You Think You Can Kill Me!

An idiom states that when paths cross, the brave one wins.

Naruto's bravery surpasses mountains and rivers, so victory is assured.

Both sides were poised for battle.

Kimimaro's Curse Mark caused his pale skin to split vertically, dark hues surging from within. The color deepened, staining his skin and face a dark brown.

Red eye circles replaced his red eyes, and the red dot between his brows spread into thick, painted eyebrows.

Six massive, ivory-like bones grew from his back, spreading open like wings.

"The only freedom God grants humans is to find the meaning of their lives. The moment I met Lord Orochimaru, my life found its meaning."

Kimimaro charged like a charging bull, abandoning his elegant sword dance. He stomped the ground and leaped into the air, gathering power for a heavy punch to strike Naruto down.

His speed and power had increased more than tenfold compared to before.

Naruto stood his ground to meet the blow. "Thirty thousand Chakra! Whale Killer Hegemonic Fist!"

BANG!

Fist met fist, like a giant hammer smashing steel, the air ringing with the impact.

Kimimaro was sent flying back several meters, while Naruto's feet sank slightly into the ground.

Naruto's concerns had largely dissipated. Before the fight, he had been somewhat wary of what tricks the opponent might pull.

But Kimimaro had simply increased his strength and speed.

In his eyes, the opponent had been like a hard, shelled turtle, his bones merely tough. Now, he had become a ferocious beast, extending his claws to swat at him.

"Bring on any of you! I'll take you all on!"

Sticking his sword into the ground, Naruto charged with Rasengan in both hands, heading for Yakushi Kabuto.

His combat instincts told him to eliminate the squishy target first.

POW POW POW!

The Rasengan bombarded and blasted, disregarding its power and simply throwing it.

Yakushi Kabuto picked up another medicine bottle and downed two more pills, calmly observing Naruto's movements and predicting the landing spots of the Rasengan. Each one narrowly dodged with extreme agility.

He couldn't believe how exaggerated Naruto's Chakra reserves were. After all, Kakashi could only use Raikiri four times a day, and Rasengan was a Ninjutsu of similar Chakra consumption.

Even observing the damage to the ground and rocks, which was about a fifth of Raikiri's power, it shouldn't be possible to throw them around like Kunai.

Kimimaro, seeing Naruto shift his target and frequently attack Yakushi Kabuto, showed anger on his usually calm face, because that was his teacher.

Yet, he charged at Naruto again and again, only to be swatted away like a fly each time, his internal organs suffering severe damage.

But he was already gravely ill and near death, so he didn't care. His only purpose for coming out this time was to complete Orochimaru's mission.

He hated his illness, which prevented his body from being of use to his lord, from becoming a part of his lord and contributing to his grand ambitions.

He activated his bloodline limit, "Shikotsumyaku," concentrating and re-concentrating it. Bone cells rapidly synthesized and wrapped around his right arm, eventually forming a spiral drill nearly two meters long.

It was sharp and hard, surpassing any naturally existing substance.

His efforts were not in vain; Naruto turned back, his eyes fixing on him sharply.

Yakushi Kabuto was given breathing room and, along with Kimimaro, attacked Naruto from two points, sandwiching him.

Not far away, Gamabunta and Manda were fighting with earth-shattering roars, the ground layering with craters. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were rapidly forming hand seals, Fire and Wind Ninjutsu sweeping across the field.

"Kimimaro, my good child, you will live forever in my heart."

Kimimaro seemed to hear the call. His veins bulged, and his face showed a devout serenity. "I have five sword dances in total. The first four are no longer necessary. My final dance, Shikotsumyaku: Kanamai no Mai! Lord Orochimaru..."

"Orochimaru is your father! Are you going to keep mumbling about him?!" Naruto rubbed his fists together, Chakra surging in his arms. He stopped protecting his body and condensed it all into the Hell Sword.

Kimimaro didn't get angry; instead, his expression became extremely honored. "I wish that were true."

Naruto said seriously, "I understand your conviction now."

The swords formed on his arms, but the Wind-style Chakra condensed into a tangible form like ice crystals. "Wait for me in hell. I'll send Orochimaru to see you sooner or later. In the next life, I'll let him be your father."

Kimimaro calmly raised his drill arm. Chakra covered his field of vision to an exaggerated degree, surpassing even Naruto's.

Yakushi Kabuto stopped moving.

Naruto's senses told him it was a killing move fueled by life force, consuming his very life.

He could not afford to be careless.

Then, in an instant, the fiery circle extinguished, and the world turned dark.

Pale bones erupted from the soil like trees, wildly growing into a dense, white forest of bones.

Naruto leaped up, swinging his arms. The Hell Sword slashed through the air, severing the hard bone trees that thrust towards him.

But these bone trees were just the prelude. Naruto knew very well that the true killing intent came from behind!

He turned, crossing his arms and raising them high.

On the trunk of the thickest bone tree, Kimimaro, with disheveled hair, had grown exposed upper limbs out of nowhere.

The sharp spiral drill, carrying the full weight and power of his life, pierced towards Naruto's head.

"Lord Orochimaru!" he shouted hoarsely, his voice filled with faith and his last breath.

Fast, hard, and unavoidable.

Facing the strongest killing move, the hardest bone drill of the Shikotsumyaku, unleashed with his life on the line, could Naruto block it? How could he block it?

The answer was strength! The answer was ascent!

What was impossible was possible!

Wisdom transformed into inspiration at this moment, transforming into the peerless sword dance of his arms!

His senses, his eyes, his chakra!

As if piercing through matter, he saw the fragile, minuscule connection points between the chakra and the bone within the spiraling bone drill, he saw the opening!

"Chakra rotating at forty thousand horsepower! Hell Storm Sword!!"

On the brink of life and death, sword qi like a storm shaved the bone drill.

Immensely sharp, immensely accurate.

Naruto's reactions were beyond conscious control, the instinct of thousands of sword swings moving his arms, shoulders, and waist.

In the brief moment of clash, before the bone drill pierced his forehead, he swung his sword countless times.

The drill tip stopped three inches from his eyes, shattering with a loud crack.

The spiraling bone drill, its density surpassing steel by an unknown margin, broke into twisted bones and fell uselessly.

And the one controlling the attack, Kimimaro, his eyes widened beneath his gray hair, was already dead. His fist and arm still pushed forward.

Naruto's feet planted on two bone spurs, his hands trembling slightly. The pores and acupoints on his skin were scraped red from the intense chakra eruption in such a short time.

It felt like being burned by a thousand fire needles, then frozen and numb.

Without a moment's pause, a treacherous sneak attack arrived.

Yakushi Kabuto, holding the sharp tip of a broken bone, stabbed towards Naruto's heart from behind.

Naruto didn't have time to turn. He bent his left arm back to block. As the bone spur pierced his palm and began to enter between his ribs, he gripped it hard.

The texture was smooth and hard.

Simultaneously, he pushed hard and twisted away, breaking free.

But his left hand was now numb, his tendons severed by a chakra scalpel.

Yakushi Kabuto remained extremely calm, not pausing for a moment to mourn Kimimaro's death. He immediately leaped up, the bone spur aimed at Naruto's throat.

"Rasengan!" Naruto condensed a Rasengan in his right hand and threw it.

Yakushi Kabuto dodged. "It's useless, I can predict your..."

Bang!

The Rasengan, already flying past, hit his side.

"Truly disgusting."

Yakushi Kabuto was sent flying back a distance, then pursued again. The Yin Healing Wound Destruction repaired his wound at a visible speed.

In that opening, Naruto adjusted his stance. His remaining right fist clenched, his eyes glaring, he roared, "Do you think you can kill me?!"

Saying that, he stepped forward, preparing to fight again.

Yakushi Kabuto couldn't understand, nor did he believe it. He was at full strength and still couldn't finish off a weakened opponent?

Just then, the edge of the bone forest suddenly exploded, the immense commotion like a giant beast destroying mountains and smashing forests.

A woman in green robes and sandals with bright red nails leaped powerfully, her eyes full of heroic spirit.

"There's no reason for a child to protect me!"