A steel wire, gleaming with a ghostly blue poisonous light, hung in mid-air, only half an inch away from Shu Shiraishi's carotid artery.
The low-frequency roar of the generator drowned out this deadly, subtle sound.
Shu Shiraishi didn't even look up.
He was about to release the bronze push gate with his left hand when his wrist suddenly flipped backward, and his five fingers precisely clamped down in mid-air.
He gripped the steel wire, which was barely thicker than a human hair, tightly.
The sharp wire cut the skin of his index finger, drawing a bead of blood.
Shu Shiraishi ignored it. His forearm muscles bulged instantly, and with bursting brute force, he pulled downwards hard.
"Boom!"
The rusty white sheet metal ventilation duct overhead emitted a piercing tearing sound.
Several large rivets flew out, hitting the cement wall and sparking.
The metal mesh cover, connected to a large section of whitewashed ceiling, was ripped down by this strange force.
A figure dressed in a long black robe with red clouds, followed by a hail of sheet metal and mortar, crashed down from the ceiling.
"Bang."
The shadowy figures crashed heavily onto the concrete floor of the power distribution room.
It smashed a shallow crater the size of a washbasin. Dust mixed with the smell of rust rose up.
The fall was quite severe. The person felt several bones in their back were dislocated, and their internal organs felt like they were churning from the shock.
He is Kakuzu, the black market's number one bounty hunter.
This time, he accepted a staggering bounty of 50 million ryo. His target is the newly appointed Hokage of Konoha.
For this huge sum of money, he endured three hours of hiding in the metal gaps of the ventilation duct, finally waiting for his target to be alone.
Before he could even see Ninjutsu, he was pulled out like a radish.
Kakuzu braced himself against the dusty floor and got up.
The white hood was a little crooked. He wiped the dirt off his chin with the back of his hand.
"You're quite strong." Kakuzu's voice was hoarse, like two dry stones grinding against each other.
He stared at the head on Shu Shiraishi's neck. That was a gold nugget worth fifty million taels.
Kakuzu rapidly Hand Seals.
"Sizzle."
His black robe was ripped open, and four clumps of black, viscous substance burst out.
The black tentacles of the Earth Grudge Fear, like a swarm of crazed venomous snakes, danced wildly in mid-air.
Four monsters wearing pale white masks emerged from his tentacles and perched on his broad shoulders.
The temperature in the entire power distribution room plummeted, and a fishy, foul odor filled the air.
"Your head is worth a lot of money." Kakuzu's green eyes stared at Shu Shiraishi. "I'm in a hurry to get to the exchange, so I won't torture you any longer."
The mask on the left, with red patterns, has its dark, gaping mouth open.
A ball of intense heat quickly took shape, causing the air to distort violently.
Shu Shiraishi patted the white dust off his hands.
He looked at the menacing black lines opposite him and gave a slight smirk.
"Give me a few loose threads."
He lifted his left leg. His military boot rolled over a rusty nut on the ground.
"You dare to come to Konoha to buy goods?"
The words had barely left his mouth.
A network of cracks appeared on the cement floor beneath Shu Shiraishi's feet.
He transformed into a black shadow, charging headlong into the high-temperature fireball spewed by the masked monster.
The fireball struck his black vest, sending sparks flying.
The vest had a large hole burned through it, and the exposed skin was blackened by smoke.
But he didn't pause for even half a second.
Kakuzu's heart skipped a beat.
He'd lived for almost a hundred years and had never seen a madman who could withstand Fire Style head-on.
He quickly manipulated the black lines. A dozen thick tentacles, like spears, pierced straight at Shu Shiraishi's face.
Shu Shiraishi clenched his right fist.
There was no Chakra light or shadow. There were no complicated Hand Seals.
Pure, overwhelming physical violence.
The fist, accompanied by a sonic boom that tore through the air, smashed directly through the dense black line defense network.
The rough black line, under the force of his brutal punches, tore apart like tattered rags, falling to the ground in a tangled mess.
"Bang!"
The fist slammed into the Fire Style mask that was about to breathe fire.
The hard, pale mask emitted a crisp, cracking sound.
It shattered into pieces. White shards of tile scattered all over the room.
The vibrant heart hidden behind the mask was brutally crushed into a pulp by that punch.
Kakuzu screamed in agony.
The backlash from his shattered heart caused a sharp pain in his chest and a sweet taste in his throat.
He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of black blood, which splattered onto Shu Shiraishi's leather boots.
Kakuzu panicked.
This is not the way a normal ninja would operate. What kind of monster can punch someone's heart without Hand Seals?
He wanted to retreat, using the remaining three masks to unleash wind blades as cover.
Shu Shiraishi didn't give him a chance.
His left hand suddenly shot out and grabbed the neck Kakuzu was covered by black lines.
The five fingers tightened like iron hoops.
Kakuzu's cervical vertebrae made an unpleasant creaking sound. His trachea was tightly blocked.
He grabbed Shu Shiraishi's arm haphazardly with both hands, his fingernails scratching white marks on the wheat-colored skin.
"Let... let go..." Kakuzu's face turned a deep purple. His legs kicked wildly in mid-air, his straw sandals slamming against the edge of the control panel.
Shu Shiraishi carried him with one hand.
Like carrying a dead dog.
He turned around and strode towards the door of the power distribution room.
The underground corridor was dimly lit. Bright incandescent light bulbs hung on the walls.
"Fifty million taels." Shu Shiraishi walked down the corridor.
The military boots echoed dully as they stepped onto the terrazzo floor.
The Kakuzu dragged on the ground. The black lines on its back rubbed against the ground, leaving a long black mark.
"The black market thinks highly of me." Shu Shiraishi looked at the iron gate in front of him.
Kakuzu clung to his wrist, gasping for breath.
"Money... I only care about money..." he babbled on, still thinking about the reward even as he was being strangled.
"Whoever pays the most, I'll risk my life for... You've offended too many people, sooner or later..."
Shu Shiraishi was too lazy to listen to his nonsense.
The hand gripping his neck tightened slightly. Kakuzu rolled his eyes and swallowed the rest of his words.
The two passed through two heavy blast-proof iron doors.
We arrived at the newly built structure at the deepest underground level of the Hokage Building.
This is a heavy steel gate, three meters high.
The surface is coated with dark gray anti-rust paint. There are no handles, only three large brass dials.
This is the Konoha National Treasury, which Orochimaru just oversaw the completion of.
Shu Shiraishi walked up to the steel gate and stopped.
He looked down at Kakuzu was still struggling to move in his hand.
"You like money, don't you?"
Shu Shiraishi slightly bent his right knee and suddenly exerted force in his lower back muscles.
The military boots whistled through the air as they slammed into the heavy steel door.
"BOOM!!!"
A deafening roar shook the earth. The entire underground structure trembled.
The two-foot-thick special steel gate had its right-side hinge snapped off.
The heavy iron bolt, weighing several dozen kilograms, flew inside like a cannonball, slamming into something with a dull metallic clang.
The entire door collapsed inwards with a loud crash, smashing onto the ground.
Dust billowed into the air. Acrid cement dust filled the air.
Shu Shiraishi his left hand.
They threw the Kakuzu onto the broken bluestone threshold like trash.
Kakuzu crashed heavily to the ground, his ribs hitting the rubble, causing him excruciating pain.
He clutched his broken sternum, gasping for breath, inhaling a mouthful of dust.
The old monster's backbone remained. He gritted his teeth, and the remaining three black lines on his back suddenly arched, preparing for a desperate counterattack.
He braced himself against the cold ground and raised his head.
My gaze passed over the drifting dust and followed the gap in the collapsed gate into the building.
They prepared to find Shu Shiraishi's weakness.
But the next second...
Kakuzu froze on the spot.
His green eyes were wide open, like copper bells, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Behind them were those menacing black tentacles.
It felt like all my strength had been suddenly drained.
It slumped down limply, sprawling in the dust on the threshold.