The Might of Susanoo

"You deserve to die!"

Kakuzu's expression darkened when he saw the masked creature killed.

Each masked creature represented one of his lives. With this one slain, he had lost another life.

"Wind Style: Wicked Sickness."

Under his control, the masked creature in front opened its mouth and spat out a spherical mass of violent wind.

Like a sphere formed from countless high-speed spinning blades, it hurtled toward Uchiha Fugaku.

"You think a ninjutsu like this can break Susanoo's defenses?"

Standing within the black Susanoo, Uchiha Fugaku emanated an eerie, chilling aura.

Seeing the spherical gale approaching, Susanoo extended its millstone-sized hand and seized the ball of wind in its grip.

Clang, clang, clang!

The spherical gale spun rapidly in its grasp, slicing at Susanoo's massive hand.

Unfortunately, though Susanoo's hand was not metal, it was several times harder than steel.

The cutting gale failed to leave even a scratch, producing only crisp sounds of impact.

Crush—

With a slight squeeze from Susanoo's giant hand, the spherical gale was completely crushed and dispersed, vanishing without a trace.

Susanoo's other hand swiftly reached for the masked creature that had used Wind Style: Wicked Sickness.

"Retreat—"

Already prepared, Kakuzu controlled the masked creature to retreat rapidly, moving beyond the reach of Susanoo's giant hand.

He did not have many hearts left. He absolutely could not allow Uchiha Fugaku to keep destroying them like this.

Otherwise, he would likely face grave danger today.

"You think that means you can evade it?"

Uchiha Fugaku let out a light laugh. Susanoo's attacks were not so easy to dodge.

The giant hand of Susanoo, which had already extended to its limit, suddenly stretched forward.

It lengthened by more than ten meters, grabbing the masked creature that had used Wind Style: Wicked Sickness.

Susanoo was formed from materialized chakra. As long as more chakra was infused into it, its arms could be extended beyond their original reach.

Not only that, it could even repair a damaged body.

Crack—

Susanoo's giant hand tightened, crushing the masked creature that had used Wind Style: Wicked Sickness to death.

At this point, only one masked creature remained.

"Damn it!"

With another masked creature killed, Kakuzu's expression became exceedingly ugly, and his wariness surged.

Uchiha Fugaku's strength had far exceeded his expectations.

Not only had he reached Kage-level, he was even beyond ordinary Kage-level.

Among all the people Kakuzu had encountered so far, Fugaku's strength could rank third.

Though it was only third place, that was enough to show just how terrifying Uchiha Fugaku was.

After all, the two ahead of him were Hashirama Senju, known as the God of Shinobi, and the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, who possessed the legendary Rinnegan.

Whoosh—

Under his control, the sole remaining lightning-element masked creature swiftly flew back and merged into his body once more.

It transformed into a head and appeared on his left shoulder.

"Water Style: Water Formation Pillar."

"Lightning Style: False Darkness."

Kakuzu himself used Water Style ninjutsu, forming a water pillar with tremendous impact force.

The remaining lightning-element masked creature used Lightning Style, channeling lightning into the water pillar. Flashing with electric light, it surged toward Uchiha Fugaku.

This was a composite ninjutsu!

Formed from two combined ninjutsu, its power was greater than one plus one, vastly surpassing either individual technique. It was Kakuzu's trump card.

"An interesting technique, but you think this can contend against Susanoo? Futile!"

Uchiha Fugaku's face turned cold. Susanoo's giant hand spread open like an enormous millstone and slammed toward the incoming lightning-charged water pillar.

Crush—

The lightning-charged water pillar was shattered, while Susanoo's giant hand remained completely unharmed.

Just as Uchiha Fugaku had said, a composite ninjutsu alone could not damage Susanoo.

A Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu might stand a chance.

"Even that didn't work?"

Seeing the combined lightning-water pillar technique easily shattered, Kakuzu's expression turned grim, and deep apprehension involuntarily showed in his eyes.

Even the strongest ninjutsu he could use had failed to harm this black skeletal monster in the slightest, let alone Uchiha Fugaku, protected within it.

This was no longer prey he could hunt. The urge to retreat rose in his heart.

"Water Style: Water Formation Pillar."

"Lightning Style: False Darkness."

He unleashed the combined ninjutsu at Uchiha Fugaku once more, then turned and fled at full speed.

"Trying to run?"

Uchiha Fugaku sneered.

One of Susanoo's giant hands smashed apart the incoming lightning-water pillar, while the other stretched forward and swatted at the fleeing Kakuzu.

"Not good!"

A howling sound rose behind him. Kakuzu, who had been fleeing forward, abruptly stopped and hurriedly retreated.

The instant he moved back, Susanoo's giant hand slammed down where he had been standing.

Bang—

A massive handprint appeared in the ground, with cracks spreading outward from its center.

If he had not stopped and dodged back just now, he would have been smashed into pulp by that blow.

Even so, the danger had yet to pass.

The Susanoo hand that had shattered the lightning-water pillar also extended and struck toward where he had reappeared.

Bang—

Another huge handprint appeared in the ground.

He narrowly evaded it. He had been just a fraction away from being struck by that giant hand.

Though he had dodged the massive palm, the gale generated by its strike made his body lose balance, causing him to stagger.

As a Kage-level powerhouse, he had exceptional control over his body.

He did not fall to the ground in disgrace. In an extremely short moment, he steadied himself again.

But in that brief instant, the first giant hand that had struck at him swept toward him once more.

Whoosh—

With a forceful push of his feet, he launched himself into the air, narrowly avoiding the sweeping giant hand.

Yet he felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding.

Suspended in midair, he had nowhere to brace himself. His situation was extremely dangerous.

Sure enough, just as he leaped up, the other giant hand reached out to grab him, helpless in midair.

It was not that he did not know the danger of jumping, but faced with that sweeping hand just now, leaping had been his only means of escape.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A large number of black tentacles extended from his body, wrapping around a tree more than ten meters away before rapidly tightening.

As the black tentacles tightened, his body shifted sideways through the air, narrowly evading the black giant hand reaching for him.

The close call made cold sweat pour uncontrollably from his body.

"Strong survival instincts, but this ends now!"

Uchiha Fugaku's expression was icy. The Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes spun as he increased the chakra flowing into Susanoo.

Boom—

A third black giant hand grew from below Susanoo's shoulder and reached out to seize Kakuzu, who had leaped onto a tree.

Faced with the suddenly appearing third hand, Kakuzu finally had no time to evade.

Crack—

Kakuzu's body, along with the tree, was caught in the third giant hand.

The tree was crushed, while Kakuzu was firmly restrained in the giant hand.