The others all rushed off in the direction Guren had fled—
Catching her was secondary. The real priority was making sure she didn't have time to destroy the data and research in the underground base. That information was what they were really here for.
If all the intel was wiped, then even capturing Kimimaro and Guren wouldn't really count as a success.
"I never planned to run in the first place."
Kimimaro looked up at the sky, expression calm.
"My body is already ruined beyond repair. I can no longer serve Orochimaru-sama… but if I can… Tch. Forget it. I'll say it after the fight."
He raised his hand toward Yagyū Souma.
A beat later, bone bullets exploded from his fingertips like rounds from a gun—moving so fast the naked eye could barely catch them.
Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets.
But in that instant—
Kimimaro's vision lost sight of Souma again.
"So fast…"
Shock rippled through his thoughts.
He'd seen that terrifying burst of speed once already, but even seeing it a second time, it still felt unreal. This wasn't the speed a normal human could reach.
This guy…
His instincts hadn't been wrong.
Souma almost certainly did have a power similar to the Curse Mark.
But unlike the Sound Four, Souma could turn it on and off in an instant. The transitions were so fast that normal people couldn't even see the state change, which meant they completely misjudged his true speed and strength.
It was a disgustingly tricky style to fight against.
"Looks like I'll have to use that power," Kimimaro thought.
A surge of chakra exploded from his body.
The Curse Mark flared.
Under the weight of that power, his body warped and transformed. Agony ripped across every nerve—but compared to his usual illness, this pain was almost gentle.
As his body mutated, his overall physical ability jumped severalfold. For the first time, he saw Souma's state clearly—
A fleshy crest atop his head, golden light pouring off his body, an aura like a Buddha or a god.
What… is that?
Kimimaro's heart trembled, but this wasn't the time to hesitate.
Souma was already in front of him.
Bones erupted all over his body, stabbing outward.
Shikotsumyaku – Dance of the Larch.
Bone spikes jutted from every angle, creating a layered, absolute defense. With the Curse Mark enhancing it, his bone armor was even tougher than before—harder to break than steel.
At the same time—
He spun.
Offense and defense in one move, the rotating forest of bone turned into a shredding storm.
But—
Souma's blade was trembling lightly in his hand, almost humming. At the same time, dark mist began to gather around him, swirling slowly.
What's that?
Before Kimimaro could clearly see what was happening, he felt it—
This swing was different from before.
The blade came down.
Bone—
Shattered again.
Even with the Curse Mark reinforcing it, Shikotsumyaku couldn't withstand the cut. The defense was stronger than before, but not enough.
A long bone tail grew from Kimimaro's spine, lashing sideways at Souma the moment he closed in—
But it didn't hit the real body. It just smashed through a cloud of Kikaichū.
A swarm clone.
And then—
"What…?"
Horror crept across Kimimaro's face.
No wonder Jirōbō lost so badly.
These beetles weren't normal.
They could eat the Curse Mark's chakra itself. The more he used it, the more excited they became.
He spun faster and faster.
This time, he wasn't trying to block Souma's blade—
He was trying to shred as many of the insects as he could.
These bugs… are dangerous.
He defended and hunted at the same time, trying to track Souma's position.
But—
He couldn't find him. Souma's presence vanished completely, as if he had simply left.
Kimimaro knew better. Souma wouldn't give up that easily, and clearly saw value in him—otherwise, the Konoha ninja wouldn't have gone after Guren and left Kimimaro here.
Trying to wear me down with the bugs?
He frowned.
After he forced the beetles back, he scanned the surroundings.
"If you won't come out," he said quietly, "I'll just have to leave."
"My bad," Souma's voice answered lightly. "I got caught up in it a little… experiment."
He stepped out from behind a tree, wearing a relaxed, almost gentle smile.
"Experiment?"
Kimimaro went still.
This child…
He really was similar to Orochimaru-sama—
If you ignored the lack of that sinister, rotten aura, the resemblance in temperament was uncanny.
He tightened his grip on the bone blade.
Souma glanced at the beetle corpses scattered on the ground, unable to hide a touch of regret.
These were all evolved Kikaichū.
Even so, they were still too fragile in the grand scheme of things—easy to wipe out if an enemy focused on them.
The only saving grace…
Was that they had numbers. And as long as Ao—the Beetle King—was unharmed, he could continue cultivating wave after wave of new generations.
Souma looked back at Kimimaro.
"You're strong," he said calmly. "But you know far too little about me. You can't beat me. Give it up."
"Are you joking?" Kimimaro frowned.
"Even for you, to tell me to surrender without a fight is… impossible."
"In that case," Souma said with a small laugh, "I'll just have to use my own methods to take you down."
He'd been puzzling out how to capture Kimimaro alive this whole time—and had finally found the angle.
Sealing jutsu.
Of course, something simple wouldn't be enough to restrain Kimimaro.
To pull this off, he had to overpower a fully Cursed Mark–enhanced Kimimaro in the shortest possible time.
Which meant—
He had to go all out.
Limit State – on.
Sage Mode – on.
In an instant—
His figure disappeared again.
Clang!
Bone and steel rang against each other.
Kimimaro's cursed body reacted on instinct, bone tail sweeping out and spikes forming across his skin.
But Souma's bladework rained down from every angle, stabbing at multiple joints in a blur.
This is…
My Dance of the Camellia!
Kimimaro was stunned.
Souma had copied his attack patterns on the spot and weaved them into his own sword style. The shock alone left him half a beat behind.
Of course, that alone wasn't enough to really hurt him.
He knew his own jutsu inside and out. Surprise alone wouldn't break through his defense.
But—
Souma's left fist suddenly snapped out.
Kimimaro didn't even have time to process—
Boom.
A terrifying impact slammed into his body from range. Even in Curse Mark form, he could hear the crack of breaking bone.
What a punch.
And the distance—
He was sure Souma hadn't touched him directly.
The blow landed from several meters away.
This wasn't ordinary taijutsu anymore.
Kimimaro's understanding of "close-quarters combat" was being shattered over and over.
"Yagyū Souma," he thought, teeth clenched, "just how many kinds of jutsu do you have?"
He had no time to ask out loud.
Sword and fist fell like a storm. All of his focus was eaten up defending and dodging—he had no room to counterattack, no room to think.
But after a moment—
Kimimaro noticed something was wrong.
His stamina was draining too quickly.
He'd taken plenty of hits before, and moved harder than this—and this level of exertion shouldn't be burning his energy so fast.
No… it's not me. It's his jutsu.
He'd just realized it when—
It was already too late.
Souma's sword style shifted again. Chakra condensed along the blade, forming a golden arc that doubled its reach.
And then—
Crack, crack, craaack—
The sound of bones shattering echoed down the corridor.
Sweat poured down Kimimaro's forehead. If he hadn't been constantly regenerating bone to throw in front of that blade, that last slash would have taken his head.
The thought had barely formed—
When another invisible punch smashed into him again.
Same angle. Same spot.
He's really trying to destroy my bones one by one…?
Naive.
Shikotsumyaku wasn't just about hardness.
Its regeneration was just as monstrous.
And right now, with the Curse Mark active, that regeneration was even faster.
Time to counterattack.
Kimimaro ripped his own spine out in one smooth motion.
Shikotsumyaku – Dance of the Clematis: Vine.
But—
The next second, he realized he couldn't move.
Wire?
No.
It was a chakra wire, glowing faintly gold from the chakra being pumped into it. He'd tried flexing a few times already and couldn't break free.
His bone sword and spine whip lashed out, but he still couldn't touch Souma.
And beneath his feet—
He could feel something else binding him in place.
A barrier?
"A moment ago, that jutsu of yours—" Souma said lightly, as if making small talk. "You meant to bind me with your spine and then finish with a thrust from your right hand, didn't you?"
He phrased it like a question.
But his tone was absolute.
Kimimaro's face stayed cold, but inside he was shaken.
Impossible…
Souma had no kekkei genkai, no Shikotsumyaku, and yet he'd somehow predicted Kimimaro's next move.
Could he really see the future?
"Because I've already seen your future," Souma added, smiling.
"Is that so?"
Kimimaro's shock didn't stop his thoughts from turning.
He made a final decision—
He'd use his last resort.
Dance of the Early Fern…
But just as he was about to activate it, he felt it—
The wire around him wasn't just binding him.
It was sealing him.
Dark sealing formulas began crawling across his skin.
Four Symbols Seal.
The ink-black lines spread from the wire, covering his entire body.
The Curse Mark's power was slowly forced back down, suppressed and locked away.
"To deal with this kind of power, sealing jutsu really is the cleanest solution," Souma said mildly. "Don't you think?"
Kimimaro, arrested—complete.
Souma smiled, releasing the binding barrier beneath his feet.
The beetle swarm rose quietly from the earth.
Ao trembled eagerly, mandibles itching.
"Don't even think about it," Souma said, flicking its shell. "This one's my catch. If you eat him, I will definitely lose money."
He poked it back toward the ground and sent the Beetle King home.
With the Curse Mark sealed, Kimimaro's power was suppressed. Souma pulled out several prepared tags and slapped them around his body.
Before Kimimaro could react—
All his chakra and all four limbs were completely sealed.
"Your sealing jutsu… is this strong?" Kimimaro finally couldn't help asking.
"Just a little," Souma said, clapping his hands clean. "To put it simply—I'm very interested in you. And with how little time you have left to live, you won't be serving Orochimaru much longer anyway. So why not come help me instead?"
"...???"
Kimimaro stared at him like he was an idiot.
"There's really no need to resist so much," Souma went on cheerfully. "Honestly, I am curious about Shikotsumyaku, but that's not the main point. Mainly…"
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"I've heard the Hyūga clan and the Kaguya clan have a bit of… history."
"What are you trying to say?" Kimimaro frowned.
Hyūga and Kaguya?
He didn't know anything about that. When the clan was wiped out, he had been too young to know what was going on behind the scenes.
"Just a small experiment," Souma said. "Of course, before that, I'll probably have to cure your kekkei sickness first. At the very least, I need to extend your lifespan. At this rate, you'll keel over a few days after we get back to Konoha. That'd be… troublesome."
He thought seriously for a while.
Only two real solutions came to mind—
One was to get his hands on a White Zetsu.
That was basically impossible right now. Before the great army surfaced, there were White Zetsu around, but they were all hidden deep; finding even one, let alone catching it, was virtually impossible.
So that left one path—
Hashirama cells.
The Kaguya clan's bone techniques ultimately traced back to Hamura's line. Even though Hamura and Hagoromo were brothers, the path their bloodlines took had diverged.
He didn't know how well Hashirama cells would get along with Kimimaro's body.
And before any of that—
There was a more basic question.
Can this guy actually be useful to me?
If he raised a wolf that would eventually bite his hand…
Then it'd be easier to let him die on his own and save the trouble.
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