Karasu Tengu

Compared to Kakuzu's decades of combat experience, twelve-year-old Sora Uchiha was still far too inexperienced.

Whether in strength, speed, or reflexes, Kakuzu almost completely suppressed Sora Uchiha. The mask monsters created by Earth Grudge Fear were each Special Jonin with limitless stamina and no sense of pain.

As far as Sora Uchiha knew, Kakuzu could create four mask monsters with different Chakra attributes—wind, fire, water, and lightning. Combined with his own earth-nature Chakra, that meant Kakuzu was a powerful ninja with all five Chakra natures.

Yet now, Kakuzu had only sent out the fire and lightning mask monsters, and that was already enough to leave him nearly unable to breathe.

"Kid, I have to say, you're a rare genius. Give you a few more years, and I might not be a match for you." Kakuzu smiled as he launched another Earth Release attack.

Sora Uchiha gritted his teeth and blocked it with Secret Scroll: Whirlwind, but the next instant, a Shuriken sliced across his arm, leaving behind a bright red line of blood.

He had more than ten wounds across his body now, and his clothes were reduced to strips. Wind and fire caused Spread, water and fire caused Vaporize, lightning and water caused Electro-Charged, fire and lightning caused Overloaded...

Under Kakuzu's combinations of different elemental ninjutsu, Sora Uchiha was beaten into a miserable state. The various elemental reactions caught him completely off guard.

Another Lightning Release: False Darkness came shooting over. Blinding lightning gave off a shrill crackle as it tore through the air, the thread-thin bolt carrying terrifying destructive power as it slashed down like the reaper's scythe.

Sora Uchiha's pupils contracted. His other Secret Scrolls were still on cooldown, so in that lightning-fast moment, he could only raise the Kusanagi Sword before his chest.

"Boom! Crackle—"

Sora Uchiha felt an overwhelming force surge from the hilt and instantly course through his entire body. Like a puppet with its strings cut, he was sent flying along with his sword and slammed hard into the wall.

After a while, he staggered to his feet, his arm trembling nonstop. The paralysis from the Lightning Release nearly made him lose his grip on his sword. Every muscle spasm brought piercing pain, while the aftereffects of the violent Lightning Release ravaged his body.

"Huff... So the gap between me and someone this strong is still this great?" he muttered with lowered eyes.

Ever since he had gained summoning and Secret Scrolls, he had been unstoppable among the younger generation, never suffering a defeat. But he knew perfectly well that there was still a vast gap between himself and true experts.

As long as someone could find a way to withstand his summoned attacks, dealing with him personally was easy. Kakuzu before him was undoubtedly that kind of expert.

Whenever he summoned something to smash down, the mask monsters around Kakuzu could block it. Whenever he attacked with a Secret Scroll, one mask monster would defend while the other unleashed ninjutsu to counter it.

For a moment, he thought of running.

But the next instant, he looked at the mask monsters around him, and his heart sank. Kakuzu seemed to have sensed his potential and had already sealed off the exits. He could not escape.

Just as Kakuzu had said, Kakuzu had set his sights on his heart. The man had only two interests: money and hearts. Now that he had encountered a heart that fascinated him so deeply, he naturally would not let Sora Uchiha go.

"Hehehe, after I dig out your heart, I'll go kill that woman too." Kakuzu spoke sinisterly, his dark green eyes filled with greed.

He thought that once he took Sora Uchiha's heart, his strength would improve by several degrees, and his money-making speed would increase as well.

Suddenly, he froze slightly, because the aura around Sora Uchiha had changed. If there had been a trace of panic in his eyes just now, those dark pupils now carried a sense of acceptance.

Kakuzu frowned, becoming wary. This brat seemed to have some sort of trump card. Still, he only grew somewhat cautious; he did not believe Sora Uchiha could make much of a difference.

As for what Sora Uchiha was thinking?

He was thinking that he still had a trump card—a trump card enough to turn the battle around!

"Kakuzu," Sora Uchiha suddenly said, "since you know I'm an Uchiha, don't you think something has been missing from this fight?"

Kakuzu froze. Something was missing? He instinctively looked up at Sora Uchiha, recalling how the Uchiha ninja he had killed in the past differed from the brat before him.

Suddenly, his body jolted as he realized something. Without the slightest hesitation, he turned his gaze aside—but it was already too late.

Because he had seen them: those rose-like Mangekyō patterns, blooming with dazzling red light!

Instant Mangekyō activation!

In an instant, Kakuzu felt a terrifying force forcibly imprison his body in midair. He could not move an inch, nor could he even control the mask monsters.

All that entered his vision was endless firelight and that stunning streak of sword light...

Uchiha's Glory!

After unleashing the move, a scarlet trail of blood flowed from Sora Uchiha's eye. An intense pain suddenly surged violently from his eye without warning. He covered it as the sword slipped from his hand, and he stumbled back several steps.

He gasped for breath.

"Huff, huff... Just as I thought, the side effects are too severe."

Using the Mangekyō Sharingan for prolonged periods would lead to blindness. Sora Uchiha knew that well, so apart from the time he killed the Sand Ninja, he had never used Uchiha's Glory.

But now, whether he continued fighting or tried to flee, he had no choice but to use this move.

Looking at the corpse before him, he did not relax in the slightest, because he knew Kakuzu was not dead yet. That man had five lives.

Sure enough, just as Sora Uchiha caught his breath, the corpse in front of him stood back up. It twisted its neck, producing a chilling series of cracking sounds as its grim gaze fixed firmly on Sora Uchiha.

"I never expected you to possess those eyes." Kakuzu's low voice carried both surprise and greed. "Your heart must be exquisite!"

"Four lives left," Sora Uchiha said calmly. "Aren't you afraid of dying here?"

A flash of astonishment crossed Kakuzu's eyes. "I never thought you knew I had five lives. But so what? You don't think that move can kill me again, do you? Brat, the gap in absolute strength isn't something a pair of eyes can make up for."

Sora Uchiha fell silent. He knew Kakuzu was right. Uchiha's Glory had been able to kill Kakuzu once only because Kakuzu had let his guard down. Now that he was prepared, it would be far too difficult to kill him again with the same move.

At that moment, that bewitching red glow surged wildly from his eyes once more, the tomoe spinning into a Mangekyō.

"Haha, you want to try it again?" Kakuzu laughed loudly as the other two mask monsters emerged from his back.

"Try it again? No. This time, I'll do something different," Sora Uchiha said faintly.

Suddenly, unease welled up in Kakuzu's heart. In the next breath, that unease became real.

Because the brat before him had undergone a heaven-shaking transformation, Sora Uchiha's aura abruptly changed. The mask on his face cracked apart, and like a piercing gale suddenly rising in a cold night, his figure slowly twisted amid a dim violet glow. A terrifying horn gradually emerged from his helmet, His originally upright body grew even more slender and agile, covered from head to toe in wing-shaped armor. The edges of those wings were sharp as blades, and every faint tremor seemed capable of slicing through the air, "Third Power, Susanoo,"

"Karasu Tengu."