As Samui and Kurotsuchi bickered among themselves while exchanging blows with their weapons, suddenly an arcing slash of crimson malevolent yoki flew in between them, almost hitting them both.
The two women abruptly hissed as the heat from the slash scorched the surface skin of their hands because of how close to them it was when it passed through, making them reflexively pull them back as they jumped away from the spot, increasing the distance between them and warily turning towards Teresa who was the source of the slash.
"Stop ignoring me!" Teresa melodiously said but for a keen listener, a pout could be heard in her undertone.
Samui and Kurotsuchi exchanged a brief glance, both seeing how freaked out the other was while cradling their hurt hand.
The damage wasn't excessive and as jonins, the girls were used to being in pain but it was still restricting and distracting. Damaged hands were a big problem for ninjas who usually fought with weapons and needed to weave hand signs.
The inwardly sullen Teresa couldn't give a shit about their worries, though.
The only prior indication Samui and Kurotsuchi got was Teresa briefly tightening her hold on her Claymore before she abruptly rushed straight at them.
Fortunately, she didn't use shunshin or something like that so while Teresa's speed was still up there with other jonins enhanced by their chakra, Samui and Kurotsuchi had ample time to react. They decided to fight together... for now, and closed the distance between them so they can have each other's back.
As Teresa finally arrived close enough, her first slash was blocked by Samui's sword, making Samui's feet slide a few inches back on the ground from the sheer strength behind Teresa's swing.
Kurotsuchi was about to capitalize and her hands blurred together...
Only for Tereasa's sword to disappear in the middle of its clash and tug of strength with Samui's blade, making Samui utterly stupefied as Teresa spun on her heel and almost bisected Kurotsuchi who just barely evaded her second swing by jumping back, her hands stopped in the middle of weaving the necessary hand signs for her Jutsu.
Teresa was not done yet, continuing her spin, her sword rushed through the air, and soon enough, Samui had to quickly turn to her left and quickly position her sword to once again block Teresa's Claymore. This time, however, Teresa's sword had enough momentum behind it that Samui was sent flying back and then rolling a few times before she finally managed to regain control and flip herself back onto her feet, sliding to a halt.
Samui's eyes were wide with a smidge of fear as she stared at the deceivingly thin and obviously malnourished woman that blew her away with a sword swing. Gulping, Samui pushed some of her lightning chakra into her blade.
At first, she didn't want to go seriously against Teresa. The woman looked like she would keel over soon. Pale, thin, slightly sunken cheeks, unnatural pale hair that seemingly lost its coloration...
But apparently, she had no other choice.
While Samui was dealing with her troubles, Teresa no longer paid her much attention. The second she sent the Kumo woman flying, Teresa turned on her heel and gave chase to Kurotsuchi.
Unlike Samui, Kurotsuchi showed herself capable of using a large area of effect and ranged techniques, and Teresa's instincts screamed at her to not let her, as Rei called it, 'free-cast'.
Seeing Teresa rushing at her, Kurotsuchi snarled and inwardly cursed Samui for her inability to occupy the blond menace for a while longer as she turned around, running away while employing the very limits of her speed. She didn't intend to only run but Kurotsuchi knew she had nothing on Teresa in close combat. She wasn't a taijutsu or bukijutsu expert. She was a ninjutsu fighter and Teresa clearly knew how to interrupt her attempts to use her techniques.
While running, Kurotsuchi tried to weave some hand signs to make the chase harder for Teresa. Kurotsuchi thought playing for time was the best course of action right now. She needed the Kumo cow to make herself useful for once and distract the freakish blonde in order for Kurotsuchi to be able to use her techniques.
A second passed and Kurotsuchi was in the middle of weaving the hand signs for her technique when her instincts warned her, and she ducked her head... only for beads of sweat to appear on her forehead as she frightfully realized Teresa's Claymore had just passed through the spot where her neck was a moment ago.
'How did she catch up with me!?' Kurotsuchi freaked out, kicking the ground under her and using her chakra to leap as far away as possible.
Kurotsuchi was using her chakra to enhance her speed so even if Teresa could match her speed, she should have been unable to catch up!
Unfortunately for Kurotsuchi, Teresa's base speed could match jonin... and while Yoki was shit at complicated techniques like ninjutsu, it had much greater properties for body enhancement.
Teresa didn't chase Kurotsuchi anymore. Her eyes followed the black-haired girl, letting her know that she still had her attention, but instead of rushing at her, Teresa just tilted her head when Kurotsuchi landed several feet away from her.
"What are you doing? You are supposed to fight me, no? Don't run away." Teresa evenly said, genuinely confused.
Rei, Konan, Mei, and Tsunade had never tried to get away from her like this. They just... faced her head-on. So it was a bit weird to her that her new playmate is trying to run.
That made Kurotsuchi pissed, but she could do nothing about it except glare at Teresa. Her eyes suddenly gleamed...
But Teresa took a step to the left, cleanly evading a downward slash from Samui's blade aiming to bisect her as electricity arced behind it.
Teresa looked at the flabbergasted Samui from the corner of her eyes... but then she hopped a bit back, dodging a stone spike that sprang up from the ground beneath her courtesy of Kurotsuchi who clicked her tongue when she realized she missed.
Samui used that time to regain her wits and followed up with her attack, swinging her sword at Teresa. Left, right, stab, feint, stab, left, feint, center, downward slash... Teresa always evaded by the slightest margin to avoid not only the sword but also the lightning chakra coursing from it.
As this was happening, Kurotsuchi was trying to support Samui, throwing Rock Bullets, creating Rock Spikes, and making the terrain uneven in places where she predicted Teresa would dodge.
Slowly but surely, Samui's and Kurotsuchi's teamplay was becoming better and better... but the two women were not happy.
In fact, they were growing frustrated. Despite Kurotsuchi's best efforts, Teresa never... not friggin once!... fell for her traps.
Every time she created a Rock Spike, Teresa would just change the direction of her sidestep or evade it as if she expected it long before the ground beneath her moved.
Every time Kurotsuchi shifted the terrain, Teresa wasn't surprised at all, adjusting instantly despite not even having an entire second for it. Again, as if she freaking knew Kurotsuchi was doing it.
And the Earth Bullets? These weren't even a minor inconvenience to the woman!
Heck, Kurotsuchi was forced to stop using those when Teresa started to giggle as she began to lead the unassuming Samui, using her body as a shield from them.
That earned Kurotsuchi a few quick glares from Samui who was sent tumbling to the ground when her back was painfully impacted by a Rock Bullet.
Fortunately for them, Teresa didn't take the advantage presented to her and just laughed at them in these instances.
Which only made Samui's and Kurotsuchi's pride that much more hurt since the thin woman was no longer even using her sword to attack properly.
It was getting ridiculous.
Not even the best chakra sensors could simply use their sensing abilities to evade Jutsus like this so neither Kurotsuchi nor Samui suspected Teresa of actually sensing their attacks. They thought it was her experience or quick reaction speed, and that's why their attempts at hitting her were futile.
They simply didn't even come close to the right approach in fighting her.
All the people who spent time training, aka playing, with Teresa in the week before the Chunin Exam could only wryly smile at Kurotsuchi's and Samui's attempts, and pity the girls.
Tsunade the chief among them as she knew how frustrating fighting that girl could be. Of course, she had never used her full power since she didn't want to make Teresa into a pancake but she still used S-rank speed, and yet... the malnourished girl whose bones could be seen through her skin actually fucking made even her curse like a sailor at how ridiculously hard it was to land a glancing blow on her!
Just by predicting attacks through sensing the energy movements. It was a frightening skill in which Teresa was inhumanly proficient.
Tsunade surmised that nothing short of catching Teresa off-guard with above Kage-level speed or destroying a large area with insanely powerful ninjutsu could put her down for good.
As for winning against her in a fight where she is focused?
Fat chance average jonins like Samui and Kurotsuchi could do that.