As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes. ― Mel Brooks
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The thing about combat was, once it was started it went fast. There was no time to stop and discuss strategies or tactics; any analysing had to be done on the run. We couldn't delay because our goal and theirs were completely different. They were after Sasuke, which meant that the instant they were back on their feet, they'd head after Kiba.
Given that they were in Level 2 of the curse mark, and the ridiculous jump in strength and speed that that gave them, it probably wouldn't take all that long to catch up, either.
Ino and I bounced from tree branch to tree branch, the forest blurring around us as we powered through. We weren't exactly being stealthy, but in this case stealth lost to speed.
I could hear the movement of the others as they did the same, which made sense because the Sound Four hadn't necessarily been separated far from each other, and any decent ninja would try and regroup. We'd have to do something about that, lead them off, separate them, if we didn't want to get stuck in a team vs team battle. We'd already seen how that went down.
"Ino," I said quietly. "This curse state… if it affects the mind as they seem to imply… what would that do to your jutsu?" Given that it was part of Orochimaru's possession jutsu, I was almost certain that nothing good could come of it.
She bit her lip. "Maybe nothing."
Maybe.
You couldn't quantify the mind, so determining what would and would not have an effect… it was all guesswork.
"That's… not good," I said. That was an understatement. I didn't know what would happen, but the danger…
"We can't just not use it because it might be dangerous," Ino said, like she knew exactly what I was thinking. "This is pretty much a textbook case. Nara, Yamanaka, single person non-lethal takedown. It's pretty much what the Mind-Body Switch was created for."
"Except if it puts you in danger," I pointed out.
"You don't know that it will," she refuted.
Know? No, I didn't. But the likelihood was pretty damn high.
"Tell me, with one hundred percent certainty that it won't hurt you," I said, knowing she couldn't.
"Tell me, with one hundred percent certainty, that you have a plan that will work without either of us getting injured," she shot back.
Snap.
I couldn't do that either.
"You can't ground me just because it might be dangerous," she said flatly. "You can't afford to. Not now."
She was right. Mind-Body Switch was her trump card.
There was no more time to argue anyway, as we passed out of the destruction zone and zeroed in on the chakra signal that was our target. With the way it felt, there was no way to miss it. Unwillingly, I shivered. If I'd thought that the curse seal had felt bad in the Forest when Sasuke had been given it, it was nothing compared to this. It was like pollution, like smog or filthy water, so strong you wondered how you could breathe in it.
Kidomaru didn't look injured, though maybe a little disorientated, and there was a golden substance flaking off his skin that gave a clue as to why. It reminded me a little of Gaara's sand armour, which was all the comparison I needed.
One day, my explosions are going to actually hurt someone and I will be incredibly surprised, I thought, offhand.
"Che," he snorted. "That's what they send after me? This won't even be any fun. And here I was thinking I'd have time to play a game or two, but it's just not worth it when there's no challenge."
I'd have protested, maybe said something snarky, but this was going to be a hell of a fight on our end and I knew it.
Neji had almost died fighting Kidomaru, in canon, and despite how his fight with Naruto had gone, he was not a pushover.
He spat a wad of white, all six hands manipulating it with speed, and threw.
"Spider Web Unrolling!"
Fast! I thought, alarmed. The sticky thread funnelled out away from him, spreading wider and wider every second it travelled. There was no way we'd manage to escaped the net before it caught us.
I raced through the seals of the replacement jutsu, launching myself into the trees behind him. Ino didn't make it, ending up pinned to a tree trunk with limited mobility.
Arms free, I noticed. Enough to make a hand seal.
It wasn't ideal.
But I was too busy dodging the sudden barrage of double layered nets flying at me, ducking behind trees to put an obstacle in between us. I couldn't keep it up forever, though, because otherwise he'd turn on Ino. Which, no.
Even then, I did appreciate the complexity of his jutsu. The webs - sticky and strong - had threads of his chakra running through it, precise and well balanced. Given that they were completely separated from him, it was an extreme level of chakra control. Added to the speed and agility with which he produced them, there was no doubt that Kidomaru had earnt his place among Orochimaru's top echelon.
It was a fact that was easy to forget when you knew he'd been beaten by a Genin, but it was no less true for it.
"I already know how your jutsu works," Kidomaru said, circling. "Using your shadow to control the movements of your opponent. It's a clever trick, but easy to defeat. All I have to do is keep my distance."
"You would think, wouldn't you?" I said levelly. Given that he'd managed to survive - uninjured - the previous explosion, his armour could soak up a lot of damage, and he could probably activate it pretty damn quickly. So explosions weren't going to get me anywhere. Probably not projectiles either. The closer I got, the harder it would be to avoid his sticky webs, and six arms would give a crazy taijutsu bonus.
"One," he said. I caught the brief glint of light on metal and reflexively threw a kunai to intercept it. The clang that echoed was definitely the sound of metal on metal, but as they spun off track I noticed that the kunai he used was unusually coloured - gold like the armour that had protected him.
"Two," he said, and I crouched, deflecting both weapons and gritting my teeth. There was no point asking 'is this just a game to you?' because it was clear what the answer was. Yes.
That could be exploited. It was clear that he didn't even consider the fact that he could lose. The thing about games was that you played because they were fun, and you played until they weren't fun anymore. He wasn't going for the kill, not really, and that was something I could use.
"Four."
Doubles. And they were coming from different angles. He wasn't moving though, so he must have been controlling the release with threads.
"Eight." At this speed and range, that was starting to get too many. I ducked and twisted and deflected, but one sliced a line of fire across my shin and another became lodged in the material of my jacket, pressing against my ribs but not penetrating. Thankfully.
Kidomaru laughed. "Not long now. Sixteen," he said with relish.
I dropped my kunai. "Earth Release; Earth Style Wall." It grew out of the ground, curving around me slightly, and I pressed my back flat against it, rearming myself. The earth wall faced him, and I was out of sight for a brief time. It was now or never.
I pressed both hands against the wall. "Touch Blast," I murmured as quietly as possible.
Then I sank underground, barely hearing the count of "Thirty two."
I pushed myself through the ground, moving along barely under the surface. Speed, not depth was key here. Kidomaru hadn't moved yet, hadn't seemed to notice that I had gone. True or not, I couldn't pass up the chance and my hands burst the surface, grasping for his ankles.
He wrenched away with strength that jarred my wrists, pulling me out of the ground, and I stumbled awkwardly as the ground sank beneath my feet before I could cancel the jutsu.
"Not bad," he said, smirking. He'd measured the distance well, he was too far away for me to get without a boost to my shadow. He looked over his shoulder to see the wall that was perforated with gold kunai. "Block my sight, then escape to attack me from underground. Seems like shadows aren't the only trick you have after all."
"No," I agreed, just as the wall exploded.
Gold soaked across his skin almost instantly, shielding him from the damage that blew chunks of earth sky high and toppled the mighty tree behind it, but I hadn't done it to hurt him. Explosions, giant balls of fire, created light.
His shadow stretched towards me, even as mine stretched towards him.
"Un," I grunted as it connected, feeling like lead weights constricting my limbs. We struggled, grappling for control, chakra vs chakra.
I was only winning because I had experience.
I twisted my neck sideways, even as he spat a web from his mouth. It splattered harmlessly against the ground. He didn't need hand seals for it, and that made him dangerous even now.
His arms were twitching. It was hard for me to not move limbs that I didn't have. He was slowly, but surely, overcoming me.
"Ino! Now!" I shouted.
The dust of the explosion was settling. The tree that had toppled, ripped out of the ground, left a clean line of sight between the two of them. Ino might have still be stuck to the tree, all but forgotten, but she didn't need to move for this.
I felt her gather her chakra. "Mind-Body Switch Jutsu!" She cried.
I felt her chakra surge. I felt it travel. I felt it hit.
I felt the weakening in the resistance to my jutsu, and almost sagged in relief.
I didn't drop it, though. Not yet. Not until she gave confirmation.
The moment stretched. I felt my apprehension build.
"Ino?"
Kidomaru twitched.
"That," he said. "Wasn't very nice."
I swallowed, mouth suddenly dry.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ino's body hanging limply in it's bindings. Her chakra was still halved, still there trying to possess him.
Bad idea. I knew it was a bad idea…
He jerked against my hold. His strugglers were weaker, less controlled, but still so strong. He was moving. I could see the gold pooling in his hands, shaping into kunai.
"Ino?" I repeated.
"Your friend is… having a tougher time that she expected," he said. His face twitched, grimacing.
He pushed against my hold. I pushed back, automatically, keeping him still. I could feel my chakra draining for every second I held the jutsu, but as long as Ino was in there I couldn't let go.
Because if she was in there… I couldn't attack him.
Shit, shit, shit, shit.
"Ino," I said clearly. "If it isn't working, abort the jutsu."
If she could hear me. If she even could cancel the jutsu.
Okay, new plan. For a second, my mind was terrifyingly blank. I couldn't hurt him, not without hurting Ino. And I'd need to protect Ino's body, which was still pinned to the tree.
The kunai in his hands were ready. The extra sets of arms twitched and I felt the phantom pull on my back as I tried to stop them. The angle wasn't good, or the power of the throw. I tried to twist out of the way and couldn't.
He's fighting against me, I realised with alarm. Powering opposite where I want to go.
One slammed into the muscle of my thigh, two into my chest - most of the momentum killed by the thick padding of my jacket and probably ruining the scroll that was tucked into my pocket - but the most dangerous one grazed my neck.
I felt blood trickling down my collar and swallowed heavily.
"This jutsu works both ways, doesn't it?" He asked, even as more gold pooled in his hands. "You can stop me moving… but I can stop you from moving."
He grinned, sharp and nasty. "Game over."
I eyed the kunai in his hands. My thigh trembled and the cut on my neck itched. He'd have better aim this time.
I cut the jutsu and dove to the side just as he released them. My hand pressed onto the ground and I murmured "Flashbang," before flipping to my feet. There was a momentary flare of pride at the speed and ease that I'd managed to place it while moving, but it was buried under the sheer urgency of the situation.
I cushioned chakra around my ears, blocking sound just as the seal went off behind me. Even so, I could feel the wave of sound rattling my bones, and the bright light seared through my eyelids.
Ram, snake, tiger. Illusionary Clone Jutsu!
My clone darted sideways, leaping through the trees as I hightailed it for Ino. Kidomaru was stumbling behind me, and once I dropped the chakra cushion I could hear him cursing.
Go, go, go, I chanted.
Ino was so still, barely breathing, but unharmed. I tried to slash the web with a kunai, but it didn't budge.
How did-? Jyuuken. But I couldn't do that. And the time it would take for me to try that method would be too long. Kidomaru wouldn't be staggered for long, and it would be a poor ninja that was truly fooled by an illusionary clone.
Then I remembered and dug furiously into my jacket pocket for something I probably shouldn't have had with me. Ibiki had debriefed us on the boat, and I hadn't had to go into the Missions Office to hand in my report yet…
It can cut even chakra! Aoi had boasted.
I pulled the cylinder out and activated the Sword of the Thunder God. Using an unknown weapon in combat was a dumb idea, especially if you weren't trained for it, and I'd mostly grabbed it on a whim because it was cool.
Carefully, I set the stable lightning blade against the webbing and nearly sighed in relief as it parted easily. I curved it around Ino, slicing as carefully as I could. It carved great gashes in the tree but she was free. I caught her awkwardly, cancelling the blade and stuffing it back in my pocket before slinging her over my shoulder and hightailing it.
I felt the flare of chakra, and dove to the side, just as the branch where I had been standing nearly exploded. There was a brief flash of gold, and the trail of destruction continued through the canopy.
Highly destructive projectile, I analysed.
I zigzagged, pouring as much speed on as I could, trying to put as many obstacles between us as possible.
I sent off more clones, and most of them ended up dead fairly quickly, which was not reassuring. I didn't have the concentration to make them evade in complex ways, not while keeping us alive.
"Come on, Ino," I murmured. "Give it up, it's done, come back, its not working-"
I couldn't fight while she was in there. Couldn't fight while I was carrying her. The only thing I could do was run, lead him further and further away, and that wouldn't last forever. Once we hit a break in the trees… once we hit a river or meadow… once there was nothing to hide behind…
Fuck, I thought miserably.
Ino gasped.
I felt her chakra surge and nearly stumbled.
"Ino?"
Please let her have ended the jutsu.
Another of Kidomaru's arrows whirled past, and I jerked to the side.
"Why do you run?" He called. "It's futile. You're going to die, regardless of whether you struggle or not."
He was close. No time.
I spun around the tree trunk, slapping my palms down on the bark. "Flashbang. Touch Blast." I called up a posse of Illusionary Clones and sent them all off in different directions. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.
Then I dove downwards and bore us both deep into the ground, as the light flared. Ino wasn't moving, wasn't doing anything. I needed distance to put her somewhere safe.
She struggled against me, thrashing at barely more than an instinctual level as the ground closed around us. I curved a bubble of chakra around our faces, trapping the air there so she could breathe.
"Relax, Ino," I hissed. "It's me! Stop fighting."
"Itaidōshin," she muttered, but absently, like she wasn't really talking to me at all. "Itaidōshin."
Different body; same mind. It was an idiom, but she was muttering it like a mantra, which couldn't be good. It had been years since Ino had needed a mantra to focus well enough to do her Mind-Body Switch.
I pulled her deeper underground, sifting the dirt to keep pulling oxygen to our faces. Moving two people was a hell of a lot harder than moving myself, and many orders of magnitude more difficult than just pulling someone underground.
All the while, I kept a steady focus on Kidomaru's chakra. It staggered around above us, which was probably the result of taking a second Flashbang straight to the face, and the follow up explosion. I really hoped that he took the bait and followed one of the clones off. They couldn't really go far - Illusionary Clones didn't have much of a range - but all it would take would be a single sighting for him to follow up. Hell, as long as he didn't just start shooting the ground up.
I shuffled us along, slowly moving around the tree roots and rocks.
I waited as he moved, waited until he was gone, then waited some more, just in case it was a trap. Then I hauled us to the surface, because you could only spend so long underground, and my chakra was starting to run really low.
"Ino? Come on, Ino," I said, crouching next to her on the grass. "I need you here with me."
"Itaidōshin," she chanted. It was hard to tell with pupil-less eyes, but she was staring vacantly. She wasn't tracking movement.
I ran a hand through my bangs in frustration and tried to think. She was out. She was definitely out. I needed to get her somewhere safe before Kidomaru came back or-
Damnit, our mission isn't their mission.
I cursed and thumbed the switch on my comm. "Kiba, look out. Kidomaru is probably incoming your way." Then, because the others were probably listening, and imagination could be so much more distracting than the truth, I added, "Ino is down but not badly hurt. I'll be with you in a second."
I hoped that the comm distance was enough to reach him.
"I hear you. Akamaru's on lookout."
I nodded, breathed deeply, and hauled Ino over my shoulder again. "Let's get you somewhere safe."