Takuma vs. Kankuro

The names on the electronic screen stopped changing.

Mori Takuma VS Kankuro.

Takuma rolled his wrists, vaulted over the railing, and landed steadily in the arena.

Kankuro came down from the other side as well.

They stood ten paces apart in the center of the arena.

Genma Shiranui's right hand swept down.

"Begin!"

The moment the word left his mouth, Kankuro moved.

The bandages snapped apart under chakra control. White strips fluttered through the air as a puppet leaped out from behind Kankuro and landed in the center of the arena.

Its black wooden shell was painted with grotesque demon faces, and metal bearings were set into its joints, reflecting the sunlight with a cold gleam.

Poison needles shot from a mechanism in the palm of its left arm. Guided by Chakra Threads, the dense volley fanned out to cover a wide area.

Takuma formed Hand Seals and slapped his palm against the ground.

Earth Style: Earth Wall

A two-meter-high earthen wall surged up from the ground. The needles thudded into it, while black venom spread across the surface with a faint sizzling sound.

Before Takuma's fingers had even left the Hand Seals, Spider-Sense warned him of danger.

The puppet had already burst through the wall.

A section of rotating circular saw extended from its left arm. Its teeth spun at high speed, driven by chakra, as it swept toward him with a shrill metallic screech.

Takuma dodged sideways.

The saw skimmed past the tip of his nose, cutting off a few strands of hair.

Before he could regain his balance, two sickles sprang from the puppet's right arm.

A third arm extended from its back, its five fingers spread wide. Each finger was a short, poisoned blade.

Takuma kicked Crow in the chest to propel himself backward. The three weapons wove a web of blades before him, relentlessly pursuing him as he retreated.

"Pretty fast."

Kankuro stood ten paces away, his fingers twitching as a mocking smile played on his lips. "But how far can you run?"

The puppet's assault accelerated again.

Circular saw, sickles, poisoned blades—the three arms attacked in turn, their pace so relentless it left no room to breathe.

Kankuro's ten fingers danced in the air, controlling the puppet with more agility than a living person.

Takuma kept retreating, his feet stamping a trail of uneven footprints into the sandy ground.

Another sickle swept toward him.

Takuma leaned back to dodge. The blade grazed his collar, tearing a hole in it.

Through the green lenses of his Neo Sunglasses, he could clearly see the Chakra Threads surrounding the puppet. Ten main threads branched into twenty secondary threads, which in turn split into hundreds of finer strands. Each one connected precisely to a mechanism.

Takuma dodged another wave of poison needles, then slammed into the stone wall at the edge of the arena.

There was nowhere left to go.

Kankuro's eyes lit up.

"Got you."

The puppet's jaws opened, unleashing a dense rain of poison needles.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall."

Takuma formed Hand Seals and spat out a wall of water.

The water swirled into a barrier before him. The needles slowed as soon as they entered the watery curtain, their trajectories thrown off course.

Takuma burst through the Water Wall.

Blue markings appeared on his right arm. The Cursed Seal's first form was partially activated.

The markings spread from his shoulder to his wrist. The veins beneath his skin bulged slightly, and his muscles swelled as the Cursed Seal's power surged through them.

He swung his Kunai.

The thread connecting to the puppet's left arm snapped.

Kankuro's smile froze.

With Spider-Sense and the Neo Sunglasses enhancing his aim, Takuma precisely cut through the threads, each strike landing on a Chakra Thread.

The Chakra Threads could withstand hundreds of pounds of tension, but against a Kunai wrapped in Natural Energy, they were as fragile as a spiderweb. One touch was all it took to snap them.

Kankuro reacted quickly.

He changed how he controlled the remaining threads and redistributed them, routing them around the severed connections to keep the puppet moving through the points that remained.

More Chakra Threads extended from his fingers.

The puppet began to change shape.

Hidden compartments popped open along its torso, revealing more mechanisms within.

A fervent smile spread across Kankuro's face. "You've got some skill, forcing me this far."

All ten of his fingers moved at once.

The puppet became a black blur, charging at a speed far greater than before.

A row of poison needles shot from its abdomen, skimming low toward Takuma's legs.

Takuma slapped his palm against the ground.

Vines burst through the earth and intertwined into a green net before him.

The poison needles struck the vines and bounced away. The circular saw cut into the vines, only to get stuck in their fibers. The sickles caught in the vines, whose barbs locked them in place.

The vines wrapped around the puppet, each one precisely locking onto a joint.

Green fibers squeezed into the gaps between gears and wedged into the mechanisms, crippling the puppet from within.

Kankuro yanked furiously on his Chakra Threads, his fingers moving faster and faster.

"What the hell is this?!"

Veins bulged on his forehead as he flailed both hands, trying to wrench the puppet free by force.

The vines tightened further.

The puppet creaked under the strain, cracks spreading across its wooden shell.

The vines lifted Crow off the ground and hoisted it high into the air.

Kankuro's fingers froze.

All the Chakra Threads had snapped. The puppet was completely beyond his control.

Takuma drew a Kunai, stepped in close, and pressed it against Kankuro's throat.

"Give up."

Kankuro glanced at the puppet bound in vines, then at the Kunai against his throat.

He gritted his teeth.

"...I give up."

"Winner—Mori Takuma!"

Takuma lowered his Kunai.

Without chakra to sustain them, the vines gradually withered and crumbled into green powder across the ground.

At the highest point of the spectator stands,

the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, slowly took his pipe from his lips. Smoke blurred his expression.

"Was that just now... Wood Release?!"

It had looked a little crude, and was nowhere near the Wood Release of the First Hokage. But it was a step in the same direction.

He gently turned the pipe between his fingers.

Mori Kazuki... You've certainly raised one remarkable son.

The Third Hokage put the pipe back in his mouth.

Beside him, Orochimaru licked his lips excitedly.

"Interesting..."

His eyes followed Takuma's retreating figure until he disappeared through the passage to the waiting area. A trace of greed flickered in them.

"More interesting than Sasuke-kun."

Takuma entered the passage. The sunlight was blocked by the stone walls, and the temperature dropped several degrees.

The markings of the Cursed Seal on his right hand had not completely faded. The blue lines pulsed faintly beneath his skin, radiating a strange heat.

He had absorbed more Natural Energy than he could control. The vines had grown faster and become far more resilient, but the chakra he had spent was far beyond what he had expected.

Takuma leaned against the stone wall and closed his eyes.

He pressed his right hand over the Cursed Seal on his left shoulder. Even through his clothes, he could feel that the skin there was unnaturally hot.

He couldn't rely on this.

Every time he activated it, the Cursed Seal's corruption deepened.

"Hey, not bad!"

Takuma opened his eyes.

Naruto stood at the entrance to the passage, grinning at him.

He still bore the injuries from his fight with Neji. His clothes had several holes, and the bruises on his face hadn't faded.

"What was that move? It was awesome! You wrapped that puppet up in no time!"

Naruto gestured excitedly, his eyes shining. "Can you teach me?"

"...You couldn't learn it."

"Why not?!"

"Because you can't even get the Clone Technique right!"

Naruto's face fell at once.