"In your dreams!"
Red Boar roared in fury.
There was no way he would hand over his mask and forehead protector. That would mean betraying his village, and he would rather die than beg for his life like that!
"So there's no room for negotiation? Then I'll just have to send you on your way. I wonder what your hearts are like..."
Kakuzu grinned viciously, then threw off his clothes!
"Watch out! He's lived a very long time. He must have far more combat experience than us!"
Clown watched Kakuzu, his face filled with deep wariness.
"Did you know?"
After throwing off his clothes, Kakuzu suddenly began talking to himself, addressing the two facing him.
The two watched Kakuzu with extreme wariness, showing no intention of answering him.
"I once fought the First Hokage. Now that was a thoroughly satisfying battle..."
Kakuzu looked up at the sky, seemingly reminiscing about that battle all those years ago.
"What!"
"You fought the First Hokage??"
Red Boar and Clown cried out in shock almost simultaneously.
Who was the First Hokage? He was the God of Shinobi!
The man before them had actually fought the First Hokage...
Neither dared to think any further.
"Earth Release: Earth Movement!"
To keep himself from losing his fighting spirit, Red Boar attacked first, and the ground began to shake!
"Already afraid? You really don't know your own limits..."
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
Taking advantage of Earth Movement, Kakuzu unleashed an even more powerful Earth Spear!
Earth Spear thrust the soil in the ground upward. Earth Movement loosened the soil, so Earth Spear no longer had to break through the surface, greatly increasing both its penetrating power and the speed at which it emerged!
"Aah!"
Although Red Boar narrowly kept his heart from being pierced, an earth spear grazed his left arm and tore away a large chunk of flesh!
"Damn it!"
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Seeing Red Boar wounded and bleeding heavily, Clown forgot his fear. He immediately stepped forward and unleashed Fire Style at Kakuzu, hoping to burn him to death with its powerful offense!
Great Fire Annihilation swept toward Kakuzu like a miniature sea of fire!
"Don't embarrass yourself with Fire Style of that level!"
Kakuzu gave a disdainful sneer.
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
Kakuzu also unleashed Fire Style, but his was clearly far stronger than Clown's!
The instant the two flames met, Clown's sea of fire was extinguished!
"So strong! Is this the power of someone who's fought the God of Shinobi..."
Clown stared at Kakuzu in horror.
He had never seen Hashirama Senju, so he had no idea how powerful Hashirama Senju really was. He merely thought Hashirama Senju was, at most, a little stronger than their current Tsuchikage.
And Kakuzu's strength already overwhelmed his, so he thought Kakuzu and Hashirama Senju were roughly equal in strength.
"Compared to the First Hokage I fought, you're utterly weak."
Kakuzu sighed, putting on the air of a lonely master.
"What are you showing off for? All you did was throw a shuriken from eight hundred li away. I could do that too!"
Didaze had spotted Kakuzu attacking Red Boar and Clown from the sky. As he guided his Clay Giant Bird down, he happened to hear those words.
"You little brat!"
Kakuzu instantly flew into a rage. He might have lost, but surely he hadn't been that pathetic?
And what was this nonsense about a shuriken from eight hundred li away? Whose shuriken could be thrown that far?
"Don't get angry. At your age, you might just anger yourself to death."
"Umu, take those two away. I'll deal with this old geezer."
Didaze leaped off the Giant Bird. Umu nodded, rescued Red Boar and Clown, then left the battlefield.
"I was wondering who it was... So it's that explosion brat."
Kakuzu sneered at Didaze.
"A bounty of thirty million. Looks like my luck with money is pretty good today."
Kakuzu's gaze brimmed with greed as he looked at Didaze, as though Didaze were already in his grasp.
"Oh? You want my head? Then go ahead and try!"
Looking at the greedy Kakuzu, Didaze had no intention of wasting any more words on him.
No one could truly bring someone like Kakuzu under their control. Even Pain had only subdued him temporarily.
After all, when he got ruthless, he killed his teammates at will and paid no heed to Pain at all.
"Wind Release: Wind Blade!"
Didaze intended to test Kakuzu's strength with Wind Blade first.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
Kakuzu used two ninjutsu in succession, mixing wind and fire to form an even more powerful Fire Style attack!
"Isn't that just combination ninjutsu?"
Didaze immediately formed the hand seals for Fire Style.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
"Wind Blade!"
Didaze spat out several small streams of flame, then rapidly slashed through each one with Wind Blade!
Every wind blade took on the shape of flames, adding burning power to its original cutting properties!
The two combination ninjutsu collided and dissipated into the air.
"You even know A-rank ninjutsu. Looks like you don't rely solely on your kekkei genkai..."
After his combination ninjutsu and Didaze's dissipated, Kakuzu took an interest in Didaze.
He hadn't expected Didaze to know combination ninjutsu as well.
"Then how will you handle this move?"
Kakuzu began trembling continuously.
Four things resembling black demons split off from his body!
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
"Water Release: Water Line!"
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
"Earth Release: Earth Movement!"
Kakuzu unleashed five ninjutsu.
Fire Style and Wind Release formed one combination ninjutsu, while Water Release and Lightning Release formed another. Earth Release served to disrupt Didaze!
"C1: Clay Spider!"
Didaze infused chakra, then rapidly retreated while swiftly molding dozens of spiders and tossing them out!
Didaze used Fire Style to detonate them. Since Kakuzu had wide-range Lightning Release, the more powerful Lightning Release detonation wasn't very suitable.
Although the power was slightly reduced, Didaze infused more chakra, making the actual power nearly the same. It simply consumed more chakra.
"Finally using your kekkei genkai? Let's see whether this long-range Explosion Release really is that powerful..."
Watching the rapidly crawling spiders, Kakuzu controlled Earth Grudge Fear and blasted at them!
Under Kakuzu's powerful assault, the spiders were blasted to dust before they could even get close!
"Is that all you've got?"
Seeing how easily the spiders were destroyed, Kakuzu sneered.
"Explode!"
Didaze suddenly formed a hand sign and shouted!
"What!"
Kakuzu was horrified. He clearly hadn't seen Didaze mold any clay just now!
"Fooled you!"
Didaze laughed, then took advantage of the time Kakuzu spent reacting to swiftly mold a twin-winged bird!
The twin-winged bird flew through the sky at incredible speed, arriving before Kakuzu almost instantaneously!