A difficult battle

The instant Wind Release scattered Fire Release, Yūto abruptly lowered his body, his leg muscles tightening like bowstrings as chakra gathered beneath his feet into swirling currents.

His brand-new Jonin Vest flapped in his high-speed movement, leaving a green afterimage under the moonlight.

Using his Sharingan to anticipate the blind spot in Kakuzu's defenses, he spun through the air like a top, sweeping his chakra-wrapped right leg down at Kakuzu.

The move was called [Uchiha Style: Konoha Whirlwind] because it was a taijutsu technique Yūto had created by combining the Sharingan's perception with the Konoha Whirlwind.

With Yūto's extraordinary chakra control added to that, never mind Kakuzu-even the Third Hokage might not have been able to dodge it and would have had to take it head-on.

If the original Konoha Whirlwind was a V3 rocket, Yūto's version was a PL-15. No dodging this one, old Third!

Yūto felt that, in the current shinobi world, aside from certain people hiding in dark sewers, only A and Minato could evade it perfectly.

Shisui might have counted too, at most.

Just as Yūto had expected, Kakuzu dodged-but failed to get clear.

Yūto forcibly adjusted the point of impact in midair, locking firmly onto Kakuzu's body.

Thud!

A vast cloud of dust erupted where Kakuzu stood as the immense force of Yūto's attack poured through Kakuzu's body and into the ground!

When the dust cleared, Kakuzu was actually unscathed. Earth Grudge Fear had blocked Yūto's taijutsu attack!

Of course, Kakuzu might also have been putting on an act. He was immortal to begin with, and even if he were injured, he would not spit out blood.

But Kakuzu's next reaction hardly suggested that nothing was wrong.

He suddenly flew into an extraordinary rage. Tiny white fragments fell behind him, seemingly pieces of a mask.

Kakuzu's green eyes stared straight at Yūto, who had launched the attack. "Uchiha brat!"

Seeing that something was wrong, Yūto swiftly retreated.

Kakuzu's cuffs suddenly burst apart, countless black threads darting out like living snakes and weaving a hideous net in the air.

Before the white fragments could hit the ground, the black threads swept them back into his body. What had been shattered was the Water Release mask creature's clone.

"Forcing out my Earth Grudge Fear-you've earned yourself a place in my kill book, brat." A chakra hum mingled with Kakuzu's voice, and veins bulged along his neck.

His hands rapidly formed hand seals, and the Wind Release mask creature tore out through the flesh of his right shoulder. "Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

The instant the high-pressure wind sphere ripped through the air, Yūto's Sharingan had already caught the flow of chakra.

He kicked off a tree trunk and sprang backward, the three tomoe spinning wildly in his blood-red eyes.

The wind sphere brushed past his Jonin Vest, shearing an entire row of ancient trees behind him in half.

"Lady Tsunade, go!"

Twisting in midair, Yūto hurled three kunai wrapped with explosive tags. Sparks traced crimson arcs through the twilight.

Kakuzu's left arm suddenly twisted and deformed, and the Earth Release mask creature opened its mouth. "Earth Release: Earth Spear!"

A stone-hardened arm cleaved through the smoke from the explosions. As Kakuzu burst through it, he discovered that Yūto was stepping off the falling remains of a tree trunk to propel himself forward.

The boy held a kunai in each hand, chakra condensing into a deep blue glow at their tips-the opening stance of Uchiha Style Swordsmanship.

"Interesting." Surprise tinged Kakuzu's sneer as his Earth Grudge Fear threads suddenly plunged into the ground. Just as Yūto's kunai were about to pierce his chest over his heart, dozens of black spears erupted from the earth beneath Yūto's feet!

At that critical instant, Yūto's Sharingan anticipated the unusual movement of chakra underground.

He forcibly twisted at the waist, turning his kunai thrusts into upward sweeps and using the counterforce of the thrusting black spears to flip backward.

By the time he landed, three gashes had been cut through his left sleeve, and blood dripped down his forearm.

The instant the smell of blood spread, Tsunade suddenly covered her mouth and staggered half a step.

Catching sight of her out of the corner of his eye, Yūto immediately tore off some fabric and bound his wound.

But Kakuzu caught that tiny movement. "I see. Your hemophobia is still a weakness."

"Fire Release: Searing Migraine!" Kakuzu's main body and the Fire Release mask creature spewed flames simultaneously, a fan-shaped sea of fire engulfing the entire area.

Yūto rapidly formed hand seals and slammed his hands against the ground. "Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

The rising stone wall barely blocked the first wave of flames, cracks already spreading across its surface.

Behind the earthen wall, Yūto looked toward Tsunade. She still had not left. A moment earlier, she had even been preparing to attack, but the sight of the blood on his left arm had triggered her hemophobia.

He immediately shouted to her, "Lady Tsunade, go! Don't worry about me!"

Yūto was getting a little anxious. Why hasn't Tsunade left yet?

He had already done everything he needed to do. Tsunade must have been moved by his spirit of self-sacrifice.

All that remained was for Tsunade to leave the scene and for him to die in battle. Then he could return to Blue Star.

But Tsunade simply would not leave.

In fact, Yūto was right. Tsunade really had been moved by him.

Just a little too much...

In Tsunade's eyes, Yūto's back gradually overlapped with that of her younger brother, Nawaki.

Back then, Nawaki had also shouted about protecting others and his comrades before dying on the battlefield.

"Lady Tsunade, go!"

Yūto's roar sounded particularly hoarse amid the sea of flames, but Tsunade gritted her teeth, her hands clenched into fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

She watched Yūto being suppressed by Kakuzu's Wind and Fire Release, watched blood still seeping from the wound on his left arm, and Nawaki's smile before his death flashed through her mind.

That younger brother who had always charged at the front had left her nothing but a cold corpse.

"Are you kidding me... how could I possibly... watch another comrade die before my eyes!"

Tsunade suddenly raised her head, her long golden hair whipping wildly in the heat. She shattered the ground with one stomp, her monstrous strength erupting as she shot toward Kakuzu like a cannonball!

"Hmph. Courting death."

Kakuzu sneered. His Earth Grudge Fear threads abruptly contracted, and the Wind and Fire Release that had been suppressing Yūto instantly changed direction. Waves of fire and high-pressure wind spheres wove into a net that rushed straight at Tsunade!

Yet Tsunade's figure twisted strangely in midair, and at a speed even the Sharingan struggled to track, she drove a fist toward Kakuzu's face!

Bam!

Kakuzu's Earth Release: Hardening Technique was like thin paper before her monstrous strength. Her punch knocked his head backward, and even the mask creature gave a cracking sound as it buckled under the strain.

But a moment later, several black threads suddenly shot from his cuff, wrapped around Tsunade's wrist, and yanked hard!

"Your strength is indeed astonishing, but-" Kakuzu's voice was hoarse and chilling. The Lightning Release mask creature on his other hand suddenly blazed with dazzling electricity. "Lightning Release: False Darkness!"

"Lady Tsunade!"

Yūto's pupils abruptly contracted. Ignoring the injury to his left arm, he spun his Sharingan furiously, forcing a prediction of the Lightning Release's trajectory. At the last possible moment, he hurled a kunai that struck the precise point where the lightning chakra was gathering, deflecting the lightning by half an inch!

But Kakuzu had vast combat experience. He had already anticipated Yūto's rescue, and the instant the Lightning Release veered aside, Earth Grudge Fear's black threads coiled around Tsunade's neck like venomous snakes and tightened sharply!

"Gah!"

Tsunade's face flushed red. She grabbed the black threads with both hands and tried to break free, looking just about to succeed.

But fatally, the friction of the black threads cut her skin, and blood ran down her collarbone.

The instant the smell of blood entered her nose, Tsunade's pupils abruptly dilated. The dizziness of her hemophobia surged over her like a tide, her strength instantly crumbling. Her legs gave way, and she nearly fell to her knees.

"It's over," Kakuzu announced coldly. The Lightning Release mask creature lit up again, this time aiming directly at Tsunade's heart!

"Not a chance!!"

A bloodstained figure suddenly slammed into him from the side. Yūto forcibly knocked Kakuzu aside with his shoulder, but the lightning grazed his own back, and the smell of scorched flesh instantly spread.

He staggered into position in front of Tsunade, yet his voice was resolute.

"I will never... let a comrade die before me!"

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at the boy, who was covered in wounds yet still refused to fall, and finally showed a trace of impatience. "Foolish persistence."

He raised his hands and formed hand seals. The Wind, Fire, and Lightning Release mask creatures lit up simultaneously as destructive chakra began to gather. "Then disappear together."

Yūto panted heavily, but suddenly smiled.