Chapter 7 – Shattered


Tayuya shakily stood to her feet after being punched, glaring at the smirking Kin. Her flute was now in the possession of the enemy, and she was still deaf, even though that was her own doing.

"Well, well, the little blowhard is without her flute," Kin mocked, ego enlarging by the second, "Whatever will she do now?"

Tayuya glared, but said nothing in return. Tayuya rushed towards Kin, aiming to slug her in the face in return. Kin ducked, and punched Tayuya in the gut with both hands, knocking her backwards. Tayuya stayed on her feet, and pulled three kunai from her pack, throwing each at the same time. Kin watched the three knives whiz through the air, preparing to dodge, and noticing that the middle one had a bomb tag on it, leaping backwards just before it exploded while in the air. Kin avoided damage from the blast, but then saw three more kunai launch through the smokescreen created by the explosion, unable to dodge at that distance. Two of the kunai lodged in her left arm, while the other in her right. Kin ripped each knife out of her flesh, blood trickling from her three wounds, ignoring the pain of the injuries. As the three kunai dropped to the ground, her eyes widened as she noticed one had a bomb tag on it, which activated just as she saw it. She jumped up, knowing she could not avoid the explosion completely, but hoping she would minimize the damage. As the tag exploded, Kin was launched upwards, already in the air, feeling a few burns from the strength of the explosion. She smashed into the ceiling, falling to the floor right afterwards. She pulled herself to her feet, covered in bruises and burn marks, bleeding from a few places.

"Not bad, but you won't get me with a trick like that again..." Kin stated, brushing some dirt off of her.

Tayuya knew she was right, as there was no way that she would be able to get another round of kunai trickery to fool her adversary. Not to mention, she was using up her ninja weapons quickly, and another series like that would leave her at nearly nothing.

"I don't need to." Tayuya replied, placing her hands together, "Doki form!"

Kin prepared herself, unsure what techniques Tayuya could use without her flute available to her. Instead of any flashy ninjutsu or other similar moves, Tayuya rushed Kin, arm held back as if to try and punch her again. Kin was a bit confused, but prepared to dodge the punch when it came to her. Instead of what she was expecting, Tayuya did indeed swing her arm forward to punch, but a few feet too early to hit her. Kin was surprised as she watched the redhead's fist swing towards thin air. Her eyes widened as Tayuya's arm suddenly morphed into a thick, brown, large arm, with two spires attached to the top of the fist. Due to the change, the fist was no longer aimed at nowhere, Kin barely dodging it, but getting scratched across the face by the spires. She leapt back, and stared at the monstrous arm that Tayuya now sported.

"You changed your arm to that of one of you Doki ogres!" Kin stated, surprised.

Tayuya flexed the arm, which was over twice as tall as her entire body, and smirked.

"Yeah, surprised?" Tayuya smugly asked, "This thing packs a wallop, although it's just a bit unwieldy."

"When did you learn that!?" Oshime asked from the sidelines, never having seen anything close to that technique from Tayuya before.

"You did missions, I practiced." Tayuya replied. "I got a lot of practice..."

"Right..." Oshime replied meekly, sensing the anger in Tayuya's voice.

"Interesting jutsu," Kin replied, "However, that won't change your fate."

Kin removed two bells and some wire from her pouch, and tied each bell to the palm of her hand with wire. As she finished, she saw Tayuya rushing again, holding her monstrous arm up due to its size. Right as she swung, Kin raised both hands, palms outward, as the bells began to shake.

"Sonic Aegis!" Kin shouted, before the punch reached her.

The vibrating bells released a wave of air, which knocked Tayuya and her punch backwards, protecting Kin from getting clocked and skewered at the same time. She leapt to the side, and then rushed at Tayuya. She used her open palms to hit Tayuya, who blocked with her Doki arm. Upon contact, the bells on Kin's palm shook once more, creating another wave of air that knocked Tayuya backwards. Tayuya got to feet, and glared at Kin.

"Hah, try and block my attacks now." Kin remarked.

"I don't need to..." Tayuya replied.

Tayuya opened her mouth, and a white ethereal being came out, flying towards Kin. It was one of the ghosts that usually lie in her Doki, who eat the chakra of anything they contact. The ghost flew toward Kin, who jumped to the side, but not before the ghost passed through her arm and swallowed a chunk of her chakra. Tayuya continued having the ghost twist and turn to follow Kin, who kept leaping back and forth to try to avoid it. While Kin was distracted, Tayuya rushed in and swung her Doki arm to try and take out Kin while she was distracted. Kin was able to activate her Sonic Aegis once again, preventing Tayuya from hitting her. However, the effort allowed the ghost to pass through her once again, taking more of her chakra. Kin fell to the ground, tingling feeling from where the ghost had passed through. Kin got to her feet, eye on the ghost to see where it would come from again. Suddenly, the ghost came from below the ground as if it was not there, and passed through Kin's leg before she could dodge.

"Gah! Dammit!" Kin exclaimed at the loss of more chakra.

She leapt again to avoid the ghost's next attack, and held an open palm up to the ghost. She shook the bell on that palm, and activated her Sonic Ricochet jutsu, hoping that the booming soundwaves would do something to the ghost. Unfortunately for her, the ghost was not deterred at all, just missing Kin as she dodged the swooping being. Tayuya used this opportunity to run up to Kin and smash her with her Doki arm. Kin slid to the side, avoiding the spires, but smashed by the fist of the Doki arm. Kin flew into the wall of the room from the tremendous punch, bleeding from a few places. Kin shakily stood there, breathing a bit heavily, and staring at Tayuya, bloodlust in her eyes.

"Give up," Tayuya replied, "You won't beat me, you're just a shadow of your true form."

"Maybe, but that's enough to kick your ass." Kin replied, despite her current condition.

"You're a disgrace to the person you share your genetics with." Tayuya replied, face looking angered.

"Heh, we'll see about that..." Kin replied, digging into her pouch.

From inside, she pulled out a dual-pronged knife, which had somewhat of a familiar shape, although Tayuya could not currently place it. Kin ran at Tayuya, avoiding the ghost that tried to swoop in on her, and slashed at Tayuya with the knife. Tayuya threw her Doki arm up in defense, which took the blow of the knife with almost no damage due to the durability of its skin. However, when the knife was stopped, it vibrated rapidly, giving off a loud sound, which Tayuya was still deaf to, luckily for her. The rapid vibrations dug the knife through the flesh of the Doki, embedding the weapon deeper and deeper into the arm of the Doki. Tayuya ripped the arm away from the attack, annoyed at the weapon's potency. At that moment, she realized that the weapon was supposed to resemble a tuning fork, just made into a knife. She could see the blood coming out of the wound on the Doki arm, only feeling half the pain she would if it was on her real arm.

"Hehe, like my Onsa?" Kin stated, referring to her weapon, "With every strike, it vibrates rapidly, and slices and stabs tens of times per second."

"Oh no, a sharpened tuning fork!" Tayuya replied sarcastically, "I'm so scared!"

"Heh, well, you will be soon." Kin replied, running at her.

Tayuya decided that she'd be better off avoiding the attack this time, rather than trying to block it. She jumped as Kin slashed, hearing the sound of fabric slicing. She looked down and saw that her pants had been slashed by the knife, falling down her legs from lack of support. Tayuya stepped out of the ruined clothes as she landed, not wanting to trip over them. She did not care that her diaper was exposed, even though it was quite wet, she merely cared about defeating the clone of her onetime comrade. Kin, however, found it quite humorous, laughing at first sight of it.

"Well, looks like one tough girl has a bit of a secret, huh?" Kin mocked, "Does Tayuya need a break so her Mommy can change her diapee?"

"Hey, I am not her Mommy!" Oshime shouted from the sidelines, causing Tayuya to place her face in her hand, because Kin had not even implied Oshime's involvement.

"Hah, I had forgotten about you!" Kin replied, laughing, "I guess you do fit!"

"...Hehe, oops, sorry..." Oshime muttered, embarrassed.

Tayuya rushed at Kin, hooping to get an attack in while she was busy having a laugh over her attire. Kin leapt to the side, but did take a slash from the arm spires to her leg, blood trickling down. Kin reacted by rushing up to Tayuya and slashing with her Onsa. Instead of blocking with her Doki arm, she placed her regular arm in the way, which confused Kin until that arm quickly morphed into the arm of another Doki, complete with enormous metal club. Instead of hitting the arm, the Onsa hit the metal club, which took no damage whatsoever, its size diluting any vibrations to near non-existence. Tayuya swung the club towards Kin, who jumped just high enough to land on it. Tayuya swung the club around, Kin staying attached to it via chakra in her legs. Tayuya spun in circles as she swung the club around, finally releasing it. It flew across the large room, Kin still attached. Kin leapt off of the club, using its mid-air spinning to increase her launch speed. She launched at the weaponless Tayuya, clashing her Onsa with the new Doki arm. Just as before, the vibrations of the weapon had it dig into the flesh of the Doki, its blood oozing down its arm. As this happened, the large club crashed into the opposite wall, sounds of broken glass mixing in with the general debris and rubble crashing down. Tayuya swung the other Doki arm, which Kin could only half dodge, taking one of the arm spires through her shoulder. Tayuya swung the fist down, releasing Kin from it, and smashing her in the ground. Before Kin even had a chance to think, Tayuya lifted her arm up, and punch down to where Kin was sprawled. The latter closed her eyes, admitting defeat, expecting to feel the hard spikes end her brief life. She heard the sound of the spires colliding with their target, but felt no pain or anything. Kin opened her eyes, and saw the fist of the Doki right in front of her, the spires lodged in the ground on either side of her neck, preventing her from getting up, but doing no harm.

"You showed mercy to an enemy!" Kin shouted, glaring at Tayuya, "You really have abandoned the Sound Village..."

Tayuya glared at her words, but knew she was right. The village taught that you never showed mercy to an enemy, no matter the situation, yet she, one of the cruelest in the village, purposefully pinned her, instead of killing her. Kin had been the closest thing to a friend she had ever known. None of the members of her specialized squad could be anything but malicious co-workers, nor did she treat them any differently. While her and Kin had never hung out, or went out to lunch or anything friends typically they do, they had shared a laugh on occasion, usually at the expense of one of their teammates.

"Tayuya, don't make the now the time you grow soft!" Oshime shouted from across the room, "She's not the person you knew, just a clone!"

Tayuya looked down at the Kin clone, who was futilely trying to pull the spires out of the ground with her hands. A look of determination washed over Tayuya's face, as she stomped Kin's stomach with her foot, keeping her pinned while she lifted the Doki arm from the ground, and punched it towards Kin's chest, spires stabbing into her chest. The clone screamed in agony as the spires ripped into her body, knowing that the attack was fatal. Tayuya lifted the spires out of the Kin's body, blood dripping from them as more pooled under her body. The Kin clone turned to look at Tayuya, her eyes slowly closing as her body lost life. Suddenly, Tayuya noticed that her face was distorting, almost as if she was melting. She watched in sheer amazement as the clone melted and changed color, leaving nothing but a greenish pile of goo mixed with some blood, laying with a pile of the clothes it was wearing.

"She...melted." Oshime muttered, walking up to Tayuya.

"It must be a defense mechanism," Tayuya replied, as her arms morphed back to normal, "So that if a clone is defeated in battle, the enemy can't probe its body for secrets."

"Ah..." Oshime responded, "How are you doing? Any injuries?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Tayuya answered, stretching, "I just need a new pair of pants...and a change."

"Heh, well, let's take of that before we go any further." Oshime replied, smiling.

Before Tayuya could respond, a beeping sound was heard by both of them coming from across the room. They ran over to see what it was, and saw another test-tube, this one shattered at part of the top, no doubt the broken glass heard when the club had crashed into the wall. The liquid was too thick to see what was inside, but the beeping surely meant that something was up, most likely from the shattered top.  

"SUBJECT PRIME ACTIVATED" The computerized voice spoke, before the tube began to open.

The liquid inside spilled out, unlike with the other tube, where the liquid retracted before the tube opened. As the chemical spilled out, they could see another human figure inside, but obscured beyond recognition by the thick, colored glass of the tube, However, it appeared that this subject was naked, as there was no distinguishable color change throughout the figure's form besides the obvious hair part. The tube opened up, the figure falling to the chemical-laden floor, completely unconscious and as naked as the day as it was born, which, considering the situation, was probably this moment.

"No..." Tayuya muttered, looking at the figure.

It was another Kin.

-~-

Sakura looked up at the walls that had surrounded the battlefield, separating her from Anko and Ino. She saw an opening at the end of this pseudo-corridor, and towards it, turning the corner to see another corridor with a few other passageways.

"It's a giant maze..." Sakura muttered, "No wonder this room was so enormous, it's so he could fit his maze into it."

Sakura channeled chakra to her fist, and swung at the wall in front of her. Her fist hit with full strength, but the wall did not so much as chip.

"Attempting to demolish my labyrinth like a savage brute will prove futile. The only way for you to defeat the maze, is to traverse the entirety of it and reach its end." Yawatanoyabushirazu stated, his voice travelling through all corridors, "Of course, you three feminine failures shall never get through my masterful labyrinth, as none of you possess any of the brainpower required to do so."

Sakura got annoyed as he rambled on, running for an opening. She entered the passageway, running down that corridor and entering another open passage, looking for any sign that she was going the right direction. She received none, of course, but continued forward, thinking it the only option. Anko and Ino examined the walls that had risen, planning their next move.

"Looks like we'll have to go through the maze in order to fight him," Anko replied, "But we can't waste time just taking wild guesses about which way to go."

"What about your snakes, Sensei?" Ino asked, "You could release a large amount that would travel down as many lanes possible until one finds the correct one."

"The snakes can only travel a certain distance from me before they dissolve on their own," Anko replied, "With how large this room is, it stands to reason that he's far away from our location, too far from my snakes."

"Ah..." Ino replied, defeated, "So what do we do?"

"Hmm..." Anko replied, thinking up some ideas, "I think I have an idea."

Ino raised her eyebrow, curious as to what Anko intended to do. The purple-haired instructor bit her thumb, and then placed her hands together.

"Summoning Jutsu!" She shouted, before being engulfed in smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Ino saw an orange snake with black zigzag markings across its body. It was at least twenty feet long, its head large enough for Anko and Ino to fit comfortably on, the former of which already doing so.

"Anko? It hassss been awhile...." The snake hissed, "Why have you ssssummoned me here?"

"I need your help, Hebermes" Anko replied from her position on its head, "You're the fastest of all the snake summons, and I need you to help us get through this maze."

"I know I'm sssspeedy, but I'm not the ssssharpest fang in the bunch." The snake replied, "I'm not ssssure what usssse I could be."

"I don't need you to be smart, just fast." Anko responded, "We just need you to cover a large amount of ground in a short amount of time."

"Now that issss ssssomething I can do." Hebermes replied, "Get on, both of you."

Anko looked down to Ino, telling her to hop onto the snake with her countenance. Ino hesitated, but hopped onto the snake's head, sitting next to Anko.

"You might want to hold on to something, unless you're good at channeling chakra." Anko stated.

"Huh?" Ino questioned, "What do you me-"

Ino was cutoff, as the snake began traveling accelerating to insane speed, the air resistance toppling Ino backwards down the snake's body. Ino tried to grab the snake's scales, but they were interconnected too smoothly to grip onto. Instead she channeled chakra to the next part of the body that was going to contact the snake's skin, which she found out in practice was her rear. She was no longer tumbling down to the ground, stuck by her rear to the snake's body. Channeling chakra to her hands, she placed her palm on the snake, using that to pull herself onto all fours. Keeping chakra at her knees and palms, she managed to crawl up the snake's body, and back up to its head, channeling chakra to her entire lower half so as to stay on the snake's head.

"Told you so." Anko merely stated, not turning her head, nor did she when Ino first tumbled.

The blond stayed quiet, concentrating more on her chakra distribution than a comeback to her sadistic mission leader. Due to the fact that it slithered instead of ran, meant that the trip was relatively smooth, despite the very high speed. However, since they were traveling through a maze, the snake had to turn corners quickly, its speed making that happen much quicker. The turns involved a lot of jolting, which required a larger chakra output to remain on the snake.

"Hmm, interesting, most interesting..." Yawatanoyabushirazu mumbled, looking at his shirtless body, covered in orange lines representing the maze "A new opponent has entered my labyrinth. It must be a summoning jutsu, and this unknown summon is quite rapid, as well. No matter, they shan't find the end of my maze."

He looked at his exposed kneecap, a green dot sitting motionlessly inside the orange lines. He then looked to his arm, seeing three red dots move quickly through the maze on his body, but advancing to the chest, rather than down to his leg. He searched for the other red dot on his body, representing Sakura. He eventually found it on his stomach, moving downward slowly, approaching closer to his waist.

"Tsk, such savagery as to do something so low-brow and lewd with no knowledge or intention of such actions." He muttered, watching the dot go down past the hem of his pants, "She poses no threat at all. The trio, however, have a 2.723% chance of locating me. Therefore, I must do all I can from this position to drop that back down to zero."

He lifted one of his fingers, the tip turning red, before pressing it to his chest, right in front of where the three quick dots were heading. The reddish finger left a red square, just as wide as the space between the walls, on his body. He then placed more squares along his body, most concentrated around the green dot on his knee, of varying colors.

"That should impede their progress for good." Yawatanoyabushirazu muttered.

Sakura had been running through the labyrinth for awhile now, unsure of where she was or where she was heading. She had been annoyed to find out that the walls would not even scratch, leaving her attempts the use kunai scrapes to show where she had been was pointless. She continued toward the direction she had hoped was correct, before the floor suddenly dropped from under her. She quickly grabbed the ledge, pulling herself up. She looked down the pit, seeing spikes lining the floor below. She backpedaled from it, afraid of it merely for what it was. As she stepped back, she heard a whizzing sound as darts shot out from either side of the wall, aimed at her. She managed to dodge them all, now more afraid of what more steps would bring.  

"Damn, now I have to worry about traps, as well..." Sakura muttered, looking around.

Hebermes continued blistering ahead, twisting and turning through the corridors of the maze, not knowing if they were travelling in the right direction. As they traveled down as particularly long passage, they saw something surprising; the hall up ahead was lit in flames from a flame dispenser in the floor and walls. The only way to get through would be to pass through the fire, and figure out a way to do so safely.

"Hebermes, quickly!" Anko shouted, placing her hand on his head.

"Yessss, undersssstood." He replied, "Ssssaliva Ssssplatter Jutssssu!"

A stream of slimy saliva shot from the snake's mouth, covering all the flamethrowers in the thick, goopy solution, blocking their output, at least temporarily. Hebermes continued forward, as the flames kicked back in a few moments after his whole body had passed through the saliva barrier.

"That wassss closssse..." Hebermes stated, seeing the fire.

The three continued for awhile, using Hebermes abilities to pass through the various traps inside the maze, still unsure if they were travelling in the right direction. Unbeknownst to them, the trio of red dots representing them was moving down their opponent's left thigh, getting relatively closer to the green dot on his left knee. If he had bothered to look, he'd notice that Sakura was on the right side of his lower back, moving somewhat closer, but much slower than the other group.

"Hmm, it seems that I have underestimated their abilities," Yawatanoyabushirazu stated, "Well, this calls for a final, decisive blow to their egos and bodies. It shall take a large chunk of my remaining chakra, but it should eliminate the threat."

He held up both hands, each fingertip turning black, before pressing them against his skin in various strategic locations. He winced as pained coursed through his body, mainly at the location of contact, his skin tearing around the locations that he had touched. Soon, he removed his hands from his skin, large black circles located where he touched. Breathing heavily, he looked at the trio of dots racing through the maze, and pressed a finger to one of the black circles, filling it in as he did.

Hebermes continued slithering ahead, unsure of the direction, but maintaining focused on the paths taken. Before he had a chance to react, the floor crumbled below them, exposing blackness below them. The pit was huge, at least five corridors wide in radius, longer than Hebermes himself was. The pit had opened with them at the center, dropping them into the pitch blackness below. Hebermes quickly grabbed them with his tail, wrapping it around them. He spun quickly as he fell, before releasing, and throwing the two kunoichi high enough to land on the floor above. Ino looked down into the darkness, seeing nothing.

"He sacrificed himself, to save us..." Ino muttered.

"Don't worry kid, he can just reverse summon himself before he hits the ground." Anko replied, "He just couldn’t do so with us on him. He's fine."

"Oh..." Ino replied, slightly embarrassed, "But we're without a ride now."

"Yeah, but I think we're getting closer, since that trap was such a big one." Anko replied, looking ahead.

"I just hope that Sakura is okay," Ino stated following Anko through the maze, "She might not have done as well being by herself."

"We'll just have to trust her." Anko replied, right before the floor gave in again, "Leviathan Lasso!"

Anko grabbed onto Ino as they began to fall again, as a snake slid out from her sleeve, and wrapped around her arm. The snake opened its mouth, releasing another snake which released another snake from its mouth. This process continued until a snake bit into the ledge, its bite strength incredible to hold the other snakes and the two kunoichi. As it latched on, the snake wrapped around Ino, eating the one protruding from its mouth, and then continued to eat the next one and so forth until that snake had reached the edge of the pit, allowing the two to climb up. The snake dissolved directly afterwards, leaving the duo at the edge. Ino was still shaking, scared of that near death experience, but managed to get her feet, Anko right next to her.

"We're definitely close..." Anko stated, eyes locked ahead of her.

Sakura was having her own series of troubles, dealing with a few simple traps while she continued forward, burn marks on her clothes, but no skin burns due to her healing prowess. She stepped forward, and suddenly felt the floor below her collapse. She managed to place her feet on a falling rock, using her chakra control to increase her leg strength, which she used to jump back to the surface. She looked down in the pit, seeing darkness all around, noticing for the first time how massive the pit was. She backed away carefully, continuing ahead.

"I can tell I'm getting closer..." She muttered, avoiding another dart trap.

Soon, Anko and Ino turned a corner, seeing their adversary standing in front of them.

"Hmm, you passed all of my traps. I must say that I am impressed." He stated, "However, this is where your lives will be ended."

Anko released seven snakes from her sleeve, which launched towards Yawatanoyabushirazu, who dodged effortlessly, despite being out of breath from the effort of the various pits. Ino threw two kunai, which were followed by a few more snakes. He continued to dodge the techniques a few more times, smirk growing as he did.

"Hah, you really think you can hit me?" He asked, smugly, before feeling a massive blow to his back.

As he shot through the air, he saw Sakura with her fist bared, smirking.

"Yeah, I do." She stated, before he crashed into one of his walls. His exhaustion from chakra use combined with this attack, making it a fatal blow. As he hit the wall, he oozed down it like a gel, leaving nothing but a green ooze floating with his articles of clothing.

"What the hell?" Ino stated, looking at the goo.

"I've no idea..." Anko replied, curious, "We'll have to look into this more."

As she spoke, the walls crumbled, revealing the enormous room as it once was, except for the three giant pits along the floor and the various burn marks spread throughout. Sakura looked for the door to continue ahead, seeing on the other side of the room. She sighed in annoyance, but the three kunoichi made their way over to the other side, to the door.

"I'd suggest we rest for a few minutes before continuing." Anko replied, "I could do with a soldier pill, and I can tell that Sakura needs a change."

Sakura blushed, seeing the slash along the front of her outfit, showing enough of her diaper to tell its current condition, but nodded in agreement. Anko sat down on the ground, removing a soldier pill from her pack and munching on it. Sakura looked around for a place to change (or be changed, as she was sure it would become) in private, but the massive, now entirely open, room was of no use. Ino, taking initiative, pushed Sakura's shoulders to signal that she should lay down here, not wanting to annoy Anko by wasting time. Sakura sighed, but followed Ino's instruction. She felt her ripped leggings slide down her legs, having lost the front flap of her skirt back in the maze somewhere. Ino ripped the tabs off, and removed the diaper. She tossed it behind her, not caring about littering in their current location. She wiped Sakura down like normal, her face relatively calm about seeing her best friend and rival's privates on display, although this was one of many changes she had performed for the girl. Anko sat in front of them, looking at Sakura as she was changed, but looking completely unfazed. The same could not be said about the pink-haired girl, however, who was a bit nervous and disturbed about her senior watching her. Ino quickly sprinkled powder on Sakura, rubbing it in more briskly than usual, seeing Anko's look of impatience. Ino slid a new diaper under Sakura's rear, taping it up snugly, and sliding the damaged leggings back up Sakura's leg. She was a bit annoyed at having to wear pants that exposed her underwear "choice", but reluctantly kept her silence.

"You two finally ready to go?" Anko asked, getting to her feet.

"Yes, Anko-sensei." They both replied, standing up.

"Good," Anko responded, "Just be prepared for anything."

Both girls nodded, and followed Anko through the door she had just opened, neither sure that they could truly handle what might be up ahead.