Encounter (Part One)

"Are you really not afraid of death? How dare you show up in front of me?" After casually freezing several nearby White Zetsu into ice sculptures, Qi Shuang spoke to the newcomer with a fake smile.

Kakuzu was enraged when he heard that and laughed angrily. "Brat, your tone is far too arrogant!"

"You should know that even the First Hokage back then never..."

"Stop, stop!"

Guessing what he was about to say, Qi Shuang hurriedly cut him off. "Don't bring up those ancient exploits to show off!"

"Besides, do you really not know how you survived Hashirama Senju back then?"

"Now, Hashirama Senju has been revived and is on this very battlefield."

"Why don't you fight him again?"

Qi Shuang made no attempt to hide his contempt.

Without a doubt, the fact that Kakuzu had survived Hashirama Senju meant that Hashirama had held back.

Otherwise, with Kakuzu's strength before cultivating Earth Grudge Fear, Hashirama could have slapped him to death.

Kakuzu fell silent at those words.

Although his encounter with Hashirama had already become a source of glory for him, and his strength had grown tremendously since then, he was still extremely unwilling to face that "God of Shinobi" again.

Hashirama Senju had simply been too powerful.

Then, he gave Qi Shuang a cold look. "I may not be Hashirama Senju's opponent, but don't forget—you aren't Hashirama Senju either!"

As he spoke, he yanked off his cloak, revealing a body covered in stitch-like scars.

"Go to hell, you arrogant brat!"

With an angry roar, all the stitch-like wounds on Kakuzu's body split open. Clusters of gray-black tendrils emerged from within him and shot toward the young man in the distance like arrows.

Even the White Zetsu standing between them was caught in the attack. The gray-black tendrils pierced straight