Tenfold Chakra Rampage! Fierce Battle with Kakuzu!

Akimichi Torifu's massive body crashed to the ground, and the tremendous impact jolted Lin Hai awake from his chakra-depleted unconsciousness.

The moment he opened his eyes, Lin Hai's eyes nearly split with fury.

Kakuzu was walking toward the heavily wounded, unconscious Danzo. Several nauseating black tendrils protruded from his palm, shooting straight for Danzo's heart!

Lin Hai tried to get up and save him, but the chakra in his body was nearly exhausted. He could not even form hand seals.

In that moment of despair, his gaze fell upon a sealing scroll at Danzo's waist—inside were the three portions of Hero Water they had brought with them!

"Forget the side effects!"

Lin Hai bit down hard on his tongue, using the intense pain to stimulate his nerves. With every last bit of strength, he flashed to Danzo's side.

He tore off the scroll, released the seal, pulled out the stopper, and downed one portion of Hero Water in a single gulp!

Boom!

An incomparably violent surge of blue chakra erupted from Lin Hai's body, even forming a visible, solidified layer of armor over his skin.

His chakra reserves instantly increased tenfold!

From an elite Chunin, he surged straight toward the level of a top-tier Jonin!

Rampaging power flooded every limb and bone. Lin Hai's eyes turned bloodshot as his hands instantly formed a series of seals.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A crimson fireball several times larger than normal burst forth, instantly burning those disgusting tendrils to ashes and successfully saving Danzo.

"I'm not down yet. What are you so eager for?" Lin Hai panted heavily, his voice cold as ice.

Seeing Lin Hai's rapidly surging aura, Kakuzu licked his lips greedily.

"I'm afraid your appetite is too big. You'll shatter all your teeth."

"Enough nonsense!"

Suppressing the agonizing pain of his tearing chakra pathways, Lin Hai created two shadow clones to guard his flanks. His real body's hands became blurs as he frantically formed seals.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Dance Technique!"

With ten times the chakra poured into it without restraint, this ninjutsu, improved by Hashirama Senju, finally revealed its complete form to the world for the first time!

A blazing fire dragon dozens of meters long roared forth. As though it meant to burn all things beneath the heavens to ashes, it charged Kakuzu with world-destroying momentum!

Kakuzu's expression changed drastically. He did not dare take it head-on and immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to retreat.

But Lin Hai's Sharingan locked onto him tightly. The fire dragon followed like a shadow, relentlessly pursuing him.

"Damn it!" Seeing that he could not evade it, Kakuzu slammed both hands against the ground. "Water Release: Water Curtain Tent!"

A massive column of water shot into the sky, like a waterfall flowing in reverse, and collided head-on with the fire dragon!

"Explode!" Lin Hai decisively cut off his chakra.

"Boom!!!"

The fire dragon exploded in front of Kakuzu, and the terrifying shockwave blasted him away.

Seizing the opportunity, Lin Hai flashed into the air and viciously drove a kunai into Kakuzu's heart!

However, no blood spurted out. Kakuzu's body turned into a puddle of water and splashed to the ground.

"A Water Clone?" Lin Hai was startled.

"Splash—" Kakuzu's real body slowly emerged from a nearby lake.

"Powerful Fire Release control."

A dangerous light flickered in Kakuzu's emerald eyes.

"The Uchiha Clan truly produces monsters.

Madara Uchiha had only been dead for a few years, and another brat like you appeared.

Though I never saw Madara's true strength, I fought your First Hokage back then. I still remember Hashirama Senju's power vividly.

You destroyed one of my hearts, so you'll pay with yours!"

With that, Kakuzu charged at Lin Hai like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

"My grandfather is not someone trash like you can compare yourself to! Like my teacher, he was a ninja worthy of being called a god!" Lin Hai did not yield an inch as he rushed forward to meet him.

"Bang!"

The two clashed at close range.

Kakuzu hardened one arm and swung it at Lin Hai like a massive stone blade.

Lin Hai raised his kunai to block.

At that moment, Kakuzu's lower leg suddenly detached from his body, transforming into black tendrils that viciously kicked Lin Hai in the abdomen, sending him flying into the dirt.

"Your taijutsu is far too immature, and your combat experience is pitifully lacking." Kakuzu slowly approached, his tone full of mockery. "So what if you have an enormous amount of chakra? I forgot to tell you—the first Konoha ninja I ever fought was the First Hokage. You're dead today."

Lin Hai coughed up blood, staggered to his feet, wiped the blood from his lips, and revealed a crazed smile.

"Then I definitely can't lose! I'm the First Hokage's only disciple! Today, even if I have to stake my life on it, I'll kill you!"

"Looks like I didn't drink enough earlier!"

Lin Hai abruptly pulled out the second bottle of Hero Water and tipped it down his throat.

"Boom—"

His already rampaging chakra doubled once more! His blue chakra cloak even faintly emitted a blinding white glow! Waves of agonizing pain tore through his chakra pathways, as though his body could explode at any moment.

"Let's fight again! Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Following Lin Hai's furious roar, dull popping sounds rang out in rapid succession. More than a thousand shadow clones of Lin Hai instantly filled the entire forest, densely swarming toward Kakuzu!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Dozens of clones spat out fireballs simultaneously. Kakuzu immediately controlled his two remaining Earth Grudge Fear to take to the air, evading while releasing ninjutsu to counterattack.

Lin Hai understood his disadvantages very clearly.

He was utterly outclassed in taijutsu. Aside from Fire Release, his ninjutsu was nothing impressive; his Wind and Lightning Releases were worse than even a Genin's, while genjutsu was useless against an old monster like Kakuzu.

His only chance of winning was to rely on his massive chakra reserves and drown Kakuzu in a sea of shadow clones! As long as he destroyed those two Earth Grudge Fear, Kakuzu would lose two lives!

"Take out those two masked monsters first!"

Lin Hai hid among the army of clones, quietly searching for an opportunity.

Kakuzu frowned as he looked at the thousand-plus shadow clones.

Even Kage-level experts would struggle to produce shadow clones on this scale, yet this brat had managed it with that bizarre medicine!

Faced with this sea of clones, Kakuzu could not locate Lin Hai's real body for the moment.

Opportunities vanished in an instant!

Five shadow clones desperately entangled one Earth Release Earth Grudge Fear, spitting fireballs to obstruct its vision. Lin Hai's real body suddenly attacked from its blind spot, hurling several shuriken tied to steel wire!

"Shuriken Manipulation Technique!"

The steel wire instantly bound the Earth Release Earth Grudge Fear tightly. Lin Hai took a deep breath. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

At point-blank range, the massive fireball directly burned the masked monster to ashes!

After landing the strike, Lin Hai immediately flashed back into the crowd of clones.

Seeing this, a sly glint flashed through Kakuzu's eyes.

He immediately controlled the last Lightning Release Earth Grudge Fear to widen the distance, then created a Water Clone and hid his real body.

Lin Hai thought Kakuzu was afraid and immediately directed the clone army to swarm toward the last Earth Grudge Fear like moths rushing into flame.

The Earth Grudge Fear continuously unleashed lightning to destroy the clones.

During a gap between its ninjutsu, Lin Hai's real body once again burst from the clone army. A "Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique" struck the mask precisely, shattering it completely!

All the Earth Grudge Fear are destroyed! Lin Hai was overjoyed.

Just as he prepared to retreat back into the clone army, the soil beneath his feet suddenly exploded, and an icy voice came from underground:

"Got you, brat!"

A thick arm burst from the earth, clamping tightly around Lin Hai's throat and violently pinning him against the massive tree trunk behind him.

Immediately afterward, another arm transformed into hard stone and slammed heavily into Lin Hai's abdomen.

"Pfft—"

Lin Hai sprayed out a mouthful of blood.

The intense pain instantly made him dizzy. His chakra circulation stalled, and more than a thousand shadow clones vanished with a rapid series of pops.

Kakuzu slowly rose from underground. The arm that had been blasted away transformed into tendrils, flew back, and automatically stitched itself onto his shoulder.

"Kid, you really did cause me quite a bit of trouble." Kakuzu gripped Lin Hai's neck, his right hand turning to stone once more before smashing viciously into Lin Hai's abdomen.

The tremendous impact snapped the huge tree behind Lin Hai—which would have taken three people to encircle—cleanly in half!

Every bone in Lin Hai's body felt shattered, yet he stared fixedly at Kakuzu, a grim, cold smile curling across his lips.

"Your fists are nothing special either... I thought someone who fought the First Hokage would be much stronger. Turns out you're just a clown. You fell for it."

Lin Hai's bloodied left hand slowly lifted and formed a hand seal. "Explode!"

Kakuzu's expression changed drastically!

Centered around Lin Hai, countless explosive tags within a ten-meter radius instantly lit up with red light!

This was a death trap Lin Hai had prepared from the very beginning!

He had used his real body as bait to lure Kakuzu in close!

"Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!"

The devastating chain of explosions completely engulfed both of them.

The explosions continued for a full two minutes.

When the smoke cleared, Kakuzu was covered from head to toe in thick petrified armor, kneeling on one knee at the edge of the crater.

Though the armor was covered in cracks, he had actually endured it!

"What a ruthless brat, using your own life as bait..." Kakuzu panted as he looked at Lin Hai, who lay at the bottom of the crater barely clinging to life. "Unfortunately, you still can't kill me."

Lin Hai lay weakly on the scorched earth, without even the strength to move a finger. The side effects of the Hero Water began to lash back at him, and his life force rapidly drained away.

"To die... at the hands of someone like this. What a waste..." Lin Hai laughed bitterly at himself.

Kakuzu stepped forward and lifted Lin Hai with one hand. "For someone so young to force me this far, your head would definitely fetch a fine price! Too bad no one has put a bounty on it. But it doesn't matter. I'll take your Sharingan and heart instead!"

"Don't count on that companion of yours who ran away to bring anyone back to save you. In this world, villages and beliefs are all false. Only money will never betray you!"

Kakuzu raised his right hand. "Immortal Technique: Heart Extraction!" Several disgusting tendrils shot violently toward Lin Hai's chest.

Lin Hai helplessly closed his eyes.

Is this how it ends...? What a pity. I couldn't change the Uchiha's fate. I want to have another bite of Mom's unbearably salty mixed rice... His consciousness gradually blurred, and Lin Hai fell into a deep coma.

At the critical instant before the tendrils pierced Lin Hai's heart!

"Ruyi, Ruyi! Fall!"

A clear, resounding shout descended from the sky.

A massive black iron staff came crashing down with thunderous force, striking Kakuzu's right arm with unerring precision!

"Crack!"

Kakuzu's arm was smashed clean off, and Lin Hai fell to the ground.

Then, a nimble figure descended from the sky, delivering a powerful flying kick straight at Kakuzu's face.

Kakuzu was shocked and had no choice but to abandon his attack and flash dozens of meters away before finally seeing the newcomer clearly.

It was a young man wearing a Konoha forehead protector and light armor. Holding a huge black staff, he stood firmly in front of Lin Hai.

"Konoha reinforcements?!" Kakuzu gritted his teeth.

After confirming that Lin Hai was still breathing, the young man spun the Golden Cudgel in his hand and fixed Kakuzu with a sharp gaze.

"Konoha's Hiruzen Sarutobi has arrived! If you want to kill my comrade, ask the staff in my hand first!"