Immortal Kakuzu

The flames died down, revealing Kakuzu's figure.

His clothes had burned away, and severe blackened burns covered his body.

Even with the physical reinforcement of the ninjutsu Earth Style: Earth Spear, he had still suffered grave injuries beneath the searing flames of Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame, one of the most powerful Fire Style ninjutsu.

"Cough, cough. Uchiha Fugaku, you've hidden yourself well!"

He braced himself with one hand, glaring viciously at Uchiha Fugaku.

He had come viewing Uchiha Fugaku as prey, only to suffer a crushing setback at his hands. Not only had he failed to injure Uchiha Fugaku, he himself had been severely wounded first.

To gravely injure someone with Kage-level strength like him, Uchiha Fugaku's strength had undoubtedly reached the Kage level.

The so-called fallen noble Uchiha Clan head was merely a façade he showed to the outside world.

He had hidden himself far too deeply. Despite possessing formidable Kage-level strength, he had concealed it, deceiving everyone.

"It's too late to realize that now!"

Uchiha Fugaku said coldly.

As he spoke, a gigantic meteor-like fireball appeared without any hand seals and shot toward Kakuzu at high speed.

Boom—

Too badly injured to evade, Kakuzu was struck by the gigantic meteor-like fireball once again, his body swallowed by blazing flames.

Moments later, the flames burned out. Kakuzu lay on the ground, charred black like a corpse, utterly motionless.

Only the faint rise and fall of his body indicated that he was not dead.

Whoosh—

Uchiha Fugaku appeared beside Kakuzu as though teleporting, driving a kunai toward Kakuzu's heart, now exposed after his grievous injuries had dispelled Earth Style: Earth Spear.

Squelch—

With the sound of steel piercing flesh, a bloody hole appeared in Kakuzu's chest.

His faintly rising body went completely still.

Whoosh—

The surrounding scenery abruptly changed.

Originally, the two attacks of Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame had scorched a vast area around them into blackened earth, filling the air with the heavy smell of smoke.

But all of it vanished in an instant.

The scorched ground disappeared. There was not even the slightest trace of burning anywhere nearby.

Only the blackened Kakuzu clutched his chest before collapsing to the ground with a thud.

"What's going on? The two had clearly only just encountered each other and hadn't had time to fight. How did Kakuzu end up severely injured?"

Several hundred meters away, Yamanaka Fu stared in astonishment at Kakuzu, who had suddenly fallen wounded.

He could not understand at all how Kakuzu had been injured.

From the moment Kakuzu encountered Uchiha Fugaku to the moment he was suddenly gravely wounded and fell, only a dozen or so breaths had passed.

During that time, he had only seen the two speak. He had not seen them fight at all.

He immediately ruled out genjutsu, because Kakuzu's injuries were real. Genjutsu could not inflict such wounds.

What he did not know was that Uchiha Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and had also gained a Dojutsu known as True Illusion.

As for the extremely short interval between their meeting and Kakuzu's injury, that was because although True Illusion could not turn an instant into twenty-four hours like Uchiha Itachi's Tsukuyomi, it could still manipulate time to a certain degree.

"Did he automatically exit the True Illusion after the target died?"

Uchiha Fugaku looked thoughtfully at Kakuzu's corpse as it hit the ground.

With Kakuzu's death, the True Illusion cast upon him had been dispelled.

The traces of destruction inflicted upon the surroundings within the illusion vanished, while the injuries inflicted upon Kakuzu remained.

"However, others may not understand the characteristics of Earth Grudge Fear, but how could I not?"

He looked mockingly at Kakuzu's "corpse."

Kakuzu had indeed been killed by him, but only once.

Through Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu could possess five hearts and, in theory, five lives.

To truly kill Kakuzu, he would have to kill him four more times.

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame."

His hands rapidly formed seals. A gigantic meteor-like fireball appeared and hurtled toward Kakuzu's corpse lying on the ground.

"Water Style: Water Curtain."

Just as the gigantic meteor-like fireball was about to strike him, Kakuzu, who had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead, suddenly flipped over and rose into a half-crouch, forming hand seals.

A rushing flood appeared, surging and churning as it formed a curtain of water against the incoming gigantic meteor-like fireball.

Sizzle, sizzle—

The two collided with a piercing sound.

The gigantic meteor-like fireball was extinguished, while the rushing flood was evaporated.

"How did you know I wasn't dead?"

Kakuzu stared at Uchiha Fugaku and asked in a deep voice.

With Earth Grudge Fear, he possessed five hearts and five lives.

After "killing him," many troublesome enemies had lowered their guard, only to be ambushed and killed by him in return.

Yet Uchiha Fugaku had noticed that he was not dead and had not fallen for it like his previous enemies.

"Unfortunately for you, I know a little about the Forbidden Jutsu, Earth Grudge Fear."

Somewhat disappointed that his ambush had failed, Uchiha Fugaku said coldly.

If the ambush had succeeded and destroyed another of Kakuzu's hearts, it should have saved him some trouble in the battle ahead.

Unfortunately, Kakuzu was extremely vigilant. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he immediately abandoned his act, preventing the ambush from succeeding.

"No wonder."

Realization colored Kakuzu's hoarse voice.

His opponent actually knew the characteristics of Earth Grudge Fear. No wonder he could not deceive him.

As for why his opponent knew of such an obscure Forbidden Jutsu, someone in his clan had likely dealt with it before and left behind relevant records.

Earth Grudge Fear was not a Forbidden Jutsu he had developed. Naturally, someone had used it before him.

"This is a loss. A Kage-level expert only has a bounty of thirty million."

He felt some regret.

Now that he had attempted to assassinate Uchiha Fugaku, even if he chose to withdraw, Uchiha Fugaku would certainly not let the matter rest.

If their positions were reversed, he definitely would not let it go either. He believed Uchiha Fugaku would be the same.

Therefore, the only thing he could do now was kill Uchiha Fugaku.

He violently flung off his Red Cloud Black Robe, revealing a muscular body clad in a black vest, its surface covered in stitched seams.

Snap, snap, snap!

Four strange masks were embedded in his back.

Accompanied by the sound of cords snapping loose, the four strange masks on his back began separating from his body, as though four monsters were crawling out from within him.

In the end, four bizarre monsters composed of masks and black tendrils emerged.

One monster's mask was shattered. The moment it emerged, it immediately collapsed to the ground and died.

The other three all exuded terrifying auras.

The strength of each aura surpassed that of an Elite Jonin.