Uchiha Gen took only a short while to harvest the souls and lifespans of the downed bounty hunters.
Once the task was complete, he summoned Orochimaru, handing the corpses over to him before turning his attention to the real prize...Kakuzu.
Using the Flying Thunder God mark left on Shuryu, Gen flashed instantly into the sky, reappearing above his massive summon's head.
Below, Kakuzu was running for his life.
Shuryu's bombardment of golden-white Exploding Flame Bullets rained down like aerial bombs. Each detonation carved huge craters into the earth, shattered trees into splinters, and left blazing infernos in its wake.
Kakuzu wasn't running because he feared Shuryu. What he truly dreaded was Gen catching up, once the Uchiha joined the fight directly, escape would become impossible.
That was why Kakuzu kept retreating instead of counterattacking.
The chase drove them to a wide river.
When Kakuzu saw Gen appear atop Shuryu, his heart sank, but desperation gave rise to fury. He skidded to a halt at the riverbank and snapped open the mouth of his Water Release mask.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
Despite its name, this jutsu wasn't defensive. A torrent of pressurized water cannons blasted from the mask's mouth, fanning out at a brutal angle that covered both Shuryu and Gen in the air above.
Gen's eyes narrowed.
He quickly formed a single hand sign.
Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!
A stream of golden-white flame erupted from his lips, coiling into the vague shape of a dragon.
Sizzle...!
Steam exploded into the air as the high-pressure water collided with the dragon's fire, the two forces clashing violently in mid-air. Billowing clouds of white mist swallowed the battlefield, obscuring vision in every direction.
Kakuzu seized the moment. With the Sharingan's sight hindered, he gathered the remaining power of his Lightning, Wind, and Fire masks into his right arm.
Earth Grudge Fear: Final Shot!
This was his trump card, a triple-attribute attack, more than double the destructive force of his usual composite jutsu.
A dark blue chakra cannon roared to life, compressed energy shrieking forward at near-light speed, tearing a path straight through the mist.
Even rudimentary compared to true bloodline techniques, the sheer raw force of this attack could still obliterate anything in its path. Against most opponents, it would have been decisive.
But Uchiha Gen was not most opponents.
Though the steam cloud blinded ordinary vision, it couldn't conceal chakra itself. Through the Soul Perception of his Spirit Transformation Technique, the surging storm of energy was as obvious to Gen as the full moon on a dark night.
Gen hurled Shizukamaru toward Kakuzu.
In the same motion, he marked Shuryu with Flying Thunder God and vanished in a blink, reappearing at another prepared seal.
The chakra cannon ripped through the empty fog.
Its immense destructive power howled past harmlessly.
Shizukamaru, meanwhile, cut cleanly through the mist, its blade aimed for Kakuzu's head.
Snarling, Kakuzu lashed out with a whip of black threads, trying to swat the blade aside. But Shizukamaru twisted mid-flight, adjusting its course as though alive, slipping past the counter.
Kakuzu jerked away at the last instant, barely avoiding death.
And then Gen appeared right in front of him.
Utilizing the Flying Thunder God mark embedded on Shizukamaru, Gen materialized directly at Kakuzu's side.
One hand, wreathed in wind chakra, became a razor-sharp blade that sliced clean through Kakuzu's neck. His other palm pressed against Kakuzu's abdomen.
The immortal bounty hunter's body collapsed, head rolling free.
But it didn't last.
The headless corpse convulsed, and black threads erupted from its neck and skull, stitching the pieces back together in seconds. The reattached body lurched upright, grotesque and unsteady, while a ruined Lightning Release mask tore free from its back.
Shuryu wheeled in a wide arc, circling low to the ground.
Perched atop, Gen observed calmly, Shizukamaru resting in his grip. "Strange," he said lightly. "Grotesque, but impressive. Our abilities are oddly alike, you with your masks, me with my Homies."
His eyes glinted. "Tell me, Kakuzu… are those black threads of yours really everywhere? Even down there? Don't tell me you've lost all function as a man."
Kakuzu's stitched face twitched at the barb. "You flatter me. Compared to your summoned puppets, my Earth Grudge Fear masks are nothing but mindless constructs. Yours show intelligence equal to top-tier summoning beasts. And you… you're using the Flying Thunder God Technique, aren't you?"
His tone was grim, wary. After seeing it firsthand, he no longer dared mistake it for mere body flicker.
"Good eye," Gen replied with a faint smile. "But I don't appreciate you ignoring me."
With a casual flick, Shizukamaru stabbed into the earth. A surge of black lightning spread through the soil, annihilating the threads Kakuzu had hidden underground for a sneak attack.
Kakuzu's face hardened. "As expected of the 'Fear Shura', renowned across the shinobi world."
Gen smirked. "Not a bad trick yourself. Distract me with talk while your traps crawl beneath my feet? Clever. Too bad it won't work."
The brief exchange ended, and the battlefield exploded once again.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Kakuzu bellowed.
Suzaku answered with a golden-white torrent of fire, fanned into a roaring inferno by the rushing wind. The blaze stretched over twenty meters wide, an advancing wall of heat and destruction.
Kakuzu countered with his Fire and Wind masks.
"Fire Release: Head Hardness!
Wind Release: Pressure Damage!
Composite Technique: Bizarre Mask Exploding Flame!"
The twin masks expelled searing flames mixed with cutting gales, colliding with Shuryu's torrent. The battlefield was consumed by a clashing sea of fire, each side refusing to yield.
And then Gen vanished again.
Using the Flying Thunder God mark left on Kakuzu's abdomen earlier, he reappeared right in front of his foe. A Rasengan spun into life in his palm and slammed into Kakuzu's chest before the man could even blink.
Boom!
Kakuzu was hurled across the battlefield, smashing into the river with bone-shaking force.
The Wind Release mask burst free from his back, writhing. His head swam, his body unsteady. Instinctively, he touched the spot on his abdomen where Gen's palm had landed.
His black threads wriggled frantically, ejecting the patch of skin entirely. The tainted flesh sloughed off into the water. Kakuzu dragged himself from the riverbank, gasping.
It wasn't deep enough to escape. There would be no hiding in the shallows.
He looked up and saw Shuryu cutting through the firestorm with Shizukamaru by its side, both returning to Gen. For the first time, the immortal mercenary felt something like awe.
So this was the true scale of Uchiha Gen's power. And this wasn't even his thundercloud technique.
Perhaps only the Akatsuki's leader could rival such strength.
If he lived through this, he swore he'd strangle the fool who'd ever suggested Gen's bounty was easy prey.
Beg for mercy? Never. He was obsessed with money, not afraid of death.
Kakuzu steadied himself on the river's surface. His Water mask sank back into his body. From the back of his neck erupted a mane of gray-black threads like a lion's ruff, spilling also from his mouth until he resembled a monster more than a man.
"Hey," Gen called, amused. "That form of yours…"
Kakuzu raised his head, only to meet the scarlet glow of Gen's Mangekyo Sharingan.
Too late.
Damn it. I was careless. He hadn't used genjutsu before, so I thought...
That was Kakuzu's last coherent thought before the illusion swallowed him.
Shizukamaru shot forward, extending like a spear, and pierced cleanly through Kakuzu's heart. The Fire Release mask ripped free from his back, disintegrating.
Kakuzu revived yet again, forced back into his body by the Water mask. His chest heaved, his brow furrowed, sweat dripping as he panted raggedly.
This endless cycle, this futile struggle against an opponent always one step ahead, it was too familiar. It was the same fear, the same suffocating sense of helplessness, he had once felt when standing before the First Hokage.
And now he felt it again, at the hands of Uchiha Gen.
Gen tilted his head, voice almost casual. "So… are you interested in working for me?"