A Growing Affection

Chapter 96: Useless No More

"What  did you do to me?" he grimaced. Kabuto tried to form chakra scalpels  again, but the damage to his arms was too great, and the energy would  not coalesce.

"Using my Kekkei Genkai, I can merge my own earth  chakra, with the natural power the rock and dirt around us, and then  send it into your system," she explained, "The energy forces its way  back out, and the impact on your chakra network is similar to the Eight  Trigrams Sixty-four Palms."

"Ki Line Jutsu," the renegade  attempted the healing technique again, but like the scalpels, his chakra  was too unstable to form the jutsu.

'Another advantage of the Chakra Pulse,' Hinata decided, recalling her earlier comparison of the maneuvers.

"Surrender,  please," she requested gently. Kabuto's face twisted in anger, and he  threw a set of shurikens at her before drawing a kunai in each hand. As  he charged her, he also slipped a food pill into his mouth and bit down  on it. Hinata avoided or blocked the throwing stars, and then braced  herself to receive him.

"I don't need your pity," Yakushi growled,  swinging his left hand blade at her shoulder, in an underhand grip. She  caught his wrist with Ginmaki, and sent a sliver of lightning chakra  into the kote, shocking his arm. The limb twitched as he withdrew it,  and at the same time the medic stabbed at her stomach with his right  knife.

"That hypocritical mercy is part of what makes the Leaf so  weak," he snarled as she slid around his attack. Hinata frowned at him.

"The  Hidden Leaf Village is not weak," she argued, "We have withstood  everything all of your masters could throw at us, and have not only  survived but flourished. Orochimaru is a scavenger, and the Akatsuki are  broken and running, because they underestimated us."

"Just as you  have underestimated me," she added sadly. His eyes went wider, as he  lost control. His attempts to cut and skewer her became wild and  undisciplined, and she dodged them with ease.

'Good,' Kabuto  watched her, his berserk attacks a new gambit. He probed his chakra  network with the extra energy from the pill, trying to determine which  jutsu he might be able to perform despite his injuries.

'No, I  can't perform the Shark Bomb Jutsu, not without that tenketsu in my  leg,' he thought, 'Or the Headhunter. But that... That just might work.'

He  swung aggressively, incidentally scoring a wide, shallow cut on the  back of his right arm when he missed. Kabuto waited as the life fluid  covered his wrist, and pooled slightly in his hand. Once he had enough,  he turned the kunai in left hand back over into a proper, overhand grip,  and stabbed both weapons at her. The attack was controlled and precise,  and was the focus for his true strike.

"Medical Arts: Blood Flow Jutsu."

Like  so many of his skills, Kabuto had corrupted the healing technique into  something deadly. The Blood Flow Jutsu required physical contact with  the target's life fluid, and then took control of it. Most ninja doctors  used it to direct the flow of blood away from injured areas to prevent  the patient from bleeding out. Advanced users like Tsunade and Kabuto  could even use the jutsu to temporarily bridge the break in damaged  veins and arteries. Yakushi had also learned he could use it to stab or  hit opponents with extensions of his own blood.

The liquid flowed  over his blades, expanding and rapidly shooting towards towards Hinata  in the form of a broad bladed spear. She was moving closer when he  activated the technique, and did not have time to dodge. Kabuto grinned,  believing he had caught the perceptive woman off guard. But as the  blade started to cut into her uniform, Hinata reached up and gently  pressed her hand to Kabuto's heart.