Earth Grudge Fear — burying life beneath the battlefield, the writhing black tentacles. By manipulating the black tendrils inside with chakra, it can be used as a ninjutsu suited for long-range attacks. Using the black tendrils, it can also stitch flesh together.
That is the description of this forbidden technique, and the most terrifying thing about it is that it can grant a kind of deathless life.
Kakuzu prospered in the mercenary world precisely because of this forbidden technique.
And now, this powerful monster was suddenly seized by something.
Yes — seized.
"Blast!"
"Boom!"
A violent explosion erupted in an instant. The location where Kakuzu stood detonated, burying Kakuzu and all his masked monsters in the blast.
"Swish! Swish!"
But soon after, figures flew out from the center of the explosion.
And the last one to jump out was Kakuzu himself.
Only his face looked very unpleasant. Before he could speak, Saibon's Wind Release had already reached him.
"Wind Release!"
The same gale spewed from the mouth of one of the masked monsters, wind meeting wind.
And in that opening, Gekko Chizan moved.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
A water dragon formed, but the next second it was split into spray by the thunderous lightning that filled the sky.
"Hmph!"
"Huh? What is this?"
Suddenly Kakuzu felt something beside him.
On guard, he immediately extended his thread-like tendrils. As the tendrils spread outward he finally made out what was approaching him.
It was a person formed entirely of crystal?
"Blast!"
Another explosion — the crystal person detonated instantly.
Flames and shards of crystal rained down over Kakuzu again, but this time the tendrils protected him and he suffered no harm.
"Crystal…"
"Kid, are you in such a hurry to go on the road?"
Kakuzu roared in displeasure, but when he tried to find Gekko Chizan's figure, he suddenly discovered the other was gone.
"Huh? Where did he go?"
Kakuzu looked around, a nameless fury rising in his chest. At that moment he sensed movement above his head. Looking up, several crystal-formed figures suddenly appeared above him.
"Kakuzu, how ridiculous, you can't even find me."
"Powerless rage!"
"Take this, Suicide Squad!"
Gekko Chizan — using Transparent Release — stood not far off, taunting Kakuzu as he spoke.
Of course it wasn't his true self speaking, but his clones.
He used Crystal Release to make clones, bodies wholly transparent, embedding explosive tags inside each clone and thickening the crystal to hide them completely.
With the help of the gale and the light, the clones reached an almost transparent state.
Thus the Suicide Squad was born!
"You damn brat!"
Kakuzu already had a short temper — he couldn't stand Gekko Chizan's mockery.
In an instant he exploded outward, unleashing terrifying firepower in every direction.
Various combined ninjutsu howled out.
"Fire Release!"
"Wind Release!"
"Water Release!"
"Lightning Release!"
Wind and fire in one group, water and lightning in another, they shattered the surrounding ground.
Even Saibon had to stop releasing ninjutsu and began to dodge; Yahiko likewise.
Only Gekko Chizan remained completely indifferent. He spread his wings and flew up into the air to watch Kakuzu rampage.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I have to say, Chizan, the one you're impersonating is pretty strong."
"That amount of chakra almost rivals Shukaku's, right?"
Chōmei watched below as Kakuzu went berserk and couldn't help but tease.
If Shukaku could hear that, Chōmei would no doubt shove a mouthful of sand into his teasing.
"Five hearts — how could the chakra be small?" Gekko Chizan looked down at Kakuzu with a sneer.
Although Earth Grudge Fear is formidable, its weakness is obvious: the hearts — those masks.
Once all the masks are broken, Kakuzu dies.
By the time his rampage halted, the area around Kakuzu had been turned into wasteland.
Saibon and Yahiko had already withdrawn a hundred meters away.
Both bore injuries to varying degrees.
"This monster…"
Saibon's face grew even darker; he knew about the Earth Grudge Fear forbidden technique.
He hadn't expected it to be so terrifying.
"Shick!"
Suddenly the sound of a sharp instrument piercing flesh rang out.
The ground split and countless black thread-tendrils pierced through Saibon's abdomen.
"Damn!"
Pain made Saibon roar.
He raised his right hand; a gale gathered in his palm, wind blades appearing. In a flash, all the tendrils were severed.
Saibon gritted his teeth against the pain and leapt backward. Yahiko hurried over to support him.
"Saibon-sama."
"I'm fine — I avoided the vital points…"
Though he said that, being impaled in the abdomen still hurt horribly.
"Hmph, the Konoha brat won't come out."
"I'll just take care of you two first."
Kakuzu's voice, full of murderous intent, drifted slowly over. He had approached Saibon and Yahiko, bringing four masked monsters with him.
"Who said I wouldn't come out?"
"Aren't I here?"
"Creak—"
Suddenly a crisp cracking sounded beside Kakuzu.
A crystal-formed long blade pierced directly through the mask on one of the masked monsters' faces.
With the mask shattered, Kakuzu trembled all over; even the tendrils on his body shook violently.
"Damn it! Brat!"
Kakuzu's eyes were bloodshot. The masked creature whose mask had been smashed immediately lost vitality and began to crumble.
Gekko Chizan's lips curled into a mocking smile as he revealed his true form, then launched into disdainful remarks.
"The weakness is so obvious — how have you lived this long?"
"Breaking the masks one by one, do you really think you're a masked monster?"
"A light poke and they shatter. I bet once these masks are gone, you'll be dead, right?"
That merciless exposure made Kakuzu's face even uglier.
Saibon and Yahiko heard him too, and instantly turned to look at Kakuzu's masks, a glint of realization in their eyes.
No matter how strong an enemy is, the real fear is not knowing their weakness.
Now that they knew, they could deal with it.
"You damn brat!"
"You must die!"
Kakuzu's fury intensified.
But although furious, he didn't act rashly; instead he gathered the remaining masked monsters around himself. Clearly, he feared another sneak attack by Gekko Chizan.
"Die, die, die — I'll leave now, you can never kill me."
"Who do you think you are? Senju Hashirama?"
"What's with your arrogance!"
Gekko Chizan toyed with the crystal wing blade in his hand and mercilessly opened his taunting mode.
Hearing Hashirama's name and Gekko Chizan's jibe, Kakuzu's eyes suddenly changed.