Match ups

The grassy field was calm, and the soft rustling of the blades brushing against each other created a gentle whispering sound. The grass blades swayed slowly in the breeze, bending and bouncing back up again.

In a sudden moment, the peaceful setting was disrupted by a swarm of orange figures flooding the field. Naruto and his clones had appeared, and Naruto's expression had grown more wild and feral as he faced his opponent, Kimimaro, the last surviving member of the Kaguya clan.

Kimimaro remained calm and stoic, his eyes flicking around to take in the sight of the sea of orange clones surrounding him. "Interesting," he said, a twinge of interest in his voice as his bones began to emerge from his palms to form weapons.

Naruto and his clones' appearance had also changed, their features resembling those of a fox. Naruto's nails had grown longer, his canines sharper, and his eyes had turned red and feline-like. His hair and whiskers had become more feral, and reddish chakra began to emanate from his body. He crouched into a stance and growled, "I'll crush you," his voice trembling with anger.

Kimimaro was unfazed by Naruto's threat and calmly said, "Come," as bluish chakra enveloped his body and tousled his white hair.

With the power of the Kyuubi driving him, Naruto and his clones charged at Kimimaro from all directions.

As Naruto and his clones charged at Kimimaro, but he remained composed and unruffled. He effortlessly destroyed a dozen or so clones with his graceful yet powerful movements. As more clones rushed at him, Kimimaro disposed of them quickly and efficiently by stabbing them with his bones.

Smoke and grunts could be heard as the clones all fell to Kimimaro by the dozen, his movement filled with elegance and grace. As the tips of his toes came into contact with the grassy floor beneath he bellowed, "Witness! The dance of the willows!"

His bones still protruding from his palms, sweeping them in a circular motion he wiped out clone after clone. Kimimaro took to the air, followed by a hoard of Naruto's clones, he slammed his palms into the gut of two clones, piercing their stomachs with his bones and using them to propel himself higher before they dispersed in a huff of smoke.

Still airborne, Kimimaro's stoic expression remained unchanged as Naruto's clones rushed him from all directions. He swiftly dealt with them all as they dispersed in a cloud of smoke.

As Kimimaro's sandals made contact with the grassy terrain, he crouched with his back slightly hunch over and his hands crossed diagonally across his body, chakra fluttering his snow-white hair. His cold emerald eyes lifting upwards to meet the gaze of Naruto as he spoke, "This is my kekkei genkai."

Despite the overwhelming number of clones, Kimimaro remained focused on his mission for Orochimaru-sama. He had no qualms with fighting, but failure or tardiness was not an option. Still crouching on the grassy plain, he assessed the situation and prepared to face the remaining clones.

Naruto's teeth clenched as beads of sweat formed on his face, trying to comprehend Kimimaro's unique ability. 'What is this guy? His bones are poking out of his body to attack?' he thought.

Kimimaro rose from his crouching position and unzipped his shirt, revealing his bare chest. Naruto watched in confusion as Kimimaro's right shoulder began to rip open, exposing his muscle and bone, all while he maintained a stoic expression.

As Kimimaro pulled out his bone and transformed it into a sword, Naruto muttered in disbelief, "He turned his bone... Into a sword?"

Kimimaro then explained, "These are no ordinary bones. These are bones compressed to maximum density meaning they are as solid as steel..."

"So what... I'll break those bones to pieces." Naruto said.

'Bones are still bones and his are no different, they'll break if hit by enough force.' Naruto thought as he slowly dipped his fingers into his pouch and hurled two shuriken at Kimimaro who effortlessly blocked with his bone sword leaving Naruto shocked and amazed.

"Don't assume that you know all of my powers from just looking at them," Kimimaro warned. "Behold, The dance of the Camellia."

Naruto growled, "I'll crush you!"

As the two continued their battle, the seals on the wooden basket containing Sasuke started to fizzle, allowing dark and eerie chakra to seep through the small openings, stirring the grass nearby.

-.-

Shikamaru and Tayuya grunted as they continued their struggle for dominance, with Shikamaru's shadow binding technique proving ineffective against Tayuya's curse mark level two.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Tayuya remarked with a smirk, "But you should know by now that you can't defeat me."

Shikamaru remained calm, despite the pressure on his jutsu, "I don't have to defeat you, I just have to outlast you," he replied, "And with my intelligence and stamina, I can do that all day." Shikamaru bluffed.

Tayuya snarled in frustration, "Don't get too cocky, pretty boy," she said, "You're only delaying the inevitable."

Shikamaru's eyes flickered with determination, "We'll see about that," he said, as he struggled to maintain his jutsu, "I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Tayuya's eyes narrowed, "I doubt that," she said, "But feel free to try."

The two continued to struggle against each other, neither one willing to back down.

-.-

Kiba, along with his trusted companion Akamaru, had fallen to the bottom of the cliff with Sakon. Determined to take down his opponent, Kiba charged at Sakon while shouting out his signature move,

"Double Penetrating Fang."

However, they were caught off guard as Sakon sprouted an extra torso, grabbing both Kiba and Akamaru at the same time. Despite Kiba's attempt to kick him away, Sakon grew another foot from his belly, leaving the Inuzuka feeling unsettled and struggling to break free from Sakon's hold.

As the two continued their struggle, a voice that sounded exactly like Sakon's spoke up, saying "Two on two is just perfect, eh Sakon?"

But the voice did not come from Sakon's mouth, instead it came from the other torso that had been formed.

Kiba and Sakon were oblivious to Neji's presence as he gazed down upon them from above with his lavender eyes. His feet were charged with chakra, firmly gripping onto the side of the cliff. The veins around his eyes pulsated as his dojutsu remained active, silently analyzing the situation and searching for an opening to intervene in their battle.

Sakon threw a series of punches at Kiba, who narrowly avoided them. As Sakon's fist hit the rock behind Kiba, it shattered into pieces. Kiba gasped as he felt another hand wrap around his neck, emerging from Sakon's torso. With a smirk, Sakon revealed that he had a unique ability where his brother, Ukon, could awaken during battles and use his limbs to strike and defend. Another head grew out of Sakon's body, startling Kiba.

Sakon explained that Ukon could form any part of his body and attack, as he demonstrated by punching Kiba with a fist that grew out of Ukon's head.

As Akamaru ran to help Kiba, he was thrown back by three legs that slammed into him, causing him to whine in pain. Sakon grinned cockily as he watched the dog writhing on the ground. Ukon reminded him that they needed to act quickly.

Both Sakon and Ukon activated their Curse Mark level two, causing a horn to protrude from their skulls and their skin to turn a purplish hue. Their chins became longer and more pointed, and their hair grew until it brushed against their knees. Kiba looked on with a questioning expression as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing.

Kiba stood up, and Akamaru positioned himself diagonally to him, barking at the brothers. The still-merged Sakon and Ukon charged forward, prompting Kiba to shout with vigor,

"DOUBLE WOLF FANG!"

Kiba seized the forearm of the conjoined twins, Sakon and Ukon, and bellowed, "Akamaru, now!"

In response, Akamaru leaped into the air and spun like a top, unleashing a liquid from his genitalia with his technique, "Dynamic Marking." Sakon was bewildered, "What in the world... Dog piss!?" he exclaimed, as Kiba let go of his grip and jumped to meet Akamaru in mid-air, forming the tiger seal upon making contact.

"Inuzuka style: Man Beast Transformation!"

After a massive puff of smoke, a menacing figure emerged. It was a double-headed dog, with massive fangs protruding from its mouth, sharp black claws standing out against its white fur. The beast growled, drooling uncontrollably, its reddish-orange eyes gleaming dangerously as it fixed its gaze on the merged twins Sakon and Ukon, who remained unaffected.

Sakon sneered at the beast as it towered over him, mocking the Inuzuka clan's techniques. In response, the twin-headed beast charged at the merged twins, spinning rapidly. Sakon managed to jump away, but as he landed, he slipped on the beast's saliva, causing him to lose his footing.

Ukon warned his brother about the danger approaching from 3 o'clock, but it was too late. The beast unleashed its signature move, Garouga, which hit the merged twins head-on, ripping them apart. The beast boasted about the move's power, but its confidence quickly vanished when it saw that the twins had split into two separate bodies.

The twins now stood side by side, their bodies covered in purple scales, exuding an aura of menace. Sakon informed the beast that they had been planning on splitting up anyway, causing sweat to bead on the beast's face as it realized the seriousness of their threat.

Neji frowned slightly still watching Kiba face the twins, sakon and Ukon, from side of the cliff, "So they were originally two separate bodies..." He muttered as he saw the twins standing next to one another before the merged Kiba and Akamaru.

Neji's expression darkened as he pondered the situation. He knew that facing the merged twins was going to be difficult, but seeing them split back into two separate bodies only made things worse. He wondered how Kiba and Akamaru were going to handle this new development.

Meanwhile, Kiba and Akamaru were on high alert as they faced the now-separate Sakon and Ukon. The twins were both covered in purple scales that looked like oversized skin. Kiba and Akamaru braced themselves for the twins' next move, knowing that they were up against a formidable foe.

Kiba gritted his teeth in frustration, while Akamaru let out a woofing sound to express their shared feelings. As the two were still merged, they shared a single consciousness.

Kiba thought to himself, "We only have one more chance left. This has to work," and the merged beast shivered with anticipation as it faced the twins.

With a loud roar, the beast spun rapidly and launched itself towards the twins once more, using its Garouga technique. However, Sakon and Ukon managed to dodge and hide behind boulders.

"Stop hiding! We hunt by scent, not sight!" the merged beast shouted as it changed its direction towards the boulder where Sakon was hiding.

But just as the beast was about to hit the boulder, Sakon and Ukon both bit their thumbs and summoned a large demonic gate called Rashoumon, which appeared from the ground and blocked the attack. The gate was heavily armored and too strong for the beast's attack to penetrate.

Caught off guard, the beast crashed into the gate with a loud bang and fell to the ground. Sakon and Ukon took advantage of this and jumped with their fists ready to attack.

However, Akamaru cancelled the transformation technique and took the full brunt of the attack, sending him crashing into the ground and peeing again. The urine splashed into Sakon's eyes, causing him to cover his face in pain.

Angered by this, Sakon accused Ukon of using him as a shield and complained about the urine burning his eyes like strong acid. Ukon instructed Sakon to go wash his eyes in the nearby stream, while he handled the rest.

Ukon approached Kiba, who was standing in front of the grounded Akamaru, defensively holding a kunai. Ukon had a wicked grin on his face as he slowly advanced towards the nervous Inuzuka.

Meanwhile, Sakon knelt by the stream and cupped some water in his palms to wash his eyes. He muttered curses about the dog's urine and vowed to crush Akamaru when he got back. Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him and froze as he turned to see Neji already in his attack stance.

Neji wasted no time and struck Sakon with his signature "8 Trigrams 64 Palms" technique before Sakon could react.

Sakon didn't even have the chance to scream as he fell limply into the water. Neji watched his figure slowly float down into the stream confirming he had been dealt with before turning to the direction of Kiba and Ukon.

Neji used transformation jutsu to disguise himself as Sakon and waited.

Meanwhile, After merging with Kiba, Ukon took control of his hand and began to choke him. However, Kiba didn't give up and grabbed a kunai from his pouch with his other hand. He realized that since they were now sharing the same body, any injury he inflicted on himself would also hurt Ukon.

As Kiba held the kunai in his hand, he plunged it into his own gut, causing blood to spurt out of his and Ukon's mouths. Despite the excruciating pain, Kiba managed to utter, "Heh, painful, isn't it?"

Ukon couldn't believe the audacious and foolhardy move of the Inuzuka. He pondered, 'My power's primary advantage was that I could enter an adversary's body and keep myself out of harm's way. I have never encountered someone who would take such a risk.'

Kiba removed the kunai from his gut and raised his hand, saying, "Let's end this once and for all!" He plunged the kunai into his gut again, causing Ukon to detach and collapse to the ground.

Ukon grimaced at the sight of his wound as he thought, 'I'm running out of blood,' Meanwhile, Kiba, noticing that his opponent was distracted, hurled his kunai at Ukon with a labored breath. Ukon reacted quickly, raising his hand to block, but the kunai embedded itself in his arm.

After Kiba threw a smoke bomb, Ukon's vision was obscured, but he dashed through the smoke. As the smoke dissipated, his eyes scanned the area, searching for Kiba. However, his attention was diverted to the wounded Akamaru lying on the ground. Ukon approached the injured dog and remarked, "Hah, he fled leaving the mutt behind. Wise decision." He then chuckled, thinking that Kiba was even more heartless than himself. However, his amusement was short-lived, as Akamaru suddenly started to emit smoke.

Out of nowhere, the Akamaru lying on the ground exploded and a barrage of kunai flew towards Ukon, piercing through multiple parts of his body. Blood dripped down his figure as Ukon trembled with anger and shouted at the top of his lungs, "You're dead! Hey, Sakon! Where are you, damn it?"

Neji, disguised as Sakon, saw Ukon walking towards him as his cursed seal deactivated and he reverted to his original form.

"Capture those rats for me! I'll kill them as soon as I wake up!" Ukon shouted, but Neji, as he dropped the facade, could only smile at his words. "Sorry, but you won't be waking up, EVER," Neji said.

Ukon looked at him in confusion for a moment, then he realized. "You're not Sako-" Ukon was cut off by a quick and powerful punch to the gut, leaving him breathless. This was followed by a heavy chakra-infused kick to the skull, which put him to rest forever.

Neji made his way over to Kiba and Akamaru, who were both badly injured. Kiba was barely conscious, and Akamaru was in serious condition. Using his medical ninjutsu, Neji quickly tended to their wounds and stabilized them.

Once Kiba was stable, Neji helped him to his feet and informed him that his injuries had been treated to a certain extent. Neji expressed his regret that he could not do more, as his chakra reserves were already low.

Kiba weakly thanked Neji, saying that it was no big deal. Neji then suggested taking Kiba back to the village, hoping that the rest of their group was faring better.