For someone who had survived since the era of the First Hokage, Kakuzu's greatest strength was not only the terrifying jutsu he commanded, but also his absolute caution. If his opponent excelled at taijutsu, he simply avoided direct clashes and attacked their weaknesses instead.
When Guy first engaged him, their exchange had been evenly matched. But Guy suddenly opened the Gate of View, catching Kakuzu completely off guard. The explosive barrage of Morning Peacock erupted point-blank, costing Kakuzu one of his precious lives.
In pure taijutsu, Kakuzu's centuries of battlefield experience placed him among the elite. In technique he was not inferior to Guy, and with Earth Style enhancing his body, he was more than capable of withstanding tremendous force. But against an opponent who had opened one of the Eight Inner Gates, he understood immediately that a head-on fight meant death.
Kakuzu was no fool. He was not a pure taijutsu fighter and had no intention of matching Guy blow for blow.
His true advantage lay in ninjutsu.
The three black masked monsters at his side began forming elemental chakra in their mouths, each representing a different heart, a different nature transformation.
Guy felt his expression tighten.
He had struck Kakuzu down once already, piercing him through with the force of Morning Peacock. He had been certain he had ended him. Yet this man had risen again, and now the stitched black tendrils crawling out of his body had taken form, becoming these fiendish masked constructs capable of unleashing devastating elemental jutsu.
Guy could not close in. Every step was hounded by elemental fire, lightning, and wind. Though he moved with incredible speed, even he could not slip through untouched. Stray blasts grazed his arms and legs, opening fresh, stinging wounds.
The three masks attacked at once.
Blinding arcs of lightning, whirling blades of wind, and roaring flames converged upon the battlefield. Each attack alone was enough to kill a jonin. Together, they fused into a storm of destruction that swallowed the sky.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness."
"Fire Style: Cranium Crusher."
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage."
The combined blast turned the world white with heat and noise. Lightning spears twisted inside the roaring flames, while the crushing wind amplified everything, weaving the three forces into a single catastrophic barrage.
Guy inhaled sharply. Even he could not outrun a jutsu that consumed the entire battlefield.
No retreat.
No escape.
Only resolve.
"If that is how it must be, then let youth burn!"
He sprang upward with explosive force, meeting the storm head-on.
"Morning Peacock!"
At Guy's blistering speed, his fists became a swarm of blazing strikes that shredded the air, compressing it into fiery shockwaves. Thousands of flaming fist shadows blossomed like the tail of a magnificent peacock, colliding with Kakuzu's elemental storm.
The explosion shook the earth.
Morning Peacock clashed with the lightning-fire-wind storm, evaporating some of the flames and scattering the wind pressure, but the elemental barrage was too vast. The sheer number of attacks began to overwhelm Guy's offensive. Stray lightning pierced through the dying flames and stabbed into his shoulder. The burning wind shredded his footing. Fire swallowed the lower air, forcing him down.
Guy crashed to the ground, skidding through the torn earth. His uniform was ripped in several places and fresh burns stretched across his arms. Blood touched the corner of his mouth. Even maintaining the Gate of View was growing difficult.
Kakuzu watched him from across the battlefield with the cold detachment of a man who had outlived entire nations.
"I warned you," he said quietly. "Your taijutsu alone cannot reach me. Disappear, beast."
This time, all four hearts attacked.
The three masked beasts opened their mouths again, forming fresh torrents of elemental chakra, and Kakuzu himself joined them.
Wind. Fire. Lightning. Earth.
Four elemental natures merging into a single execution.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage." A massive sphere of compressed air whirled forward.
"Fire Style: Cranium Crusher." Molten flame surged behind it.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness." Lightning spears streaked through the storm.
"Earth Style: Earth Spear Formation." The ground convulsed and shot upward, launching an entire forest of sharpened stone spears that shattered into lethal shrapnel under the wind pressure.
Four elemental forces intertwined, each amplifying the others. Fire fed upon wind. Lightning accelerated through the gale. Earth ruptured and splintered beneath the pressure, erupting into a storm of stone fragments carried by the howling wind.
A killing web with no blind spots and no mercy.
Guy bent his knees.
His breath steadied.
His spirit ignited.
"To burn away even my own life… is still worth it."
He thrust his arms outward, opening the Seventh Gate.
"Eight Inner Gates. Seventh Gate of Shock. Open."
Blue vapor burst from his pores, shrouding him in shimmering steam. Chakra erupted around him like a torrent.
Guy drew back his fist.
"Daytime Tiger!"
The air collapsed inward.
A blinding white shock burst forth, shaped like a colossal tiger formed by pure pressure. Its roar split the sky as it lunged toward Kakuzu's four-nature onslaught.
The collision was apocalyptic.
A spherical shockwave expanded outward, tearing the earth apart layer by layer. Solid stone weapons burst into dust. The flames evaporated. The pressurized wind ruptured and imploded. Lightning scattered in crackling fragments.
Daytime Tiger ripped into the heart of the four-element storm.
Wind shattered.
Fire folded inward.
Lightning dissolved into sparks.
Earth splintered into powder.
The world became white with force.