Then there were more copies in her way, and she still couldn't get to Kuromaru, and despite the overlay of explosives and the ringing in her ears she could hear his snarl and howl and smell anger and--more than any of that--feel the predator intent in his chakra whirl down and into a tightly coiled defensive loop.

There was pain under that, but it wasn't coming from Kuromaru. Tsume slotted it to the back of her mind, trying to cut through clones--who had enough power to create this many solid clones? What was wrong with that woman?

"Truce, crotchbite!" Tsume bellowed, catching a flash of black plastered against a tree, tail tucked beneath his legs and teeth still bared. His single eye was so wide the white showed around it--something she rarely saw. "Call off your bear-stung clones!"