Kakuzu stood atop the slowly stabilizing water surface.
A short distance away, Yugito approached with measured steps. Still in her Tailed Beast form, her features looked distinctly feral. A vicious smirk pulled at the corner of her lips as she remarked, "It seems your partner abandoned you."
"Partner? He was nothing more than an underling," Kakuzu said smoothly, rolling his wrist.
His movement, however, was fundamentally different from that of a normal human. He pulled his wrist slightly out of its socket with a sickening pop, allowing a thick mass of Earth Grudge Fear black threads to sprout from the open seam.
"You certainly talk big. Are all of you from the Yorozuya this arrogant? To think you actually possessed the sheer audacity to raid Kumogakure," Yugito countered, a cold, piercing glare filling her eyes.
"When the Third Raikage fell, I happened to be on the battlefield as well," Kakuzu replied with a mocking smile.
Yugito had not known the Third Raikage intimately as she had been a mere child during his era. Yet, the Third Raikage was a figure universally revered by every soul in Kumogakure.
Hearing the man before her speak so casually of him sparked pure fury in her gaze. "So you were one of the perpetrators back then. Excellent. I will slaughter you here and offer your head as a tribute to Lord Third!"
"Hehehe..." Kakuzu chuckled with absolute composure. "Nii Yugito, do not misunderstand. Our decision to retreat was not out of fear for a so-called Perfect Jinchūriki like you. We simply did not wish to draw more troublesome variables into this engagement. Did you truly believe your strength surpassed mine?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Kakuzu gave Yugito no further opportunity to speak. His silhouette erupted forward like a bolt of lightning, tearing through the distance.
Yugito's gaze sharpened with intense focus. Her fingers flew into a rapid sequence of hand signs, stamping her palms down onto the surface just before Kakuzu could bridge the gap.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
This single choice revealed an underlying flaw in her tactical mindset. Yugito was simply too young; she had allowed Kakuzu's psychological baiting to dictate her actions. Despite maintaining an aggressive offensive posture up until now, the moment Kakuzu initiated his charge, she instinctively chose a defensive response!
Furthermore, the environment Jūzō had previously engineered served as a perfect catalyst for her technique. With an abundance of water elements at her disposal, the surface beneath her feet surged upward instantly, manifesting a massive, swirling wall of water directly in front of her.
"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!"
Seeing the Water Wall rise, Kakuzu halted his advance entirely, transitioning seamlessly into a Fire Release technique instead.
To an ordinary observer, this appeared to be a tactical blunder, as Fire Release was fundamentally disadvantaged against Water Release. Predictably, when the blazing torrent slammed into the water wall, it failed to breach her defense. However, the extreme thermal energy instantly superheated the rushing current. A massive, explosive cloud of scalding white steam billowed outward, entirely blanketing the battlefield and blinding both combatants.
Yugito frowned heavily, her fingernails extending instantly into long, razor-sharp claws. Unlike ordinary shinobi who relied on kunai, her own body provided her primary weaponry. Dropping into a low stance, she went completely on guard, warily scanning the dense mist around her.
Three seconds... five seconds... ten seconds... fifteen... twenty.
Considerable time ticked past, yet the silence remained absolute.
Yugito's brow furrowed tighter. Then, a sudden realization struck her like a physical blow.
Damn it! Did that bastard use bravado to bait me into a defensive stance, only to drop a smokescreen and flee?
Did I seriously just let myself get played like a fool?
The moment the thought took root, the more certain she became that she had been deceived.
"Miserable coward!" Yugito cursed under her breath. Calculating his most probable trajectory, she lunged forward into the thick of the steam.
Yet, the moment her body moved, Kakuzu's voice materialized right beside her ear.
"As expected, you lack composure."
Several kunai rigged with shuriken whistled through the air from her flank. Yugito's expression turned incredibly sour; she felt thoroughly humiliated by Kakuzu's tactical dancing.
Relying entirely on the protection of her Tailed Beast cloak, Yugito chose not to dodge. Though she lacked battlefield experience, her tactical mind was far from incompetent. In a scenario like this, the more frantic she became, the more critical it was to regain her footing. She needed to wrest the initiative back from her opponent.
Tanking the impact of the shuriken and kunai head-on, Yugito ground to a halt. Her hands quickly snapped through two precise signs, and with a sharp pop, two shadow clones materialized, taking up defensive positions to her left and right.
Under the protection of her clones, she lowered her center of gravity, pressing both palms flat onto the water's surface. Her spine arched powerfully before dropping back down. The crimson Tailed Beast cloak rapidly condensed and receded into her body, revealing her true physical form once more. However, at the base of her spine, two distinct tails manifested from the dense, concentrated chakra.
"Beast Mimicry: Matatabi," Yugito whispered softly.
Within the swirling mist, Kakuzu's anomalous, stitched eyes, possessing unique sensory capabilities, distinctly tracked Yugito's physical metamorphosis. A flicker of genuine surprise crossed his features.
A Beast Mimicry technique?
Isn't that the signature style of Konoha's Inuzuka clan?
How does a shinobi from the Cloud possess such a technique?
However, Kakuzu quickly discerned the fundamental difference. The eerie, ghostly blue flames of Matatabi's chakra began to burn across Yugito's skin, swirling over her body like elegant, shifting patterns. Within a matter of moments, she transformed entirely into a miniature, bipedal version of the Two-Tails.
"I see. I misjudged it. That is the raw power of the Tailed Beast itself," Kakuzu muttered softly to himself.
Now resembling a miniature Matatabi, Yugito twitched her nose slightly, catching a scent in the air. This was her singular, specialized sensory technique. By isolating his scent, she locked onto Kakuzu's exact coordinates through the dense mist. A savage gleam filled her eyes. Digging her feet into the ground, she clawed forward, launching her body like a hunting leopard.
Her acceleration was so immense that her displacement created a sharp sonic pop within the heavy vapor!
To Yugito's perception, Kakuzu had failed to register her approach entirely. Closing the distance instantly, she slammed her hands onto his shoulders, utilizing her momentum to pin him flat against the water surface. Driven by pure feline instinct, Yugito bared her jaws, exposing the razor-sharp fangs of the Two-Tails as she lunged straight for his throat.
She knew with absolute certainty that this single bite would tear his throat wide open, decapitating him instantly.
Yet, at that exact microsecond of maximum proximity, Yugito finally saw her 'prey' with total clarity.
A mask???
When had he put on a mask?
No, wait... what was with the mass of black threads writhing beneath his clothes?
"Ninja Art: Fire Phosphorus Explosion!" Kakuzu's voice echoed cold and clear from a distance.
Panic seized Yugito's features. Her limbs surged with power as she desperately attempted to leap away from the decoy. However, the moment she had tackled the false 'Kakuzu', a massive cluster of black threads had erupted from the shell, winding tightly around her waist and pinning her to the spot.
A cataclysmic explosion detonated. Kakuzu had deliberately sacrificed one of his hearts as a self-detonating bomb.
The overwhelming kinetic and thermal energy swallowed Yugito entirely before blasting her body through the air. With a heavy splash, Yugito skipped across the distant water surface, nearly sinking into the depths. Channeling chakra to her palm, she forcefully gripped the water. As a trained shinobi, she understood perfectly that falling submerged in this state would result in water inhalation, a lapse that would prove instantly fatal.
Stabilizing her footing, Yugito took a ragged breath. She was in a wretched state; her garments were torn and charred, her skin bore extensive burn wounds, and her blonde hair was completely disheveled and scorched.
Kakuzu was monstrously ruthless, choosing to discard an entire life right at the opening move. Yet, it was precisely this massive gamble during what should have been a standard probing phase that allowed him to completely blindside Yugito, dealing her a devastating blow. Even with the advanced regenerative capabilities of a Jinchūriki, a trauma of this scale would severely hinder her performance for the foreseeable future. For all intents and purposes, the battle had been decided.
The exchange had been brief, yet Kakuzu had secured a definitive victory. It was a triumph of pure veteran experience.
From the very beginning, when he and Jūzō had unleashed their joint Fire Release: Twin Dragon Fire Technique, Kakuzu had noted that Yugito's Tailed Beast chakra possessed a heavy fire affinity. It wasn't standard fire, but a unique, ghostly blue blaze. The fact that she had emerged unscathed from their initial inferno proved her thermal resistance was exceptionally high, rendering standard Fire Release attacks entirely obsolete against her.
Consequently, Kakuzu immediately designated his fire-affinity heart as an expendable asset. Since it served no tactical purpose in a standard trade, it was far more efficient to weaponize it as a lethal trap.
The gamble had paid off perfectly.
However...
"Despicable bastard..." Yugito wheezed, clutching the severe burns on her chest as she spat a pained curse. She had never anticipated being dismantled so thoroughly in a single turn.
Despite holding a massive advantage and enduring her scorn, Kakuzu did not lower his guard to approach her. Instead, his hands shifted into a fresh sequence of signs as he muttered, "Water Release: Water Flow Binding!"
The water surrounding Yugito shifted rapidly, manifesting into dense, fluid ropes that lashed upward to constrict her movements. Seeing this, Yugito abandoned all restraint. Springing off all fours, her agile reflexes allowed her to narrowly evade the liquid bindings. Yet, as her feet touched down on the surface again, she stumbled visibly.
Simultaneously, Yugito's chakra signature began to swell exponentially. Her silhouette expanded rapidly as a tidal wave of primal energy flooded the area. The sheer, suffocating pressure rippled across the battlefield, violently displacing the remaining steam and water vapor.
"I figured it wouldn't be quite that simple," Kakuzu said softly.
"ROAR!!!"
Yugito had entered her Full Tailed Beast Mode, her physical form transforming completely into the legendary giant beast, Matatabi. The sheer visual majesty of the Two-Tails was undeniable, resembling a massive, noble deity of flame straight out of ancient mythology, elegant yet radiating an aura of absolute ferocity.
"You were far too careless, Yugito," the massive feline rumbled, its jaws moving as it spoke with a dual voice.
It was the conscious will of Matatabi itself! Yugito had willingly relinquished operational control of her physical vessel to the Tailed Beast.
"Now this... is turning into a bit of a nuisance," Kakuzu soliloquized, a trace of irritation entering his voice.
As expected, a Perfect Jinchūriki was an entirely different species compared to a standard host. A standard Jinchūriki would never dare surrender their consciousness so casually to their beast. A Perfect Jinchūriki, however, could seamlessly draw upon the full entity of the Tailed Beast, including its millenia of combat experience and tactical intellect.
"What's the situation here? You bastard, you fool~~~"
"Yugito, Matatabi, why have you, come out to play!? Yo, yo!"
A bizarre, incredibly clunky rap cadence suddenly drifted into the ears of both Kakuzu and Matatabi.
Kakuzu blinked, entirely bewildered by the absurd display. Matatabi, however, visibly relaxed its aggressive posture.
The shift caused Kakuzu's heart to sink. Reinforcements!
Before he could formulate a tactical response, a violent gust of wind sheared through the air. Kakuzu barely managed to alter his defensive alignment before an immense, crushing force slammed directly into his neck.
"Lightning Release: Lariat!!!"
Kakuzu sprayed a massive mouthful of blood as his body was violently launched through the air. He skipped across the water surface like a stone fired from a cannon, bouncing seven or eight times before crashing brutally into a stone cliff face, finally grinding to a halt.
"Killer B!" Matatabi's massive form dissipated into particles of chakra, leaving a heavily injured Yugito behind as she called out to the newcomer.
The arrival was indeed the Perfect Jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails, Killer B.
Unlike the relatively green Yugito, B might have behaved like an absolute eccentric, but he was a seasoned veteran who had forged his teeth in the fires of the Third Shinobi World War. His combat experience was on an entirely different tier.