"What exactly was going on?"
Kakuzu noticed the changes in his body, and his face immediately darkened as he muttered to himself.
Bang, bang, bang...
The next moment, three monsters wearing strange elemental masks suddenly forced their way out from inside Kakuzu's body. Aside from their masks, their entire bodies were made of bizarre black threads...
However, the instant the three masked monsters left Kakuzu's body, they burst like overinflated balloons, scattering broken black threads and shattered masks across the ground.
At that moment, Kakuzu spat out a mouthful of blood. The deaths of those three masked monsters meant he had lost three hearts, and he had inexplicably suffered heavy injuries as a result. Having lost three hearts, his strength would immediately fall to less than half of its peak!
"My Lightning Release, Fire Release, and Water Release hearts were all destroyed for no reason..."
Kakuzu stared at the sea of flames before him. He did not believe it was merely a coincidence, so he could only attribute it to the girl he had fought earlier. That girl's ability seemed extremely strange. Despite having lived for so long, he had not noticed the slightest clue before being hit directly!
"My, my. Is that thing a derivative of Earth Grudge Fear? What a strange ability! This is the first time I've encountered someone breaking my Blood Mist in such a way..."
As the sea of flames slowly died out, Blood Leech gradually walked out from within. Blood Mist coiled around her body, while Chakra flowed across her skin, isolating the flames from her in this manner. The moment she emerged, she sensed that the Blood Mist she had sent into Kakuzu's body had vanished. Seeing the remains of the masked monsters beside him, Blood Leech naturally understood why.
Kakuzu looked at the completely unharmed Blood Leech, his dark green eyes narrowing. He knew he had truly run into an immovable wall. This girl alone was already so troublesome and possessed such bizarre abilities. Her five companions had to be no weaker than her...
I need to escape immediately. Otherwise, I might really die here!
As Kakuzu thought this, Blood Leech's strange abilities and extraordinary strength gave him a sense of mortal danger. This was only the second time in his life he had felt this way...
"Hey~, Blood Leech, can you handle this or not? If you can't, I'm stepping in!"
In the distance, Eagle could not help speaking up. More and more black insects gathered in the depths of his eyes, staining even the whites of his eyes ink-black...
"Tch~, I'm being underestimated!"
Blood Leech spat, then said to Eagle in the distance with dissatisfaction, "Give me another three minutes!"
With that, Blood Leech once again charged straight at Kakuzu under the enhancement of Blood Mist, moving too fast for the naked eye to see. Then she threw a brutal punch!
"Earth Release: Hardening!"
Though Kakuzu could not clearly see Blood Leech's movements, that did not stop him from taking defensive measures. He formed hand seals with both hands, causing the skin over his body to harden and increasing his physical defense.
Then, without any surprise, Kakuzu was sent flying by Blood Leech's punch. His body rolled across the ground like a torn sack before barely coming to a stop after several turns.
Afterward, another cracking sound suddenly came from within Kakuzu's body as he lay on the ground. A masked monster crawled out of him, and the instant it appeared, it spat a high-pressure wind sphere from its mouth, turning into a whirlpool-like gale that ravaged everything before it.
"So quickly, you found a way to defend against my Blood Mist? Was it a coincidence?"
Blood Leech watched the gale rushing toward her with a calm expression, as though she did not take it seriously at all. Instead, she began muttering to herself. Just now, she should have punched the Blood Mist into Kakuzu's body again. Why could she no longer sense any Blood Mist within him?