Fierce Battle

Naruto had sensed Kakuzu's movements long before the man initiated his jump. As Kakuzu launched himself into the air, Naruto swiftly activated Spirit Energy Body Infusion and condensed a Rasengan. With a powerful push from his legs, he leaped upward, positioning himself directly above Kakuzu.

Although Kakuzu reacted, it was already too late. Suspended in mid-air, he had no leverage to maneuver and no time to deploy his black threads for defense. Naruto slammed the Rasengan into the top of his head, using the force of the impact to propel himself backward.

The Rasengan, shimmering with purple light, drove Kakuzu rapidly toward the ground. As he crashed, the *Shadow Clone*s' previously thrown *Rasengan*s arrived. As the six spheres collided, their outer membranes of spirit energy tore apart, causing the energy to surge and clash, resulting in a violent explosion.

Hidan, standing nearby, was caught in the blast. Kakuzu had used Earth Grudge Fear to toss Hidan away the moment the explosion began, but he was a fraction of a second too slow. The lower half of Hidan's body was obliterated by the shockwave, leaving only his upper torso to fly through the air before slamming heavily into the ground.

Lying on the ground, Hidan cursed incessantly, "Damn brat, that hurts like hell! I'm going to kill you!"

Naruto had raised his arms to shield his head during the explosion, and the resulting shockwave pushed him back a considerable distance.

Inside the Sealing Space, Minato Namikaze remarked, "This move could be named the Spiral Flash Burst Formation."

When the explosion subsided, Naruto lowered his arms to reveal a crater roughly thirty meters in diameter. Approaching the edge, he saw Kakuzu's body torn to pieces. However, numerous black threads writhed out from the fragments containing his hearts, pulling his shattered limbs back together and stitching them shut.

Kakuzu stood up again, two of the masks on his back now shattered. He leaped out of the crater and looked at Naruto, his tone icy: "Brat, I underestimated you."

Suddenly, Kakuzu's back split open, and two dark shadows leaped out. The masks on his body vanished, and as the black threads danced wildly, his back quickly stitched itself together.

After summoning the two puppets, Kakuzu stopped talking. He formed hand seals, and both he and the puppets opened their mouths. Chakra gathered within; sparks of electricity flickered in the mouth of Kakuzu's main body, flames danced in the mouth of the puppet on his right, and a swirling vortex of air formed in the mouth of the shorter, stouter puppet on his left.

This was another of Kakuzu's attack modes. The main body used the Fire Release technique False Darkness, the puppet on the right used the Fire Release technique Searing Migraine, and the puppet on the left used the Wind Release technique Pressure Damage. The hearts capable of using Earth and Water had already been destroyed by Naruto.

Three techniques were unleashed simultaneously. The Pressure Damage merged into the Searing Migraine, transforming it into an orange-red energy pillar. Once formed, the False Darkness quickly coiled around its surface. Thus, an orange-red energy beam laced with lightning surged toward Naruto with unstoppable force. Although all three techniques were only B-rank, Kakuzu had infused them with nature transformation, and Naruto dared not take the hit head-on.

The moment Kakuzu spat out False Darkness, Naruto had pulled out several Kunai and focused spirit energy into his legs. Seeing the energy pillar hurtling toward him, he threw a Kunai to the right, quickly formed the Rat seal, and used the Flying Thunder God to vanish just as the beam was about to make contact.

Seeing Naruto blink to the right, Kakuzu controlled the puppets to turn their heads, maintaining the chakra output to sustain the energy beam. As they tracked Naruto, the beam shifted to the right.

Buildings swept by the energy beam were reduced to dust, while Naruto continued to use the Flying Thunder God to dodge, slowly closing the distance to Kakuzu.

Seeing Naruto's agility, Kakuzu realized the beam couldn't hit him and ceased the chakra output, causing the energy pillar to dissipate.

By now, Naruto had arrived not far in front of Kakuzu. During his previous evasions, the spirit energy in the vortex had been channeled into his legs, circulating through his meridians and acupoints along the path required for Mountain Breaker.

Naruto sprang upward, raising his right leg to kick Kakuzu. Since Kakuzu was using this attack mode, he could not manipulate his black threads, so he controlled the stout puppet on his left to step forward and block.

Naruto's foot connected with the stout puppet. Spirit energy erupted from the acupoints in his sole, driving the spirit energy on his body surface into the puppet, and Naruto used the momentum to retreat.

The puppet struck by Mountain Breaker did not shatter like the people Naruto had kicked before; instead, it began to swell like a balloon, as if something were trying to burst out from within. After expanding to a certain point, the puppet exploded. The mask on its face was blown to pieces, and it dissolved into a puddle of black liquid that seeped into the ground.

Seeing that Naruto had destroyed another of his hearts, Kakuzu recalled the remaining puppet into his body. His joints detached, and black threads surged out, connecting his limbs. These threads were not long; this was his mid-range combat mode, which was more flexible than the previous two, allowing for both offense and defense.

Naruto didn't waste time. He gathered spirit energy into his legs again, but this time he didn't use Mountain Breaker; he used the second form of the Mad Demon Leg: Stream Cutter.

Once the spirit energy formed a cycle in his legs, Naruto dashed toward Kakuzu. Just before reaching Kakuzu's attack range, he stopped and kicked out.

A wave of purple spirit energy erupted from the sole of Naruto's foot, carrying the spirit energy from his body surface to form a purple shockwave that surged toward Kakuzu.

Unlike Mountain Breaker, which required physical contact to force spirit energy into the target to cause internal destruction—the reason why things hit by it shattered—Stream Cutter worked by circulating spirit energy through the leg meridians to create a specific vibration. When released through the acupoints, it dragged the external spirit energy along to form a shockwave.

This was similar to the Daytime Tiger used by Might Guy when he opened the Seventh Gate, except one relied on rapid punches to create an air cannon through friction, while the other used internal spirit energy to drive external spirit energy into a shockwave.

Seeing the purple shockwave hurtling toward him, Kakuzu quickly condensed a large mass of black threads in front of him to block it, while simultaneously launching an attack with numerous other threads. These threads, infused with Kakuzu's chakra, became incredibly hard. As they lashed out at Naruto, they coiled together like a black torrent.

Naruto, meanwhile, had thrown Kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God seal in all directions when Kakuzu attacked. As Naruto blinked away, the black threads struck the ground where he had been standing, kicking up a cloud of dust.

While blinking, Naruto continuously unleashed Stream Cutter, and soon Kakuzu was surrounded by spirit energy shockwaves from all directions.

However, because Naruto had not yet mastered Stream Cutter to perfection, its power was not overwhelming. The purple shockwaves hitting Kakuzu caused no substantial damage, leaving only a tiny crack on his mask.

Seeing that Stream Cutter had not dealt a fatal blow, Naruto stopped.

Naruto had only been training for a short time; he had only mastered the Mad Demon Leg among his high-damage martial arts, and the Rasengan among his high-power ninjutsu. He decided to try the Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Sixteen purple chains extended from Naruto's back, and under his control, they flew toward Kakuzu.

Seeing the chains, Kakuzu controlled the black threads of Earth Grudge Fear to intercept them. The threads and chains collided in mid-air.

Upon contact, Kakuzu felt the chakra attached to his threads vanishing, and the chakra within his own body being suppressed. He immediately severed the threads he had extended.

Looking at Naruto in the distance, Kakuzu couldn't help but exclaim, "This brat has so many bizarre tricks."

He then formed hand seals to use Fire Release: False Darkness, the most powerful single-target ninjutsu in his arsenal.

Through the collision with the Adamantine Sealing Chains, Kakuzu knew he could not touch them; those purple chains had the effect of suppressing chakra.

To avoid contact, Kakuzu chose to use ninjutsu. Although its individual power was not as great as his combination techniques, Kakuzu believed that with his vast combat experience, he would eventually defeat the brat before him.

Seeing Kakuzu use False Darkness, Naruto retracted the chains and retreated. The Adamantine Sealing Chains had the effect of sealing chakra, but because he rarely used them, they were too cumbersome for this fight. Besides, he decided to test the power of Kurama.

Through his training, Naruto's physical and spiritual strength had increased significantly. A stronger soul meant a stronger will, allowing him to withstand more of Kurama's power.

The reason Kurama's chakra contained negative emotions was that he was born with the ability to perceive good and evil. Having constantly sensed the malice humans held toward him—and because those who approached him never considered kindness or communication, only capture and exploitation—Kurama naturally had no reason to be pleasant. This rebellious emotion was infused into his chakra; when a Jinchuriki used it, they were infected by these negative emotions. Since the Jinchuriki themselves were often shunned, those with weak wills would simply follow those feelings and lose control.

Although Kurama still harbored hatred, it was not directed at Naruto, so the negative emotions in his chakra had little impact on him now.

Inside the Sealing Space, hearing Naruto's call, Kurama channeled the spirit energy he had already gathered through the crack in the seal. (Minato Namikaze had left a crack in the seal when he created it so that Naruto could eventually master Kurama's power once he grew strong enough.)

As Kurama increased the output of spirit energy, a fox-shaped membrane of spirit energy slowly formed on Naruto's body, and six tails sprouted. This was an ability available to a Jinchuriki, which Naruto called the Spirit Energy Cloak.

After the six tails appeared behind Naruto, Kurama stopped increasing the energy flow; six tails were more than enough for this battle.

The Spirit Energy Cloak on Naruto's body extended outward, forming two *Spirit Energy Giant Hand*s, which reached out to grab Kakuzu. Seeing the two deep-red hands lunging at him, Kakuzu dodged swiftly.

The *Spirit Energy Giant Hand*s missed and slammed into the ground, but Naruto quickly controlled the energy to extend new hands, continuously lunging at Kakuzu.

At this moment, a figure appeared at the village entrance, wearing an Oil Protector headband, a red coat, wooden sandals, and a giant scroll on his back.

.Provided by the great god Ti Ta, Naruto: Starting with Asura Chakra