June 9th 2002:

Small dots of sunlight breached the clearing in the western section of the village of Konoha and illuminated the blood-stained splotches on the vibrant grass. Ryomen Sukuna laid on the ground, unmoving.

Streams of endless blood poured out from the punctured portions of Sukuna's flesh and a dagger-like shard of bone was embedded into his chest. A few vicious birds flew above his body in a small circle.

Kimimaro Kaguya paid no major attention to what he had assumed was the corpse of his deceased opponent, walking onto a dirt path at the entrance of the isolated clearing. Most of his muscles felt strained.

Pulling out a container of pills gifted to him by Kabuto Yakushi from his pocket, Kimimaro swallowed one of these pills and realized the container had become empty. Discarding it, he meandered forward.

Unbeknownst to Kimimaro, Sukuna's entire left hand twitched and fell limp afterwards. More and more sunlight brightened the area, covering Sukuna in a yellow hue.

(-)

Sasuke Uchiha was going through a hellish experience at the moment. Anger, hatred, exhaustion, paranoia, and insanity invaded his mind. Kabuto stayed seated on his chair, amusement plastered on his face.

Kabuto breathed on his glasses to fog them up a little. "You are quite pathetic, you know that? The old Sound-Five never went this mad from the side-effects of the medicine."

"You'll never catch up to your loathsome older brother." Kabuto put on his glasses. "To think the Uchiha-Clan was reduced to such a failure."

"I will admit you are a prodigy." Kabuto smiled at Sasuke in mockery. "You had top scores in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu in your academy days."

"But Itachi was far more superior." Kabuto took out his chakra scalpel, brandished it, and taunted him. "How will you ever hope to kill him?"

Teeth clenched in aggression, Sasuke growled. "Shut the hell up! I'm not in the mood to hear you spouting your pointless insults, Kabuto!"

"You're rather rude." Kabuto shook his head in disappointment, laughing and tipping his head back. "Did your team ever tell you that?"

Sasuke clenched his gauntleted hands into fists, fighting through the intense emotions in his mind. "That pill he fed me is such a pain!"

"Your teammates are powerhouses themselves, though." Kabuto said. "I heard Naruto and Sukuna defeated Doto Kazahana by themselves."

"Of course, the man himself was nothing special." Kabuto pointed out. "He relied far too much on that pathetic Chakra-Armour of his, heh."

"Nevertheless." Kabuto watched Sasuke sink to one knee and clutch his head from its random migraine. "Are you scared of falling behind?"

The bespectacled boy leaned back in his chair. "Trust me, I can understand that feeling more than you could ever imagine yourself."

Kabuto heard Sasuke click his teeth in concealed pain. "Lord Orochimaru can offer you so much more strength than Konoha can."

"But you've been distracted by the mundane life of a Genin." Kabuto's glasses glinted beneath a stray ray of sunlight. "It truly is depressing."

"I have no intention of following your advice of all people's, Kabuto." Sasuke rose to his feet, mind stabilized. "My body feels fine now…"

"Excellent." Kabuto clapped his palms together in response. "It looks like the medicine has worked! You've gotten used to the Curse-Mark!"

Sasuke looked at the odd marks around his body that hadn't faded. "So the medicine Kabuto fed me helped my body adjust to that mark."

Suspicious of Kabuto, Sasuke let his Two-Tomoe Sharingan whirl. "What do you gain out of helping me get control of the Curse-Mark?"

"Haven't I made it clear enough to you, Sasuke?" Kabuto sighed. "I want you to forget about everything until only your goals remain."

"You think you can dictate my actions, Kabuto?" Sasuke sneered at him, unimpressed. "Your skill in Medical-Ninjutsu won't save you now."

Kicking himself off of his chair, Kabuto flipped upwards until Sasuke body-flickered underneath him, yanked on his ankle, and hurled him into a wall. Sasuke's Sharingan glowed amidst the many dust clouds.

"Incredible!" Kabuto pulled himself out of a cracked wall. "He's adjusted to the Curse-Mark's increase in mobility in no time at all!"

Sasuke closed in on Kabuto in a vicious burst of inhuman speed. A split second later, the nastiest of punches was driven into Kabuto's stomach and hurtled him into a row of chairs in the neighborhood.

"Perfect." Kabuto jumped to his feet, healed his bruises, and chuckled. "He's mastered the first stage of the Curse-Mark to such a degree…"

"And he's only been in control of it for a few minutes." Kabuto pulled out his chakra scalpel. "In talent alone, Sasuke surpasses the Sound-Four."

Forgoing his usual use of Ninjutsu, Sasuke sprinted towards Kabuto in a sequence of inhuman movement and struck a fist at his nose. Having lifted his chakra scalpel, Kabuto fended off the merciless blow.

Transmitting fire-natured chakra into the base of his gauntlets, Sasuke somewhat melted the durable tip of the chakra scalpel and scowled. Kabuto retracted his scalpel, then disappeared in a break-neck blur.

Calling on the visual prowess of his Sharingan, Sasuke kept himself away from each of the ruthless pokes and jabs of Kabuto's scalpel. Pleased, Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "He's doing excellent so far."

"Can't you see what you're capable of, Sasuke?" Kabuto smirked at him, deep amusement flickering in his eyes. "You can do even more."

Kabuto roundhouse kicked Sasuke back and smiled. "But you refuse to abandon every little nuisance in your path to secure more power."

(-)

Naruto Uzumaki was in the middle of being consumed by the blizzard of sand that Gaara had set upon him and the entire forest in the western side of the village. Jaw clenched, Naruto strained himself.

The sand just reformed itself after being hit by pulses of the Kyuubi's chakra. Gaara's maniacal laughter increased in pitch at the futility of Naruto's actions. "Your blood is mine, at last!"

"Damn it!" Naruto roared into his mind. "I refuse to die to this scum! I'll pummel him into the ground!"

"But none of my attacks can penetrate his dumb sand!" Naruto's vision was obscured by a tidal-wave of sand. "Nine-tails! Help me out here!"

Naruto grew confused at the lack of response from his tenant. "I thought he'd be gloating and mocking me since I'm about to die."

"I don't have a choice!" Naruto flared chakra on his five finger-tips. "I'll have to access more of the fur-ball's chakra than my mind can take!"

"Pervy-Sage said I would lose myself if I used more of the nine-tails' chakra than I'm using right now." Naruto grunted. "No other choices!"

However, some of Gaara's sand redirected Naruto's finger-tips to a different section of the seal on his abdomen and activated it. Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration as the sand swallowed his whole body.

"I have defeated him!" Gaara threw all six of his arms up in manic celebration. "It's time for me to crush his body to see his blood!"

Moments later, the sand that had consumed Naruto was scattered by a primal roar of aggression and a pulse of crimson chakra. Gaara was blown backwards and his sandstorm picked up in power.

Kankuro concealed himself behind a massive stout tree. "Amazing! I thought Naruto was finished after Gaara got his sand around him."

"His chakra has become more monstrous than Gaara's chakra." Temari watched this exchange from the bushes. "He's inhuman…"

During their mission in the Land-Of-Snow, Kakashi Hatake had told his three students that a Shinobi would awaken three times in their life to reach a higher level of strength. This was Naruto's first awakening.

Naruto emerged from the sand that he had scattered. The red in his eyes had become darker, the length of his fangs had grown sharper, the density of his claws had increased, and his face was composed.

These were side effects of the Synchronization-Seal that Orochimaru had mixed into Minato Namikaze's seal on Naruto to store the Kyuubi. Naruto balled his hand into a fist. "What the hell is this weird feeling?"

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Gaara transformed all four of his sand-made arms into blades and his sandstorm got more intense. "I will murder you!"

"I feel like I've gotten a better grasp at the nine-tails' chakra than I ever had until now." Naruto glared at his opponent. "But it still feels lacking."

A second blizzard of sand approached Naruto at break-neck speeds. Naruto unleashed a destructive eruption of vermillion chakra upon the sand, dispersed it into nothing, and appeared behind Gaara in a blur.

"Wind-Style: Burst!" Naruto punched Gaara and an explosive burst of wind threw him into the bushes. "Even my techniques are stronger."

Gaara lunged at him from the bushes, manipulated numerous tendrils of sand to grab him, and slashed his four blade-like sand-made arms across Naruto's chest. Bubbles of red chakra healed the slice wounds.

Distressed and enraged, Gaara cried out. "Why won't you just die for the sake of my existence, Naruto Uzumaki?! Your blood is mine!"

"I told you!" Naruto formed a Rasengan on his palm, driving it through two of Gaara's sand-made arms. "I'm gonna beat the crap out of you!"

Dissolving those two sand-constructed arms into dust, Naruto yelled. "Why the hell are you so hellbent on killing me and getting my blood?!"

"My existence can only be drawn out through blood and death!" Gaara screeched, reforming his two sand-made arms. "It's what drives me!"

Naruto tackled Gaara, flung him into the soil, and skidded forward on the cracked ground underneath his feet. Sand swirled behind him, coalesced into an enormous hand, and smacked him to the side.

Spitting out the dirt in his mouth, Gaara controlled the sand and readied the massive hand created out of sand to strike Naruto again. Much to his annoyance, though, Naruto had endured the punch.

"The sandstorm he conjured in the forest is getting irritating." Naruto clicked his tongue to himself. "How much longer can he keep it up?"

"How are you resisting my power all of a sudden?!" Gaara growled, unamused and frustrated. "Who gave you that right, nine-tails?!"

"I kind of feel bad for him." Naruto jumped onto a tree-branch. "We're both Jinchuriki — so I can understand how he turned out like this…"

"If I hadn't met Sukuna and Sasuke, I could have ended up like him." Naruto's crimson irises glowed. "I can resist it because you're weak."

"How dare you?!" Gaara had lost his psychotic demeanour and had gained an aggravated one. "I'm strong! I can kill because I'm strong!"

Chin cupped in one hand in mockery, Naruto grinned. "Then how the hell are you losing this fight if you're meant to be so strong, huh?"

A shock-wave was generated once Gaara had launched himself at the tree-branch that Naruto had settled himself down on. Forming a Rasengan on his palm, Naruto slammed it into Gaara's stomach.

Blood was ejected from Gaara's mouth before he crashed downwards. Having risen to his feet, Gaara watched Naruto descend onto the surface of the forest. They glared at each other, entering stances.

Shadow-Clones were summoned around the area — they released pulses of the Kyuubi's chakra to disperse the sandstorm in the forest. Gaara had extended out two of his blade-esque sand-created hands.

Relying on the tremendous boost of physical ability that Shukaku's chakra had provided him, Gaara rushed at Naruto in a hurricane of sand. Pellets of sand followed afterwards, targeting Naruto's chest.

Batting his clawed hands into the pellets of sand to alter their trajectory, Naruto clenched one of them and waited for Gaara. In a flash of rather commendable speed, Gaara appeared in front of him.

Naruto flared a layer of crimson chakra over his knuckles, tilted himself back to ensure Gaara's blade-like appendages missed him, lurched forward a split second later, and punched Gaara's nose.

Naruto grabbed the back of Gaara's head and drove his nose into his knee seven times. Naruto was ruthless as he knocked a multitude of blows upon Gaara.

"This is finished, Gaara!" Naruto kicked Gaara onto the ground. "I'm fast and strong enough to stop your sand, so just stop this—!"

In an unexpected turn of events, Naruto stumbled forward, fell onto his knees, held his head in his hands, and grunted. A headache of unbelievable agony had entered his mind, dulling any of his thoughts.

Even the Shadow-Clones who kept Gaara's sandstorm dispersed were assaulted by the most painful of headaches and were dispelled. Gaara was stunned, then shook his head and climbed to his feet.

Naruto's body had not adjusted to the Synchronization-Seal in its entirety since this was his first time using it in battle. Trembling a little, Naruto sucked in a deep breath and refocused on his dire situation.

Feeling his control over the sandstorm in the forest return, Gaara let off a gleeful cackle like he hadn't been on the losing side seconds ago. Gaara materialized a sand-constructed slash and fired it off.

"That will cut Naruto Uzumaki into nothing!" Gaara grinned. "There's no chance he will be able to survive without the nine-tails' chakra!"

Naruto rolled into the bushes, peeked his head out of them, and saw that the sand-based slash had reduced a plethora of trees into piles of broken wood. His head-ache had somewhat faded.

Regaining the synchronized state between the nine-tails and him, Naruto leaped out of the bushes and landed behind Gaara. Tendrils of sand scurried towards him, grasping him by the shoulders and ankles.

Prepared to rip him apart, the tendrils of sand stretched out. Gaara felt overjoyed at the sight until Naruto manifested crimson chakra arms from his shoulders, stopping the tendrils of sand and scattering them.

Kankuro blinked at the spectacle from his position behind a tree. "What happened to Naruto, though? I thought he was a goner."

"That was a close one." Temari sighed in relief from the bushes. "If Naruto goes down, then Gaara will transform into Shukaku's true form."

Naruto rolled his shoulders, dispersing his chakra arms. "Close call! This weird connection I have to the fur-ball's chakra came in handy!"

A sonic-boom was conjured when Naruto vanished in a crimson blur. Trees shuddered, leaves blew ahead, and bushes rustled. Materializing a chakra arm, Naruto used it to grab Gaara's shoulder.

Hurtling him into the air, Naruto leaped upwards, summoned his Shadow-Clones to dispel the sandstorm in the woods, and axe-kicked Gaara into one of the boulders beneath them. He was slammed into it.

"How the hell am I supposed to stop him?" Naruto crossed his arms. "This just doesn't feel right to me. His village is using him like a tool."

Naruto approached the boulders where Gaara had been kicked, blocked each of the slices from Gaara's sand-made limbs, and sighed. Kicking him in the stomach, Naruto said. "What's the point in all this?!"

"The point?!" Gaara screamed at him, insanity flickering in his eyes. "To prove my existence! To prove to myself that I exist in this world!"

"That's stupid and you know it!" Naruto head-butted Gaara, then grabbed his collar and yelled. "Will doing all this prove your existence!"

"It has to!" Gaara's eyes shot over to where Kankuro and Temari hid. "They don't understand the purpose of us vessels or our suffering!"

"You told me you hated companionship or something, right?" Naruto shoved Gaara into a tree-trunk. "Being all alone won't help you!"

"How disgusting!" Gaara laughed in his face. "Companionship and friendship are both meaningless to me! I will kill you once and for all!"

Naruto felt the four blade-like sand-arms stab his abdomen before the heel of Gaara's foot hurled him a few feet back. Repositioning himself in the blink of an eye, Naruto watched Gaara clutch his head in mania.

Blood leaked out from Naruto's stomach. Red bubbles of chakra touched the injuries and healed them. Naruto wiped the blood off of his mouth, took on an animalistic stance of combat, and grunted.

"The one you keep calling mother is the one-tails, right?!" Naruto called out. "Old man Hokage told me who you were a month ago!"

"And what difference does that make?!" Gaara stretched out his six arms and chuckled. "Don't disappoint me now, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"You said you would murder me if I harmed your friends!" Gaara's lips widened into a malicious grin. "Who's to say they aren't dead now?!"

Gaara condensed all of his sand into a sand-constructed gauntlet around his left hand, also ridding himself of his four sand-made arms. Naruto realized Gaara's next course of action. "He's finishing this!"

"All of what remains of the chakra mother gave to me is imbued into this!" Gaara raised his sand-constructed gauntlet. "I will end you!"

Naruto staggered back, feeling that his headache had returned. "Damn it! Out of all times for this to happen?! Talk about annoying…"

The Kyuubi's chakra was fading into its seal and heading back to its source at an alarming speed. Naruto could feel his whiskers thin, claws shorten, and fanged teeth shrink. There wasn't much time left.

Naruto formed a Rasengan on his palm, embedded the last parts of the Kyuubi's chakra into it, and rushed towards Gaara in a blur. Gaara followed his example, widening his eyes in glee and sprinting forward.

"I don't care if I must die to claim your blood!" Gaara shouted. "Whatever it takes for you to meet your end, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"You just don't understand anything, huh?!" Naruto responded, heated and annoyed. "Who cares! I'll still pummel you to the ground, Gaara!"

Their two attacks collided and an enormous burst of chakra travelled across the entire Hidden-Leaf, stunning anyone who sensed it for a second. Trees collapsed against the strain of their two techniques.

The soil beneath them cracked into numerous craters. Gaara and Naruto crashed onto the ground in opposite directions. Bruises, gashes, and blood damaged their bodies. Naruto closed his blue eyes.

(-)

Kabuto and Sasuke had reached some kind of stalemate in their battle and kept their gazes planted on each other, either amused or prudent. Sasuke flexed the fingers of his gauntleted hand and tilted his head.

Hands raised in fake surrender, Kabuto smiled. "You've been doing an impressive job at keeping me away from your friends and comrades."

Kabuto lowered his arms and looked off to the side — then Sasuke laughed a little. Surprised, Kabuto huffed. "What's so funny, Sasuke?"

"The medicine that he consumed can also induce temporary insanity." Kabuto noticed that Sasuke had hidden his eyes from him. "Strange."

"I'm just laughing at your idiocy, Kabuto." Sasuke turned to him and the Third-Tomoe Sharingan rotated in its full glory. "You helped me."

"Of course." Kabuto's mind raced in understanding. "The Sharingan upgrades itself whenever its user's emotions are heightened…"

"The medicine helped your body adapt to the situation to help you survive." Kabuto clapped his hands. "Incredible, Sasuke, incredible."

This was Sasuke's first awakening — like Kakashi had told them in the Land-Of-Snow. Sasuke adjusted to his enhanced visual prowess, stepped forward, felt his vision streak, and disappeared in a distortion.

Kabuto blinked in a small bout of disbelief as Sasuke upper-cut him in the jaw — the knuckles of his gauntlets were enhanced by fire-natured chakra. Sasuke shoved a palm into his abdomen, hurtling him back.

"Magnificent!" Kabuto restablized his footing on the ground without any tangible trouble. "I didn't think Sasuke could get stronger this fast."

Having trust in his unnatural perception, Sasuke allowed himself to fall into the rhythm of battle and blocked off each of Kabuto's punches when he had body-flickered in front of him. A smirk graced his face.

Sasuke roundhouse kicked him in retaliation, punched his nose, and knocked him into a chair. Springing out of it, Kabuto ascended into the air, somersaulted over to Sasuke, took out a scalpel, and hummed.

The tip of the scalpel collided against one of Sasuke's gauntlets. Pumping chakra into his muscles, Sasuke moved his gauntleted hand away from the scalpel and backhanded Kabuto into a store's door.

"Orochimaru will be happy by all of this." Kabuto smiled. "Sasuke has full control over the Curse-Mark and gained an upgrade to his eyes."

Kabuto healed himself and rose to his feet. "Good work, Sasuke. But there's still much more you'll have to do to get stronger than this…"

He then vanished, much to Sasuke's frustration.

(-)

Kimimaro walked across the dirt path of the forest. A multitude of Leaf-Chunin had detected his chakra and had confronted him, only to meet an end by his hand.

Blood from some of the Leaf-Shinobi who he had killed stained the blade-like bones in his hands. Kimimaro flicked the blood off of them, then resumed his journey to locate more Leaf-Shinobi to slaughter.

However, he stopped in his tracks when a vermillion-eyed silhouette emerged from the bushes ahead of him. Despite his outward composure, not even Kimimaro could hide his shock at its identity.

Blood, grime, and dirt smudged Sukuna's hair and clothes. The dagger-like bone that Kimimaro had stabbed into his heart was held in his left hand. A grin of unimaginable lunacy covered his tattooed face.

This was Sukuna's first awakening, like Kakashi had told him and his team in the Land-Of-Snow.

Sukuna tilted his head to the side, widened his four vermillion eyes, laughed, and broadened his grin. "What's up! Did you miss me?!"

"Impossible." Kimimaro dropped the blade-like bones in his hands, conjuring a less dull one. "You survived your heart being pierced?"

"Impossible for you, maybe!" Sukuna was somewhat delirious. "I have to thank you, Kimimaro! I was never able to use it until now, hah!"

"What are you talking about?" Kimimaro raised a calm eye-brow, suppressing his shock at Sukuna's survival. "What did you use?"

"I forgot! You have no clue what I mean, huh?!" Sukuna pointed at his chest, where his wound had healed. "It's Reverse-Cursed-Technique!"

"It looks like his damaged foot and broken shoulder are also healed." Kimimaro thought. "This must be another ability of his bloodline limit."

"But what is this 'Reverse-Cursed-Technique' that he mentioned?"

"If I hadn't awakened it on the brink of death, you would have killed me!" Sukuna cackled. "You're never going to get that chance again!"

"Do you truly mean that?" Kimimaro spoke to him in a composed voice. "Don't get overconfident, Ryomen Sukuna. I'm still superior."

"I am impressed you lived, though." Kimimaro proclaimed. "But lord Orochimaru expects your corpse, so I still intend to end your life."

"You don't understand, do you?!" Sukuna waved the dagger-like bone in his hand around the air. "I've grasped it! The core of cursed-energy!"

"He keeps babbling on and on." Kimimaro remained calm. "It must be some type of shock or delirium from when I stabbed him in the heart."

Soon, Sukuna's manic expression dulled and a sense of apathy quelled his thoughts. "I can't waste anymore time against him…"

Kimimaro failed to move out of the way in time when Sukuna launched himself at him, embedded a punch into his nose, broke the sharpened bones he had set around his face for protection, and flung him back.

Sukuna had used basic cursed-energy reinforcement to protect his hand—but some of it had become mangled from those sharp bones. Restoring his hand to its usual state, Sukuna kicked himself into a run.

Restabilizing his position on his feet, Kimimaro noticed that Sukuna had appeared behind him. Sprouting out more bones from his shoulder-blade, Kimimaro prepared to have them skewer Sukuna's fist.

"That won't work this time." Sukuna said in an unimpressed tone. "I've never tried this one before. Flowing-Red-Scale: Stack."

Blood formed around Sukuna's arms like they were gauntlets, providing his limbs extra defensive ability and more physical power. Kimimaro whirled around to face him until he coughed out blood.

"Black-Flash!" Sukuna had slammed his knuckles into Kimimaro's stomach, obliterating the stout bones on them. "What now, huh?!"

Surprised at having the bones on his stomach shattered, Kimimaro failed to reposition himself before he was hurtled into a second clearing in the forest. Regaining his focus, he climbed to his feet.

"He's broken those bones like they were nothing." Kimimaro clenched his hand over the bone he was holding. "Using only his physical power…"

"There's no point in using my bones to defend my body if he can break them like this." Kimimaro removed the bones on himself. "Okay, then."

Sukuna followed after him in a distortion of inhuman movement, entering the secluded clearing and grinning at him in amusement. Kimimaro activated the first stage of his Curse-Mark and breathed out.

Dropping the bone in his hand, he took on a skilled Taijutsu stance and declared. "I will fulfil lord Orochimaru's will, even if I must die."

"Stop yammering about that snake-themed bastard." Sukuna entered an animalistic stance of combat. "You're plenty strong without him."

"Heh." Sukuna scoffed, analyzing his opponent and situation. "I know that the Curse-Mark upgrades its user's chakra and physical strength."

"I've told you once and I will tell you again." Kimimaro's fists had been clenched in concentration. "I live only to see my lord's desires fulfilled."

Kimimaro spat out some blood. "My illness is catching up to me. I don't care If I must perish, I shall kill Sukuna to fulfil my role in this."

A calm silence permeated the air between Sukuna and Kimimaro. Lukewarm wind brushed their hair and rustled their outfits. Kimimaro acted first, denting the soil underneath him and sprinting forward.

Sukuna smiled at the sight of his enhanced physical power, then raised his palm and redirected Kimimaro's left hook to the face down. Kimimaro leaned back, lifting his knee and parrying Sukuna's kick.

Kimimaro head-butted Sukuna to stun him for a second, conjured a blade-like bone, and sliced off his arm. Sukuna blinked at his stump of an arm, chuckling.

Kimimaro furrowed his brows in fascination at the string of blood that reconnected Sukuna's cut off arm to his body. Unfettered by this, Kimimaro roundhouse kicked Sukuna and propelled him backwards.

Dismantle reduced the bone in his hand into mere dust. Sukuna flexed his fingers and struck his palm into Kimimaro's chest. Two of Kimimaro's finger-tips parted as he lurched back from Sukuna.

Pellets of dense bone drilled themselves into Sukuna's upper-torso. Reverse-Cursed-Technique healed his wounds. Sukuna chased after Kimimaro—who hit the heel of his foot on the ground and cracked it.

Enormous chunks of soil and stone were taken into Kimimaro's hands and reinforced by chakra before Kimimaro threw them all at Sukuna. Racing across the clearing, Sukuna slapped his hands against them.

Numerous Cleaves obliterated these chunks of soil and stone. Sukuna closed in on Kimimaro in a vicious burst of speed, striking his fist out and drilling the nastiest of punches thinkable into Kimimaro's chest.

"Black-Flash!"

Relying on the unnatural durability of his body, Kimimaro smacked both of his hands down upon Sukuna's head and knocked him into the soil. Cracks stretched even further across the clearing they were in.

Kimimaro grasped him by the shoulder and tossed him upwards in the blink of an eye. Rolling higher and higher into the air, Sukuna watched Kimimaro leap up at him. Bullets of bones were also shot towards him.

Nue was summoned a split second later, grabbing its talons onto Sukuna's shoulders and flying back to the clearing. Descending onto the soil, Sukuna nodded at Nue and dispelled it into the shadows.

Somersaulting down onto the ground, Kimimaro landed on the grass and a series of small shock-waves and dust clouds were produced. Sukuna dispersed the dust cloud in his face. "He's still pretty strong."

"Who the hell cares?!" Shadows erupted beneath Sukuna's foot. Orochi formed from them. "I'm having too much fun right now!"

Orochi tunnelled through one of the craters that Kimimaro had formed, emerged from it, and head-butted him backwards. Sukuna dismissed Orochi, approaching Kimimaro and burying a punch into his nose.

"A fourth summon." Kimimaro snapped his head forward, front-kicking Sukuna's solar-plexus. "The wolf, the toad, the bird, and that snake."

"He also has those invisible destructive pulses and blood manipulation." Kimimaro mused. "And a regeneration of some kind."

Kimimaro's thoughts were stopped when more and more blood leaked from his lips. "This fast?! I thought Kabuto's pills slowed my illness…"

"I'll use the second pack of pills if it gets even worse."

"My disease has even stopped me from fighting at full capacity." He pondered to himself, hearing Sukuna laugh. "I have to end this now!"

Sukuna paused at the sudden sense of danger that Kimimaro had let off. Kimimaro entered the second stage of the Curse-Mark and his appearance turned more malformed. "I guess we're both freakish."

Kimimaro broke into his guard in an instant, spinning around and slamming his new tail into Sukuna. Having been launched away, Sukuna fired off a Piercing-Blood at the tail and managed to wound it.

"Dance-Of-The-Clematis: Vine!" Kimimaro pulled out a rope-like bone from his back and wrapped it around Sukuna's body. "Then—Flower!"

A massive and jagged shard of bone formed around Kimimaro's other hand. Dragging Sukuna towards himself, Kimimaro lashed the bone-made weapon in his hand outwards. "This will kill him for good!"

"Divine-Flame—Open!" Sukuna stretched his fire-covered hand out, burning the bone wrapped around him into ashes. "Close one…"

Dispelling the flames in his hand, Sukuna dug his feet into the ground and pushed both of his hands out at the large shard of bone that had Kimimaro aimed at him. Cleave adjusted to its durability, breaking it.

Sukuna's fist sunk itself into Kimimaro's chest. A third Black-Flash was produced from this blow and propelled him back. Falling to his knees, Kimimaro coughed out more and more blood. "The emergency pack!"

Kimimaro took out a second container of pills and swallowed them all. Feeling himself somewhat stabilize from his illness, he stood up and faced Sukuna. Calm and composed, he spoke. "You are strong."

"Okay." Sukuna looked bored. "Those pills stop some kind of disease, right? Then that would mean you haven't been fighting at full power."

"Indeed." Kimimaro looked at his clenched fist. "My body is failing me. I haven't been able to fight at full capacity for quite a good while now."

"But none of that matters." Kimimaro's tail flicked from side to side. "I must complete the task of bringing your corpse to lord Orochimaru."

"How about you join the Hidden-Leaf instead?" Sukuna grinned. "I wouldn't mind having someone like you to spar against from time to time."

"I must refuse your offer." Kimimaro stepped forth. "I serve lord Orochimaru to see that his desires and dreams are fulfilled at last."

Kimimaro slammed his foot into the soil, tunnelling underground. Sukuna waited in anticipation for his next move and grinned when he heard the loud voice of his opponent bellow at him. "Bracken-Dance!"

Sukuna jumped upwards before enormous blade-like bones grew from the ground underneath him and spread out across the entire clearing. More of these massive bones were made, encompassing the forest.

"If I land on the ground now, then those bones will stab me." Sukuna laughed like a maniac and grinned. "It's incomplete, but it'll do for now."

Sukuna connected his hands into a hand-seal of sorts.

Kimimaro stepped out from one of these bones and gazed at Sukuna—who had remained in the air. Waiting for him to fall down and meet his demise, Kimimaro leaned against one of these giant bones.

"Domain-Expansion: Malevolent-Shrine!"

Sukuna had made a temporary Binding-Vow — in exchange for the radius of Malevolent-Shrine getting reduced and its power enhanced, the slashes from his domain were not allowed to harm any living being.

An ominous shrine had materialized itself behind Sukuna. Confused, Kimimaro lifted himself off of the bone he was leaning on. Sukuna's psychotic laughter boomed across the area. "This fight is finished!"

Relentless, Cleave and Dismantle cut into everything around Sukuna that was not regarded as a living being by him or sentient enough. The massive bones that Kimimaro had conjured crumbled in piles of dust.

Trees were slashed into mere splinters of what they had once been. The bushes and patches of grass in each area were obliterated. Kimimaro fell to his knees, feeling his illness somehow worsen.

Of course, Sukuna's version of Malevolent-Shrine was weak and lasted for a mere five seconds until he could no longer maintain it. Sukuna separated his hands, then descended onto the cracked soil.

The shrine behind him had also dissolved. Sukuna felt himself suffering from a burn-out of his Cursed-Technique. Since his domain's radius had been shortened, a decent number of the bones had survived.

Sukuna saw them in the distance and paid them no mind. The Flowing-Red-Scale: Stack that he had conjured on his hands had faded from the result of his Cursed-Technique burn-out. He sighed.

"Now that I think about it." Sukuna snorted to himself. "Kimimaro's Bracken-Dance was like his own version of a Domain-Expansion."

"Since my domain is incomplete, the slashes weren't as strong as they were meant to be." Sukuna grunted. "That temporary Binding-Vow helped."

"About Kimimaro, though." Sukuna slipped his hands into his pockets, looking at the minimal destruction around him. "I wanted to spare him."

"I'd hate to see someone as strong as him die because of Orochimaru." Sukuna scowled. "I should be able to heal his disease."

Sukuna heard a loud cough of pain and located Kimimaro—who had deactivated his Curse-Mark and was coughing out a stream of blood. Having approached him in a casual gait, Sukuna said. "That was fun."

"You managed to destroy some of the bones from my Bracken-Dance." Kimimaro rasped. "And some of this clearing."

"Trust me, that took a lot of effort for me to do." He snorted in response. "I can't just pull off a move like that whenever I want."

"I can feel myself dying." Kimimaro murmured, stained in blood and bruises. "I wasn't able to fulfil the final task my lord entrusted to me."

"You're still on about that?" Sukuna crouched down and a white light covered his hand. "There's still a lot for you to do until you can die."

Sukuna touched his palm on Kimimaro's face, focused on the sensation of his Reverse-Cursed-Technique, and healed his illness. Returning his hand to his pocket, he spoke. "I think that worked."

"What did you do?" Kimimaro blinked — some of the strain in his system had been reduced. "My illness, it feels much more better."

"I can't really explain how it works." Sukuna scratched his hair. "I only healed your illness and not the injuries you got in our fight, though."

Sukuna's four eyes then glowed an ominous crimson. "I only spared you because I would hate to see someone powerful like you die."

"How many times must I explain this to you?!" Kimimaro's wounds hindered his movements. "I live to see lord Orochimaru's will fulfilled!"

"And where does that leave you?" Sukuna rose to his feet. "Someone such as yourself should live for himself, guided by his own ideals."

"You should fight who you want, sleep when you want, and have fun when you want." Sukuna said. "But you toil under Orochimaru, huh?"

"Think about what I said later."

Kimimaro had calmed himself down and had gone silent. Sighing to himself, Sukuna knocked him unconscious. Sitting down on a large chunk of soil, Sukuna lowered his head and grunted in exhaustion.

"My Reverse-Cursed-Technique output reached its limit." Sukuna rubbed his bruised cheek. "I didn't bother healing every injury."

All of a sudden, a platoon of Anbu officers body-flickered into the damaged clearing and secured Kimimaro's unconscious body. One of them approached Sukuna—who said. "Where'd you come from?"

"We sensed the chakra of this individual a few minutes ago." The Anbu officer responded. "We apologize for coming in so late."

"We were preoccupied by a number of events." The Anbu officer sighed, saddened. "Orochimaru escaped and killed lord Hokage."

Shaking his head, the Anbu officer refocused and said. "Thank you for stopping this threat. From his chakra alone, I can tell he's formidable."

"We'll take him into custody for now." The Anbu officer looked at the injuries on Sukuna that he hadn't healed. "I'll take you to the hospital."

"It's fine." Sukuna climbed to his feet and replied. "Take him away."

The Anbu officer nodded, joined his teammates, and vanished alongside Kimimaro. Sukuna sprinted down the dirt path in the western section of the village and returned to a more public area.

It looked like Orochimaru's operation to destroy the Hidden-Leaf had failed. Leaf-Shinobi arrested the Sand-Shinobi and Sound-Shinobi who hadn't escaped after they realized the invasion was unsuccessful.

"Where could Naruto and Sasuke be?" Sukuna adjusted the head-band on his forehead. "They were fighting Kabuto and Gaara."

"Sukuna!" A familiar voice called out. Sasuke appeared next to his friend. "What happened to you? You look pretty beaten up, huh?"

"Oh, shut up." Sukuna rolled his four crimson eyes in amusement. "How did your fight against Kabuto go? Did you capture him?"

Scowling to himself, Sasuke responded. "No. He escaped before anyone else could arrive. But I did gain some things from that fight."

"Let's talk about this later." Sukuna looked around his surroundings. "Where could Naruto be? I left him to chase Gaara by himself."

"I sensed him using that powerful chakra of his a while ago." Sasuke elbowed him, running into the forest. "I'm betting he's still there!"

Sukuna and Sasuke traversed the forest until they reached the section of it where Gaara and Naruto's battle had taken place. Ignoring the craters formed in the ground, they pin-pointed Naruto's location. Naruto was on the ground, covered in wounds and bruises.

Gaara was laid on the soil across from him, tended by Kankuro and Temari. When he noticed Sasuke and Sukuna's sudden arrival, Kankuro pulled out two Kunai. "Don't even think about stopping us!"

Sasuke and Sukuna were prepared to move—but Naruto's voice stopped them. "Let them leave. I think Gaara's learned his lesson."

Kankuro and Temari blinked at Naruto in surprise. Kankuro loaded Gaara into his arms and they all disappeared.

Sukuna shrugged. "I don't really care about them."

"You better not complain about letting them go later." Sasuke sighed, helping Naruto to his feet. "Out of all of us, you're the most injured."

"Shut up." Naruto coughed out some blood. "Besides, I heal fast."

The three of them returned to a different section of Konoha—where Medical-Shinobi took Naruto and Sasuke away to the main branch of the hospital for treatment. Sukuna was much less wounded than them.

Sukuna sighed and walked around to help out in the aftermath.

The battle had ended.

A/N: Thanks for reading.