Naruto: The Weapon Master
Chapter 37: Brainstorming and Bone Breaking
Naruto leapt through the treetops with great speed and clearly feeling frustrated in pursuit of his objective on his own.
"Darn it, we had him and this had to happen!" said Naruto angrily.
"Please calm down, Naruto-sama. We understand the reason for your anger but you mustn't lose focus in sight of your mission," said Chinami.
"She's right, you need to focus. There's something about this new enemy that you need to be cautious about. Without a doubt, he's much stronger compared to those four if Orochimaru is that confident to send him alone as backup," Kurama pointed out to the blonde ninja.
"You're right…," Naruto took a deep breath before exhaling, feeling much calmer now "I'll just have to be more wary about this guy, considering how he approached us before,"
To better understand what he meant, let's go back a bit:
After being separated from Kiba and Akamaru, Naruto and Shikamaru had to deal with Tayuya who was the remaining member of the Sound Four. They were about to do so when a ninja suddenly showed up from out of nowhere and swiped the coffin right from under their very noses with unexpected speed and grace, they soon found out that he too is a ninja from the Sound since Tayuya recognized him as Kimimaro.
He took off with the coffin, leaving Tayuya to handle Naruto and Shikamaru. Left with no other options, Shikamaru chose to hold off Tayuya while telling Naruto to pursue Kimimaro to retrieve Sasuke for sure this time. Hesitant to do so, Naruto complied with the order and went after his new opponent.
"Time to play catch up again," Naruto increased his speed to close the distance between him and his objective, everyone has worked hard and risked a lot to get to this point. He can't afford to fail them.
Kimimaro leapt out of the treetops to land in the middle of a wide open grassy plain where he stopped, placing the coffin next to him before looking back where he came from with a frown.
"How persistent, I'll have to kill him to stop such pestering," thought Kimimaro.
Soon enough, Naruto appeared and landed a short distance away before staring at Kimimaro intently.
"Now then, how to destroy you?" Naruto caught sight of something peering out from one of Kimimaro's sleeves and stayed on guard.
"Since you've taken the time to politely wait for me to catch up, I'd like to ask for the reason why Orochimaru is so dead set on acquiring Sasuke?" Naruto interrogated.
Kimimaro looked at Naruto silently for a few seconds before finally responding "Orochimaru-sama has already acquired the Immortality jutsu, but a vast amount of time is required to attain every single jutsu,"
Hearing this, Naruto began to realize what's going on "And with Sasuke's Sharingan, he can do so in the shortest amount of time. So, he intends to transplant Sasuke's eyes into his body like Kakashi-nii?"
"He doesn't need such a barbaric method, all that is required is the body to serve as a vessel for his soul to possess,"
Naruto, Chinami and Kurama were stunned speechless by the revelation; Orochimaru has developed one of the darkest and most impure jutsu the world has ever known in his pursuit for power and immortality.
"That has to be the most messed up thing I've ever heard, that snake bastard is a megalomaniac! I should have done more than cut out a part of his soul!" Naruto exclaimed angrily.
Kimimaro frowned as he took a combat stance and revealed a bone shaped like a stake protruding from the palm of his hand "I will not let you insult Orochimaru-sama, such insults shall result in your death,"
"Like I give a damn about what a brainwashed fanboy like you feel, I'm gonna make sure that he never achieves his goal and forever remain a cripple that he is and always will be!"
At this point, Kimimaro lost his temper and rushed Naruto, thrusting out to stab him in the heart. However, Naruto dodged the incoming attack with a sidestep and kicked him from the side to knock him away as he unsheathed Tsukiotoshi and took a stance.
"What's the matter, can't handle me dissing your reptilian freak of a boss?" Naruto taunted.
Kimimaro scowled at him "I will rip that tongue from your mouth,"
Naruto sneered in response "Just try it,"
He rushed forward then blade and bone clashed into the middle, Kimimaro lashed out with a kick only for Naruto to blocked it with a knee raised then leapt backwards with his opponent rushing at him to stab with his bone but the blonde ninja parried it to the side and countered with a slash but it missed as it was the opponent's turn to back away. Naruto observed his enemy and could see that he has a lot of experience in battle and has yet to reveal anything more than what he's seeing so far.
"Let's see I can't force him to reveal what else he's got," Naruto concentrated as he prepared to use a Secret Art "Secret Art: Misty Slash!" he moved at blurring speeds to appear behind Kimimaro and slashed at his back, but he wasn't expecting was for bone spikes to shoot out from his back to block the attack and he had to teleport to safety when several more shot out to stab him for a counterattack.
"I think we got something here, looks to me that he can manipulate the bones in his body for both offense and defense," thought Naruto.
"Which means that it's a bloodline inherited from his clan, this only makes him even more dangerous," said Kurama warily.
Seeing the cautious look on Naruto's face, Kimimaro spoke up "So, you have realized my Kekkei Genkai. That simplifies things…," he unzipped his shirt to expose his left shoulder as a long bone protruded from it before he reached to pull it out, revealing it to be in the shape of a sword.
"That's just freaky," Naruto commented, he reached into his ninja pouch to grab a handful of shuriken which he enhanced with chakra to increase their sharpness and threw them at Kimimaro who deflected them casually and there wasn't a scratch on his bone sword.
"It's no use, my bones aren't ordinary bones. They are of the highest density, as hard as tempered steel," said Kimimaro stoically "I have only five dances in my repertoire, you have only seen one but won't live to see the rest,"
Naruto shook his head in amusement "I could say the same to you, those shuriken I threw earlier were to test something out. Now I can do this! Secret Art: Dual Blaze!" he rushed forward with the blade engulfed in flames as he slashed twice with Kimimaro defending himself but was surprised to feel the intense heat from the attack and instinctively knew that he mustn't let any of the attacks hit him.
Kimimaro attacked with multiple thrusts of his bone sword with great speed yet Naruto was able to keep up and parry each and every one of them before countering with a low sweeping slash aiming for the legs which Kimimaro leapt into the air to evade "Secret Art: Dragonfly!" Naruto leapt into the air and began spinning horizontally like a top while constantly slashing with his blade, forcing Kimimaro to block and was knocked down to the ground before landing afterwards but he was far from done "Secret Art: Cyclone!" he lunged at his opponent and began spinning vertically this time like a buzzsaw to lay on the pressure, forcing the Sound Ninja completely on the defensive as he backed away from blocking such an attack yet again.
Recovering from the barrage of attacks, Kimimaro stared at Naruto "Do not so easily assume that you stand a chance to defeat me,"
Naruto was amused "I don't need to assume, I know I can beat you and the evidence is visible by the current state of your bone sword,"
Confused, Kimimaro looked down at his bone sword and was shocked upon seeing multiple cracks and chips all over it "How is this possible?"
"Seems to me that Orochimaru didn't tell you about me, you may claim that your bones are tough which I won't deny but it's nothing compared to the power of a Muramasa blade. Case in point…Secret Art: Abysaal Fire!" he created an afterimage that appeared in front of Kimimaro to attack, he tried to defend but the afterimage easily sliced through the bone sword and finally inflicted a wound given the long bloody gash across his chest.
Kimimaro held a hand to his chest, trying to stop the bleeding while in disbelief "How is this possible?"
"I learnt from the best in order to protect my loved ones, I refuse to lose to brainwashed people like you and the halfdead snake you call your master," said Naruto with confidence.
As the battle was still ongoing, the coffin which Sasuke was in began releasing a dark smoke like aura through the lid which caught the two combatants' attention but they had to focus on the fight for now.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru was also in a situation of his own. Tayuya used a Summoning jutsu to call upon three giant demonic beings to assist her with the first one having its entire upper body wrapped in white bandages with long needles stuck into it, the second wielding a large metal spiked club and the third possessing long blades protruding from its hands and elbows. She started playing the flute which seems to control the giants as they attacked Shikamaru relentlessly, forcing him to be defensive and barely getting any time to plan a counterattack.
Right now, he was hiding in the cover of some tree branches to keep out of sight "I think I'm starting to get the picture here; she controls those buddies of hers with that flute, each tone sending specific commands on how one should move. I may be able to memorize the tune but the question is what can I do with that information,"
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the giant with the club rushing at his hiding place and had to get out of there before it could land a hit on him, forcing the Nara out into the open yet again with the other two soon boxing him in.
Tayuya who had activated the first level of her Cursed Seal sneered at him "Just give up already, no one has ever survived my Melody of Death and you won't be any different!"
Shilkamaru smirked "I gotta admit, that wasn't bad. Must have taken a lot of practice to master this style of yours,"
"Hmph, so you've figured out how I use my flute but that doesn't change anything even if you know. knowing what I've been doing isn't the same as knowing how to stop it,"
"That's true, I've never been much of a musical person. My parents can vouch for that, though I think I should start doing so, heard they can be quite relaxing," said Shikamaru but inwardly his mind was racing for a solution "Come on, there's gotta be a way to counter her,"
"Too bad you won't be able to listen to any music as this will be the last tune you would ever hear. Here's the finale Night Passage: Demon Revolution!" Tayuya began playing a tune which was completely different from the one before.
Shikamaru was taken by surprise at this "What the? She changed the tune entirely!"
The giants began opened their mouths that were sewn shut and something began emerging from them, revealing to be some sort of wormlike creatures with many mouths on them and they seem to be made of spiritual energy given their white translucent appearance.
The wormlike creatures shot towards Shikamaru who jumped to dodge with one barely grazing his arm and seemingly bypassing his body and taking a bite out of his chakra instead, shocking him. He threw some shuriken but they just went right through them as if they're like ghosts. Shikamaru made an emergency escape with a combination of an Explosive Tag and a smoke grenade then took cover within some bushes like before and making sure that he's well-hidden this time.
"That was too close, those white things…," Shikamaru recalled what happened earlier "It was like they took a bite of my physical energy and my shuriken went through them as if they're ghosts. That must mean that their composition is designed to be invulnerable to all physical attacks while consuming their target's physical energy to maintain balance with their mental energy all the while preventing the other from building up their own chakra. Which means that I shouldn't target those ghost things since I won't be able to do anything about them. Therefore, I have two options: the first option would be to target the one controlling those three demons but she would see me coming from a mile away and use those very demons to obstruct me. The second option will be to capture the three demons with my Shadow Possession jutsu but there's a major risk as they don't attack at the same time, missing one would result in an instant game over…heh, she would have been an interesting opponent to play shogi with,"
Shikamaru began checking what he has left in his ninja pouch "Let's see, I've got 12 kunai knives, 9 shuriken, 36 feet of wire, 1 flashbomb and 1 paper bomb. It's like playing shogi but without the rooks and bishops…oh well," he was about to form his unique handsign which he normally does when going into Strategy Mode when he felt his fingers rubbing against something and looked down to see the ring which Naruto gave to him at the beginning of the mission "Of course, how could I have forgotten about it? Then again, being in a life-threatening situation can make one forget certain things. That bracelet of Naruto's got me out of a jam during the invasion, here's hoping that it can do so again,"
He focused on the ring and it glowed brightly as it proceeded to equip him with a weapon which best suits him for the current situation.
"Camelia Dance!"
"Secret Art: Wasp Swarm!"
Both Naruto and Kimimaro who had activated one level of his Cursed Seal were attacking each other by rapidly stabbing at each other with a flurry of thrusts but it was clear who was gaining the edge as the former kept destroying the bone blades that the latter kept recreating but can't seem to keep up and was receiving stab wounds all over his body.
Kimimaro leapt backwards, deciding to attack from a long range "Digital Shrapnel!" he launched a barrage of bone bullets from his finger tips at highspeed.
"Secret Art: Hell's Gate!" Naruto sheathed his blade and dashed forward with great speed, knocking the incoming projectiles out of the way and continued to approach Kimimaro who tried to defend himself by sprouting bone spikes all over his body but it was for naught as Naruto flashed past him and the bone spikes were sliced off with numerous cuts all over his body, making him bleed all over.
"I'm not gonna bother asking you to give up, no doubt you've been properly brainwashed to serve that snake bastard with your life being a cheap thing to spend for his sake," said Naruto pointedly, feeling sad to see someone acting this way for that mad man.
Kimimaro scowled at him for that "You understand nothing! Orochimaru-sama gave my life meaning!"
"Yeah, to be his pawn until you outlived your usefulness when you could have been so much more without his cursed influence," Naruto frowned, noticing that he wasn't bleeding as much as expected, then he saw something white through the gashes and suspected something.
"It would seem that he had formed a thin membrane of bone underneath his skin to serve as a form of armor," Chinami theorized.
"In that case…," Naruto gripped the Tsukiotoshi tightly "I have little choice but to cut off his head, I really dislike this part of being a shinobi,"
Kurama sympathized with him "I understand, but I'd rather you live over someone who has been truly broken by that man,"
"*Sigh* Okay…,"
They were about to reengage when the coffin suddenly exploded in a burst of black smoke and someone emerged from it. Naruto saw that it was Sasuke with his back facing towards them and noticed that his hair was longer and colored grey before it reverted back to normal which worried him.
"It's about time you woke up, sleeping beauty. Hang on for a minute or two while I deal with this guy then we can head back home," said Naruto as he turned to face Kimimaro.
"…," Sasuke didn't respond, standing there silently.
"Hey, you haven't woken up completely yet or something?" Hearing a dark chuckle, the blonde looked back to see Sasuke staring at his hands and sensed gleefulness from him "What's the matter, man?"
However, Sasuke still didn't respond but rather took off in the direction of the border much to Naruto's shock and disbelief; the Uchiha is actually choosing to abandon Konoha to go to Orochimaru?! Doesn't he know what that madman intends to do to him?!
"Naruto, look behind you!" Kurama called out urgently, Naruto looked back to see Kimimaro rushing to attack him.
"Die,"
"Darn it, I don't have time for this!"
"Dynamic Entry!" a voice called out as a green blur slammed into Kimimaro, knocking him away from Naruto before standing for everyone to see with the blonde ninja being very shocked.
"Who's this?" asked Kimimaro questioningly.
The person stood proudly in a combative stance and responded "It is I; the rejuvenated Handsome Devil of the Leaf Village…Rock Lee!"
"Bushy Brows?! What are you doing here, what about your injuries?" asked Naruto worriedly.
Rock Lee interjected "Do not worry about me right now, go after Sasuke. You can leave this villain to me!"
"That'd be hard to do, this guy is a tough one who uses his bones for both offense and defense. Not only are those bones tougher than normal ones but I can tell you're not back to a 100% either,"
"Trust me just like you trust Shikamaru and the others to help accomplish the mission. You're the only one who can stop Sasuke, so please go!" Rock Lee insisted.
Naruto frowned for a bit before letting out a sigh "Okay, I'll go. But not before I give you the means to beat this guy," he approached and placed a hand on his shoulder "Tag Mode: Henshin!"
The bracelet glowed in a bright flash of light which died down to reveal Rock Lee wearing a mysterious belt which has a mystical orb at the center of the buckle and two switches located on both sides of the belt, Rock Lee felt information of the belt flow into his mind and knew how to use it.
"Where did that belt come from and what could be its purpose?" thought Kimimaro warily.
"Alright then, I'm counting on you," Naruto turned and began running in the direction of where he saw Sasuke leave.
"Like I'm going to let you go anywhere!" Kimimaro moved to attack Naruto but Rock Lee intercepted him.
"I dislike being ignored," said Rock Lee with a displeased expression.
"Is that so?" asked Kimimaro albeit it's obvious that he could care less.
Rock Lee jumped back and looked down at the belt "Naruto gave me this weapon because he believes that I can use it to defeat him. He entrusted me with this, so I refuse to lose!" he mirrored the stance he saw in the memories and called out "Henshin!" he slammed his palms on the switches at the sides of the belt as the orb flashed brightly before fading to reveal him donning donning a gold-and-silver armor, red eyes and golden horns.
"What have you done to yourself?" Kimimaro inquired warily.
"With the power of the Altering, the Handsome Devil has now become…Kamen Rider Agito!" Rock Lee took a fighting stance, his body flowing with great power.
"It would seem that armor has somehow enhanced his strength, how interesting…,"
"Here I come!" Lee dashed forward and attacked with a straight punch which Kimimaro dodged with a sidestep but frowned mentally upon feeling the wind pressure from the punch as if the air itself shook around it, he sensed another attack heading his way and tried to block it with his bone sword only to be sent skidding backwards from the impact.
"Amazing," Rock Lee thought to himself as he continued to fight against Kimimaro with punches and kicks "It's like I can feel the energy of the earth flow into my body, giving me power," he parried a stab from Kimimaro's bone sword and attacked with a punch towards the ribs. Several bone spikes shot out from Kimimaro's chest to intercept but the punch's impact knocked him back whilst forming cracks on the spikes.
Kimimaro looked down at the crack bone spikes on his chest "Such power, enough to inflict cracks on my bones. I mustn't let him live after this," he sprouted even more bones from other parts of his body.
Rock Lee took note of this and frowned inwardly "He intends to limit my Taijutsu capabilities from up close, guess I'll have to take a different approach for this," he pressed the left-hand pad of the Altering, making the orb change colors from yellow to blue. Something emerged from the glowing orb which Lee pulled out to reveal a short staff which extended and unfolded to reveal its true form to be a double-bladed staff known as the Storm Halberd, then the entire left arm and the chestplate of the armor changed to blue as the wind swirled around him; he transformed into the Storm Form.
"His armor changed forms and is now equipped with a weapon, how unexpected," thought Kimimaro.
Rock Lee onehandedly twirled the Storm Halberd before taking a stance "Prepare yourself!" then he moved to attack his opponent.
Back with Shikamaru, he was spying on Tayuya from behind her with one hand holding several kunai knives and the other holding one with an explosive tag attached to it as he had come up with a plan.
"Alright then, game on!" he tossed the kunai with the tag at Tayuya which exploded, forcing her to jump away before it detonated "That's one…," he darted away, aware that he had revealed his position.
Tayuya scoffed as she continued "Nice try but it would take more than that to disrupt the song," unbeknownst to her, there was a kunai with a flashbomb attached hanging above her.
"That's two…and here's three…," another kunai was launched from cover but Tayuya had the demon with the arm blades block it for her then had the other demon go to where she saw it come from but Shikamaru was long gone.
"Four...five…six…seven…eight…!" Shikamaru kept launching the kunai knives from various angles to catch Tayuya off guard but the demon kept blocking the attacks effortlessly.
"Scurrying all over the forest like a rat, what does he think he's doing?" thought Tayuya, then Shikamaru landed on a tree branch in front of her "Looks like you luck has ran out!" she commanded all three of the demons to attacks.
"Nine!" Shikamaru smirked as he looked up to see something drop down from above and Tayuya looked as well only to be shocked upon realizing what it is.
"A flashbomb!?" the identified item released a bright flash of light all around "Damn, this was what he was planning all along!"
"Shadow Possession jutsu!" Shikamaru wasted no time as his shadows split into three and merged with those of the demons' "Heh, capture complete,"
Tayuya was shocked to see what just happened before her "But how were you able to predict their movements? There's no way that you were able to decipher the sound patterns of my music!"
"Maybe so, but I wasn't listening to the patterns to begin with," Shikamaru replied lazily.
"What?"
"You're a smart girl, can't you think of anything else that would give away your command patterns besides sound?"
It then dawned upon the kunoichi when she looked at the flute in her hand, Shikamaru grinned since she realized it too.
"That's right, your fingers when they play the flute,"
"You mean to tell me that you actually memorized my finger positions?"
"That's right, while you were blocking my kunai knives and seeking me out. I was observing exactly how you controlled each of them individually and figured you out. Analyzed and memorized," Shikamaru explained.
Growling in anger, Tayuya tried controlling the three demons with her flute but Shikamaru's hold on them was too strong to resist.
"Don't bother, they're bound to my Shadow Possession jutsu and won't be going anywhere. There's a particular rule of shogi that makes me like it so much; whenever you capture one of your enemy's pieces, you can turn around and use it as your own…which would have been the case but…,"
Suddenly, the demons were sliced into many pieces and dropped down to the ground below much to Tayuya's shock while Shikamaru stood there completely unfazed.
"What did you just do?!" Tayuya demanded.
"A logical move, you were the one who summoned them to begin with which also means that you can dispel them then call them back and that will be a drag for me all over again. So, I simply made sure that neither of us can use them," Shikamaru explained while shrugging his shoulders.
"But how? How's it possible for you too…," Tayuya trailed off when she noticed something off about Shikamaru "Has he always worn those gloves?"
Like the Sound Kunoichi said, Shikamaru was wearing a pair of gloves with metallic fingertips with highly tensile wire threads running through them which to come from a large spool which is attached to the back of his waist.
"Seems like you've noticed, it's a loaner from a certain hyperactive blondie called the Cross Tail. Used it before and it helped me deal with some of your friends when you guys rudely barged into my home during the Chuunin Exams. And now, I'm gonna use it to deal with you," Shikamaru flexed his fingers in preparation to use the wires.
"Tch," Tayuya made to retreat and come up with a new plan, but she suddenly found herself unable to move, it dawned upon her what had just happened especially with Shikamaru smirking at her.
"Capture successful," Shikamaru had his shadow travel along the tree he was standing on while out of sight then go to where Tayuya was standing and capture her while she wasn't looking "One thing I've learnt from playing shogi is that you need to give your opponent false information so as to lead them into a trap before swooping in and take them out in one go,"
"To think that this guy is able to push me this far, it pisses me off. I've got to admit that this punk is impressive, guess I have no other choice but to activate the second level of the Curse Seal," thought Tayuya, her body began to undergo a transformation; the color of her skin turning grey, white crooked horns emerging from her head which tore her hat apart, and black markings appearing around her eyes.
"What the? She's changed and the level of her chakra is going way up!" Shikamaru was shocked to witness this "If she could do this, then those guys Chouji and the others fought must have been able to do the same thing,"
Tayuya sneered "You may have a smart brain in that thick skull, but from this point onwards; your plans won't be going the way you want," she emphasized that by gradually moving her body, slowing raising her flute towards her lips.
"She can still move in spite of the Shadow Possession jutsu holding her, I need to stop her before she plays that flute!" Shikamaru formed a different handsign to use his newest jutsu "Ninja Art: Shadow Strangle jutsu!" the shadows transformed into hands that wrapped around Tayuya's body, gradually reaching for her throat.
"Those shadows of his, it feels like being grabbed by a real hand!" Tayuya snarled in defiance "I am not going to let you beat me!"
Sweat dripped down the Nara's face as he saw the flute practically inches away from her lips "Darn it, her strength is incredible! At this distance, I can't hold her down!"
Tayuya finally succeeded in holding the flute properly and began to play "Take this! Demon Flute: Chains of Fantasia!" the melody went through the air and into Shikamaru's ears which he tries to block out but couldn't as he could feel his vision beginning to distort all around him.
"A Genjutsu? This is bad, I've to stop her!" he threw the kunai in his hand but his crippled accuracy caused him to miss and hit the tree branch at her feet, this also led to his jutsu being undone as well and he found himself in an illusion of being forced to his knees and bound by chains with his body crumbling away much to his horror.
Tayuya smirked, enjoying the look of horror on Shikamaru's face "Tell me, how does it feel to be the one tied up?" she picked up the kunai knife thrown earlier and approached him "This is the end for you!"
She thrust the kunai at Shikamaru's head…only to stop a few inches away from it. It felt like something wrapped around her arm and holding it in place.
"What the?!" she tried to move but soon found the rest of her body unable to move as well, it was as if she was being tied up by something "What's going on?!"
"I told you before 'you need to give your opponent false information so as to lead them into a trap before swooping in and take them out in one go'. Doesn't surprise me that you would ignore what I said," Shikamaru rose to his feet and turned to face the shocked kunoichi with a lazy smile.
"How could you possibly escape from my Genjutsu?!" Tayuya demanded, Shikamaru raised his hand to reveal one of his fingers bent at an odd angle "You…you broke one of your fingers, causing pain on yourself to break free from the Genjutsu,"
"Yeah, and it hurts like hell. Plus I had a countermeasure ready for something like this were to happen. Take a closer look at yourself,"
Tayuya looked at her body and noticed that she had been by wire threads so thin that it couldn't be seen from afar unless one comes closely and focuses their vision "These wires are…,"
Shikamaru smiled "That's right, I used them in combination with my shadows to capture your buddies from earlier and take them out, then as a trap to capture you too once I acted as an irresistible bait to lure you in,"
"Damn you!" Tayuya struggled to break free from the wires but quickly discovered that to be a bad idea as the wires easily cut into her skin, make her bleed.
"You might not wanna do that, last thing you want is to lose a limb or four. And another thing…," Shikamaru formed a handsign "Checkmate," the shadow hands wrapped around Tayuya's body to restrain her further before gripping her throat and squeezing it tightly.
"Damm you…," Tayuya could do nothing more than curse, knowing full well that it's her loss and there's nothing she can do about that as she blacked out.
Shikamaru looked at his defeated opponent and sighed "Man, what a major drag. But at least I was able to come out on top and didn't lose to such a troublesome lady,"
A voice then spoke up "Well now, here I thought I was going to save you from being killed by a woman. Guess a lazy guy like you can catch a lucky break every now and then,"
Shikamaru turned around and groaned upon seeing who it is "Oh man, of all the people why did it have to be you?"
"Digital Shrapnel!" Kimimaro launched another barrage of bone bullets from his fingertips towards Lee who twirled the Storm Halberd rapidly with both hands to unleash a wind vortex in front of him which blew away the bone projectiles before rushing at Kimimaro and slashing at him with his weapon.
"From what I can tell about this form, his speed and reflexes are greatly but his power is greatly diminished. I'll just have to find a way to land a critical strike in his weak spot," thought Kimimaro, he coughed as he felt a lot of pain in his heart "I need to hurry,"
Rock Lee was also having thoughts of his own "I may be able to keep up with him, but the power behind my strikes is insufficient. I'll need to change my approach once more,"
He reverted to his Ground Form and this time he pressed the right-hand pad of the Altering, making the orb change colors from yellow to red. Something emerged from the glowing orb which Lee pulled out to reveal a single-edged saber with a golden crest similar to the one on Agito's head which is known as the Flame Saber, then the entire right arm and the chestplate of the armor changed to red as he began to radiate intense heat around himself; he transformed into the Flame Form.
Kimimaro frowned at this "He changed again, and with a sword this time," he saw Lee charging towards him and launched a barrage of bone bullets from his fingertips but he wasn't expecting him to swing the Flame Saber with the blade glowing with geothermal energy which sliced the projectiles cleanly in halves like a knife through butter.
Rock Lee maintained his assault with a combination of flaming slashes against his opponent who faced great difficulty as the intense heat from the Flame Saber could cut through his bones effortlessly, the only saving grace for him is that the Flame Form is the polar opposite of the Storm Form as its speed is sacrificed for great power. Even so, the grazing cuts on his body more than told him that receiving a single full-on strike will prove detrimental to himself.
I have no other choice, I must go into the second level if I'm to defeat him," Kimimaro accessed the full power of the Cursed Seal and began to transform.
His skin changed color to dark grey, fangs poking out from his lips, six large bone spines protruding out of his back, a long bone-spiked tail and dark black curved markings with one under each eye which is black eye sclarea and yellow irises. From a certain point of view, he closely resembles that of a dinosaur.
"He's transformed and his chakra has greatly increased, to think he still has a trump card," thought Lee warily, see that the transformation has also healed the previous injuries as well.
"I must commend you for forcing me into using this, but it also means that your end has come," Kimimaro stated, he bent forward as a bone began protruding out of his back which he grabbed and pulled out of his back to reveal his new bone weapon "Clematis Dance: Vine!"
Rock Lee absolutely shocked to see the kind of weapon that it is "He's using his own spine as a weapon?! How is this possible?! I've never seen nor heard of such a thing!"
"Now the dance begins!"
Kimimaro swung the bone weapon, revealing its ability to extend and function like a whip. It was now Lee's turned to be forced into the defensive role as the lashes of the bone whip are quick and accurate while at the same time keeping him from approaching close enough for him to attack. Unfortunately, it was at that moment when Kimimaro launched his bone whip to latch on to the Flame Saber by the handle and yank it out of Lee's grip, disarming him.
"Oh no!" Lee realized that he was in trouble now that he has lost his weapon.
"This is your end!" Kimimaro launched his bone whip once more to attack.
Suddenly, a large thick wall of sand rose from the ground in between them and blocked the strike, surprising the two of them then someone appeared next to Rock Lee who recognized the person.
"Who are you?" Kimimaro demanded.
"An ally of the Leaf village, a shinobi of the Sand village," the person introduced themselves.
"…Gaia of the Dessert," said Lee in disbelief.
The aforementioned person turned towards him "That voice, are you Rock Lee?"
"Indeed I am, Naruto gave me this armor in order to fight him before going after Sasuke. But why are you here? Not that I'm ungrateful,"
"I owe the Leaf village a great debt as well as to make up for my actions, especially to you," Gaia explained.
"I see, in that case; let's us fight together and defeat him!" Lee stood at the ready as his reverted to the Ground Form.
"Are you sure? I can tell that he is quite formidable," asked Gaia with concern, surprising Lee as the current her is a far cry from her past persona that was a homicidal killer.
Lee responded with a thumbs-up "Not to worry, my Flames of Youth are not easily doused!" he stepped forward to face his opponent.
"How could you hope to defeat me, even with your ally?" Kimimaro retorted, preparing to use his bone whip.
"Because Naruto entrusted me to defeat you and I'll be remised to fail him!"
In response to his burning determination to win, Lee had a vision of the original user undergoing a special transformation which instigates him to do the same. He held both hands forward in a crisscross pattern and spread them apart from each other before slamming down on both hand pads simultaneously. This caused the orb to change to purple with three red claw-like markings surrounding it. He was engulfed in flames which died down to reveal a severe change in armor which are now crimson red, his eyes changed to yellow and the golden horn crest also turning crimson. This is the Burning Form of Agito.
Rock Lee could feel his fighting spirit being converted into fiery energy that is burning within as seen by the glowing red veins appearing on the armor along with the heat being emitted from him, he knew that he won't lose with this power!
Rock Lee charged forward with clear intent to engage Kimimaro in close combat, the Sound elite scoffed at this reckless tactic and swung his bone whip to attack but Gaia intercepted by launching a tendril of sand to entangle the whip restrain it, giving Lee the needed opening to unleash a deadly combo. He started by delivering a few rapid jabs to the chest and two additional hook punches to the head, a straight punch to the chest then he knocks him away with a fiery roundhouse kick.
Not letting up, Lee thrust an open palm forward to a large jet of flames towards his target who leapt out of the way and retaliated by launching bone bullets from his fingertips which were blocked by Gaia's sand much to his irritation. Kimimaro lunged at Rock Lee with bone spikes protruding from the palms to attack. However, Lee utilized the arm cutters on the forearms to destroy the bone spikes and retaliated by punching him several times in the face and chest before sending him flying with a final fiery punch.
Kimimaro struggled to his feet and was coughing out blood from his mouth "I'm running out of time, my disease is progressing too fast. At this rate…,"
Orochimaru's voice echoed through his mind "Come and see the truth of the world through my eyes, Kimimaro. It all could be ours; yours and mine. Will you come?"
"Orochimaru-sama…," Kimimaro steeled himself and rose to his feet "I will see the truth of this world with Orochimaru-sama!"
Gaia frowned at this "He still intends to keep fighting…,"
"Please be careful, Gaia-neesan. I can't help but feel that he might attempt a desperate move," Shukaku called out worriedly through their mental link.
"Clematis Dance: Flower," Kimimaro began manipulating the bones around his left arm to create a large conically shaped lance as he stared at Rock Lee and Gaia "Orochimaru-sama gave my life meaning, I wouldn't expect the likes of you to understand anything!"
"He's coming," said Gaia.
Rock Lee nodded in affirmation "I know, which I am going to end this once and for all,"
He took a stance, standing partially sideways with one hand held out in front of him and the other positioned close to his stomach as the red veins appeared all over his armor and a large amount of energy is being channeled towards the fist. He watched Kimimaro who charged at him with reckless abandon, eyes narrowed with absolute focus as he drew closer towards him. Right as Kimimaro thrust out with his attack, Lee dodged at the last moment with the bone lance barely grazing the side of his head then countered.
"Burning Rider Punch!" Rock Lee punched Kimimaro in the chest, easily shattering his reinforced ribcage and sending him flying a fair distance away, then he was suddenly engulfed in a pillar of flames.
Kimimaro could already feel his life slipping away as he's being burnt from the inside out, he looked up and saw an illusion of Orochimaru before him and weakly stretched a hand out to it "Orochimaru-sama, a part of me will live on inside of you so we can see the truth of the world together," he finally died with his charred corpse being all that's left of him.
"It's over…," Gaia stated.
"…yeah," Lee suddenly found himself on his knees as the armor disappeared, leaving the Altering strapped to his waist.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine, just that the armor and its transformations took a lot out of me. Even so, I'm glad that Naruto gave it to me to win this fight,"
"All that is left now is for him to retrieve Sasuke,"
Lee turned to where he saw Naruto leave "And he will, that's a fact,"
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, SASUKE!" Naruto yelled out.
He had finally caught up with the wayward Uchiha, but the place where they stopped out was none other than the Vally of the End; where Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju had their final duel with the latter winning.
"This place…," Kurama felt uncomfortable, recalling the painful memories of being used by Madara as a hypnotized attack dog.
Naruto saw that Sasuke was about to move again "TAKE ONE MORE STEP AND I'M GONNA BREAK YOUR LEGS!"
At this, Sasuke stopped and slowly turned to look at Naruto, revealing that the left half of his face is covered by the Curse Seal and even the color of his eyes had changed.
The Uchiha scoffed "You have always been a loud person, that hasn't changed at all with you,"
Naruto scowled in response, he has always hated how arrogant Sasuke tends to be and it seems to have gotten a lot worse. But one way or another, he's gonna drag this guy's ass back to Konoha!
Weapon/Gear List
Cross Tail = Akame Ga Kill
Altering = Kamen Rider Agito
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, I'm not going to make any excuses concerning the time gap between this chapter and the previous one as I've made too many of those.
In this chapter, I pretty much jumped from Super Sentai straight to Kamen Rider but then again those two series often go handinhand considering that they frequently cross over in shows and movies. Anyways, choosing a particular rider for Rock Lee was a tricky one as he suits some of them before I settled on Agito as the best one for him.
I also had trouble choosing a weapon for Shikamaru and simply decided to have him use Cross Tail once again, given his tactical style of combat in combination with his shadows. So I pretty much had Kankurou and Temari show up to miss their heroic moment except for Gaia. We now move on to the battle between Naruto and Sasuke with the question being what happens in the end? Tayuya isn't exactly dead, so suggestions are welcome. Read and Review like always.
PS, it has come to my attention that there seems to be an issue with Fanfiction as users aren't getting notification from the site for reasons unknown. Here's hoping that they fix it soon.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.