Sorry, I Lied to You

The night deepened.

The moisture accumulating nearby suddenly caused a small area to experience a fine drizzle, soaking the dry stone pavement.

However, the fighting on the street showed no signs of stopping.

In the center of the battle, Sahara Mizu, under siege from both sides, moved with the agility of a dancing butterfly, weaving between their blades with astonishing speed.

His brilliant, star-like blue eyes flashed like streaks of light, constantly cutting across Kakuzu's vision.

Faintly, a murmur blended with the wind.

Even after seeing countless self-proclaimed geniuses over his long life, Kakuzu couldn't help but feel a touch of regret at this moment.

This business deal really turned out to be a loss.

If he had let this kid grow a little more, he might have been worth fifty million, or even a hundred million, who knows.

The poor intelligence not only put him in a dangerous situation but also forced him to needlessly cut down a money tree before it had even grown – and for such a ridiculous price increase at that.

Compared to having to grapple with this young man now, or the constant threat of Konoha's full-scale pursuit, the unexplained loss of a large sum of money was far more difficult for him to accept.

"Clang—!"

Kunai and blades clashed, the piercing sound penetrating eardrums and drilling deep into the mind.

This strange noise caused one's movements to involuntarily slow down by a beat—

Huh?

Why would it slow down?

Almost the instant this thought arose, Kakuzu's peripheral vision caught sight of the Kunai in Sahara Mizu's other hand, stabbing into his abdomen with extreme ferocity.

Oh, so it's a sound Genjutsu.

"Pfft."

The moment Kakuzu concluded this in his mind, the entire Kunai buried itself in his waist.

However, Sahara Mizu seemed to have noticed something extremely surprising, quickly retreating and withdrawing from the close-quarters battle.

At the same time, he looked at Kakuzu with a wary gaze.

If it were an ordinary person, being hit in the waist like that at this moment, let alone standing, they would probably be howling in pain, curled up on the ground unable to move.

But Kakuzu still stood there.

The massive wound in his abdomen was being rapidly sewn shut by black threads, finally filling in completely.

"I originally thought it was a special Clone."

"But in the end, it's Immortality?"

A perfectly timed look of solemnity appeared in Sahara Mizu's eyes.

"A strong person like you, how much money would it take to make you trespass into this death trap of Konoha?"

"Fifty million? A hundred million?"

Hearing Sahara Mizu intentionally name a much higher price, Kakuzu's brow clearly twitched uncontrollably, but he suppressed his anger as much as possible and maintained a calm tone:

"It should be the old man who's surprised."

"A young man with such outstanding ability as you is actually unknown in the ninja world."

"It seems that the village the God of Shinobi painstakingly created back then is also gradually decaying like any ordinary mortal thing?"

"Truly regrettable."

"Arrogant old man." Sahara Mizu looked at him with his blue eyes, a hint of sarcasm in his smile. "You're just a rat with a bit of notoriety underground, yet you talk as if you were acquainted with Lord First."

Hey, don't say that!

Hearing this, he immediately got excited.

Kakuzu casually curled the corner of his mouth, his deep eyes seeming to pierce through the long expanse of time, and he sighed with a somewhat weary tone:

"Hashirama Senju, huh?"

"Speaking of which, he was the first Konoha ninja I ever fought."

As a result, Sahara Mizu only said one more sentence before he immediately lost his composure: "Back then, when you fought Lord First, did you also bring a purple-mood five-speed electric self-pleasure stick to directly attack his perky butt?"

"If that's the case, then it's possible you really do have some skill to have escaped alive from that person's hands back then."

"What kind of talk is that?! What kind of talk?!"

Kakuzu's sallow face was even turning a little purple from being stifled at this moment.

This was followed by a string of completely incomprehensible words like "service spirit," "assassin immortal," "customers who pay are God," "love what you do," and "I'm not some kind of pervert."

"..."

"Heh."

Seemingly finally calming down and sensing the other party's intention to stall for time with words, both Kakuzu clones simultaneously looked at Sahara Mizu, their expressions growing even colder:

"Could it be that you're still fantasizing that someone will come to save you, even now?"

"The only reliable thing in this world is money."

"As for you, you've already been betrayed by certain people in the village."

"That's the kind of thing a 'village' is."

However, Sahara Mizu didn't seem the least bit shaken by his words. He shook his head with a hint of emotion and calmly said:

"I'm not like you. I've never believed in that kind of thing."

"I'm waiting for others."

He had stalled for long enough; the time was just about right.

"Is that so?"

Kakuzu let out a low sneer.

Behind him, the last mass of Earth Grudge Fear, tangled and stuck together like a ball of yarn, silently snaked along the ground, hidden from view, and burrowed underground with his heart wrapped inside.

Listening to Sahara Mizu's cryptic actions, he sighed instead, the threads at the corners of his mouth pulling taut:

"Then I won't hold back!"

Almost as soon as the words fell.

The two Kakuzu who had surrounded Sahara Mizu from front and back shot out simultaneously. The speed they burst with at that moment was nearly double what it had been before.

"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"

"Water Release: Water Trumpet!"

The body that slammed into Sahara Mizu head-on with a powerful hardening technique seemed to leave him no room to dodge. Caught in the grapple, he was forced to take the powerful Water Release impact squarely on his back.

At the same time, using the force of the impact, his feet and body abruptly advanced a short distance.

"Clang!"

A Kunai sliced into his arm.

However, Kakuzu didn't even bother with an extra defensive move. The Kunai embedded in his arm and wrist were even wrapped and gripped by the Earth Grudge Fear.

Simultaneously, his other hand grabbed Sahara Mizu's wrist.

Can't move?!

A hint of surprise seemed to flash across Sahara Mizu's face.

"Don't blame me for being underhanded, young man." Kakuzu looked at him with a calm expression.

"If you must blame something, blame it on you being too outstanding, making me unsure I could take you down quickly."

As his words finished.

Three strange-shaped, pitch-black woven constructs slowly rose from the ground as if passing through water.

On the surface of each of their bodies, a different colored mask was attached.

It wasn't just them.

Even the 'Clone' that had been fighting Sahara Mizu until now also transformed into the same appearance.

Sahara Mizu seemed to finally understand everything.

"Are you planning to take me down with you?!"

Kakuzu's mouth, stitched with Earth Grudge Fear, split open, his smile more sinister than ever:

"The only one who will die is you!"

"This is bad."

Accompanying his ferocious grin was Sahara Mizu's expression, gradually twisting with horror to the point where his features were distorted.

The four Clones surrounding him opened their mouths simultaneously.

Violent Chakra reactions suddenly surged out from the masks' mouths.

Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!

Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Bullet Technique!

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!

Four Ninjutsu of different attributes combined in pairs, mixing into one, and finally erupted with a power greater than the sum of their parts, directly engulfing both Sahara Mizu and Kakuzu, causing a violent explosion that shattered the windows within a radius of several dozen meters.

"Whoosh—"

Using the strong defense provided by Earth Release, Kakuzu, whose clothing was largely destroyed by the blast, leaped nimbly out of the thick smoke.

He stood there, watching Sahara Mizu being swallowed by the flames.

The young man's originally sturdy body was rapidly burned and dried into a charred skeleton under the combined onslaught of fire, water, and lightning.

His posture, in a half-kneel, was frozen in his final moments before death. Both his clothing and skin had turned into pieces of shattered black.

"Trusting so-called comrades leads to this kind of end."

It seemed like a warning, yet also like talking to himself. Kakuzu looked at the corpse in the center of the raging fire and shook his head slightly.

However, just as he was about to turn back...

The charred corpse in the middle of the fire moved.

Kakuzu froze.

The scorched corpse slowly rose from a half-kneel to a standing position, supported by its dry skeletal frame, and then took a step.

One step.

Two steps.

This bizarre scene sent a chill down even the immortal Kakuzu's spine, making him instinctively take half a step back.

His own Immortality was due to Earth Grudge Fear.

But what the hell was that Sahara Mizu?!

However, before Kakuzu could figure it out, the scorched corpse's pace quickened, its body wrapped in flames as it charged out of the pit. Eventually, it even surpassed the speed of sound, completely transforming into a wisp of black mist.

"Bang—"

It slammed into his chest.

Kakuzu's body instinctively reacted defensively, his entire torso hovering in the air for a split second under the violent impact.

But then, his chest suddenly felt empty.

Their figures crossed.

"Boom!!!"

The black mist, carrying a storm, burst out from the flames, sweeping up dust. After passing Kakuzu, it carved out a straight, colorless vacuum tunnel. The flagstones underfoot showed scale-like cracks, and even the rain curtain was shattered.

Stopping his steps, Sahara Mizu, still in a crouched posture, raised his head. His slightly overgrown black hair swayed gently in the wind, and his azure pupils shimmered.

In his blood-stained hand was a dark red heart, still beating, with black Earth Grudge Fear attached.

The young man turned around and looked at Kakuzu, who still wore a bewildered expression even after his chest was ripped open. His voice held a significant degree of insincerity, even a hint of lighthearted pleasure:

"Sorry, I lied to you."

There really was another update last night, it was just a bit late. But I just woke up from sleeping on my desk, so please forgive me this time.