Interlude: Other Fights in the Oto Base I

Shikamaru had landed in an odd-looking, underground, room that seemed festooned with spiderwebs. He managed to roll with the landing to avoid breaking his legs and came up in a crouch, looking around warily. The Room seemed to have various statues in the four corners of it, bearing the visage of angry gods. Each statue seemed connected to the others by what looked like some sort of giant spider webbing forming catwalks. With a frown, Shikamaru peered into the shadows of the room, drawing on the power of the amulet he'd gotten from the Pirate Hideout to suss out where the inevitable sneak attack would come from.

While Ino had worked on new Jutsu, Shika focused much of his time over the month that Choji had been at the Fire Temple understanding the Amulet of Tsukiyomi. Priest Tenzin had only been partially correct. True, the amulet would thicken and deepen shadows, but it also served as a connection to the shadows themselves. With it, Shika could, if he concentrated, get a feel for anything lying in wait in nearby shadows. He also could use it to augment his Clan Jutsu.

That was how he knew that he needed to dodge when he did, tucking himself into a shoulder roll and bursting into sudden motion as an arrow streaked out from the shadows above and behind him to the left. The arrow smashed into the stone of the floor, breaking apart as Shikamaru dodged. He came out of his forward roll on his feet and was immediately forced to leap up to avoid a second arrow, this time coming at him from the same level as himself.

Unfortunately, that arrow seemed to multiply with an application of the Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Kunai Shadow Clone Technique) in a burst of chakra and Shikamaru was forced to try and spin to the side in mid-air. The clone arrow avoided impaling him through the thigh, just barely, as Shikamaru's mid-air rotation turned the crippling wound into a graze that cut a line of red across the meat of his right thigh.

As Shikamaru landed, he finally spotted his opponent. A six-armed Shinobi that had descended from the walkways of webbing on a single, ropelike, strand of the stuff. He had an odd-looking, large, golden, bow that took three of his hands to operate and was dressed in a gray tunic over black pants with a lilac rope belt.

"Heh, guess you aren't such a side character after all if you could avoid that! This oughta be interesting." Grinned the Oto Shinobi.

"Wait, I've seen you before at the Chunin Exams. You're one of Orochimaru's personal guards, the Sound Four, right?" Frowned Shikamaru.

"That's Right! Kidomaru's the name! Remember it, 'cause it's the name of the guy who's gonna kill you!" Boasted the Oto Shinobi.

"Troublesome. Guess there's nothing for it though. You like spiders and spiderwebs, eh? Well, let's see how well your webs hold up to a little fire!" Exclaimed Shikamaru as he began to go through a series of hand seals.

"You think type advantage will help you? Bring it!" Challenged Kidomaru, going through hand seals of his own.

Shikamaru completed the series of hand seals and spat out a roaring dragon of flame using the Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet). No sooner had he done that than Kidomaru finished his series of hand seals and sweated out gold substance on himself that hardened and turned to armor. The Fire Dragon Bullet slammed into Kidomaru, burning up the webbing in the room in a conflagration of flames.

When the flames cleared, however, Kidomaru remained, his armor having insulated him from the attack. He had used the time wisely, creating a second bow and arrow of the same, golden, substance as his armor. He drew the bow with all six of his arms and let fly with the arrow, the air splitting with the crack of a sonic boom as he did.

"Take this! Kumo Senkyū: Suzaku (Spider War Bow: Terrible Split)!" Shouted Kidomaru.

Shikamaru was forced to use the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to avoid being impaled by the arrow, which was fired with such force that it bored through the stone wall of the underground room he was in, revealing a small barracks behind the thick stone that had since been emptied.

As he emerged from his Shunshin, however, Shikamaru found himself under attack by his six-armed opponent, blocking two fists and ducking two more, but taking two punches to the torso in the process. Fortunately, this was what he'd been waiting for, and though Shikamaru felt his ribs creak under his armor, he employed the Nenchaku-Ken (Sticky Fist) principles that he'd learned from Choji to adhere to his opponent's fists.

"What? Why can't I recover my guard?" Demanded Kidomaru.

The only response Shikamaru gave was an unsealed Kodachi cutting out at Kidomaru's knee between the plates of his golden armor, slicing the tendons there before kicking him away. Kidomaru went flying into one of the four statues, cracking it as Shikamaru went through a series of hand seals and sent out a Doton: Dosekidake (Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoots) at his opponent. The Spikes of rock actually managed to pierce through the armor in two places, punching through Kidomaru's shoulders and one of his thighs. Shards of golden armor were sent scattering from the force as the stone spikes withdrew to drop Kidomaru on the ground at the base of the cracked statue.

"You're finished, surrender!" Commanded Shikamaru.

"Not yet!" Shouted Kidomaru.

As he said that his skin began to redden, hair going from black to white as horns grew out of his forehead and a third eye split open between his eyebrows. The transformation smashed what remained of Kidomaru's armor, sending cracked shards of golden material scattering further around the room. Furthermore, Kidomaru's wounds healed shut with a sizzling hiss as if being seared closed by sheer chakra infusion.

"You've made me use my final form! Now you're gonna die!" Roared Kidomaru.

 As he said that, he created yet another golden bow and arrow and leaped up onto one of the statues. With a series of hand seals, a vast web of sticky, spiderwebs reconnected two of the statues and Kidomaru leaped into the midst of the web, which was half shrouded in shadow. Shikamaru knew that if Kidomaru was able to fire that arrow, with the power of his cursed seal behind it, it was likely that it would be too fast for Shikamaru to dodge even with the aid of the Shunshin. Fortunately, it seemed that in his rage, Kidomaru had forgotten exactly who he was up against.

Drawing on the power of the Tsukiyomi Amulet to help empower his Clan Techniques, Shikamaru went through a series of hand seals as Kidomaru drew back his bowstring. Immediately, the shadows coalesced into a spearhead with the Kage Yari no Jutsu (Shadow Spear Technique). However, this wasn't the usual Shadow Spear. No, this one was as thick around as one of the gas lamps that lit up the streets of the Polar People's cities. Furthermore, it was empowered by the Amulet of Tsukiyomi. The large spear struck at Kidomaru from behind and pierced through the back of Kidomaru's head, completely obliterating it and leaving a headless corpse strung up in a partially destroyed web. The arrow from the golden bow fired into the wall aimlessly, smashing through it and the wall of the room behind it and revealing a storage room for records.

"Heh, I guess the guy forgot I could do that just because I hadn't used any clan techniques until that point. Typical from what I've heard about how the Cursed Seal affects your judgment." Muttered Shikamaru. With a sigh, he began to bandage the wound on his leg from the arrow graze.

Lord Jiraiya and Choji found him soon after. . .

XXXX

While Shikamaru was dealing with Kidomaru, Neji found himself dealing with a particularly foul-mouthed Genjutsu specialist. Unfortunately for her, Neji's Byakugan allowed him to no-sell Genjutsu. He'd managed to get a pretty good hit in on her at the start of the fight that should have immobilized her. Unfortunately for Neji, the cursed seal that she bore had then healed the damage he'd done to her knee, ankle, elbow, and shoulder joints with his Gentle Fist strikes.

She'd grown horns, her hair had lightened, and her skin had turned gray, but she had healed. Also unfortunately for Neji, it seemed that Genjutsu wasn't the sole weapon in her arsenal. She raised her flute to her lips and played a note that wasn't consciously audible to Neji. He frowned as he saw this and moved in to strike her again, only to stumble as his vision began to swim and his stomach threatened to empty itself. Neji collapsed to the floor of the chamber from the attack.

"Heh, not so tough now, are you? Fucking Trash!" Snarled the Kunoichi, Tayuya Neji thought her name was.

"I see. You've induced vertigo with your flute." Grunted Neji as he tried to push himself up off the floor.

"Fuck yeah, I did! Not so tough now you can't use your shitty Taijutsu, are you?" Demanded Tayuya.

Neji got to his hands and knees only for Tayuya to blow another vertigo-inducing note on her flute and a second wave of dizziness and nausea rolled through Neji, sending him to the floor once again as Tayuya laughed at his inability to get to his feet.

"Ha! You Hyuga fuckers are all the same! Lord Orochimaru made sure I knew how to deal with you trash!" Laughed Tayuya.

"Ugh." Gagged Neji, fighting his rising gorge.

"And don't think I'm gonna be getting close enough for you to hit me from a prone position, you fucker! That's what these are for!" Insisted Tauyuya, reaching into her pouch and pulling out a trio of senbon.

 The three senbon that Tayuya was holding had their tips coated in some sort of brownish-black resin. From the tarry, aromatic, scent that wafted off of them, Neji realized exactly what they were coated with. Curare was a poison most often found in places like Tea Country or the Outer Isles of Water Country. It was a sort of plant-based poison found in specific jungle plants that could paralyze your whole body, resulting in death by asphyxiation as you couldn't draw in breath with a paralyzed diaphragm.

"One stick from one of these will be more than enough to finish you off, but I'm gonna use three, just to make sure." Grinned Tayuya before tossing the trio of senbon.

For his part, Neji simply reached into a storage scroll, retrieved a seal, and then pulsed chakra into it, fighting the urge to vomit as he did so. From the seal was produced a stone statue of the God Susanoo, fierce countenance interposed between Neji and the senbon. The senbon bounced off the statue, ricocheting away as Neji finally managed to master his bodily functions and push himself to his feet. He retrieved a bit of wax from his storage scroll which he normally used to seal personal correspondence and stuffed it in his ears.

When Tayuya tried to send him to the floor again, the wax blocked the vertigo-inducing musical note and Neji was able to stay upright. With a grin, he moved forward and struck out with a Gentle Fist strike at Tayuya's heart. The Oto Shinobi was forced to use the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique) to avoid being killed, Neji's Gentle Fist Strike splitting the log in half as surely as any axe could chop wood.

Tayuya flung another trio of poisoned senbon at Neji, only for Neji to whirl around in place, secreting chakra from his Tenketsu as he performed the Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Rotation). The Poisoned Senbon rebounded off the half-dome of pure chakra used as a defense and Tayuya growled out in frustration at that. As Neji came out of the Kaiten, he charged in once again with a Gentle Fist strike, this time his attack tore into the flute that Tayuya was using, rendering it useless for anything.

Neji took the wax out of his ears as Tayuya began cursing up a storm, content to let his opponent vent her frustrations. Was it petty of him to ensure she realized how hopeless her situation was? Perhaps. However, for the indignity he had been forced to suffer at the hands of her Vertigo-inducing technique, Neji felt it was more than fair of him to do this.

"Damn it! There goes the Naibu Fukinkō no Jutsu (Internal Imbalance Technique)! I can't use senbon or Genjutsu either 'cause you'll just no-sell them! Fucking asshole! Guess I've got no choice!" Snarled Tayuya, biting her thumb.

Neji's eyes widened at that as he realized that Tayuya was about to cast a Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique). He had no idea what sort of summon clan would contract with such an uncouth person, but he didn't want to find out. Fortunately, Tayuya was inside the field of his divination at the moment and his body began to blur through the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms) Technique. The attack was fast enough to interrupt Tayuya's attempt to summon whatever she was planning to summon and she never got her summoning technique off.

As he struck Tayuya sixty-four times in a row with Gentle Fist Strikes, he focused on sealing her Tenketsu instead of immobilizing her joints or puncturing her organs. With the Sixty-Four Palms, Neji was only able to seal a fifth of the Tenketsu on Tayuya's body. He focused on the ones around the Curse Seal as a priority. This seemed to work wonders, as with the Curse Seal's mechanisms being interfered with, Tayuya was unable to regenerate damage taken. The last ten of Neji's gentle fist strikes struck her in the knees, ankles, wrists, elbows, and shoulders, immobilizing Tayuya.

Unable to regenerate her damaged joints, Tayuya collapsed to the floor next to her broken flute, dropping like a puppet with its strings cut. As she collapsed, immobile, Lord Jiraiya, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru arrived on the scene, just in time for Neji to smash a Gentle Fist Strike into a vital spot on Tayuya's head, knocking her out cold. Neji straightened and tossed Lord Jiraiya a salute as Tayuya's appearance returned to normal, the Cursed Seal going inactive with her being unconscious.

"Lord Jiraiya, I have captured an enemy member of Orochimaru's personal guard." Reported Neji.

"I can see that. Good work, she'll no doubt have valuable intel." Nodded Lord Jiraiya.

Lord Jiraiya spent a few moments applying a counterseal to Tayuya's curse seal, detailing Neji and Shikamaru to watch the prisoner. Then he and Choji moved on, looking for the others who had been separated from everyone else. Neji, however, was ecstatic. He had failed to achieve promotion in the Chunin exams, however this assault could very well be his chance to attain his promotion. After all, from what Shikamaru had said, neither he nor Choji had captured their opponents, killing them instead. If bringing back such a valuable prisoner didn't earn Neji his promotion, he didn't know what would. Once Neji was Chunin, he could finally move out of the oppressive Hyuga compound and finally begin to make a life for himself out of the immediate sight of the Main Family.

And that was worth even the indignity of being rendered temporarily helpless by that vertigo-inducing technique. . .

XXXX

Kiba and Ino had found themselves falling together. This was a good thing because the enemy they faced was more powerful than either of them individually. With Akamaru as well, they should have overpowered their strange, two-headed, eight-limbed, opponent fairly quickly. Unfortunately, their opponent's very first order of business had been to take Akamaru out of the equation.

He'd bitten into Akamaru with one of his fanged heads, using the Akuma no Dokukamu no Jutsu (Demon's Poison Bite Technique) that had injected an extremely uncommon poison found only in Demon Country into the poor Ninken. It was made from a specific kind of black mushroom found in the Swamps of Northwest Demon Country, near the border with Marsh Country. Fortunately, Ino had been studying with Lady Tsunade, and she had taught her the Sugureta Gedoku no Jutsu (Superior Detoxification Technique) which she had used to cure Akamaru of the Poison.

Unfortunately, that had meant that while she did that, Kiba was forced to deal with their opponent on his own. Punches that had the power of multiple Shinobi behind them had smashed into Kiba's chest and face, splitting his lip, breaking his nose, and cracking multiple ribs while Ino had healed Akamaru. Kiba had done his best to fight back, mind you, but every time he attacked with his Tsūga (Passing Fang) or his various Doton and Katon Jutsu, but their opponent only took a single wound before he activated his Cursed Seal.

Horns grew from both of their opponent's heads and their skin turned reddish and leathery. Furthermore, their mouths filled with tusks and fangs, all the better to use their poison bite jutsu. To top everything off, the wound from the Passing Fang that had carved into their Opponent's side had spontaneously healed, as if it had regenerated from the absolutely foul Chakra pouring out from the Cursed Seal.

And it was foul Chakra, Ino's sensor abilities couldn't help but feed her the information that the Chakra seemed tainted with the power of Jigoku somehow. It had made her gag and she had almost lost her grip on the Superior Detoxification. That would have spelled death for poor Akamaru, but thankfully, a student of Lady Tsunade had to be made of sterner stuff than that. She regained her control over her Jutsu and kept working at cleansing Akamaru of poison.

Unfortunately, their opponent managed to utterly smash Kiba with a punch that carried the weight of multiple shinobi behind it and was now amped up on the power of Jigoku pouring forth from the Cursed Seal. Kiba was sent flying backward with his cracked ribs turned into broken ribs from the force of the blow. Then their opponent began to gloat.

"Hah! If you can't handle our Tarenken (Multiple Connected Fists) now that we've gained the power of Orochimaru-Sama's Cursed Seal, you may as well just lie down and die like the dog you are, right Ukon?" Laughed one of the Heads.

"Like the dog we killed at the start of this fight, Sakon." Agreed the other Head.

"Ugh, I'll show you yet!" Growled Kiba, getting to his feet with a wince as his broken ribs twinged.

"Get a load of this kid, Ukon! The trash thinks he can still win!" Taunted the Sakon Head.

"You never had a chance to win in the first place, Mutt! Once we finish you off, we'll handle the Yamanaka even more easily!" Huffed the Ukon Head.

"Fuck you!" Spat Kiba, reaching into a pouch to remove a soldier pill and popping it into his mouth. He bit down and swallowed, feeling his ribs heal and some of his Chakra return, though his nose and lip were still broken and split respectively.

"Heh, he thinks a Soldier Pill is gonna win this for him, Ukon." Grinned the Sakon Head.

"We'll just have to beat him to a pulp all over again, Sakon." Nodded the Ukon Head.

Fortunately for Kiba and Ino, however, the time that their opponent had spent gloating allowed Ino to finish detoxifying Akamaru. The black gunk of the poison was all out of Akamaru's body, pooled on the stone floor. Ino then used one other Medical Ninjutsu Technique that Lady Tsunade had taught her, the Shigeki no Jutsu (Stimulant Technique) to give Akamaru a temporary boost of energy and render him fit for battle for a short period. Then she reached into her storage scroll and pulled out her Hrishikesha Haze Dagger she had gained from the Pirate Fort. She summoned forth a mist that would cloud their opponent's senses, but not her Sensor abilities nor Kiba and Akamaru's sense of smell.

"What? What's going on? I can't see shit, Ukon!" Complained the Sakon Head.

"Me either, Sakon! Where'd that little shit go?" Demanded the Ukon Head.

"Kiba! Use your nose!" Intoned Ino.

"Ino? You got Akamaru back in the fight?" Questioned Kiba. Akamaru yipped out an affirmative before expanding to adult size, and Kiba grinned, not that anyone could see it with the spiritual energy-based haze that spilled forth from Ino's dagger.

"All right, let's get 'em Akamaru!" Exclaimed Kiba.

Together, the two blurred into the Gatenga (Fang Rotating Fang) using their superior sense of smell to guide their buzzsaw-like forms to the target. They smashed into the Sakon and Ukon Duo, smashing them back and cutting open their chest. Immediately, the Cursed Seal began to heal the wounds, but the two weren't done yet.

Rebounding off of the Sakon and Ukon Duo, Akamaru and Kiba blurred into the Gatsūga (Fang Passing Fang) drilling into the Sakon and Ukon pair from two sides. Kiba's attack pulped the Sakon Heart while Akamaru's pulped the Ukon Heart. With both brothers' hearts destroyed, the attack killed the Sakon and Ukon Duo outright, rendering the Cursed Seal's regeneration pointless.

The Sakon and Ukon Duo collapsed to the floor of the chamber, dead, and the Spiritual Energy Haze from Ino's Dagger that had given Kiba and Akamaru the opening to finish their opponent dissipated. Akamaru yawned, deflating back down to his normal, puppy, size. He tottered over next to Ino and laid down, soon snoring away as he was fast asleep.

Ino meanwhile moved to heal Kiba's remaining wounds with the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystic Palm Technique), setting his nose back into its normal, unbroken, state and fixing his split lip while also ensuring that his ribs had healed correctly from the Soldier Pill. Moments later, Choji and Lord Jiraiya arrived. It seemed that thus far, everyone had won their fights. After a brief moment of conversation, Choji and Lord Jiraiya moved on, looking for Lee and Naruto. Ino and Kiba stayed behind. After all, Kiba wasn't going to leave Akamaru to sleep in a partially cleared enemy base, and Ino wasn't going to let him stay with Akamaru by himself.

If she did, and Kiba got into another fight and was wounded, Ino would be very angry about her hard work fixing him up being ruined, after all. . .

XXXX

AN: I've decided to break up the other fights into multiple interludes. There are five of them, after all, and if I wrote them all down in one interlude, it'd swell to well over five thousand words. This is already a bit over four thousand words, after all.

At any rate, here we get to see how Ino, Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru's fights have gone. The Sound Four are all Tokubetsu Jonin level. Orochimaru wouldn't allow any less to be in his Personal Guard formation, after all. Accordingly, they're not easy fights and each fight will be touch and go to varying extents. Most of the Strike Force is going to be taking at least one wound in the process, though thankfully, each of them has various ways of evening things out.

You can expect a lot of promotions to come out of this. Kiba, Lee, and Neji are going to get their Chunin Vests for this, and while Tokubetsu Jonin is a rank that signifies Jonin level in one or two areas of specialty, and thus not exactly something that can be given out to everyone here, by the time the war with Oto ends, you can expect multiple characters to have gotten to that level.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve Lee's fight with Kimimaro and Naruto's fight with Sasuke. Then we'll have one last chapter of preamble from Choji's POV as the strike force reports in before the War with Otogakure kicks off properly.

Stay tuned. . .