.

"I thought we finished you off at the Final Valley", he hissed.

"Oh yeah? Well I hope I exceeded your expectations", I hiss back, the cling that sounded off of that sword belonged to none other than Owl.

"You sure are a tough cookie, Hanabi", he remarked.

"I am tough", I affirm, calculating a plan quickly in my head, "except, I'm not a cookie", I retort and quickly proceeded with my plan. I kept my kunai pounding against his blade as I rapidly snaked under his arm, slashing the side of his rib along the way.

I located a pressure point at the back of his neck, and raised the bony joint of my elbow, before landing the final hit.

"Hanabi watch out!"

"I know", I stress hard enough for my butterflies to hear.

Owl was clearly just a decoy. I clenched my jaw when I sensed four different chakras lunging forward to land a blow. The sound of swords unsheathing made my body act on its own in a flashing haste.

They were clearly coming at me with the pure intent to kill. However, even though they outnumbered me, I knew I'd still get past them unscathed using simple techniques.

Four swords were aiming to pierce right through my skin and land a hit. Simultaneously, I grabbed Owl by the collar of his uniform and yanked his wounded body in front of mine just in time. 

His build figure concealed my somewhat petite one completely. Owl gasped in terror as the four sharp blades of his comrades' swords landed their blow right in his chest, making his body go limb from shock. His fellow Root underlings gasp dramatically at my quick defense technique.

"Splendid!!", Madara beamed using his fake Tobi persona.

Owl was clearly having his final breaths deliberately, but what I had in mind in this moment would set him out of his misery in an instant.