46 [Confrontation (Part 2/2)]

Kimimaro shot a barrage of 'bullets' made up of bone from his fingers before attempting to close the distance between him and Sasuke. 

Watching the projectiles near him, Sasuke proceeded to dodge the bullets with an unnerving level of agility without requiring the help of his Sharingan. His figure danced around with an inhumane speed, narrowly dodging each of the bullets.

'Cursed Seal Stage 1...'

Sasuke understood that Kimimaro was merely in the first stage of using his Cursed Seal. This meant that Kimimaro was currently unable to perform his more powerful Jutsu like 'Dance of the Seedling Fern' and could only rely on Jutsu like 'Ten Finger Drilling Bullets'.

'Not like it would make too much of a difference...'

Sasuke also realised that to make the most of this new training dummy, he should probably save his chakra-enhanced strength for later and mainly use his base-level strength.

Once Kimimaro got closer to Sasuke he cocked back his arm, ready to stab Sasuke with the bone spurs that decorated his arm.

Seeing his intention, Sasuke dodged the blow by shifting his body slightly towards the side and retaliated by launching a kick at Kimimaro's extended arm.

Crack

The piercing sound of bones breaking echoed in this prison-like room with the eyes of the various aberrations in the cells locked onto the two figures fighting.

Kimimaro paused and looked at his arm, his eyes shrunk as he saw the bones that extended through skin fracture and break.

A grim expression covered his face as he once again stared at the masked figure before him, 'Where did this person come from?'

He simply didn't understand how someone saw powerful could just appear out of nowhere, the masked man didn't even use Ninjutsu- something that Kimimaro could feel wasn't outside the realm of the masked man's expertise.

Shaking these thoughts out of his head, Kimimaro launched himself back into the fight and attempted to once again exchange blows with his foe.

However, it soon became apparent that Sasuke had the clear edge.

Nevertheless, the moment the two finished trading blows and backed off again, Kimimaro once again began to show a visible change in appearance.

The dense black markings began to fade slowly, replaced by new black markings that linearly ran down his body.

Sasuke could sense with his perception that the chakra reserve of Kimimaro was growing vastly stronger, at an unprecedented rate.

'Hold up. What is this? That most definitely isn't Stage 2 of the Cursed Seal... Do side characters have plot armour too now?'

Despite being appalled by this strange increase in strength from Kimimaro, Sasuke soon realised that his appearance seemed very familiar.

'A Karma Seal..?'

Yes. 

Sasuke realised that these strange markings covering Kimimaro heavily resembled the Karma Seal that certain characters possessed in Boruto.

But how could this appear on Kimimaro of all people?

Before he could even recollect his thoughts, Kimimaro once again began to fight him, though this time his strength had increased greatly.

Amid the fighting, Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows as he began to estimate Kimimaro's strength whilst dodging the various sharp bones that extended from Kimimaro- trying to stab him.

However, the moment he dodged, Kimimaro's arms began to elongate and shot towards Sasuke whilst wielding weapons made from bones.

Since when did he learn Orochimaru's Jutsu?

Sasuke was baffled by the strange new ability his opponent gained, at this rate he wouldn't be surprised if he was able to turn his arms into snakes all of a sudden (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands). 

'Initially, he was a Jonin level combatant, now he's Kage level- though barely.'

Whilst his opponent becoming more powerful seemed like a bad thing initially, Sasuke realised that he could finally go all out in terms of Taijutsu- meaning he could use chakra-enhanced strength now.

In the next second, Sasuke and Kimimaro's fists met each other, generating a shockwave that even affected the prison cells which now began to get damaged.

Despite his new power, Kimimaro wasn't happy at all that his strength could now somewhat compete with Sasuke.

Kimimaro's newfound strength, though formidable, was after all temporary. The relentless progression of his illness that continued to erode his health also served to shorten the time he could maintain this state.

Kimimaro sighed, he reluctantly acknowledged that he probably wouldn't survive this battle.

Determined, he sought to at least inflict significant damage, hoping it would aid Orochimaru in dealing with this powerful foe sometime in the future.

Dance of the Seedline Fern

Without warning, massive bones protruded out of the ground and filled the room- killing off most of the life forms in the room.

Something Sasuke didn't stop as he understood that death was most likely the best way to help escape their suffering. 

However, Sasuke also began to realise that he should end this fight as soon as possible.

Sasuke raised both of his arms as they spewed out a huge torrent of azure flames that began to melt away all the bones around him- causing intense heat to scorch the surrounding area too.

Seeing that his Jutsu wasn't going to be effective, Kimimaro dashed towards Sasuke in an attempt to carry out a final blow.

Dance of the Clematis: Vine

Removing his spine, Kimimaro used it as a whip. The serrated vertebrae wrapped Sasuke, immobilising him.

Dance of the Clematis: Flower

Seeing that he had succeeded, Kimimaro's eyes glowed with relief and he followed up by wrapping his arm in bones- forming a massive bone weapon.

He rushed forward, slamming his arm coated in bones towards Sasuke penetrating right through him.

"Huff I succee-?!"

Amidst his panting, Kimimaro was cut off by the feeling of something restraining his body. Looking around he found several wooden branches that tightly bound him, preventing him from moving whilst absorbing his chakra.

He looked at where his foe was and found the spot was empty- there was no evidence of anyone being there.

"A clone? Huff Huff Since when?" 

Kimimaro turned his head to the side and saw the masked figure now appearing beside him, while gasping for air he asked his previous opponent.

"From the moment you began your second transformation..."

Sasuke shook his head gently in response. While he wouldn't label himself a coward, he preferred not to engage directly with such an unusual ability

Especially considering that it so heavily resembled the Karma Seal, Sasuke had no clue as to whether that had granted Kimimaro any new, ridiculous abilities.

So he had swapped himself with a Wood Clone at that very moment and simply observed the fight from the side; though, he did soon come to realise all that mark did was give Kimimaro a lot more chakra and seemingly made him gain some traits of Orochimaru.

'I mean from my memory of Boruto there seemed to be quite a few abilities related to the Otsutsuki that even put my own MS ability to shame...'

Observing the life slowly fading from Kimimaro, Sasuke swiftly activated his Mangekyō Sharingan. An all too familiar black dome enveloped them both.

This was Sasuke's second aim in fighting Kimimaro, his Kekkei Genkai. This strange Kekkei Genkai which heavily resembles the All-Killing Ash Bones of a certain chakra ancestor deeply interested Sasuke.

Shortly after the strange dome disappeared, leaving Sasuke alone in the room surrounded by the corpses of various mutated creatures he decided not to absorb for his mental health.

"Haaa..."

Sasuke softly exhaled as he revelled in the growth of his physical strength, this time he could feel the density of his bones had grown greatly along with his regeneration now taking a step forward too. 

Furthermore, he could feel he had gained the ability to control his osteoblasts and osteoclasts whilst also being able to manipulate his bone density. 

Sasuke also didn't think that the illness that plagued Kimimaro would affect him due to his previous absorbance of Zetsu granting a rather powerful vitality.

In the case that it does affect him, Sasuke could simply use his MS ability on himself which wouldn't take too much chakra compared to using it in other manners.

'At this rate, I might end up accidentally specialising in Taijutsu...'

Sasuke thought to himself, amused by how his physical strength had grown so much in so little time.

'From this fight, I have at least figured out that my physical strength alone gives me the strength of around a mid-level Kage... Huh? I've grown rather strong now I think abo-'

Sasuke quickly gave himself a quick slap on his cheeks to stop himself from setting up any flags. 

He then took a moment to see if he was affected by Kimimaro's illness and found something rather strange...

He could sense his bones were coated in a strange substance that seemed to slowly erode his own body, though this wouldn't harm Sasuke at all due to his massive regeneration factor- it did confuse him a bit.

'Is this what the Shikotsumyaku had inherited from Kaguya?'

It soon clicked in Sasuke's mind that this was probably the power that Kaguya used in her Kekkei Mora the All-Killing Ash Bones. 

If he could understand this power, could he recreate that Kekkei Mora?

Shaking his head, Sasuke decided to research this later and tried to focus on more pressing matters.

As he scanned the room, Sasuke's eyes fixed themselves on the entrance which he had used previously and began heading towards it- wanting to check out this lab in more detail.

What secrets are hidden in this lab...?