After confirming his target, Kakuzu immediately set out for the Land of Rain.
For Kakuzu, time is money—capturing Mutsuki early meant he could happily move on to selecting his next target.
Upon entering the Land of Rain, Kakuzu began investigating information about Ninja Master Sosuke.
Although he wanted to complete the task quickly, Kakuzu wasn't foolish enough to rush in blindly. After all, based on the intel, this opponent wasn't simple.
But this step turned out to be much easier than he expected.
The deeds of Ninja Master Sosuke had already spread widely throughout the Land of Rain. Kakuzu could hear some of the information just by walking down the street.
For example:
Sosuke teaching without discrimination and offering free Ninjutsu lessons in Ozu Village;
Sosuke demonstrating strong power, mastering three Chakra Nature Transformations, and correcting Ninjas who doubted him;
Sosuke leading seventy-two Ninjas to travel the Land of Rain doing good deeds.
"A lucky, naïve fool and a band of rabble." After collecting the intel, Kakuzu gave his evaluation.
In his view, what Mutsuki was doing was no different from being an idiot.
Teaching Ninjutsu for free was simply asking for trouble—aside from a bit of empty fame, he gained no real benefit.
At most, the Ninjas taught by Mutsuki would feel grateful in the moment. The thick-skinned ones might not even bother saying thanks.
If everything stayed peaceful, maybe they could get along. But once danger appeared, everyone would abandon him without hesitation.
It would be better to simply charge for lessons—at least that would earn money, and money was always reliable.
Having once been betrayed by his own village, Kakuzu understood this deeply.
He had risked his life carrying out missions for them, and in return he received only accusations and punishment.
The village that had witnessed his growth treated him that way, so Kakuzu didn't believe that the Ninjas in Mutsuki's team—whom he had known for less than two months—would be willing to risk their lives for him.
Therefore, Kakuzu didn't care about the seventy-two Ninjas following Mutsuki. He believed that as long as he displayed his strength, those Ninjas would be frightened into abandoning Mutsuki and running away.
If they were Ninjas from a proper Ninja Village, even if their ranks weren't high, Kakuzu wouldn't dare underestimate them too much. But a group made up of wandering Ninjas and weak Ninja organizations—Kakuzu truly felt zero fear toward them.
He didn't even consider opponents of that level worth taking action against, because they were unlikely to have any bounty on them. Killing them would just be wasted effort with no meaning.
After completing his intel-gathering work, Kakuzu began his real operation.
Because Mutsuki didn't conceal his movements and their team was large, Kakuzu easily learned their location and rushed over at high speed to launch an attack.
Mutsuki noticed Kakuzu approaching and immediately cast an appraisal.
[Name: Kakuzu]
[Chakra: 140000]
[Skills: Earth Grudge Fear (Mastery: 5100/15000), Lightning Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery: 3000/15000), Fire Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery: 2700/15000), Wind Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery level), Water Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery level), Lightning Release: False Darkness (Mastery level) …]
Looking at Kakuzu's panel, Mutsuki could only say it had that Sarutobi Hiruzen feeling—he could practically be considered a second-hand, youthful version of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Mastery of all five Chakra Nature Transformations, plus the corresponding Mastery-level Ninjutsu—when it came to Ninjutsu, Kakuzu indeed could be considered a mini Sarutobi Hiruzen. But in other aspects, he couldn't really compare. Sarutobi Hiruzen had mastered a large number of Secret Jutsu, was strong in Taijutsu, and had a powerful Summon Beast like Enma.
"You all step back a bit," Mutsuki said to the Ninjas behind him.
Among all the Ninjas he had encountered so far, Kakuzu's strength was definitely top-tier. To fight him, Mutsuki had to bring out his real power.
The Ninjas were a bit confused, but out of trust in Mutsuki, they stepped back.
The next moment, Kakuzu charged forward at full speed.
"Another bounty Ninja after money?" Yahiko frowned.
Although Kakuzu hadn't attacked yet, the speed of his arrival clearly didn't look like that of an ordinary Ninja.
"Yahiko, Nagato, Konan—keep an eye on the others in the group," Mutsuki reminded.
Although the three of them were among the youngest in the team, they were also the strongest.
The three nodded and watched Kakuzu cautiously.
"That looks like the legendary strongest black-market assassin, Kakuzu. Many well-known powerhouses have died at his hands, and he even fought the God of Shinobi," one Ninja said, his expression instantly changing when he noticed the stitching on Kakuzu's arm.
Because of the training involved in Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu had a very recognizable appearance when not fully covered by clothing.
The other Ninjas all showed shocked expressions. Each line they heard sounded incredible—put all of it onto one person, and he could only be described as a legendary Ninja.
"Wait, something doesn't add up. If he's from the era of the God of Shinobi, even if he didn't die, he should be old by now." Someone finally realized the contradiction.
The Ninja who had spoken earlier shook his head. How could he possibly know? He had only heard a bit about Kakuzu once by chance.
Kakuzu ignored the looks from the other Ninjas and stared at Mutsuki with a cold expression. "If you're willing to let me capture you voluntarily, things will be easier."
Because capturing his target alive would earn him an extra five million ryo, Kakuzu intended to take Mutsuki alive.
After all, he took black-market jobs purely for money—so of course he would choose whatever earned the most.
Under normal circumstances, Kakuzu didn't like talking; he preferred to act early and finish early.
"If you're willing to leave on your own, things can be easier for you too," Mutsuki replied with a calm smile.
Kakuzu frowned slightly. "You're being naïve in the wrong place."
Whoosh!
Kakuzu suddenly burst forward, Chakra erupting as he charged fiercely at Mutsuki.
Mutsuki had already activated Transparent World. Seeing through Kakuzu's attack completely, he casually reached out, caught Kakuzu's incoming punch, and then followed with a counterpunch that sent Kakuzu flying ten meters away.
"Good at Taijutsu, are you?" Kakuzu rubbed his struck abdomen, expression unchanged as he prepared to use Ninjutsu.
Earth Grudge Fear made his vitality extremely tough, but Kakuzu wasn't foolish enough to clash directly with someone's specialty.
As he activated Earth Grudge Fear, a mass of black threads burst out from his back. A mask-like monster made entirely of threads leapt out from behind him.
"What kind of Ninjutsu is that?" Yahiko asked, puzzled, glancing at Nagato beside him.
Nagato knew many Ninjutsu, so whenever Yahiko encountered something he didn't recognize, he would usually ask Nagato.
But that was before—now he would normally ask Mutsuki instead. Since Mutsuki was currently fighting, Yahiko turned to Nagato this time.
"I don't recognize it either." Nagato shook his head.
He guessed it was probably some obscure Secret Jutsu.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
The red-mouthed mask monster opened its jaws wide. A large amount of Chakra gathered inside, then it shot out a fireball that didn't look very big.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
Mutsuki rapidly formed hand seals, gathering a huge amount of Chakra, converting it all into fire-natured Chakra at once, compressing it, and then releasing it as a similarly small fireball—except the color of his flames was noticeably deeper than Kakuzu's.
Kakuzu was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected Mutsuki to know this Ninjutsu as well.
What happened next shocked him even more.
Whoosh!!
Boom!
The two fireballs collided, and the fully compressed flames on both sides erupted at once, instantly forming a large sea of fire that scorched the ground pitch-black.
The fire on Mutsuki's side was clearly much stronger. It broke through Kakuzu's flames in no time, then continued spreading toward the fleeing Kakuzu.
Kakuzu stared at Mutsuki in shock.
His plan had been to let the mask monster clash with Mutsuki's attack while his real body struck from behind.
He had never expected his Fire Release to lose to Mutsuki's—let alone by such an overwhelming margin.
It wasn't just Kakuzu who was stunned; even the Ninjas who had been following Mutsuki for more than a month revealed shocked expressions.
If Mutsuki hadn't told them to retreat earlier, they would have been caught in that terrifying sea of flames.
Mutsuki had used Intelligent Hard Work before, but it had never been this powerful.
"With this kind of Fire Release, he could probably burn down an entire forest," Ike Masaya thought to himself.
Originally, Ike Masaya felt he had exaggerated Mutsuki's strength too much and caused trouble for him. Now, he felt he might have actually underestimated Mutsuki.
Kakuzu retreated rapidly and released the water-nature mask.
The water mask spewed out a massive stream of water, finally allowing Kakuzu to avoid being roasted alive.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Kakuzu looked at Mutsuki with extreme seriousness. Mutsuki was likely the second strongest opponent he had ever faced.
He then released his wind- and lightning-nature masks as well. At this point, he didn't dare be careless at all.
"You all step back a little more," Mutsuki said after thinking for a moment.
His Fire Release could indeed crush Kakuzu's, but the difference in other elements wasn't quite as overwhelming. He could suppress Kakuzu in wind and water, but his lightning and earth chakra nature transformations were slightly inferior.
The Ninjas obediently retreated again. Wanting to stay close enough to support Mutsuki in an emergency, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan stepped back the least.
Under Kakuzu's control, the wind-nature mask and the fire-nature mask stood side by side and opened their mouths to use Ninjutsu.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
A wind sphere and a fireball were launched at the same time. Wind feeding fire instantly created a vast sea of flames.
Mutsuki quietly created a Shadow Clone. His main body used Fire Release while the Shadow Clone used Wind Release.
"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!"
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
Likewise, a fireball and a wind sphere were released, wind boosting fire to form a terrifying sea of flames that instantly swallowed Kakuzu's fire sea.
Kakuzu: …
Kakuzu felt a bit numb. He had the feeling he was being toyed with—Mutsuki kept using the exact same Ninjutsu as him, but with even greater power.
Kakuzu had to rely on both his water and lightning masks together with his main body just to barely block Mutsuki's sea of fire.
Fortunately, Kakuzu had lived more than seventy years and had encountered all kinds of situations, so he didn't panic.
He quickly formed a new battle plan: let the water and lightning masks distract Mutsuki's attention, while his main body and the wind-and-fire masks looked for openings to attack.
His Earth Grudge Fear masks were much stronger than Shadow Clones. Although they could be destroyed, they were far more durable than clones.
Next, Kakuzu indeed caused Mutsuki some trouble, because Kakuzu's real body could also interfere with Mutsuki using the tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear.
"How can I defeat Kakuzu while using the least amount of Chakra?" Mutsuki thought while fending off Kakuzu's attacks.
If he simply wanted to win, he had plenty of ways to do so.
With Perfect-level fire-nature Chakra Transformation combined with Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, if he caught Kakuzu off guard and went all out with Fire Release, he could wipe out all of Kakuzu's masks.
As long as he didn't use Fire Release–based Nintaijutsu like Obito did, no one would suspect he was using Flame Breathing. They would just think his Fire Release was absurdly powerful.
Of course, such high-power techniques consumed a lot of Chakra.
Mutsuki had Chakra anxiety—when his Chakra dropped below fifty percent, he felt uncomfortable. He worried that if his Chakra was too low, he might end up encountering enemies on the level of the Third Raikage, the Third Tsuchikage, or Hanzo.
So Mutsuki wanted to use as little Chakra as possible to defeat Kakuzu, leaving more in reserve in case something unexpected happened.
This was also because Kakuzu hadn't targeted Mutsuki's followers. Otherwise, Mutsuki would have simply defeated Kakuzu as fast as possible to guarantee their safety.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Yahiko formed seals and released a water dragon toward the fire mask.
"Uncle Sosuke, let us help hold off some of the clones!" Yahiko shouted.
After watching the battle just now, he had learned some information about Kakuzu. Seeing that Mutsuki's situation wasn't ideal, Yahiko felt he had to join the fight.
Konan followed up by throwing paper shuriken.
Nagato used Lightning Release to cooperate with Yahiko—turning the Water Dragon Bullet into a Lightning Water Dragon Bullet, increasing its power and adding a paralysis effect.
The other Ninjas with ranged attacks also took out their techniques and began attacking Kakuzu's masks.
However, because they had never practiced coordinating together, their attacks were messy and not very effective.
Mutsuki sighed softly. This was exactly why he had planned to handle things alone—coordinating dozens of strangers wasn't easy.
"So eager to die?" Kakuzu looked at the attackers in confusion.
Seeing how strong he was, instead of running, they actually chose to attack him. He might not be able to defeat Mutsuki quickly, but killing a group of average wandering Ninjas? That was more than doable.
"In that case, I'll deal with you all first."
Kakuzu directed the wind and fire masks to unleash a Combination Jutsu at the Ninjas.
With that one Combination Jutsu, even if he didn't wipe them all out, at least half of them would die.
In Kakuzu's view, whether half of such a group dies or the whole team is wiped out makes no difference. With casualties that heavy, the remaining people would definitely scatter and run.
Suddenly, Kakuzu sensed a terrifying aura rising.
Mutsuki's breathing became incredibly focused, and the constantly burning Chakra inside his body provided him with a massive boost.
"Fire Dragon Dance!"
Mutsuki gathered a huge amount of Chakra in his throat, instantly converting it into powerful fire-natured Chakra under the amplification of Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.
He deliberately formed a hand seal, then spewed out an incredibly fierce, intensely hot torrent of terrifying flames.
Of course, in Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, Mutsuki didn't actually need hand seals — but to avoid exposing his hidden abilities, he had to put on an act.
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