CH 52

Naruto drew his sword once again, "Well in order to make that happen you're going to have to come over here and fight me, unless you think you can kill me by talking me to death."

Kimimaro snapped his new weapon in a test of sorts, "For the future of Otogakure and Orochimaru-sama you will die today!"

Naruto set his sword in a ready stance and gazed out at Kimimaro coldly, "For someone that seems to have a fetish for saying that they're going to kill me, you sure do a lot of talking." Kimimaro began whipping his chain-staff at Naruto who found that Kimimaro was far faster in this form than before, 'It looks like this transformation of his isn't just for show.' Naruto took a lash on his shoulder that ripped into his flesh deeply. Kimimaro then hit Naruto with the whip and had it wrap around Naruto's right arm and pull him forward to sink a kick deep into his ribs that freed him from the weapon at the cost of flesh and blood being shredded from his arm.

Naruto held the injured limb and watched his blood drip off of his body and onto the ground before he heard hissing signifying that he was healing somewhat. Naruto growled as he stood back up, keeping his eyes locked on Kimimaro. He decided to go on the attack this time, but every time he took a swing at Kimimaro he ended up getting a lash on his hands. Eventually Naruto roared as he went for a heavy overhead swing, but a strike from Kimimaro's whip sent it out into the distance far from the point of any kind of retrieval.

Kimimaro backed off and began whipping Naruto, cutting into his body and drawing blood with every shot. He struck Naruto across his chest, his back, his arms, wherever he could hit Naruto cleanly he did hit Naruto.

After an endless barrage of strikes from the whip of his enemy Naruto dropped to the ground shaking in pain as blood fell from his body to the grass below, staining the green blades red. His shirt was in tatters and was utterly un-wearable any longer. Kimimaro wrapped his chain-staff around Naruto's arm and jerked him forward, dragging him across the ground on his left side. Naruto eventually regained his footing and Kimimaro's eyes widened as he saw what had been hidden in Naruto's left hand, but he had given Naruto too much momentum and by now Naruto had a full running start heading his way.

Thrusting out his left hand that had a threatening blue sphere spinning in the palm, Naruto shouted out the name of his attack at the top of his lungs as he slammed it into Kimimaro's body, "Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)! Die you son-of-a-bitch!"

As the jutsu drilled into Kimimaro's body, flesh visibly flew from the point of contact. The force from the attack sent Kimimaro flying away at a high velocity, pulling the whip with him as it pulled itself from Naruto's arm, taking yet another bite out of Naruto's already heavily wounded body.

Naruto fell to the ground clutching his bloody arm before he started crawling towards the direction that Kimimaro flew in, trying to confirm his kill.

"What an incredibly destructive ninjutsu. If I had not grown a layer of bone underneath my skin that most certainly would have ended our battle." Naruto saw Kimimaro standing and walking over to him from the far distance that he had been sent. Where Naruto hit him in the body there was the area where Naruto ripped through his skin, a spherical circle of brown and within there was a visible film of white with a spiral groove carved deeply into it with blood slightly seeping through the cracks that the mark formed, the bone he had been talking about.

Naruto punched the ground hard with his injured arm and stood up again, "Just fucking die already goddamn it! I should have killed you four times already and you're fucking standing like a goddamn zombie! I hit you dead-on! I heard it, I felt it! I heard and felt the fucking Rasengan grinding into you, that was a kill shot! You should be split in half! Fuck a kekkei genkai, that shit isn't right!"

Naruto was using as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as he safely could and Kimimaro was outclassing him. It wasn't that Naruto didn't have what it took to go up against him in his second level form, it was the fact that Kimimaro seemingly had nine lives or something, because the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) kept Kimimaro from taking the brunt of Naruto's attack damage. He couldn't cut through his bones, he couldn't slip a weapon through the ribs for a stab at his organs, hell he couldn't even crush him with enough pressure to bend iron because Kimimaro could just manipulate his skeletal frame to protect his vital points.

Naruto sighed and picked up a taijutsu stance once again to attack, 'How the fuck can I kill him? He just keeps coming. I know I'm hurting him, I have to be, every attack I'm landing would leave anyone else in critical condition if not kill them outright.'

Naruto didn't have time to ponder too much as Kimimaro brought his whip back out and began attacking again. Naruto did his best to avoid getting anywhere near the bony barbs of the weapon, but Kimimaro kept picking up the pace of his attacks and hit Naruto in his legs, sending him to his knees.

Kimimaro slung the weapon out once more to wrap it around Naruto's body it was stopped by a burst of sand that squeezed between the whip and protected Naruto from further harm. Even more sand then appeared and came at Kimimaro who jumped back and put distance between himself and Naruto. A smile broke out onto Naruto's face as he felt the familiar presence of his desert friend, "Hey Gaara. What's up?"

Gaara slowly walked up to Naruto, who was still on his knees, and stared out at Kimimaro, "Nothing."

Gaara was suddenly surprised by a bloody Naruto wrapping Gaara in a hug, "I'm glad to see you. I thought I wouldn't get a chance to go after Sasuke. What are you doing here anyway?"

He shrugged Naruto off of him after a moment, "My siblings and I were requested by your Hokage to assist a retrieval team for Sasuke Uchiha. Are you having trouble with this one Uzumaki?"

Naruto was relishing this moment of reprieve from combat due to his injuries and talking with Gaara was allowing him time to heal and regain some energy, "Great, now someone can go back up Rock Lee. I sent him to chase after Sasuke before he could get away. I need you to go help him out."

Surprise was not evident on Gaara's face except for the raised eyebrow, "Are you not having trouble with your opponent?"

Pulling off the remains of his tattered red shirt Naruto chuckled lowly, "Yes, but this is a duel Gaara. I don't get all out of shape about this kind of thing often in a fight, but I need to beat this guy myself to get some peace with myself. Just go and help Lee. I'll be fine."

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