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Night deepened.
The accumulating moisture nearby suddenly caused a small area to experience a light drizzle, soaking the dry stone pavement.
The battle on the street showed no signs of stopping.
Within the battle circle, Sawara Kiri, under siege, moved with the agility of a butterfly flitting among flowers, weaving between the two opponents' blades and swords with astonishing speed.
His brilliant azure pupils, like flowing starlight, constantly streaked across Kakuzu's vision.
Faintly, a murmur blended with the wind.
Even after witnessing countless self-proclaimed geniuses over a long period, Kakuzu couldn't help but feel a touch of lamentation at this moment.
This business deal truly resulted in a loss.
If he had allowed this kid to grow a bit more, he might have been worth ten million, or even twenty million, who could say?
The poor intelligence not only put him in a perilous situation but also forced him to prematurely cut down a money tree that hadn't fully matured—and for such a ridiculous price increase.
Compared to the current necessity of fighting this young man, or the constant threat of a full-scale Konoha pursuit, the unexplained loss of a large sum of money was even more difficult for him to accept.
"Clang—!"
Kunai and blades clashed, the piercing sound penetrating eardrums and lodging deep within one's mind.
This unusual sound caused one's movements to involuntarily slow down by a beat—
Hm?
Why did it slow down by a beat?
Almost the instant this thought arose, Kakuzu's peripheral vision caught Sawara Kiri's other hand, holding a Kunai, plunging it into his lower back with extreme ferocity.
Oh, so it was a sound Genjutsu.
"Pfft."
The moment Kakuzu concluded this in his mind, the entire Kunai was buried in his kidney.
However, Sawara Kiri seemed to notice something extremely surprising, as his figure swiftly retreated, withdrawing from the close-quarters combat.
At the same time, he looked at him with a wary gaze.
If it were an ordinary person, having their kidney exploded at this moment, they would not only be unable to stand but would likely be wailing and curled up on the ground, unable to move.
But Kakuzu still stood there.
The large wound in his lower back was rapidly being stitched up by black threads, finally filling completely.
"I originally thought it was a special clone."
"But it's an immortal body?"
A perfectly appropriate hint of solemnity appeared in Sawara Kiri's eyes.
"How much money would it take for a powerhouse like you to venture into this death trap of Konoha?"
"Fifty million? A hundred million?"
Hearing Sawara Kiri's intentionally inflated offer, Kakuzu's brow clearly twitched uncontrollably, but he managed to suppress his anger and keep his voice calm: "I should be the one who's surprised."
"A young man with such outstanding abilities like you is surprisingly unknown in the Ninja World."
"It seems the Village that Ninja God painstakingly created back then is also gradually decaying like ordinary things, isn't it?"
"What a pity."
"Arrogant fellow." Sawara Kiri looked at him with his azure pupils, a hint of sarcasm in his smile, "You're just a rat with a bit of renown underground, yet you speak as if you were acquainted with Shodai-sama."
Hey, don't even mention it!
As soon as that was brought up, he immediately became excited.
Kakuzu subtly curled his lips, his deep eyes seeming to traverse a long stretch of time, and sighed with a rather weathered tone:
"Senju Hashirama, you say?"
"Speaking of which, he was the first Konoha Ninja I ever fought."
However, after Sawara Kiri only said one sentence, he immediately lost his composure: "When you fought Shodai-sama back then, did you also bring a five-speed electric self-pleasure-stick with a purple mood card to aggressively assault his behind?"
"If that's the case, then you might actually have some skill to have escaped alive from 'that person' back then."
"What are you saying! What is that supposed to mean?!"
Kakuzu's sallow face now looked almost purple with suppressed rage.
Following that was a string of completely incomprehensible phrases like "service spirit," "assassin sage," "the paying customer is God," "love what you do," and "I'm not some pervert."
"…"
"Heh."
Seemingly finally calming down and realizing that the other party was trying to stall for time with words, both Kakuzu avatars looked at Sawara Kiri simultaneously, their expressions growing even colder: "Are you still fantasizing that someone will come to save you?"
"The only reliable thing in this world is money."
"As for you, you've already been betrayed by certain people in the Village."
"A Village is no more than that."
However, Sawara Kiri seemed unfazed by his words, shaking his head with a slight sigh and calmly stating: "I'm not like you; I've never believed in such things."
"I'm waiting for someone else."
It had been stalled long enough; the time was almost right.
"Is that so."
Kakuzu let out a low sneer.
Behind him, the last mass of Earth Grudge Fear, tangled and matted like a ball of yarn, silently slipped beneath the ground, carrying a heart, obscured by his line of sight.
Listening to Sawara Kiri's enigmatic words, he sighed, his lips twisting into a thread-like smile:
"Then I won't hold back!"
Almost as soon as the words fell.
The two Kakuzu avatars, sandwiching Sawara Kiri, simultaneously shot forward, their speed at this moment nearly doubling compared to before.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
"Water Release: Water Trumpet!"
The body that crashed into Sawara Kiri from the front with a powerful hardening Ninjutsu seemed to leave him no room to dodge; he was completely caught in the struggle, forced to take the powerful Water Release impact on his back.
At the same time, he used this impact to suddenly advance his steps and body by a significant margin.
"Clang!"
The Kunai cut into his arm.
However, Kakuzu didn't even bother to make an extra defensive move. The Kunai embedded in his arm and his wrist were even entangled and gripped by Earth Grudge Fear.
At the same time, his other hand gripped Sawara Kiri's wrist.
Unable to move?!
A look of astonishment seemed to flash across Sawara Kiri's face.
"Don't blame me for being despicable, young man." Kakuzu looked at him with a calm expression.
"Blame yourself for being too outstanding, making me unsure if I could take you down quickly."
As his words fell.
Three grotesquely shaped, pitch-black constructs slowly rose from underground, as if passing through water.
On the surface of each of their bodies, a different colored mask was affixed.
And not just them.
Even the 'clone' that had been fighting Sawara Kiri earlier transformed into the same appearance.
Sawara Kiri seemed to finally understand everything.
"Are you planning to take me down with you?!"
Kakuzu's mouth, stitched with Earth Grudge Fear, split open, his smile more grotesque than ever before:
"The only one who will die is you!"
"Darn it."
Accompanying his ferocious grin, Sawara Kiri's expression grew increasingly horrified, contorting his features.
The four avatars surrounding them opened their mouths simultaneously.
Intense Chakra reactions suddenly surged forth from the mask mouths.
Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Bullet Technique!
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
Four Ninjutsu of different attributes combined in pairs, merging into one, finally unleashing a power where one plus one was greater than two, directly engulfing the figures of both Sawara Kiri and Kakuzu, triggering a violent explosion that shattered windows for tens of meters around.
"Whoosh—"
Using the powerful defense provided by Earth Release, Kakuzu, with most of his clothes blown away, agilely leaped out of the dense smoke.
He stood there, looking at Sawara Kiri engulfed by the great fire.
The young man's originally robust body, under the combined strangulation of fire and water-lightning, rapidly burned and dried into a charred skeleton.
His half-kneeling posture was frozen in his final moments before death; both his clothes and skin had turned into shattered pieces of black.
"Trusting so-called comrades leads to such an end."
It seemed like a warning, yet also like a soliloquy; Kakuzu looked at the corpse in the center of the raging fire and shook his head slightly.
However, just as he was about to turn around.
The charred corpse in the center of the fire moved.
Kakuzu's movements froze.
The charred corpse, with its withered skeleton, slowly rose from a half-kneel to a stand, then took a step.
One step.
Two steps.
This bizarre scene made even the immortal Kakuzu feel a chill in his heart, instinctively taking half a step back.
He himself was immortal because of Earth Grudge Fear.
But what was Sawara Kiri?!
However, before Kakuzu could fully comprehend, the charred corpse's steps grew faster and faster, its figure wrapped in flames rushing out of the crater, until finally, it even surpassed sound, completely transforming into a streak of pitch-black mist.
"Bang—"
It crashed into his embrace.
Kakuzu's body instinctively made a defensive move, his entire torso floating for a moment under the violent impact.
But then, his chest suddenly felt empty.
Their figures crossed.
"Rumble!!!"
The black mist, carrying a storm, rushed out of the flames, sweeping up dust. After passing Kakuzu, it created a straight, colorless vacuum tunnel, the bluestone bricks beneath his feet showing fish-scale-like cracks, and even the rain curtain was shattered.
Until he stopped, Sawara Kiri, still in a crouched position, raised his head, his slightly long black hair swaying gently in the wind, his azure pupils overflowing with light.
In his blood-stained hand was a dark red heart still beating, intertwined with black Earth Grudge Fear.
The young man turned around and looked at Kakuzu, who still had a bewildered expression even with his chest ripped open, his voice filled with extreme insincerity, even carrying a hint of lighthearted amusement:
"Sorry, I lied to you."
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