Unexpected Person

"Boom!" Qingyun unleashed the Great Flame Technique directly from his mouth, manifesting a power capable of burning everything to ash.

Fire Release counters Wind Release; the summon known as Baku swallowed the flames into its mouth in an instant, only to vanish with a sudden pop.

"Teleportation?! Is this the Flying Thunder God Technique!?" The cat-masked Anbu was incredulous, as Qingyun had not used a Body Flicker Technique; the kind of instantaneous displacement he had just witnessed was far beyond the capabilities of a D-rank Body Flicker.

"If I'm not mistaken, you must have an inseparable connection to Danzō, right?" Qingyun asked.

"Go ask King Yama in the underworld! Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" The cat-masked Anbu lunged directly at Qingyun.

"Armament Haki Hardening!" Qingyun hadn't expected the opponent to be this fast; he had not only utilized the enhancement of Wind Release but had also pushed the Hyuga's Sixty-Four Palms to their absolute limit.

What was originally a slow-to-fast rhythm became so rapid from the very start under the Anbu's execution that it blurred into a phantom-like flurry.

Qingyun was struck in countless pressure points; had it not been for Armament Haki Hardening and his damage-reduction gear, he would have been beaten to the ground right then and there.

Thump-thump! Qingyun's heart hammered, and immediately after, he felt a change occur in his eyes.

The One-Tomoe Sharingan, which had previously struggled to track the opponent's attacks, could now predict the trajectory of every strike.

Qingyun's entire body began to dodge instinctively; despite the blinding speed of the subsequent palm strikes, he managed to evade them all.

"Rotation!" Seeing Qingyun dodge his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, the cat-masked Anbu was shocked beyond measure and immediately unleashed the Rotation, the massive spinning barrier knocking Qingyun away.

Qingyun steadied himself, having sustained no damage.

"You must possess the Byakugan! But you are also a member of the Shimura Clan, aren't you? Did Shimura Danzō experiment on you? He transplanted the Byakugan into you, didn't he?"

Although Qingyun didn't know how Danzō had managed to seize a Byakugan, it made sense given that this schemer was also known for stealing Sharingan.

As for how the Byakugan had integrated so perfectly into this person's body, Qingyun had no idea.

"Hahaha!" The cat-masked Anbu suddenly laughed, though the sound was tinged with bitterness.

"So what if you know? I must fight you to the death today! Otherwise, it's a dead end regardless!" The cat-masked Anbu charged toward Qingyun.

However, Qingyun felt that this charge was the man's final, desperate gamble.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Creation!" At that moment, Yoshihime arrived and used Wood Release to trap the cat-masked Anbu.

"Gentle Fist!" The cat-masked Anbu tried to use Gentle Fist to destroy the vines, but Yoshihime possessed the bloodline of the Senju Clan; her Wood Release was incredibly pure and could not be easily broken.

"Let me see your true face beneath that mask!" Qingyun then reached out and removed the cat mask from the Anbu.

Once it was off, Qingyun froze.

The person before him looked exactly like Danzō.

Qingyun then understood everything.

"You... not only were you implanted with the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, but you are also a clone of Danzō?" Qingyun had essentially pieced the puzzle together.

"That's right." The Anbu before him nodded.

In the original story, Kakashi had Obito's left eye, but because he wasn't of the Uchiha Clan, using it was quite taxing; the same applied to the Byakugan, so Qingyun surmised that Danzō must have obtained cells from the Hyuga Clan.

"If it were just Danzō alone, these things wouldn't be so easily accomplished, but what if he had the help of Orochimaru? That changes everything." Qingyun guessed that Orochimaru must have assisted Danzō, though what they traded for it remained a mystery.

"You are no match for me, kid. Even though you possess the Shimura Clan's Wind Release and the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, at your current level, you have no chance of winning against me." Qingyun did not fear the Anbu before him, as his own strength had long since surpassed his.

"It seems your strength is indeed formidable; there is no point in me continuing this." The young Anbu put his mask back on.

"Goodbye. I hope that the next time we meet, I will have surpassed you. Minato Namikaze ran off in that direction." After saying these inexplicable words, the youth vanished, and even the Wood Release could not hold him.

Qingyun looked at Yoshihime, and Yoshihime looked at Qingyun.

"Can we trust his words?" Yoshihime asked.

"Well, we don't have any other leads," Qingyun said. "Are you alright?"

"Don't underestimate the constitution of the Senju Clan." Yoshihime nodded; her recent injuries were already nearly healed.

"Let's go. We still need to chase after Minato and Kushina Uzumaki," Yoshihime said.

Qingyun and Yoshihime then continued in the direction indicated by the cat-masked Anbu.

Although they didn't know where they were, Qingyun and Yoshihime had definitely left Konoha.

Emerging from the forest, they saw a figure standing on a flat plain, with a man and a woman beside him.

The man had golden hair and delicate features, though he looked somewhat disheveled at the moment.

The woman had long, fiery red hair and appeared to have lost consciousness.

Qingyun and Yoshihime knew that this person was waiting for them; the fact that he dared to reveal himself so openly spoke volumes about his strength—anyone attempting a sneak attack would surely meet a miserable end.

Therefore, Qingyun and Yoshihime stopped hiding and walked out.

"Ah, the two geniuses of Konoha. I've been waiting for you for a long time." The speaker's voice was deep and chilling.

Upon seeing this person, Qingyun immediately understood.

"Bounty Exchange kidnapping..."

"You're Kakuzu, aren't you?" Qingyun asked directly.

The man before them froze for a split second before saying, "I didn't expect even the brats of Konoha to have heard of my name. That shouldn't be, right? Is my reputation really that widespread?"

The man was indeed Kakuzu; he possessed a pair of greenish eyes that made anyone he stared at feel a sense of dread.

Kakuzu's strength is formidable; even when facing the God of Shinobi, the First Hokage Hashirama, he was able to retreat unscathed, which goes to show that he is no simple opponent.

"Do you know this person, Qingyun?" Yoshihime did not recognize Kakuzu, so she asked while preparing herself for battle at any moment.

"Indeed. His strength has reached the Kage level; even elite Jonin would not necessarily be his match."

"Kakuzu also possesses a secret technique akin to immortality. He should be from the same era as the First Hokage," Qingyun said.

"So, he's an old man?" Yoshihime asked.

Good grief, why is your focus so strange? Qingyun felt that Yoshihime was a bit scatterbrained. They were currently facing none other than the immortal monster of the Akatsuki, Kakuzu!