Watching Kisame Hoshigaki steadily approach Uchiha Yu, Deidara looked utterly terrified.
This was the first time he had ever faced an opponent this powerful. Kisame was in a completely different league from the petty rogue ninjas Deidara had fought before.
For the first time, Deidara doubted his own life.
If he'd seen this two years from now, he could have accepted it. But Deidara was only ten years old.
"Big brother! Please don't get hurt!" Deidara shouted to Uchiha Yu, panic written all over his face.
He'd promised Uchiha Yu he'd go see Konoha!
And the thought of Uchiha Yu introducing him to all those adoring fans had set Deidara's heart ablaze.
"You bastard! Don't go near big brother!"
Deidara was only ten, but seven-year-old Uchiha Yu was about as tall as he was, so Deidara had called him big brother without a second thought.
He hurled a string of Clay Birds from his hand.
The Explosive Clay was exceptionally high quality, and its blasts were incredibly powerful!
The Clay Birds shot straight at Kisame Hoshigaki!
"Hm?" Kisame Hoshigaki paused, watching as five or six Clay Birds blazed with dazzling white light.
A deafening explosion shook the entire ground.
The blast wave sent Uchiha Yu—badly injured and not yet fully healed—flying. He spun through the air several times before landing.
It only made Uchiha Yu feel even worse.
"That might've been the biggest explosion I've ever made." Deidara gasped for breath.
There wasn't a sound from within the cloud of dust.
"Did I blow him up?" Deidara cried out in delight.
"How could you?" Uchiha Yu staggered to his feet. With Seal-less Healing, many of his superficial wounds had healed.
But he was still nowhere near his peak.
In the distance, Sasori of the Red Sands watched with an amused air. "Kid, with your pathetic skills, you think you can take on Kisame?"
Sasori of the Red Sands sneered.
As the dust cleared, they saw that Kisame Hoshigaki had blocked the entire blast with Water Formation Wall.
Most of the wall had been blasted away, but Kisame had hardly suffered a scratch.
He grabbed Samehada and drew on its chakra, healing even the few minor wounds he'd sustained.
"Kid, this is over." Kisame sneered, then shook himself and began to reveal his true strength.
In the blink of an eye, Kisame used Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of Deidara and kick him hard, sending him flying.
At the same time, he fixed his gaze on Uchiha Yu and swung Samehada at him.
"Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!"
Uchiha Yu summoned a mass of vines and sent them lashing toward Kisame, trying to strangle him.
"Wood Release?" Kisame was surprised for only a second before cleanly slicing through every vine with Samehada.
Uchiha Yu drew out another piece of wood and shaped it into a long spear. He opened his Mangekyō Sharingan and locked onto Kisame.
He breathed fire onto the spear, then hurled it straight at Kisame.
A shark-shaped water projectile shattered the flaming spear. Kisame closed in and reached for Uchiha Yu's throat.
Thanks to the insight of his Mangekyō Sharingan, Uchiha Yu hurriedly dodged the attack, but Kisame's Samehada followed like a shadow, slashing toward him.
"Great Luo Heaven!"
Ignoring the discomfort in his left eye, Uchiha Yu activated Great Luo Heaven again, freezing Kisame in place.
"That trick won't work on me," Kisame said with a grin.
"A few seconds is all I need," Uchiha Yu replied with a grin of his own.
The Kusanagi Sword flashed past from behind, then shot straight at Kisame!
Kisame reacted quickly, but there was nowhere to dodge.
Faced with the deadly strike, he could only force his chakra into motion to divert the sword away from his vitals.
"Damn it." Kisame clenched his teeth, his expression turning even colder.
"Shark face, I'm not afraid of you!" Uchiha Yu pulled a face at him.
Enraged, Kisame roared and unleashed his brute strength, tearing through Great Luo Heaven once more.
He yanked out the Kusanagi Sword, now smeared with his blood, and flung it dozens of meters away. Then he blurred forward again.
"So fast! Even faster than before!" Uchiha Yu groaned. Even with the Mangekyō Sharingan, he could barely defend against Kisame's attacks, and he was sent flying again and again.
Is this the limit of my body right now? For the first time, Uchiha Yu felt helpless.
After the double enhancement from his Sage Body and the Physical Enhancement Talisman, his body was already as strong as a Jonin's.
But against someone like Kisame, with outstanding Taijutsu and ninjutsu and the might of a human, walking Tailed Beast, a seven-to-three split was truly his limit.
"I've still got another trick!" Uchiha Yu snorted, a light flashing in his eyes.
"Money Release Chakra Mode!"
Golden light instantly shimmered all over Uchiha Yu, and both his physical strength and chakra doubled.
His eyes gleamed with a nouveau riche's gold, and golden light seemed to flow beneath his skin. Now, he could handle Kisame's attacks with ease.
"So this is what it feels like to double your strength?" Uchiha Yu chuckled, exhilarated.
"What is this...?" Kisame's eyes widened. His opponent's strength was now in an entirely different league.
Uchiha Yu seemed to have leapt from Jonin-level strength to Elite Jonin, reaching the threshold of a quasi-Kage!
"I just lost ten thousand ryō." Uchiha Yu had no time to mourn the loss. He threw himself at Kisame with everything he had.
Kisame was driven back again and again!
Then Uchiha Yu stepped forward once more.
"Money Release: Money Scattering Technique!"
A gigantic ¥ symbol shot from Uchiha Yu's fingertips!
Trailing rays of golden light, it locked onto Kisame!
"Damn it! Great Shark Bullet Technique!"
Unwilling to give in, Kisame formed Hand Seals.
A vast torrent of water gathered, and a gigantic shark-shaped water projectile surged toward Uchiha Yu with overwhelming force!
"No matter what kind of ninjutsu you use, if it's made of chakra, the Great Shark Bullet Technique will absorb it! Uchiha Yu, you're still just a kid!" Kisame sneered.
Though he didn't know what power Uchiha Yu was using to boost his strength so dramatically, Kisame still believed that no matter what, the kid couldn't possibly be a match for him!
But the next second, Kisame's eyes widened, his face as if he'd just eaten shit.
"Holy shit?"
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