Another chapter is here!

Enjoy!

In his tired, exhaustive state, the last thing Naruto should have noticed was the way that the air became tinged with the scent of Karin's blood. Perhaps it was a sign he was closer to utilizing the Fox's chakra than he should have been. Perhaps it was a sign he was already drawing upon it to an extent.

It would make sense, all things given. He had spent all night riding on Byakko, giving everything he had to rescue Karin in the nick of time. And he thought that he'd succeeded too, recalling her softness and warmth against his back mere minutes ago. Yet, in a single moment, this newcomer snatched it away with a thrust of his hand and tainted the memory with the poignant scent of her blood now on the wind.

It dyed his world red. Stretched and slowed his time. Set his fevered blood boiling with rage. The rancorous chakra that belonged to the Nine-Tailed Fox bubbled over like a frothing geyser, churning and heating the wind around him as the white-haired assailant extended his fingers towards him and shot something out.

A long membrane of corrupted chakra burst out to meet the white blurs in the form of a tail, constrained to his body by the shroud that outlined his figure. The bone projectiles that had been launched were dissolved within the stretching crimson, wasted away by the virulent potency of the baneful chakra. The point of the tail continued on undeterred, spearing through the air with the intention of punching straight through the pale torso of the Sound shinobi.

White hair swayed as Kimimaro pivoted on his foot. The twisting motion allowed the spearing tail to pass him by harmlessly as white blades emerged from his forearm. Using the momentum of the spin, he launched them towards the jinchuuriki while jumping out of the way as the tail curled back around to try and crush him.

The ivory blades, bones flattened and sharpened like knives, didn't make it within an inch of Naruto's skin. The dense shroud had finished forming and batted them away with contemptuous ease, as if it were a living thing. With rage shading his eyes, his facial featured darkened and bestial, Naruto was mere moments away from lunging like a rabid animal.

It was only then, only as his senses registered Karin's screams of anguish, that he managed to grab the reins of the sudden influx of chakra. The screams meant that she was alive—in pain, but alive. It was enough for him to regain his control, after the lapse brought about by the sudden surge of blinding rage, and register the presence behind him.

Anko was there, holding one hand with the flesh looking singed. He'd injured her without even being aware she was there. Now her gaze shifted between him and the bone-user, assessing if she was facing more than one threat at that very moment.

"Sorry," Naruto said with a feral tinge in his voice as he eyed the approaching opponent pulling a blade of bone from his shoulder. As much as he regretted it, he didn't have time to do anything else. The guilt would simply have to serve as the tether that kept Naruto aloft and aware of himself. "Help her. I'll deal with him."

The older kunoichi nodded, seeing that he'd stopped himself from drowning in the murderous desires of the fox and regained control. "Don't drop your guard against him."

Kimimaro extended his palms towards Anko as she ran towards her downed charge and launched a pair of stake-shaped bones to halt her. She pulled out a trio of kunai and flung them with her good hand in response. Bone and steel met in a head-on collision that knocked them aside as she continued on. He then rushed her in a blur of motion, with his bladed bone ready to strike her legs from underneath her.

Naruto's tail fired out again to intercept him like a crimson lance. Kimimaro made to dodge it with a twist of his body. At the same time, another sharpened bone emerged from his leg to cut through Anko's tendon in the process. The extended tail turned into a third hand that expanded and smashed into the Sound shinobi's unprotected chest before it could touch her.

Flesh smoldered where it made contact as the hand carried Kimimaro several body-lengths, before he could twist himself free and fall to a knee. He sucked in a sharp breath of air, holding the spot where malevolent chakra had left its mark upon him. But he brushed it aside to raise his arm and fire again at Anko.

Naruto rushed forward with a roar, driving his foot towards his opponent's face in a flying kick before he could take the shot. It met a hard surface instead as Kimimaro blocked the kick with his forearm. Then there was a lancing streak of pain as needle-like bones jutted out of the arm, piercing the bottom of his combat sandal and through the top of his foot. Naruto tried pulling back his foot while taking a swipe with his hand, which were now claws shrouded in the crimson chakra meant to rip the bone-user to pieces.

Kimimaro danced out of the way, leaving the half-withered bones wedged into Naruto's foot, and grew more to replace them all over his body as he spun around. The Dance of the Larch tore into Naruto's shroud and body with a spinning motion, only for the snaking tail to force Kimimaro to break off the attack or be ran-through. He brought his hand to his mouth as he landed some distance away, blocking the hoarse and bloody cough that followed.

In contrast, Naruto snarled as the injuries began to boil away, torn flesh and damaged muscles destroyed and then regenerated within the shroud. Even the bones that had lodged themselves into his body had been wasted away to nothing within it. Compared to the pale skin of his opponent that was blemished and singed where direct contact with the shroud had been made, it was evident that a battle of endurance would only serve to benefit Naruto.

Perhaps coming to that realization as well, Kimimaro allowed his Curse Seal of Earth blossom across his frame. Black markings crawled across his skin as ivory bones pierced from the inside-out and pushed aside flesh. They wove together, dark lines spiraling around the bones to the very tip of the points.

Naruto's tail swished in the face of the change. Instinct ran high within his mind, that what lurked in front of him was a dangerous foe to face. The urging to call upon another tail of power was only suppressed by his human reasoning as he stayed atop of the rancor and charged.

Kimimaro responded by changing his stance so that the bones jutting from his arms, legs, and chest were aimed for Naruto. With a grunt and flex of his muscles, they all fired at once. In an instant he'd filled the intervening space with sharpened bones marked with blackened tips.

Like a flail, the crimson tail came around to shield Naruto against the white-and-black rain of death. The density of the bones had increased through the markings that lined them, rendering them capable of passing through the shroud of corrupted yang chakra. He brought his arms around and protected his body as they grazed and pierced him in various places, leaving him falling to his knees in pain as his blood seeped into the bubbling membrane covering him and darkened it further.

The rustle of cloth reached his ears before he noticed the presence now behind him. He twisted around, bringing his chakra arms around to sweep away the threat. It was too high as Kimimaro lowered himself, using his arm as a pivot while sweeping his spike-covered leg around and scything away more of Naruto's flesh as it tore open his stomach.

It's no good if I don't go further, Naruto realized then and there as he tried to get away from the whirling kick that Kimimaro followed up with, expanding the blade-like spines jutting out of his skin. He wouldn't be able to dodge another hit like that unless he took it another step further. So he reluctantly opened himself up to more of the malevolent chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox, blossoming into a second tail.

The urge to murder increased with the potency of the corrupted yang chakra bleeding out of his tenketsu as the shroud thickened. The bones that made contact with it decayed into nothingness hastily, forcing Kimimaro to back away. Refusing to let him get away, the twin tails turned into elongated hands that came crashing down on the bone-user with enough force that they caved in the ground beneath his very feet.

Kimimaro stopped himself from being crushed to death by expanding the bones and shaping them into a shell. The strain on his face was evident, even as the markings from his Cursed Seal etched themselves across the ivory shell in a desperate attempt to avoid having it crumble away. But the bloody cough that tore itself from his throat, leaving trails of crimson to stream down the corner of his lips, made it clear that he wouldn't last long.

Naruto roared as he brought his chakra arms around to join the second set of hands and encompass the Sound shinobi. The contact with the ground was enough to putrefy it into liquid rot. He applied more force and pressure to bury the bone-user beneath the slurry and felt the shell begin to crumble within his expanding grasp…

Then the crumbling shell erupted as ivory spears burst out of the comparatively tiny container, like a seed abruptly sprouting. The rigid protrusions tore his chakra arms apart before smashing out of the ground and giving chase as he darted around to avoid being killed. The number continuously swelled as seconds passed, radiating outwards as the spears ascended towards the moon with a thunderous cacophony.

By the time the dust cleared, Naruto could only see chalk-white formations as far as his vision stretched. The entire battlefield was overrun by bones that dwarfed the surrounding landscape. It was a forest of osseous spires that loomed ominously under the moon, towering monuments to the power of his enemy that obscured his sight in all directions.

There was no telling how far it had expanded from the ground, leaving Naruto fearing that the two kunoichi had been caught up in it. So he took a running start up the nearest trunk, intending to get clear of the canopy to see if he could find them. But no sooner than he was halfway up it did his instincts scream for him to move and he kicked off as hastily as he could.

"Agh!" He screamed as a hot flash of pain flared in his abdomen. A portion of the side had been gouged out, though it was better than being skewered like a piece of meat if he hadn't moved in time. Naruto landed, cradling the wound, and glared up at his opponent.

Kimimaro was seamlessly merged with the giant bone and had gone into a second-stage transformation. It had darkened his skin an almost charcoal shade, painted his eyes black, and dyed his pupils yellow. Large, thick, curved bones had sprouted from his back, leading down to a tail from which jagged spines ran along the top.

Drowning out the frothing pain of the wound's regeneration with a feral snarl, he swiped an elongated chakra arm towards the bone-user that had undergone a monstrous transformation that made even Gaara's look tame. The claws tore a furrow out of the trunk and nothing else. His opponent was gone, having disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

Naruto's lips peeled back further in frustration as he withdrew the claw, assessed the damage, and realized just how badly the situation had gotten. The bones that had been brittle to a single tail were now dense enough that two couldn't decay and rot them quickly enough for him to do anything meaningful. Surrounded on all sides by the bony trees, he was caged in his opponent's trap similar to how Haku had done with those mirrors he possessed.

All it would take is another tail to break free of this cage.

His mind froze as that ruinous whisper bubbled up from that which was sealed within him. It was the Nine-Tailed Fox with an offering of power. More than enough power to break free of the pitiful cage of bones that he was locked in and tear the one who sealed him apart limb-from-limb at the same time!

Naruto entertained the thought for a brief moment. It even brought a smile to his face. Then he shook his head, trying to push it down. That wasn't him, that wasn't what he wanted.

He wanted to protect Karin and get her to safety, not go on a murderous rampage. The two weren't the same; his own desires were separate from that of the malevolent instincts of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra. The moment he forgot that and fell to the temptation to do so was the moment he lost himself entirely.

The distraction passed as more bones emerged from the ground. It was like a giant bear-trap, jagged points acting as teeth that tried to clamp shut around his body. He dodged them with ease, only to be lashed from behind courtesy of Kimimaro's tail and sent flying backwards until he crashed into the base of another tree-sized bone spire.

The impact was hard enough to create a crater, making his vision flash. His awareness returned in less than a second, but that was long enough for a lashing whip forged of bone and cartilage to coil around the trunk he was backed against. All at once it tightened around his body, binding him in place as the spines on the vertebrae pierced his flesh and those that touched the bone structure melded into it to form a band.

Kimimaro went into another coughing fit as he left Naruto pinned in place. This time it was far more violent. Blood splattered against the ground as he fell onto his arms and knees, every heaving breath pulling from his lungs. His failing health didn't deter him for long as he pulled himself towards the nearest overgrown bone and melded into it.

Not five seconds later, Naruto's sharpened senses heard distant crashing and a shout of surprise coming from further in the ossified forest.

[0-0-0]

Karin felt uneasy as she and Anko rode atop Byakko among the towering ivory spires. They had been spared from harm as it went up, but were trapped within the resulting forest. Worse was the fact that she wasn't able to sense the one who'd done it at all with her Mind's Eye since it happened, as if he'd become one with his surroundings.

In contrast, Naruto's signature shone like a beacon, even though it was drowned in that of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra. The fact that he wasn't moving only compounded her worry. So she urged Byakko to rush towards him so they could collect him and go home together.

An ominous rumbling filled the air as they grew closer. It was the sound of crumbling bones. The thick osseous trees surrounding them began to collapse in on themselves, forcing Byakko to deftly dodge the falling debris as they smashed into one another. That was when the ambush was sprung.

The bone-user appeared out of nowhere and tackled Byakko with all the strength that his monstrous transformation could muster, and a scream tore itself out of Karin's mouth as the impact threw her free of Byakko. Her slender body was sent skipping across the ground before she slid to a stop. She sucked in a sharp and pained breath as she forced her head up to see that she had gotten lucky.

The older kunoichi had been curled within the transformed shinobi's tail, straining to get free as it tightened around her arms and chest. Byakko had been gored through by the thick pair of bones that were on his back, rendering it unable to hold itself together. The white tiger dissipated, leaving only the mask behind to fall slowly towards the ground.

Karin saw him eye it clearly and knew what was going to happen next. She tried to get to her feet in a desperate attempt to stop a piece of her clan's legacy from being lost. But it was all for nothing as a single stomp of his foot shattered the mask that served as Byakko's vessel.

"You will answer for your betrayal of Lord Orochimaru," he said, grinding his foot into the fragments of the mask.

Karin collapsed onto her knees and sat there as he approached, eyes fixed on the remnants of the mask and hands extended as though reaching for it. Even as he crafted a blade of bone to slice through her arms and legs, she didn't move or stop reaching for Byakko. There was no point.

"Ru…n…!" Anko forced out, even as she struggled for breath. Karin remained there despite the urging; still reaching out towards Byakko's mask that had been destroyed. "Go!"

Karin ignored the order, instead focused on all of the unspent yang chakra that was released now that the seals storing it in the mask had been destroyed. As the blade descended, she reached out to it with every ounce of desire, desperation, and instinct in her body. And the chakra responded by wrapping the Sound shinobi in Chakra Chains for an instant, anchored through her outstretched palms

"What?" The surprise was evident in his voice as the Chakra Chains cocooned him for a mere moment, hampering his transformation. That was as long as she could maintain the desperate attempt at shaping the chakra outside of her body.

"Get clear!" Karin yelled as her concentration faltered. "Now!"

Anko listened. She broke free from his grasp as the transformation regressed until the chains shattered like glasswork, and snatched Karin away before he could bring his blade down on her. It wasn't a moment too soon as the second reason that Karin didn't run came rushing in, slamming into the Sound shinobi with a thunderous impact that kicked up a plume of dust as it sent him careening into the collapsed heap of bone rubble.

Sporting three tails that swayed ominously, what was left of Naruto roared loud enough that it echoed throughout the battlefield…