Masked Monsters

"The intensity of their chakra was even greater than that of Elite Jonin!"

Sensing the aura emitted by the three masked monsters, Uchiha Fugaku's expression turned grave.

Kakuzu alone had already been difficult enough to deal with. With three masked monsters at least as strong as Elite Jonin added to the mix, things would only become more troublesome.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet."

Killing intent radiated from Kakuzu as his hands rapidly formed seals and he launched an attack at Uchiha Fugaku.

A massive water dragon burst from his mouth, baring its fangs and claws as it roared toward Uchiha Fugaku.

Whoosh—

Uchiha Fugaku flashed away from where he stood, evading the lunging water dragon.

The water dragon slammed into the ground, blasting a huge crater into it.

Just then, a masked monster appeared directly above Uchiha Fugaku.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness."

The airborne masked monster opened its mouth, and a bolt of lightning shaped like a spear extended outward, slashing at Uchiha Fugaku.

Crack, crack, crack—

A large swath of trees was struck by the lightning spear and severed at once, as though sliced through by a sharp blade.

The cuts were as smooth as if made by a knife, though unnaturally charred black.

Uchiha Fugaku hurriedly flashed away again, narrowly avoiding the sharp lightning spear.

But before he could even catch his breath, a masked monster appeared diagonally above and in front of him.

"Wind Style: Wicked Sickness."

A spherical mass of violent wind emerged from the monster's mouth, rapidly expanding as it assaulted Uchiha Fugaku.

It covered an enormous area and possessed tremendous power.

Trees, soil, stones...

Everything was sliced apart and blown away.

Faced with such a wide-ranging attack, even with Uchiha Fugaku's speed, he could not evade it in time.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation."

No longer attempting to dodge, Uchiha Fugaku formed hand seals.

A vast sea of flames poured from his mouth, surging and roiling as it met the violent wind head-on.

Boom—

The violent wind stopped advancing toward him, intercepted not far in front of him.

However, his crisis was far from over.

As he paused to use ninjutsu to block the incoming spherical gale, a masked monster appeared behind him and opened its mouth.

"Fire Style: Headhunter."

A Fire Style ninjutsu somewhat similar to the one he had just used was unleashed.

A vast sea of flames poured down from the sky, surging violently toward him.

Unable to dodge and unable to use ninjutsu to defend himself, Uchiha Fugaku was plunged into danger.

"Even if you've reached the Kage-level, you'll still die here today!"

Through the masked monsters' vision, Kakuzu could clearly see Uchiha Fugaku.

His green eyes were cold and grim, and a chilling smile curved across his lips.

Whoosh—

The flames engulfed Uchiha Fugaku. Like Kakuzu earlier, Uchiha Fugaku was wrapped within a vast expanse of fire.

A moment later, the flames gradually died down.

Within the broad area that had been engulfed by fire, every tree had been burned to ash, and the ground had turned completely charred black.

Since this was not inside an illusion, the devastation was plainly visible.

"Uchiha Fugaku has lost!"

Several hundred meters away, Yamanaka Fu silently thought as he watched Uchiha Fugaku being swallowed by the flames.

The reversal had come far too suddenly.

Kakuzu, who had originally suffered severe injuries, had abruptly recovered.

Not only that, he had released three masked monsters from within his body to join him in besieging Uchiha Fugaku.

Surrounded by Kakuzu and the three masked monsters, Uchiha Fugaku had been struck by a terrifying Fire Style ninjutsu. His chances of survival were likely slim.

"As expected of an S-rank rogue ninja rumored to possess Kage-level strength!"

A strong sense of wariness rose within him. He did his best to suppress his presence, avoiding detection by Kakuzu.

Uchiha Fugaku was no match for Kakuzu, and neither was he.

If Kakuzu discovered him, his chances of survival would be slim.

"No, that... is?"

Suddenly, shock filled his eyes as he stared in disbelief at where the flames had vanished.

A colossal figure had appeared there.

It was composed of countless black bones, standing seven or eight meters tall, like the upper half of a monster over ten meters in height.

Within the massive construct, a figure could vaguely be seen. It was none other than Uchiha Fugaku.

Uchiha Fugaku had not died. Instead, he had survived by blocking Kakuzu's Fire Style ninjutsu with some kind of technique.

"What kind of... ninjutsu is this?"

Kakuzu stared gravely at Uchiha Fugaku, who was encased within the black skeleton.

Uchiha Fugaku blocking his Fire Style ninjutsu had surprised him, but not overly so.

After all, Uchiha Fugaku was a Kage-level expert. It was not strange for him to possess some special defensive ninjutsu.

What truly startled him was the immense danger he sensed from that enormous black half-skeleton.

It made the hairs on his body stand on end and gave him an irresistible urge to turn and flee.

"You actually forced me to use Susanoo!"

Blood tears streamed from his eyes as Uchiha Fugaku's gaze turned icy.

Susanoo was a Dojutsu residing within the eyes, a powerful ocular technique that could only be used when both Mangekyō eyes were present.

Its power was immense, but the damage it inflicted on the eyes was equally severe—far worse than True Illusion.

If possible, he did not want to use Susanoo.

But Kakuzu's strength had forced him to do so.

"I need to end this quickly!"

Susanoo damaged his eyes every moment it remained active, so he had to finish the fight as quickly as possible.

He turned and looked behind him, toward the masked monster that had just unleashed the Fire Style ninjutsu.

Whoosh—

Susanoo's gigantic hand rose and swiftly reached for the masked monster in the sky.

Realizing Uchiha Fugaku's intent, Kakuzu hurriedly controlled the masked monster to evade.

However, Susanoo was simply too fast. Before the masked monster could dodge, Susanoo's hand had already seized it.

Like a gigantic hand of steel, it restrained the masked monster so tightly that it could not break free at all.

"Fire Style: Headhunter."

Seeing that the masked monster had failed to evade and been captured, Kakuzu reacted at once. He immediately controlled it to unleash ninjutsu, using Fire Style to burn Susanoo's hand.

Unfortunately, even under that powerful Fire Style ninjutsu, Susanoo's hand remained completely unharmed.

Susanoo combined offense and defense. While possessing tremendous attack power, its defensive strength was also extraordinarily formidable—far beyond what ordinary ninjutsu could damage.

Crack—

Susanoo's hand tightened, crushing the masked monster's body as though it were made of paper.

Thud—

The violently struggling masked monster stopped struggling. Its body, formed from black tendrils, seemed to melt into liquid, leaving only its shattered mask to fall to the ground.