Chapter 299: Kimimaro's Final Dance
Naruto and the Nine-Tails panicked at the same time. In a way, they were completely in sync.
At that instant, a massive amount of tailed beast chakra surged out, completely covering Naruto in a deep crimson cloak.
This time the covering was no longer the previous semi-transparent state, but a full one.
Naruto's entire body seemed to be obscured by a layer of scarlet mosaic, and six tails emerged behind him.
Yes, that's right.
This was the classic Six-Tails mode from the original story, the one Naruto unleashed against Orochimaru after being provoked into rage by Orochimaru mentioning Sasuke.
(Orochimaru: You've already cried in frustration.)
The difference was that this Six-Tails Naruto was still maintaining his rational mind.
Even if the Nine-Tails did not actively interfere, the Nine-Tails' chakra naturally carried negative emotions.
However, once Naruto reconciled with the Nine-Tails, the Nine-Tails could even suppress some of those negative emotional influences.
Combined with sufficient training, Naruto could completely achieve a rational and calm tailed beast transformation.
For example, Killer B. Aside from complete tailed beast transformation, he also had this crimson chakra cloak form of partial transformation.
Thud.
One of the bone bullets from Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets struck the weak point of Naruto in his partial tailed beast state.
Fortunately, the defensive power of the half-transformation was extremely terrifying.
Wrapped in the tailed beast cloak, Naruto only felt a faint touch.
"Thank goodness… I'm saved."
Naruto let out a sigh of relief.
But how could Kimimaro give up so easily?
He did not know how deep the bond between Naruto and Sasuke was, but no one could sever the bond between him and Orochimaru-sama!
"Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets: Infinite One Thousand Years of Death!!!!"
Kimimaro aimed at Naruto's weak point. All ten of his fingernails flipped open, and bones shot out like a machine gun.
One of the characteristics of Shikotsumyaku was that the bones could regenerate rapidly.
That was how they could be used as weapons and as mediums for ninjutsu.
Right now Kimimaro had pushed bone regeneration to its absolute limit.
Originally, in Six-Tails form, the tailed beast cloak could already generate hardened bones for both offense and defense.
For example, Killer B could materialize bones around his elbow during partial transformation and deliver ruthless elbow strikes to enemies.
But unfortunately, whether for humans or tailed beasts, there were simply no bones in this particular area of the body to provide defense.
Kimimaro's bones relentlessly and endlessly slammed against the tailed beast cloak's defense.
The tremendous force directly pushed Naruto into the air.
At first Naruto only felt a slight sensation. Then the feeling grew stronger and stronger.
Eventually his face filled with horror.
He struggled, waving his crimson tailed beast arms wildly, trying to grab Kimimaro and stop his continued assault.
Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets: Infinite One Thousand Years of Death did not actually injure Naruto.
It did not even cause pain.
But compared to pain, another sensation began to spread—one that terrified Naruto even more.
The Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets firing like a machine gun…
It was like the high-frequency vibration of a blender… or some other mechanical device.
How should one put it?
Sometimes, maintaining rationality during tailed beast transformation might not be a good thing.
If Naruto had lost his sanity at this moment, he would have already gone berserk and started unleashing attacks everywhere.
But Naruto and the Nine-Tails had already reached a sort of reconciliation.
Right now he could freely control the tailed beast chakra granted by the Nine-Tails.
The problem was…
Naruto had no idea how to use it.
The most intense battle Naruto had experienced so far was stabbing Gaara once with an explosive-tag-assisted One Thousand Years of Death.
Aside from that, even the classic battle against Zabuza and Haku had been interrupted by Shiromo.
His practical combat experience was severely lacking.
Under these circumstances, as Naruto endured the fierce bombardment of Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets, he suddenly fell into confusion.
"How could this happen? How can this even work like this?"
Naruto muttered to himself.
At that moment.
Naruto activated Sage Mode again!
As for why it suddenly activated again… that had everything to do with the direction of Kimimaro's attack.
Naruto suddenly realized something for the first time.
You didn't necessarily have to charge straight forward to achieve your goal.
This reminded Naruto of that specialty shop where, aside from containment-type ninja tools, there were also refill-type ninja tools.
What a pity.
If he had realized this earlier, he would definitely have bought another one. Then when using shadow clones, the speed could have increased by another layer.
Coming back to his senses, Naruto decided to launch a counterattack.
He might not be familiar with partial tailed beast transformation, but Sage Mode was something he knew extremely well.
Now Naruto had both partial tailed beast transformation and Sage Mode active.
Even if Kimimaro started using his toes and fired Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets from them as well, he still wouldn't be able to break Naruto's defenses.
Kimimaro's combat instincts were extremely sharp.
The curse mark itself was also a form of natural energy usage. The moment Naruto entered Sage Mode, Kimimaro sensed it.
A wave of sorrow rose within him.
He had never expected that even at a moment like this, the opponent could calm himself again and activate Sage Mode.
It seemed he had indeed underestimated the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
Not only did the opponent possess an extraordinarily firm will, but he could also think calmly even in what appeared to be a disadvantageous situation.
Why "appeared"?
Because from the very beginning, Kimimaro had known he could not win in a direct confrontation.
The only thing he could rely on was his battle instinct to seize the initiative.
That had been the case earlier.
And now, it was still the case!
"Dance of the Clematis!"
Kimimaro stepped back, stopping the Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets and switching to another technique.
Using the most powerful Dance of the Seedling Fern would be meaningless.
A wide-range attack would only waste chakra.
What he needed was concentration at a single point, pushing it to the absolute peak.
The Dance of the Clematis had two forms.
One was "Vine."
In this form, he pulled out his own spine and used it as a whip-like weapon to attack and bind the enemy.
The other form was "Flower."
Kimimaro's technique names were similar to those of many ninja in Kumogakure. Just hearing the name made it hard to imagine what the move actually looked like.
All sorts of "dances."
Hearing names like that might make even Uchiha Madara want to push open his coffin lid and say, "Do you want to dance too?"
The "Flower" of the Dance of the Clematis was actually a massive growth of bone on one arm, forming a huge spiral drill that launched a fierce attack toward the target.
This was Kimimaro's final dance.
If this move was broken as well, then he would have no other ability left to stop Uzumaki Naruto.
In the future, he would have to train harder… and find a new breakthrough point. Otherwise, today's situation would happen again.
Filled with self-blame and regret, Kimimaro launched this attack.
The spine he had pulled out lashed toward Naruto in midair, tightly binding the partially transformed Naruto.
At the same time, the spiral bone drill formed from his other arm launched a final, ferocious assault.
This kind of assault was far more terrifying than the Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets.
There was a saying in online fiction circles: "If you cross over and don't rebel, your butt will meet a drill."
Naruto was truly pitiful. Even though he had not fulfilled the first half of that saying, he had already experienced the second half.
"Nine-Tails, this time it's really not a joke! What do we do? Hurry and save me!"
Naruto felt the small vibrations left by the earlier Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets on the tailed beast cloak turn into massive tremors.
He could even faintly feel the boundary about to break.
The tailed beast cloak's defense was about to be pierced.
Naruto immediately panicked.
Fortunately, with the earlier lesson learned, he did not lose Sage Mode due to panic this time.
[How the hell should I know what to do?!]
The Nine-Tails panicked too.
It even forgot to refer to itself as "this old one."
It was about to become the first tailed beast ever to be attacked with a drill.
(End of this chapter)