"Is this kid a monster?"
Kakuzu had stored water, fire, and lightning back inside his body, taking on a form with gray-black threads surrounding him. He looked even more like a monster now, yet after witnessing Naruto's abilities, even this powerful member of the Akatsuki could not help marveling at his strength.
According to the Akatsuki's intelligence, although jinchūriki were far stronger than ordinary ninja thanks to their tailed beasts, they also had to expend chakra to suppress the beasts inside them. That limited how strong they could become—unless they were perfect jinchūriki.
Kakuzu and Hidan had just killed Kumogakure's perfect jinchūriki of the Two-Tails. In their eyes, Yugito had been powerful, but only to a point. The strength Naruto Uzumaki displayed now, however, surpassed anything Kakuzu had imagined.
And this was a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki who had not yet fully mastered Tailed Beast Transformation. Kakuzu could not imagine how strong Naruto would become if he gained the control of a perfect jinchūriki on top of his current power.
Without giving Kakuzu time to react, Gamabunta swung his enormous sword straight at him.
Despite his massive size, Gamabunta was anything but slow. Faced with his attack, Kakuzu immediately used Wind Release ninjutsu to fly out of Gamabunta's range. At the same time, Naruto launched his own attack.
After Gamabunta sealed off Kakuzu's escape route, Naruto hurled countless shuriken at him. Kakuzu continued using Wind Release to defend against the barrage while counterattacking with Lightning Release and Fire Release, but his attacks clearly could not reach Naruto.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Realizing that Kakuzu was considering retreat, Naruto stopped holding back. In an instant, hundreds of Narutos appeared before Kakuzu.
Having just blocked Naruto's shuriken barrage, Kakuzu felt fear creeping into his heart as he watched Narutos charge toward him from every