Chapter 20

Kuzo wiped his nose with his thumb, then he waved his hand at Kimimaro, inviting him to come. It was just a provoking gesture, which didn't work.

Kimimaro dashed toward Kuzo and stabbed, which he easily dodged. Instantly, the difficulty level rose.

"Let me show you how it's like to dance with death." Kimimaro's bone sword turned into many afterimages.

Kuzo could keep up with them by moving his head and using footwork to move backward. He might not keep up with the stabbing speed, but he surely could maintain a safe distance. It wouldn't always remain safe since there are trees and rocks behind him.

Kuzo squatted, turned, and kicked. A rib cage appeared in Kimimaro's stomach, which took the blow. Kuzo didn't stop pushing, and Kimimaro was sent flying 10 meters back. Kimimaro stabbed the ground and stopped himself.

"I have underestimated you," Kimimaro said.

'I definitely underestimated myself.' Kuzo could barely believe his own physical strength. He was managing this battle with taijutsu. But he knew that he didn't have the advantage here, not with his opponent giving him a calm look.

Kuzo stood up and opened his arms. "If this is what it's like to dance with death, then I have to say, it's like dancing with an old lady."

"You're quite talkative," Kimimaro said, his body getting surrounded by ink marks.

Now, if Kimimaro got to his final form, then Kuzo would be in deep trouble and real death would be waiting for him.

It's said that the full curse mark boosts your power by 10 times. It's like an imperfect sage mode.

Kimimaro opened both of his hands, bone swords getting out of them. Around his body, more spiky bones appeared. Kimimaro then dashed toward Kuzo.

Kuzo, from what he could see, couldn't attack at all without harming his fist.

He grabbed two kunais, and he danced with Kimimaro, whose bones were dense enough to clash with the blades without getting cut.

Kuzo parried and dodged each attack with difficulty. Blood was drawn out of his cheeks, arms, and legs, and he could barely believe what's going on.

'It's like Zoro against Mr. 1.'

Physical jutsus didn't have an advantage here. So how about Ninjutsu. Bones may be tough. But they won't protect the flesh and blood from heat.

Kuzo created a shadow clone, who appeared in front of Kimimaro and pushed him. Kimimaro killed the clone, but it gave Kuzo room to get a distance and weave the signs for his 3rd favorite Jutsu.

He took a deep breath, and then he exhaled a large stream of fire from his mouth, which covered Kimimaro from head to bone. Because he had a lot of chakra to spare, Kuzo didn't stop until he was sure he released enough fire to make a steak well done.

Once the fire disappeared, Kimimaro appeared standing with burns on his skin, the ink patterns covered his body more.

"You gotta be kidding me," Kuzo said, cursing.

Kimimaro gave him that scary look again. This time, more spiky bones appeared on his arm. And by more, he meant like each bone was multiplied by 6.

Not only so, but Kimimaro's chakra felt denser.

'If this fight keeps like that, then I'd lose my chakra before I can do a thing.' Kuzo frowned when Kimimaro ran toward him. Kimimaro was way faster now.

'Guess I need to try the new tricks I have learned. Shit, I didn't have time to perfect it.'

Kuzo didn't try to dodge; instead, he charged toward Kimimaro, who was quite confused by his action. But Kimimaro's confusion disappeared as soon as he stabbed with his arm at Kuzo.

Kuzo dodged the bone, held Kimimaro's neck, and then, he activated his newest Kekkei Genkai.

Kuzo's body melted in no time and broke into the molecular level.

He got inside Kimimaro's body and merged with it. Thanks to his chakra, he could put his cells along Kimimaro's cells.

Hell. This Kekkei Genkai affected even the clothes.

Kuzo didn't want to stay inside the man's body any longer, so he released his chakra and did some internal damage. Then, he emerged from Kimimaro's back, jumping away.

Kuzo landed on his feet.

Kimimaro, who had blood dripping out of his mouth, stopped, turned, and stared at Kuzo with shock.

Kuzo had given Kimimaro some damage. After that fireball jutsu heat and messing up with his cells, it wouldn't need a genius to tell that Kimimaro was in pain.

Kimimaro extended his hand at Kuzo. From his hand, a bunch of small bones flew at him with high speed. He barely had time for hand signs, and he dodged by tilting his body backward and swinging his arms away from the bones.

The rock behind him was pierced by what looked like bone bullets.

"I have wasted enough time with you," Kimimaro said.

From nowhere, a lightning bolt descended from the sky and hit Kimimaro, who withstood it.

When Kuzo raised his head, he saw the old man, En No Gyoja, standing up on the mountain.

"I may not be as young as I was, and I might be a dying man. But I still can discipline young folk like you," said En No. His finger enveloped with chakra, he wrote a character in the air. It had a fire character. that character turned into a fireball that descended on Kimimaro, who jumped backward, avoiding the explosion.

En No jumped down and landed next to Kuzo.

Kuzo could sense the chakra from different sources being pulled to the old man's body.

'Sage Jutsu? No, just nature chakra, and he's holding it in his body.'

Kuzo took deep breaths, trying to recover as much as he could. He swept his cheek, only to realize he was bleeding from many spots. He ignored his blood and looked forward.

"Good job protecting everyone until I arrived," said En No.

"Are you planning to… you know?" Kuzo asked. He was thinking about the jutsu that destroyed a whole village one, a country-level explosion.

"I don't want to kill my granddaughter," En No said. "But I have what it takes to kill him."

"Hey, what about me?" Kuzo asked.

"Doesn't matter. Look."

Kimimaro was walking slowly toward them. The seal marks on his body kept spreading until it covered him completely. He took a monster form with a tail.

Kimimaro's chakra now felt a lot different.

'Isn't he supposed to wait until we overwhelm him and then he transforms. Damn these Naruto blue-rays. I want my money back.'

Kuzo squatted a bit. 'I only have 25% of my chakra left, and I need to do it somehow.'

Kuzo opened his eyes widely.

"Old En No. I'll trap you and him in a barrier, you can kill him with a little version of your jutsu, can't you."

"My back is already sore, so hurry up," En No said.

Kimimaro ran toward them. Bone covering his arm and forming what seems like to be a driller. In no time, he was in front of them. En No kicked the driller backward, and then, he tried to kick Kimimaro, who created spikes instantly. En No dodged and wrote a character in the air, which caused fire to form a circle around him and spread. Kimimaro took the fire like a chad and kept attacking.

Kuzo created 3 shadow clones.

The three of them ran, and they weaved the same signs.

From each clone, a violet wall spread, creating a barrier around En No and Kimimaro.

En No, who was exchanging blows with Kimimaro, frowned and said. "Very well." He then weaved a series of hand seals. A barrier of unknown characters spread around him, followed by a large white explosion.

Kuzo thought that he was about to lose all of his hearing.

'Too bad this man is dying, or else this wouldn't have happened.'

The explosion reached the barrier, making it crack.

Kuzo clenched his jaw and forced more chakra into the barrier. He felt that his arms were about to be ripped off.

The barrier cracked, and soon broke. Kuzo found himself flying away, his shadow clones popping.

When he stood up, he saw a large hole on the ground.

He didn't know what to do with it, or what to make with it.

He ran to the center, only to see the old man standing.

"En No! Be careful! He is under the ground!" Kuzo said what his sensory ability told him.

"I know," said En No, ready to punch Kimimaro as soon as he appeared.

And then, from the ground, huge spikes of bones rose, each around 4-5 meters long.

En No Gyoja dodged one bone. But he was pierced by another who got him by surprise.