The rest of the Sasuke retrieval team was on their way to catch up to the other sound ninja. They were wondering how Musa was holding up against the one that stayed behind.
The other sound ninja that were in sight saw the other ninja still tailing them.
"Don't they ever give up?!" Tayuya asked in annoyance
"They are quite persistent" Ogron commented
"We need to get rid of them now" Jirobo said
"No, we need to focus on getting Sasuke to lord Orochimaru" Ogron said
Duman then made the decision to stop them.
"Ogron I'll slow them down" Duman said
"Hmm…very well Duman, they're all yours" Ogron said
Duman stopped and faced them.
"One of them stopped again" Shikamaru said
"We'll just take him out!" Naruto said
"Stay on guard everyone, we don't know what kind of abilities this one has" Bloom said
To everyone surprise they saw that the skin on his back was stretching out. What came out of his back was even more shocking, a pair black wings that look like the wings from a crow.
"What the hell?! He grew wings?!" Naruto asked in surprise.
He then grew what looked like sharp bear claws from his fingertips. He then flew at them.
"Heads up, here he comes Chouji said
"We'll stop him! Akamaru!" Kiba said
Akamaru barked in agreement and changed into Kiba. The two of them started spinning.
"Fang over fang"
Duman managed to dodge both of them and launched some feathers at them. They managed to dodge them too.
"Those crow feathers are as sharp as kunai" Flora said
Duman then charged at them again and prepared to swipe at them but Sky managed to stop him in time.
"Gentle fist!"
The gentle fist hit Duman's wrist and knock him off balance but the animal like shinobi landed on the ground safely.
"Well done Sky" Neji said
Duman got up and smirked at them.
"Listen, all of you move ahead now" Sky said
"But Sky" Bloom said
"Remember we're on this mission to bring Sasuke back. I'll hold this guy off as long as I can" Sky said
"Sky, your part of the main branch family, I need to stay behind and fight him not you" Neji said
"I've made up my mind Neji. Besides you're needed more than me so I'll keep him busy" Sky said
Neji looked at him for a moment and finally agreed.
"Very well, Lord Sky. But be careful" Neji said
"Quick let's get going now!" Naruto said
They all left, and Sky stayed behind to face Duman. Of course, the sound ninja tried to stop them all.
"You're not going anywhere!" Duman said
He then unleashed more feathers to attack them.
"Sharp feather shower"
A shower of sharp feathers was aimed at the other ninja, but Sky got in the way.
"8 trigrams wind palm"
A strong wind palm that acted like an air cannon was strong enough to stop every feather that was being aimed at his friends. Duman was shocked to see that his jutsu was completely deflected.
"That Hyuuga isn't half bad" Dumon said
"Heh, not bad brat, but don't forget that I can fly while you can't. I have an advantage over you!" Duman said
He started to fly up and was out of range from Sky's gentle fist.
"You won't be much of a challenge" Duman said
Sky had his Byakugan activated and could see the chakra flow in the wings.
Duman smirked and unleashed a shower of sharp feathers like before he could control the feathers to hit from every angle. He was confident that there was no way that this guy can dodge any of his feathers. He has killed many opponents that specialize in speed with this technique.
Unfortunately for Duman, Sky did have a way to stop the feathers. He didn't need to dodge them at all, he needed to deflect them.
Sky the started to spin and released some chakra from his body.
"8 trigrams: Rotation"
A rotating orb of chakra surrounded Sky and all the feathers were deflected, much to Duman's shock.
"What the hell?! What kind of jutsu was that? He deflected all of my feathers. Even opponents with great defenses have had trouble with this jutsu of mine but he was able to deflect them all. He released some chakra from his body and then started spinning and that's what created that sphere" Duman thought
Duman knew for certain that engaging in close combat against someone like a Hyuuga was a terrible idea. So, he needed to step up his game.
"Wind style: Gale cutter"
A strong gust of wind with hidden blades was released and headed towards the young Hyuuga. He managed to dodge the gust of wind. He then looked to his left and saw that a giant snake was headed towards him. The young Hyuuga managed to knock it away with an air palm.
He looked up and saw Duman diving towards him and spit some sort of webbing at him. Sky managed to cut them with the gentle fist. Duman then spit some purple liquid at him but the Hyuuga managed to dodge that too.
"He has abilities of common animals so this won't be easy. Of course, I'll need to get in close and finish this quickly" Sky thought
Duman was now trying to come up with a strategy to fight this guy.
"Long range attacks is the only thing I can do against this guy. Genjutsu probably won't work on him. That rotation jutsu is trouble and it will block all oncoming attacks from all angles. Of course, there is one angle and that's below him. I'll just force him to use that rotation jutsu again and then strike from below" Duman thought
"Ninja art: Crow feather kunai"
Duman release more sharpened crow feather kunai. Sky knew how to deal with that jutsu.
"Eight trigrams: Rotation"
Sky unleashed the rotation again and blocked the feather attacks.
"Perfect!" Duman thought
Duman then grew a snake tail and sent it underground and Sky was hit from below by it. He was sent flying at least 2 feet.
The Hyuuga managed to get up though.
"Just as I thought. That jutsu of yours only works if you keep spinning. There's a blind spot in that jutsu of yours. You can't block blows from underground and it takes at least a couple of seconds to stop that jutsu of yours. On top of that you can't really move from that one spot while you're using it" Duman said
"He figured the rotation's weakness. That's not good. Now that he knows he'll more than likely use an attack that can only be blocked by the rotation but if I use it he'll attack me from below. Damn it! This isn't good!" Sky thought
Duman then gave the Hyuuga an evil smirk.
"Now that I know about your weakness, I know the perfect way to kill you" Duman said
The sound ninja then made his move.
"Black feather kunai"
"Taking a blow from underground is worth it way more than getting stabbed by those feathers. Plus I have an idea" Sky thought
"Rotation"
Sky used the rotation again and blocked them. Duman then hit him with his tail again and he was sent flying in the air.
"Heh he can't use that jutsu while he's in the air. So, I'll take this time to finish him off" Duman said
The sound ninja sent some more black feather kunai at him.
Sky then saw that Duman was at a diagonal angle and that's what he was hoping for. He gathered up some of his chakra in his right hand.
"Eight trigrams: Vacuum palm"
Sky thrusted his open palm towards the kunai really fast and he did it at the last second so he could get a hit on Duman. The Vacuum palm had a wider range than a regular air palm and he had wind chakra in it which is what made it more powerful.
The vacuum palm blew away the kunai and straight at Duman, who was shocked that his opponent still had a trick up his sleeve. With not time to dodge, he took the full force of his attack and took some serious damage from the attack. The chakra points in his wings were severely damaged and he couldn't fly with them anymore. He crashed to the ground hard.
Sky managed to land safely and looked at his fallen opponent. He then saw that his chakra was going wild and rising.
"What's going on? I hit him with that gentle fist attack at full force" Sky thought
Duman then got up and smirked at his opponent. The sound ninja had his curse mark activated and it was all over his skin.
"I must admit that you got me, kid. It's been quite a long time since I had to activate my curse mark" Duman said
"There's no doubt in my mind that's stronger than before. Not to mention what other kind of jutsu that he has up his sleeve" Sky thought.
"You severed my wings, kids. I'll make you pay for doing that to me" Duman said
Duman then starting to spit some purple liquid at him but the Hyuuga managed to evade his attack and saw that it hit a nearby rock and saw that the rock had melted, and the acid was leaving some smoke in the air.
"Poison acid, I should avoid that at all cost. There's also the that smoke that seeps out after it hits a target. That means that breathing in that stuff would be just as deadly as getting hit by it" Sky thought
"Well looks like I'll have to bring out this creature now" Duman said
The mohawked ninja then bit his thumb to make it bleed and the used a summoning jutsu.
"Summoning jutsu"
What came out was something that Sky wasn't expecting. It was a giant centipede. The Hyuuga's face was visibly shocked.
"W-What in the world?" Sky asked in shock
Duman chuckled.
"Impressive isn't it? This is one of the many creatures that I can summon to this world" Duman said
"He can summon more creatures like that one? This is bad" Sky thought
"I know I can't beat you directly so I'll just drown you in venom. I'll get to watch as you suffer slowly and die" Duman said
The centipede then got on all 42 of its legs and started to charge at Sky with it's venom claws ready to strike Sky.
"No time to dodge, I'll have to blow it away instead" Sky muttered
"Eight trigrams: Typhoon rotation"
Sky merged his wind chakra into his rotation and it created a mighty tornado.
"What?! His Rotation is even stronger than before!" Duman shouted
He was left with no choice but to jump off the massive bug as it was completely sliced apart from the intense technique.
The rotation stopped and Sky jumped up just in time to avoid a blow from Duman, who aimed below.
"Sorry, but that move won't work on me a third time" Sky said
"So it seems, no matter, I have other ways of killing you" Duman said
Duman then used another summoning jutsu and brought forth a giant scorpion.
"Let's see you slice this one apart" Duman said
The scorpion then aimed its tail at him but the Hyuuga managed to dodge it by going to the left. Duman took that time to change his hand into a bear paw and struck him hard since he had no chance to evade or counter. Sky was sent into a tree and coughed up some blood.
The scorpion aimed its tail at him and the Hyuuga managed to recover and dodge it just in time. The giant arachnid then tried to crush him with his giant pincers, but he dodged those too. Dumon took this time to hit him with two daggers shaped like animal teeth.
Sky got up but he was weakened severely.
"Those tooth-like daggers had poison on it and now its in me!" Sky thought as he panted heavily
"Well looks like I finally managed to hit you with some poison and your body should be going numb right about now. You're finished" Duman said
The Scorpion then charged at Sky again. The Hyuuga wasn't out of this fight just yet and managed to dodge a tail swipe. He managed to disable the tail with his gentle fist. He then jumped and hit the scorpion's back with an advanced gentle fist technique.
"Gentle impact"
The attack caused a fatal injury to the arachnid because the technique was designed to send chakra straight through the body.
Sky then sent out an air palm and the air palm divided into multiple air palms.
"Eight trigrams: Air palm barrage"
Duman was hit by it and the damage was more intense than he thought it would be. He got all cut up and was sent through several trees until he found himself slammed into a bigger tree that he couldn't go through.
Sky panted heavily.
He fell to his knees and was coughing. He figured out that the poison was doing it's job and causing some damage to him.
However, Duman wasn't out of this fight yet.
The black markings on his curse mark turned red and started to spread throughout his whole body.
"I never thought a kid like him could push me this far, no matter. I'll make sure that he dies this time" Duman said
Sky then heard some footsteps and looked up to see that Duman was there, but his appearance was completely different from before. His skin was red, and he had two small horns on his head. His pink mohawk was now covering his entire head and now medium back length. His teeth were now sharper, and his nails were longer.
"You really pushed me hard, brat. To think that I would have to go into version 2 just to take you out" Duman said
With his Byakugan, Sky saw that Duman's chakra was even stronger than before.
"You don't look so good kid, could it be from the poison?" Duman asked
Duman then charged and swiped at Sky, leaving claw scratch marks on his chest. The young Hyuuga grunted as he took some damage. He was then kicked to a tree. The upper half of the tree was severed, and Sky was left leaning against its lower half.
Duman then gave Sky an uppercut, jumped and kneed his back causing him to gasp. He then grabbed his shirt and slammed him against another tree.
"Now you know that I'm far more powerful than you" Duman said
Duman then took his left hand.
"I'll make sure that you'll never be able to use gentle fist again. I will sever your arms and leave you here to die.
Sky then took this time and struck Duman in the chest with his right hand, forcing Duman to let him ago and clutch his chest in pain and groan. He glared at him.
"You little brat!" Duman yelled
Sky then got into a familiar position when a Hyuuga was about to use their ultimate jutsu.
"Gentle fist art: 8 trigrams 64 palms"
Sky then proceeded to hit his chakra points.
"Two palms"
"Four palms"
"Eight palms"
"16 palms"
"32 palms"
"64 palms"
Duman sent back and was in a lot of pain.
Sky panted heavily but he saw that he wasn't down yet.
Duman got up and glared at him when he realized that the Hyuuga had weakened him.
"That jutsu really weakened me kid, but too bad for you! I still have chakra!" Duman said
The sound ninja then ran towards him with his claws extended, ready to stab Sky to death.
The Hyuuga could no longer move. He deactivated his Byakugan and closed his eyes, accepting his death.
There was then a clang sound that caught his attention and he didn't feel any more pain than he already did. He opened his eyes and he saw that a blonde girl with a sun staff had blocked Duman's attack. She managed to push him back.
The blonde girl then turned towards Sky.
"You ok, Sky?" The girl asked
Sky looked at her headband and saw that she was from the hidden sand village. He recognized her too. This girl was Stella Dawn. He remembered that she was the one who had lost to Bloom during the chunin exams.
"What are you doing here?" Sky asked
"The fifth Hokage sent us to lend a hand. We accepted this mission as an apology for attacking your village back then" Stella said
Duman was not amused that someone else had intervened. Especially someone who was on his side at one point.
"So a traitor like you shows up to stop me?! I'll make sure that you die along with that Hyuuga there" Duman said
"Stella, he's strong, we need to retreat for now" Sky said
"Runnings not an option. Besides it looks like he's been weakened after fighting you" Stella said
"Ok…just be careful, he uses venom to weaken his opponents. He already got me" Sky said
"Don't worry, Sky, I'll finish him quickly and get you back to the village for treatment" Stella said
Duman heard her say that and growled.
"You really think you'll be able to defeat me?! Forget it brat! I'm on a completely different level than you!" Duman said
Duman decided it was time to use a jutsu that couldn't be avoided so easily.
"Ninja art: Toxic gas"
A wide range of purple smoke came out of his mouth and was headed towards them.
Stella pumped chakra in her staff and released a jutsu.
"Wind style: Solar storm"
A wide ranged wind jutsu was released and it was like a hurricane. Duman saw that this was a jutsu that he wouldn't be able to avoid. He changed his hands into bear claws and lifted up part of the ground to block it. However, that proves to be futile since the giant rock he lifted broke apart easily and he was sent flying back at least 2 meters.
Sky was amazed at how strong her jutsu was. It was probably even more powerful that some of the wind style jutsu that he has in his arsenal. He recognized that she was probably a better wind style user than he was.
Duman struggled to get up but he managed to get back up.
As soon as he did get up, he saw that Stella was above him with her staff ready to smack him down. He used left hand to block it.
"You're done for" Duman said
Duman's right arm was surrounded in a purple aura.
"Poison slam"
His arm slammed against her stomach and she was sent into a tree. She saw that the midsection of her stomach was bare. Her stomach was purple and it was spreading throughout her body.
"Thanks to my curse mark power. I can now poison people simply by touching them" Duman said with a smirk
Stella smirked.
"Good to know" Stella replied
Stella's entire body changed color and was now a very light brown and it dissolved. Duman was taken aback.
"A sand clone?!" Duman asked in shock.
Stella was still in the same spot where she was guarding Sky. She then brought some sand upwards and they took a hold of Duman's ankles.
"Wind style: Dust devil"
A tornado of sand was now surrounding Duman and sand that was holding on to him started to pull him down.
"She changed her sand into quicksand! I can't move!" Duman thought
Stella was going to end this fight now.
"Fire style: Blazing sun"
A giant fireball shaped like the sun was unleashed from her staff and hurled towards her opponent. Duman was stuck and couldn't move. Her jutsu collided and Duman was heard screaming in agony before he stopped.
Duman was seen out of his curse mark state and was completely burned. Stella's jutsu had killed him.
Stella then helped Sky up and took him back to the village where he could get treatment.