Intrusion

Inside the palace, Shion was sitting in the main seat handling affairs, while Taruho had to cancel Shion's vacation and ask him to come and help because of his strong insistence. With Taruho's help, the affairs were handled much more smoothly.

Uzumaki Hane stood idly to the side, reminiscing about the future while pondering how to become stronger.

Just then, the alarm suddenly sounded. Uzumaki Hane's spirits lifted; she had something to do. Uzumaki Hane immediately said, "Taruho, you command the soldiers to protect Shion. I'll go check on her." Then, in a flash, she disappeared from the palace.

At the palace gate, several guards, seeing that Kakuzu had come with ill intentions, drew their weapons and surrounded him.

Kakuzu's gaze remained unchanged; he had no interest in these heads without bounties. He Hand Seals and unleashed "Wind Release: Pressure Damage," sending a gust of wind forward. In an instant, a howling gale arose, and several guards were unable to withstand it. They screamed as they were swept away by the wind, their bodies covered in wounds, already dead.

The blasting cannon slammed directly into the gate, creating a deafening explosion that shattered the gate. But the cannon didn't stop there; it continued to bombard the gate, carrying countless pieces of wood with it.

Inside the palace, due to the alarm, the highest level of security has been activated.

The squad closest to the gate, led by squad leader Suzuki, was on patrol when the alarm suddenly went off. Suzuki's expression hardened, and he shouted, "Everyone on alert! Follow me and eliminate the intruders!" Clang, clang, clang! Everyone immediately drew their steel swords, their faces calm, displaying their high level of discipline. Led by Suzuki, they quickly ran towards the gate.

As they rushed to the gate, a deafening crash echoed as the gate shattered. A terrifying gust of wind, carrying fragments, swept past them. Suzuki and the others could only barely raise their hands to protect themselves, but it was utterly ineffective. Screams of agony filled the air. When the storm subsided, only a dozen or so soldiers lay on the ground, covered in blood, their fates unknown.

The other soldiers had rushed over when the alarm sounded, but they were too late. Seeing their comrade, with whom they had been drinking just a while ago, lying miserably on the ground, all the soldiers' eyes immediately turned red. They looked at Kakuzu, who was slowly walking in from outside the door, and roared as they charged forward.

Kakuzu's face remained expressionless. Kakuzu had encountered countless such insignificant figures in his life, who dared to try and kill him. Kakuzu didn't care. He only needed to crush them with a flick of his wrist, making them realize their ant-like strength, and that would be enough, even if the price of that realization was death.

Kakuzu forms hand Hand Seals.

Fire Style: Searing Migraine

He opened his mouth and spewed a large ball of flame at the charging soldiers. The flames quickly spread into a vast sea of fire, engulfing all the attacking soldiers.

The soldiers hadn't expected the enemy to spew out such a large ball of flame. They had no time to dodge and were instantly engulfed in flames. The flames spread to the soldiers as soon as they touched them, and the burning caused them to scream in agony. They could even smell the nauseating aroma of flesh.

The soldiers frantically fled through the inferno, but the fire burned ever brighter, and they could not escape at all, forced to watch helplessly as they were consumed by flames.

At this moment, the flames seemed to come alive and began to move, leaving the soldiers and swimming to the feet of one of them, where they were absorbed. Soon, the flames disappeared completely, leaving only a large group of burned soldiers lying on the scorched earth, screaming in agony.

Upon seeing the fallen soldier, the arriving soldiers roared and tried to rush over to fight Kakuzu to the death.

Uzumaki Hane stopped them abruptly, saying, "Save the people now, leave the invaders to me." Uzumaki Hane Yu's reputation in the Land of Demons was second only to the priestess. Hearing Uzumaki Hane's order, all the soldiers calmed down and began to rescue the soldiers on the ground.

Uzumaki Hane looked at Kakuzu, his eyes filled with killing intent, and said, "Kakuzu, I didn't expect you to still be alive?"

Kakuzu seeing Uzumaki Hane, Kakuzu's eyes blazed with killing intent. He said coldly, "It won't be that easy for you to kill me. Even the First Hokage couldn't kill me back then. Today, I will take your heart as a consumable and then sell your corpse on the black market for a bounty before I can quell my hatred."

The two were already locked in a life-or-death struggle. Although Uzumaki Hane desperately wanted to kill Kakuzu, they were currently inside a palace. If they were to fight, the entire palace wouldn't be enough for them to destroy. Thinking of this, Uzumaki Hane said, "Kakuzu, if you want to take my heart, you'll have to see if you're strong enough. Come with me." With a flash, he left the palace.

Kakuzu Uzumaki Hane leave, Kakuzu immediately gave chase, shouting, "Uzumaki Hane, don't even think about escaping!"

To avoid affecting Shion, Uzumaki Hane led Kakuzu to a small forest a few hundred meters away and stopped there.

Kakuzu stood ten meters in front of Uzumaki Hane, looking at Uzumaki Hane, and said, "It seems your strength has improved recently. No wonder you dare to confront me head-on." In the battle some time ago, Kakuzu knew that Uzumaki Hane's strength was still inferior to his. If it weren't for Uzumaki Hane's damned Kekkei Genkai being too troublesome, he wouldn't have been in such a sorry state, and he would have almost been killed due to a moment of carelessness.

Today, Kakuzu clearly felt Uzumaki Hane's progress. Just now, he tried his best to catch up, but he couldn't quite keep up.

However, Kakuzu was confident in his own strength and did not believe that Uzumaki Hane had surpassed him in such a short time.

Uzumaki Hane said coldly, "Kakuzu, you were lucky last time, escaping death. I didn't expect you to dare come looking for me again. But that's fine, I can kill you with my own hands now."

Kakuzu sneered, "You think that just because your strength has improved, you can be my opponent? Every time we fight, you're the one who runs away in a sorry state. Otherwise, I would have already used your corpse to collect the bounty." As he spoke, Kakuzu ripped off his trench coat, revealing four masks on his back. The masks began to struggle and transformed into four masked monsters, standing behind Kakuzu.

Kakuzu continued, "Uzumaki Hane, you only escaped the last few times because of my carelessness. Today, you will die."

Uzumaki Hane hadn't expected Kakuzu so cautious, using his full strength right from the start. Uzumaki Hane's expression turned solemn, his entire body surging with magma, transforming him into a magma being.

Although his strength had increased dramatically after opening the Third Gate, he still dared not underestimate Kakuzu. After all, Kakuzu had survived in this dangerous Shinobi World for over ninety years. The reason he had managed to defeat Kakuzu so badly the previous times was only because he had exploited Kakuzu's weaknesses and Kakuzu's lack of understanding of him. However, each time he had ended up having to flee in a sorry state.