Chapter 49: CH 49
Kimimaro kept out of Naruto's reach, showing that he was the better man in close range combat. Naruto knew from the last time that they fought that even though Kimimaro had an absurd amount of support he far outclassed Naruto with hand-to-hand combat. This was sort of a problem for Naruto, He was a close-to-mid range specialist, and that just wouldn't do against Kimimaro, who wouldn't be easy to beat in close.
Naruto stormed back in as did Kimimaro. Kimimaro attempted a vicious sweep, the knee bone sticking out to try and cut Naruto off at his kneecaps. Naruto brought his blade down to block and ended up having to jump back and avoid the other spikes sticking from his enemy's body.
Kimimaro kept spinning low as he moved closer to Naruto at a ridiculous speed for being so close to the ground. Naruto eventually timed his spins and hit Kimimaro in his exposed head with a sick low dropkick that snapped Kimimaro's head back hard, sending him sprawling out on the dirt and grass.
Naruto took advantage of his situation and kipped up to his feet from his back to an absurdly high height thanks to the use of chakra to enhance his already considerable strength to finish Kimimaro with a vicious double-stomp to his prone frame from above.
Naruto's feet were caught just inches from contact of crushing Kimimaro's rib cage by... his rib cage. Naruto found one of his feet stuck in the extended ribcage of the bone wielding shinobi. Naruto tried to pull his leg free and ended up making eye contact with him.
Kimimaro looked up at him blanky, "Karamatsu no Mai (Dance of the Larch)." Kimimaro latched on to Naruto's leg with his arms as well and rolled over sharply. Naruto gritted his teeth as a 'pop' sound, signifying an injury to his ankle rang out in both his and Kimimaro's ears.
Naruto rolled away after freeing his limp ankle and Kimimaro followed him rolling also, only with even more sharp spines protruding from his body like a human combine harvester, ripping up ground with every inch that he rolled. Naruto couldn't stand up with his ankle utterly dislocated and Kimimaro was dead set on rolling him over. Naruto, in a last ditch effort to create some space, brandished his sword and stabbed it into the ground between himself and Kimimaro who managed to get his bones tangled into the blades.
Naruto used this time to roll away quickly and realign his ankle into place with a quick snap, letting out a silent yell as he allowed the bone to reset with naught a sound as Kyuubi's regenerative properties worked their miracle powers on quickly making his leg useable.
Naruto stood just as Kimimaro freed his spikes from Naruto's sword by retracting them. Naruto pointed at Kimimaro heatedly, "You are a bastard you know that! With your bones, and your stupid bone defense crap." Even though he sounded angry, Naruto's face showed no anger, only focus and determination on the task at hand, which impressed Orochimaru's loyal soldier. Lifting his hands up at Naruto he fired bones from his fingertips. Naruto had dropped his sword to make a hasty escape earlier so he pulled shuriken and a kunai from his pouch. He deflected a few bones with the shuriken and used the kunai in his hand to bat away the rest in a risky move. Naruto rushed at Kimimaro, kunai in his grip to attack.