Frantic Escape

"Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Gamabunta supplied the oil, Jiraiya supplied the fire, and Orochimaru supplied the wind.

Fire fed on oil! Wind fanned the flames!

The three of them unleashed a low-budget version of Left and Right Guardians, sending a vast wave of scalding oil sweeping toward Kakuzu.

Kakuzu truly deserved his reputation as a seasoned veteran who had lived for decades. In terms of real combat experience, the two before him might not surpass him.

He decisively gave up retreating and defending. Instead, he extended his hardened threads, bracing several thick trees and suspending himself forty-five degrees above and ahead of the group.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!

Lightning Release: False Darkness!

Fire Release: Head Mincing!"

The searing heat of flames, the ferocity of gale winds, and the tyranny of lightning all came crashing down at once!

Gamabunta leaped into the air with Jiraiya on his back, landing in a safe area.

As for Orochimaru, his grave expression carried a trace of composure. He bit his finger and smeared another streak of blood across his palm.

"Summoning: Triple Rashomon!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three enormous gates rose from the earth in an instant, like barriers against the King of Hell, blocking all of Kakuzu's attacks!

"Interesting."

The corner of Kakuzu's mouth lifted slightly beneath his mask. This was not the first time he had seen such a defensive technique, but it was still something one rarely encountered even once in a decade.

"Let's adjust the tactics a little."

When he landed again, black threads wrapped around his ankles, as though his entire body had undergone some sort of change.

In truth, he had retrieved the earth-element masked creature he had hidden underground, while concealing the water-element masked creature whose abilities were less useful here.

With Jiraiya present, he could not casually use Water Release to counter Fire Release.

Once water and oil mixed, it would only further expand the range of Jiraiya's techniques!

Besides, his Water Release was not particularly offensive and lacked both the defense and flexibility of Earth Release.

"Kid! You've exposed an opening!"

Gamabunta drew the blade in his hand. Sparks from his pipe and the cold gleam on the blade beneath the setting sun reflected each other.

Kakuzu did not even raise his head before slipping straight into the ground.

Gamabunta's leaping slash missed completely.

By then, Jiraiya had already gathered enough chakra.

He slapped his feet together, and a spherical grayish-white barrier, with Jiraiya at its center, instantly expanded in every direction!

"Barrier: Canopy Formation!"

"Hm?"

By the time Kakuzu realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

Jiraiya's gaze turned sharp and resolute. He glanced diagonally at a spot beneath his feet, clenched his hand into a fist, and slammed it hard into the ground.

The earth shattered, and faint black threads could be seen beneath the cracks.

From the nearby woods, another Jiraiya shot forth like a leopard. Aside from Orochimaru and Xuanhui, no one else reacted in time.

"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"

The flames swept past the water masked creature's face, swallowing that mass of black threads in an instant.

"Damn it! How did you..."

Kakuzu's forehead finally lost its earlier composure as fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his pores.

His means of survival... had been discovered?

No one knew his secrets! Aside from the First Hokage, he had dealt with nearly everyone who had ever fought him!

The situation on the battlefield changed in an instant. Sometimes, everything came down to a single thought.

Seizing Kakuzu's moment of distraction, Orochimaru activated the Wind Release in his palm. A frenzied blast of air tore savagely toward the lightning mask!

Meanwhile, Manda flexibly shifted his body. His enormous bloody maw became like a black hole as it lunged for Kakuzu himself.

Kakuzu could not evade in time. He could only brace himself and use Earth Release hardening to take Manda's bite head-on.

But the lightning mask was not so fortunate.

Orochimaru's Wind Release pierced through its body like a bullet, then violently shredded the tangled black threads.

"Damn it!"

After Kakuzu broke free from the restraints, his remaining three masks instantly gathered around his main body.

He clutched his chest in pain, his body still trembling from the intense expenditure.

"Konoha's ninja... you're truly something! As expected of the village led by the First Hokage... it truly produces talent after talent..."

Jiraiya, Jiraiya's shadow clone, and Orochimaru closed in from his left and right, while Manda and Gamabunta blocked both his path ahead and his retreat.

The ground had already been turned into a swamp by Jiraiya's "Earth Release: Yellow Springs Swamp."

Now, his only route of escape was the sky!

Seeing this, Kakuzu hardened his resolve. The three masks circled him and launched an attack in Gamabunta's direction!

Violent Wind Release and Fire Release surged forward. At this point, he had only half his chakra left! He had to end this quickly!

Gamabunta was only a frog. How could he have any means to deal with Kakuzu's desperate assault? He could only leap upward, drawing his blade as his horizontal pupils fixed tightly on Kakuzu's figure.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were already closing in from both sides, while Manda's body was too massive to catch up with the attack in an instant.

To everyone's surprise, two masks actually left Kakuzu and pounced separately at Jiraiya and Orochimaru!

Before the wind mask rushed forward, it gave the main body a fierce blast, sending Kakuzu's escape speed soaring even higher.

Kakuzu's battle experience left everyone present in admiration.

He had willingly chosen to sacrifice two masks in exchange for a sliver of life!

"Not good!"

Kakuzu had already escaped their encirclement. The scent of freedom and life called out to him.

"Fire Release: Head Mincing!"

A sea of flames descended. The weakened Kakuzu abruptly slowed down, nearly plunging headfirst into the wall of fire!

"This is... my technique?"

Kakuzu stared into the distance in disbelief. There stood only a child—a child with the Sharingan activated, one he had never taken seriously!

"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

Lightning flooded down from above, and Kakuzu's expression immediately turned grim.

However, the technique's accuracy still seemed lacking. Kakuzu barely managed to find a gap.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were already attacking together, while Gamabunta had sealed off the aerial route.

Left with no choice, Kakuzu could only escape by burrowing underground.

Before leaving, he looked at Xuanhui, his gaze filled with an indescribably complicated emotion.

"Kid! The next time we meet, I'll kill you!"

"Kakuzu! The next time we meet, I hope to take you in."

What does this kid mean?

That was Kakuzu's final thought before fleeing.

With Kakuzu's reckless, frantic escape, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.

The two of them had not even used the power of senjutsu! Though they did have the intelligence advantage Xuanhui had provided...

Still, what interested them more was...

"Xuanhui... those two techniques just now... weren't they Kakuzu's techniques?"

"How did you learn them?"

Xuanhui's Sharingan slowly turned in his eye sockets, its tomoe gleaming brightly like gemstones.

"The Uchiha Clan's eyes possess the ability to analyze and copy."