An Immortal Body

Strange! Wasn't this guy dead...? How come he still has such a strong Chakra reaction!

Even though the bullet had pierced his heart, Kakuzu stood there as if nothing had happened, his expression and the light in his eyes showing none of the gloom of a dying man!

I cautiously stepped aside.

"You actually destroyed one of my hearts..." Kakuzu ripped open his cloak, revealing his upper body covered in stitches. "Then I'll take your heart to make amends!"

That's disgusting. This guy's body looks like a corpse stitched together! And, with one heart destroyed... that means he has more than one heart!

"You bastard, are you immortal?!"

"No... there is no such thing as immortality in this world!" Kakuzu's black threads shifted, and four strange creatures covered in black threads and wearing masks emerged from his back!

"Waaah..." One of the masks was shattered, with a large hole in the middle. It collapsed weakly to the ground as soon as it emerged, leaving a pool of blood. It seems that the monster I just killed was this one!

"Before my heart stops beating due to the limits of my lifespan, I seize fresh, healthy hearts and preserve them in my body. This way, I can keep myself alive indefinitely! Heh heh, I'm from the same era as the First Hokage!" Kakuzu said, stretching his body. "Including my own heart, I've preserved five in total!"

In other words, I need to kill him four more times...! Moreover, I don't know where his heart is hiding, and Kakuzu's whole body is covered in those strange black lines. I suspect that the black lines are his true form!

Five hearts, they should correspond to the five attributes, right?

"You want to take my heart to make amends... In other words, I destroyed the water-attribute heart?" I asked tentatively.

"Anyway, you're about to die... so telling you won't hurt. You are indeed missing a water-attribute heart!" Kakuzu's eerie green eyes stared at me like I was already dead. "Alright, enough chit-chat, let's continue!"

Continuing? I don't want to keep fighting. I just turned off "Lightning Flash Shadow," which I secretly activated before the battle started. My nervous system is currently in a remission period and it will take a few minutes to reactivate. Without this Ninjutsu, my reaction speed is greatly reduced, and I can't fight at the same high speed as before!

We need to find a chance to retreat!

The monsters behind Kakuzu stirred again. Suddenly, a masked monster wearing a blue mask and crawling on all fours like an animal and another round, fat masked monster with a huge red, blood-red mouth came together. The black lines on their bodies intertwined and they merged into a monster with two masks!

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

Fire Style: Searing Migraine!

The combined masked monster unleashed Ninjutsu simultaneously from both its left and right masks!

The Chakra, compressed to an extremely high density, formed a raging gust of wind, sweeping away everything in its path at incredible speed; flames, sweeping in like a tsunami, engulfed everything, turning all that could burn to ashes.

It's that move again! I can't defend against it; blocking it head-on would consume too much Chakra, so I have no choice but to dodge!

Ice Release: Ice Mirror Body Flicker Technique!

Having just emerged from the mirror, it was immediately met with Earth Release masked monster's Ninjutsu attack.

Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!

Boom--! Boom--!...

The relentless barrage of mid-to-high-level Ninjutsu left me constantly on the run! Without the high reaction speed provided by Lightning Flash Shadow, I was Kakuzu a step behind Kakuzu, forced to passively defend myself! It was like facing a barrage of attacks from four Ninjutsu -type ninjas simultaneously. Although Azure Water Release could block most Ninjutsu, and even Ninjutsu that couldn't be blocked could be dodged with Monstrous Strength Body Flicker Technique or Ice Body Flicker Technique, the battle had already fallen into Kakuzu's rhythm, and my stamina and Chakra were being constantly depleted!

Facing such a ninja is truly a headache! Kakuzu whether Kakuzu has actually lived since the time of the First, in the current battle, he has indeed displayed extremely high skill and experience. His tactics of pressing forward step by step without being reckless have left me only able to dodge and hide, like an insect trapped in a spider web, unable to struggle! To break this deadlock, I must find an opening and use my Water Blade Technique to take down one of the masked monsters first, otherwise I can only continue to passively take hits like this!

Bang--

I jumped slightly to dodge a Flame Bullet, and reached into the pocket of my vest. There were only two scrolls of Ultra-Pure Water left!

My heart skipped a beat.

When I left, I only brought five scrolls containing Ultra-Pure Water, plus two Sealing Jutsu techniques on my arm, thinking it would be more than enough. Unexpectedly, I encountered members of Akatsuki and fought them. The battle just now depleted my supplies in my hands and the three scrolls. In such an intense fight, it's difficult to effectively recover the Ultra-Pure Water. Water shields that couldn't be retrieved in time, after losing Chakra and falling to the ground, became contaminated with soil and were no different from ordinary water!

There are still one or two scrolls left—enough for me to make a final push! As long as I can take down the Earth Release monster first, a huge gap will appear in Kakuzu's perfect Ninjutsu bombardment, and he will no longer be able to suppress me!

"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"

Kakuzu's Ninjutsu attack interrupted my thoughts!

Using Chakra to break the seal on the large scroll, I extracted a large amount of Ultra-Pure Water in one go!

"Azure Water Release: Absolute Defense!"

A large amount of water formed an oval-shaped water shell in the air. The thick water shield easily blocked the huge rock spears rising from the ground. However, the water shield formed by the large amount of water could not move quickly, which meant that I became a sitting duck!

The Earth Release monster continued to release Chakra, instantly turning the entire land into rock spears. Hundreds and thousands of giant spears rapidly rose up, densely packed, and rushed towards my water shield! It seemed determined to test the limits of my Azure Water Release defense!

Lightning Release: Earth Flow!

Although I was suspended in mid-air, the lightning generated by the Earth Flow struck me along with the thrust of the rock spear!

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!" "Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

The two-headed monster also used Ninjutsu at the same time! After only a slight pause, Kakuzu seized the opportunity to trap me, and then used all his Ninjutsu to finish me off in one go!

However, this is exactly the situation I wanted—I finally created an opening before the defenses were breached!

Water Release: Wind Cutter Water Blade!

Swish--

A flash of blue light streaked across the battlefield.

The rock spear blocking the way was easily cut in half, the Earth Release monster's mask was blasted to smithereens, and it fell to the ground, blood splattering everywhere, and a stream of water shot up!

Hundreds of arrows simultaneously stopped thrusting. Deprived of Chakra support, they froze in mid-air, and the lightning also came to a halt!

Boom--!

Fueled by the wind, the fire became even more powerful, crashing violently into the water sphere! Instantly, the water shield evaporated completely at a visible speed!

However, before that, I had already used Ice Body Flicker Technique to hide on the ground--

Tactical success!

The smile that had just appeared on my face froze on my lips.

Bilibili--!

Kakuzu's Lightning Release: Earth Flow was still being released, and the electricity struck my body along the water's surface! I felt an indescribable numbness and stinging pain, and my body was instantly immobilized! I was careless!

Just then, I sensed something moving behind my head. I turned around and saw a strange weapon slashing viciously toward my neck!

"Haha! This time, it's your turn to taste what it's like to be ambushed!"

Hidan, seemingly unharmed, swung his three-bladed scythe at my neck as a gaping Hidan in his chest, still gushing blood.

What happened?! Wasn't he dead?!

I tried desperately to move my body, but paralyzed by the lightning, I couldn't move at all! The last Ultra-Pure Water was still in the scroll, and the Azure Water Release from before had been completely evaporated by Kakuzu!

Damn it—it's undefendable and unavoidable!

Whoosh--

At the last moment, I forcibly reconnected my paralyzed nervous system with Lightning Flash Shadow and moved my neck! The scythe only managed to cut a small gash on my shoulder, from which a little blood flowed out!

Dodging the scythe, a surge of anger flashed through my mind. How long had it been since I'd been injured before my stamina and Chakra were depleted? I unleashed a powerful back kick using the Monstrous Strength Technique, sending Hidan flying over a hundred meters away! I wondered how many more bones and internal organs this kick had Hidan. An ordinary person would probably be dead instantly, but for Hidan, whose heart had been shattered yet he was still beating Hidan, I had no idea how much damage it could do to him!

What on earth is going on?! It wasn't a clone, nor was it Genjutsu. I definitely blew Hidan's heart out, so why isn't he dead yet?!

Huff--! Huff! I looked at Kakuzu, panting heavily. The Lightning Release damage I had just suffered had greatly reduced my stamina!

"Another immortal being...!" My expression must be terrible right now. "You two monsters!"

"To have managed to hold out against me this long, and to be so young yet already possess such strength, you're a monster!"

Kakuzu didn't continue his assault on me. Judging from his relaxed expression, the battle seemed to be over. What was going on?! His bizarre immortality and the predicament I was in were making me extremely frustrated! I had a bad feeling, as if I was about to die!

I don't understand! Even if Hidan is immortal, even if he doesn't have much Ultra-Pure Water left, I should be the one with the advantage right now! Lightning Flash Shadow Kakuzu has been activated again, and in a high-speed battle, Kakuzu can't beat me. No matter how strong Hidan is, he's countered by Azure Water Release and Monstrous Strength Technique. I still have a little over 30% of my stamina and Chakra left, but Kakuzu been using advanced Ninjutsu for so long, he's also very tired! How could I not beat them?

What exactly is this ominous premonition?!

Do they have some Secret Technique? Let's just make sure they don't have time to use Secret Technique!

Ice Release: Ice Mirror Body Flicker Technique!

I passed through the ice mirror and instantly appeared behind the masked monster, a fusion of Wind Release and Fire Style techniques. I shoved the ice Kunai, glowing with blue wind-style Chakra, into the Fire Style monster's gaping red maw! Boom! Flesh and blood splattered everywhere!

Even the most threatening Fire Style monster was destroyed in one strike!

The Wind Release monster hastily disintegrated, using Wind Release Ninjutsu to block me, and flew back onto Kakuzu. Kakuzu's eyes, already cold, now held a hint of anxiety!

Puff--

The Wind Cutter struck my water shield, producing only a faint sound. Having lost three hearts in succession, Kakuzu has lost most of his fighting ability. I've already won this battle!

I conjured another ice Kunai, preparing to continue my attack, when suddenly a sharp pain shot through my left chest! Looking down, I saw a large hole torn open in my left chest, where my heart was located, and blood was gushing out of the wound!

Thump, thump, thump--thump!

My heart rate dropped to its lowest point instantly, until it stopped beating altogether!

I fell to the ground, and blood filled the crater.

My heart was pierced! An immense pain surged through my brain instantly. If it weren't for the Lightning Flash Shadow still being active, allowing me to sever the nerves with my Chakra in time, I probably would have died from the pain!

Instinctively, I used Medical Ninjutsu to try and stop the bleeding and stitch up the wound.

However, the heart had been completely destroyed, and even if the wound was stitched up, the heartbeat could not be restored!

I'm going to die.

I suddenly realized this. When the heart stops beating, the blood loses its ability to circulate, the circulatory system stops working, and the various parts of the body will soon cease to function due to lack of oxygen.

First and foremost... is the brain. Five minutes of oxygen deprivation will cause irreversible damage to the brain. Ten minutes of oxygen deprivation will result in complete brain death.

In other words, I only have a few minutes left.

I feel my consciousness fading.

Darkness... is descending.