Magire’s expression did not change in the slightest after Kido disappeared into the forest at Sakura’s invitation.
“I have to ask at least,” Sai said. “If you’re interested in surrendering, we won’t attack.”
Magire adjusted the positioning of his monocle and cocked his head slightly to one side. “I do not understand the meaning of what you say. I have no intention of surrendering, nor do I have any need to. I will defeat you both and go to join forces with Master Kido. Or perhaps before that, Master Kido will secure that woman and return here. Either way, you will be defeated here. That is all.” He moved both hands behind his back.
When they appeared again, each held several kunai.
“What’s with the kunai?” Ino’s face was doubtful.
Sai had never seen any like them either. The part of the blade that was normally iron was instead a glass container that tapered at the tip. Inside, some kind of colored liquid splashed about. He didn’t have to test it to know it was probably poison.
Magire launched the kunai.
Sai and Ino split, leaping off to the left and right. The glass kunai all missed them, but Magire quickly reached around behind him and pulled out several more. He likely had any number of these hidden weapons tucked away on his body.
Sai and Ino kept moving to keep from being easy targets, but Magire also kept moving, tossing the kunai from a variety of angles. Sometimes, he deliberately aimed above their heads, trying to use the travel time to get a hit.
Ino fell into a somersault and wove signs as she got back to her feet.
I’m going to try going in, she signaled Sai with her eyes. She was going to attempt Mind Transmission.
While Ino was readying her jutsu, Sai moved around to draw Magire’s eyes away.
But the jutsu failed. Apparently repelled by Magire, Ino scowled and quickly released her signs.
Sai spread out his scroll and let his brush race across it.
Art of Cartoon Beast Mimicry! Fujin! Raijin!
Two massive images, nearly twenty meters tall, stood up. The long shadows they cast plunged the area into darkness.
“You’re already bringing them out?!” Ino cried, running over to Sai’s side.
“This isn’t the time to be stingy,” Sai said. “We have to finish this quickly and get to Sakura.”
Fujin raised its arm and brought an enormous fist down toward Magire.
Magire leapt backward to dodge the blow heading straight for him. But Raijin was there at the ready, and its foot came own on Magire’s head. The earth rumbled, and clouds of dust rose up.
There’s no way he could have dodged that, Sai thought.
The dust settled soon enough, and Raijin slowly lifted its foot. Or rather, Raijin wasn’t lifting its foot—it was being pushed up from below.
“What the….” Ino’s voice slipped out.
Holding Raijin’s foot up by one hand was Magire. He had apparently taken the Tailed Beast drug; he was cloaked in a light purple chakra.
With a flick of Magire’s wrist, Raijin lost its balance and toppled over. Sai and Ino flew backward, just barely managing to avoid being crushed in clouds of dirt and debris as the ground rumbled heavily beneath them.
Magire jumped up onto the chest of the fallen Raijin. There, for the first time, they got a good look at him.
At some point he had lost the monocle, and he had also tossed away the white robe. His hair stood on end. His intellectual appearance was now something fiendish. And the tails—he had six of them. All thick, all a meter or longer.
Magire raised those six tails and thrust them into Raijin’s chest.
A second later, Raijin’s body exploded and turned into a spray of black ink.
“For me as well,” Magire said, dropping back down to the ground. “This is not the time to withhold anything. That is all.” He sent several of the sharply tapered tails snaking out.
His target was Ino. She jumped in response, but the tails changed trajectory midway to chase after her.
Just as one looked about to reach her, Fujin stepped in and acted as her shield.
The tail pierced Fujin’s foot, and the giant turned to ink, almost bouncing back from the tail.
Just like Raijin before, rather than the enormous painted warrior turning back to ink because it had been stabbed, it seemed like the tail had injected something, some kind of explosive chakra, causing the giant to explode.
The six tails sallied forth, still targeting the two young ninja.
As if the tails weren’t enough, Magire still hurled poison-filled kunai from time to time. It was all Sai and Ino could do to keep avoiding the onslaught of attacks; they had no chance to launch their own offensive.
Sai seized hold of the merest breathing space between kunai and tails and tossed a single kunai of his own with everything he had. But Magire deftly evaded the blade headed for his collarbone.
“Sai!”
Suddenly, Ino had her arms around him, and they were tumbling to the ground together.
And then a tail shot up with incredible force from the place where Sai had been standing. Ino had detected it burrowing along to Sai underground.
“Sorry,” Sai said.
Ino shook her head as if to say not to worry about it.
“This is bad, huh? We don’t do something, it’s going to keep getting worse too,” Sai said, as Magire turned the tips of his tails toward them. Balls of light shot out at them.
They each dove to one side, and the balls slammed into the ground and exploded.
They didn’t flow from the tails or come forth in some kind of organic way. It was more like the tails were shooting the balls like bullets.
So bring a bird out and attack from above? Sai glanced thoughtfully up at the sky.
“Sai.” Ino reached out to him with her Mind Transmission. “There’s a strategy I want to try.”
“Strategy?”
“I don’t know how well it’ll work, and there’s a part that kind of seems suicidal, but…”
They continued to speak as they dodged Magire’s attacks.
“…Got it. Let’s try it.” Sai nodded once Ino was finished explaining.
They exchanged a look and leapt into action simultaneously, throwing smoke bombs down onto the ground. A thick curtain of smoke rose up to hide them.
“This is a waste of your time!” Magire shouted. “That is all!” He brandished his six tails and whipped them at the smoke. The curtain dissipated, and the blindfold effect was gone.
Before the smoke was entirely cleared away, three ink tigers came forward to attack Magire head-on.