"What's your deal, anyway?" Shigin yelled out as he leaped back through the hole he had made in the damaged gambling house building and started swinging his fists wildly. This reckless approach would have seen as suicidal if used by anyone else but the invincible genin.
"Human Bat!" Shigin shouted while he jumped up over Little Honda's head and stiffened his body up in a straight position. His legs grew in length again, landing firmly on the ground and using the balancing point of the ground beneath to swing the stiffened body about like an actual bat.
A deafening and horrid punch silenced the genin. It was incredibly fast and packed enough force to send Shigin flying upward and through the corner of the gambling house's ceiling. Damaging the building even further. The other genin had to clutch tighter to the surfaces they clung on to so that the shock to the building did not have them lose their balance.
"The idiot makes a point." Pagu smiled with a sly expression as he threw his backpack up in the air and charged at Little Honda into close-distance as well. The monster lacked the maturity and the baptism of battle to evaluate the fact that Pagu Aphonei of Team Hickory previously fought like a mid-to-long range fighter and had little to no reason to approach a superior physically opponent up close.
Honda just threw his hands up in the air and jumped forward in a maddened dash, throwing his hammer arms down at the charging genin, greatly surpassing the slightly sadistic youth in speed. However, once Pagu's body appeared to be crushed and mangled under Honda's arms, after a poof of smoke cleared out, a spray of green and dark purple gases spread around the monster's upper body with the object of Honda's destruction being revealed to be Pagu's backpack, which the genin had substituted himself with.
"Tranquilizers again?" Zephra looked at her teammate who, after succeeding with his switcheroo trick, rushed back into the safety of the most faraway walls in the long distance.
"It worked before. Maybe temporarily but it did slow him down. This time I put most of my stored poison gas into the mix as well." Pagu smiled, his lips twisted long and stretched all across the lower parts of his face.
Honda's body bloated out. Before the abomination looked like a monster sewn together from multiple body parts like a jigsaw puzzle, now the manmade horror inflated to the point of appearing almost like a balloon and greatly stressing out the stitches of obsidian black threads that held it together. With a mighty blow, the monster sent the collection of tranquilizing gas and poison gas that he had breathed in back in a concentrated stream.
Pagu tried to avoid the rushing flow of gas but the spread was too wide, it was aimed solely at his direction and dodging such an attack whilst in a corner was less than ideal given that movement aside at any direction only brought him a bit closer to the object he was ultimately trying to avoid. The genin grabbed his throat as his face twisted in a pain-ridden grimace while it dyed blood-red.
Even with all the filtering and tampering to the highly precise and lethal formula, which Pagu had concocted inside Honda's lungs, even with the unearthly concentration of carbon dioxide coming out from the monster's innards and flushing the formula up somewhat, Pagu fell without a sign of life on the floor.
"P-Pagu…" Zephra shrieked out, without thinking, the girl placed herself hallway into rushing to her possibly dead teammate just to check on his condition but a resolute scolding of Juhi Aburame stopped her.
"Don't move your eyes away from the enemy!" the Aburame yelled out. By now, most of the genin had realized that this was not an enemy they could defeat, not even all six of them together. The best they could hope for was to bargain for time, play this out until reinforcements arrive, hopefully, someone of distinguished rank and willing to put themselves into this mad meat grinder.
Honda moved toward the lifeless genin, his face looked overflowing with vengeful thoughts. It was not tough to read into the monster's intentions – to make sure that this annoying little man that attacked him was truly dead utilizing the most excessive assurance possible.
"No! No!" Zephra cried, out, she swung her cloth pieces around, channeling and building up Wind Release chakra inside of them until they were almost glowing with chakra and the energy had a very visible manifestation on the accessory most commonly used for dancing. "Wind Style: Performance of the Slingshot!"
A Wind Release chakra sphere of moderate size rolled across the distance to which the cloth accessory it traveled using and was channeled through extended. The sphere snowballed and grew across every inch of the distance it rolled across the cloth before smashing right into the chest cavity of the unstoppable monster at the end of the road. Little Honda huffed from the shock to the chest that hit him head-on, twitched and squirmed but then his hand regained limited movement before the awesomely powered ninjutsu technique launched from desperation had even concluded.
The monster grabbed onto the cloth from Zephra's accessories and pulled the girl in with a single, unbelievable in its might and focus movement. At the same time, the beast's hand extended to grab the genin by her throat, sadly, Honda may have miscalculated the size of his new body and where he only meant to grab the girl by her throat initially, his hand wrapped around her entire body and prepared to squeeze.
Zephra screamed out in pain before crunchy sounds filled the air and drowned out her voice. Honda's face looked absolutely livid with the group of genin and he undoubtedly did not plan to stop with just that much punishment. He fully intended on squeezing on the body until there was nothing left to squeeze on. However, his grand in its sadism plan got interrupted by a strong blast from the back.
During the distraction that Zephra's attack had provided, Tohi Jomya from Shigin's Team Pine had slipped behind Little Honda and closer to the devastated bag of Pagu's which she used to load up her own supplies. She was not entirely sure if Pagu, Kuren, and Zephra were still alive but the best she could do now was utilize the time that they had bought her. Pagu was right, tranquilizers and other means that did not directly attack and cause harm to Honda's body was the closest thing to a weakness that they have stumbled upon and only one of their six used tranquilizers and poisons.
Zephra's lifeless body slipped out from the opened hand of Little Honda now that the monster no longer squeezed on it and instead tried to process the boiling, childish rage that being endlessly pestered by these teens awakened inside of him. The monster roared out in the air, shaking the entire building and the ground beneath his own feet, sinking the building deeper into a crater of smashed and ground into dust dirt as the expensive building materials and intricate alloys of the most sophisticated steel of the gambling house managed to contain the monster's rage for now.
Tohi aimed her cannon at Honda, pulled on the trigger and held it pulled until her finger got sore. Her other hand would have gotten tired long before that, loading up her cannon with everything she could find on her. The weapon was built with scrolls in mind, using scrolls with techniques or materials sealed inside of them, however, it was a versatile and flexible tool. Pouches, explosive, light or oil bombs, conventional kunai or shuriken… Anything she would have placed inside would have come out in one way or another at high velocity and impressive explosive power.
The explosive spheres that Tohi launched barely even fazed the monster. Pagu's poison gas bombs and knock-out gas bombs barely did anything at all as well, the incendiary bombs, light bombs, and oil bombs all used together could only hold Honda in place for a while as while the genetically engineered horror show could not proceed onward and kill his attacker, he just stood in place and weathered the storm.
Shigin's elongated feet burst from the ceiling above, stamping right across Honda's face and planting the confused and pissed monster firmly down onto the ground. Aburame Juhi extended her hands, allowing her squirming black insects to move across the walls and the room as well as build bridges by structuring themselves and attaching to each other using their powerful mandibles.
"Parasitic Insect Jutsu: Sarcophagus!" Juhi grunted out, this technique was one that she had learned after the Chuunin Exams and given by the chakra she had invested into it and the strain that it placed on the girl's body, it was one of notable rank. The ant-like species of the Parasitic Insects that Juhi specifically used had swarmed and gathered themselves around the monster in a sphere. Enclosing him as they pointed their heads inward and prepared to bite in on anyone trying to escape the entrapment while the unique properties of their bites sapped the chakra away from the trapped opponent weakening them continuously with each attempt to escape.
"Shock bombs, light bombs, poison and tranquilizer gas. Nothing puts him down and it barely slows him down." Tohi grunted. The kunoichi lowered her weapon. As her chakra was slowly beginning to take a significant dip down due to her onslaught of ceaseless use of her weapon and the augmentations of perception, accuracy, speed, and strength required to wield it efficiently, it was becoming harder and harder to keep the weapon aimed straight.
"Let's hope that he can be drained of chakra," Juhi replied while still holding her hands upright and controlling the buzzing, living sarcophagus covering up the monstrous opponent.
"What a weird guy, he's not invulnerable like me, he just heals up really fast. You'd think that'd make him the failure, not me…" Shigin pressed his lips together and glared at the bustling whirlwind of swarming blackness that was around Honda.
"Ugh!" Juhi's eyes widened and the girl stumbled forward, losing concentration for a bit. Having a very close relationship with the Parasitic Insects, like all Aburame, she felt the shock of massive losses and the devastation of the initial formation amongst the ranks of the insects. "He's fighting. I think he's getting mad again."
"Isn't that how your jutsu works? Relying on unsuccessful attempts by the opponent to escape so that the insects can devour their chakra?" Tohi wondered.
"That's only if he's unsuccessful in breaking out. A sufficient enough force will break right out and if anyone can put out that kind of pressure – it's this guy." Juhi looked up, her shades had halfway slipped off her face but the girl had no freedom of using her arms while they were engaged in controlling the technique.
Juhi screamed out in pain again. More and more lights faded dimmer, she had plenty more insects to offer, perhaps enough to sustain a prolonged scuffle just like this but even while the enemy was seemingly subdued, it appeared like Team Pine was actually the one in disadvantage.
"Unbelievable! He's still bashing his head against the wall, even though it did not work the first time?" Tohi observed, looking at the massive lump that had formed in the sarcophagus of Parasitic Insects that slowly formed back into its original shape. Little Honda's fortitude was sufficient was to bend and almost break the sarcophagus even while having his chakra drained and eaten by all those insects.
"It's not just that. He should be growing weaker as his chakra drains. He was attacked by Kuren before, surely she shut down several of his nodes while she was busy attacking his vitals as well. Now he is being surrounded by Parasitic Insects and yet still he draws strength from somewhere and grows stronger. Even though such a thing does not exist, his strength may very well be limitless from our point of view." Juhi observed, sweat was running down her forehead and her hair were falling all over her twisted in agony face.
Lumps began forming all over the sarcophagus, on each side, by the dozens. Honda was launching a rage-fueled barrage of punches each of which carried less individual crushing strength that his usual output but together they stacked up to an overwhelming combination. Juhi twitched and squirmed, grunted and groaned but she persevered and held her sarcophagus intact, supplying it with new insects as the old ones could no longer sustain it.
Then, as the young woman maintaining the hold and the sarcophagus itself was at its weakest, a single, focused blow blew it right up. The insects scattered all across the gambling house in a mad shower from the explosive force of impact that the enraged monster generated. Even after failing to bust the sarcophagus so many times and coming into contact with the Parasitic Insects with each unsuccessful blow of his combination attack, Honda still stood in the center of the room, breathing heavily.
"He took damage! He's tired!" Shigin yelled out while charging at the monster. He was not entirely wrong in his assessment, even someone who took battle strategy for granted due to his invulnerability and preferred a bolder, more hands-on approach to his fighting saw the signs of weary on Honda in his hunched position and heavy breathing. Also, the way his stitched together from multiple separate bodies and body parts muscles twitched and almost radiated chakra from within, letting it all outward.
Shigin swung his fists around, he did not aim too much or think about his attacks, there was no time for that. The invulnerable genin merely rushed in, jumped up to the monster's hanging head and started swinging his fists and feet in his highly elastic and quick striking style of taijutsu. Honda did not put up any attempt at resistance either. Regardless, while the blows certainly landed on their mark and were registered, they barely did anything else but apply some pressure as Honda did not as much as stumble back.
"Out of my way!" Honda roared as he threw his hands out and attempted to bear-hug the slippery genin. This turtle-paced attempt was just met with Shigin's leap in the air and a firm plant of his feet in Honda's face as the quick striker continued to stamp with his feet onto the monster's face.
Before he could land onto the ground, Shigin used his still elongated from previous attacks legs to wrap comfortably around Honda's throat as he spun his entire body to the side, in a way that would have snapped the monster's neck had he been human. A painful crunching sound filled the room as Honda's head ended up staring blankly backward, where Shigin slipped off and stretched his tired body out on the floor. He had some more useless clusters of cells to burn out to return his body to its normal state again.
A crushing grip squeezed tightly the calves of the worn out Shigin, using the boy's entire body as an improvised weapon. Like a rope or a chain that he swung around causing devastation all over the building. Multiple support beams, walls, and ceilings crumbled while the monster swung his elaborate and long-range, living weapon around. Tohi and Juhi were too slow and tired to keep up with the relentless rampage of their teammate being used as an improvised weapon this way.
Ultimately, both girls got smacked aside and thrown out of the building, flying off to wherever the laws of physics commanded them to land. After both of the kunoichi were knocked out of the building, Honda swung his living weapon around like a sling before launching him as high up as he could. Shigin burst through every single floor, it was something that greatly reduced the force at which he was thrown but regardless of that, a landing was not a likely part of his near future agenda.
"I just want to play with the machines!" Honda roared out to the unseen and unheard ears that were listening. The capricious declaration of his childlike desire was more like a trademarked battle cry for the lab-made horror. Yelling in pain, Hanada Katsuo fell out from the safety he was hiding under, clutching at his bleeding ears. Even as his own body was crumbling apart, feeling the tingling of the intense soundwaves of Honda's voice penetrating him, Hanada Katsuo took careful time to examine the totaled gambling house that this monstrosity now owed him for.
"You're a bad man… Mommy used to say so." Honda spoke with a much more contained tone as he approached the writhing boss of the Konoha's underbelly.
Hanada could only hear unintelligible screeching in his ears shortly after the initial damage to his ears. He only heard the fact that Honda spoke but not the exact content of his words. It was after a minute or two that the words told to him in composure of the monster began somewhat intelligible and possible to piece together in the cacophony of screeches in the man's ears.
"What is it that you want?" Hanada squirmed, he did not attempt to crawl away or hide where he fumbled out from not too long ago. There would have been little use of that. Those genin that probably had all lost their lives proved that much, force wielded little merit with this thing.
"I keep telling but nobody listens… I want to look at the pretty lights." Honda grumbled, the intense sound waves leaving the monster's mouth caused Hanada's golden hair to rustle.
"Look around. You're here." Hanada stretched his hands out wide to gesture for the monster to feast his eyes to his heart's content, if that would make this abomination leave his gambling house – that would be a miraculous save.
"I want to play with the machines. The ones with fruits and birds and funny yellow mice and bombs on them." Honda changed his mind, lifting Hanada Katsuo in the air and closer to his eyes so that the two could stare each other in the eyes. When the monster was not yelling and rampaging, his voice sounded almost… Child-like.
"You broke all of them. You will pay for them, in fact." Hanada made a strict stare right into Little Honda's eyes as if attempting to scold an actual child.
"I… I don't have any money…" Little Honda let go of Hanada, having the man fall and fumble on his behind while the monster backed off in an almost embarrassed set of gestures coming from his muscular frame. The horror project butted his index fingers together in embarrassment with most traces of its horrific fit of rage from before evaporating as it was replaced by shame.
"It's okay, you'll work this debt off for me." Hanada dusted off his fancy silks before glaring back at the monster's eyes. Honda, on the other hand, desperately avoided the man's glare.
"I… I don't know how…" Honda backed up. "I… I don't wanna!" he was getting riled up again.
"Well then, someone you know will pay for this, in that case." Hanada fixed his clothes. While the man was getting confident due to his discovery of the monster's childlike state, he could not see how vastly he was overplaying his hand.
"No!" Honda roared out, his childlike voice was once more replaced by the monster lurking inside him while the genetically engineered horror threw his foot in a heavy push kick aimed at crushing this unpleasant man of authority in front of him. All that the monster's foot landed on was a hot stream of air as a blazing flare blitzed right past Little Honda.
Hanada looked at the teenage rabbit that held him firmly in her hands and the fiery aura she was emanating that quickly died out. Then his eyes turned at the girl in a stage magician uniform standing on a horizontal steel beam that connected two support pillars, two of very few remaining to hold Hanada's precious gambling house intact.
For better or worse, Mana had arrived to confront the monster that haunted her peaceful nights once more.