Both old foes ran the other's moves and jutsu through their minds. Almost a month of training passed since their one-sided fight, so the same strategies wouldn't work twice. The Gentle Fist in its traditional form wouldn't be a threat to Naruto. His clones may have lacked the concentration to counter the style, but Neji knew better than to risk it. None of the arrogance that held him from adapting remained.

"I don't need to hold back on a clone." Neji darted forward, open hand pulled back.

It furrowed its brow at the familiar movements. While it knew he was feinting, his next moves were a mystery. The wisest thing he could do was shut down the tenketsu in its arms to prevent it from using Ninjutsu, but it was on the lookout for those pokes. He was going to knock him off balance for an opening, which meant his targets were his liver or his head.

Neji thrusted at its liver and clenched his hand during the last moment to punch the clone's lower arm. He stepped back from a left jab to his own while its right hand reached into its pouch. Seeing an opening, he closed the distance with another blow aimed at its liver before throwing an uppercut with his other hand at its chin. Their other enemy creating several golden spikes and throwing them at his back made him jump away though.

"Stay out of this!" The Naruto clone yelled, drawing several shuriken. "Or I'll kill you!"

Kidomaru would've rolled his eyes if it wouldn't create an opening for the Aburame skulking about "Have it your way." He clucked his tongue at an approaching swarm of bugs before webbing them.

Scoffing, Neji shook his head. The real Naruto would've never reached for a ninja tool with an enemy in close range. It was a foolish move someone not confidant in their abilities and desperate would do. He could tell then that block was meant to be performed with its elbow in the hopes of breaking his hand. The clone was just too slow to react in time.

"Try this, you douchebag!" It infused its breath with wind chakra, blew over the shuriken, and threw giant wind saws horizontally at different heights to prevent escape.

He thought of going for cover but the vacuum shuriken were sharp enough to cut through wood as if it were paper. Running out of their way would've been the best option if he didn't see the clone following up with the snake sign. It knew how to counter his Rotation, so he couldn't rely on his greatest defense, especially when the clone was at range with plenty of ninja tools to spare. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he tilted his body at an angle. The second it clapped its hands was the same time he jumped spinning. His Byakugan let him see which of his tenketsu was in alignment with the core of the saws. A strong emission of chakra from just two directed the center saws back, the upper and lower ones buzzing past him.

The clone barely managed to jump over its own weapons. "How did you?!" Growling, it drew and threw a kunai for it to be launched away by a beam of chakra. "Fucking kekkei genkai loser!"

Neji landed on his feet without feeling any dizziness. "And what does that make Hinata?!"

"Don't you dare compare her to you worthless idiots! She's different!" It took out more shuriken, which made him conceal his approach behind the trees.

"How?!" He ran to another trunk before a vacuum shuriken bisected it.

"Well…" It blinked. "Uh…" Gritting its teeth, it scowled. "Shut up!"

If facepalming didn't have a possibility of alerting it to his presence he would have. "You are blinded by envy and anger, just as I was!" He stopped himself in the middle of switching trees when he saw it throw a vacuum shuriken towards the next and where he was, forcing him to jump over them.

"We are nothing alike!" Hands free of shuriken, it began going through the seals of the Vacuum Sphere Jutsu. "I'm glad I wasn't born with a kekkei genkai!"

"I mean you wish the circumstances of your birth were different or, at the very least, the same as everyone else's! Their happy smiles and innocent mindsets make you sick! Everything that is theirs feels as though it should have been yours, am I wrong?!"

It stopped on the dog sign. "...No."

He could read its lips. "For the longest time, I was blinded by my own pain! I was just a boy, and I didn't know how to bear it, so I acted like I was beyond everyone around me!" A frown formed on his. "It was inexcusable, even if I was a child! Except I carried that foolishness into my time as a shinobi!" The frown turned into an odd smile. "You forced me to realize what an idiot I was! That's one reason why I'm here!" His face twisted into a scowl. "The other is to drag you back to Lady Hinata, so I can watch Lord Hiashi beat you senseless!"

"I…" The clone began to laugh. "I knew that the entire time." It looked down. "I wanted to beat the shit out of you because I knew you were full of it. When I finally did, I saw the real you: just some broken kid." Looking back up, it narrowed its eyes. "But I'm not doing this or acting this way out of pain." It separated its hands and balled them into fists. "I'm taking my life back for my own sake and destroying the village because I hate it!" Its lips curved into a smirk. "Nothing you or Hinata's dad can do will change the fact I fucked her or that I'm going to do it again, and again, again, and again after I kill you!"

Neji ran out from a nearby tree towards it. "You wretch!"

Things on Shino's end were going just about as well as Neji's: Kidomaru could only attack him from afar, his bugs were constantly eating through his webs, and he was going from cover to cover to avoid webs and spikes. He wanted to assist Neji at first, but he proved quick he didn't need his help. While his bugs couldn't reach him, they were still siphoning chakra from the webs he was producing. The sheer amount of it told him he had to be running low.

"Spiders are supposed to eat bugs, not the other way around!" Kidomaru frowned as his spiral-vine pattern Cursed Seal spread over his skin. "Time for me to rectify the natural order." A hand grabbing his shoulder made his eyes widen.

Another Shino spread its bugs directly on to him. "I don't think so." He stood still, even when Kidomaru formed spikes to stab him with.

The make-shift weapons dug into his enemy but drew insects instead of blood. "What the hell?!" He felt them crawling all over his skin as he dissipated into a swarm of them. "An insect clone?!"

"You're not a spider, and I'm not a bug. We are shinobi fighting each other to the death. I've outplayed you. Now, you're going to die." He peeked out from his cover and stared at the figure covered in his insects for more than enough time for anyone to be drained dry. A murmur built in his throat when one of his bugs came back to him. "Natural armor you can coat yourself with, huh?" Drawing a kunai with an exploding tag tied to it, he aimed behind his head where the armor was weakest thanks to his hair preventing a full covering. The bugs dispersed in time to get away from the range of the explosion.

Kidomaru would've died if he didn't have the sense to move when the bugs on the back of his head flew away. The force of the explosion still sent him flying back a few feet, but he was still alive with none of his limbs damaged. While he didn't want to admit it, his opponent was a bad match for him. His bugs could sneak up on him, he could only hold them back with his chakra-consuming web, and getting into a far more distant range would've let them team up on his assisting clone. They could track him even if he could get that far, knowing what he knew about the Aburame.

Shino watched his opponent run back from his swarms and took cover from a few more spikes. "I see." He followed behind the trees. "Clever and wise."

"Dammit!" Neji disengaged from the Naruto clone when several more spikes were thrown at him.

"Hey!" It looked up at Kidomaru, who stood on a branch rather than suspending himself with his web. "What the fuck did I tell you!?" Bringing its hands together, it formed the rat sign.

He stopped himself from responding in the same tone. "I can't deal with the other guy on my own! Let's team up!"

"You're a spider, and he's a bug! What's the big deal?!" It made the rabbit and dog signs.

"Well, this bug can eat through this spider's web and has a lot of other bugs to fall back on, so I can't do anything other than potshots!" He jumped to another tree branch when the swarm came close. "See?!"

Its hands formed the tiger sign. "Have you tried rushing him and stabbing him a dozen times?!" It finished with the bird sign.

"He's practically made out of bugs!"

"Fine! Take notes!" It took a deep breath and blew a beam of wind into the swarm, killing a good deal of them. Turning to a darting Neji in time, it blew at his center mass.

He side-stepped a fatal wound into a grazing one to his side. Planting a foot to his right, he was going to throw himself behind cover before a hasty beam where he would've been told him the clone had his movements scouted. A shot of concentrated chakra from a tenketsu aligned with one of its eyes stopped it from blowing another but didn't stop Kidomaru from trying to throw a spike into him.

"You son of a bitch!" It rubbed its eye as he took cover from the other's fire. "Where the fuck was that during our fight?!" With its other hand, it reached into its pouch.

"I thought it beneath me!"

"Sandbagging asshole!" It blew wind chakra over a shuriken.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Sandbagging?!" He ran behind another tree when it threw a wind saw, narrowly avoiding another spike. "Shino!"

"Don't worry." He peeked out from a nearby tree. "I've got this."

"Oh, you sneaky bastard!" The Naruto clone looked down at the bugs crawling up its legs. "Time to improvise." It made the snake sign, clapped its hands, and focused the gale on itself. A grin spread across its face when the bugs went flying. "Was that it?!"

"...Huh." Shino shared a look with Neji. "I might not actually have this."

It pointed at Kidomaru. "Was that so fucking hard!?"

"I don't know how to mold my chakra into wind!" He scowled.

"Then figure it out!" Looking into the woods, it scoffed. "I was planning on beating the absolute shit out of you until you dropped, but it looks like that's out of the picture." It formed the Shadow Clone Jutsu sign. "Time to die."

Neji's eyes widened. "He can't be."

Shino gulped. "It's a clone, so I think he is." He turned around. "We should run."

"Agreed." He span on his heel around and joined his ally in scampering away.

The Naruto clone created several clones. "You know what to do!"

"Blood and dust!" They scattered in all directions. "Ashes and bone!"

"What are you doing?" Kidomaru, watching Shino's insects burrow into the ground, asked.

It looked up and smirked. "Just watch and enjoy the fireworks." Lifting a hand, it counted down with its fingers. "Five, four, three, two." The smirk on its face morphed into a grin. "One!"

The surrounding forest erupted in explosions. Passing wildlife and greenery were blown away by the force of its explosive shadow clones. Few things in the world could survive a direct blast from them but any that took the fringes were on borrowed time. It doubted they could've gotten away fast enough to avoid them entirely. Either they were dead, dying, or at the very least far too wounded to continue fighting.

Kidomaru gaped at the massive dust clouds while his Curse Mark retreated. "Holy shit!"

"Seriously, do you guys really not know how I beat the One-Tail?" It walked up the tree to his branch. "Orochimaru was there."

"He only tells us what he thinks we should know."

"Then I guess he really does see as you fodder; kind of hard not to when he has guys like Kimimaro to boss around."

"I can see how you fought him to a stand-still." He laughed nervously at the clone putting a hand on his shoulder.

It smiled and laughed with him, far more joyfully. "When the four of you tried to attack me, I could've killed you in under a minute if I really wanted to." Its eyes squinted at him. While it didn't despise them particularly, they all heard and saw how the real him reacted to mention of Hinata. None of them could go back to Orochimaru alive, not even Kimimaro. That's the other reason why he created them.

Kidomaru felt a familiar tickling sensation on his legs. "Tricky bastards." He looked down and saw the bugs crawling over him. "They're still alive!"

The clone clucked its tongue, made the snake sign, and clapped its hands to Gale Palm them away. "I was so happy for a second, you pieces of shit!"

A somewhat scorched Neji ran out of the pervading cloud of dust. "Did you really think it'd be that easy?!" He jumped out of the path of several golden spikes on to their tree and sent a few more away with beams from aligning tenketsu. When they hopped down, he followed after. Kidomaru spat a web at him, but he cut it apart with more tenketsu emissions. The second they were in range was the moment he began to spin.

The Naruto clone concentrated chakra into the palm of its hand, but it was too late. It was blown back by the force of a far more powerful Rotation than the one the real Naruto faced in the Chunin Exams. When it crashed, it lifted up its somewhat broken upper body to see a disheveled Shino in the same stance Neji took at the start of their match.

Parallel to him and facing down a recovering Kidomaru, Neji was doing the same. "Eight Trigrams!" He spun on his heel as he did.

"Two palms!" Shino shot his parasitic insects into the clone rather than chakra.

Neji could actually see tenketsu, but he saw the insects had a similar, albeit weaker, effect on the chakra network. "Four palms!"

Shino thrusted a hand into the clone's chin, sending it up, before thrusting his bugs into various positions in its body. "Eight Palms!" He turned on his heel again in preparation for the next set of strikes.

"Sixteen Palms!" Picking up speed, Neji's tenketsu sealing fingers were a blur.

He wasn't as fast, but the Hyuga Clan as a whole would've been far too impressed to care how he measured up to their prodigy. "Thirty-Two Palms!"

The two became the equivalent of poking human whirlwinds. "Sixty-Four Palms!" They cried out in unison before slamming their enemies away with an open hand.

Clone Naruto skidded across the ground, like a stone skipping across water, until the last of the force was spent. It tried to pick itself up, but the sensation of foreign entities squirming inside made it drop. Gritting its teeth, it roared in anger and agony. Neji was its intended target, but it was beaten back by someone it wrote off after negating his swarms with a Gale Palm.

"I told you I couldn't let you leave or kill Neji." One of the veins on Shino's forehead bulged. "And that was for my bugs."

It laughed to spite him and its pain. "That's how you survived, huh?" The bugs squirmed harder. "Fuck!"

"Hinata, at her core, is a kind and gentle person. Her clan looks down on those notions, so she tried to change for their and her own sake. You helped motivate her to overcome, and I'm glad." His tone grew cold. "But you're no longer a good influence. Even if she loves you more than anything in this world, I can't let you poison her with your hatred."

"And to think I thought you were one of the few people back in the Academy I was cool with!" Eyes turning red, it glared at him. "Just another kekkei genkai loser to squash beneath my feet!" It brought its fingers together.

Neji scowled as his opponent rose, clad in the same yellow-gold material he used to make spikes. "I should've expected something like this."

"Now, you're going to die!" Kidomaru let his Cursed Seal cover and transform him into the second stage.

"Neji!" Shino cried out while another clone spawned into being. "Help me fix a mistake!"

His lips pursed for a moment before he realized his intention. "And they call me a genius." He jumped back and ran to it while Shino did the same.

"Time to bl–" The clone blinked when they grabbed its explosive copy.

Kidomaru was in the middle of creating an arrow in his mouth to arm his makeshift bow. "Waht hu?" A yelling Naruto flying through the air towards him made him furrow his brow. He moved aside, not that it mattered. It exploded and blew him apart the moment it touched the ground. Only a crater with his blood and bone was left.

"Well… Fuck!" It held out its palm to form a Rasengan, but it failed to properly form thanks to the bugs eating at its chakra. "Dammit!" Neji and Shino looming over made it growl. "Think you're hot shit because you got a clone, huh?!" Shifting into laughter, it glared at them. "The main man is going to tear you apart. Even if you don't die here, the real me is going to come back to the village and kill the both of you." The parasites writhing made it grit its teeth. "Nothing either of you can do or say will turn Hinata against me or keep her away."

"She knows what Orochimaru intends for you," Shino said. "She wants us to bring you back, so you can be safe. Are you really going to make her worry by going along in spite of it?"

Red chakra began to bubble over it, killing the parasites inside and making them jump back. "I never knew you were such a piece of shit! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" The cloak dissipated as it scoffed. "Of course a disgusting freak would try and use my feelings against me." It smirked at the murmuring Aburame.

"That was uncalled for, Naruto," Neji said.

"Again, how hell are you of all people one to say anything?"

He grit his teeth, looked down, and thinned his lips into a line. "It was wrong of me to do what I did all those years ago. I didn't solve anything, and I just made things between us worse, like I did with Lady Hinata." He looked up to the clone. "What you're doing now is the same. My family respected you and would've let you marry her if you hadn't done this. There may still be a chance, but I doubt it will be easy."

It smiled as its heart fluttered. "Hinata and I are going to be a real family, not some stuck up pricks and their slaves." Neji flinching made it chuckle. "Yeah, I know all abou–" An influx of memories came into its head. "Oh… I figured that'd happen." Knowing it couldn't do anything against the two, it gave them its middle finger and dispelled itself.

Neji turned to Shino. "Lady Hinata taught you the Sixty-Four Palms?"

"She taught me the Gentle Fist," he clarified. "I learned the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms by watching her attempt it repeatedly on training dummies."

"That…is extremely unprecedented."

"I know. Hinata won't be in any trouble, will she?"

"It may depend on how Lord Hiashi receives the news of her lover pulling this stunt." Deactivating his Byakugan, he looked in the direction the rest of the group went. "Is that the right way?"

"Yes." Shino ran up a tree and began jumping from branch to branch.

Neji followed his lead. "Good."

Neither had much else to say to the other. A fifth of their main objective nearly killed them, and there was an enemy shinobi on the same level up ahead. Naruto seemed far too lost in his hatred to turn back, not that their words helped. Even if they successfully retrieved him, it would be more than difficult to placate him. Hinata alone may not be enough and could be turned against the village if she was willing to let him go in the first place. The entire situation was an absolute mess.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Ino, Tenten, and Kiba more than made up for lost time. While they were down two trackers, they still had Kiba and Sasuke to guide the way with Ino as backup. The dwindling size of their team was a growing concern. Shikamaru and Ino's clan jutsu could disable the main threats for only a short while if they really were on the level of Kage, but they were an uneven number.

Kiba's nose twitched. "They're just up ahead."

"Alright." Shikamaru hummed. "If both our groups keep splitting as we have, a single person will be left of ours facing two."

"Kimimaro and Naruto." Sasuke furrowed his brow.

"That one guy beat Lady Tsunade," Tenten said, shooting him a look, "and Naruto actually fought on his level."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Sasuke used to beat him all the time back in the Academy, and they're teammates: if anyone can beat Naruto, it's him."

"Back in the Academy, we couldn't use grappling in Taijutsu," Shikamaru said. "The one time Naruto actually did against him was the first time anyone surprised him." He glanced at Sasuke. "A lot of things have changed."

His hands balled into fists. "...I know."

"We attack the moment we catch up, preferably something big to disrupt their cohesion."

"I'll do it."

He spared him another look. "I was just about to ask if the rest of you also have exploding tags." He smirked when all but Sasuke nodded. "We'll use those instead." Opening his pouch with one hand, he took out a kunai with an explosive tag tied to it with the other. "Save your chakra for Kimimaro."

It took a little more time for the enemy team to come into sight. The remaining two underlings were looking a little anxious. Naruto and his clones were just as they were the last time they saw them. Kimimaro kept leading the way without a care in the world, as if everyone else was just an afterthought. Spreading out, they each took chose their targets and threw their kunai.

Tayuya spotted one whizzing from the corner of her eye. "Oh fuck!" She and a Naruto clone that noticed jumped to the left in order to avoid the direction of the explosions.

"Please!" Sakon stopped, caught one, and threw it back. "My turn!" Making the dragon sign, He hopped towards their right flank of Kiba and Ino.

The remaining Naruto clone made the snake sign and clapped its hands, returning the rest at their center with a gale. "You dropped this!"

He blinked as they came into his view. "...You idiot." The force of the explosion sent him and the two spiraling to the left over a chasm.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Ino cried as they fell down.

Kiba held on to a whimpering Akamaru. "Just calm down and focus your chakra into your legs! Try to grab the sides!"

"Oh shit!" The clone jumped to its left. "Are you sti–" Its eyes widened at the darkness below. "Ah fuck." Sighing and falling, it shook its head. "The main man would be angry if I didn't let myself pop, but he did make us to take damage." A hum built in its throat as it picked up speed. "As a clone doomed regardless, should I really care?"

Shikamaru, Tenten, and Sasuke lunged to the left, avoiding the same fate. "Kiba?!" Their leader picked himself up. "Ino?!"

"You pieces of shit have other things to worry about!" Tayuya approached and pulled out her flute. "The three of you are about to die!"

Her clone assist tilted its head. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure you're going to die here."

She shot it a look. "Whose fucking side are you on?! We're helping you, dumbass!" A shiver ran through her when it narrowed its eyes. "N-Never mind." He focus shifted back to the three.

"Good bitch." Patting her head for added intimidation, its ire turned to Sasuke.

He ignored him in favor for the direction the actual Naruto went. "The real one's gone ahead with Kimimaro."

"I know what you're thinking, but you can't g–" Shikamaru clucked his tongue as he Body Flickered away. "Troublesome. Just troublesome." He focused on the twitching clone. "You two are so fucking troublesome!"

"Hell are you yelling at me for?!" It yelled.

He twitched. "You're the entire reason why we're in this mess!" His brow furrowed. "We're all risking our lives for you!"

"Oh please! You're doing this for the sake of the village!"

"Do you really think Orochimaru is going to destroy it without changing into your body first?!"

It rolled its eyes. "Can we just skip to the part where I tell you to fuck off and try to kill you?"

Tenten unsealed her dual dadao blades. "I'm actually really sorry it had to come to this." She squinted at his questioning gaze.

"Seriously, who are you?" It tilted its head.

"I was in your first Academy year with Neji and Lee!"

"Yeah!" Snapping its fingers, it nodded. "I remember you now!" The smile on her face made it laugh. "Actually, I don't." Its laugh grew harsher at her deflating. "You're just some tit-less no-ass random bitch!" When Tayuya joined it, the clone lifted the back hem of her tunic. "At least this one has an ass!"

"You fucking per–" Its fierce gaze made her lower her head demurely. "...Th-Thank you."

It chuckled. "That's better." It blinked when the two stared with disturbed looks. "What? …What?"

"Are you serious?" Tenten scoffed.

Shikamaru shook his head. "What about Hinata?"

"Oh, she has an ass: really soft, really cute." Its eyes widened in realization while they blushed. "I'm not cheating on her; I would never do that!" It held an arm out, as if presenting the would-be home-wrecking young woman. "Just making an observation!"

"You look super rapey!" She pointed an accusing sword at it. "I know she's our enemy, but that's just so wrong!"

"I'm just putting a bitch in her place!"

She furrowed her brow. "Seriously! What the hell?! That is no way to treat a woman!"

"And the way she's been acting is inappropriate for one!" It put a hand on Tayuya's shoulder. "Compare her to how she was a bit ago to how she is now." A smirk formed on his lips at Tenten's disgusted look. "She's a lot more polite now, don't you think?"

"I have no idea how Hinata fell in love with you." From the corner of her eye, she saw Shikamaru shoot her a 'you-fucking-idiot' glance.

It twitched. "She fell in love with me because I'm really good at that, and I never give up." Taking its hand off the Sound ninja's shoulder, it glared at Tenten. "Think I'll put another one in hers."

She shifted into a proper stance. "You're on, jerk!"

"Troublesome." Shikamaru crouched down and made the rat sign.

Tayuya bit her thumb, went through several hand signs, and slammed her palms against the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" Three giant horrors appeared in a puff of smoke before her: a half-naked blindfolded man-thing with a sewn-shut mouth wielding claws on its wrists, one with a head of just hair wielding a giant mace, and one completely bound in bandages.

His eyes widened. "What in the ever-loving hell?"

"I want that!" She almost pouted at another of the Nara's looks. "Their weapons, duh!"

The Naruto clone looked up at the creatures. "What kind of fucking summon is this!" It turned to Tayuya. "Where do you even get these?!"

"There are beings that exist in other worlds. Most summoning contracts are done with beings from this one. With Lord Orochimaru's help, I made one with these guys."

"Hardcore!" It laughed. "I mean, you still suck if you have to rely on summons, but this is kind of cool: you reached into a different dimension, for fuck's sake!"

She parted her lips for an insult but, somewhat literally, bit her tongue. "...Thank you." Putting her lips to her flute, she blew an uneasy yet beautiful melody, manipulating two of the creatures into charging forward with their weapons pulled back.

It seemed as though the mission was coming to an end. Little did any of those surviving know it was just getting started. A fight brewing for years was almost ready to commence. The only obstacle in the way was an enemy more powerful than most they'd ever face in their lifetimes. He was a prodigal ninja beyond most and a testament to mankind's determination, just as their objective was. Whatever the outcome, it would not be clean.

AN: It turns out if I just focus on writing before indulging in my videogames I get the job done faster. Who woulda thunk? Forgive this foolish escapism addict.

I really mulled my head over this fight. When I was planning this all out, Kidomaru didn't really come to mind much. Neji's canon fight with him lacked the same impact as Choji's. It was nice to see him change, but there was no real internal struggle like there was with Choji. Really good fight though. Lots of outthinking in that.

Really easy to see why Shino wasn't on the Sasuke Retrieval Squad. None of the Sound Four really had a counter for his bugs, save Jirobo. The ability to eat through Kidomaru's webs makes him a hard one. Never clarified in canon, but it didn't feel right making it resistant when they run off chakra. Spider Sticky Gold is different in that regard.

This fic is over 400 favorites and 500 followers. That makes me so happy. Glad to have so many people keeping up with and enjoying this. To think it all started because I just wanted to see this concept done as good as possible. That sounds very arrogant when I put it like that, but I don't know how else to put it.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of a review or PM.