Dividing the Battlefield

Kakuzu's body regained its ability to move in an instant.

He shouted, but the reinforcements he had expected were nowhere to be found. "Where did those two unreliable bastards go? Damn it..."

Hidan's second punch had only swung halfway when Kakuzu sidestepped it, grabbed Hidan by the shoulder, and shoved him aside.

Rather than counterattacking at once, he stood where he was and flexed his immobilized ankle, as though confirming that his joints still functioned normally. "Not bad temperament, kid from the Nara Clan. But you should have buried your chakra blade deeper."

Cold sweat instantly soaked Shikamaru's back. He took two steps back and readjusted his hand seals, but Kakuzu was faster than he could form them—the shockwave from Wind Release: Pressure Damage had already exploded in front of him, sending him skidding several meters backward.

At a signal, Choji's Human Boulder charged out from the side of the woods, accompanied by the Wind Release: Wind Blade from Yunju. Yunju was still as crafty as ever, resorting to ranged attacks whenever he encountered an opponent too troublesome to handle.

Choji did not warm up or take a running start. His body had already curled into a spiked ball of flesh, with kunai and bandages wrapped around its surface to form a makeshift suit of thorny armor. Wrapped in rapidly rotating chakra, he slammed toward Kakuzu's back like a spiked meteor.

Kakuzu did not turn around, but the instant the Human Boulder and wind blades touched his back, he activated Earth Release: Earth Spear—the skin on his back hardened into black, rock-like material in less than half a second.

All the attacks struck with a dull boom, like hammers smashing against granite. Choji's rotation was forcibly interrupted, and he was bounced out of his Boulder form and back into his original shape. He rolled twice across the ground before stopping, several bloody gashes torn across his arms by the recoil, yet he gritted his teeth without making a sound.

Several tears had been cut into Kakuzu's clothes, and faint white marks lined the surface of his skin, but there was no blood. He glanced down at the marks on his back, then at Choji lying on the ground. His tone was as calm as if he were judging a garment that did not fit quite right. "Not bad impact, but you still can't hurt me. The man before you once tried to assassinate the First Hokage."

Before anyone could react, he shot into the air, rising high enough to overlook the entire battlefield. All five hearts activated at once—Fire Release: Head Moulder in his left hand, Wind Release: Pressure Damage in his right, Lightning Release: False Darkness in his chest, Earth Release: Earth Spear on his back, and Water Release: Water Curtain beneath his feet.

Five chakra natures circulated through the same body at once, intertwining into a barrage with no blind spots.

Shikamaru was forced back three steps by the aftermath of the Lightning Release, and the chakra line of his Shadow Technique snapped for an instant in midair. Ino tried to flank him from the side, but the Water Release shockwave shoved her back and sent her crashing into the bushes. Choji had only just gotten to his feet when the Wind Release suppressed him again, bending his body like a bow and carving two deep trenches into the ground beneath his feet.

At that moment, a blue-white bolt of lightning struck straight down from above the treetops. Kakashi Hatake leaped from above, descending so quickly that Kakuzu's hardened skin had not fully activated—Lightning Cutter pierced through Kakuzu's chest and burst out through his back, lightning exploding from the wound.

Kakuzu's body jolted violently as his first heart shattered inside his chest. His feet dragged two deep furrows through the ground as he staggered forward two steps. The hole in his chest was rapidly healing, but the tear in his clothes had yet to close.

When Kakashi landed, the fading glow of Lightning Cutter still clung to his right hand, while his other hand gripped a thumb-sized glass container. The instant Lightning Cutter pierced Kakuzu's chest, he used the container's opening to catch several drops of blood that splashed from the wound, then swiftly screwed the cap on. The motion was seamless, so fast that it was nearly impossible to tell he had done anything.

"Caught it." Kakashi's voice was low as he tossed the vial toward Shikamaru.

Shikamaru caught it, tucked it into his clothes, and asked no questions.

Kakuzu turned around. He looked down at the hole in his chest as it healed, then at Kakashi. The emotion in his eyes had grown heavier than before, though his tone remained steady. "White hair. Sharingan. You're Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi."

He raised his right hand—four hearts separated from his body. Each landed on the ground and rapidly condensed into a monster wearing a black mask. The four masked monsters were not large, but each mask bore a different elemental pattern. Wind, fire, earth, and water—the four opened their mouths at once, firing techniques of four different natures from four directions and dividing the battlefield into four separate zones.

Flames engulfed the bushes to the left, wind blades shattered the rocks to the right, earth and stone surged up from the ground to seal off the rear, and water exploded in the center, separating Shikamaru from Choji.

Hidan was pushed to the edge of the battlefield by the chaotic melee. His scythe was still embedded in a tree trunk, and its chain had broken, so he could only pick up the broken half of it. Squatting on the ground, he glanced at the four masked monsters fighting at once beside Kakuzu and clicked his tongue.

Just then, the shadow beneath his feet moved. Shikamaru's shadow stretched through the chaos, not attacking Kakuzu but precisely biting down on Hidan's ankle.

"Go." Shikamaru did not look back at anyone. He merely called out toward Yunju.

Yunju was already only a few steps away. He brought his hands together, and Mud Release: Sinking Domain spread beneath both him and Hidan at once. The ground rapidly softened into mud. Hidan struggled twice with his feet in the mire, only to sink deeper instead. With the shadow's restraint combined with the slowing effect of Mud Release, Hidan found that he could not even muster the strength to lift his feet.

"Hey—"

His ankle had already been seized by both shadow and mud. Shikamaru dragged him sliding toward the depths of the forest, with Yunju following behind. Mud Release slowly closed behind him, sealing off that muddy passage.

Hidan's voice grew farther and fainter amid the shadows of the trees. "Kakuzu—!! Don't steal my kill!"

Standing on the battlefield, Kakuzu glanced in the direction Hidan had been dragged away, then at the four people remaining before him: Kakashi, Jiraiya, Ino, and Choji. The four masked monsters stood in a row before him, chakra light still gathering in their mouths.

Kakuzu withdrew his gaze. "Let him go. He won't die." His tone made it sound like an utterly insignificant matter. The four masked monsters advanced at once, wind, fire, earth, and water chakra exploding in turn through the narrow forest clearing and driving the remaining four in different directions.

The Rasengan spun in Jiraiya's palm, Lightning Cutter flickered between Kakashi's fingers, and Ino and Choji stood behind Jiraiya, both breathing heavily.

Kakuzu stood among the four masked monsters like a stone statue that could neither move nor fall. "Once your chakra runs dry, I'll take out your hearts one by one."

Deep in the woods, Shikamaru stopped in a clearing completely covered by the shadows of the trees.

Yunju withdrew his Mud Release, and the ground regained its usual hardness, though the mud and blood on Hidan's body had yet to dry. Shikamaru's shadow still locked Hidan's ankle, not tightening, merely holding him in place.

Hidan lay facedown in the mud, his wrists and ankles bound by shadow. He looked up at the two before him, his expression caught somewhere between amusement and irritation. "You two brats think this is enough to take me down?"

Yunju said nothing. The Water-Fire Dragon Bullet repeatedly bombarded Hidan. Hidan twisted and leaped about; when he could not evade, he simply endured the blasts head-on, taking the attack in a way Yunju could not comprehend at all.

"See? Told you." Hidan looked extremely pleased with himself. "With abilities like yours, you'd better just become offerings to Lord Jashin."

Hidan immediately locked onto Shikamaru and began swinging his scythe in close-quarters attacks. Beside them, Yunju appeared completely unconcerned, watching quietly. First, because ranged attacks risked hurting Shikamaru; second, because Shikamaru had already devised a countermeasure beforehand and told Yunju not to worry.