The air between us thrummed like the string of a bow.
Killer B shifted his weight, blades spinning into position. Seven of them, balanced between shoulders, elbows, wrists, even clenched in the crook of his knees. A dance of steel, absurd and terrifying all at once. His chakra pulsed, heavy and electric, pressing against my skin like a stormfront.
"Let's go, pale princess, no time for talk,
You step in my ring, and you'll leave in a box."
He lunged.
The forest floor cracked under his heel, and suddenly the blades were everywhere, a cyclone of flashing steel. My eyes tracked them, Byakugan widening the world into threads of chakra, every angle, every arc. I met him with open palms.
I had to admit, he was good. Not his rapping, that was horrible. No, he was good at using his swords. It felt strange, almost impossible, to use eight swords at the same time, but he made it work.
With only two hands, it wasn't easy to block eight blades, and I felt them cut through my clothes time and time again as I struggled to dodge, block, and deflect.
Despite him hopping around on one foot, trying to slash at me in the most strange ways. I found myself hard-pressed to push back.
Gentle Fist.
A wrist redirected. A blade turned aside. My forearm caught another — but pain lanced up my skin, sharp and hot, as the edge bit deep. I felt blood run down my arm, but my stance didn't falter. I couldn't allow it. Not here. Not against him.
Once more I couldn't help but curse my luck for ending up against someone as troublesome as him.
Jinchūriki were just about the worst possible opponents for members of the Hyūga clan. After all, the Gentle Fist shut down the internal chakra network, and while it was nearly impossible to overcome that, Jinchūriki happened to be among the rare exceptions.
"Yo! Pale-eyes with the stance, still holdin' strong,
But against the Killer B, girl, you won't last long!
Hyūga got skill, that's plain to see,
But stronger than strong — that's the power of me!"
Killer B said after I managed to force him to step back after knocking the sword out of his mouth.
"Can you at least talk normally while trying to kill me?" I couldn't help but complain. It was bad enough I had to fight him, but I didn't want to also have to listen to his rapping.
Killer B only grinned, scooping the fallen blade back into his teeth with a snap of his jaw.
"Talk normal? Girl, that ain't my beat,
When the rhythm hits, I bring the heat!
You blockin' and dancin', but you can't cut me,
'Cause the Eight-Tails jinchūriki is the real MC!"
He came at me again. His footwork was strange, uneven — switching stances mid-air, twisting his torso in ways that shouldn't have allowed balance. Yet every rotation of his body sent another blade screaming toward me. A storm of angles. A flood of steel.
My hands blurred. Gentle Fist met cold metal, deflecting edges inches from my throat. Yet it came at a cost; his blades kept carving away at my skin and flesh, turning my hands and arms red with blood.
I simply couldn't rely on the Gentle Fist alone to protect my hands, not from him; he was far too strong, too skilled for that trick to work, and while I wasn't a complete novice with Kunai and other weapons, I wasn't confident I could take him on with anything but my best.
"Yo! Don't flinch, girl, I see you bleed,
But scars and pain are the lessons you need!
You're tough, I'll admit, you're fast, no doubt,
But against the Killer B, you're gonna tap out!"
I stepped back, leaving his range just long enough to spin around, pumping chakra into my hair and swinging it like a massive club.
Naturally, he brought his swords up to cut it off and continue his assault, but he quickly realized his mistake as his blades failed to cut, and instead, he was thrown back.
It was a small break, a tiny moment to breathe, but it was enough to wave together a few hand signs and add a bit of ninjutsu to the otherwise mainly taijutsu fight.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" I instantly used a powerful Earth-style ninjutsu to help me against Killer B's taijutsu, and indeed, the sudden change of solid ground into deep swamp forced him to stop his next attack.
"Multi shadow clone Jutsu!" I quickly used that pause to instantly summon half a dozen clones. Sure, it was hard on my chakra pool, but I couldn't afford to be stingy.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Two of my clones instantly burned a good amount of their chakra to fire those two off, but the result was well worth it.
With wind feeding fire, the great fire dragon swelled several times in size and was something that even Madara would approve of.
Those two clones instantly split off, moving backwards towards the retreating group of Hyūga clan members. After all, Killer B wasn't alone, and his team was closing in on them due to the last few Root shinobi blocking their retreat.
The remaining clones got ready to assist me in dealing with Killer B and making sure I wouldn't need to burn what remained of my chakra.
Killer B barked out a laugh as the fire dragon surged toward him, fangs of flame snapping through the swamp's steam.
"Yo! Fire and wind, nice trick, nice blend,
But you're playin' with heat that I'll turn to an end!
Your clones got style, but they ain't got bite,
This jinchūriki's blaze-proof — I'm built for the fight!"
The flames swallowed him whole—then split apart. A whirlwind of chakra-cloaked steel cut through the dragon's belly, scattering embers across the swamp. Killer B vaulted out of the inferno, blades dripping molten sparks, landing with a grin.
I grit my teeth. Not even scorched. The Eight-Tails' chakra wrapped him too tightly, a shield as natural as skin.
I had hoped he wouldn't be so skilled in using its chakra, but clearly, while he wasn't yet a perfect Jinchūriki, he was still a skilled one.
"Damn it," I muttered, forcing my body back into stance. Instantly, I was locked back in a brutal, bloody, and painful taijutsu battle, while my clones assisted from the side, sending a hail of kunai and shuriken to add pressure on Killer B.
And it worked, they could take advantage of any opening he left, forcing him to focus far more on defence than he did on offence, allowing me room to breathe.
Still, it wasn't looking good. I was losing blood, and a lot of it. I felt his blade cut my palms, my fingers, and my arms again and again. By all rights, I should have lost a hand by now — but every strike that should have severed something vital had only carved shallow lines, never deeper.
Killer B pulled back for half a beat, spinning one of his swords lazily between his fingers, his eyes narrowing as he rapped:
"Yo, what the hell? You still got all your claws,
I've been slicin' and dicin', breakin' all laws.
But your hands don't sever, your bones don't snap,
Girl, what's your secret? Gimme the map!"
I smirked despite the blood slicking my arms. He had noticed. Of course he had.
The truth was simple, though I never flaunted it — a trump card buried deep, a weapon no one in the clan knew about.
My bones weren't normal.
Shikotsumyaku, the degraded version of my All-Killing-Ash-Bones. It wasn't nearly as lethal, but its defensive power was nearly unmatched.
When his blades should have taken fingers, they had instead struck reinforced ivory. My skin split, yes, but beneath it, bone like tempered steel turned his killing cuts into shallow wounds. It hurt like hell, but I was still standing.
"Don't tell me you're scared?" I taunted, shaking blood from my hand before sliding back into stance. "I thought the Eight-Tails jinchūriki couldn't be cut. Now you've learned the same about me."
B let out a low whistle, grin widening into something feral.
"Bones of steel, a demon's gift,
Now this fight's takin' a deadly shift!
You're playin' with fire, you're tougher than most,
But against the Killer B, girl, you're toast!"
He surged at me again, blades screaming through the air, this time heavier, harder, as if determined to break not just my flesh, but the very secret I carried in my bones.
Steel met bone. Again, and again, and again. Sparks leapt into the dark like fireflies as his blades screeched against ivory. My arms burned, my hands were slick, and every strike rattled straight through my marrow
I could feel myself slowing. The blood loss was catching up. Even Shikotsumyaku couldn't hold forever — it was a wall that would eventually crumble, and Killer B knew it.
I couldn't harm him, not really. None of the tools I had, and was willing and able to use, could break through the cloak of chakra that covered his body. I couldn't harm him, and he was very much harming me; this wasn't a battle the current me could handle.
"Yo! You stallin', girl, but the clock runs fast,
That blood of yours says you won't last.
I'll cut you down, then chase your crew,
Eight Blades, Eight Tails — that's the end of you!"
My stomach turned cold. I needed the others to escape, at least some of them, and with Killer B's speed, I needed to buy them as much time as possible. I had to ensure the honored grandson survived; I had to, or my plan would be ruined.
And so I made my choice.
"I won't let you, even if I die, I will take you with me!" I shouted, lacing chakra into my voice, and projecting it widely, and back towards the others as they fled. Making sure they could hear it.
In this high-stress situation, they likely wouldn't question how they were able to hear it from this distance.
Instantly, my clones hurled themselves at him, kamikaze intercepts that he tore apart in whirlwinds of steel. Each one gave me another heartbeat, all the time I needed.
Pulling a sealing scroll from my side, I unfolded it entirely, breaking the seal in a way that would make it eject everything inside it.
Killer B widened his eyes at the sight; the area around us was completely covered with explosive tags, thousands of them. It wasn't quite the billions Konan would use one day, but it was still a shocking amount.
"Crazy bitch!" B said, finally stopping his rapping as he watched all the tags glow at the same time as they surrounded us.
"Katsu!" I yelled, as all the tags flashed brightly, real panic flashed across Killer B's face, and the next instant, the world turned white, pure white, as thousands of thousands of explosions went off all at once.
The explosion was brutal, ripping their air itself apart and sending a shockwave out that could be felt even by the Hyūga clan shinobi running away. Their Byakugan has allowed them to see everything, every final detail.
And worse yet, in that blinding flash, they saw a massive, monstrous chakra signature remain. Before it was blasted away, carried by the explosive force, as even B couldn't defend himself, having to dig deep into the chakra of the tail beast just to survive.
Something that meant he lost control for a moment, half-transforming into the Eight-tailed beast, forcing him to struggle to contain it.
Allowing Kazou and the others to flee, but the guilt in their hearts was something they couldn't outrun.
(End of chapter)
Support me at patreon.com/unknownfate - for the opportunity to read up to 30 chapters ahead.