บท 537: 502. Victims of Great Power
Rumble… Rumble…
Kimimaro warily stares at his surroundings. A massive purple barrier locks him and the Sound Four within.
Shoom…
The aura of the Sound Four rises by several folds. A purple aura envelops their body and strengthens their power.
"Ah, this power!" Jirōbō cracks his neck and relishes the boost in his power.
Bang…
Kimimaro kicks the ground and flickers in front of him.
Swoosh…
He clenches his fists and swings them towards Jirōbō's chest.
BOOM…
The ground beneath Jirōbō's feet shatters as he grasps Kimimaro's punch. The current Jirōbō is able to withstand a full-power punch from Kimimaro without sustaining any injuries.
"Now, it's my turn!"
Jirōbō activates the first form of his curse seal. Several curse marks crawl across his body like doddles. Jirōbō raises his arm towards the sky.
"Arhat Earth Shattering Elbow,"
He swings his elbow downward and strikes Kimimaro's shoulder blade.
BANG…
Kimimaro's body hits the ground. The sheer force from the jutsu shatters the ground beneath him and creates a crater.
Bleurgh…
Kimimaro spits out a mouthful of blood.
Whoosh…
Jirōbō leaps into the sky and clenches both his fists into one.
"Arhat Ground Splitting Hammer,"
BAM…
The strike hits Kimimaro's spine and creates a gigantic fissure ranging several tens of meters beneath his body.
Swoosh…
Jirōbō jumps out of the crater and glances at Kimimaro's still body.
"Jirōbō, your hands." Tayuya gasps in surprise.
Drip… drip…
"Huh!"
Jirōbō glances at his hands and notices his mangled fists. Blood leaks from his hands as his fingers are brutally bent at several hands. The curse marks numb the pain receptors of the body, so the curse user is unable to feel pain.
"W-what?"
Sakon, Ukon, and Kidōmaru freeze in shock. Sakon grabs his hands and uses his Kekkei Genkai to heal Jirōbō's hands.
"What even is his body made of? Every time I punch him, I feel like I am punching metal. No, even metal isn't that hard. It feels like I am hitting the hardest material in the world."
Jirōbō holds his trembling hands.
"He should be dead, right? I don't think anyone will wake up after eating such a powerful punch." Kidōmaru glances at Kimimaro's body in the crater.
Twitch… twitch…
Kimimaro's body twitches in the crater. He twists his unnaturally bent arms to normal and places them on the ground. Kimimaro supports himself with his arms and slowly stands up.
"Shut your trap! What a jinx?" Tayuya barks at him.
Curse marks crawl over Kidōmaru's entire body. He spits out his organic gold webbing fluid.
"His body is unbreakable. So what? I will pierce his brain."
Kidōmaru's six arms pull the bowstring with full force. He shapes the tip of his arrow in a spiral.
Twang…
Kidōmaru releases the bowstring after inputting maximum tension.
Shoom…
A purple aura shrouds the arrow. The arrow whistles through the air and creates several sonic booms in its wake. It breaks the sound barrier and reaches a hypersonic speed of Mach 10.
BANG…
The arrow strikes Kimimaro in the head and raises a cloud of dust and debris.
"He should be dead after this hit, right?" Kidōmaru glances at the dust cloud.
"There is no way someone can survive such a direct hit after I added so much force and penetrating power to my arrow."
<Shikotsumyaku: Ten Finger Drilling Bullets>
Bang… Bang… bang…
Ten hardened bone bullets fly out of the dust cloud at an incredible speed. These bullets clear the dust cloud, revealing Kimimaro, pointing his fingers toward the group.
An arrow is lodged into a horn-like, bony protrusion on his forehead. The bone cracks and the arrows fall to the ground.
The bone bullets spin rapidly, pushing the air in front of them.
Tayuya performs multiple backflips and dodges the bone bullets. Every bone bullet creates a meter-deep crater on the ground on impact. Kidōmaru spews out the golden organic web fluid from his mouth. He shapes the organic web fluid in a shield and places it in front of his body. He also spews out a giant spider web behind his back for support.
HAAH…
Jirōbō smashes his two fists into the ground and lifts a giant chunk of earth, and drops them in front of him to block the bullets. Curse marks surround Sakon's and Ukon's body. Glistening purple scales wraps around their body to form armor for protection. Their legs turn into giant claws that dig into the ground for support. The bullet barrage lasts for a while.
Smoke rises from Kimimaro's fingers. The narrow holes in his fingertips close. The ground around the Sound Four is riddled with giant potholes. Tayuya has escaped behind Jirōbō to take shelter from the bone barrage.
The massive chunk of earth in front of Jirōbō is reduced to a small boulder riddled with holes. Kidōmaru's organic shield and the web have broken several times during the barrage despite his multiple reinforcements.
Sakon and Ukon are also in a sorry state. Most of the scales around their body are shattered around them. Blood leaks from the several wounds on his body.
After the blade barrage ends, the wounds on their body squirm and heal rapidly. Their chakra reserves plummet in the process.
The Sound Four reunites again and stands toe-to-toe with each other.
"He is a tough one! We have to work together or I am afraid none of us will make it out alive." Tayuya opens her mouth.
Black marks cover the entire skin of their body. The Sound Four enters into the Version Two form of their Curse Mark Transformation. Their skin turns deep orange-brown. Several horns protrude out from their head and their muscles and body expand by a few inches.
Sakon and Ukon separate from each other. The purple glistening scales around them turn black and cover their entire body.
Kimimaro silently stares at the five shinobis in front of him.
'These people look stronger than before. So, I also have to get serious.'
Kimimaro slowly removes his kimono, wraps it neatly, and stores it.
"Huh, what's he up to?" The Sound Four, who were about to attack him with full gusto, stop in their tracks. They suspiciously stare at Kimimaro's actions.
'Izuna-san asked me to never use this technique against weaker opponents. However, it looks like these five can handle it.'
There are four diamond mark Senjutsu seals on his chest. One of the diamond seals on his chest glows with a cyan hue and fades away. A cyan aura surrounds Kimimaro's body.
----------Flashback-No-Jutsu------------
Cough… Cough…
A twelve-year-old Kimimaro coughs out blood from his mouth.
Kimimaro wipes the blood from his mouth and stares at the patch of blood in his hand.
"It's happening again!" Izuna glances at the blood and shakes his head.
Izuna activates his Sharingan and inspects Kimimaro's body.
"Kimimaro, your powers, your Kekkei Genkai is one of the rarest and most powerful of all Kekkei Genkai. However, this great power comes at a great cost. Your Kekkei Genkai Shikotsumyaku is slowly destroying your flesh and body. The constant liquification of your bones is not only deteriorating your bone marrow but also destroying the surrounding cells. I can already see symptoms of bone cancer in various parts of your body," Izuna remarks with a serious expression.
"Angel-san, does that mean I am dying?" A young Kimimaro silently opens his mouth.
Sigh…
Izuna sighs and stares at Kimimaro's innocent face.
Tears flow from Kimimaro's eyes.
"Angel-san, I don't want to die. If I die now, then how will I repay Angel-san's kindness? Please save me, Angel-san. I don't want to die a useless death." Kimimaro hugs Izuna's leg.
'Well, what should I do? On one side, death is better than the constant suffering he is undergoing now. On the other side, I don't have the right to decide his fate. With all his family members dead, and his clan extinct, I am the only person he can rely on. I did save him from Orochimaru's brutal experiment. However, if I abandon him now, then I won't be any different from the heartless Orochimaru. He has devoted his existence to me and his sense of purpose is to be useful to me.
I did attempt to cure him by leaving him care of the snakes at the Ryuchi cave since nature energy seems to alleviate his condition. He even had the talent for Senjutsu. However, it wasn't enough to cure him completely. His condition will flare up again. In the end, the snakes gave up on him after a few years. '
"Alright! I will cure you. It's a promise!" Izuna pats Kimimaro's head and stares at the sky.
'How ironic it is! The person who is about to die in three years is assuring someone else of meeting a familiar fate. Well, if I look at it, both of us are a victim of our great power. Our bodies aren't strong enough to withstand our immense power.'
Izuna chuckles.
Two years later,
After thousands of hours of research, I have finally completed it. Izuna raises his hand and a diamond-shaped seal flickers in his palm.
'I spent hundreds of hours researching Orochimaru's curse seal and Ayaka's Karma seal. Then hundreds of hours later, I modified the seal and removed all of its negative traits, and created this seal after taking some inspiration from Tsunade's 'Strength of Hundred Seals'.
I will name it 'Senjutsu Seal'. This seal will not only stabilize Kimimaro's body by passively absorbing nature energy and healing his body, but it can also be used for a short-time power-up in the form of a Basic Senjutsu Mode. In this aspect, it's similar to Orochimaru's curse seal with no side effects.
Izuna brands the seal on Kimimaro's chest.
---------End of Flashback----------
Shoom…
After activating the seal, the surrounding nature energy rapidly enters Kimimaro's body.
Fwish…. Fwish…
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