Standing within the rainy environment, Akashi watched as the cloud of dust quickly died down.
Interestingly, both Akashi and the Akatsuki members weren't as wet as they should've been.
It was because their cloaks contained a seal that gave them a waterproof property. This wasn't really a notable characteristic, for most of the ninja armors tend to have similar functions to prepare them for all types of environments.
Either way, this signalled that both sides were able to handle a lengthy fight in the current circumstances.
"You seem to know us quite well..."
Orochimaru wiped blood off his mouth.
"Of our expertise, who to watch out for sneak attacks, as well as our individual traits. Hmm... I wonder if the alternate version of myself from your world is exactly the same as me?"
"..."
Akashi knew that Orochimaru was speaking to garner his attention.
There was an unspoken rule in the world of ninjas. If they are talking, it is likely that they are plotting something from the back.
"Akashi... from the ground!"
Chakka relayed the information, and Akashi was prepared. Immediately after, he quickly backpedaled.
As soon as he did so, the black tendrils shot up from the ground where he had just been a second ago.
Peaking to the left, Akashi saw that Kakuzu had his arms embedded in the ground.
In this state, he tilted his head to the left, dodging a flurry of poisonous senbons that Sasori shot.
'...No, those aren't senbons.'
Upon closer look, Akashi identified that they are heavier and thicker than the mere senbons, resembling more of the arrow tips than those.
Furthermore, those arrow-tip-like weapons had metal wires attached to them. It was highly probable that they also had something applied.
Those wires reached all the way back to the joints of the bulky puppet that Sasori was seemingly hiding inside.
Then, the substance applied to these metal wires turned out to be an oil as Sasori managed to ignite them on fire, cutting them out of the joints of its puppet as he did so.
The fire's lifespan was short-lived, as the rain instantly shut it down. The combustion was rendered incomplete, and what Akashi found himself surrounded by in a mere second was a cloud of smoke all around him, obscuring his vision.
Through the smoke, Kisame and Juzo came running from his left and right. They fiercely swung their enormous blades, Samehada and Kubikiribocho.
'They are likely aware that I can utilize Flying Thunder God.'
Parrying Kubikiribocho with Ryuma and pushing his sole against Samehada, such that he slammed the blade to the ground right underneath, Akashi quickly thought.
'From this angle, the places to which I can throw a kunai marked with the seal of Flying Thunder God are limited. Furthermore, based on how they appeared in this scene, it is very likely that the area is full of traps. A thoughtless use of Flying Thunder God will instead be fatal to me.'
For this reason, Akashi was stepping only on the ground that he had previously seen the enemies stepping on top of. His previous use of Flying Thunder God involved nothing but teleporting to Ryuma. He doubted that the same trick would work twice.
It was also for this reason, primarily, that Orochimaru spoke of how Akashi looked informed of them.
Immediately after, Akashi released his contact with Samehada before the blade could attempt to absorb his chakra. Simultaneously, Ryuma exploded in a furious fire, knocking Juzo back and burning the skin on his forearm due to the sheer heat.
"Tch...!"
Juzo grunted from the pain as he backed without daring to contend any further.
Kisame's grin widened as he instantly lifted Samehada back up and dashed toward Akashi whose back was facing him.
Turning swiftly, Akashi's foot landed on Kisame's cheek. Kisame was sent flying to the side, which eventually ended as he crashed into a tree.
Then, Akashi back-flipped, barely evading a pair of hands that shot out from the ground. Said hands belonged to Orochimaru, who was secretly sneaking in from below.
Landing back on his feet, Akashi saw that Kakuzu's masks—or hearts—had their mouth sections gaping open. Kakuzu had his hands forming a hand seal, which was a sign of using a ninjutsu.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
Two dragons of different elements were shot from one of the masks' and Kakuzu's own mouths.
Mixing together, they formed one dense dragon of mud, one that crashed down on Akashi like a tsunami.
"No matter how capable you may be... what can you do when you aren't given the time to prepare and think through?"
Kakuzu cackled.
"Even you are left defenseless in a situation like this!"
As he said so, the second mask's mouth opened.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The mud bits were flown away by a strong wind, revealing no sight of Akashi.
All the Akatsuki members flinched, not having expected such a turnout.
"I've been wondering the whole time..."
A voice was heard, causing all of them to turn.
There, Akashi was standing, holding the body of the 'seemingly dead' Hidan by the neck.
"Of how you aren't dead even after getting your heart punctured."
Frighteningly, Hidan's eyes opened. With a hint of craziness, he grinned.
"Heh... how did you know?"
"You may be able to cheat death, but you cannot forsake a human nature."
Akashi's eye narrowed.
Without any hesitation, Hidan's head was severed from his neck.
"Ugh, you bastard... that hurts!"
Hidan yelled, still alive somehow.
'What even...'
Akashi then directed Hidan's head to his right, blocking Kisame's Samehada with it.
The blood sprayed everywhere as Samehada directly sheared Hidan's face. With the jaw having been deformed, Hidan could no longer let out proper words but groan.
'This exceeds the capability of a normal ninja art. I suppose this is the best that I can do for now.'
Although Hidan wasn't dead, he was knocked out. He wasn't sure of whether he would regenerate or not, but when surrounded by 5 other S-Ranked ninjas, there wasn't much more that he could do from this point.
Throwing the gruesome head of Hidan away, Akashi stepped back to dodge Juzo, whose Kubikiribocho seemed to have gotten larger thanks to all the blood shed by Hidan.
"Now, isn't that quite a team?"
"Might as well use it since it's been shed!"
Juzo shouted as he swung Kubikiribocho fiercely, only for it to be dodged by Akashi rather easily.
"Damn... it...!"
Juzo cried, knowing full well what this meant.
"Since when did you learn Kiri's kenjutsu?!"
Akashi stabbed Ryuma right through the hole in the middle of Kubikiribocho's blade. With two blades locked, Juzo could no longer move the blade around.
Gritting teeth, Juzo yanked Kubikiribocho up, rather impulsively. Not fighting against the force, Akashi let his body be sent into the air. Ryuma—still in his grip—slid out of the broadsword, along with him.
Now floating in the air, Akashi saw that the enemies below were ready to attack once more.
The bandage around Kisame's Samehada was undone, revealing its spiky scale-like trait.
The huge puppet—Sasori's—had its mouth gaped open, revealing a cannon head from within, aimed at Akashi.
Kakuzu, yet again, was about to unleash multiple ninjutsu of differing natures at once.
Orochimaru had his right hand stretched out toward Akashi, as if about to unleash something.
Trembling in rage, Juzo raised his head to glare at Akashi.
By then, Ryuma was encased in red fire, one that burned vigorously within the rain.
Then, he spun mid-air, essentially making a circular slash around him.
A circular arc of fire was unleashed.
Before any of the Akatsuki members could react, the wave of fire swept through them.
Then, steam rose as the overwhelming rain eventually suppressed the fire. The smoke rose as the fire burned organic materials, releasing carbon dioxide.
The vision was obscure. Essentially, in this state, the sense of vision was barely of use. So was the sense of smell, for the smell of smoke and burns was too strong.
CLANG.
In this environment, Akashi clashed Ryuma against Juzo and Kisame, those who excelled at Kiri's method of assassination that relied on the Hiding in Mist technique. It could be said that their sense of hearing was far above that of any other.
No spark flew between the blades as the humid environment raised the ignition point. The noise was heard, however, and the silhouette of other Akatsuki members began to be sighted around the three who were playing the dangerous blade dances.
Sasori, revealing his huge puppet form, extended its left hand. From the palm, a long sword struck out and managed to penetrate Akashi's chest—just when Akashi managed to stab Juzo by the heart.
Juzo's form disintegrated into water, while Akashi's form disintegrated into ash.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
From beyond, Kakuzu's cheeks puffed.
Orochimaru, who saw that, widened his eyes in realization.
"Kakuzu, wait—"
Kakuzu blew a huge wave of wind, dispelling the smoke and steam around them.
At the same time, Akashi who was standing across Kakuzu, swung his fire-encased Ryuma once more.
The arc of fire, almost resembling that of a phoenix, was shot forth. Upon receiving the heavy wind, its size and potency grew, gladly eating away the supply of oxygen given to it. By then, the ongoing rain was nothing but a child's tickle to it.
Kakuzu back-stepped, having learned his mistake. Watching as the huge wave of fire, more enormous than the one they received just before, approached them, he slammed his hands on the ground. Orochimaru too did the same by the side.
""Earth Release: Earth Wall!""
Akashi spun, maintaining the momentum on Ryuma after the slash.
In an instant, as the Earth Wall rose up to block the ferocious wave of fire, the fire on Ryuma died down and right after, blue lightning burst into the existence.
"Lightning Release..."
Due to the humidity and the impurity of the rain, the lightning spread wildly around the area, crackling dangerously as it did so.
Juzo, watching this scene, felt the hair on his skin standing up.
Akashi swung the lightning-imbued Ryuma, right at the earth wall that was combating the fire.
Lightning was launched straight at the earth wall, crumbling it in one go. Mixing together with the enormous fire, it pushed its way in toward the vulnerable form of Kakuzu and Orochimaru.
"Tch!"
Seeing this, Sasori shouted,
"Kisame! Have your Samehada absorb that!"
"Can't!"
Kisame gritted his teeth.
"Samehada is yet to make a physical contact with that Akashi yet! Without a prior analysis, she will be burnt to a crisp before getting to absorb that abomination!"
Orochimaru and Kakuzu quickly placed several more earth walls, but to no avail. Not having been given enough time, the walls they made were, naturally, more fragile.
The wave of fire was now right in front of them, and they were out of time.
"DAMN IT!!"
Sasori growled before he stepped up—right before the fire engulfed all of them.
Boom.
Akashi watched from a distance as the scene slowly cleared up.
"You bastard..."
Sasori was found cursing, now out of his huge puppet that he had been hiding within.
Around him, numerous remnants of puppets were found; it seemed that he used the majority of his puppets to shield them from the fire.
"You... you really are the leader, alright."
Kakuzu stood back up, grimacing. Although all his masks were intact, he knew that should it have been a one-versus-one, he would be dead in seconds.
"The chakra that you used... and the output that was generated... the efficiency, yes. Your mastery over the chakra control doesn't make sense. In that sense, Kisame would be the worst match for you... but really, I should be worried over my survivability first."
Orochimaru commented, although he seemed to be sweating a little.
Akashi frowned.
Those members of Akatsuki truly were tenacious, deserving the title of S-ranked missing nin.
'I need to hide as many cards as possible against my other self... but then again, I cannot afford to lose too much time against them.'
Watching as Juzo and Kisame slowly readied themselves once more, and ensuring that Hidan's detached head hadn't regained his consciousness or was in a condition to participate in the battle, Akashi breathed out lightly, brainstorming.
'Orochimaru is the jack of all trades, knowledgeable in a variety of aspects. Kakuzu excels in ninjutsu, with each mask handling one elemental nature. Sasori is adept at poison and other unorthodox means of attacking, thanks to his puppets. Juzo and Kisame are, technically, the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. Among the two of them, Kisame's Samehada is especially tricky to deal with, for it can drain chakra out of me should I not be careful.'
However, one thing was for sure.
'Through the use of a wide-ranged attack, I managed to sweep the ground underneath.'
From the start, that was his goal in his moves up until now—not necessarily to kill his opponents right away, but to get rid of all traps that may have been set up on the ground.
Burned, seared, and chipped away, the ground has been subverted, no longer the same as what it was just a few minutes ago.
'The space is now safe to use, at least for the time being.'
Revealing a kunai, Akashi threw it toward the enemies.
Shuriken Shadow Clone technique.
Numerous kunais, all engraved with the seal of Flying Thunder God, were now scattered around the battlefield.
"You...!"
Akashi vanished.
By the time he reappeared in the eyes of the Akatsuki members, Ryuma was stabbed through Sasori's 'core', which contained the human heart that sustained his puppet-like body.
Without getting to say anything more, Sasori's puppet body crumbled down to the ground without a resistance.
"One down."