Ch406. The showdown of giants

As Temari started to focus on using her next Jutsu, the sandstorm in the arena suddenly halted because the sand in the air started to gather into three massive wriggling tendrils surrounding Karin. Even the ground level started somewhat decreasing as the sand from there also quickly crawled towards the base of the tendrils, causing the ground to literally move.

Karin was delighted Temari stopped the sandstorm as at least her vision was recovered and her chakra sensing was starting to be useful again but she also realized these tendrils were a preparation for a huge attack. These tendrils were as high and thick as her chakra armor and she couldn't move the armor yet. She knew there was a big chance that demolishing them would start a new sandstorm but Karin didn't really have any other option right now.

That's why with massive disgruntlement, Karin controlled her crimson chakra chain to smash the tendril to her right.

The tendril of sand burst like water from an abruptly shattered glass bottle, sand flying everywhere, filling the arena again.

Karin didn't wait for her chain and directly punched the second tendril with her armor's free hand, bursting it into massive streams of falling sand too. By the time her punch was finished, her armor's other arm already controlled the momentum of the chakra chain, ready to swing it once more.

But before she could destroy the last tendril, Karin became bewildered as the first one she destroyed started to quickly reform, sand being sucked into it from the surroundings as if it was a vacuum cleaner.

Her momentary hesitation cost her a few seconds and when she finally got past her shock, the second tendril was already halfway finished reforming.

Karin understood that destroying the tendrils would not work and her eyes started to look for Temari. If attacking the Jutsu did not work, then attacking the user was the only option.

That was easier said than done however as even though Karin was one of the best sensors on the continent and she tried her utmost best to locate Temari, she still had a hard time.

Unfortunately for her, Temari was already done with her preparation and gathered enough sand for the next part of her Jutsu.

The outer layer of three massive spinning sand tendrils burst outwardly, revealing three massive giants made of sand, every single one of them matching her armor's torso in size.

Unlike Karin's chakra armor, these giants were not made of raw chakra, hence, Temari could make multiples with much less chakra cost than Karin had to spend only for the torso.

The arena was becoming cramped since the gigantic constructs' eye level reached almost the audience area. Considering how high this area was placed, it was a sight to behold.

The three sand giants roared and burst into action, rushing at Karin with the intent to smack the hell out of her chakra construct.

Karin's eyes widened as she scrambled to whip her chain at the one on the right, hitting him in the chest, and much to her shock, she did destroy the giant but in just a moment it was once again in one piece, raring to rush at her again.

The problem was, it took much more force than she planned for.

Karin couldn't focus only on the giant on the right, however. Two more were trying to rush at her.

She stopped the one on the left of her by grabbing him around his torso with her construct's free hand, holding the giant back as it uselessly flailed its arms around and occasionally smashing them against the surface of her chakra armor's arm.

Alas, the giants in their full-size being as big as the torso of her armor meant she had much longer reach with the arms of her armor so the trapped sand giant couldn't reach her with its arms

The problem was the third sand giant, the one in front of her. Karin's armor ran out of hands. She first planned to smash the one on her right with her chain and then swing her chain at the one in front of her but the surprising density of the giants prevented that. When her chain impacted the first giant, it didn't go clean through him as it should but instead, the chain lost its velocity and fell to the ground.

Gritting her teeth, Karin let go of the chain and it instantly started to dissipate as most of the chakra forming it started returning to Karin.

With this new influx of chakra, a new arm sprouted from the armor's chest just as the giant in front of it was about to reach it. The arm grabbed the giant by its head and forced it down, plunging it to the ground, splattering it with sand as the head burst like a watermelon. Not done yet, the arm then balled its hand into a fist before starting to smash the giant's body into a pulp, not stopping even when it started to reform again and again and... again.

Karin hoped the reforming cost Temari a lot of chakra because of how fast it was.

By the time she stopped the two giants, the one on her right was almost upon her and she tried to grab it with her right hand that no longer held a chain but the giant ducked under it, leaping at Karin's torso and embracing it, most likely trying to tackle her to the ground.

Karin's chakra armor was however much denser and heavier than the sand giant. It didn't budge even an inch.

Karin reached with her armor's right hand again, grabbing the sand giant, and tried to pry him off of her torso but his sand arms fused together behind her back and it refused to let go, squeezing her chakra armor with the ring of sand its arms and chest created.

From an outside perspective, it looked as if the giants were children manhandled by an adult but... the more experienced shinobi knew that all Jutsu cost chakra. It wasn't as simple as it seemed.

And indeed, sweat was running down Karin's forehead as chakra was being sucked out of her system in large amounts. Holding three struggling sand giants down was no small feat. Especially the one trying to squeeze her armor's torso was problematic as creating counter-pressure with chakra took a lot out of her.

'So this is her plan, huh? Tire me to death?' Karin thought while focusing on regulating her breathing. 'Ha! She must have never faced an Uzumaki before. I am not losing an endurance fight, 'tteba!'

The fight continued and the giants struggled to escape Karin's armor's hold while trying to sneak an attack or two in while Karin had problems containing all three of them. Splitting her focus three-way was quite a problem. So much so, she even dropped her attempts to locate Temari with her chakra sensing.

Karin realized her mistake when the sand underneath the chakra armor suddenly sprang up, wrapping itself around her armor, trying to pull it down into the massive amount of quicksand that 'somehow' appeared under it.

Karin tried to pull her armor up by completely ignoring the sand giants and using her armor's three hands to support her armor's massive frame but even the hands started to sink, only quickening the process of her being dragged down.

While Karin was preoccupied with the three sand giants, Temari had time to leisurely set up her next move so she made it a massive one.

She ground the ground underneath the arena into more sand before turning it into quicksand. The chakra armor was massive and provided extreme protection, that much was true. Even S-rank Jutsu would probably not be enough to penetrate it. But it was also heavy and big, but worse of all, immovable at this stage.

It would have been ever so easy to pull it underground and then put pressure on it until Karin's chakra would not be able to support it.

Especially with quicksand that pulled it down the more it struggled.

When Karin's massive chakra armor completely disappeared into the quicksand, leaving only a calm surface behind, Temari, who was crouching upside down on the 'ceiling' of the chakra barrier, directly above the place where Karin's armor was sucked underground, took a deep calming breath. Her chakra reserves suffered quite a bit to pull this off but it was worth it.

This was definitely the end.