Chapter 233 233: Getting Pegged by an Old (wo)Man (Family Edition)

Ren and Tsunade finally came to a stop just outside the Senju clan compound, both of them turning to face each other dramatically, like two legendary heroes about to duel under the afternoon sun. Tsunade struck a confident pose, arms crossed and chin tilted slightly up. "I see you finally got tired and ran back home to call on your elders," she said mockingly. "Too bad for you, you don't have any." Ren gave her a weird look but didn't miss a beat. With equal flair, he mirrored her posture. "Hmph. I could run around my whole life and still not get tired. But what about you? Do you even have that many years left to keep chasing me around?" 'You're old.' That was all Tsunade got from that statement, and her eye twitched violently. With a smirk, she shot back, "How far can those short, tiny legs of yours really carry you?" 'You're short.' That was all Ren could extract from her jab. His eye twitched too, and he returned her glare in silence. From the side, Shizune observed the bizarre standoff with a sigh. She had guessed they'd eventually end up back at the compound, so she had been waiting here for some time. Now, watching the awkwardly heroic poses and wordless staring contest, her thoughts were blunt. 'If they want to fight, why don't they just do it already instead of wasting time?' She wasn't wrong. Tsunade had been itching to test Ren's strength after hearing more than enough about his reputation lately. And Ren, stuck in a week of political standoffs and verbal skirmishes, was starving for some physical action. This was the perfect excuse for both of them. Their postures tensed and no more words were exchanged. Then without wasting another second they vanished from their spots, chakra bursting underfoot, and collided in mid-air with a resounding thud as both of their fists met, but both were blocked evenly. A second later, the sky above the Senju compound erupted with the sound of fierce, rapid-fire taijutsu. Ren and Tsunade traded blows in a blur, striking, blocking, feinting, neither holding back, both grinning in excitement. They landed hard, dust scattering beneath their feet, and moved instantly. Ren stepped in with a low hook, Tsunade blocked with her forearm, countered with a straight knee. He caught it with both hands, pivoted, and tried to sweep her other leg. She jumped, twisted mid-air, and brought her elbow down. He ducked and slipped left, his foot dragging a groove in the dirt. They reset without a breath. Tsunade threw a tight combo, jab, cross, elbow, low kick. Ren weaved under the first two, checked the elbow with his shoulder, and snapped a kick into her ribs. She grunted, caught his leg, swung him sideways into the torii gate. He landed feet-first, launched off it, and shoulder-checked her backward. She slid, flipped into a crouch, lunged forward again. Their fists clashed mid-motion, then again, then again, bones thudding against reinforced muscle, speed over power and grit over flash. Ren ducked under a wild swing, went for her ribs again, got his wrist trapped. Tsunade yanked him close, headbutted him, then tried to slam him into the ground. He planted his knee between them, rolled with the momentum, twisted free mid-fall, and came up swinging. Tsunade blocked, caught one hit on her palm, twisted his arm, but he spun through it, used the torque to land a sharp elbow to her shoulder. She flinched but came back with a brutal front kick, he blocked with both arms, slid back five feet, then dashed forward again. They met in the center in a sequence of punch, block, kick, check, elbow, dodge, knee, step-in throw. Neither gained ground but dust rose and fell with every impact. Their movements got sharper and tighter with no wasted motion. Just two fighters locked in rhythm, feet digging into old Senju soil. The two of them paused, standing opposite each other on the cracked courtyard floor. Dust drifted lazily in the air around them, but neither looked the least bit tired. In fact, they looked the opposite, incredibily excited. Ren stretched his shoulders, rolling his neck with a loose smile. "I don't even remember the last time I fought using just basic taijutsu. No chakra tricks, no flashy moves, just fists. It's fun." Tsunade answered with a similar smile as she began cracking her knuckles and neck. "Taijutsu is the foundation of a shinobi. The first thing they learn, and the first thing they forget. Academy-level drills includes offense, defense, counter and everything else comes from there and if you don't brush up on the basics, you rot." She smiled sweetly then. "So... should we amp this up?" Before Ren could answer, Tsunade was already airborne above him, her body flipping, left leg raised over her head in a clean arc. [Heavenly Kick of Pain.] Ren looked up with a mix of alarm and excitement. "You madwoman! Do you know how close this is to the village gates?!" Still, his grin didn't waver. He dropped into a wide horse stance, driving chakra into his legs, fixing himself into the cracked ground. His hands spread apart, palms open as he braced for impact. Tsunade's heel came down like a falling hammer. Ren caught it clean above his head. The force thundered through his arms and down into the ground. For a second, there was silence. Then the earth shattered beneath his feet, fractures webbing out like a broken mirror as he sank into a shallow crater, knees bending under the pressure. But he didn't yield. Without a second thought, he opened the first gate. Then another, then two more up to the Fourth Gate. His chakra surged outward like a dense wave. However there was not even a hint of uncontrollable chakra while using the fourth gate. In his fight with Kisame, he had gotten a lot of practice of using the Chakra Stability with the Fourth and even the Fifth gate, so right now he didn't even bother using the modified version and just used the original version. With a grunt, Ren locked his grip around Tsunade's leg, twisted, and spun. He swung her around like a hammer and slammed her straight down into the ground behind him, sending up a shockwave as her body hit the earth. Tsunade's back hit the stone with a heavy crack, but her eyes were wide and wild, not in pain, but exhilaration. Ren's feet moved before the dust had even settled. He lunged at Tsunade, still grounded in the crater. She twisted up to meet him, arms raised to block. His fist hit her forearms twice in a row, third was a knee, aimed at her ribs. She rolled with it, letting the force carry her, then slammed a heel into his side mid-spin. Ren grunted, caught the leg mid-air, and shoved her backward across the courtyard. She landed low, skidding to a stop, fists already cocked. Ren was on her again. A sharp jab from him. A palm block from her. Then a cross-hook into her shoulder. She turned her body into the blow, stepped into his guard, and uppercut his chin. His head snapped back, but his foot lashed out instantly, as he shot a heel to her thigh. Tsunade jumped, using the blow to flip backward, landing on the torii gate before launching off it. She came in like a missile. Ren ducked as her fist grazed his hair. He twisted around and smashed his elbow into her back mid-air, but she caught herself, one hand to the ground, and rotated to kick him in the face. He raised an arm, blocked, and slid backward with the momentum, his sandals digging twin lines into the courtyard floor. However, the two of them didn't slow down in the slightest. Tsunade dashed in low this time, faking a punch and then using the motion to hammer her shoulder into his gut. He flew back, but caught his balance mid-slide. Chakra roared around him as he darted forward in a blur and punched her straight in the collarbone. The shock rolled through her, but she clenched her jaw and responded with a short-range hook to his jaw, followed by a two-fisted overhead slam. He crossed his arms to guard, still slid back. She pressed forward. Left jab, right hook, then a feint and an elbow to the gut. He blocked most, slipped some, countered a few. Then he ducked under her next swing, stepped into her guard, and unloaded four rapid strikes into her stomach, ribs, shoulder, and thigh. The blows were clean and tight. But Tsunade didn't buckle. Her hand lashed up and caught his wrist mid-motion. "Gotcha," she muttered. Then she pulled. Ren was yanked off the ground and into a brutal knee to the chest. He wheezed once, but his other hand struck out with an open palm to her sternum and blasted her back with a focused burst of chakra. She flew five meters before crashing inside the compound and Ren followed. She came out of the earth, coughing dust but swinging. Her fist met his forearm mid-strike. Their feet shifted. Ren ducked low and shoulder-checked her into the ground again. She hit hard but twisted around and pulled him down with her. They rolled once. Then twice. Tsunade threw him off mid-roll and kipped up. Ren skidded on one knee and immediately pushed off again, fists raised. They met mid-courtyard again. A left from her demanded a right from him. Tsunade ducked and drove her fist into his side with a crack. Ren grunted and took it, then uppercut her jaw with his full strength. Her head jerked. Blood from a split lip. She responded by planting her foot and slamming a full-power right straight into his chest. The impact echoed through the entire courtyard. Ren flew back ten meters before catching himself in a low crouch. He grinned, half-winded, blood dripping from his nose and Tsunade wiped the blood from her mouth too but both still took a step forward. ~ Tsunade crashed into the ground hard, but rolled back up without pause, chakra flaring again around her fists. Ren didn't follow up, he landed, released the fourth gate with a short breath, and immediately shifted focus inward. Chakra pooled in his left forearm first. The moment Tsunade charged in again with a shoulder slam, he met her with a rising guard. Her fist slammed against his forearm, but instead of being pushed back, Ren's stance held. Dust kicked up but his arm had turned dull, matte, slightly cracked looking like a stone. He ducked under the next swing and pushed chakra into his left shoulder. Tsunade twisted mid-motion and hammered him with a backhand strike. His partially hardened shoulder tanked the blow, but his feet skidded back across the dirt. [Steel Knuckle Drive] Tsunade lunged at him again as Ren braced with his right elbow, hardened it mid-clash, and caught her hook. The force still knocked him back, but his stance held. He twisted, aimed a low kick at her ankle. She jumped over it and dropped her heel. He stepped aside barely and reinforced both knees as she spun into a side kick. Her heel connected with his shin, and the ground beneath him cracked again, but his balance stayed. He clenched his fist, dashed in, and struck with a short jab. She caught it easily, redirected it, and punished him with a rising palm. Ren's head snapped back, blood flicking from his lip but he didn't fall. His neck and jaw had been hardened just in time and Tsunade's eyes narrowed slightly as he assessed the new thing Ren was showing her. He pushed forward again. One strike, two strikes, then a flurry of palm thrusts. Tsunade weaved through them, blocked most, absorbed the rest. Her hand lit with chakra as she slammed her palm into his gut. [Organ Displacer.] His body folded, but not fully as his midsection had already turned dense with stone-flesh. He dropped to one knee but hooked her ankle immediately and yanked causing Tsunade to loose footing. Ren lunged upward, elbow first but she caught it and grunted as the hardened tip scraped her shoulder, and retaliated with a heavy downward chop. " [Spinal Slam.] He twisted mid-air and let it crash into his now-hardened upper back. The hit sent him face-first into the dirt. He dug his fingers in and pushed himself up even as one of his eye was swollen and blood dripping from his nose. With another surge of chakra his ribs, hips, and thighs all hardened. He rushed again with a left punch, right hook and a spinning kick all at once but all his movements were clean and calculated, he felt slightly heavier, slightly slower in transitions, but with added weight behind every hit he would gain advantage soon. Tsunade blocked most, but the hardened limbs forced her to shift footing more than before. She dropped low and went for a double palm thrust. [Chest Crusher.] Ren hardened his sternum just in time as the hit echoed, thudding through his core. His feet lifted, but he flipped mid-air and landed on all fours, chakra surging through his legs. He launched forward again. His right hand met her forearm in a clash. Hardened fingers clenched her wrist, twisting. She retaliated with a kick to his side. Another chunk of stone formed across his ribs, dampening the hit. He responded with a low sweep but she jumped. He followed with a rising uppercut and it grazed her chin. She blinked. Then stepped forward with a brutal hammerfist. [Breaker's Judgement.] It cracked into his shoulder. He dropped to one knee. His left leg hardened. He spun, used it like a battering ram and clipped her side. She skidded back. Dust kicked up. By now, his entire upper body was covered in stone-hard muscle. Arms, chest, shoulders and even half his legs. His breathing was deep and steady with no shakiness or any sign of exhaustion. He adjusted his stance. He hardened his right leg, followed by his left, then his back, neck, and finally his head. The stone-like flesh wrapped fully around him, jagged and rough like natural armor. His hair lifted slightly from the chakra output, his body radiating with dense presence. He cracked his neck once and the earth below cracked as he launched forward once again. ~~~~~ {Some action after so long keeps the mind fresh.} {If you want, you can support me on pat-reon} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n } {You know what else} {280 Stones = Extra chapter} {STONES!!!!}