Chapter 37

Kakashi

This kid he was fighting was no pushover. It was times like this when he believed the words of his sensei, Lord Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

"Never overestimate yourself, Kakashi. In this world, there are kids your age who are even stronger than I."

Such a thing was false in Minato-sensei's case that much he was certain, but that hadn't truly been the intention of his late sensei's words.

In this moment, he realized that this kid he was fighting, while not as strong as him, was damn close.

As his kunai clashed with the kid's bone sword, Kakashi had to jump away. Kimimaro's ribs shot out to try and pierce the Konoha jonin's torso.

"You're strong…for a kid." Kakashi's frowned, his mask crinkling. Kimimaro didn't answer him, instead dropping into his stance once more ready to push the offensive.

This entire time Kakashi had needed to use his sharingan. He had not expected the kid to be so powerful as to be a match for him. His Sharingan had long since informed him that Kimimaro had complications with his chakra.

Unusual, abnormal complications.

The boy's chakra wasn't nearly as dense as a shinobi of his skill should be.

Chakra is the combination of physical energy and spiritual energy. The only reason for such an abnormal chakra signature would be if one of those two energies was lacking.

'Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu'

Kakashi sent several fireballs towards Kimimaro which the latter dodged by jumping backwards, landing in a tree half a dozen meters away.

"You're sick."

His words weren't mocking, nor were they kind. He was merely stating a fact.

"I am," Kimimaro spoke, for the first time since the fight had started.

"Yet you fight?" The Sharingan wielder asked, his hand tightening around his kunai.

"I am not so far gone that I have become an instrument without use. Even if that fate of mine is not far off." The white-haired teenager answered, his voice was resigned, accepting and awaiting the inevitable.

That didn't answer his question but perhaps he was better off without an answer. No matter what the kid needed to die. He had to help the others with the major threat that was Orochimaru.

"A shame then." Kakashi frowned. He pocketed his kunai and raised his right hand. His left came to grip his forearm. Screeching lightning erupted from his hand, his eyes focusing on the overwhelming mass of chakra he was gathering. The soldier pill made something like this possible, even if he knew he was going to sleep and stay asleep for more than a few days once this was over.

"The only shame is that I will not live to see my duty fulfilled." Kimimaro stared down at Kakashi's gathering chakra stoically. "My master has ordered your death, I will fulfill that much at least."

The white-haired teenager reached behind himself and in one quick move pulled out his spine to use as a sword. The action made Kakashi's eyes twitch.

He had seen a lot of grotesque things in his life that would make academy students never wish to leave the village, but even he wasn't prepared for that.

Though he kept his composure, his body lowering in preparation to charge the curse-marked teenager.

"You're not done yet?"

Of course.

"A fair question, but I should be asking you what took you so long?" Kakashi's eyes didn't drift from his opponent as he answered his only male student.

Or at least his clone.

"Well, they weren't all that weak, especially with those roided-out curse marks." Lei shrugged, stepping beside Kakashi, dropping into his own stance as the two prepared to attack Kimimaro.

"Let's hope we have an easier time with this one then." Kakashi frowned as he blasted off towards his opponent, he could feel Lei behind him, being left behind by the chidori's speed. The cursed teen didn't stay still, launching himself towards the jonin and swinging his spine blade.

Kakashi didn't halt in his approach, not that he could of. He wasn't surprised to see Lei body flicker to meet the blade with his own wood tanto. However, he was taken aback when the spine blade bent around the tanto making its way towards him.

The Chidori didn't allow for anything other than forward movement, the tunnel vision was too severe for anything else to be a viable option, so with little room to dodge, he dropped his form, the blade clipping several strands of his hair as he reached forwards. Kimimaro turned his body and the Chidori crashed into his ribs.

Kakashi winced at the pain of the ribs stabbing into his hand but he didn't let up, aiming to drive straight through his opponent. It didn't take more than a few seconds before the rib shattered, more bone replacing it a moment too late as the Chidori slammed into Kimimaro's midsection.

The Konoha jonin paused as he stared the teen in the eyes. Flashes of the past entered his mind, Kimimaro's face being replaced by his old teammate, Rin. They both shared the same look as the light slowly left the boy's eyes. A brief sadness crossed yellow and black inhuman eyes that stared back before dying resolve filled them.

*SHING*

Several points of pain flooded Kakashi's body as he looked down to see the bones from Kimimaro's torso sticking into his own. His arm felt like he had put it into a sea of kunai as he felt several painful cuts slash into it.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The Copy Ninja heard his student shout behind him, but his focus was lost, he couldn't stop himself from falling backward, his arm getting shredded as it was forcefully removed from its sharp prison.

His hazy eyes looked to the teen he had dealt a killing blow to. He wondered, if Kimimaro had actually been healthy, would he have won instead? As he lay in the dirt that was moistening with his own blood, he couldn't help but think that he would have. The kid was talented and more of a threat than even Zabuza was.

A nap sounded great right about now. His eyes trailed over to the fight against Orochimaru. He could see three Lei's and Anko squaring off with the sannin. Which meant the original Lei finished his fight as well. Good. He could leave the rest to them.

The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Lei's clone launching a water bullet at Kimimaro's head, blowing it off completely and ensuring he would no longer be a threat. The boy's body fell to the ground as blood leaked from the bloody stump of his neck.

—

Lei's Clone

Kakashi was messed up, bad. While the wounds in his torso were shallow, thank god for that, there were a bunch of them. Small pierces dug deep enough to clear his muscular system and stop just before his organs.

I activated the Mystical Palm Technique and started treating the worst of his wounds, he was losing blood, but if I stopped the bleeding then he would be out of danger. My eyes trailed down to his arm which looked like it had been put in a weak blender. Skin and muscle shredded off though it was still intact.

Good, that was good.

Kakashi got lucky. I'm sure if Kimimaro was more conscious he would have manipulated his bones to take my sensei's life and his arm with him to the grave. Fortunately, the ribs were shot out at random, and the bones that shredded his arm had only formed to make several blades that pierced and cut through it.

As I stopped the bleeding within the last of the shallow holes, I started to focus on his arm. The wounds here were more severe than anywhere else on his body and I knew with my current level of expertise in the jutsu, I wouldn't be able to heal it, not completely. So I focused my energy on stopping the bleeding once more.

It took several minutes before I finally got the bleeding to stop, my eyes locking onto the fight that had been ringing in my head from the start. It was time to help the boss!

—

Lei (Several minutes earlier)

I glared as Kidomaru's body dropped to the ground. The bastard was a pain in my ass and I almost felt happy when I finally sliced his chest open.

A lie, but I was glad to move on.

I left the body behind, launching myself towards where Anko and my clone were facing off with Orochimaru. I could still sense Ebisu, his chakra draining as he launched jutsu albeit within the body of the snake the sannin had summoned earlier.

Yamato-sensei on the other hand felt weak, as if his chakra was at rest. My clone had already alerted me of his condition which calmed me down a great deal.

Being paralyzed temporarily was a lot better than being dead permanently, and I would take every little mercy the creepy bastard would offer.

I could hear the sound of the golem and snakes tussling as well as the sound of jutsu flying, and as I launched out of the trees, I had a jutsu of my own to give to the pedo.

'Earth Release: Flying Thrown Stones.'

I landed in the middle of the battlefield, slamming my hands on the ground, and watched as a multitude of stones flew toward Orochimaru.

A sneer formed on my face when I saw his smirk grow wider as he raised an earth wall in defense.

"Are you the original?" Anko asked, her eyes still locked firmly on the wall.

"I am."

"Good, I was beginning to wonder what had you caught up." If we weren't in a life-or-death situation I probably would have joked with her about the sincere concern in her voice. Would have made for a fun couple of minutes.

The Earth Wall was broken down with a powerful blast of wind and dirt. "I'm glad you decided to show your head again, my dear prize."

I watched silently as the sannin walked towards us looking at me with a possessiveness I only liked to see in my girls' eyes.

"To think you alone handled four of my sound five. You're everything I hoped for…and so much more." Orochimaru licked his lips, as his words finished, my other clone that had been fighting the blue-haired guy landed beside me.

"I've decided that I don't like you."

"Your consent was never a factor." Orochimaru grinned back, taking carefree steps forward.

"Figured."