Hinata of the White Lotus

Tayuya's Decision

Tayuya winced as the arm of Uzumaki Naruto fell, bisected at the elbow.

It was far from a clean cut, Kimimaro's strongest offensive technique, having pierced through flesh and bone to sever it, ripping hunks of his arm away and sending blood spraying in every direction.

If the cut had been clean, there might have been a chance to save the severed appendage and reattach it, provided there was a skilled enough medical ninja on hand. However, even the most powerful medic couldn't possibly save his arm now. It was gone.

"Geh," Naruto dropped to his knees, his one remaining arm coming up to grab at the stump. The pain must have been unbearable, provided shock and adrenaline hadn't kicked in. Even with that, he would no longer be fighting. Blood splashed out from his open wound in viscous globs.

"Dammit," Tayuya cursed under her breath. In this state there was no way he would be able to answer their questions. Although it was unlikely he would have anyways. Tayuya had tried to coerce the whereabouts of the Hyuga girl out of the two Konoha Shinobi that jumped her in the forest too. Yet even when she beat them to the brink of consciousness they wouldn't answer.

She had hoped by throwing them down here and showing Naruto the state she had put them in, it would make him realize his position and loosen his lips. But then Kimimaro had to go and lop his arm off.

"I believe you said that if I got through you, then you would tell me the location of the Hyuga girl." Kimimaro said, his back still turned to the blond he had charged through. It would appear he had taken his word literally earlier.

"Go to hell!" Naruto spat out, unable to string together a phrase longer than that through the pain.

"This is not a negotiation." Kimimaro's tail flicked in agitation, slapping the blond with enough force to send him flying.

"Oi, Kimimaro!" Tayuya shouted in reflex. To her relief, two of Naruto's remaining wood clones ran forward and caught the original, propping him up. Although it didn't look like Naruto was going to be forming any more comebacks through the obvious pain.

"Shut up, Tayuya." Kimimaro turned to glare at her, sending a shiver up her spine. Even when he was pale and sickly, she knew he was strong enough to put her in the ground. Now that he had forced into the second stage of his cursed seal that fear she felt was only compounded. Her mouth went dry and she felt a scratching in the back of her throat.

Even so, she forced herself to speak. "No." She said, and when he continued to stare at her she had no choice but to hastily add, "We need him to talk. He can't do that if you kill him." There was also the little fact that they had promised to leave him alive for the Akatsuki, but she hardly cared about that.

"He had his chance to speak freely." Kimimaro stalked forward, more like an apex predator from ancient times now than a human in his cursed form. "Now we must force him." It wasn't Naruto he moved towards, but his fallen teammates.

"...You can't be serious." Tayuya never liked Kimimaro. He was cruel and wholly devoted to Orochimaru. Yet despite this, he was also strangely honorable. He would never strike an opponent while they were already down unless Orochimaru strictly ordered it. Yet now he approached two unconscious opponents with the intent to kill them if Naruto didn't give him what he wanted.

"Stop!" Naruto yelled, attempting to take a step forward. He stumbled almost immediately, his clone forced to catch him and hold him up. The other three clones charged past him, moving to intercept Kimimaro.

"You already know what to do to get me to stop." Kimimaro cut down the three clones, barely even stopping his slow approach towards Kiba and Shino to do it. "Give up the Hyuga girl."

"Kimimaro…" Tayuya grit her teeth. Was this it? She was going to be forced to make her move here, now? To be honest, she didn't care either way for the lives of these Konoha Shinobi, but she couldn't risk him killing them yet either. And if Kimimaro was desperate enough to break his code of honor… he must be on his last leg. If there was ever a chance she could take him, it was now, wasn't it?

She gripped her flute hard enough to turn her knuckles white. Kimimaro took another step. Just a couple more now and he would be over them. It was now or never. Another step. She had to act. She knew she had to act, yet something was still holding her back.

One more step. Kimimaro raised his spear, holding it over the head of the one with dark glasses.

Tayuya knew she had to move, yet she couldn't. Even on his last leg, Kimimaro still terrified her.

"I told you to stop!" Naruto roared, an explosion of energy radiating off his body. Tayuya stumbled backwards, barely managing to maintain her footing against the sudden gust of wind. Sinister chakra so plentiful it was visible clung to Naruto, his whiskers becoming more pronounced and teeth sharpening.

"...So this is what Akatsuki is after." Kimimaro, for his part, hardly seemed phased. Yet the outburst in power had succeeded in turning his attention away from his unconscious prey. "Even so, I don't recommend moving around in that state. The power is impressive, but you're only going to speed up the blood loss if you try to fight."

"Shut it!" Naruto growled, reaching over to the clone that was holding him up. Then with the loud snap of breaking bark, he ripped the clone's right arm off at the elbow. The clone didn't even seem to notice, let alone scream in pain. And with all the care of a lumberjack, Naruto slammed the wooden clone arm against his stub.

The pain must have been excruciating, because it caused him to drop back down to his knees and cry out in anguish. Yet he didn't remove the wooden arm, despite the fact there was no way it would stick. Tayuya had been watching the fight long enough to know this kid was no medical ninja. And you couldn't just stick two limbs together hoping they would stay that way. Humans weren't dolls, after all.

At least, that should have been the case.

Yet against all odds, something miraculous happened. From the end of the arm there was some kind of reaction, little root like tendrils reaching out and digging into the flesh of Naruto's right bicep. These roots fused the wooden arm together with the original, sucking at the red chakra cloak like a real tree might absorb water.

"No fucking way…" Tayuya couldn't believe it. Yet it was reality, Naruto stumbling back to his feet as he stared down at the limp wooden arm in deep concentration for several quiet seconds. There was a twitch. First from the fingers that curled into a fist. Then he lifted the whole arm, extending it out in front of himself.

"You have quite the resolve, I will give you that." Kimimaro turned to face him again, crouching low as he prepared to charge. "But you're foolish if you think this actually changes anything." In a flash he was gone, sprinting low across the ground again, spear held out in front of him in another thrust.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Naruto was ready for him this time. Reaching his new wooden arm out and catching the spear. For the second time a miracle happened. The spear Kimimaro had made was formed from his densest bones. It was an unstoppable force, capable of piercing through anything.

And yet Naruto caught it.

The spear should have pierced through the new wooden arm just as easily as it had his old flesh one. No, it was wrong to say it didn't pierce. It looked like the attack had. Rather than actually catch it, Naruto had merely intercepted the attack with his palm. The spear was piercing through the wood, but it seemed to be regenerating equally fast, trapping the two of them in a stalemate.

"How is this…?" Tayuya had never heard of such crazy regenerative ability. It looked like the wood arm was absorbing all that red energy he was leaking out to achieve it, but as much energy as it absorbed he just kept putting it out. It was insane.

This was it.

Tayuya raised the flute to her mouth, beginning the tune that gave commands to the summoned Doki. The three, ogre-like creatures had fallen limp on the battlefield since the moment she got distracted earlier. But just like nothing had ever happened, they jumped to life when they heard her tune.

"Tayuya!" Kimimaro also heard her music playing, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Don't interfere!" So he still had some of his honor left, after all. Too bad for him, she was a ninja through and through, and as such didn't care about things like that. She didn't respond, focusing on her playing. Kimimaro would no doubt certainly make her regret that later.

If he got the chance to, that was.

The Doki wielding the giant club was the first to reach them, swinging the metal bat with enough force to topple a small building. Only her target wasn't Naruto: but Kimimaro himself.

"Wha-!?" Both of them gave surprised gasps, Kimimaro's cut off upon contact. He was sent rocketing across the field in a straight line, continuing for at least several dozen uninterrupted meters.

As Kimimaro bounced away, his body ragdolling through the air with each subsequent skip, Naruto could only stare towards the opponent he had just been at a stand-off with in shock. Slowly, his gaze turned to the Doki that towered over him. The ogre that had once been his enemy stood next to him unthreatening, in fact it might have been even reassuring.

From there, his attention then shifted to the one controlling the Doki, Tayuya lowering the flute she had been playing, placing it beside her hip as she glared back at him, not a trace of warmth in her eyes.

"Don't misunderstand!" She shouted, the two of them still far enough apart they couldn't communicate with a normal speaking voice. "I'm not doing this for you. There's just been a change in circumstances. That's all there is to it."

"Misunderstand…?" Naruto asked, apparently still hung up on the first part of everything she had said. A moment later the disbelief vanished and his face flushed with anger. "I don't know what the hell you're on about, but don't think for a moment I'm gonna accept your help! And I'm definitely not gonna thank you for it either! I still haven't forgotten what you did to Kiba and Shino, ya hear!?"

"Huhhhh!?" Tayuya's face flushed red with anger. "Ya think I give a fuck if you thank me or not!? I just told you that I'm doing this for myself. And I don't give two shits whether you forgive me or not for beating up your dumbass teammates after they attacked me! Now if you're a shinobi, just accept that we should fight together and let's move on! Or is your dick too small to accept help from anyone?" There was nothing more she couldn't stand than those who held to some false sense of honor like her former leader did.

"And I'm telling you that if you think I'm about to just trust someone who switches sides mid-battle, then you're the one with a screw loose, you psycho chick!" Naruto howlered back, voice rising to match her volume.

"You stupid bastard…" Tayuya grit her teeth together so hard she thought they might crack. This was why she couldn't ever trust anyone. It seemed like no matter who she put her trust in, they would just let her down sooner or later. Although this kid might have actually set the record.

"So you've finally revealed yourself…" Kimimaro's voice caused her blood to run cold, all the anger evaporated in an instant. He stumbled to his feet, blood rolling out his mouth and dribbling down his chin. Even then, beat up as he looked, the ice cold glare he gave her enough was to send shivers up her spine. All over again she was reminded of that first time she fought him and he beat her, along with the other members of the Sound Four into submission.

"What about it?" Tayuya asked, trying and failing to keep the trembling out of her voice. Mistake or not, it was too late to take anything back now. She was betting everything on this hunch being right. She just really hoped it wasn't a dead end.

"No, I was just wondering when you would finally betray us." Kimimaro said so casually it was almost like it didn't concern him. He once again stalked forward, this time a noticeable wobble in his step.

"You knew…?" Tayuya couldn't hide her own surprise. Certainly, her actions as of recent were more than enough to tip him off to her planned betrayal, but he used the word 'us' instead of 'me' which seemed to imply he had always known her loyalties never truly lied with the Sound Four or Orochimaru.

"I did." Kimimaro admitted as if he was reporting the weather. "However, even upon reporting it to Orochimaru-sama, he assured me nothing would ever come of it… so I wonder what is it that changed?" The way in which he asked it pissed her off. The fact that he, of all people, would ask her that, it was enough that she forgot about all that fear and humiliation he had instilled in her.

"You really have the balls to ask me that?" Tayuya seethed between grit teeth. "Orochimaru killed my mother… and he probably had a hand in what happened to your clan, or are you too blind to see that!?" Her throat tore from the strength of her scream. Yet she didn't care. Finally, finally, she was able to say it. These feelings she had been keeping bottled up inside her were finally able to come out.

Yet in the face of her raging passion, Kimimaro could only continue to stare blankly at her, not caring in the slightest.

"If you believe that, then why keep quiet? Why stay under the employment of Orochimaru until now?" He asked her. Of course he would ask her something brain-dead like that, she realized. His sense of honor didn't allow him to see things any other way aside from his own narrow lens in which he saw the world.

From the very beginning, these two could never understand one another.

"You seriously never heard of keeping your enemies close?" Tayuya asked him mockingly, no longer trying to reach any kind of consensus. Instead she just wanted to see him get angry. "From the moment I joined, I was always aiming for that snake bastard's head…" Like it or not, Orochimaru no doubt knew this. Yet he kept her close anyways, and even went as far as to promote her to his personal guard, because he knew she could never actually touch him. Nor would she ever let harm come to him, because she wanted to be the one to enact her revenge personally.

In the end, she had been his perfect little pawn. Yet that all ended now. From the moment she had seen Hinata in action from within the barrier she and the others had erected, she knew it deep down. It was exactly as her mother had told her. Her only regret was waiting until now to finally act on it.

She had been trying to tell herself it was just a self delusion. That what she saw couldn't have been real. That was why she wanted to see her again. To verify it with her own eyes that it had been true. In the end, she hadn't been able to do that, but if anything this was better.

This way, she was liberated because she chose to be. Not because someone else had given her permission.

"It would appear any further words between us are lost." Kimimaro looked exhausted. To the point that Tayuya wondered if he could be angry even if he wanted to. This was exactly as she wanted… him on his last limb. Even still, she wondered if she could take him by herself? No, that wasn't necessary. For it didn't look like Naruto could entirely ignore that conversation he just overheard.

"I still don't really get it, but it seems like you got a lot going on…" Naruto scratched his cheek awkwardly, refusing to meet her gaze, instead turning to face Kimimaro. "So that's why I guess I'll let you help me out!" Then just like that his brazen attitude had returned. "Just try not to hold me back, alright?"

"This fucking brat…" Tayuya muttered under her breath. She might have pushed the issue, but there was no more time for that. Kimimaro was back on the move. He knew better than they did where his limits were, and if he was attacking now then no doubt he wanted to end this more than even they did.

"It's Tayuya, right?" Naruto called out, rotating his right shoulder and flexing the wooden arm as if to make sure it still worked. "Let's go!" He ran forward to meet Kimimaro's charge head on. The red chakra from his body was still flowing into his fake arm. However, while it was true he had stopped Kimimaro with it once before, their opponent was no idiot. He wouldn't try the same thing twice.

"Damn it." Tayuya raised her flute, playing the tune to set her Doki on the move. All three of them jumped into action, moving to intercept Naruto and Kimimaro. However, it wouldn't be fast enough. They were too far away to stop Naruto and Kimimaro from clashing. Which meant it was too late to save Naruto, but that couldn't be helped. Tayuya wouldn't aim for that, she would just aim to strike Kimimaro in the moment after his blow landed.

Only their moment never came.

She had been so worried about Kimimaro, that she forgot the one and only thing she had learned about Naruto: the kid was unorthodox. After all, not just anyone would think to stick a clone's arm into the spot where they had just lost the original. Even someone who would think to do it would just be an idiot under normal circumstances… but when you did something idiotic like that and had the power to make it work… that was a special kind of talent unto itself.

So when Kimimaro attacked this time, Naruto was ready and even more. Pulling a bone from his spinal column, Kimimaro made a long whip that was guaranteed to bind his opponent in place. However, the moment Naruto saw it, he unleashed his own jutsu.

"Mokuton: Transformation Jutsu!" The transformation technique wasn't anything special. It was just a simple illusion to change your appearance. However, what Naruto did was beyond a simple illusion. He combined the technique with his wooden arm, actually physically altering its composition.

His arm sprouted outwards like a rapidly growing tree, splitting into multiple roots that quickly overwhelmed Kimimaro and hefted him into the air. Naruto didn't have to say anything from there, simply glancing in Tayuya's direction for her to know what it was she had to do. She changed the tune of her flute, commanding the Doki to jump and strike at Kimimaro all at once.

Kimimaro attempted to batter himself free, but against the red-chakra enhanced wood release he was helpless to do anything in the split second he had been given. With a loud crash, he was hit from all three sides with enough power to shatter his wooden prison. Time seemed to stand still for a split second, before reality then caught back up in a brutal flash. Kimimaro vanished, rocketing into the ground at such speeds that he created an explosion of dust.

As the dust settled, Tayuya began to feel something she hadn't felt in a long time. A feeling she thought that she had long abandoned as her world-view became more cynical. That was hope. They might actually be able to defeat Kimimaro. Something she and the other members of the Sound Four hadn't been capable of on their own, suddenly seemed like an actual reality, after joining forces together with a Genin from Konoha no less.

Of course, she knew this wouldn't be possible if Kimimaro hadn't forced his body to move far beyond its limits already. Yet even in his weakened state, she never imagined a scenario in which she could push him this far. That wasn't to say she was going to let it go to her head. Until he no longer had a pulse, she didn't dare for a second drop her guard.

There was nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal, after all. And Kimimaro had come here with one purpose in mind; revenge against the Hyuga girl. That meant he had no intention of playing around with them.

"I will admit…" Kimimaro's voice called out from within the settling dust particles, voice seemingly unfazed. "I actually felt that one." The cloud cleared to reveal a mostly unharmed Kimimaro. The combined might of all three Doki had penetrated his rust-colored flesh, but that only revealed the pure white bone of his absolute defense underneath. Even now, she was incapable of inflicting any true damage on him.

"Shit!" Tayuya cursed under her breath. Was there really no way to win other than running out the clock on his remaining lifespan? In the first place, how much more did this bastard even have in the tank? She had no idea, and the uncertainty was all it took for that small flicker of hope she only just finally found to nearly be snuffed out.

If it was do or die anyways, the only thing left was for her to use her trump card. She was loathed to fall back to it, but considering the circumstances, what other choice did she have? The problem was, once she went through with this there would be no going back.

"Mokuton: Transformation Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, just before she could finalize her resolve. This time, his wooden arm inflated to massive sizes, becoming almost comically large. It was more like a blown up balloon rather than something made entirely of wood. He brought this massive fist down over top of Kimimaro, the sheer size of it engulfing him completely.

"You really don't know when to give up!" Kimimaro wasn't going to simply stand by and continuously take these attacks. "Dance of the Seedling Fern!" Instead of attacking the incoming fist directly, he stabbed into the ground below. A moment later and massive bones sprout from the ground like a new forest blooming into existence.

These massive bones shredded through Naruto's giant fist and forced the blond to retreat, jumping back and landing next to Tayuya. "The hell is this?" Naruto asked, not even acknowledging that his new arm was a mangled mess.

"It's Kimimaro's ultimate technique." Tayuya answered, knowing they only had seconds to strategize. "Those bones are an extension of him. Meaning he can travel through them at will. No matter what you do, don't drop your guard." Although she figured that warning was already too late, seeing as Naruto was already down one arm.

No sooner did she think that, and the wooden arm began to heal itself, in a mere seconds looking like it had never been splintered apart to begin with. "What kinda monster are you?" She couldn't help but ask.

Naruto's response was to smirk at her, red eyes glancing up in her direction. "The kind that never goes back on his word." He declared. She was sure he thought the line sounded cool, but she had no idea what he meant by that.

The time for conversation was almost over. The forest of bones was growing rapidly, expanding as if it meant to cover the whole hillside. Naruto stretched his arm out, the wood splitting into three separate branches that picked up the unconscious forms of his teammates before retracting to dump them unceremoniously behind them.

At the same time, Tayuya played her flute, recalling her Doki to her side. "Listen, I got one final trump card, but I need you to buy me time somehow…" She had no idea why she was asking. Kimimaro's seedling fern couldn't be stopped by anyone. You would need an equally insane jutsu to limit the area of effectiveness.

Yet despite her unreasonable request, Naruto simply nodded. "You got it!" He said, forming his favorite seal. "Taju Moku Bunshin no Jutsu!" Tayuya's vision swam with orange, Naruto creating an entire army of clones this time to cover an area equal in size to what Kimimaro had done. And he wasn't done yet. "Mokuton Hijitsu: Deep Forest Emergence!" Clapping his hands together, he unleashed the same jutsu he had used to catch Kimimaro off guard earlier. Only this time the scale was completely different.

Creating even the small number of trees he had before had left him on the edge of exhaustion. Now this red chakra flared wildly, not dimming in the slightest despite the massive reserves it must have been consuming in order to power such a massive transformation.

A new forest emerged, the growing trees and bones battling for dominance amongst themselves. It was difficult for her to tell, but it looked like the roots of the trees were spreading beneath them as well, preventing even Kimimaro's unstoppable ferns from growing.

The end result was a completely transformed battlefield, trees of wood and ferns of bone standing side by side in the once empty hillside.

"You're full of surprises, I'll give you that…" Tayuya swallowed a lump that had formed in the back of her throat. She was pretty sure that when this battle had started, the gap in power between Naruto and Kimimaro had been a massive chasm. Yet it was like with every new technique, Naruto's power was growing exponentially. She had heard of those geniuses with limitless potential whose growth developed in leaps and bounds when involved in life and death battles, but this was the first time she had actually seen it.

"I know already!" Naruto grinned, strolling boldly into the forest he had created. "You said you had a trump card, yeah? Well then I'll leave it to you, along with them!" He nodded back to his unconscious teammates. Several roots had wrapped around them protectively and looked to be sharing with them chakra… and healing their wounds. "Since you're the one that knocked them out, take some responsibility!"

"Asshole…" Tayuya grumbled, yet she couldn't fight down the rising smile either. For the first time in perhaps her life, she thought she might understand what it meant to fight as a team. Certainly, she had been placed in a squad as one of Orochimaru's henchmen, but she had never actually considered them people she could trust her back to. Yet something about this kid made her want to believe in him despite such a thing being against her very nature.

That was why she had to do everything in her power to make sure this worked. As Naruto went into the forest, she turned to face her three Doki. Despite herself, there was a pang of guilt and she felt herself hesitate a moment longer.

These Doki… they were all she had left from her mother. Along with the flute she used to control them. No- that wasn't entirely true. She did have one other thing: This special chakra.

It was a chakra she was forbidden from using except under very special circumstances. But if the Hyuga girl she had come looking for was who she believed her to be, then she had already fulfilled those conditions.

That was why using this special chakra now was a testament to her belief in that future.

"Thank you for everything." She whispered, despite the fact that her Doki couldn't hear her, and even if they could they would have been incapable of understanding her words. Knowing that somehow made it easier, and with a final goodbye whispered inside her mind, she spread her arms wide, throwing her red hair wildly behind her.

Golden chakra chains erupted from her torso, spikes on the end of those chains flying outwards and stabbing into the Doki. In moments they were completely tangled in the chains made entirely of chakra. Then she pulled those chains back, the golden links contracting and squeezing the Doki. The three massive ogres began to shrink, changing into pure chakra that flowed into her through the chains.

In a way, she wasn't parting with the Doki. Certainly, she would never be able to see them. But their power would always flow through her. These sealing chains passed onto her from her mother and by her clan would ensure that they were always together.

The sealing finished, the three Doki that had been with her since she was a little girl disappearing completely. She held up a single hand, placing it over her heart. If she was feeling honest, she didn't feel any different like how she expected. Yet now wasn't the time to take things slowly. It was sink or swim.

She took off into the forest that was a mixture of trees and bones, heading in the direction of the sound of battle. She didn't have to go far, stumbling upon a dozen Naruto clones, all of them yelling and jumping about randomly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the clones pop out of existence, Kimimaro's upper body melding out from the bone fern to thrust with his spear arm.

The moment the clone vanished, all the other clones spun and zeroed in on where Kimimaro was. Only for him to slink back into the bone before they could reach him in time. Within seconds, Kimimaro re-emerged from a different fern, striking down yet another clone and repeating the cycle. It was like watching a life-or-death version of whack-and-mole.

Tayuya crouched down at the base of a tree, studying Kimimaro's movements carefully and noting which ferns he kept popping out from. Yet there was no discernable pattern that she could distinguish. Kimimaro was simply going after whatever target he deemed easiest, not falling into the trappings of a recognizable rhythm.

"If it's gonna be like that then…" Tayuya breathed deeply. Her muscles coiled and chakra flared. She could feel the power of all three Doki coursing through her now, their strength filling her and becoming one with her own. "Hey, you! Shit for bones!" She called out just as Kimimaro appeared for the latest time, stabbing at yet another clone.

"...Tayuya." Kimimaro didn't disappear back into the fern this time and Naruto's remaining clones didn't swarm him, having also gotten distracted by her shout. "You still haven't given up?" He seemed to think she had abandoned the fight earlier, which was why Naruto had come after him alone. It wasn't a thought she could fault him for. She had spent the entirety of their time together being absolutely terrified of him. And she had never shared with him the secret of her blood. Now, however… she had nothing to be scared of anymore.

She didn't dignify him with a response. The tension she had been building in her ankles exploded outwards and she rocketed across the ground almost too quickly for her own senses to keep up with. Through sheer force of will she managed to keep her bearings. Her target: Not Kimimaro himself, but the base of the bone he was growing out of.

This was her one and only shot, while he still underestimated her. He knew she couldn't damage his ferns. They were made of the same bones that composed his absolute defense. Even the strength of all three Doki combined couldn't break through that. Not as distributed as the power had once been, anyways.

Now all that power came to bear in a single concentrated punch. Her tiny fist met the bone fern- and snapped right through it.

"Impos-" Kimimaro didn't get a chance to finish his surprised gasp, the fern tumbling over like a felled tree. He attempted to retreat inside, but there was no escape for him now. Cut off from the rest of his ferns, he couldn't instantaneously transport any more. The fern he was in hit the ground with a thunderous crash. A second later and he slipped out from it, making a mad dash on all fours for the nearest fern to escape back into.

"Where the hell do you think you're going!?" Naruto and his clones had no intention of giving him the luxury of a clean escape. "Mokuton: Transformation Jutsu!" The wooden right arms of all the clones expanded, once again inflating like overfilled balloons. The first clone landed right in Kimimaro's path.

"U-" The clone shouted, large fist drilling into Kimimaro and sending him flying.

"Zu-" The next clone struck, bouncing him into the air.

"Ma-" Two clones struck him in a pincer blow, smashing their fists together and crushing him between them. Kimimaro spit blood, the power of his attack finally breaking past the absolute defense of his bone armor.

"Ki!" The last clone bounced him towards the original.

"Naruto Rendan!" The original had inflated his arm to such sizes that simply swinging his fist took down a small section of the forest. The gargantuan fist slammed into Kimimaro with the force of a meteor, shattering all the bones in his body before ejecting him from the forest they had jointly created.

There was a loud crash, Kimimaro's body slamming into the wall of the city just outside their view. They had really just done it. Yet despite that, Tayuya was focused on something else. "The name of that combo…?" The question slipped out despite herself.

"Hmm?" Naruto tilted his head, currently focused on deflating his own arm. The question seemed to register a moment later, his face being split by a proud, toothy grin. "You like it? It's my own original combo, the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan! Named after yours truly, y'know!"

"There's no way…" Tayuya barely heard most of what he said. The only thing she heard was the clan name. Was this why fighting together with him felt so familiar and why they were able to match rhythm despite having just been enemies? No- now wasn't the time to think about that. "Let's go." She pushed the thought to the back of her mind for now, running in the direction Kimimaro had been sent flying.

"Ah, wait for me!" Naruto jogged after her, apparently not all that concerned about her reaction just now. The two of them emerged from the forest to find the wall not twenty meters in front of them. The wall had a new crater in the side, cracks running all the way from bottom to top. And lying in front of the wall was Kimimaro's motionless body. Well- mostly motionless, aside from the odd twitch here and there. It was painfully obvious he was attempting to move, but was no longer capable of it.

"We actually fucking beat him…" Tayuya couldn't believe it. Despite the reality of it being right in front of her, it was impossible for her to wrap her mind around it. She never thought this day would actually come, even as his disease put him out of commision.

"Of course, piece of cake!" Naruto laughed to himself, throwing both arms behind his head. Despite the wood arm having only just been attached earlier, he already seemed to be using it like it was natural. Although she supposed he had the battle to thank for that.

Now that Kimimaro was beaten, she didn't really care about any of that. There was still the whole reason she had goaded Kimimaro into doing this in the first place. Things had gone pretty far off the rails, but it didn't matter anymore. "Where's-" She started to ask when a sudden feeling of dread washed over her, cutting off her question.

"H-hey? You okay?" Naruto asked as she dropped to her knees. She couldn't answer, the curse mark on the back of her neck burning with such intensity it was literally robbing her of the ability to even breathe. For a panicked moment, she wondered if this was some kind of failsafe Orochimaru had built in to prevent a betrayal.

However, the sound of something large approaching disproved the notion. Whatever it was that was coming for them, the curse seal was violently reacting to it. Even Naruto appeared able to sense it now. His slit red eyes darted around, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from.

He didn't have to look for long. An object of pure darkness bending the corner, running along the wall from in the direction of the ocean. The only light they had to fight in until now had been the light of the full moon. The shadow of the wall this thing ran along was nearly pitch black. Yet even that natural darkness failed to compare to whatever this thing was.

It wasn't just blackness, it was like the very essence of the absence of light itself. The very act of looking at it was to taint yourself, and once you did, there was no looking away. Despite being on her knees already, Tayuya felt like she was falling. As if this thing was a black hole and she was being pulled into the event horizon.

It created a terrible sense of vertigo and she felt the contents of what little she had eaten today threaten to come up. Naruto looked to be in a similar condition, the closer this thing got the more it affected him as well.

"The hell… is that?" Naruto managed to choke out, still at least partially capable of speech. However, Tayuya couldn't answer. Even if she had a voice, she had no idea. The only thing she understood was that it was in a way similar to the curse seals Orochimaru was experimenting with. Only more.

Was that why it was coming this way? In the same way they were reacting to it, was it reacting to the curse seal on her and Kimimaro? She had her answer a moment later, the monster- or whatever it was- having bee-lined it right for the prone, and broken body of Kimimaro. As he was still in the stage two form of his cursed seal release, it appeared the reaction had been stronger in that direction.

The very outline of the beast was impossible to discern, like she was trying to look at a corrupted video tape, most of her vision covered in static the more she looked at it. That was why she at first thought it had eaten Kimimaro whole. It was only as its body began to shrink that she realized the thing had dove right into the curse mark on Kimimaro's exposed chest.

"It's fusing with him…" Naruto confirmed what she was seeing, apparently also trying to wrap his mind around it. The massive creature- thing- whatever vanished a moment later, having completely merged with Kimimaro's seal.

Tayuya let out a gasp, like she was coming up for air after diving below the surface of the ocean. She clutched at her chest, pulling at her clothes in a vain attempt to let more air in, knowing it actually wouldn't do anything.

Silence settled over them. Like the calm before a storm.

"Is it gone?" Tayuya couldn't help but wonder. She felt stupid for asking not even a moment later.

There was a pulse. Originating from Kimimaro's body, a wave of malignant energy washed over them. Tayuya's curse seal reacted again. The trees of the forest that Naruto created turned red in an instant, falling all together from the branches as if it was the end of autumn. The cracks on the wall behind him spread, the integrity of the stone structure that protected Koto City weakening by the second.

Kimimaro's rust-colored skin turned pitch black, his muscles bulging as he inflated. Despite every bone in his body having been broken, he stood upright. No- upright wasn't entirely the right word for it. That implied he still had human-like qualities. In his stage-two form, Kimimaro was something like a hybrid between a person and an ancient apex predator.

Now he was more predator than human. He grew three- four times in size, his feet and arms looking like talons. His flat face elongated, taking on the aspects of a reptile. Pure white bones erupted from his body at odd angles, standing in stark contrast to his blackened flesh. Kimimaro let out an inhuman roar, revealing razor sharp teeth.

With a swing of his massive tail, he flattened the already barely standing section of wall. The lights of the city flood into the clearing and temporarily blinding both Naruto and Tayuya. The panicked cry of the citizens reached their ears… along with the heavy footfalls of the transformed Kimimaro.

The two had escaped the frying pan…

…only to find they had jumped headfirst into the fire.