Ambushing Minato? They had picked the wrong target!
Even when suddenly attacked at close range, Minato used the "Body Flicker Technique" to evade before those strange tentacles could wrap around him...
"What the hell is that?" Akaseki frowned at the tentacles.
The ambusher emerged directly from the ground the next moment.
The ninja had concealed his identity, and even stranger, one of his arms had split apart from the upper arm down, transforming into several tentacle-like appendages—the very tentacles that had just attacked Minato!
Only after surfacing did they "weave" themselves back into an arm.
"Be careful. This person is highly skilled in Earth Style," Akaseki warned.
Why had Akaseki detected the enemy first?
Because this guy had used the "Earth Style: Hidden Fish Technique" and had been lying in wait here for a long time!
The Earth Style: Hidden Fish Technique had excellent concealment, but its drawback was slow movement.
Akaseki's Earth Style Chakra transformation, "Submerge Clay" (the ability to merge with the earth), had already reached 20%—after all, this Earth Style aspect was improved through "Sorrow," making it Akaseki's primary focus for improvement!
Thus, Akaseki found it easier to notice targets deliberately concealing their presence and hiding within the earth.
Kakuzu had been lurking all along without moving—he had waited by the cave entrance for his enemies to arrive.
Back then, Akaseki had failed to notice anything at all—Kakuzu's impressive mastery of Earth Style Chakra transformations allowed him to burrow even deeper!
This required both "Submerge Clay" and the Chakra transformation "Earth Pulse" to let him sense the situation aboveground even from deeper underground.
By the time Akaseki's group reached this easily ambushed position, Minato was directly above Kakuzu!
It was only the instant Kakuzu started shooting upward that Akaseki noticed his presence...
Seeing that the ambush had