The first sign of an attack was the high-pitched wailing of alarms that I could hear ring out from an adjacent section of the palace, cutting abruptly through the heavy silence that had hung over the medical wing following my transformation. Each ring carried through the vast, empty corridors, a clear warning signal that something had breached Hiruko's perimeter. The chimera's head snapped towards his henchmen, eyes narrowed in fury.
"Ichi! Ni! San! To your gates!"
To their credit, the three henchmen didn't hesitate for a moment, immediately springing into action at their master's call. As one, they bit their thumbs hard enough to draw blood and slammed their open palms against the tiled floor.
"Reverse Summoning!" three voices cried out and in a sudden burst of smoke, they were gone.
The sudden disappearance of Hiruko's henchmen left a silence even heavier than before, broken only by the distant wailing of the alarms as the skin around the man's eyes tightened, his focus distant.
"Who would dare…?" he growled in his whispery voice.
Seeing his distraction, I glance towards Suien from the corner of my eye. I hadn't included him in much of my planning these past two weeks, not as I had done with Tsubaki, but this part should be easy enough to set up, given his past animosity with the creepy twins. Feeling my eyes on him, the Taki jōnin glances equally subtly my way, one eyebrow slightly raised underneath his yellow bandana.
There's no hand signal, no mouthing or complicated charades. All it takes is me flicking my eyes towards the exit of the medical wing and keeping Suien's gaze, heavy with meaning. It's a credit to his experience (or just his bloodlust) that the dangerous missing nin immediately catches on, his grin wide and predatory.
Without being included in Hiruko's sealing matrix that he had keyed to his henchmen and their respective gates, Suien can't use the Summoning Technique to instantly follow Ichi, Ni and San, so he simply claps his hands together in the Tiger seal, before vanishing from sight in a Body Flicker, leaving only a smattering of droplets suspended in the air for a moment.
His disappearance catches Hiruko's attention, the man's lithe body going taut with suspicion, so I hurry to explain, my somewhat lowered, more growly voice catching me off guard a bit.
"We don't know the strength of the enemy my Lord, but it must be significant if they found this Mountain and intend to challenge its guardians."
For a moment, Hiruko's narrowed eyes remain fixed on where Suien had stood, a slightly damp spot all that remains, before he shifts his gaze over to me, pinning me in place with his red eyes peering over the edge of his large collar.
"Their strength might also be pitiful. After all, you found this mountain as well." The bandaged man snipes, his mood clearly worsened by paranoia, though I easily ignore the dig.
After all, I was weak. That fact was the entire point why I climbed this damned mountain in the first place. And while my new form went a significant way in fixing that, I still hadn't gotten all I'd come here for. So instead of countering Hiruko's words, I instead bow my head towards the man, my voice urgent and imploring.
"Understood, my Lord. Still, there's nothing lost with sending Suien out there, even if his aid turns out to be unneeded. It also gives us the chance to secure your research without prying eyes." I lie easily and Hiruko's eyes flicker toward me, sceptical, but the urgency of the alarms tugged at his focus.
He glances from me towards Tsubaki, the Legendary Stupid Brothers at her sides, all three looking somewhat lost, before he discards them with a scoff. His searching gaze aimed towards me shows that, while he doesn't consider them 'prying eyes', he's not so convinced about me as I slowly rise from the twisted remains of my medical chair.
To my surprise, as I stretch to my full length, I find that the floor is a bit further away than I'm used to. Hiruko's altered body wasn't exactly tall in the first place, but now he actually has to crane his head a bit to look me in the eyes. Despite my tall form and broad shoulders however, I'm still dwarfed in that aspect by Rajin and Fujin.
Though perhaps now they'll finally stop insisting on calling me 'Little' Boss.
"Secure the research? You truly think it necessary?" Hiruko whispers with a scoff, his crimson eyes narrowed, but he doesn't dismiss me outright, a sliver of doubt creeping into his gaze.
"Better to be safe than sorry." I press, moving over towards the small table at my side, lifting up the thick paper with a sealing formula on the front, the second part of my serum contained inside.
With Hiruko's expertise, it had been melded seamlessly to altered tiger DNA, which on the surface sounds insane (and to be fair, it absolutely was), but back on my world, tigers were absolute apex predators of their environment, a threat even to humans. On this world, rich with natural energy and chakra? Tigers could become absolute monsters and Hiruko had samples of several prime specimens, all a credit to their species (because of course he did, the maniac had samples of pretty much every single animal on the continent, save dinosaurs).
Becoming part tiger might not sound very impressive in the grand scheme of things, but with the base work the first part of the serum had already done (alongside the work I'd have to do to get it to the level the second part wouldn't outright kill me), the jump in power would be significant. Probably not to rocket me to S-Rank outright, but I figured that, physically at least, I should be able to give most Jōnin a run for their money.
Take that and start factoring in powerups and artefacts such as the Stone of Gelel and the Infinite Armor and suddenly that S-Rank becomes much, much closer. However, in order for met to get to that point, I needed even more than what Hiruko had already provided thus far.
The Chimera Technique itself. Though I doubted I'd be able to get the whole thing off of him (or even understand it even if I did), I didn't really need the whole thing. Sure, the idea of multiple kekkai genkai would be enough to make the likes of Orochimaru salivate (… and myself a little as well, if I'm completely honest) and Hiruko had a pretty solid idea in the combination that he had put together, but the cost of it was simply too high for me.
But incorporating someone's blood, or at the very least their DNA signature… blood is a potent ingredient in this world and some of the most powerful artefacts and locations in this world are only reserved to those who are of the proper bloodline.
With what I intended to steal from Hiruko, I'd be from every bloodline.
Glancing towards the man in question, I shuffle the thick stack of papers containing the next step of my evolution into my pockets, trying not to let my eagerness show. I'm not sure I'm fully successful hiding my emotions from a ninja of Hiruko's experience and strength, but the sudden switch from my transformation abruptly being cut off by incessant alarms has put him on the backfoot slightly.
Besides, these past two weeks have only confirmed my earlier suspicion: Hiruko wasn't a true friend of the Sannin, that was him simply projecting in his flashbacks. Which explains why Jiraiya and Tsunade didn't seem gutted so much as annoyed by his betrayal and why Orochimaru had sent the gifted fish-scientist off to an island somewhere before cutting off his funding. Deep down, Hiruko was a touch-starved, contact-deprived fanboy desperate for friends and respect, something that in canon he had only been willing to admit to Kakashi after the silver-haired shinobi had pointed this out to him while standing over his dying body.
After two weeks of me constantly trying to play that angle (rather successfully at that, considering Mizuki's proven experience with manipulating people), Hiruko was more hesitant in dismissing me than he rightfully should've been. Besides, his research is precious to him, more than even his henchmen, so when he snaps his fingers, finally silencing the alarms, and we pick up the faintest echoes of combat coming from far, far down the mountain, he moves without questioning me further.
"Come then. Some of the experiments I have running are delicate and should not be allowed to be interrupted by foolish interlopers. Should it come to that point, I shall have… words with Ichi, Ni and San." Hiruko breathed heavily, his raspy voice dangerous as he turned on his heel, his long cloak whirling around his emaciated form.
As he moves further into the darkness (less effective now as I can feel my slitted pupils widening, the rest of the room coming into focus despite the dim light) I glance towards Tsubaki, giving her a nod, one which she returns after a moment of hesitation. Both Legendary Stupid Brothers are… not at all interested in what's going on right now, apparently, staring somewhat blankly ahead.
'Right. They'll do what they're told at least. I hope.'
Shaking my head, I fall into step with Hiruko, Tsubaki and the Brothers at my back. The palace is immense and even at the pace our host is setting, it takes a little while before we close in on Hiruko's personal wing of the palace, where he keeps most of his research and experiments requiring his personal attention. It's also where he keeps his most prized possessions and secrets, though naturally that part of the wing I hadn't been invited to these past two weeks or so.
Trust, even when expertly manipulated, only goes so far among villains after all.
Still, I was familiar enough with the rest of the palace quarter that I immediately recognized the metallic tang of blood and the biting scent of conservatives lingering heavy in the air that was barely masked by the smell of paper and ink as we approached Hiruko's inner sanctum. Despite having spent a significant amount of time there these past two weeks whenever Hiruko saw fit to bestow me with another lecture on microbiology (or whatever else he was randomly interested in at the time) I was still somewhat taken aback every time I entered the large hall.
Hiruko's inner sanctum was a study in controlled chaos, a space where intellect and obsession collided. The main chamber stretched wide, its vaulted ceiling disappearing far above us, the large structure held up by several massive pillars spread out over the wide floor. Spread haphazardly over the foundations of the ancient architecture were distinctly modern additions in a classic 80s sci-fi style, as if Dr. Goro had decided to set up shop in the Japanese doppelganger of the Saint Basilius cathedral. Overhead, iron beams crisscrossed the ceiling, strung with coils of electrical conduits that pulsed faintly with residual energy. The walls, smooth in some sections but scarred in others, bore hundreds of diagrams, scrolls, and schematics, detailing forbidden jutsu, kekkei genkai integrations, and bio-modification experiments. Workbenches cluttered with glass vials, scalpels, and strange mechanical implements formed narrow corridors between the tables, evidence of a half dozen experiments started and discarded at a whim.
Scattered throughout were clues to Hiruko's obsession. Maps pinned to the walls were marked with symbols denoting kekkei genkai users, some annotated with coloured threads connecting them to specific elemental nations. Hand-drawn sketches of animals—wolves, birds, serpents—were annotated with chakra readings and movement patterns, suggesting he was tracking them across the Great Nations, marking the locations where they displayed unique growth or attributes.
A large pin was placed firmly smack dab in the middle of the Forest of Death.
Hiruko didn't spare us any attention however, simply glancing around the large hall before giving us our order with a dismissive gesture.
"Get this place cleaned up and sorted. Even if my men turn away the attackers, I refuse to have my workshop be in such a sorry state. What a mess, this is unacceptable!" his raspy voice rang out sharply and I had to suppress a roll of my eyes.
'You're the one who made this mess in the first place!' I pointed out inside my mind, but on the outside, I merely gave a nod and a small bow, gesturing towards Tsubaki and the Brothers as we spread out over the room, going from workbench to workbench, fanning out in such a way that we always kept Hiruko at the centre, cleaning up desks as we went.
Each table was a chaotic blend of eras typical of the strange progress of technology in the Naruto world: hand-forged scalpels, ink-stained scrolls, and glass vials lined up beside old tape recorders, cathode-ray displays, and crude sensors wired into the walls. The air was thick with the sharp tang of chemicals and I found myself involuntarily licking my lips, trying to get the oily air off my tongue.
It was after clearing up a couple of tables that I made a startling discovery.
As I walked over towards a nearby low-slung table, I picked up a sheaf of papers, idly leafing through it, my brows furrowed as I slowly went over the contents in more depth. I had always known that merely enhancing my body and wearing super special armour wouldn't be enough to keep up with the monsters that lurked hidden in this world, ones who would turn up during the endgame of Shippuden, blowing away every villain that had come before them. For that, I would need access to a whole new sort of power.
Bijū chakra.
The ultimate trump card (unless going up against Akatsuki off screen and your name wasn't Naruto Uzumaki of course). Without it, the whole series would've ended in the Wave arc right then and there. The Kyuubi had functioned as the blonde's get out of jail card multiple times over, overwhelming whatever villain Naruto was facing at the time, allowing the hero to pull the impossible out of his ass.
Now I only had vague ideas about how to gain access to Bijū chakra, my mind mostly going to the Three-Tails, but that didn't mean there were other sources out there. Apparently, before he had fully committed to Frankenstein-ing himself, Hiruko's own thoughts had gone along pretty similar lines sometime in the past, according to the stack of papers I had picked up.
It was a series of reports, some bought from informants, some made by Hiruko's own henchmen, tracing a series of rumors focused on one specific boy. A boy that apparently had been taken in by a temple somewhere in the Land of Fire. From the old, yellowed pages, a faded picture looked back at me, the glare of the boy in the picture surprisingly intense even coming from a stack of papers.
'Of course… Sora…' I blink in surprise, my mind going over the information in the documents and slotting it into the plan I had made way back in my prison cell.
Yes, there were dangers and complications to becoming a Jinchūriki, but there was no rule saying you had to become a full one to a whole Bijū straight out of the gate.
'This can work.' I muse to myself, but unfortunately I can't dive any deeper in what Hiruko has managed to dig up on pseudo-Jinchūriki over the years as I can spot him moving towards the far back wall from the corner of my eye.
Instead of being cluttered with workbenches and lockers, a significant portion of the room was dedicated entirely to celestial and terrestrial patterns. Scrolls and charts detailed lunar phases and their effects on chakra, interlaced with crude graphs and models of earth ley lines spanning the nations, preparation for Hiruko's ultimate ritual that was slowly but steadily taking shape in the palace's central chamber.
Hiruko approached a section of the wall that to my eyes looked no different to any other part of the wall, though I noticed an impossible small seam as the bandaged man ran a thin hand over it, impossible to see unless you already knew it was there. The sound of various heavy latches and locking mechanisms could be heard through the wall and slowly the whole section of the wall began to pivot open, yawning wide like a massive vault door.
I could barely see the chamber beyond, not that it really mattered now. Hiruko made to move through the new opening in the wall and I knew he'd close it immediately behind him, as nobody save him was allowed to know the contents of that secret vault, much less enter it.
That, of course, didn't work for my plans, so I made the riskiest move I had ever been forced to make in this new life (and, just to reiterate, said life started with escaping a ninja supermax prison built inside an active caldera and only got worse from there).
I gave Raijin and Fujin a nod.
Thankfully, the Legendary Stupid Brothers had their part of the plan drilled into their massively thick skulls by both Tsubaki and I for the past couple of days, so without hesitation both made a grab into the wide shirts that hung tightly over their massive frames. Clutched in fists the size of boulders were thick bundles of the massive cactus needles Tsubaki had been removing and saving for them.
Between the strength and size of the needles, they more resembled senbon than plantlife, not that the Brothers were actually accurate with senbon. Or even really capable for that matter. The funny thing about accuracy though is that, with enough quantity, quality becomes obsolete.
And considering how many of those immense needles each brother could clench in each meaty fists, there was a lot of quantity to throw around. Literally. With loud yells, Raijin and Fujin whipped their arms forwards, powerful muscles moving thick limbs with a surprising (and honestly, somewhat frightening) amount of ease, the needles blurring through the air.
Some tumbled, some fell short, some more went way too high, but even so, an absolute hailfire of sharp pointy sticks hurled towards the entrance to Hiruko's secret lab and the man himself, closing in on his back.
"You dare!?"
I had taken care to not do something stupid as announcing my attack by shouting "now!" at the brothers and to their credit, they had only grunted in exertion as they threw, not before. Despite all that, despite the Brother's complete lack of hesitation over attacking their host in the back (which made me slightly concerned to be honest, as I had grown so used to their dopey presence, I had somewhat forgotten about their proven utter disregard for human life), despite the sheer speed with which the needles suddenly cut through the air aimed straight at his back (or rather, roughly in his general direction) without warning, Hiruko's instincts had alerted him in time.
His form blurred and had we attempted this just this morning, I knew dead certain that I would've lost sight of him right then and there. To my immense gratification, my slitted eyes tracked Hiruko as he jumped away from the vault-like door, twisting in mid-air to land horizontally against the nearest pillar, though he hadn't come away completely unscathed fortunately. There were some rips in the bottom hem of his large overcoat and I could spot several holes in the bandages that began to unfurl from his thin forearms, like snakes being awakened from their slumber.
Even so, while my eyes had managed to track him, if only barely, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with that speed physically.
'Well, if you don't succeed, try, try again.' I think to myself, my mind feeling oddly light as I felt the eyes of the villain pin me in place, a villain that even Kakashi had figured could only be defeated by a desperate suicide gamble.
But that was three to four years in the future. Hiruko was weaker than in his filler arc, while I was steadily outstripping what Mizuki had been capable of in his. Though I knew it'd be some time yet before I managed to outstrip someone of Hiruko's caliber as well.
"YOU! I shall-!"
"Stand still little bandage man!"
Which is why I immediately signaled both Brothers to throw the needles they held in their other hand. After all, quantity had a quality all of its own and the appetite of the Brothers had seen them chew through a lot of cacti these past weeks.
Hiruko's red eyes widened for a moment before he disappeared once again, the needles thrown by the brothers slamming into the pillar with such force that it shook the whole structure, dust falling down to the floor below.
I wasn't on Hiruko's level yet, I knew that, but my eyes, pupils no longer slits in the dim lighting of the large room, still managed to spot something significant as the albino man dodged two more volleys from the Brothers, who seemed to think it was a sort of demented game of tag as they shredded what must be years of careful research in a matter of moments under a sustained barrage of cactus artillery, the whole room looking like a warzone.
I had expected a shinobi of Hiruko's caliber to be fast. But the Brothers were strong and their weapons flew with tremendous speed. Hell, Fujin had even managed to chase off Suien for a bit by chucking a whole tree at him fast enough to force the jōnin to dodge (leaving me in the line of fire as well, unfortunately). Compared to that, the needles were incredibly light despite their size and absolutely blitzed through the air, thundering into whatever surface Hiruko had just been standing on moments before.
'Swift Release. I had really hoped that he hadn't already stolen that one. It's probably the most annoying to deal with right after the chakra absorbing Dark Release.'
I didn't fully remember all the details of Swift Release, though that could also be because there weren't very many details to remember in the first place. Hiruko was the only prominent on-screen user of the kekkai genkai as far as I could recall, but I knew that it functioned somewhat similarly to the Lightning Chakra Armor. Not so much the lightning aspect, just that it boosted a user's speed to the extreme limits that one usually could only achieve during a Body Flicker, without that technique's drawback of turning your body into an unguided projectile, leaving yourself blind to the world as you launched yourself through it. While the speeds ninja were capable of during a Body Flicker were indeed impressive, the technique was also utterly useless in combat, considering you'd just have to hope you'd hit your opponent before you slammed into the surrounding scenery like a coyote tracking down a roadrunner with an artistic gift for cliff-face paintings.
Unless your name was Shishui Uchiha of course, but considering how he ended up, I'd take that trade-off.
'Man, I feel like that meme of Brock explaining that "Extreme Speed" is a move that allows a Pokémon's speed to go to the extreme…' the idle thought shoots through my mind before being ruthlessly suppressed by my battle-induced adrenaline.
Knowing that speed had been a weakpoint of Mizuki's that had been exploited and eventually led to his defeat, I conceded that I wouldn't be able to follow in Hiruko's footsteps, especially since those footsteps were being doggedly tracked by literal handfuls of cactus needles larger than my hand.
'But I don't need to catch up, I need to cut him off.'
So instead of trying to keep track of the blitzing bandaged man, my eyes shoot towards the two brothers instead, noting where they were looking at, taking in their forms, their footwork, the way their ridiculously large muscles bunched as they hurled senbon after senbon, always chasing Hiruko as he easily moved before the needles struck where he had just stood.
Another salvo, another blur from Hiruko, the needles slammed ineffectively into a generator of some kind, sending sparks flying as the metal buckled and hoses and cabling were torn to shreds. In a matter of seconds, Hiruko alighted easily on top of a nearby workbench, and I could see that he was juking his way closer towards the brothers, murder in his red eyes even as he dodged their (now slightly thinning) barrage.
Another heave from the Brothers, a switch in their stance as they moved towards Hiruko's new location, just as determined as before to turn him into a senbon-pinata, the spread of their projectiles wide and cutting off most of Hiruko's escape path. And considering his clear goal, judging by that rictus of sheer rage on his face, I felt my own body coiling in response.
With another grunt, Fujin and Raijin hurled another massive fist of projectiles forward and with contemptuous ease, Hiruko once again blurred out of sight. But this time, I moved too. It wasn't a Body Flicker, but the massive muscles in my newly improved legs made it a near thing, the ancient tiles of the workroom exploding into gravel and dust as I rocketed from my place angled to the side of where the Brothers had made their stand.
Hiruko alighted easily on a nearby chair, nimble feet resting on the thin back of the furniture with deadly grace, eyes focused intently on Fujin and Raijin as their projectiles soared past his form, bandages unfurling from his emaciated wrists, hunger in his gaze as he mentally calculated the shrinking distance between him and his prey-
Instincts honed from a lifetime spent as a missing nin screamed along every nerve in his body, his eyes snapping to the side, just as I slammed into his side knee-first, tearing up the furniture behind me in my mad dash towards the chimera. Desks splintered, glass shattered, the remains of experiments and furniture sent hurling through the air as I tore a straight path through the workshop, thankfully having timed my strike just right.
I could feel Hiruko's body, lithe yet oddly dense like steel cables, go taut around my knee as it caught him right in the side, the impact and my momentum sending him flying into a nearby pillar, hard. Dust and shards of ancient stone exploded from the impact, though I doubted a single hit would be enough to put someone like Hiruko down.
I was proven correct when suddenly two thin snakes of fabric shot out from the cloud of dust, whipping through the air and latching onto my arms faster than I could blink. They tightened painfully against my increased musculature, dragging me forwards and down. I resisted their heavy pull, feeling as if I was in a tug-of-war contest with a giant, planting my feet and cracking the tiles underneath my sandals, digging two grooves through the floor as Hiruko revealed himself.
The impact had shredded the thick coat he wore along the side where I'd hit him and the amount of tears in it had increased, making him look even more mummy-like with all those bandages covering him. His eyes were mad, almost glowing in the dim lighting of the research wing. The side of his torso that was exposed was a shiny black, like the dark steel that kunai were made of.
"Mizuki, you fool… did you truly think that conventional weaponry or freakish strength would be enough to kill one such as I? Did you truly believe that I wouldn't have contemplated my intake of kekkai genkai to perfection, studied every minutiae, accounting for every possibility?! The Chimera Technique will turn me into the ultimate ninja, Mizuki, immune to all! Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, useless before my perfection! I shall be immune even to Death itself! Of course the very first thing I did was safeguard my physical body! Swift and Steel release make both bukijutsu and taijutsu useless!" he ranted, mouth opening wide enough that it pulled at the stiches in a way that made my stomach do flips.
"I'm sure that all sounds very impressive, though I imagine it'll sound a bit more foolish once we're done killing you." I shoot back, deliberately trying to get under his skin.
Now, is pissing off a massively powerful, and also absolutely insane, ninja a good idea? Well, no, not if you say it like that. But, angry people make mistakes, and mistakes create openings and against a man with a (literally) ironclad defense, I needed every opening I could get.
Flexing my new and improved muscles, I let out a roar as I grasp the bandages holding my arms, my shoulders and back swelling as I heaved on the weaponized cloth, giving it my all. The spike in strength surprises Hiruko mid-rant as I yank him from his perch on the cratered pillar, sending him into the floor instead. Tethered as he is to me, Swift Release won't help him much here and this time I can see the exposed skin of his legs and feet harden and dull into a metallic grey, before deepening into shiny black steel.
Thanks to his new durability and weight, he slams into the tiles, creating another crater as he sinks in deep into the floor, fully negating his speed advantage. I grin, but Hiruko does too and it's scary enough it immediately wipes mine of my face.
"You fool! You cannot harm me, you're not strong enough, that power, that power that you've turned against me, I made it! I MADE YOU!" his scream is like nails on chalkboard thanks to his scratchy, whispery voice and I wince.
"While perfecting my defensive powers was the correct choice, it's nonetheless a shame I am still in the process of gathering my offensive kekkai genkai. Dark Charka users are beyond rare, and illusive to boot, while wielders of the Storm Release are guarded heavily by Kumo, their Kage a dragon paranoid about every jewel in his hoard."
Hiruko chuckles dragon and if possible it's an even more haunting sound than his deranged shouting from before.
"But even a dragon cannot account for every gemstone and there are plenty of Lightning style users that have proven… fruitful."
There are no handsigns, there is no warning. Just the sense of sudden danger, immediately followed by burning, stabbing, white-hot pain slamming into my arms and shooting down my torso into my feet all the way to my toes. My back arches against my will and I let out a howl of pain that rattles the remaining glassware on the nearby tables. A lightning jutsu and in a calmer moment I might have recognized it as a modified version of the Electromagnetic Murder jutsu or something similar.
In the moment, however? All that consumed my mind was the sudden and inescapable pain. As well as a storm of curse words.
'T-that creepy motherfucker-! He fucking tased me?!'
I grit my teeth, feeling my muscles spasm and where the bandaged were wrapped around my arms I could feel small burns forming. I could even smell it, smoke coming off my form mixed with the scent of ozone in the air, copper overwhelming on my tongue.
"Boss!" Raijin roars, being closest to me and even through my pain I can feel the thunderous impact of his feet slamming into the tiled floors as he rushes to my side.
Not that Hiruko lets him, as I can see him rip himself free from the crater I had slammed into, using that same movement to lift a decently sized chunk of rock up and kick it straight towards the rushing Raijin. In a complete opposite to the Brothers' own attempts, Hiruko's aim is dead on, the large piece of rubble slamming into the side of Raijin's head with tremendous force, enough to make the giant veer of course, his thick tree-sized legs stumbling as he crashes face-first into a nearby pillar, his weight and impact enough to almost dislodge the massive structure completely, the entire room rumbling.
"Little Bro!" Fujin roars, his normally massive grin gone as he rushes towards the prone giant.
And of course, because he just had to be that much better than me, Hiruko managed all this while continuing to run lightning through his bandages, unrelenting in his attack on me as I kept roaring in pain.
It felt like an eternity, but it couldn't have been more than a couple of moments before he finally cut off his chakra flow. Because I was pretty sure that if Hiruko had gone on for as long as it felt like he had, I would've turned into crispy barbeque. With the sudden absence of lighting coursing through my veins, my muscles turn to jelly even as they give random jerking twitches and I collapse to my knees.
"What a shame, Mizuki. You could've grown underneath my wings. There would've been a place for you in the new world I shall create following my ascension. Alas, now the only place fit for you in this world… is buried underneath it." Hiruko snarls, though even as my smoking body spams occasionally, I realize that he's breathing slightly heavy and by the looks of him, thanks to the conductive bandages connecting the two of us, he hadn't been entirely immune to the blowback of his own technique.
'… my teeth itch…'
"Farewell, Oniyuri Mizuki. As a courtesy to my old friend, I shall endeavor to deliver your corpse to Orochimaru. Perhaps that your body can be useful to some of his own research at least. And if not… well, there are fates worse than death, as I'm sure he's eager to educate your pathetic soul on." Hiruko continues darkly with a tone of finality, rising to his feet.
With barely any change of expression on his mummy-like face, he reaches towards his left arm where one needle had managed to score a clean hit (a single one out of what must have been hundreds and hundreds) going in on one side and emerging through the other. His eyes never leave mine as he pulls it steadily from his flesh, holding it idly between thumb and forefinger.
He takes aim as I force my twitching body upright again, the residual foreign lightning chakra slowly disappearing in sudden bursts. Before he can let loose with his own senbon however, a woman's voice rings out over the din of battle.
"Shouldn't you be more worried about your own research?!" Tsubaki shouts from the door opening to Hiruko's secret sanctum, making his head snap immediately towards her.
His red eyes widen when he sees that her hands are clasped, the beginnings of a fire jutsu clearly prepped and ready to turn his precious record keeping into a priceless collection of ash. Hiruko unleashes something between a strangled scream and wrathful hiss as he immediately goes for the kill, his focus shifting from me to Tsubaki as he angles the senbon in his hand, his gaunt torso twisting as he puts all of his power in the throw, Tsubaki's eyes widening in fear as she lets go of the seal, scrambling to pull out a kunai instead.
I can see it clear as day. She'll be too late. Hiruko sees it to, a sadistic gleam in those murderous eyes, his emaciated arm inching forwards and forwards-
"NO!"
The animalistic roar is my own I belatedly realize, but by then I'm already moving. My clawed hands, fingers still spasming, grab onto the bandages that are still connecting Hiruko to me as I explode upwards, giving a massive heave on the fabric. Chakra shoots out from the soles of my feet, sloppy and sputtering but good enough to glue me to the floor as I twist my torso.
Hiruko's eyes widen and to his credit immediately untangles the bandages wrapped around my arms, but my grip on the cloth is unyielding as I literally tear him from his spot, hurling him in a wide arc through the room, slamming him through tables and file cabinets in a blur of movement, the floor cracking underneath me.
Even taken off guard Hiruko tries to finish his throw, but it goes wide, catching only errant hairs from Tsubaki's long plaited braid, the long cactus needle suddenly resembling a classic hair ornament rather than a deadly weapon. Still, I continue my throw and Hiruko rapidly switches into his metallic form, both to protect himself from the various impacts and to use his weight against me.
Unfortunately for him, he has spent the past two weeks on making me stronger than I've ever been before and gritting my teeth I lean back, torso hovering just inches above the floor as I increase the spin, Hiruko's arc through the room even speeding up as he crashes straight through the furniture, heavy and durable enough that he doesn't even bleed off any momentum, flying through the air.
My attack, born of desperation, is utterly negated by his own unique kekkai genkai and in a briefly lucid moment, our eyes connect and I can see that same realization in his gaze, the metallic skin shifting into a deadly grin.
Before it's suddenly dented in as Fujin's massive forearm slams into his nose in a brutal clothesline, the giant suddenly stepping into Hiruko's wide arc. The metal man's entire body is whipped forwards and if it weren't for its unique properties, I was fairly certain that my throw combined with Fujin's incredible strength would've made Hiruko's head pop clean off his shoulders.
As it is, for just a brief moment he hangs motionless in the air, before with a grunt Fujin slams his arm downwards, sending Hiruko crashing into the floor, the heaviness of his Steel Release causing the tiles to cave in around him in an oddly form-fitting crater. He doesn't rise immediately, likely disoriented by the massive tree trunk masquerading as an arm that had appeared out of nowhere right in his face.
"I… I shall b-be… perfect… I am… p-perfect…" his voice comes from his crater as despite everything, he begins to scramble to his feet, the words somewhat garbled since the front of his face is legitimately dented inwards, slurring his speech and likely forcing him to stay in his Steel Release form.
With a grunt, Fujin shakes out his arm, a massive red imprint on his forearm already blooming into a massive purple bruise as he moves behind the gaunt chimera. With startling swiftness, he catches Hiruko in a rear-naked choke, his massive form lifting the emaciated man up in the air, Hiruko's feet dangling over the crater his steel body had formed.
Despite the dangerous position, the chimera's deformed face stretches into something approaching a grin, his voice seemingly not hindered by the massive arm encircling his neck.
"You fool! You think a mere hadaka jime would take me out! In this form, I have no lungs, no arteries! I told you already, taijutsu is useless against me-!"
He doesn't get to say much more, because the Legendary Stupid Brothers don't really care about taijutsu per se. With the same strength that had casually molded thick prison bars like they were wet noodles, Fujin shifts his grip a little, before with a horrible screeching metallic shriek, tears Hiruko's steel head straight of his shoulders. Even beheaded, Hiruko's eyes widen, before with a slow, stuttering shimmer, the transformation is released. The moment steel is turned back into flesh, the gaping wound starts gushing blood and I can see Hiruko's stitched mouth open and close wordlessly below his shattered nose and cheekbones.
Of course, since his throat is no longer attached to his lungs, he can't actually speak and judging from my limited lip-reading ability, that's probably for the best. Some of those things he said about my mother weren't just hurtful, but downright anatomically not possible. Not even in this world.
Fujin just grunts at the spray of blood that covers the front of his shirt before he glances my way.
"Here ya go Boss." He says before tossing the white-haired head through the air.
I watch it spin head over… well… head before a chakra thread snaps out from my index finger. It flickers and is much less subtle than I know I can make them, but at least the lightning chakra has left my body enough that my own control isn't completely shot anymore.
Good to know, considering the unknown battles still occurring outside the palace.
The thread shoots out like a snake, uncomfortably reminding me of the bandages Hiruko had used so effectively, snapping up one of the literal hundreds of cactus needles scattered across the shattered tiles. Picking it up, I whip the thread forwards at just the right moment. It shoots through the air, slamming straight into Hiruko's forehead, making his eyes widen and jaw go slack. The head sails through the air, slamming face-first into one of the few remaining desk, pinning itself to its surface with the part of the senbon sticking out from his forehead.
With a wet splat, his body fell to the ground several meters away, the gush of blood slowing now that the heart had truly stopped beating. Already forgetting about the battle, Fujin went over to his brother, who finally managed to extract his head from the stone pillar he had smashed into. The giant's younger brother fussed over him while Raijin winced as he tenderly poked the massive bump on his forehead that was tall enough to rise above his plume of hair, monobrow furrowed in pain and confusion. Further behind them Tsubaki sunk against the hidden doorframe with a sigh of relief, before holding up her braid, looking at the needle stuck in her hair with wide eyes.
My own eyes linger on Hiruko's decapitated head for several long moments, expecting a trap of some kind, a hidden trump card or perhaps worse, a deadman's switch. And yet… nothing.
Hiruko of the Chimera Technique was well and truly dead.
Slowly, my gaze moves from the pinned head to Tsubaki and the hidden room at her back.
More importantly, at the loot that awaited me.
Fun Fact: Fujin's prison number was 12