"Cough, cough, cough..."
A massive cloud of dust and a shock wave erupted through the woods. Even Didaze, high in the sky, was swept up by the blast and hurled hard toward the ground!
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Seeing that he was about to fall out of the sky and hit the ground, Didaze had no time to mold a Clay Bomb. He immediately used Wind Release to cushion his impact.
Didaze slammed heavily into the ground, pain wracking his entire body.
But he could still fight, because his Wind Release had greatly reduced the severity of his injuries.
Now Didaze merely had bruises all over and an aching body, with no broken bones or anything of the sort.
And he had gotten off relatively lightly. After all, the explosion had been closer to Kakuzu, while Didaze had been high in the sky.
Yet even so, Didaze had still been blown out of the sky and slammed into the ground!
If Didaze had not used Wind Release to slow his descent, the fall would definitely have killed him outright!
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Didaze blew the dust away with Wind Release, then looked toward Kakuzu!
Kakuzu lay motionless on the ground, his entire body blackened.
"Is he dead?"
Didaze frowned as he looked at Kakuzu.
"Clay Bomb: Spider!"
Didaze molded a Clay Spider, preparing to use it to blow Kakuzu to pieces!
"You really are a cautious little brat..."
Kakuzu suddenly climbed up from the ground.
This time, he had lost three whole hearts.
The massive explosion during their clash had destroyed one of his hearts.
Then the tremendous shock wave had destroyed two more!
Now Kakuzu had only one heart left, his own earth-attribute heart, and his strength had been reduced by more than half.
In other words, if Kakuzu died once more, he would truly be dead.
"You old bastard, still trying to ambush me?"
Didaze sneered disdainfully.
He knew all too well what Kakuzu was like. As long as he could win, he would not care what methods he used.
"Hmph..."
Kakuzu snorted, then immediately fled!
"He ran?"
Watching Kakuzu flee in a flash, Didaze had little desire to pursue him.
It was not that he could not catch up. The main issue was that he only had twenty to thirty percent of his chakra left, and his whole body hurt, which would greatly slow his molding of Clay Bombs.
Driving Kakuzu away was a good thing too. Judging by his blackened body, he had probably suffered severe injuries.
He could most likely still run because he had temporarily repaired himself with Earth Grudge Fear, but once that ended, his injuries would remain just as they were.
And the truth was just as Didaze had predicted.
"Only one heart left... I have to replenish them quickly."
Kakuzu used Earth Grudge Fear to control his body and force it to keep running.
His strength had already dropped considerably, and most importantly of all, he only had one life left!
He had no desire to gamble here on whether Didaze still had another trick up his sleeve.
"I'll head to the Land of Grass first and find some ninja to collect hearts from..."
After thinking for a while, Kakuzu decided to visit the Land of Grass first.
The Land of Rain had Hanzo of the Salamander, and he still did not want to provoke him unless necessary.
The Land of Rivers had few ninja, and finding anyone in such a vast region was extremely difficult.
The Land of Grass, however, had a ninja village, which should have plenty of ninja. Other than the Land of Rain, it was also the closest small nation.
Having decided, Kakuzu set off at once, with no intention of resting. He dragged his charred body toward the Land of Grass, not daring to linger at all.
He feared that if he stopped, he would be caught.
Apart from tearing out a few Genin's hearts along the way, Kakuzu kept traveling as fast as he could.
But Genin hearts were indeed very weak. Even with Kakuzu strengthening them, they remained weak.
They could only serve to revive him and were nowhere near as good as Kakuzu's original hearts.
Though Kakuzu disdained them, he still took those hearts as spare lives for the sake of his own survival.
"Lord Didaze!"
Back on Didaze's side, after Kakuzu left, Umu and the others immediately came to his side.
After receiving treatment with Umu's Mystical Palm Technique, Clown and Red Boar had regained their normal mobility.
"What happened to you? Let me treat you!"
Seeing Didaze slumped on the ground, Umu grew deeply anxious.
"It's nothing. My body just aches."
Didaze waved a hand.
He felt that his Ninjutsu was the same whether facing one opponent or a group.
In fact, when there were more enemies, his wide-area destructive power would instead force them to hold back.
"Have I really become a humanoid Tailed Beast?"
Didaze could not help making a quip.
Tailed Beasts were like that. Facing a single powerful opponent was completely different from being on a battlefield.
On the battlefield, Tailed Beasts slaughtered in every direction like gods of war, and even the enemy's powerful fighters struggled to deal with them. But if they encountered a powerful opponent alone, they could only fight with their hands tied.
Tailed Beast Bombs were too easy to dodge, and their bodies were far too large.
Although Didaze was somewhat better off than a Tailed Beast, he was not much better. He was clearly less effective in single combat than in war.
"If only I could learn Dust Release sooner..."
Didaze felt that once he learned Dust Release, his single-target damage would be sufficient, and he would no longer catch himself in the blast.
His current Clay Bombs caught him in their blasts far too easily.
"Umu, where did you learn this Mystical Palm Technique? You seem even more professional than the doctors at Iwagakure's hospital!"
Feeling Umu's treatment, Didaze could not help raising his head to look at her in surprise.
In the original owner's memories, he had been to the hospital. Apart from ordinary nurses, there had also been medical-nin who specialized in treating ninja.
But those ninja's Mystical Palm Technique was clearly inferior to Umu's.
"There's nothing much to say about that. More importantly, are you feeling better, Lord Didaze?"
Umu did not seem to want to talk about it and shifted the topic back to Didaze.
"Much better. With your Medical Ninjutsu, I've more or less recovered in every way except my chakra."
Didaze checked his body. The aching had already vanished, leaving only a very faint stinging that did not affect anything.
"Lord Didaze, I'd like to ask something. Why did that man wearing a black mask fight you?"
Umu questioned Didaze with some curiosity.
"That guy was after my bounty."
Didaze gave a bitter chuckle.
"After a bounty, and yours at that? That's..."
Umu was somewhat speechless.
Bounty hunters generally hunted weak people. They would never provoke someone as powerful as Didaze.
But what was with the man they had encountered today? Someone so powerful working as a bounty hunter?
"He's Kakuzu, an S-rank missing-nin from Takigakure. There hasn't been any news of him for a long time. I thought he'd already died of old age, but to think he's still alive..."
Clown revealed the man's identity to Umu.