Thanks to Chakra,
ninjas could fight across all kinds of extreme terrain.
At this moment,
Uchiha Ci stood on an almost ninety-degree vertical cliff face, his Sharingan filled with gravity.
Ahead of him, beneath the dim night sky, Kakuzu in Earth Grudge Fear Mode shot toward him like an arrow!
Behind him lay an abyss where a fall meant certain death.
There was no retreat. Only battle!
The wind sweeping up from the valley floor tangled Uchiha Ci's long hair. His gaze remained calm as his hands formed Hand Seals, pale red Chakra gathering in his palms!
Then, his five fingers touched the ground,
and slammed fiercely against the cliff face!
A massive circular Cipher Jutsu rapidly spread out. A pale red barrier of light locked onto Kakuzu before suddenly flaring to life!
Inheriting and surpassing Kumogakure's Super · Deathmatch Barrier,
Domain Expansion!
In midair, Kakuzu's eyes suddenly narrowed as he instinctively sensed something was wrong.
This brat was clearly as weak as a chick,
yet not only did he refuse to run, he actually dared to counterattack?
He even wanted to trap him with a barrier?
Kakuzu was completely baffled.
What was this supposed to do to an old comrade in his seventies?
Was he trying to deceive him, then launch a sneak attack?
Steady and composed by nature, skilled at thinking, and possessing exceptional battle intelligence, Kakuzu had survived from the Warring States Period until today through those very qualities. In an instant, countless tactical possibilities flashed through his mind as he tried to figure out what the brat was plotting.
Eight tendrils abruptly stabbed into the cliff face, halting his momentum.
But it was already too late. A pale red wall of barrier light had enveloped both him and Uchiha Ci!
Once the dust settled,
Kakuzu stared blankly at the barrier containing only himself and Uchiha Ci.
Even with his CPU smoking, he couldn't figure out what this brat was trying to do.
Had this brat fried his brain? He'd isolated all his teammates outside. What was a Single Tomoe Sharingan Uchiha like him supposed to use to fight him?
Nearby,
after hearing Uchiha Ci's high-spirited, battle-hungry question, Mei Terumi's gaze regained its calm.
There was even a tiny spark of fighting spirit in her eyes.
For Mei Terumi, who had aspired since childhood to become Kirigakure's Mizukage, who was fiercely ambitious and longed to lead Kirigakure to glory,
her performance just now had left even herself ashamed.
Now that she had rallied herself for another battle,
she was determined to display the bearing of a Kirigakure genius!
With Uchiha Ci's barrier in place, her other Kekkei Genkai, Boil Release, could finally prove immensely useful!
Even if their opponent was Kakuzu, an S-Rank Rogue Ninja of the ninja world and the Underground Exchange's Super Enforcer,
she... she...
Wait,
Mei Terumi suddenly went blank.
Had Uchiha Ci placed the barrier in the wrong spot?
"Hey, hey, hey, Uchiha Ci, I'm not inside yet!"
Mei Terumi hurriedly pounded on the barrier and cried out:
"Open the door and let me in!"
"What are you doing?"
Cold sweat immediately poured down Mei Terumi's forehead as she stared, dumbfounded, at Uchiha Ci, only one step away yet seemingly separated from her by heaven and earth.
It was as if she could already see a halo hanging over the boy's head as he smiled, waved at her, and ascended to heaven on the spot.
Between them, a pale red barrier screen suddenly rose.
Mei Terumi's pupils contracted as she urgently shouted, "Have you lost your mind? Are you really going to fight this monster alone?"
Seeing the barrier rise, completely placing himself and Kakuzu in the same space to breathe the same air,
Uchiha Ci smiled.
He turned to look at Mei Terumi, his eyes like a river of stars flowing through the night sky, filled with an indescribable meaning.
"Sorry, Tsukikyuu Mei."
"This is my escape route."
Uchiha Ci paused, looked toward the two behind him, smiled freely, and explained:
"Our opponent is an S-Rank Rogue Ninja with Kage Level Power."
"He's an opponent we have no way of defeating, no matter how hard we fight. So this is the only method I could think of."
"Lure him to a suitable location, then deploy the barrier to delay him."
"Tsukikyuu Mei, take Hidan and leave immediately!"
"Afterward, I don't care what you want to do."
"But—"
"Right now, this place is my battlefield!"
With that, Uchiha Ci calmly turned around.
Then,
he drew a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch and held it in a reverse grip before his cheek. The cold gleam of its edge pointed at Kakuzu as his lips curled into an arrogant sneer.
"Mr. Kakuzu."
"You want to hurt them?"
"Then step over my Corpse first!"
"Tch." Kakuzu frowned slightly and looked at Uchiha Ci with faint annoyance.
The farewell instructions in front of him invisibly struck a vulnerable place deep within his heart.
Back when he had been Takigakure's elite, he had encountered a similar scene.
It had also been a life-or-death crisis, a moment of utmost urgency.
Yet unlike Uchiha Ci, who now willingly stayed behind to sacrifice himself, what Kakuzu received back then was betrayal.
The team assigned to assassinate the God of Shinobi had fallen apart midway through the mission. His teammates betrayed him and fled, leaving all responsibility on Kakuzu's shoulders and forcing him to press onward.
When Kakuzu had gone alone, trembling with fear, to assassinate that godlike existence, he had failed just as expected. After returning to the village in a daze,
what he received was not the village's comfort, not his companions' understanding. There were no flowers or praise, not even a hospital bed where he could tend to his wounds.
What awaited him was the charge of mission failure and severe punishment—
A ninja who had wagered his life for the village was instead treated cruelly.
"Ah, another one of these boring Ninja Games."
Kakuzu shook his head. Looking at Uchiha Ci opposite him, he unexpectedly felt interested enough to say a few more words.
It was as though he had seen his former self, crossing the long passage of time to speak clearly and coldly to his younger self:
"Poor brat,"
"See reality for what it is! Nothing in this world will always go your way."
"The longer you live, the more you'll understand that reality contains nothing but helplessness, pain, and emptiness."
"Teammates who once swore to live and die beside you will stab you in the back;
beliefs you wagered everything on will be smashed into worthlessness by a wooden palm;
the higher-ups you offer loyalty to will only treat you as a tool, ready to discard you at any time."
Kakuzu paused, a trace of fanaticism flashing in his eyes.
"But,"
"only money will never betray you."
After hearing that, Uchiha Ci took a deep breath. Old man, you're absolutely right!
What bonds? What friendship? That's all stuff used to fool children.
Everything I've done was for those five hundred million! Wasn't it all for this very moment?
Uchiha Ci nodded in agreement, then suddenly opened his Sharingan.
He adjusted himself to his peak condition.
At this point,
he would offer up everything he had gained through all his training and struggle,
then ignite all that accumulation in an instant, turning it into power!
He looked at Kakuzu and shouted clearly:
"Come on, monster!"
"Here and now!"
"Grant me the death fate has ordained for me!"
A scarlet gleam flashed through Uchiha Ci's eyes as he lowered his body and charged forward!
With a flick of his reverse grip, he sent three Shuriken flying. One shot fiercely toward Kakuzu's chest, while the other two collided in midair, changing their trajectories and curving toward the masks hidden beneath the Black Robe on Kakuzu's back.
Having information on Kakuzu, he naturally knew that his opponent possessed an "immortal body."
Only by destroying the five hearts beneath the five masks could he kill him completely!
However,
facing Uchiha Ci, who ignored his advice, showed no change in expression, and even dared to launch the first attack as he charged straight at him,
Kakuzu instead withdrew the tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear. His gaze remained indifferent, while the chill in his eyes grew ever stronger.
He slowly unbuttoned his Black Robe and casually tossed it aside.
A tall, muscular body covered in stitching was exposed to the night wind.
He raised a fist slightly, rolled his shoulders, and sneered with utter contempt and disdain.
"Poor brat, you think you're tough?"
"Then let this old man teach you—"
"what it means to face"
"reality!"
[Kakuzu looked down on your bravery and seemed to want to beat you into a pigheaded mess.] [Courage was the crystallization of human wisdom. Anyone who belittled courage would receive Gomon's righteous punishment!] [S-Rank long-term mission triggered—] [Make Kakuzu understand that courage was something greater than money!] [Settlement checkpoints would be determined by changes in the target's level of understanding: understand, join, surpass. Current progress: 0/3.]
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