Hattori had come to realise that fighting Kimimaro head-to-head was easier said than done. His bone defence was one thing, but with his added lighting style into the mix, Hattori's steel release wasn't strong enough to keep it at bay.
His swift release didn't give him the upper hand either. After all, what use was being able to move faster than your opponent if you still couldn't get close to them with Taijutsu? However, Hattori was versed in more than just Taijutsu, giving him options that he could exploit.
"Wait what? You want my help?" Rokuro asked, not sure he was hearing Hattori right.
"Did I stutter?" Hattori said, not willing to ask a second time.
"I guess not," Rokuro said, seeing that Kimimaro was getting ready to come back on the attack, not giving them much time.
"If you have something, you had better come up with it quickly," Hattori said, letting his steel release cover his body again as he prepared to hold him back, not sure what he would do next.
Fuyōna who was posing as Kurōn was still watching from the sidelines, impressed that Hattori had been able to swallow his pride and ask for help from Rokuro. Still, he was more impressed with how strong Kimimaro had become, not only being able to hold his own against Hattori without much effort but also showing his ability to combine his bones with the lighting release with such control.
Still, Fuyōna knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg with his level of strength, not even having tapped into the three tails chakra inside of him, or used any of the jutsu that he had to assess from the tailed beast either. That and the fact that he wasn't even attacking with killing intent.
The real question now was just how strong had he become, something that Fuyōna was excited to find out.
Kimimaro was done waiting around, and honestly was starting to grow tired of being tossed around by Hattori due to not using his full strength.
Both Haku and Koyuki were still watching from the sidelines as their battle progressed. Kujira was still out of it for now and Chika still trying to get free from the trap that Rokuro had caught her in, leaving just Kimimaro to fight alone.
"He's still not giving it his all," Koyuki said, keeping her arms crossed over her chest, unimpressed that he was holding back.
"Well, it is only a training match, Koyuki," Haku said with a small smile on his face, understanding why Kimimaro wouldn't want to use his full strength against his comrades.
"Yeah well, he is making us look bad," Koyuki said again, huffing in frustration as their match seemed to drag on.
"At this rate, everyone will be too tired for us to have a good fight." She said, getting a small nod from Haku as he agreed.
"At least we can have fun." He then said, not getting any good reaction from Koyuki as he cracked the joke.
Yuri also watched with them from the sidelines, watching as Hattori was giving it his all to battle against Kimimaro.
She knew how much work he had put into his training with Ganryu, being pushed to his limit in order to grow stronger.
"Don't give up, Hattori. Show them your strength." She said to herself softly, willing him to do his best.
"If you have a plan, I need to hear it now. He won't hold back much longer." Hattori said, knowing that Kimimaro was still not using his full strength.
"W-what?" Rokuro said, looking over to Kimimaro, who looked positively terrifying with all the bones sticking out of his body.
"Aw man, why does he have to have the same ability as lord 5th," Rokuro said, knowing how dangerous it was.
"We need a long-range ninjutsu and a diversion that will hold him long enough to catch him with it." Rokuro then said, before looking around to find Kurōn.
"Hey, you!" Rokuro said, catching Fuyōna's attention and surprising him with the fact he found him so easily.
"We all need to work together if we want to beat him, will you help us?" Rokuro asked, getting a nod from Fuyōna after a moment.
"Sure," Fuyōna said. "I'll play along for now." He thought, moving closer to Rokuro so he could hear his plan.
Kimimaro could see the three of them talking between themselves, knowing that they would be trying to come up with a plan to tackle him.
Hattori was a pain but not someone who he would lose to in a one-on-one battle. Rokuro was also no problem, in a head-on match. However, This Kurōn was different. Something about him was telling Kimimaro to be careful, and if the three of them worked together, he could be in serious trouble.
"I can't afford to play around anymore, it's time to turn up the pressure." Kimimaro thought to himself before taking a ready stance.
"Alright, does everybody understand the plan?" Rokuro asked, getting a nod from both of them.
"Good, because here he comes!" Rokuro said, pointing to Kimimaro who had started charging forwards.
"I've got him!" Hattori said, suddenly vanishing with the use of his swift release.
Kimimaro had already anticipated this and instantly jumped to the left, avoiding an attack that came directly behind him.
"Can he track my movement?" Hattori thought, not giving him time to counterattack before vanishing again.
However, Kimimaro was able to block both of his attacks, deflecting his knife-hand attack and blocking his axe kick aimed at the top of his skull.
Kimimaro didn't stop there before grabbing Hattori's wrist, holding him in place before the bones from his chest shot out covered in lightning-style chakra ready to do massive damage.
But to Kimimaro's surprise, Hattori burst into smoke before his bones pierced a log instead of Hattori's body.
"Substitution..." Kimimaro thought, throwing the log away before he found the real Hattori, forming hand signs in the distance.
"A long-range attack." Kimimaro thought, not allowing him time to do so as he threw a barrage of bone bullets at him.
"I don't think so!" Kurōn yelled before blocking the bone bullets with his short blade, protecting Hattori so he could finish his jutsu.
"Fire style, fireball jutsu!" Hattori yelled, shooting his jutsu as Kurōn jumped out of the way, allowing the large fireball to head right towards Kimimaro, who didn't have a counter for it.
"Not good!" Kimimaro yelled, suddenly crossing both of his arms over his body before he allowed all of the bones from his arms and body to knit together and form a large shield, trying to protect himself from the blast.
"It's working..." Rokuro thought to himself, seeing that Kimimaro was pinned down for the moment.
"Now it's Kurōn's turn." He said, watching and waiting to see if his plan would work.
Kimimaro knew there was no way he could dodge the fire style at this range, and instead opted to block the blast head-on.
The fireball crashed into his bone shield with full force and exploded on impact, creating a large puff of black smoke from the blast as it scorched the ground and bones, causing them to soften due to the intense heat.
Kimimaro had been able to tank the attack without taking damage to himself, hiding behind his bone shield as he got ready to make his next move.
"My turn!" Kurōn suddenly yelled, taking him by surprise, having appeared behind him as he reached forwards with his hand, forcing Kimimaro to let the bones in his back shoot out with full force, knowing he was going to try and trap him in another water prison jutsu.
But to Kimimaro's surprise, his bones clashed and sparked off of Kurōn's skin, as if they had clashed against steel-plated armour.
"I got you!" Hattori suddenly yelled, appearing as his transformation jutsu faded, revealing it was him all along and not Kurōn, pushing through Kimimaro's attack that he had not felt the need to enhance with lightning style.
"Take this!!!"
Hattori slammed a huge right hand into Kimimaro's face, taking him by surprise and delivering enough speed and power in the strike to send him crashing through his own bone shield, shattering it into pieces.
Kimimaro hit the ground and rolled a few times, trying to regain his balance and stop his brain from shaking in his skull, being tossed like a ragdoll from the force of that punch.
However, as Kimimaro rolled off of the ground like a ragdoll again, Rokuro pulled both of his hands up into the air, revealing a metal wire trap that he had set some time ago, catching Kimimaro inside of it before it wrapped him up.
"Now Kurōn!" Rokuro yelled, giving the signal for him to move.
Fuyōna was extremely impressed with Rokuro's planning and use of such a simple jutsu to take Kimimaro off guard. Now he would play the part and make his son pay for his mistake, quickly appearing next to him as he trapped him in another water prison jutsu.
"It's over for you, surrender!" Rokuro yelled, also revealing the number of paper bombs he had placed around the metal wires, showing that if he had ignited them, even Kimimaro's defences would have been put to the ultimate test.
"No way... They actually pulled it off..." Koyuki said, amazed that they had pulled something like that out of the bag to force Kimimaro into such a corner.
Kimimaro was also amazed at what had just happened, feeling a mix of anger and pride that his teammates had been able to put him so far on his back foot.
"I surrender!" Kimimaro yelled from inside the water prison, giving Kurōn the signal to release his jutsu and free him.
"We did it!" Rokuro said in disbelief.
"That was some good work, Rokuro," Kurōn said, also giving him a thumbs up.
Hattori smiled as he closed his fist looking back up at Kimimaro, feeling a mix of shame and pride in the fact he had won, but not with his own strength.
"I still have a long way to go yet..." He said to himself, knowing he was still not strong enough to defeat him alone.
Kimimaro slowly unwrapped himself from the metal wires that he was trapped in before Haku and Koyuki ran over to him.
"What the hell, Kimimaro!" Koyuki yelled, suddenly punching him in the side of the head.
"I'm sorry you guys, but they got me fair and square," Kimimaro said with a sheepish face.
"Its ok, Kimimaro. You did your best." Haku said giving him a reassuring smile.
Kimimaro nodded, knowing that had he not held back he would have been able to win. But still, it was only a training match so he didn't mind at all.
"You lot had better get ready for the next match right away!" Koyuki suddenly yelled, turning to face Hattori and his team.
"You gotta fight me next, and I won't go easy on you like Kimimaro!" She yelled.
Kujira and Chika had also come around now, seeing that their team had been defeated with such ease, not even being able to defeat one member of Hattori's squad.
"I have lots of work to do..." Kujira said to himself, knowing he was going to have to train much harder from now on.
Chika on the other hand marched right over to Rokuro before enlarging her fist using the water in her body.
"I'm gonna kill you, Rokuro!" She yelled before chasing after him.
"So, I take it we will be fighting against you now?" Haku then asked, looking at both Hattori and Kurōn, getting a read on both of their expressions.
He could tell Hattori was tired after that match, having taken some damage with cuts still showing on his body. However, Kurōn on the other hand looked fresh, as if he hadn't even been trying during that last match.
Fuyōna could tell that Haku was watching him carefully, knowing that the boy possessed powerful tracking and sensory abilities. Still, he was only using a basic ice clone of his own to be here now, making sure to only use 1/10th of his strength so as to blend in with the others around them and not come across too strong.
He also didn't plan to stick around for too long, knowing that his presence here in the hidden Waterfall would not be turned a blind eye to if their leader found out.
"If you want a fight, I will take you down all the same," Hattori said, accepting Haku and Koyuki's challenge.
"W-what, we have to fight again?" Rokuro asked as he escaped from Chika's headlock.
"Yeah, no way we are backing down to these guys," Hattori said, suddenly looking at Yuri who also looked back at him.
"You too, Yuri. You had better not hold back." He said, causing her to give him a nod, telling him she would do her best.
"Very well, shall we take a break and then get ready?" Kurōn said, waiting to see what the others said.
"That sounds like a good idea." Haku also said, flashing a smile.
"I could go for something to eat," Rokuro said, still trying to fight Chika off of him.
"Whatever." Hattori also said before his stomach growled, showing her was hungry too.
"Very well, food first and then we fight," Koyuki said, crossing her arms while Kimimaro remained silent with a small smile on his face.
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Alright thats the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!
I thank you all for your support of the story so far.
Remember to check out my P.atreon for more chapters.