"Hmph. Not bad." Kimimaro narrowed his eyes, staring at the three pale cracks forming on his shoulder.
"Combining multiple Ninjutsu with sword work… your power is surprising."
Beneath his skin, Kimimaro had woven a bone membrane from his Shikotsumyaku for defense. Shigure's slashes had ruptured that membrane—but not destroyed it. Given Kimimaro's ability, he could patch it quickly.
Still, the force behind Shigure's blade exceeded expectation. Even the Fourth Kazekage had not been able to shatter bones so readily — yet here, with only a single sword and that strange flowing current along its edge, Shigure had done just that.
Is that current increasing the blade's cutting ability? Kimimaro wondered, eyes flicking to the black katana in Shigure's hand.
Shigure toyed with the hilt, considering his next move. If sheer cutting wouldn't finish it, then he would change how he approached the fight.
"Boil Release — Heat Breath Blade!" he intoned.
Heat surged up the blade in a hiss.
Shigure's body blurred — Ninjutsu: Body Flicker — and the field around him coalesced into countless droplets, reassembling his form in an instant.
A wave of white-hot air rolled toward Kimimaro; the blade seemed to ride that scorching current straight for his throat. In the past, Kimimaro would not have worried. Now he retreated, erupting bone spurs from his forearms — defensive ridges rather than weapons.
When his bone spurs slammed against the katana, they blocked it — briefly. Bone steamed and melted where metal met heat; the spur held for a heartbeat, then was sheared away.
Kimimaro twisted aside and avoided decapitation by a hair.
Shigure didn't relent. Each strike came faster, each one laden with heat that ate at bone. Kimimaro examined the cuts as he drew back: the edges weren't merely broken — they were corroded, as if something primeval were dissolving the very calcium of his frame.
What sort of Ninjutsu is this? he thought, growing wary.
Bone spurs erupted from joints all over him; within moments he resembled an armored hedgehog. Not to be outdone, Kimimaro surged forward — a counterattack of crushing force.
Steel met bone. Taijutsu and blade met Shikotsumyaku in a storm of snapping collisions. Fragments of broken bone peppered the snow; the White Forest drank their sound.
Kimimaro's kick jarred Shigure's sword aside and forced distance between them — the first time he'd deliberately created room in a fight. This man was unlike any other he had faced.
"Return to the Hidden Mist," Shigure called, sheathing the sword and offering the words that had lain beneath his strikes.
"The events of that year weren't the village's alone. There's another hand behind it. Come back — I will tell you everything."
Kimimaro's face hardened.
"No. I will never return." He spat the name with venom.
"I will not betray Lord Orochimaru."
Shigure's expression tightened.
"You don't have long."
A small panel of text flickered in Shigure's mind — [Great Sage: Current analysis progress 68%].
Great Sage, after the analysis completes, is there a way to remove the bloodline sickness from Kimimaro? he thought.
[Great Sage: Unable to conclude yet. Analysis incomplete.]
Shigure pushed the thought away and kept speaking to Kimimaro. "Come back to the Mist. I'll find a way to save you."
Kimimaro only shook his head. As he spoke, the black markings crawled across his skin — the Cursed Mark flared.
"Cursed Mark — Stage One!"
He had been so thoroughly bent to Orochimaru's will. The seal's power coursed through him, and with each use it ate a little more at his life.
"The more you use that power, the faster you will die," Shigure warned.
"It's irrelevant," Kimimaro muttered. "If it helps Lord Orochimaru, it's worth my life."
Shigure watched him silently. In raw talent, in the monstrous utility of his kekkei genkai, Kimimaro was the most remarkable warrior Shigure had ever met. Yet words—no matter how earnest—could not always reach every heart.
A hush fell between them. Snowflakes drifted, undisturbed by the tempers flaring in that clearing.
"Aren't you going to draw your sword?" Kimimaro sneered.
"No need," Shigure replied calmly. "If you want to make a move, come."
"Hmph."
They braced — the world narrowing to blade edges, bone, and the thin, brittle line between life and death.
Kimimaro snorted coldly.
In the next instant, he shot forward with explosive speed, closing in on Shigure like a blur.
But before he could reach him, Kimimaro slammed into something unseen — a dense mass of mist that rebounded him violently backward.
"What—?! What is this?"
He froze, eyes darting around. At some point, the area had filled with thick, roiling mist.
"Cloud Release: Cloud Mist Solidification Technique!"
At the same time, Shigure formed additional hand seals, transforming part of the mist around him — 80% solidified cloud mist and 20% Snow Mist transformation.
The air temperature dropped sharply. Frost began to creep along the ground, the mist's snowy essence spreading its chill.
"Damn it…"
Kimimaro hissed, trying to maneuver around the cloud barrier. But the mist wasn't static — it moved, flowing and coiling like living smoke. It wasn't as fast as Kimimaro, but there were too many of them.
He couldn't break through.
Across the field, Shigure stood calmly upon a drifting cloud, his gaze sharp and unwavering.
Kimimaro clenched his teeth. "Then I'll just have to crush through it!"
The Curse Mark flared to life.
Black patterns crawled across his body as he entered Curse Mark Stage Two, his appearance distorting into something monstrous and feral.
Shigure's expression hardened. "So you're going all out, huh?"
Kimimaro smirked darkly. "Even if I can't reach you, I can still attack from below!"
He slammed both palms into the frozen ground.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Seedling Fern!"
The earth convulsed. A moment later, it erupted in a forest of massive white bone spurs, shooting upward in every direction.
Shigure remained aloft, standing lightly atop his drifting cloud, but his sharp senses detected Kimimaro's killing intent.
He turned just in time to see Kimimaro emerge from the forest of bones — a bone spear spinning in his grasp, aimed straight for Shigure's heart.
Shigure's eyes narrowed. He made a simple gesture.
The cloud mist surged.
It enveloped Kimimaro in an instant — dense vapor transmuted into an acidic mist through Shigure's fusion of chakra natures.
The bone spear hissed and sizzled, melting before it could pierce its target.
By the time the attack reached Shigure, the weapon had dissolved into a puddle of bone and residue.
Kimimaro stared at his corroding weapon in disbelief. "What… what kind of Ninjutsu is this?"
"Cloud Release," Shigure replied evenly.
"Cloud Release?" Kimimaro echoed.
"Is that… a Kekkei Genkai?"
"Not exactly," Shigure said.
"It's a fusion — a combination of Ice Release and Boil Release. Whether it counts as a Bloodline Limit or something beyond that… I'm not sure."
Kimimaro's expression softened slightly, even as exhaustion crept over his face.
"I see… I understand now."
A faint, regretful smile crossed his lips as his head dipped.
Shigure exhaled quietly. "Gluttony… devour him."
The mist stirred once more — and consumed Kimimaro whole.
...
TN:
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