Tōshirō's face changed in reality due to extreme surprise.
Tōshirō's sudden startle drew Kakuzu's gaze.
"Wow, this is really delicious."
Tōshirō pretended to wave at the waitress. The waitress quickly walked over, and Tōshirō asked her, "Excuse me, how is this dish made?"
The waitress looked troubled, thinking, "I'm just a waitress, what do I know about cooking?"
Tōshirō realized his mistake. "My apologies, I was being presumptuous."
The waitress nodded apologetically and withdrew.
Facing Kakuzu's gaze, Tōshirō chuckled awkwardly. "Don't look at me like this, I'm actually a great cook. If you want to eat, I can make something for you."
"Not interested."
Kakuzu withdrew his gaze.
Tōshirō secretly sighed in relief. It seemed he had finally fooled him.
He then spoke to the Five-Tails within him, his expression serious, "Little Five, what's going on?"
"When you first met him, I vaguely sensed something was off, but I wasn't sure then. Now that you've had more contact with him, I can be absolutely certain that this guy named Kakuzu has a Tailed Beast inside him."
Tōshirō nodded slightly, deep in thought.
"You don't believe it?"
"No, I'm just very surprised." Tōshirō looked up and asked curiously, "Which Tailed Beast is inside Kakuzu?"
"The Seven-Tails."
Tōshirō narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.
If he remembered correctly, that Tailed Beast belonged to Takigakure.
Did Kakuzu really implant that Tailed Beast after his casual remark?
"This guy might be hiding something from you." The Tailed Beast warned, "Be careful."
Tōshirō said solemnly, "There's a possibility."
Considering Kakuzu's personality, even if he implanted a Tailed Beast, he wouldn't tell everyone he met.
Kakuzu not telling Tōshirō made some sense.
Of course, this was just an ideal scenario.
The Five-Tails suggested, "Should we test him?"
Tōshirō pondered for a moment, then rejected the suggestion. "Kakuzu is very cautious. If I test him, I might expose myself and make him wary."
The Five-Tails asked, "Then how will you handle it?"
Tōshirō answered without hesitation, "Don't ask about anything, pretend nothing happened."
The Five-Tails repeated the last sentence, confused, then continued, "Are you serious?"
"Indeed."
Tōshirō subtly glanced at Kakuzu. Putting aside other factors, he now needed to re-evaluate Kakuzu's strength.
In the past, Tōshirō was confident he could easily suppress Kakuzu, but now, it was hard to say.
With Kakuzu acquiring the Seven-Tails, given his own formidable strength, controlling the Tailed Beast within him shouldn't be too difficult.
Unless they were major figures, under normal circumstances, implanting a Tailed Beast required someone skilled in Sealing Jutsu to be present.
Did someone help Kakuzu implant the Tailed Beast?
Just as he was thinking, a gentle "tap-tap" on the table interrupted Tōshirō's thoughts.
Tōshirō looked up, following Kakuzu's gaze, and realized the target was about to move.
Tōshirō inwardly clicked his tongue. What an inconvenient time...
Soon after the target left the shop, Tōshirō and Kakuzu got up one after another, following behind.
Using the cover of passersby, the two followed him into the forest.
After tracking for a while, Tōshirō realized the target's speed had significantly increased.
"It seems we've been discovered..."
Tōshirō warned.
Kakuzu calmly replied, "In that case, let's make our move."
It wasn't just Tōshirō and Kakuzu who intended to fight. The tracked target ran to an open area, stopped, as if deliberately waiting for them to arrive.
"Swish, swish..."
Two dark figures swiftly glided through the air and landed on the ground.
Moroboshi Dan, the target, narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the two, and spoke in an unfriendly tone, "You two have been tracking us since earlier, haven't you?"
Tōshirō and Kakuzu had used the Transformation Jutsu. Moroboshi Dan, who had fought Kakuzu before, didn't recognize him at first glance, hence the question.
Seemingly impatient to eliminate the target, Kakuzu wasted no words and immediately unleashed his signature Fire Release ninjutsu.
The moment the small fireball landed, it rapidly expanded, surging forward like a tidal wave.
Fire Release: Searing Migraine.
Moroboshi Dan was no pushover. He retaliated with Water Release.
A rapid rectangular water wall surged from the ground, blocking the incoming fiery wave. During this process, a large amount of thick white mist vaporized, obscuring visibility.
Tōshirō used this cover to quickly form hand seals, pressing his single palm downwards, implanting ice crystal seeds around the vicinity, waiting for them to bloom.
Ice Release: Eight Trigrams Square Formation.
This was a prerequisite technique for Ice Release: Ice Crystal Maze Jutsu.
To prevent these guys from escaping, Tōshirō needed to set up a barrier beforehand.
As the thick mist dissipated, Moroboshi Dan recognized the Fire Release: Searing Migraine technique. With a little thought, he understood the identity of the newcomer and directly ripped off Kakuzu's disguise. "So it's you, I wondered who it was."
Hearing this, Kakuzu simply stopped pretending. Smoke billowed from his body as he shed his disguise, revealing his true form.
Moroboshi Dan looked at Tōshirō beside Kakuzu. "Oh~ you even brought a helper."
"This time, I will definitely kill you."
Kakuzu's face was stern. He took off his upper garment, revealing a body that looked as if it had been stitched together, with countless black threads emerging and twisting grotesquely.
Tōshirō glanced at it. This technique always made him feel a chill, no matter how many times he saw it.
Kakuzu let out a low growl. Four murky black masses emerged from his body, landing on the ground and forming masked black creatures.
Seeing this, Moroboshi Dan showed no fear and snorted, "Do you think you're the only one with helpers?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a large group of ninja suddenly appeared from nowhere.
Tōshirō swept his gaze around. The enemy numbers were vast. From the looks of it, Moroboshi Dan had already discovered Kakuzu, then intentionally had people track him to lure him into a trap.
Boasting about his overwhelming numbers, Moroboshi Dan laughed triumphantly, "Kakuzu, why do you think I deliberately appeared at that shop? It was all just to lure you out."
Tōshirō glanced sideways and teased, "Brother Kakuzu, it seems your subordinate betrayed you and completely set you up."
Kakuzu's face darkened. Even he felt immense pressure facing such a large number of ninja all at once.
"Now you are surrounded." Moroboshi Dan shouted, "Surrender obediently!"
His jutsu already prepared, Tōshirō shook his head and said leisurely, "No, you are the ones surrounded."
Moroboshi Dan's eyes widened slightly, a look of surprise on his face. "W-what..."
Tōshirō quickly formed hand seals, finally forming a sword-finger gesture with both hands, brought together and separated vertically, forming the U-sign.
With the mobilization of massive chakra within him, ice crystal flowers sprouted and grew from the ground, transforming into ice pillars that continuously spread out, forming an octagonal dome that covered everyone within a 500-meter radius, centered on himself.
Ice Release: Ice Crystal Maze Jutsu.
"This is..." Moroboshi Dan's eyes widened.
Tōshirō had a ninjutsu he wanted to try next. He said to Kakuzu beside him, "Brother Kakuzu, please distract them for a moment."
Kakuzu understood and commanded the creatures formed by Jiongu to bombard the crowd.
Meanwhile, Tōshirō rapidly formed hand seals while manipulating the Five-Tails' chakra within him.
Snake - Rooster - Dog - Ram - Dragon - Monkey - Horse - Snake - Earth...
As this complex series of hand seals was completed, the ice dome above them bulged, solidifying into hollow cylindrical capsules.
Ice Release: Hippolyte Capsule.
Countless cylindrical capsules descended from the sky like a chaotic, fast, and dense rain, plunging into the ground.
Ninja who couldn't dodge were inadvertently trapped.
"Damn it, what is this thing?"
Unfortunate ninja who were trapped immediately tried to break free. However, white mist surged within the capsules, chilling them to the bone. Amidst agonizing screams, a layer of white frost visibly covered their bodies.
After a while, the cylindrical ice capsules disappeared, and the people inside turned into ice sculptures. Their limbs and facial expressions, without exception, conveyed the agonizing struggle they endured before death.
After this technique concluded, only Moroboshi Dan, Kakuzu, and Tōshirō remained on the battlefield.
Moroboshi Dan looked at his comrades, all turned into ice sculptures, his face extremely grim.
To have a group fight reduced to just himself was truly terrible.
"God's Incarnation..."
Moroboshi Dan's eyes were fixed on Tōshirō.
"It's too late to realize that now."
Tōshirō smiled slightly, glancing over. He proactively said, "I'll handle this guy, Brother Kakuzu. You go check if there are any stragglers."
Kakuzu replied, "Then I'll leave him to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tōshirō eagerly darted forward, relentlessly attacking Moroboshi Dan.
Moroboshi Dan took a few blows. Tōshirō, using his Sharingan, caught an opening and condensed ice-natured chakra in his palm.
He ducked down, dodging a straight punch, and then thrust his palm horizontally towards Moroboshi Dan's face.
Ice Release: Ice Spirit Palm.
Just as the technique was about to strike Moroboshi Dan's chest, Tōshirō's body suddenly stiffened.
"Pfft."
A black hand pierced through his unguarded back, passing straight through his heart. Tōshirō's gaze drifted downwards, then his head slowly rotated like gears, turning to face the face behind him, an expression of disbelief as if asking: Why...
"Sorry..."
A rare hint of apology appeared in Kakuzu's voice.
Tōshirō, who had been ambushed, wasn't agitated. Instead, he was very calm, even smiling. "Is that so..."
Kakuzu frowned, quickly realizing something was wrong.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind:
"Kakuzu, what the hell do you mean by this?"
The change in address indicated a shift in attitude.
The voice was filled with intense killing intent.
As the voice fell, the Tōshirō in front of them turned into an ice sculpture.
Ice Release: Ice Clone.
Kakuzu's agitated expression sank. He turned around.
Tōshirō stepped out from behind a tree, his face as cold as ice, and the gaze from his crimson eyes was even colder than solid ice.
(End of Chapter)
────────────────────────────────────
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [One Piece: General Blue]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Battle Through the Heavens: Heavenly comprehension]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Soul Land 2: Golden Dragon King]."