Naruto: The Weapon Master
Chapter 35: Little Time for Games
The remaining members of the Retrieval Team were leaping through the trees as fast as they could to catch up to the Sound Ninjas and the captured Sasuke after leaving Chouji behind to face Jirobo and were contacted of his success at defeating him but not in any condition to catch up and help them further. Akamaru suddenly sniffed something and barked at Kiba who nodded in response.
"Hey guys, we're getting close," Kiba alerted the group.
Neji activated his Byakugan and scouted to seek out any oddities "…that's strange, it's still been quite a long time and yet we haven't encountered any traps. What's your assessment about this Shikamaru?"
"It looks to me like we've been underestimated, they're rather cocky. They think we're all dead by now and that the big guy is the only one catching up to them, so they don't need to set a trap for their own man," said Shikamaru.
"Those idiots, have they seriously forgotten that it was Konoha that drove back two villages during the Chuunin exams and Orochimaru being all banged up as he is right now?" said Naruto with a look of annoyance.
"I'll have to agree with you Naruto, I find it rather insulting but we use their arrogance to our advantage," said Neji.
"You're right, which is why I've come up with a plan," said Shikamaru.
"We're all ears," said Kiba.
The Sound ninjas were making their way across the trees towards the border, partially wondering what was taking one of them so long to catch up with them.
"Jirobo is pretty late isn't he?" asked Sakon.
"He was, but he just arrived," said Kidomaru before looking back to see said person finally show up and was right behind them.
"It's about time, what took you so long?" asked Sakon.
"Sorry, it took longer than I thought to eat those losers' chakra," said Jirobo.
Tayuya scowled in response "You'd better listen up fatass, you're the one supposed to carry the coffin so get on with it already!"
Jirobo nodded quietly in affirmation "Okay,"
The group were silent until Kidomaru spoke up "…You seem to be awfully quiet today,"
"So, what's it to you?" asked Jirobo.
Kidomaru landed on a tree branch and turned to face him "It means that I won't be handing the coffin over since you're not the real Jirobo!" he threw the coffin over to Tayuya "Let me handle this one fellas, I'll catch up once I'm done here,"
Tayuya and Sakon nodded in affirmation before taking off once more, Jirobo drew out a kunai and rushed in to attack but Kidomaru used a pair of his six arms to block the attack. Jirobo puffed into smoke to reveal Shikamaru being the impersonator.
"How did you know?" asked Shikamaru.
"The real Jirobo is always scolding Tayuya for having a potty mouth,"
"Well, can't blame me for trying," Shikamaru lashed out with a kick but Kidomaru blocked it as well before going for a counter.
"Ninja art: Spiderweb Net!" Kidomaru's cheeks bulged before he spat out a web which knocked Shikamaru back and struck him to a tree trunk. He was smirking when he sensed something approaching from behind and turned to see Naruto lunging at him with a fist reared back along with some of his shadow clones.
"Don't get so cocky, buddy!" said Naruto, Kidomaru leapt off the tree branch with Naruto in pursuit as he spewed a large ball of spider silk into his hands and molded it "Ninja Art: Spiral Spiderweb!" he spread the ball of thread into a wide area, capturing Naruto in his web. Kidomaru noted something heading his way and looked back to see two mini tornadoes rushing in from behind
"Man Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang over Fang!" Kiba yelled out as they drew closer to attack their target, Kidomaru suddenly flexed his six arms to swing of barely visible web threads and effectively evaded the attack for the duo to land on separate tree branches "Dammit, we won't let you get away!"
Kidomaru sneered at them while hanging upside down from his threads "Took the words right out of my mouth, I suggest you check where you're standing,"
Kiba looked down to see that his feet are webbed to the tree branch and held in place with the same going for the transformed Akamaru "You coward!"
Kidomaru stared at them in arrogance while Neji swooped in from behind to attack but the Sound nin had sensed his approach and released his hold on his threads to drop down to a branch below to dodge before quickly ensnaring in a web as well.
"Darn it, he managed to get us all even we went according to the plan," thought Shikamaru with gritted teeth.
"Let's see how'd you enjoy being inside an airtight cocoon," Kidomaru proceeded to wrap Neji up into a webbed cocoon before turning to the others "I suggest you don't bother breaking out of the threads, they're so powerful that even two elephants can't tear it apart," he turned to Naruto with a smirk "And now to have some fun," his cheeks bulged and chewed a few times before reaching into it with his arms and pulling out six thick strands of golden thread "Ninja Art: Sticky Spider Thread!"
"That's a different color from the ones before, what's he up to?" thought Shikamaru he watched the spiderlike ninja mold them into spiky boomerangs and saw that they were hardening to a metallic form "And they're solidifying,"
"Now that I'm all set, I'm going to play a little game which involves finding out which is the real one," said Kidomaru, he began throwing the boomerangs at each with the clones being forcefully dispelled and the others becoming more worried as the numbers reduced till there was one remaining "Looks like you're a very lucky guy, too bad your luck's run out with this!" he threw the last one at Naruto for it to stab him "Game over!"
Suddenly Naruto went up in a puff of smoke and revealed a wooden log in his place, Kidomaru barely had a nanosecond to be surprised when something powerfully impacted his chin and launched him into the air, he painfully opened an eye to see Naruto in front with blue sparkles around him as the blonde ninja who delivered a barrage of rapid punches to the face then followed up with an elbow strike to the stomach before sending him flying to slam into a tree trunk with his knee.
Kidomaru got to his feet and glared at Naruto albeit ignoring the pain "How the heck did he escape from my web? It should have been impossible,"
"Naruto over here!" a voice called out, they turned to see Neji along with Kiba and Shikamaru free from their webs as well before Naruto teleported over to them.
"You too, you were supposed to be trapped in the cocoon!"
"Your webs have a chakra base and chakra-built substances don't stand a chance against my Gentle Fist, I think I'm the only one who can handle him. You guys can go on ahead while I deal with him," said Neji.
"You sure about this? This guy's no doubt stronger than the last one," Kiba pointed out, Akamaru had jumped into his jacket while shivering at the level of power that the Sound Nin was emanating.
"We're going to have to go one on one for a chance of completing this mission, is that not what you said Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru frowned before responding "…yeah, we all agreed on that,"
"Not to mention that all of us remaining here would mean Sasuke would be taken further away from us. We're here to rescue our fellow Leaf shinobi, we cannot let Sasuke fall into the hands of evil like Orochimaru for it is not our way. What's more…," Neji turned towards Naruto who stared back at him before smiling a bit "Naruto, sometimes your eyes are better than mine. Now get going!"
"…Chouji beat his guy, so I expect you to walk all over this one," said Naruto after a moment of silence.
"Alright then, let's get moving," said Shikamaru.
"You better beat this clown," said Kiba with Akamaru barking in agreement before they all resumed the pursuit with Neji staying behind.
Kidomaru formed another ball of thread and spat into his right hands "I'm not letting you get away!" he flung out three webs with sharp golden points towards Naruto and the others whilst immobilizing Neji, however the Hyuuga released chakra through his hands and shredded the webs to pieces and letting them continue onwards.
"If you wish to go after them, then you will have to go through me," said Neji with his Byakugan active.
"That's fine by me, plus I can tell that you're the strongest out of the group which means I get to have more fun. I'm actually itching to play with you but I'll need to do so slowly otherwise the game won't be as much fun.
"…," Neji silently took his stance and was at the ready.
"The game is I kill you within three minutes or less," Kidomaru formed another ball of spider silk in his mouth and molded it "Ninja Art: Spiral Web Bullet!"
Kidomaru spat out a spiderweb net towards Neji who dodged the first and took cover behind a tree and repositioned himself on another branch, he took to using the Gentle Fist to shred through the incoming web projectiles which seemed to work well but the rate of fire caught him off guard and was pinned to a tree trunk with additional webs restraining his hands.
"Lord Orochimaru told me about you and your clan, so taking care of those annoying hands of yours would prevent you from cutting through my silk. It's been a minute and I'm already tired of playing with you since I've figured you all out," Kidomaru prepared another attack as Neji simply remained silent
"Now die, Sticky Spider Thread!" he spat out a long spike towards his target when suddenly the web holding Neji suddenly shredded in pieces around his body without the use of his hands, he moved out of the way for the spike to hit the tree and ran along it to land right in front of the stunned Sound Nin.
"I guess your master left out a few details, the hands are not the only place to release chakra for the Gentle Fist as I can do so from the chakra points throughout my body. And now it is game over like you would say, "Gentle Fist art: Eight Trigrams 64 palms,"
Kidomaru bit away the thread and attempted to retreat but Neji refuted the attempt as he dashed forward and struck "2 palms!" then he proceeded with the assault.
"4 palms!"
"8 palms!"
"16 palms!"
"32 palms!"
"64 palms!"
The power of the strikes was to the point that it sent Kidomaru smashing through a tree trunk and plummeting to the ground below with Neji following after him, he thought it was over with that attack but frowned upon seeing his opponent rise to his feet with the dust cloud clearing to reveal a layer of golden metal on Kidomaru's body before breaking into pieces.
"That was a close call, one hit from you would have sent my chakra network into a frenzy. You certainly keep me on my toes," said Kidomaru with a smirk.
"Where does that material come from?" asked Neji sternly.
"Curious aren't you? My sticky spider thread is actually a special type of metal that hardens the moment it leaves my body and is highly impervious to chakra. Besides secreting from my mouth like you saw before, I can also do so through the sweat glands on my skin,"
"Then it's no wonder why my attacks didn't truly connect, I'll need to find a way to get around it," thought Neji then he noticed that Kidomaru was gone without so much as a sound from him "Now where has he gone to?"
Kidomaru had hidden himself in the foliage away from his target "The spider net won't work against him and engaging in close combat is practically walking to my death, it's best that I attack from a distance,"
Neji stood waiting for any sign of movement when he detected something from above and dashed to the side in time to evade a kunai which had an explosive tag attached, he prepared to run but noted that the tag didn't ignite immediately before coming to a disturbing conclusion "It's a ploy!" he suddenly detected a barrage of kunai from all directions and quickly went into a defense "Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Neji started spinning on his axis while releasing chakra from his body to form a spinning dome, deflecting all of the kunai.
"What the heck, how did he know? Does he have eyes at the back of his head?!" thought Kidomaru in disbelief, he quickly ducked his head when Neji suddenly threw a kunai in his direction without looking before turning in his direction.
"I know you're over there, come on out!" said Neji.
"It has to be those eyes of his, they must do more than just see chakra points,"
Neji frowned thoughtfully "Long distance combat is not my specialty, I need to get close to him and end this," he detected Kidomaru hanging upside down above but noticed that black marking covered a majority of his body along with a sharp increase in the amount of overall chakra "It's as if he has become a completely different person,"
"Gotta give credit where it's due as the game's gotten more interesting, which means I can play a lot harder," Kidomaru bit his thumb and weaved through a set of handsigns before slamming a palm on a web formed by his hands "Summoning jutsu!" there was a large puff of smoke which dissipated to reveal hi now standing on a giant spider called the Kyodaigumo "I'll warn you once, I will find a way around this strong defense of yours," the spider laid out a giant egg sac onto the web as Kidomaru formed a kunai then cut an opening for numerous baby spiders to fall towards Neji below while creating threads of spider silk.
"Rotation!" Neji spun once more to defend but began to realize that the web strands were forcefully reducing the speed of his jutsu to the point that the dome of chakra dissipated and quickly detected a kunai heading for him at his most vulnerable.
"Now you die!" Kidomaru sneered as the kunai drew close to its target.
Neji focused intently and released a burst of chakra at the last second of his spin to deflect the kunai before being fully restrained by the webs "His webs cancelled my rotation, I need to be more careful than before," he shredded the webs holding him down, he quickly leapt into the air to evade a barrage of kunai and again dodged when a second barrage came at him in midair before landing on the ground. However, another rain of spiders fell at him from the Kyodaigumo.
"Eight Trigrams 64 palms!" he took to destroying every spider around him at high-speeds as they fell but the issue was that the numbers too many for him to handle at the rate he was going "There's no end to them, this leaves me no other choice than to resort to using that technique," he retook the stance but this time rotated his upper body to a 90 degrees "Eight Trigrams 128 palms!" he was now striking the spiders at blurring speeds with his perspective being that everything had slowed down around him.
"If he gets to land any of those strikes on me even with the armor of the sticky spider thread, I'm finished. But let's see who wins in a game of attrition," said Kidomaru, making more spiders and kunai descend.
"There's still too many of them and hardly enough time, my rotation won't work in this," Neji shredded the web only for a kunai knife to cut his right shoulder "Darn it!"
"What just happened? How come one of them got through unless…there's a blindspot in that supposed 360-degree vision of his! Let's put that to the test," Kidomaru made had spiders fall from above with Neji preparing to use his Eight Trigrams only to be struck in the back by a kunai "So that's it," he launched a barrage of kunai from all directions, Neji evaded them but two more struck his back.
"Damn, how is he able to strike me?" thought Neji in pain.
"I figured you all out, all those fancy moves of yours are meant to cover up the truth that you can't see every single thing around you. It's been fun but now it's game over for you!" Kidomaru commanded the Kyodaigumo to fall on Neji with the Hyuuga using his Gentle Fist on it only to make it burst into web silk which held him down for three more kunai to hit him till he collapsed to the ground "That was fun for some time but now to go after the rest of those brats," he turned to leave but then noticed that Neji was getting back to his feet and taking off the kunai from his back in spite of the pain.
A smirk appeared on Kidomaru's face as his markings glowed ominously and spread even further all over his body "He could still stand despite the hits taken…guess I'll have to work on my aim,"
He underwent a transformation whereby his skin turned dark red, his eyes are now gaining yellow irises with dark black sclerae, elongated teeth and fingernails, as well as his hair becoming longer and turning grey. Kidomaru gains horns on his forehead, shoulders and elbows before taking off his headband to reveal a third eye.
"He's turning out to be more fun that I thought possible, might as well show my appreciation by playing far more intensely than before," he used his sticky spider thread to form a long bow.
Neji was struggling to maintain himself in spite of the damage, he owes it to the insane training with Might Guy that he was still able to keeping fighting "All those moves he made were to study my techniques and abilities which was why he found out about my blindspot, I can't get close enough as he won't let me do so and the lack of long range attacks is really affecting me badly. He's strong, much stronger than I am," something glinted in the sunlight and Neji looked down to see the ring in his finger and Naruto's voice echoed in his mind.
"…Chouji beat his guy, so I expect you to walk all over this one," said Naruto.
Neji smiled "He's tougher than I thought Naruto, but I'm definitely sure that I can defeat him with your help. Equip!" the ring glowed brightly for a few moments before fading away to reveal him holding a sheathed cobalt blue rapier.
"A sword? Is he so desperate that he unsealed the most useless weapon in this situation? Time to end this," Kidomaru formed an arrow and nocked it to the bow.
Neji placed a hand on the sword's handle and began to chant "──Reincarnate. The huge dragon of calamity, taken captive by riches. Become the compensation of desire far and wide, Fafnir!" at that moment, Kidomaru fired the arrow which raced towards Neji as he unsheathed the sword in a flash of blue light which then faded to reveal him donning a black and white mechanical suit of armor with various areas that glow with pale blue light. Its right arm wields a sniper rifle and seven octagonal shields of bluish-white light hovered at his back with one of them having blocked the arrow.
"So that sword actually gave him an armor along with some kind of protective shielding, but it appears that the spacing between them is more than enough for an arrow to go through while I use a chakra thread to guide it all the way without defects," Kidomaru formed another arrow with a chakra thread attached before taking aim and firing the arrow at high-speed, he guided the arrow to go around the barriers and aim for the blindspot but he didn't expect to see one of the barriers to actually move to intercept the arrow and deflect it "How's this possible?! My arrow moved too fast and he's too injured to be able to even dodge it let alone sense it," he noticed something else through his third eye…Neji doesn't have his Byakugan active "He's not even using that eye of his, I'll need to put some distance between us as that weapon in his hand is making me uncomfortable,"
Kidomaru leapt further away and continued to observe the new changes to his opponent "So he's now donning some sort of armor along with shields of energy which automatically defend him but doesn't seem to possess much agility since he didn't even attempt to dodge the arrow and rather had the shields protect him. Just have to keep the shields busy so I can get the hit in," he formed several arrows with one of them sporting a drill-like tip. Kidomaru nocked several normal arrows to the bow before firing them all at once and sure enough the energy shields were quick to defend "Now's my chance!" he fired the drill-tipped arrow with maximum velocity as it zipped past the preoccupied shields towards Neji's blindspot "This is my win!"
Neji then muttered out "…Wise Blood," he suddenly rotated in a 180 spin to evade the arrow completely and took aim before firing a thin blue beam of energy which flew at high-speed and struck a stunned Kidomaru, encasing his body in ice as he toppled over to crash to the ground.
"How could it be?! There was no way he could have seen the attack and dodge to even counter," he heard a low hum and looked only to be shocked to see Neji flying towards him "…how?"
"This armor is called a Drag-Ride which give the wearer the war potential of a thousand soldiers. This one's a special Drag-Ride called Fafnir which has a special ability called Wise Blood; it allows me to see a few seconds into the future with a radius of a few dozen meters so I used this to dodge your attacks even from a blind spot before using the Freeze Cannon to take you down,"
"So, you were luring me in this time,"
"Indeed, you were gathering information about me with every attack so I purposely gave you false information which would open a window of opportunity for me to strike," Neji took aim with the rifle.
Kidomaru chuckled weakly, feeling his entire body go completely numb "Heh…guess I'm the loser in this game,"
"Indeed, but I must thank you however. This fight made me realize that I must become even stronger if there are people like you. Farewell…," he pulled the trigger to finish Kidomaru off with a headshot before the Drag-Ride reverted to its sword form.
"I need to contact the others," the ring complied with Neji's wish and immediately connected with them.
"That you Neji?" asked Shikamaru.
"Yes, I was able to defeat my opponent but suffered damage. It will take some time to treat my wounds before I would be able to catch up with you all," said Neji albeit wincing from the aforementioned wounds.
"So the guy's strong like we thought, guess we better keep our guard up with the rest of those bastards then," said Kiba.
"Focus on healing yourself Neji then catch up when you can," said Naruto.
"Understood," Neji felt the connection ended before reaching into the pouch for the med kit to begin patching himself up "I promised to catch up to you, just wait for me for a bit longer,"
Weapon/Gear List
Divine Drag-Ride Fafnir = Undefeated Bahamut Chronicles
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, it's been over a year since I last updated this story of mine and I gotta apologize for that since that wasn't being fair to you guys. Anyways, this chapter centered on the Neji vs Kidomaru fight and I hope that I was able to do this chapter justice for you all. Neji would eventually catch up to aid the others but I'll leave it to you to think who exactly he would arrive in time to help, the next chapter would be Kiba and Akamaru vs Sakon and Ukon. Until then, be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.