Naruto sensed Kakuzu's move the moment he started to jump. As Kakuzu sprang into the air, Naruto swiftly used Spirit Energy Body Infusion and formed a Rasengan. Then he pushed off hard with both feet, leaping up to land above Kakuzu.
Kakuzu had already reacted, but it was too late. He couldn't push off in midair, nor did he have time to use his black threads to defend himself. Naruto's Rasengan slammed into the top of his head, sending him flying backward.
The purple-glowing Rasengan sent Kakuzu plummeting toward the ground. Just as he hit, the Rasengans thrown by the Shadow Clones reached him. The six Rasengans collided, ripping apart the spirit energy coating their surfaces. Spirit energy surged out and clashed together, triggering a violent explosion.
Hidan, standing beside Kakuzu, was caught in the blast as well. As the explosion erupted, Kakuzu used Earth Grudge Fear to fling Hidan away, but he was a little too slow. The blast's shockwave shattered Hidan's lower body, leaving only his upper half to fly into the distance before crashing heavily to the ground.
Lying there, Hidan cursed nonstop. "Damn brat! That hurts like hell! I'll kill you!"
As the explosion went off, Naruto raised his arms to shield his head. The resulting shockwave sent him tumbling far backward.
Inside the Sealing Space, Minato said, "We can call that move the Spiral Flash Burst Formation."
When the explosion subsided, Naruto lowered his arms. Before him lay a crater roughly thirty meters across. He walked to its edge and saw that Kakuzu had been blown to pieces. But black threads writhed out from a chunk containing one of his hearts, dragged his shattered body back together, and stitched it up.
When Kakuzu stood again, two of the masks on his back were shattered. He leaped out of the crater and stared at Naruto. His voice cold, he said, "I underestimated you, brat."
Then Kakuzu's back split open, and two shadows leaped out. The masks on his body disappeared, and black threads writhed wildly as his back quickly stitched itself closed.
After summoning the two puppets, Kakuzu said no more. He formed Hand Seals, and he and the puppets opened their mouths. Chakra gathered inside them. Electricity crackled in Kakuzu's mouth, flames flickered in the mouth of the puppet on his right, and a vortex spun in the mouth of the shorter, stockier puppet on his left.
This was another of Kakuzu's attack patterns. His own technique was the Lightning Release: False Darkness, the puppet on the right used Fire Release: Searing Migraine, and the one on the left used Wind Release: Pressure Damage. The heart that could use Earth and Water Release had already been destroyed by Naruto.
Three techniques blasted out of their mouths. Pressure Damage merged with Searing Migraine, turning it into an orange-red beam of energy. Once it had formed, False Darkness quickly wrapped around its surface. The resulting beam, orange-red and streaked with lightning, surged toward Naruto with unstoppable force. Though all three techniques were only B-rank, Kakuzu had infused each with a change in chakra nature, so Naruto didn't dare take them head-on.
The moment Kakuzu unleashed False Darkness, Naruto had already pulled out several Kunai and gathered spirit energy in his legs. As the beam came at him, he threw a Kunai to the right and swiftly formed the Seal of the Rat, using the Flying Thunder God. Just before the beam could hit him, he vanished from the spot.
Seeing Naruto appear to his right, Kakuzu turned the puppets' heads to track him, keeping up their chakra output to maintain the beam. As Kakuzu and the puppets turned their heads, the beam shifted to the right with them.
The houses swept by the beam were reduced to powder. Naruto kept dodging with the Flying Thunder God, gradually making his way closer to Kakuzu.
Seeing how nimbly Naruto moved, Kakuzu stopped the flow of chakra when the beam failed to hit him. The beam then dissipated.
By then, Naruto had reached a short distance in front of Kakuzu. While dodging earlier, he had directed the spirit energy from his vortex into his legs, where it quickly circulated through his meridians and acupoints along the route required for Mountain Breaker.
Naruto sprang forward, lifted his right leg, and kicked at Kakuzu. Since Kakuzu couldn't control his black threads while using this attack pattern, he sent the puppet on his left forward to block.
Naruto's foot struck the stocky puppet as it moved to intercept him. Spirit energy burst from the acupoint in his sole, carrying the energy coating his body into the puppet. Naruto used the recoil to leap back.
The puppet struck by Mountain Breaker didn't shatter into pieces like the people Naruto had kicked before. Instead, it swelled like a balloon, as if something inside it were about to burst out. Once it had expanded to a certain point, it exploded. Its mask shattered, and the puppet turned into a puddle of black water that seeped into the ground.
Seeing Naruto destroy another of his hearts, Kakuzu recalled the remaining puppet into his body. Then the joints in his body came apart, and black threads surged out to connect the different parts. This time, the threads extending from Kakuzu's body were shorter. This was his mid-range attack pattern, more flexible than his previous two. It could be used for both offense and defense.
Naruto didn't waste any words either. Spirit energy gathered in his legs again, but this time he didn't use Mountain Breaker. Instead, he used the second form of Mad Demon Leg: Stream Cutter.
Once the spirit energy began circulating through his legs, Naruto dashed toward Kakuzu. When he neared Kakuzu's attack range, he stopped and kicked.
Purple spirit energy burst from Naruto's sole, carrying the energy coating his body with it and forming a purple shockwave that hurtled toward Kakuzu.
Unlike Mountain Breaker, which sent spirit energy into a target through the point of impact and then unleashed it to destroy the target from within, Stream Cutter worked by circulating spirit energy through the meridians in the legs, creating a special fluctuation. When it burst out through the acupoints, it carried the spirit energy outside the body along with it, forming a shockwave.
It was similar to the Daytime Tiger Might Guy used when he opened the Seventh Gate. The difference was that one created an air cannon by rapidly punching and creating friction with the air, while the other used the spirit energy within the body to drive the spirit energy outside it, creating a shockwave.
As the purple shockwave came toward him, Kakuzu quickly formed a large mass of black threads in front of himself to block it. He also sent out many threads to attack Naruto. Infused with chakra, they had become extremely hard. As they rushed toward Naruto, they quickly intertwined like a black flood.
As Kakuzu launched his attack, Naruto threw Kunai engraved with Flying Thunder God Marks in every direction. He vanished in a flash, and Kakuzu's black threads struck the ground where he had just been, kicking up a cloud of dust.
While flashing from place to place, Naruto kept using Stream Cutter. Soon, Kakuzu was surrounded by spirit energy shockwaves coming from all sides.
However, Naruto hadn't mastered Stream Cutter, so its power was limited. The purple shockwaves hitting Kakuzu caused no real damage. They only left a tiny crack in his mask.
Seeing that Stream Cutter had failed to inflict a fatal wound on Kakuzu, Naruto stopped.
Naruto hadn't been training for very long. The only powerful martial art he had learned was Mad Demon Leg, and the only high-powered ninjutsu he had learned was Rasengan. So he decided to try using Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Sixteen purple chains emerged from Naruto's back. Under his control, they flew toward Kakuzu.
Seeing the chains coming at him, Kakuzu sent the black threads formed by Earth Grudge Fear toward them. The threads and chains collided in midair.
At the moment of impact, Kakuzu felt the chakra coating his threads disappearing. He could also feel the chakra within his body being suppressed, so he immediately severed the threads he had sent out.
Looking at Naruto in the distance, Kakuzu couldn't help but marvel, "This brat has all sorts of strange tricks."
Then he formed Hand Seals and used Lightning Release: False Darkness, the most powerful ninjutsu he could use on its own.
From his clash with the Adamantine Sealing Chains, Kakuzu knew not to let those chains touch him. The purple chains could suppress chakra.
To avoid touching the chains, Kakuzu chose to use ninjutsu. Though it was weaker on its own than when combined with other techniques, he believed that with his wealth of battle experience, he would still defeat the brat in front of him.
Seeing Kakuzu use False Darkness, Naruto recalled his chains and retreated. Adamantine Sealing Chains could seal chakra, but he hadn't used them much in training, so using them against Kakuzu was too difficult. Besides, I've decided to try using Kurama's power.
Through training, Naruto's physical and spiritual strength had both improved greatly. Greater spiritual strength also meant stronger willpower, allowing him to withstand more of Kurama's power.
The negative emotions in Kurama's chakra had originally come from his ability to sense good and evil. He had constantly sensed humanity's malice toward him. Those who had approached him had never considered treating him kindly or communicating with him; they had only wanted to capture him and extract his power. Naturally, Kurama had never shown them any kindness. This hostility had seeped into his chakra, and Jinchūriki who used it would be affected by those negative emotions. Since the Jinchūriki weren't well-liked in the first place, those with weak wills would follow their feelings and go berserk.
Kurama still harbored hatred, but it wasn't directed at Naruto, so the negative emotions in his chakra had little effect on him.
Inside the Sealing Space, Kurama heard Naruto's call and sent the spirit energy he had already gathered through the crack in the seal. (When Minato had placed the seal, he had left a crack so Naruto could control Kurama's power. Once Naruto had grown strong enough, he would be able to draw Kurama's chakra through it.)
As Kurama increased the flow of spirit energy from within the Sealing Space, a fox-shaped cloak of spirit energy gradually formed around Naruto. Six tails sprouted from it. This was an ability available to Jinchūriki, and Naruto called it the Spirit Energy Cloak.
Once the six tails appeared behind Naruto, Kurama stopped increasing the flow of spirit energy. Six tails were enough for this battle.
The Spirit Energy Cloak on Naruto's body stretched outward, forming two Spirit Energy Giant Hands. They extended toward Kakuzu and tried to grab him. Seeing the two dark red hands coming for him, Kakuzu quickly dodged.
The Spirit Energy Giant Hands missed and grabbed the ground instead. Naruto swiftly formed new hands from the spirit energy and continued reaching for Kakuzu.
Just then, a figure appeared at the village entrance. He wore an Oil Protector and a red haori, had wooden sandals on his feet, and carried a huge scroll on his back.